Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-07-14
I'm tile Union or Ont of the Union. 5,-y;ews
E of Senator Hswe.
Views
From the National Intelligence. !

a'ors etees from the State of Arkansas, should
pc admltted 10 seats in the Senate of the
onleed states, mas recently been under dis
cussloh IN tna' pooy tor some days. So far
as thls question: turns On the personal Oualif
cations or merits of the applicants 49, a.
cussion has little interest to the nnhTo b,St
so far as it involves great questions of f,nJa
mental law affecting the logical relations nf
the States composing the Union under tho
Constitution, it has vivid interest to every
reader. Embracing within its scope the CON
sderation of theoretical principles the most
essential and important in connection with
the immense practical difficulties that have
resulted from the chaos into which the order
ly working and symmetry of our institutions
have been plunged by the architects of our
national ruin, this discussion presents to the
most capacious and logical of minds the gra-
vest embarrassments-e mbarrassmentsin indeed
which, to the thoughtful inquirer, rise in
completely and seriousness precisely in pro-
portion to the eomprehensiveness and logical
faculty of the mind that undertakes to grasp
them with view of bringing such chaotic
relations into harmony with the theoretical
arrangements of the Constitution
The question whether, in point of law.
States like Arkansas are " in the Union" or
" out of the Union,n has been discussed in
many aspects and relations, but this simple
touestion, Invested of irrelevant issues, has
, never been more clearly presented in one of
| its aspects than in the following brief obser-
| yations made in the Senate, on the 18th Ill
| timo, by Mr.. Howe, of Wisconsin. He said ::
al have document in my hand entitled
the Constitution of the United States and
! here is a clause which reads:
The Senate of the United States shall DE com
posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by
! ~, r,SI of1I Of fnr SIN
| Senator shall have one vote
"If this is genuine document and that
is a binding law, it opens up the inquiry
| whether the State of Arkansas is State of
| the Union. | have another document which
| is entitled An act for the admission of the
| State of Arkansas into the Union, and to
| provide for the execution of the laws of
the United States within the same, and for
other purposes A clause in that act reads
| as follows: ~s<.... -
That the State of Arkansas shall be one, and
is hereby declared to be one, of the United States
| of America and admitted into the Union on an
equal footing with the original States in all aspects
whatever and the said State shall consist of all tie
| territory included within the following boun-
daries, to wit ," -..r......
81 will not read the boundaries. l sup
pose the body which enacted that law had
authority to enact it, and | suppose it to be
binds the President and binds each of the
| agencies and all the authorities of the United
States except the law-making power, unless
| it has been repealed or abrogated. If it has
been repealed, l ask when, and by whom?
| There are those who say it was repealed by
the people of Arkansas. | think they are
mistaken. | think the people of Arkansas
| cannot repeal one of the acts of Congress,
and suspect it will not be seriously contend
ed by any body on this floor. There are
others who suggest, if they do not say, that
it has been repealed by the President of the
United States / think they are mistaken
also. / do not believe the President of the
! United States can repeal one Of these laws.
| do not believe that he has the authority to
do it and what is more, do not believe he
has attempted to do it, 30
"a at is said he issued proclamation which
operates as a repeal Of this statute | have
| looked at the proclamation. | do not think
| it was intended to have any such effect, and
if sofdesigned the terms employed were ut
terly inadequate to effect any such purpose.
He declared, to be sure, that the inhabitants
of the said States of Georgia, South Carroll
ma, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ala
bama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississip-
| that part Of the State of Virginia lying'west
of the Allegheny Mountains, and all such
| other parts Of that State and the other States
| hereinbefore named as may maintain loyal
adhesion to the Union and the Constitution,
or may be from time to time occupied and
controlled by forces Of the United States en-
gagged in the dispersion of said insurgents
are in a state of insurrection.
| "That portion of this proclamation which
l have read does not declare that the people
of Arkansas even are in state of insurrec-
ton positively, but only so far as they are not
controlled by the military forces of the Uni
ted States So far as they are not controlled
by those forces he does proclaim that the
people are in a state of insurrection against
the United States. But what then? What
if they are in state of insurrection, the
whole Of them, what is the consequence as
declared by the President? Simply, not that
they are out of the Union, not that they are
no longer in the Union, not that they are no
longer entitled to a representation in this
House or the other, not that they are depriv-
, ed of the functions Of a state the President
r does not declare either of these things, but
simply that &c all commercial intercourse be-
tween the same and the inhabitants thereof
, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citi-
, zens of other states and other parts of the
, United States, is unlawful and will remain
t unlawful When? "Unti such insurrec-
ton shall cease, or has been suppressed" =
What then! Why, that "all goods and chat
tells. wares andmerchandise, coming from any
I of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid,
| into other parts of the United States without
the sneeiaI license and permission of the
5 President through the Secretary of the
: Treasury, or proceeding to anyot said States,
with the exception aforesaid, by land or wa
ter. together with the vessel or vehicle con-
veying the same, or conveying persons to and
t from said States with said exceptions, Will
3 be forfeited to the United States"
"Give to this paper whatever authority
you please, if by it the people OF Arkansas
| are deprived of the power of establishing a
! State Government, of electlng Legislature,
which Legislature can elect Senators to this
body. if by this paper these prerogatives are
taken away from the people of Arkansas, they
are taken away from the people of New York
| unauestionably, because the obligations and
, the duties charged upon the people of Arkan-
sas and the people of New York are precisely
alike. The citizens Of Arkansas cannot send
commerce to New York, and New York can
not send commerce to Arkansas. They are
placed upon precisely the same footing, and
if by the terms of this proclamation Arkansas
: is.tirown without the pale of the Union, New
York is also without the pale of the Union.
:" shall say no more 10 estaDIlsn Ihe point
that up to this time the act which read from
the statutes of the United States, and which
was enacted on the 23d of June, 1886, is not
repealed or abrogated,
+ DELIRIUM CoPPERHEADIUM.-The Syracuse
/ Courier, a n. Y, Copperhead organ, badly
snake bitten, and with snakes in its head as
well as in its boots, raves as follows in the
midst Of a long editorial onLincoln's re-nom-
| nation: 5.,1.-
aye minions of power! Ye slaves to pro-