Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-09-01
RADICAL nrsuN1ONTsnI.

ingly a notice Of speech Of Mr.. SHELLA-
BARGER Of Ohio, in which special reference
is made TO his argument in favor Of the
power Of Congress to decide when a State
has a republican form Of government, and
is fit to resume its relations to the other
States Of the Union" Mr. SHELLABARGER
claims this power for Congress by the terms
Of the Constitution, and the sanction of SD
preme Court decisions. The fact is not 50,
and the argument is specious.
The trainers Of the Constitution did not
contemplate state Of case in which States
would be out Of their normal relationship
with the Federal Union, and there is not
line in that instrument which provides that
any department Of the Government, or
all Of them combined, shall have ju-
risdiction Of The mode Of "resuming" such
relationship To say that the Consti-
tuition conferred upon Congress the power to
re-admit, is to admit that the trainers Of the
Constitution, foresaw a mode, by which States
might Withdraw, even though they did not
concede the right. The theory Of the war
on behalf Of the Government, maintained
that States were not out. by virtue Of seces-
sion ordinances, and could not get out of
the Union except by successful revolution,
and the result Of the war established this the
ory. It must therefore be held that the civil
war was an unsuccessful attempt al revolution
which left the States where they were when
it commenced that is, in the Union. -Four
Of the eleven States in question-Virginia,
the two Carolinas, and Georgia-were origi-
nal parties to the Constitution, and the seven
Others implicated in the revolution, were
made 50 in the manner prescribed by that
/ Constitution. The accepted construction Of
the Constitution excludes the supposition
that one ofthe members Of the Union can
dissolve by its own act, or be deprived by tie
act Of others, ofits relationship in and with
the Union; and, as we have said, has given
no power to Congress, the Courts, or Execu-
tive, or all Of them to decide upon case
that was notforseen or thought possible to
arise.
The Supreme Court has never made de-
cision which involves this point II was
not the question in the Rhode Island rebel
lion Of 1912, nor in any of the prize case
| decisions since the commencement Of the
civil war. The former was a contest be-
tween contending governments within a
State, and the latter-the AMY WARWICK
and ether cases, related to the rights and
liabilities Of persons resident within terri
tory on which a rebellious war was raging.
Neither had the remotest reference TO the
question of the power of States to Withdraw
from the Union, or the power of Congress to
prescribe the mode by which an attempt at
withdrawal by State, and its consequences,
should be remedied.
The issue that the Radicals are now
forcing on the country is wholly different
from that which has elected so much dis
cussion from the very day that the Federal
government was put in operation
That question, more than such incl
dental issues as slavery and tariffs, led to
the war. The war decided it in favor Of the
General Government against absolute State
sovereignty. Practical and patriotic men
are willing to abide that decision. But the
Radicals, in order to carry their schemes,
are proposing TO coneede that the right o.
separate State action was practically asserted
by the war, TO a degree that dislocated
the normal and Constitutional relations Of
certain States to the Union; and they do this
in order to obtain ground for a theory from
which TO derive powers never granted, OIL
thought of by the makers Of the Constitution
and by which they hope to so consolidate the
powers Of government, that they may be
able to retain ascendency, and enforce their
doctrines and views of public policy as the
irreversible law of the land.
Mr.. SHELLABARaER whose legal abilities
are acknowledged to be considerable, is US.
ing them in the interest Of the lawless pro-
iects of radicalism, and has made an argu
ment filter 10 be addressed to a prejudiced
and fanatical audience from the hastings
than in the forum Of a court, or to deliber-
alive assembly of statesmen.