But, happily, we are not constrained to any such revolutionary
proceeding. The new governments can all be organized by Congress, which
is the natural guardian of people without any immediate government, and
within the jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United States.
Indeed, with the State governments already _vacated_ by rebellion, the
Constitution becomes, for the time, the supreme and only law, binding
alike on President and Congress, so that neither can establish any law
or institution incompatible with it. And the whole Rebel region,
deprived of all local government, lapses under the exclusive
jurisdiction of Congress, precisely as any other territory; or, in other
words, the lifting of the local governments leaves the whole vast region
without any other government than Congress, unless the President should
undertake to govern it by military power. Startling as this proposition
may seem, especially to all who believe that "there is a divinity that
doth hedge" a State, hardly less than a king, it will appear, on careful
consideration, to be as well founded in the Constitution as it is simple
and natural, while it affords an easy and constitutional solution to our
present embarrassments.
I have no theory to maintain, but only the truth; and in presenting this
argument for Congressional government, I simply follow teachings which I
cannot control. The wisdom of Socrates, in the words of Plato, has aptly
described these teachings, when he says:--
"These things are secured and bound, even if the expression be somewhat
too rude, with iron and adamant; and unless you or some one more
vigorous than you can break them, it is impossible for any one speaking
otherwise than I now speak to speak well; since, for my part, I have
always the same thing to say, that I know not how these things are, but
that out of all with whom I have ever discoursed, as now, not one is
able to say otherwise and to maintain himself."[26]
Show me that I am wrong,--that this conclusion is not founded in the
Constitution, and is not sustained by reason,--and I shall at once
renounce it; for, in the present condition of affairs, there can be no
pride of opinion which must not fall at once before the sacred demands
of country. Not as a partisan, not as an advocate, do I make this
appeal; but simply as a citizen, who seeks, in all sincerity, to offer
his contribution to the establishment of that policy by which Union and
Peace may be restored.