Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1866-02-10

bellion, who have been uncondition-
ally pardoned by the President, and
have taken, or are willing, to take
lhe amnesty or oath of allegiance,
can be effected by interposing the
test oath of 1862. 1t is clear, that,
if Congress has the power to add to
the qualifications prescribed by the
Constitution for members of Con.
gross, then it may change those al.
ready prescribed. 1t is only necessa-
ry for Congress to enact that all
members elected to either House of
Congress, and that every officer un-
der the Government, shall be Il de-
scendent of the African race, and
we may have whole Government
constituted Of black men or if Con-
gress chooses to make no change in
some Of the departments of the
Government, then we can have u
variety of colors, some black, 9TH
ers white.
The clause in the Constitution
which provides that each House of
Congress shall judge Of the "elec-
tions, returns and qualifications" Of
its own members, has been constru-
ed by the radical party to give the
power TO the House Of Representa-
tives, not merely to inquire and de-
eide whether the applicant for a
seat has the qualifications prescrib-
cd by the Constitution, viz that he
was "twenty-fve years of age" had
been "seven years citizen of the
United States" and was san inhab-
liant Of the State in which he was
elected but certain other qualifica-
tions added by Congress, and not to
be found in the Constitution. Such
a measure, certainly, can be accom-
plished only by an amendment of
Of the Constitution in the usual
form. There seems to be an idea
afloat in the minds of some, that
the exercise by the two Houses Of
Congress of the powers given them
to judge of the right of each of
their own memxers to take their
seats is too simple and plain mat
ter, as is represented above to ad-
NIT of much disputation, and it is
proper to suggest that the greatest
amount of trouble and vexation in
cdent to the duties of Committees
on Elections, in either House Of
Congress, arises on questions of
fairness at the polls, and of the
qualifications of voters. The ques-
ton of the returns and qualifca-
tions of members seldom gives any
trouble
l think it important, at this per-
ilous juncture, to point attention to
the remarkable character of the pro-
ceedings of the Republican conven-
ton, assembled at Chicago in 1860
their platform and what they
called the declaration Of their prin-
ciples and uie,gS. l think that we
may discover that there were some
men engaged in the handiwork of
that platform who had already
strongly conceived the idea of the
permanent ascendancy which their
party might attain to, if they could
only succeed in appropriating to
themselves the exclusive property
in the name or title of champions of
the equal rights Of man, without dis
tinction of color.
From the solemn and formal man
ner in which they announced them
selves, their convention, and it's
purposes, to the public, we may in
fer that they looked upon them
selves as commencing new era in
the history of party triumphs, and
of their own party in particular.
They do not say, in terms, that they
mean to put forth declaration on
ly second in Importance to that of
1776; they do not, in their pream-
BILE, quite assume the pomp Of style
nor the imposing arrangement of
subjects Of our Fathers, when they
preluded their declaration. in the
following language:
"When, in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bonds
which have connected them with
another" &C., &C., "a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind require
that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separa-
ton; but they proceed, with quite
sufficient solemnity and simple dig.
nifty, to resolve "That we, the dele
gated representatives of the Repub-
lican electors of the United States,
in convention assembled, in dis
charge of the duty we owe to our
constituents and our country, unite
in the following declarations lst.
That the history of the nation dur
ing the last four years has fully es-
tablished the propriety and necessi-
ty of the organization and perpetnd-
tion of the Republican party, and
the causes which called it into exis-
tence are permanent in their nature,
and now more than ever before, and
demands its peaceful and eonstitu-
tional triumph"