New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-16
a RADICAL FALLAcY.

the amendment is not constitutionally before
the country, because it has never been ratified
by two-thirds of the constitutional Congress.
He declares that 50 the constitutional House
of Representatives consists ofmembers chosen
by the people Of the several States, and the
Senate consists of tive Senators from each
State, > and that tit is very clear that body
not SO composed--or, in other words, where
o considerable number of States are excluded
from representation in both branches is not
| the Congress Of the United States.
This opinion is that of an able lawyer and
1 of man whom the Republicans were very glad
to claim last year, as fine specimen of
s Unionist" and ssSouthern loyalist." 1t is
certainly worth consideration; because, if it
is well founded, not even the ratification of
the amendment would cure this original de-
feet; and, consequently, such ratification
would be only vain and superhuous formal
ity. The New York Herald, however, de-
nounees Judge Sharkey's opinion as ''revo-
lutionary proposition more revolutionary,
indeed, than any that ever entered the head
of any of the leaders Of the late rebellion. "
That paper declares that, if Judge sharkey is
right, "we 1.-THE United Statesl have had no
government during the last five years moth
ing better than an unconstitutional Congress
or two, all the acts Of which are null and
void"
The Herald's argument is not new. 1t is on
i. a repetition of what Thaddeus Stevens said
in a recent letter, in which he declared that if
IT was not constitutional to exclude the
Southern States from representation the pub
lie debt Of the United States was Illegal, and
might be repudiated at any moment. Mr..
Stevens's deduction, besides being contrary to
the established principles of public law, is
very little complimentary to the integrity and
patriotism of his countrymen. No principle
is better established than that public debts of
all kinds are valid even when contracted by
revolutionary governments. Of course a yio-
lation of constitutional forms by one or all of
the branches Of a constitutional government,
cannot relieve that government, or the people
which, represents, from any obligations that
they may have contracted. Moreover, even if
the debt were legally invalid, in consequence
Of some abuse Or usurpation Of power by the
government does Mr.. Stevens seriously mean
to say that the people Of the United States
would take advantage Of such technical in
fornality, to repudiate the obligations which
they had incurred in I" the war for the Union p
They compel the South to recognize the
sacredness of a debt which the South did not
contract would they avail themselves Of
finsy and dishonest pretext to rid themselves
Of that very debt? To imagine such thing
would be too gross reflection on that great
country which fatters itself thatit could spend
three thousand million dollars in four years,
and pay it all in single generation. But it |
does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Stevens |
that if the people of the United States ever
oease to regard the sanctity of a debt ''in-
3urred in the cause of the Union, they can
'epudiate it without having recourse to any
'retext at all. No body can make them pay,
t they choose not to pay.
The Herald's style Of argument is equally
allaeious, and, of course, more absurd. If
udge Sharkeys opinion is correct concerning
he constitutionality of the United States
congress, that position isnotall weakened by
extending its application to preceding Con
presses. On the contrary, if the application
IAN be thus extended, that factorily shows, in
. clearer light than ever, the dangerous ten
1encies Of radical doctrines and radical theo-
ries. There is, besides, something ludicrous
in this excessive sensitiyeness in regard to the
recent history Of the United States. govern
ment, on the part Of people who boosted that,
n neno,np1ie N, An 1,,73,,yeae ,,d ~, 1o,, 4l
pressure of a military necessity, they had
crushed the Constitution aside, and totally ig-
aored the limitations imposed by that instru-
nent on executive and Legislative power. Even
{ it followed, from Judge sharkey's premises,
which it does not that the last three Con
crosses have been unconstitutional bodies,
such conclusion would be a very attenuated
form Of stating the notorious fact that for the
asst five years there has been no such thing as.
constitutional government in the United
States.
But, as we have said, it by no means fol-
ows that if the present Congress is irregular
md uneonstit titutional, because of the extrusion
u the Southern representatives, the former
pefsdelte bella, were Likewise ir-
'eguiar and unconstitutional In the present
,ase the absence Of the Southern representa-
ives is compulsory in the other it was vol
,ntary. It is on the effect of extrusion, or
absence, that the whole argument
depends. The Constitution declares that no
State shall be deprived Of its representatives
without its own consent. During the war
he Southern States were unrepresented;
imply because they refused to send repre-
ientatiyes TO Washington Now the Southern
states are unrepresented because their chosen
are refused admission into
congress. Thus they are deprived of rep
esentation without their own consent;o
nd it is this compulsory deprivation which
udge sharkey regards as Affecting the exist
ng Congress, and its acts with irregularity
nd lnconstitutionality,
-as------ III
AN EccENTRIc TRAYELER.--A man from Kan.
as, ffty.iye years old, arrived at Mobile, Ana.
7 a small skiHlast week, after trip down tile
yer OF one thousand eight hundred miles Soon
tier reaching there, he fell into the river byaeci-
emit. and was rescued by the police, who finding
nat be was chilly, took him to the hospital The Il
KIN contained ordinary cooking utensils a rifle
1ot-gun, pistol, and also a little dog-speciai
iyorite-Who was found innocently cnrled mn at