The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1866-04-09
THE VETO MESSAGE IN THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE

vote override 1HE PRESIDENTS veto, anu
make the Civil Rights bill q law Of the
United States. It is not with the slightest
idea of influencing the opinions Of those who
are to pass on this subject, that we comment
on this subject again, for the case is so
thoroughly prejudged, and the party drill so
complete, that though lone rose from the
dead" to appeal or warn against this unwise
action, il would have little weight.
We are not without the conviction that the
best way to show the impotence Of this
measure as one of practical benefit; its total
want of craftsmanship as valuable ally Of
personal or civil rights, its glazing invasions
of Constitutional limitations, and its fearful
inroad upon the guarded jurisdiction of the
States, is to let it go to the country and the
people to receive the fatal condemnation Of
the one, and the indignant rebuke Of the
other. We also agree with the expressed
views Of the President Of the United States
that perhaps this course is as well; for had
the veto been sustained there would always
have been some who would have thought
that good might have ensued from its pass
age, and its becoming law will settle its
worth or worthlessness, and end the ques-
ton.
That the people of this great nation, edu-
catedto profoundre for thelaw; taught
to revere the labors of their fathers; with an
hereditary instinct against the Capitalization
of power, and with no ordinary Jealousy of
the prescribed rights of the States, will give
their sanction TO measure which changes
their whole form Of government, and places
the will of changeable Congress above the
written law of their great Constitution, we
have not the shadow Of an apprehension.
Many months will not roll round before they
will vindicate the wisdom Of the Chief Magis-
trate in his attempt to preserve the real lib
critics and the chartered rights Of the Amcri-
can people from the most dangerous viola
law. There are two ways Of destroying re-
publican institutions one by open overt at
tack with force of arms, as in the case of the
late rebellion; and the other, far more insid-
ious and muo h more likely to be successful
the gradual absorption Of power from the
people and its COZ. 'solidation into some single
agency. The latter system is pursued in
France by the wors.hipper of the C8sARs
under the grandiloquen plea OF the interests
of civilization; it is being initiated in this
country by Congress under the sacred name
of human rights, and with th.' plausible pre-
text of devotion to liberty.
We do not believe that two millions OF
soldiers have been marshaled to the defence
of the Constitution and laws made in pur-
suance thereof" saving it and them from Le-
struction by wading through seas of blood to
have them mutilated, invaded, and disre-
garded by those who have been chosen to
uphold and maintain them. As we read the
past, and remember our own times, those
men who have been conspicuous in defend
ing that sacred instrument have been, and
are most endeared to the affection of the
masses, and find the most honorable place in
American history. 1t is hardly to be sup
posed that we have degenerated to the extent
that their counsels are forgotten, or that an
example of the conduct that made them i'm
mortal is to be treated by those who live to-
day with disrespect
We do not say of the Civil Rights bill that
in itself it extinguishes the State, but we do
aver, that if Congress has the constitutional
power to pass this bill, which strikes at the
very foundation Of State authority, then
there is not left solitary province of the
State upon which it may not trespass, or a
right reserved to them beside the right of OBJ
liberation.
The Supreme Court will undoubtedly pre-
vent this act from producing any alarming
mischief in the communities where it is spe-
cially to operate. Before a brbed army of
commissioners overrun the South to stir up
strife, incite discomfort, stimulate litigation,
and in Volve the State with the Federal au-
thoriti es to increase their fees, that Court will
interpose and stamp with the brand of uncon-
stitutio nality this pernicious measure. We
predict that every principal objection of The
PRESIDENT in his veto message will be sus-
tanned by that august tribunal. 10 that iu-
dicial bulwark we have now only to look to
save the country from the pcris of centrali-
cation, and rescue the Constitution from an
initiation.
The people have another province. They
are also to pass upon this bill. They are to
judge of its merits or dement's. They are in
favor of protecting all persons in the enjoy
Inent of the rights of life, liberty and property.
So is the President of the United States.
His whole official course, and all his uttered
sen timents, prove him to be sincere in his
desire to shield the freedmen Of this country
from abuse and wrong and any act of Con
gress that had honestly sought to protect
these invaluable personal and civil rights
would have received his willing sanction.
But when, in the performance of this plain
and humane duty, Congress unnecessarily
undertook, without right to settle the qucs-
ton of citizenship; when it made it penal for
State Judge to render an honest judgment
in his official capacity; when it unsettled the
criminal code of every State in the Union,
and assumed to control and regulate the sub
jects of contracts and suits, and when it
made it possible to food the land with count
less emissarics, whose very profits were to be