The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-04

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aDd belief that this will certainly effect the
| object contemplated. With this bill admit
ting all It's sweeping provisions and re
strictions5 have no doubt but, if it could
be executed, it would effect the object de-
signed.
An end which is right and proper in itself
may be reached by means which are unwise
and improper, and clearly unlawful. The
o d jesuiiical dogma, that the end sanctifes
the means, is now no longer publicly avow-
ed by any party, and yet it is too often acted
upon in practice, and the case now before
us e a striking proof Of this assertion. The
friends Of this bill have been so long alb
solved with one prevailing idea that they
stop not to examine, or refuse 10 listen when
its opposers point out its mOnstrous depar
lures from the prescribed limits Of the Con-
stitution, and its utter subversion Of repub-
licsn government.
The Constitution, both State and Federal,
is the great safeguard Of our Liberties. It
is to US as an impossible wall. Its bounda-
ries we dare not pass, and within its pre-
scribed limits we are bound to act.
am no expOunder Of the Constitution,
l only claim the right Of every American
citizen, TO think and act for myself upon all
these questions.
Permit me, then, 10 call your attention
to some constitutional objections which
have borne upon my mind with sufficient
weight to settle the question, that can never
give my sanction TO the bill. The first is
that so often urged, thst it is retrospective
ia its action, aud therefore er post factO.
Now, the Bill of Rights declares that no
such law shall ever be enacted. What
is an ez post factO law? Chief Justice
Msrshall defines it 10 be a law that rem
ders an act punishable in q manner IN
which it was not punished when the actw
committed. Now it is clear that there was
no law upon our statute books when this re-
bellion commenced, that decEred that If
anv man went into il he should be punish
ed by depriving him Of the right of suf-
frage, and that punishment should be in
aicted upon him without any trial and con-
victiou. Then it is clear that this law de-
clares mole of punishment upon the rebel
that did not exist before his crime was com
mitted. But it is contended that the inten-
ton Of this law is TO protect the State
against falling into disloyal hands, and is
therefore not of this nature. What differ
ence, ask, does it make; suppose its in
tention is all right and for a good object?
This body last spring passed law changing
the penalty of horse stealing from impris-
onment 10 hanging. Suppose that law had
declared that all the horse thieves in the
State that had been stealing horses during
the war should be hung. Think you the
courts would have sustsinsd such law? It
is clear they would not. But suppose the
Legislature had stated in the law that it
was to deter and alarm all horse thieves
and prevent horse stealing and make the
crime odious, would this have been sufi-
cent to give the law validity
Now, admit the object Of this law to be
good and salatary, will not the disfran-
chite ed man feel that it is a punishment,
and that too for an offense committed long
before the law was passed? The friends OF
this bill themselves,in in their own hearts, feel
and know that it is a punishment Their
language and speeches all clearly declare it.
The rebels ought t1 suffer, say they. They
ought TO be taught to feel that treason is a
crime, and that traitors should be pun
ished.
Take this matter home TO yourselves.
You are an American citizen in the full
title 10 Gil your rights and privileges, stand
ing amongst your peers in the full enjoy
ment Of freedom and manhood; free to
think, free TO speak, free to work, equal to
auy and inferior 10 none, acknowledging no
superior but your Maker. Dare you to tell
me you would not feel it a whitening pun
! ishmeut to be deprived Of this high and
| honored privilege How would your man
] hood fade under such a standing stigma,
such blighting disgrace? Think Of your
| seifcarrying about with you amongst your
! fellow men such a mark of utter disgrace;
would you not feel like fleeing from the
! face OF your more favored fellow men and
| becoming q fugitive and a vagabond upon
! the earth2 Talk not TO me of its being no
| punishment to deprive me OF one of my
| highest privileges, 10 reduce me to the condi-
] tion Of a mere serf; to disgrace me in the eyes
Of my fellow men; TO make me TO be scofied
] at and hissed in sooietyj TO torture and taunt
| me forever,with my crime, and 70 be hidden
| TO stand aside while the freemen Of the land
went up to worship at the temple Of liberty.
Who does not feel that it is punishment,
/ and one naotei directly by the operations
| of such Law. Rass ths bill and yoq in
| dict this penalty, not upon one or two or
even a hundred, but ct least upon one hun
dred thousand Of your fellow and that
too without any form Of trial known to the
constitution, without any possible chance
| Of distinguishing the more guilty from the
less guilty, but including all alike in undis-
tingu shable and sweeping denpnciation.
The next objection to this House franchise
| bill is that It completely subverts and
changes our form of government. If this
bill passes and becomes a part Of the or
gsnic law, we will cease TO be a republic,
/
/ aristooracy; no evasion of language can
ever redeem its lost privileges or restore il
to the high position Of great and magnani-
nous free republic. Let US inquire what is
the true meaning of the term republic.
All writer's upon government agree that
it is a representative democracy, or gov
| eminent founded upon the will and consent
OF the people expressed at the ballot box
The only question that is yet unsettled is as
10 the number Of the people who may be
! lawfully excluded ; all agree, however, that
! it requires q majority Of the male members
of the State over twenty-one years of age
TO constitute Q republic. II this is SO, (snd
! any other conclusion would be an absurdity,
then ! ask, under the operation Of this bill,
! what becomes of our republic? Is it not
! totally subverted2 ? There arc in the State
! TODAY not less than $780, 900 men qualified
! 10 vote under the old law. This bill propO-
ses 10 exclude at least 100000 Of these men
! from all participation IN the government
| aud il proposes 20 restrict the right Of yOtlng 6
to not more than 1000.
Here, then. Will be one third Of this whole
number voting aud making laws IN which
| the other two-thirds have no voice. This
small minority may make what laws pas
sion, or prejudice, or spl6shness may dictate
| Il NAV impose burden upon burden upon
every burden, and yet the majority have
no remedy but to submit, or revolt against
! it. Think you sucha government can stand
| in this enlightened day, in the full blsze o
the nineteenth centu y, in this free America
of ours. The attempt at such onstroslty
| is perfectly pieposterous, and ! warn you
4 not to attempt Il, lest by your own mad
ness, and folly, and rebeihoHeagal the
universal principles Of justice and freedom
you bring down upon your own heads the
to madness and desperation,
II this measure should be adopted it i
| clear that il could not and will not be per
mitled by the General Government, as by
one Of the positive iniunotiops of the Con-
! slitution it is bound to see that the people
| Of each State shall have a republican form
of government. But the advocates Of this
bill tell Us that a man who has been in the
rebellion has lost all his rights, and cannot
| be considered a citizen. If this were SO
| what right. ! would ask, has the govern
ment over him? He is certainly either {
citizen or an alien. II an alien, then ht
cannot be tried tor treason and yet the
government is arraigning the rebels ano
trying them for treason, every day, IN oui
Federal Courts.
All writers upon political economy, and
ALI Governments, hold that q man by hi
own act cannot divest himself Of citizen
ship. Every man born in q Government
remains a citizen Of that Government le
him do what he viii, as long as he lives
unless that Government chooses 10 relin
quish its claims upon him.
The rebel, therefore, has lost none Of hi
/ lr-~ ~ .ffs-nncbfn He WAS alWava nnnn.