New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-24
VOLUME XVI.

or the slightest protest against its just and bind
ing obligation This condition of renewed loyalty
has been officially recognized BY solemn prOcla-
nation Of the executive department. The laws Of
the United States have been extended by Con
gress over all these States and the people thereof
Federal courts have been rGopened, and federal
taxes imposed and levied, and in every respect,
except that they are denied representation in Con
gfess and the electoral college, The States once in
rebellion are recognized as holding the same posi-
| non, as owing the same obligations, and subject
to the same duties as the other States Of our COM
mon Union.
1t seems to us, in the exercise of the calmest
and most candid judgment Ge can bring TO the
subject, that such a claim, so enforced, involves
as fatal all overthrow Of the authority Of the
| Constitution, and as complete q destruction Of
| the government and Union, as that which was
sought to be effected by the States and people lh
armed insurrecion against them both. ~ i cdu,
not escape observation that the power tllls
asserted TO exclude certain States from repre-,
sentaton is made to rest wholly IN the Wlil
and discretion Of the Congress that aeseEte H.
| 1t is not made to depend upon any specIned con
| ditions or circumstances, nor to be subject to
| any rules or regulations whatever, The right
| asserted and exercised is absolute, without
qualification Or restriction, not confined to States
in rebellion, nor to States that have reDeIled; it
| is the right of any Congress in formal possession
| of legislative authority to exclude any State or
States, and any portion of the people thereof, at
| any time from representation in Congress and
in the electoral college, at its own discretion and
| until they shall perform such acts and comply
with such conditions as it may dictate. Obviously,
| the reason for such exclusion being wholly within
the discretion of Congress, may change as the
| Congress itself shall change. One Congress may
exclude State from all share in the government
| for one reason, and, that reason removed, the
next Congress may exclude it for another. One
| State may be excluded on one ground to-day, and
| another may be excluded on the opposite ground
| tomorrow. Northern asCendency may exclude
| Southern States from Congress-the ascendenCy
| of Western or OF Southern interests, or OF both
| combined, may exclude the Northern Of the
| Eastern States from the next. Improbable as
| such usurpations may seem, the establishment Of
the principle now asserted and acted upon by
Congress will render them by no means lmpossi-
BILE. The character indeed the very existence, OF
1 Congress and the Union Is thus made dependent
solely and entirely upon the party and sectional
agencies or fOrbearance5 Of the hour.
We need not stop to show that such action not
only finds no warrant in the Constitution, but IS
at war with every principle OF our government,
and with the very existence Of free institutions.
1t is, indeed, the identical practice which has
rendered truitless all attempts hitherto to estab-
sh and maintain free governments in Mexico and
the states OF South America. Party necessities
assert themselves as superior to the fundamental
law, which is set aside in reckless obedience to
! their behests Stability, whether in the exercise
OF power, in the administration Of government. OF
in the enjoyment Of rights, becomes iusensibie
and the conflicts Of party, which, under Censutu
! tiunal governments, are the conditions and means
Of political progress, are merged in the confict
I Of arms to which they directly and inevitably
Z tend. ...
Ii was against this peril 50 conspicuous and So
t fatal TO free governments that our Constitution
2 was intended especially to provide. Not only the
1 stability, bnt the very existence Of the govern
ment is made by its provisions to depend upon TIM
i right and the fact Of representation. The Con
! gress, upon which il conferred all the Legislative
power of the national government, consists OF tw
J. branches, the Senate and House Of Representa-
ttves, whose joint concurrence or assent IS essen
tia to the validity of any law. OF these the Hous
Of Representatives says the Constitution, tartcl
il ], section ., g shall be composed of member
'- chosen every second year by the people of tn
s. several States" Not only is the right of repre-
B, sentation thus recognized as possessed by all tn
e States and by every State without restriction
n qualification or condition of any kind but the dut
Of choosing representatives is imposed upon til
e people of each and every State alike, without dis
Il tinction, or the authority to make distinction
IS among them. for any reason or upon an
1t grounds whatever. And in the Senate, so careft
Al is the Constitution to secure to every Stat
it this right of representatives, it is expressly PR
=, vided that 90 no State d2Sd, without its cOnsen
b. be deprived of its equal suffrage in that body
Is even by an amendment to the Constitution itsel
e When, therefore, any State is excluded from sue
Id representation, not only is right Of the Stat
s. denied, but the constitutional integrity
I'd the Senate is impaired and the validity of th
ry government itself is brought in question. b
ne Congress at the present moment thus exclude
ly from representation in both branches of Congress
IN ten States of the Union, denying them all shaI
be in the enactment Of laws by which they are to
governed, and all participation in the election
M the rulers by which those laws are to be enforce
nd In other words, q Congress in which only twent
&C. six States are represented, asserts the right
by govern, absolutely and in its own discretion,
m the thrty-sx States which compose the Union
its to make their laws and choose their rulers. and
by exclude the other ten from all share in their Oy
he government until it fit TO admit them theret
rat What is there to distinguish the power thus {
in serted and exercised from the most absolute a
rer intolerable tyranny?
pie Nor do these eXtravagant and unjust claims
ers the part of Congress to powers and author
no never conferred upon the government by the Ct
a stitution find any warrant in the arguments or
not cuses urged on their behalf. tits alleged
the First. That these States, by the act Of rebel
/ is and by voluntarily Withdrawing their memb
or from Congress- forfeited their right of represen
sti tion and that they can only recevet again at
yer hands of the supreme legislative authority OF
to government, on its own terms and at its own
ms cretion If representation in Congress and p
ov ticipation in the government were simply pr
the leges conferred and held by favor, this statem
ses- might have the merit of plausbility. But rep
the sentation is, under the Constitution not only
ed. pressly recognized right, but it is imposed
ted duty; and it is essential in both aspe
the to the existence OF the government
hey to the maintenance of its authority.
her free governments fundamental and essen
feet rights cannot be forfeited, except against il
ent, yiduals by due process Of law; nor can const
ions tional duties and obligations be discarded or
day suspended by the failure to claim them, and
eme ties may be evaded by the refusal TO peru
or them The withdrawal of their members fl
and Congress by the States which resisted the gem
the government was among their acts OF lnsufl
nsti- ton-was one Of the means and agencies
pro- which they sought to impair the authority
the defeat the action of the government; and
act was annued and rendered void when
es- insurrection itself was suppressed. Neither
Ian right of representation nor the duty to be re
= all sented was in the least impaired by the
It, in Of iDsurrection; but it may have been that
out reason of the insurrection the conditions
. In which the enjoyment Of that right and the
lecu- formance of that duty for the time depel
OBJ could not be fulfilled This was, in fact, the
l the An insurgent power in the exercise OF usu
the and unlawful authority in the territory unde
than control, hadprohibited that allegiance TO the
and stitution and the laws of the United States W
bject is made by that fundamental law the esse
ld all condition OF representaonin its government
and man within the insurgent States was allowt
war take the oath to support the Constitution of
erted United States, and, as q necessary consequC
gov no man could lawfully represent those Stat
gress the councils of the Union. But this was on
on it, obstacle to the enjoyment of the right and
may discharge of duty-it did not annul the one
ID the abrogate the other and it ceased to exist
hts of the usurpation by which it was created had
ation oyerthrown, and the States had again ass
lents, their allegiance to tine Constitution anu laws
ritory United States.
regu- Second. But it is asserted IN suppoT
epart- authority claimed by the congress now in p
lpose. sion OF power, that II foWs decty from tnt
clause of war; that tits among the rights which Vct
60, arsral