The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-10-13
The constitutional Amendment.

The war destroyed the only real source
OF conflict between the States Of the I'm.
ion. The abolition OF Slavery made the
United States Homogeneous IN all its parts.
There ought 10 DO now no such sectional
divisions ~ North aud South, East aud
West, 70 indicate differences Of Institutions
or Of interests. The productions and the
markets Of Virginia, Maryland. Pennsylva-
MIA, New Jersey aud New York are sub.
stantially the same, aud in this enumeration
all the Western and Northwestern States
should be comprehended. II Is impossible
to discover any antagonistic interests any
where. Their wants, their productions,
their commercial connections. their aven.
ues OF trade, conspire to force them into
unity. Nor does their peculiar product,
cotton. constitute the Gulf States into an
exception from this common interest. The
single contamination Of Slavery. which
threatened our national health and from
which blight aud distortion. is removed. and
We ought not TO hear any longer OF the evil
passions which IL excited. We confident
ly hope that such will soon be the case
The passions which agitate the people now
are the passions Of the recent conflict, and
have their original in the evil which that
conflict has done away with forever. The
questions which now so deeply engage the
public mind are questions OF incidental
adjustment resulting from the war, aud
when once solved, can no more arise TO
trouble Us. The civil and political status
Of the late slaves, the influence exerted by
them socially aud in tho Government, have
been disturbed by their emancipation, aud
can never be what they have been. What
they shall be, We are seeking to ascertain.
Al. Nuh frut
ed our Federal Constitution, satisfied them.
selves and their countrymen by concession
and compromise on that difficult subject
Many OF them objected that people who
had no voice in the Government should be
felt as q power In il, and, although annihil-
aied as citizens, they should, as mere prop.
erty, increase the influence OF those hold.
ing them in seryitudc. This aristocratic
effect Of Slavery was conceded, however,
for the sake OF harmony, and the political
power Of the master was increased by three
iifths Of the number Of his slaves. This
compromise Is OF course gone, aud the Con
stitution no longer operating in that re-
spect il is changed and abolished by the
force Of circumstances. The original and
very important question again presents H.
self, whether the colored population. Who'll.
~ without political rights, shall increase
tho political power OF the white man in the
State where il resides in proportion TO its
entire Numbers. is an aristocratic feature
not originally insisted upon TO the full ex-
tent aud only partially granted as u com-
promise. to be engrafted upon the COnsti.
tuition as nn accidental result OF the rebel
lion Such is the principal question now
under debate by the people. Congress has
not wantonly or lightly invaded the provi
sions of the Constitution. They have not
proposed 10 change il except where its
original purpose was defeated aud its pro
visions were about TO be warped to purpos-
es which the trainers of our Government
had refused. II is already altered in the
article where Congress has interviewed aud
that Intervention is to exclude principle
which the Constitution condemned. We
see that nothing can be more unjust than
the derisive charge that the Radical party
are "tinkering with so sacred an instru.
ment. They have touched II only where
its provisions have been disturbed. and TO
re.establish its principles. The slang
about negro suffrage is equally unfounded.
The Constitutional amendment does not
name that subject on the contrary. it IS
designed to prevent the influence oil the
population. as it is now situated, from in.
huencing the Federal legislation and the
Presidential elections This is q mere con
yentional question, not one Of permanent
economical interest; it does not involve
the wealth or improvement OF social pro.
gress Of any portion Of the country, but n
mere principle Of political justice.-Bdifi-
more american.