The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-13
RATE OF sUBsCRIPTIoNs.
HON. JOHN A. RINGHAm.
His Speech at the Convention last
wednesday,. E"


wednesday,.
Our Union friends over in the Bel
mont, Ohio, district, have excited the
general attention and commendation OF
the country in nre-nominatingN Mr.. Bing-
ham for Congress. His denomination
is looked upon as an event by leading
Union men everywhere, because of the
fact that Mr.. Bingham's great expert
ence, added to his fine abilities, have
made him, if not the actual parliament
tary leader of the House, ut least second
to none as thoroughly intelligent and
effective representative. He belongs to
the half dozen leading men of Congress.
Because of the importance attaching
to his re- nomination, we sent a special
reporter out to Cambridge last We'd
nesday and furnished our readers on
the next day with report of its pro-
ceedings. We subjoin to-day the fol-
lowing remarks made by Mr.. Bingham
to the Convention after his re-nomina-
ton. Speaking of the great issue of the
day, he said:
It is simply this, and nothing less,
whether the loyal men who saved this
Republic, in the council and in the
field, by the treasure of their purse and
the treasure of their heart, who have
given their sons, the apple of their eve,
as n sacrifice for the life of the nation.
shall be entrusted with the care of the
Republic; or whether those men who
followed the fortunes of Lee and Beau
regard and Joseph L. Johnston are to
be allowed hereafter to enter your Ma
tional Capitol as legislators and rulers
OF this great people. This is the whole
question,
The party, defaming and disgracing
the name of Democrat, assemble in
Convention, ut Columbus, and resolve
that they are in favor of the Immediate
ana unconditional restoration of the
States lately in rebellion; and in favor
of their immediate as we'll as uncondi-
tional representation in Congress.
IVOices-Never, never!l The word
immediate" is theirs, and YOU cannot
mistake the meaning of it. They are
opposed, of course, to the constitutional
amendments; they are opposed, of
course, to any new guarantees being
required for the safety or life of the RE-
public; they are opposed, of course, to
any new securities for the protection
oil person or property in the Southern
states of the Union after restoration.
Ask any one of their leaders what he
means by immediate and duncondition-
al restoration" and if you only assure
him that your confidence may be relied
upon, by following his Steps to the
privacy OF his own home, he will tell
you that he means, without any con-
sntutlonal guarantees, without any
lest oath, without any interference of
any kind on the part of Congress, that
when JEFF. Davis, Robert. Lee, Joseph
Johnson, and all the rest of them, come
to the Capitol and assume to sit down
IN the nails of Congress, or exercise the
duties of the highest offices in the Gift
OF the people, they shall be allowed to
do so without question.
DUTY TO AMEND,
They are opposed to the test oath as
unconstitutional: and they are oppos.
ed to the constitutional nmendment
because it is unconstitutional have
learned from experience, and from the
higher sources of knowledge, that the
hrst great principle of American insti-
tutions, as it is presented in Washing
tons Farewell Address, is the right ofthe
people to change their Constitutions of
necessary for the safety of the liberties
of the people. This is, duty second
to none that devolves upon them on this
earth. This struggle for four years ha s
testified to all the world that amend
mentS are needed in the Constitution of
LAe y ulIeu EoLALeSs ....
EQUAL CIVIL RIGHTS,
That which stands foremost in the
enumeration is, that hereafter "nO
State shall make or enforce anv law
which shall abridge the privileges or
lmmunities of citizens OF the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any
person OF life, liberty or property, with
out due process of law, nor deny to any
person within its Jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws"
Since nations first began to be on this
planet, never was proposition like
that penned for the people of a nation
to adopt or reject. No State shall DENY
to any person, no matter whence he
comes, no matter how poor, no matter
how frtendless, no matter how il1iterate
mo State in this land shall hereafter
deny to any person the equal protection
ofthe laws; and the Congress shall have
power, by the authority of the Ameri-
can people, to enforce this provision
where necessary. Who is there to OBJ
ject to it? Is it objected to by any
Christian man, to embody in your Con-
stitutiOn at least the simple golden rule
you learned Mt your mothers knee !:
"Whatsoever ye would that others
should do unto you, do ye even so unto
them" 1t is great step, but one that
ought long since to have been taken, to
say that henceforth no State shall deny
to any person, the lowest among us no
more than to us who are the sovereigns
of this land, the equal protection of the
laws. That principle embodied in
your Constitution, rs the will of this
people, and we may we'll say that JUS
uce,has made this land its habitation.
[Cheers.l The first attribute of Deity
is to be recognized in the Constitution
of your country. think this is one
way to make a nation immortal, to do
inafiun tn T01olFn fhn FiD1NtES 4F nII
as sacred as our own. ~ - TEe-
Z ": sEQUAn IsEPREsENTAT1oN, w
In the next place, tho States of this
Government shall have equal repre-
sentatiOn, according to their representa-
tive population. You know that when
this war began there were four millions
of slaves in the land; that by the terms
of the Constitution only three-fifths of
that population were counted in the
basis of representation. You know,
too, that by the consuming fire of that
terrible conflict every fetter fell from
every human limb, from ocean to ocean;
and when the storm cloud rose, the sun
upon its course in the heavens looked
not down upon single slave. [Ap-
plause.1 gE.JH
BY nleaus of the emancipation of
slavery, the three-fifths rule of your
Constitution was annulled; and the
question to- day is, whether South Caro-
lima, with 100000 of these black men,
just elnancipated from thralldom, but
excluded from all political rights, shall
now be counted, every one, man for
man, in the basis of representation,
along with the free men of Ohio who do
participate in the administration of
public affairs. In other words, by
reason of this change, are the 400, 600
blacks of South Carolina to count, not
withstanding the letter of the Coustitu-
ton, as strongly as so many of the free
population OF the North? This is the