The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-10-26
the proposed Constitutional Amend
ment-Why no southern state can
ratify ft-POIfcy or the S0pthe I'm
states, New and last phase OF the
Irre rre ssfbte CONFLICT. y ...-...a -
From a Northern Exchange.

States,-New and last phase OF the
IrFePressibie confiict. 5 saal4sa
: be am From Northern Exchange So he
1t might be all right and proper for Congress
in dealing with communities which levied
war against the government to impose penal
ties upon their leading men as severe as those
contained in this section. The right to do SO
could not be questioned. ail ~
The policy of it would alone be the sub
isct of consideration and argument.
But to call upon the very people whom it
is proposed to disfranchise to agree them
selves TO the decree of 'disfranchisement
would be, fit were not preposterous, re-
finement Of crlieIty aud it certainly justified
the. suspicion that in framing the proposed
constitutional amendment it was 80 ingeni-
ously devised as to preclude the possibility of
any Southern State acceding TO it. We
think we, are safe in saying that there is not
a Governor Of any one of those States, exclu-
ding Brownlow of Tennessee and Pierpoint Of
Virginia, whose elections were gross impbsi-
lions on the people Of their respective States),
and that there is not any high official, either
in the executive, Judicial or legislative de-
partments, who would not be, under the Sec
ton Eabove' quoted, Immediately disquali6es
from holding Office. We know that in the
South the leading men, such as aspire to pub
lie position, or did not, at least give aid and
comfort to the rebels, y'be counted on the
fingers Of q mans hand aaao4
La very rare Instances, indeed, were loyal
men found among the better class of South
ern citizens in those portions Of the Confeder-
aey that were held for any length of time by
the rebel armies.
!atIn fact, ne matter how we'll disposed ofigi-
nally to the Union cause, there was no alter
native left to the people of the South but all
legiance, voluntarily or compulsorily, to the
Confederate government.
In the southern States public positions
were held much more permanently than in
the free States, and were confined to a much
more restricted class of the community.
The same men continued to be elected time
after time to Congress- to the Legislature, or
to. Executive or Judicial offices. The sur
vivors of that class are still the men to hold
similar positions. 81
And now those very men, constituting GER
tainly three-fonrths of those who exercise Of
fetal functions in the South, are called upon
to decree that they themselves, having in the
past taken the oath to observe the Constitu-.
ton Of the United States, and having subse-
quently participated in the rebellion, are I'M
worthy and incapable of holding any Office
civil or military, under the United States or
any State. Will they do it, Is it within
the bounds Of human probabilities that they
could doit Z? "~''8 sl' - -H3
VIII. as fl...-l---,..~,,,. a liissl.Leal of
success might the sacred congregation at
Rome call upon all Protestant communities to
forswear and denounce their hercses and dis
franchise all ministers and teachers thereof,
Oh pain OF continuous exclusion from the pale
Of the Church. That exclusion is really about
as ridiculous a penalty in the one case as il
would be in the other. ,S e slao- y
What doithe Southern States lose by nom
representation in Congress? Some three or
four score individuals fail to receive five thou
sand year, cart loads Of books and station
cry, and the afranking privilege There is
the be-ail and the end-all CT the deprivation.
And ii is to avoid that most direful penal
ty that the people Of the South are expected
to surrender their independence and their
self-respect. What an absurdity! Congress
cannot in general legislation. Discriminate
between the various parts Of the country -
The laws must apply equally toafl sections.
And even if Congress were disposed to dis
eliminate against the south the presence of
forty Ur Fifty members in the House, of TWEEN I
ty senators in the Senate, would hardly staud
In the way of that disposition. So far, there
FORE as general legislation goes, the States of
the South lose nothing practically by the ex-
clusion of their representative from Congress.
They have their independent State and nuni-
eipal governments, administered by such per-
sons as they choose to elect, without regard
to any supposed disquall6cations. TO get
three or four scoreirepresentatiyes into Con-
gress they must be willing to fofego the privi-
ege and right of these independent local gov
ernments. And while, on the one hand, the
men whom they must, in such cases, prescribe
and disfranchise are those whoi days Of dis
aster !. and suffering identified themselves
with the whole body Of electors, those who
would represent them in Congress must of
necessity be men who either fought against,
conde mned Or refused to participate in the
cause of which the people of1the South. rashly
unwisely, but bravely and conseentiousb
y,stakeif their hives fortunes and honor.
Ft1e simple statement OF the alternative pro-
pesitionfis enough9to show that the people of
thaSouthern States cannot possibly be ex pee
ted to entertain seriously the proposed eonsti-
tutional amendment. Governor Humphreys
Of Mississippi, was not far astFay in presum-
ing Chat The mere reading of il would cause
itsfejection BY the legislature. It will be the
same with the other Southern legislatures
q How will the matter then stand ? The ex-
scatiye and the Legislative departments Of the
government will contnne, the unfortunate
conflict 10 which they have been engaged for
the last year--the Judicial siding, probably,
now with one, and now with the other the
sectional bitterness and antipathy which led
to the war in the first instance will be grow
ing more aud more intense the eoIored peo-
pie, for whose welfare politicians profess so
much anxiety, will be falling lowerand lower
in the social scale and the. Southern States,
content with their independent local govern
ment, and only bent upon retrieving their
ruined fortunes, will seek to take no part in
the federal government. But, in the mean