Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-08-02
Communicated.
Attacking the Constellation.

from whiehit quotes thissingl sentence:
:, Though slavery IL sgre on ali aides to have
0sen the canss Of the war he held II 70 Be only
Incidentally the cause; that the prime cause tie
origin and fountain Of this REBELLION. and all the |
40ss Of our Country, sgzs radical. elementary DE-
feet and isesagraity IN our coHasnfioH aad Govern
meat asslC" f- ~
Now assent to the proposition thatit
is the right and duty Of the public press
Of the country to guard with vigilance
that sacred instrument "formed BY Wash
ipgton and Madison and Alexander
Hamilton, and 10 hold to a strict re-
sponsibility any person or party that
dares assail it; and if the Times had
given enough Of my remarks to permit
its readers to see the point made against
the Constitution, would have bad no oc-
casion for adding word But as it fail
ed to do this, / viii briefly restate my po-
sition. It was this: 81
That the true cause ami origin, not
only Of the rebellion, but of eli our nation
al troubles, was that 'detect and incon-
gruity that anomalous feature-of our
Democratic Constitution, which gives to
a portion Of the States three-6fshs rep
resentation 10 the Government for par
tieular kind Of property, and thus creates
and nurtures proud, naughty and
overbearing aristoerasy in this Demo
cratic Government of ours, which, in
strict conformity with the nature and his
tory Of privileged classes everywhere
and at all times, had claimed the right
to govern the country, and when that
right was, at length, denied By the PEG
pie, and the aupreme political power
which it had exercised, as it boasted,
for more than three-fourths Of the ex-
istence Of the Government, was
taken from tit had rebelled
against and attempted to destroy
the Government; that the same result
would have followed if any other than
slave property had been made the basis
Of political power, and therefore, slavery,
though, doubtless, as so generally agreed,
the immediate, was only an incidental,
cause OF the war-the great, first cause
being the provision of the Constitution
itself, which, by means of slavery, in
gratis "a aristocratic class or interest
upon a democratic system of govern.
ment This hard bargain was wrung
from our fathers in the Convention that
framed the Constitution by tbs grasping
selfshness and want Of patriotism Of the
Southern States, especially OF South
Carolina and Georgia. Without this
and other like guarantees" Of slavery,
or checks upon the power of the people,
they refused 10 come into the Unien,
Rnd Washington, Madison, and Alex
ander Hamilton and the rest, fear
ing that without the control Of the
Southern seaboard The Union would be
too weak ngsinst foreign enemies. felt
themselves compelled to.sabmit. 1t was
hard bargain, and they struggled
mantully against it. That staunch old
Republican, Goaverneur Morris, Of
Pennsylvania, expressed their adherence
| Of il in the following energetic style.
"Upon what principle Is It that the slaves shall
be computed In the representation Are they
! men AHfH maze tHfH tlAt4fHa 8uH let them
vote. Are they properly Why. then, 4s 40 other
property iBeladed Tiie houses in thia sts (phit-
Adelphis) are worth more than All this wrstehed
slaves thai cover the rice swamps OF South Caro-
lina The admission % slaves Inte The represen.
tatlon. VII fairly explained. 90 this. that
the inhabitAnt Of Georgia and south Carolina who
Koesfo The coast Of Afrca, and In defiance OF thu
most sacred laws d humanity, tears away bis fsl-
i Tow creatures from their dearest connect NJ and
dooms them 10 the most cruel bondage, shaH hars
mare eess IL qoEeraenf fastfsfsd for kbe prediction
I fhs Of sngnEtaf Than NJ
pania Neg jersey, who views With a landAbis .r-
/ ror nefi Tious a practice. He wCuld add, that
DoHeste aarsrg Is ne psosf president Jsaiare fas
Aistocrafic soaaisHassss e he proposed Ceass1aos
. Let Il net b. said that Direct 1Axatsou Is
/ 70 be proportional to Representation. lie would
sooner sabmlt himself 70 a tax, paying for all the
negroes la the uniiee States. than saddle posersa
'siA saeh ComstsfsiisR - adasoR Papers, Yol.
III, p. 1851.
But foreible and uuanswerable as we're
their objections for the sake of the
Union they were compelled to yield
them, and the hard bargain was struck.
nAnd nov that the Southern States have
again Withdrawn frem the Union, re-
! iectsd, spurned, and spat upon the Con-
stitution, the man that pirates of this hard
bargain, this odious three-afths govern
ing clause, as one Of the sacred guaran-
tees of the Constitution which We must
preserve and abide by for the benefit Of
these traitor States, whatever party name
be may claim, is himself traitor to
Democracy and the cause of the people.
This is my position, and abide BY it
admit, TOO, that the inference drawn
from il, that am in favor of lover
throwing the Constitution, is, so far as
TO rid it of thar uudemocratic fea-
sure, fair one, and shall en-
deavor to bear any amount of odium
that may fall to my lot in consequence.
If this is Republieanism, il is Republi-
eanism Of such an antique type, of such
very respectable pedigree, that none
need be ashamed of it The shame is,
that it is not Democracy also.
What is Democracy upon this point
am happily, just now, prepared to show.
The Democratic :" members Of Con-
: gress, in accordance with their time
houored custom, have recently issued
their periodical manifesto from Wash
ington City, advising the faithful what
they may believe in as simou-pure mod
ern Democracy They, too, have no
ticed defect and incongruity" in our
blessed Constitution, aud they, too, pro-
pose to orerthroC that proud monument
of our fathers greatness and wisdom"
but upon the following rather uovel, and