Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-10-23
THE AMENDMENT A CONDITION
OF REPRESENTATION.

earnest opposition made to it by some Of
the newspapers in that section. They
would not be likely to declaim so yehem-
entity against it If they knew the Southern
feeling to be unanimous against it. The
Charlottesville (va.) Courier tells the
people Of the South that the Republicans
are sure to triumph at the Fall elections,
and for that reason opposes any further
concessions because they will only provoke
new demands on the part Of the North.
It advises that the South stand firm and
ready to suffer everything rattle than
yield negro suffrage, and says il it does so
it cannot long be KEEP. out Of the Union ;
that the North itself will rebel against
continued national disorganization. The
Augusta ConstitHtionaii,t is for a similar
policy; says the late action at Philadelphia
was u lamentable blunder, that the party
has yet to arise with which the South can
cooperate, and that she can do nothing
now but to labor and wait. The Rich
mond Examiner, assuming that Congress
is playing a dishonest game with tho
South, aud that the adoption Of the Con-
s,isutional amendment will not secure to
them representation in Congress, falls into
an eloquent passion and exclaims:
"Shall we submit forever to a tyranny
because it is called republican Shall an
alien majority enslave US, and make US
cringe to their behes,ss Forbid it every
impulse of manhood! The rue answer
TO the query lies in the historical utterance
Of our own Patrick Henry, who said {:
Give me liberty, or give me DEATH It is
wholly impossible that we should be the
thralls Of Yankees, and it is becoming ap-
parent that we cannot exist under the
Government with them except in that
condition. We have revolution as the
alternative. Death before dishonor is the
cry Of every true V~irginian."
These Southern suspicious Of intended
foul play IN respect to the Amendment
have been raised by the declarations Of
some Of our extremists. The New York
Independent, which is quoted at the South
a, a Republican paper, lately asserted:
No leading Republican in Congress
meaus to admit the ten waiting States
simply on the adoption Of the Constitu-
tional Amendment These States are to
be admitted on no conditions short Of the
equal political rights Of their loyal citizens,
without distinction Of race. A recon-
struction Of the Union on any other basis
would be q national dishonor. Until the
rebel States can come back on this basis,
they shall not ONE back at all.
It is true tina, Congress did not declare
that the rsorgan,zsd States should have
representation upon their adoption Of the
Amendment, but the action in the case Of
Tennessee implied as much, and this was
the manifest understanding. Nearly every
Congressman who has spoken on the sub
jecs has so interpreted it. and the addres,
just issued by the Republican National
Committee 90 states it. It would justly
be considered an act Of bad faith in Con-
gress, under these circumstances, to ex-
cluds loyal Senators and Representatives
from any State that has adopted the
Amendment. Those who take the other
view virtually indorse the charge Of the
opposition, that the Amendment wal not
proposed by Congress with any expecta-
ton or desire that i, might be adopted,
bu, on the contrary with the design that
it should be rejected, that its rejection
might afford opportunity and excuse for
still larger demands upon the South. 1t
may be true that there is little prospect
that the Southern States will adopt the
amendment. but those who say they would
gain nothing by adopting it in effect i'm
pugn the good faith Of Congress and
seriously damage the loyal cause in
the South. II tbs Southern people 60,
the impression that we are playing tncks
upon them and that each concession only
opens the way for 4 fresh demand, it will
be natural for them to conclude that their
true course is to sit still and wait the
course Of events. They adopted the anti
slavery amendment to the constitution
and repudiated the Confederate debts with
the expectation, on the strength Of the
Presidents assurances, that they would
thus obtain full restoration to their old
privileges in the Union. Congress has
disappointed that expectation, and now
demands Of them the surrender Of the
political power based on the n%on-voting
freedmen and the ostracism Of their for
mer political leaders. Surely we cannot
expect them to make such concsssions a.
these, however proper in themselves, with
out the inducement Of some corresponding
gain. Clearly it was the intention Of Con-
gress to say by the admission Of Tennessee.
and it wal universally so understood At
the time, that the adoption Of the Amend
msnt is the offered condition Of Representa-
ton in Congress. This understanding
cannot be violated without manifest bad
faith, and those who undertake to say that
Congress intends to disregard it bring
against Congress the heaviest charge yet
made against that body.
II the reconstructed States reject the
Amendment, that ends the matter. The
whole case is then open for Q new adjust
ment, there will be an increased demand
for equal suffrage as the ulsimasum, and
Congress will probably have the courage
to come up to that. This il the actual
situation, and the South should under
stand it. It will be misled If it accepts
the declaration Of our extremists or fol-
lows the counsel Of its own.
THE FROZEN FACTS.
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