The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-20
Texas as nn Example.

Texas as an Example.
The utterly ilioeical and contradictory position
held by the conservatives is seen whenever they
attempt to discuss the status of any OF the States
lately in rebellion. For instance, we find in our
Democratic contemporary the tollowing:-
'"Texas has now gone through all he forms
prescribed by Ihe ld1 and the authorities, ana
complied with each and every condition imposed
TO enable her to resume The control OF her Oon
affairs. constitution has been formed anu
adopted, elections have been held in all parts OF
the State, and on the 9th instant the Legislature
met for the purpose of inaugurating the Goyer-
nor and putting the machinery OF the nelC GOO
e7Unlent in full and complete motion. Ihdt Oelng
done, all the States eoM haze resumed meT otd
places under the Constitution and the last o0sta-
Gle be removed TO the official prom mulgaton of
the fact that the Iroclamatons Of 1861 are all
revoked and the state Of rebellion, as well as
the Rebellion itself, is at an end as to all the
States"
What 'fornS prescribed by l0lo," we would
like to know, has Texas gone through witt?
Point them out. We know Of no "talos" except
those passed by the law-making power Of the
Government.
What conditions imposed" has she complied
with? And how, according to the conservative
theory, can conditions" be ''imposed" upon
State TO enable her to control her oaon affairs?
"a constitution has been formed" Who
ava
this State ''in the Union," as the conservatives
call it? Under what lars was the Convention
assembled? What competent authority pre-
scribed the terms and conditions of member
ship? How much had the people OF Texas to
do with all this
THE machinery of the new Government
how came Texas to need a neU government?
Who overthrow the OLD government? According
to the conservative theory, she has been State
in the Union all the time and lost none OF her
rights by the Rebellion. What usurping and
revolutionizlng power, therefore, has been al
work IN her midst, overture wing her govern
ment and replacing 1t with something else
How does conservatism explain this?
'"That being done, all the States will have
resumed their O d places under the Constitution
1t seems then, that by some means they lost
their old places in the Union. But the conserva-
tive theory is that they did not and could not.
The conservative theory, then, is a false one.
Texas is q hard nut for our conservatives to
crack According to them, she has been in the
Union all the time, and entitled to representa-
tion in Congress-; and yet, for the last year and
more, she has had no Governor, no Legislature,
no Government. She was entitled to two Sena-
tors, but there was no Legislature TO elect them.
She was entitled to Congressman, but there were
no laws under which TO hold elections, or officers
to give certificates. She has been State in the
Union all the time, entitled to all the rights and
privileges of State and yet the President is
endorsed in overtime wing her government,
deposing her officers, abolishing her laws, Great
ing new government for her, and imposing ''con-
ditions," before even now she can ''resume
her old position under the Constituton!n Accord
ing 10 conservatism, therefore, there is only
one supreme power in u State, and that Is the
President of the United States! He can depose
governors, disperse legislators, unseat judges,
disregard State Constitutions and laws, call
conventions, prescribe the qualifications of elec
tors, impose conditions insist upon the rati6ca-
tion of Constitutional Amendments, and do
anything and everything according TO his own
will and pleasure. This is all right. 1t is only
when the people of the United States step in
and through their representatives-the consti
tutional law-making power of the nation-en-
deaVor to have some say in this great business
of reconstruction that the Constitution is vio-
lated and State rights imperilled!
Now the distinguishing feature of our Gov.
ernment is that it is a government of la,o.
Whatever is done must be done according to
law. The President is the erecutiue He cannot
make law. He cannot legally create an office.
He can only act according to the terms OF the
laws as he finds them on the statute-oook. If,
therefore, such great work as that OF recon-
struotion is to be done; if States have lost their
'fold places under the Constitution, and are to
be restored; if conditions" are to be imposed
before they can resume the control OF their
own affairs, all this must be done according 10
td1. The moment we step outside of law we
have opened the door wide 10 usurpatiOns with.
out limit. Hence it is that the position of the
conservative party, when closely analyzed, witt
its blatant aVowal of extreme State rights OF
the one hand, and its servile endorsement o
the complete overthrow of State organism OIL
the other is one of the most dangerous ana re
vOlutionary attitudes ever assumed by any part!
in this country. 1t involves the degradation o
the law-making power Of the nation, and it
destruction as an independent co-ordinat
branch OF the Government.
The Age this morning, with an attempt a