The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1866-11-08

OIL ln.T SUBMITTING 10 lne power tHey
can no longer resist. The acceptance Of
this principle would make insurrection
the chronic disease of our political sys-
TEN. War would follow war, until
nearly all the wealth of the country was
squandered, and nearly all the inhabi-
tants extermiDated. Mr.. Johnson's pro-
phetic vision of that Paradise of consti-
tutionaIism, Swallowed forth in his ex-
exclamation that he would stand by the
Constitution though all around him
should perish, would be measurably re-
allied; and among the ruins Of the ma
tion a few haggard and ragged pedants
would be left TO drone out eulOgies on
"the glorious Constitution" which had
survived unharmed the anarchy, power
ty, and depopulation it had produced.
An Interpretation Of the Constitution
which thus makes it the shield of strea-
son and the destroyer OF civilization
must be false both to fact and sense.
The trainers of that instrument were
not idiots; yet idiots they would GER
tainIy have been, il they had put into it
clause declaring "that no State, or
combination of States, which may at any
time choose to get up an armed attempt
to overthrow the government establish
ed by this Constitution, and be defeated
in the attempt, shall forfeit any Of the
privileges granted by this instrument to
loyal States. But an Interpretation Of
the Constitution which can be conceiv-
ed OF as forming possible part Of it on
Iy by impeaching the sanity of its fra
mers, cannot be an Interpretation which
eAmerican people are morally bound
to risk ruin to support. r.g g...t.
But even if we should be wild enough
to admit the Johnsonian principle res
pec,ing insurgent States, the question
comes up as to the identity Of the
States now demanding representation
with the States whose rights of repre-
sentatiOn are affirmed to have been only
suspended during their rebellion. The
fact would seem TO be, that these recon-
structed States are merely the creations
of the executive branch of the govern
ment, with every organic bond hopeless
ly cut which connected them with the
old State governments and constitutions.
They have only the names OF the States
they pretend to be. Before the Rebel
lion, they had legal people; when Mr..
Johnson took hold Of them, they had
nothing but disorganized population.
Out of this population he by his own
will created a people, on the principle,
we must suppose, of natural selection.
Now, to decide who are the people OF a
State is to create its very foundations,
TO begin anew in the most comprehen-
sive sense of the word for the being Of
State is more in its people, that is, in
the persons selected from its inhabitants
to be the depositaries Of its political
power, than it is in its geographical
boundaries and area Over this people
thus constituted by himself, Mr.. John
son set Provisional Governors nomi-
mated by himself These Governors
called popular conventions, whose mem
bers were elected by the votes ofthose to
whom Mr.. johnson had given the right
of suffrage; and these conventions pro-
ceeded to do what Mr. johnson dictated.
Everywhere Mr.. Johnson;. nowhere
the assumed rights of the States !.
North Carolina was one of these cre-
ations; and North Carolina, through
the lips of its Chief Justice, has already
decided that Mr. johnson was an un-
authorized intruder, and his work null
lity, aud even Mr.. Johnson's "people"
OF North Carolina have rejected the
constitution framed by Mr. Johnson's
Convention. Other rebel communities
will doubtless repudiate his work, as
soon as they can dispense with his as
sistance. But whatever may be the
condition of these new Johnsonian
States, they are certainly not States
which can recover" rights which
existed previous to their creation.
The date of their birth is to be reck-
oned, not from any year previous to the
Rebellion, but from the year which fol-
lowed its suppression. 1t may, in old
times, have been a polite trick Of
shrewd politicians, to involve the toun-
dations of States in the mists of a
mythical antiquity; but we happily live
in historical period, and there is some
thing peculiarly stupid or peculiarly
impndent in the attempt of the public
lists of the Philadelphia Convention to
ignore the origins of political societie:
for which, after they have obtained q
certain degree of organization, they
claim such eminent traditional rights
and privileges. Respectable as these
States may be as infant phenomena, il
will not do to MethuSelahise them too
recklessly, or assert their equality il
muscle and Drawn with giants full grown
[COncluded Neat Week.1