Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-18
Hon. ,. M. Ashley on Suffrage.


We extract the following from the report Of
his remarks:
And now, fellow-citizens, permit me to
pass TO the consideration Of subject which
ought to interest every loyal man in the ma
tion. e..
Tho last rebel army has been defeat cd and
disbapded. The Union army Is marching
home In triumph beneath its torn and blood.
stained banners, its scared and weather.
beaten veterans shaking the very earth be.
meath their tread. As they pass in review
through the National Capital, and in every
city, they are greeted with shouts and tears,
and everywhere receive the homage and ben
edictions Of the nation.
At their oountry's call, moro than n mil.
lion men voluntarily left their quiet and
peaceful homes TO peril, and, II need be, to
yield up their lives to save the nations life
To-day the remnant Of this patriotic and he
roic army are returning to their homes to as
sumo again the peaceful and responsible du-
ties Of American citizens. This is n specta-
clio the glory and grandeur of which daz-
zles the world with its splendor, and Is
worthy to be written In the Book Of Life by
the recording angel. Applause
With the return OF this army ends the
struggle to maintain our national existence
by force Of arms, and struggle unlike any
In our history is to take its place. Who shall
be authorized to reorganiEe loyal State gov
ernments in the late rebel States' Shall II
be loyal men or disloyal men? Shall educated
treaaon be clothed with the power or unedu.
Gated loyalty? Shall the men who for the
past four years have labored with might and
main to destroy the Government, and whose
hands are red with the blood Of my loyal
countrymen, be entrusted with the full power
to govern not only themselves and the loyal
men Of the South, but, uniting with their
late Northern allies, govern US also?
These are practical questions, 1t seems to
me, and questions Of oftranscendent Importance
to US as free people. If the loyal men Of
the nation would answer them as the re-
turned Union soldiers would answer them, l
would have no anxiety for the future. If
one question could be satisfactorily answered
there would be no serious disagreement among
loyal men. That question is this: What
during the war has been, and what Is now,
the legal status Of the rebel States?
/ hold that when the people'of the States
recently in rebellion confederated together in
violation Of the National Constitution, and
organized and maintained by force of arms a
de Jaet0 hostile government, and the rebel
lion assumed proportions formidable enough
10 claim and to have conceded to II by the
United States and by the great Powers Of
Europe belligerent rights, from that hour
constitutional State Governments in each Of
the States so confederated together ceased to
exist, and until State Governments are reor-
ganiLed in each Of said States in subordina-
tiOn to the National Constitution and are
recognized by Congress, there can be no con-
stitutional State Governments in such States.
hold that, when the people of the thirteen
Colonies adopted our present National Con.
stitution, the old Confederation was abol-
ished, and the United States became ma
tion that the National Constitution is the
supreme law Of the land, anything in the
Constitution, laws, or judicial decisions of
Of the States to the contrary notwithstand-
ing;" that the National Government thus
created is clothed with full powers for its
self.preservation that the Government of
the United States Is a Government of the
people and not Government of the thirty
six sovereign States; but n Government of
the people residing in the several States,
which have State Governments, organized in
subordination to, and in conformity with,
the National Constitution; that the people
who maintain such State Governments, and
they alone, are constitutionally clothed with
the power of governing the nation.
hold that whenever the people residing in
any one or more States neglect or refuse to
maintain constitutional State governments,
whether 1t be by abolishing their State con-
stitutions and refusing to ordain new ones,
or by confederating together with other
States, or with foreign Powers to make war
upon the nation, from that moment the gov
erning power, whether for National or State
purposes, which was lodged by the National
Constitution and laws Of the United States
In the people Of such State or States, termi-
mates, and remains in the people residing in
the States which maintain constitutional
Governments. In other words, that the SOW
ereignty Of the nation cannot be destroyed
or impaired within the territorial Jurisdiction
Of the United States. by the action or the
refusal to act of any one or more States.
Applause
l hold that the people of any State may
alter or abolish their State constitutions and
governments whenever they see ct to do so,
and they may refuse to establish others, and
that there is no power in the National Gov
ernment to compel the majority of the peo-
pie In any State to maintain State govern
ment or to elect Senators and Representa-
tives to Congress, or to vote for Presidential
Nevertheless, the sovereignty Of
the United States over the territory and peo-
pie within such State or States remains un-
impaired the laws Of the United States are
legally in full force, and the allegiance Of
every citizen residing within the territorial
limits Of the nation, whether in States or
Territories, is due to the United States,
whatever may be the action of the majority
Of the people in any State. Those who can
see in these propositions a recognition OF the
right Of secession, are remarkable logicians.
The speaker here gave several illustrations
OF this point, and continued as follows:
If, in our efforts to reorganize loyal State
Governments in the late rebel States, we per-
nit the question Of loyal suffrage to remain
an open question, widespread agitation Is
and fear disaster and defeat,
not only to the Union cause in most of the
rebel States, but in some of the loyal States
also. II, however, all loyal men, without
distinction Of race or color, are invited and
permitted to vote for delegates to the pro-
posed Constitutional Conventions, which are
tp be or ought to be held in each of tho late
rebel States, and for tho acceptance or re-
ection of any Constitution which may be
framed by such Conventions, whatever the
result, there can be no violent agitation or
formidable division of the Union party.
Applause.
II the loyal whites and loyal blacks of the
South, in recognizing loyal State govern-
nents, see flt to limit the right of the elective
franchise to tho blacks who can read and |
write the English language, and to all "who |
nave been in military or naval service of the |