The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1866-05-24
EBENSBURG PA, THURSDAY, MAY 24 1866. :

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of that duty, require such conditions or |
guarantees as the safety of the Union, In |
their judgment, demands This, too, is
objected to. =.
An honorable gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania at the other end of the Capitol, with |
some self as it seems to me, sets
down all these reconstruction suggestions
or theories as mere whimsies. He has a
plan OF his own to restore the Union aud
get rid of traitors. It is simple in theory
and cheap in execution. He will execute J
it himself, with only the aid of consta- |
bic. Whenever a rebel shows his head, |
he and his constable will pouuce upon
him like a Buchanan marshal on flying !
negro. He will put him where no rebel |
ever went before with his cousent-in the
old Capitol Prison. If the honorable
gentleman really thinks that his plan is
practicable, Why does he not set about its
execution His intended victims swarm
through the Capitol and the White House,
and two or three dozen of them are asking
admission to Congress. There are obje.
tinns to this theory. Indeed, it has been
tried. It was Buchanan's plan for sup
pressing the rebellion, but it failed.
Now, sir, the theory of the Opposition,
based upon the second and third sections
| OF the first article of the Constitution,
under which members from the rebel
| States are to be admitted to these Halls
without our leave, is that the right of
| State to representation cannot be forfeited
or lost so long as these two sections remain
unaltered. Is there no objection to this
theory? Why, it comedies the right of
| fafi kha -ho1a
Their members could have entered this
Capitol at any time and voted as the inter-
est of the cohfederaey required. If the
war had lasted fifty years instead of four,
the right would have run through all that
time. Nor would it have ceased if our
armies had been overpowered and the
confederacv left unmolested. After one
hundred years of separation, they might
still vote for President and send members
to Congress. Unless you admit the doc
! trine of forfeiture, you cannot avoid this
conclusion. Aside from this doctrine,
nothing hut an amendment of the Consti-
tuition could deprive them of this right.
But the Constitution could not be amen
ded, because these eleven States are more
than one-fourth of the whole, and the
assent OF some of them would be necessary
for any amendment; and to deprive them
of Senators, the assent of every one would
be necessary.
The advocates of this theory, to avoid
this result, concede that the right of rep
-esentatiou would be forfeited by success.
But how? The Constitution is not chan
ged by the result of battle. There 1t is,
just as it was before. If they lost nothing
by defeat, would they by SUGGEST They
lost nothing by secession and unsuccessful
war, you say, because these were uncon-
stitutional. Can they lose anything, then,
by victory? Would not that be uncon-
stitutional also? "But We would acqu:-
esce." Well, suppose we should; would
not acquiescence be unconstitutional and
void I Where in the Constitution are We
authorized to acquiesce in division of
the Republic? If their ordinance of Sc
cession was void, would not our consent
to it DE equally void7 If the ordinance
was void, can it be rendered more so by
, defeat OF less so by victory1 Some of the
advocates of this theory, to avoid this
reasoning, concede that the right of rep
, resentatlon is forfeited or suspended du
ring "contumacy." This cruel word to
characterize the great rebellion is moi
original with me. 1t Is the word mali
ciously chosen by our conservative friends
who are determined to make treason
odious. I wish the printer to inclose ii
with inverted commas, that such severity
of language may not be ascribed to me-
; But who is to decide when the suspension
begins and when it ends The State
If so, that is no suspension at all. A right
that can be taken u2 and laid down al
, pleasure canuot be said to be suspended
, Is Congress the Judge? Then submit
that BY secession from the United States,
; by the formation of new confederacy, by
four years of terrible war and i've OF
scornful refusal, these States wcul0 be-
: COME little contumacious, and Congress
would be justified in suspending their
, rights until the legislation necessary to
make representation fair and equal could
be agreed upon and passed. And that is
all that anybody here proposes to do.
r This appeal to the Constitution for au.
thority to hand the Government over t,
the unrepentant plottsrs of its destruction
is but continuation of the policy ptrsueG
by the Opposition for the last FIVE years
| During that period, they have raised
cry about the Constitution many times
Q but always in opposition to good measure
| or in advocacy of bad ones. When it wa
: first proposed to coerce the rebellion ant
/ save the Union, and at every followin;
e step toward apparent success, they cfied
:. unconstitutional" It was tincoustitt
e tional to raise an army or march it int
n the sacred soil of the South. It was uu
II constitutional to issue bills of credit