The loyal Georgian., 1866-02-24

showed how it obtained place in the
Constitution, quoting from Hamilton and
from Madison and from other trainers OF
that instrument, to show that the very
crisis anticipated by them has arrived;
and that the guarantee must be per
formed, not only for the sake of individu'
al States. but for the sake of the Union
to which they all belong, and to advance
the objects of the Constitution declared
in its preamble.
Mr.. Sumner then went on to examine
the true definition of what is 'republi-
can form of government according to
the requirements of the Constitution of
the United States This, he held, could
be shown under four different heads =
first, as associated by the fathers through
out the long revolutionary controversy
which eliminated in var; secondly, as
announced in solemn declarations; third
ly, as sustained in declared opinions, and
fourthly, as embodied iu public acts.
Under the first of these sub>heads he
proceeded to show by much illustration,
from history, that our fathers struggled,
year after year, in controversy with the
mother country; and went forth to battle
to establish the very principle for which
he now contended, to secure the natural
right of men, and especially, to vindicate
the controlling maxim, that there can be
no taxation without representation.
He entered into an elaborate review of
the principles asserted by James Otis,
John Adams and Patrick Henry, by the
Colonial Assemblies of Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania and Virginia; and finally,
by the Continental Congress, to demons
strate the issue of principle actually made
in the controversy with the mother coun-
try, and declared that independence was
the means to an end, and that end was
nothing less than a republic, with liberty
and equality as the animatiDg principles,
where the government should stand on
the consent of the governed; or, which
is the same thing, where there should be
no taxation without representation.
The following is the, proposition on
which Mr. Sumner based his speech, it
being offered as a substitute for the pro
posed constitutional amendment of the
Reconstruction Committee relative to the
basis of representation:
Whereas, 1t is provided IN the Con-
stitution that the United States shall
guaranty to every State in the Union a
republican form of government; and
Whereas, By reason of the failure of
certain States to maintain governments
which Congress could recognize, it has
become the duty of the United States,
standing in place of guarantor, where the
principle has made lapse, to secure to
such States, according to the requirement
of the guaranty, governments republican
in form ; and
Whereas, further, It is provided in a
recent constitutional amendment that
Congress may enforce the prohibition
of slavery by appropriate legislation"
and it is important to this end that all
distinction of rights on account of color
now, therefore, to carry out the guaran,
ty of a republican form of Government,
and to enforce the prohibition of slavery;
Be 1t resotved By the Senate and
House of Representatives. IN Congress
assembled, There shall be no oligarchy,
aristocracy, caste or monopoly invested
with peculiar privileges and powers, and
there shall be no denial of right, civil or
political on account of color or race any
where within the limits of the United
States, or the jurisdiction thereof-but
all persons therein shall be equal before
the law, whether in the courtroom or at
the bailot>box. And the statute, made
in pursuance of the Constitution, shall
be the supreme law of the land, anything
in the Constitution or laws of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding,