QNITED 



7:57 



State* t<> which they belong, and of the country 



ii-i diM'metions <ni nee.. 



vil durin_r tin- late war 



. 



It Will a' 

 ',' e\er_V ] 



.'pfic ri', r ht that is i-nj".'' ' >! c ' t '- 



9, nil tln-ir Mdc, cannot In-.-'. 1 

 :iiul principles by whose labors uii.l 

 Lnfiuenoe their redemption a us boon accomplished. 



iral and necessary union, n! 

 i, ami throughout the whole country, 

 .1. Nor is 



in tin-so suggestions any food for hostility Ix- 

 :ces. The wants of a black man mm tlio 

 wants (ifu w-hito man arc precisely the panic. 

 intere-ts arc the same. Especially is this true <>\ the 

 laboring .!;>.>-. 's. The laboring man, whether white 

 or black, needs the protection of law ; ho needs the 

 ballot as the means by which he secures equal laws 

 and the ju^t administration ot' them. Hy the ballot he 

 rebuke-;' or ivjccts unfaithful servants; by the bal- 

 lot he arraigns and condemns corrupt or tyrannical 

 jud'.'es; h\ the ballot he oru'ani/cs and maintains 

 school-, lor the education of his children, and inspires 

 .nd magistrates with due respect for his 

 personal and family rights. While the measures of 

 _-ivat riu'ht to anew and nu- 

 merous class of men, there is no invasion of the rights 

 i -. The white people of the South, with a 

 .us comparatively, are to enioy the same 

 just and c'|ii.d political rights and privileges. Free- 

 dom has v'iven to the North unexampled prosperity 

 and constantly increasing wealth and power: fn 

 and free institutions will secure for the South the 

 same results. But there must be cooperation of the 

 nust bo cooperation upon the princi- 

 ples which prevail in the North, and to which the 

 i. arty is fully committed. For more than 

 two hundred years the slaveholding aristocracy of the 

 South originated its policy and controlled its desti- 

 The result is seen in its exhausted and barren 

 : in the condition of its laboring popple, white 

 and black ; in the relative poverty of the inhabitants 

 of all classes ; in the absence of public schools, of 

 commerce, of manufactures, and of an enl'iir- 



i oi' agriculture. We then earnestly invite and 

 implore the people of the South, of all classes, first, 

 to accept the plan of universal suffrage us the 

 of political, educational, and industrial prosperity 

 and power. Th" black man will soon prove that ho 

 is more to the State as a citizen than he was as a 

 slave. 



The executive portion of the same committee 

 subsequently, at the session of Congress in 

 July, made a statement of their proceedings to 

 the Republican Senators and Representatives 

 in the Hall of the House on the evening d' 

 July 20th, when the following resolution \v;is 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That we, the Republican Senators and 

 Representatives of the Fortieth Congress, having 

 listened with great interest to the statements of the 

 chairman of the Executive Committee and others of 

 said committee, therefore pledge our best personal 

 efforts in our respective districts to the work of rais- 

 in.' money for the use of said committee immediately 

 upon our return to our constituents. 



The statements then made were *ct forth iu 

 a circular of the committee, as follows: 



For the first time opportunity offered for discussion 

 in the South of the principles, purposes, and history 

 VOL. vii. 47 



i zaiion the party of u;. 



connected with 

 haa been as fully car- 

 : .c means at the disposal of the coin 



: permit. The eomiin 



918,2. r >4i, mainly derived from th-r.\o II-. !-.-- 



groii. There arc no\v expected from vurion* Hourcen 



in all to $4,500, which will about 



already incurred. With thin small 



amount, the committee has sent several hundred 



thou.-and mutable . through the South. It 



e and int' 



-. who have been at work in 



iMin-con-trueted State-,, and to a limited extent in 

 Tennessee. Both white and colored IIH-II ha. 

 and are now emp! idition to those directly 



lied by the committee, State ' s, and 



Union League Councils, with other uuxiliarie-. 

 been added. Under this stimulus, in riany localities, 

 funds have been raised to defray thu expenses of 



i, and much work accomplished. 

 The committee has the names of twenty thousand 

 loyal persona at the South to whom documents are 

 regularly sent. To about one-fourth of the number 

 packages are forwarded, so that it is in the way 

 of immediate distribution of one hundred thousand 

 or more copies ot' any document it desires to circulate. 

 This list is behur da'ily augmented. The comm 

 correspondence is very extensive ; hundreds of let- 

 ters being received weekly from all parts of the 

 South. From their contents, a minute kno. 

 of the necessities of almost every congressional dis- 

 readily attained. Of agents now in the field, 

 some are at work in every State. A Republican or- 

 ganization exists in each State, the representatives 

 of which are in constant correspondence with this 

 committee. Union League Councils are beini,' rapidly 

 formed. Our agents are all empowered and directed 

 to aid the organization, and as the Grand President's 

 office is located in this city, we are enabled to bring 

 about harmony of purpose and effort. Were ample 

 means at the committee's disposal, there would be no 

 difficulty in widely extending its operations. 



Early in April an effort was made on the 

 part of the States of Mississippi and Georgia to 

 bring the question of the constitutionality of 

 the Acts of Reconstruction before the Federal 

 Supreme Court. In behalf of Mississippi, a mo- 

 tion was made for leave to file a bill praying 

 the Court perpetually to enjoin and re-train 

 Andrew Johnson, President of the United 

 States, and E. O. 0. Ord, general commanding 

 in the District of Mississippi and Arkansas, 

 from executing or carrying out the said acts. 

 The motion was denied, and Chief-Justice ( 

 in delivering the opinion, said: "If the Presi- 

 dent refuse's obedience, it is needless to o' 

 that the Court is without power to enforce it- 

 process. If, on the other hand, the President 

 complies with the order of the Court and re- 

 fuses to execute the Act of ('.m-i-.-ss, is it not 

 clear that a colli.-ioii may occur between the 

 ;iive and Legislative Departments of the 

 Government i May not the House of Repre- 

 sentatives impeach the Pre-idciit for such re- 

 fusal? " The application in behalf of the State 

 of Georgia was equally unsuccessful. 



Applications were mad" by the commanders 

 of the Third and Fifth Military Di.-tricts for in- 

 structions respecting their powers under cer- 

 tain provisions of the Acts of Congress. As an 



