The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-02-18

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as with the natural rights. Promises founded
on the Declaration Of Independence rest on no
foundation ct all, 70 far Is the law goes; for
the declaration was superseded by the con-
stituion, and the parts Of the declaration that
the country was not disposed to ratify were
left out That promise was one Of those parts.
Mr.. Sumner assumes that not to perform this
superseded promise Is "moral and political
bankruptcy" And here again we see his
failure 10 distinguish between the real and
the Ideal. He is led on by this word bank
ruptcy, and, forgetting that he has called 1t
'moral" only, rushes forward to say that II
10 Reputation, and then that 1t must lead to
"the reputation Of the financial obligations Of
the country" Here b climax, and all out Of
. little metaphor. Bankruptcy that Is only
moral, political, fgurative, ID at once made
equal with the real bankruptcy that would be
a national calamity. Is there no distinction
between 'swords and factsr
Those parts Of the Grafton which claim
suffrage for the negro a. necessary policy Of
the natlon viii require but little answer by
argument; fbr ths country and the world--all
mon casside the radical republican party
will completely deny the truth Of the
points ftcm which they start. without
emancipation. followed by the arming Of the
slaves, rebel shareholders would not have
been overcome" Without negro soldiers
we would not have put the rebellion down.
This Is the first in magnitude Of the many
absolutely false statements that we are re-
quired to accept, not on any evidence, but on
mere assertion. "Yielding to necessity the ne
groes were armed;" and all the country knows
that 1t was not yielding to necessity, but to
radical clamor and Vaccination, and that even
the machinery of the government was used to
defer the hour of success that this measure
might be made to seem necessary, and so be
forced upon us. Emancipation will fail with
out acknowledgements" the negro cannot be
kept free unless made voter; the gift of
suffrage alone can make the destruction Of
slavery real Even the author Of this makes
no attempt to prove it. All this and the pre-
tences that "this republic can only be saved
by making the negro voter"-that the rebel
debt can only be kept down and the national
credit kept up by the same means-are mere
pieces Of declamatory nonsense. Mr.. Sumner
has worked himself into passion and con-
jured up this phantasmagorla of national hor-
rors, and doubtless believes It all real; but
the country, which Is quite calm and cool
meanwhile, knows better. Any eye can see
through all this that has not the radical fine
L. L. h,,.. c1ou
teristic that mon oome 10 believe what they
are always declaring 70 be true, though they at
first knew II TO be false. Thomas JefEsson, IN
tho time OF the Revelation, observed Of the
writer's In the pay Of the British Ministry that
they had lied 80 long and 20 psrsistenay
against us thst the ministry which paid for he
lies had come TO believe them, that the people
lied about believed them also, and that finally
the very liars themselves came to believe in
what they wrote. II b the same with party
men and their party opinions We cannot ex-
plain In any Other way Mr.. Summers faith In
tho above absurdly false statements which he
lays down a. accepted truths.
Mr.. Summers argument on the fourth article
Of the constitution Is msnifestly airdrawn. His
position n taken. on the requirement Of the
constitution that we shall guarantee republi
can form Of government 70 every State. He
makes this apply TO negro suffrage by forcing
process that would have overturned the whole
fabric Of States - they were known to the
fathers. He has first 70 fnd out what rcpub-
loan form Of government Is, In order 10 know
whatit b that the constitution guarantees-and
this brings him to definitions No known de6-
milton Of republic hb into his argument, and
all hitherto accepted are cast away. He then
makes new one. to the exact measure Of his
purpose, according TO which the essential con-
dition Of republic Is that all tho citizens
shall have an equal voice In the government"
Neither the Southern States nor any othor
places In the known world come up to this deH-
milton. He therefore finds that those States are
not republics, but aristocracies; and calls upon
Congress to guarantee that they shall DO re-
publics, by giving all their people o voice In
the government-that is, by negro suffrage.
The definition Of q republic Is drawn from "the
fathers" and this argument Is fathered on those
worthy men. But II must be granted that tho
fathers knew their own thoughts ~ well AS Mr..
Sumner doea Undoubtedly u the Southern
States aristocracIes now, when all the niggers
are free, they were aristocracies in the last
century, when all the negroes were slaves; and
therefore the fathers assented that aristocracies
might be sufficiently republican TO satisfy tho
requirement Of the law, or they could not have
those communities. Southern
States, IL this objection be good, have always
been open to It The fathers in their lives did
not urge II, and now Mr.. Sumner trumps II up
out Of their literary remains Perhaps IL was
the aristocratic nature Of Southern institutions
that guarded 90 well the phraseology Of the
on this point The instrument
only calls for governments republican ain