The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-07-13
Qualifications for Admission.


qualifications for Adm fssion.
The word ''loyalty' has become SO
mystified by the extra-frequent use OF
it these days, that we can understand
why many suppose that, although
President johnson is in favor of re-
storation, he is still opposed to the
admission of any man who cannot
take the test oath, or, unpardoned,
any one who participated in the re-
bellion.
The National Lteuigence1, rccog-
nized as an exponent of the Presi-
dents views, clears up the matter
very simply but forcibly, in an article
upon the necessary qualifications to
render admissible member olect to
Congress. We extract from this able
article the two following paragraphs:
"The highest duty of this Con
gress was, and is, the completion of
the restoration of the Union by the
admission of the Southern Senators
and Representatives. Until this rep
rcsentation shall have been admitted,
there can be no perfect restoration of
the Union. The Constitution i'm
poses upon Congress the duty of ad-
mitting these applicants for seats in
that body. 1t does not leave to them
the right to determine whether State
shall be entitled to representation
1t does not accord to them even the
privilege to go behind the record Of
election and inquire into any other
qualifications than those fixed by the
Constitution itself. These are deter
mined by that instrument: Each
House shall be the judges of the
election, returns and qualifications of
its own members. The qualifications
are accurately defined: No person
shall be a Representative who shall
not have attained the age Of twenty
five years, and been seven years a
citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabi-
tant of that State in which he shall
be chosen;' and No person shall be
q Senator who shall not have attained
the age Of thirty years, and been
nine years a citizen Of the United
States, and who shall not, when elect
ed, be an inhabitant of that State for
which he shall be chosen
"These simple qualifications, pre-
scribed by the great charter of our
liberties, are all with which Congress
has any concern. These provisions
of the Constitution comprise all the
authority and all the privileges OF
Congress over the subject. The
eleven Southern States, now unrep-
resented in Congress, have been re-
organized as States of the Union by
the executive, judicial and Legislative
departments of the Government. 1t
has been repeatedly asserted by all
these. departments, that they have
never been out of the Union; that,
during the rebellion, the Federal
authorities therein, and the legitimate
State Governments thereof, were only
suspended-not destroyed The pre-
sent Congress has been obliged tc
admit this fact. This was the sole
basis and the reason of the war-the
restoration of the Union-the estab
lishment of the Constitutional Go
yernment in the States in rebellion. >
The Hteliyence,', in q subsequent
paragraph, very simply and properly
defines loyalty as obedience to III,
lars, nothing more or less; and this
is what the President means when he
says loyal Senators or Representatives
only should be admitted to Congress
This is the whole matter in nut
-<&%-
The reports from the cotton grow
ing REGIONS of the West are more