The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-09-06

ply with such conditiou and perform such
acts as this Congress tus composed may
itself prescribe. That light has not only
been asserted, but it is been exercised,
and is practically enfaccd at the present
time. Nor does it 6a any support in
the theory, that the SITES thus excluded
are in rebellion againi the government,
and are therefore precl lded from sharing
its authority. They al not thus in rebel
lion. They are one aA I'll in an attitude
of loyalty towards the pvernment, and of
sworn allegiance to theConstitution Of the
United States. In no ole of them is there
the slightest indicatia of resistance to
this authority, or the slightest protest
against its just and Ending obligation.
This condition of rc,ewed loyalty has
been officially rccogniGd by solemn proc
lamation of the Executive department
The laws of the Unite, States have been
extended by Congress uer all these States
and the people thereof Federal Courts
have been reopcned, anl Federal taxes i'm
posed and levied, and in every respect,
except that they are d,aied representation
in Congress and the Electoral College, the
States once in rebellion are recognized as
holding the same position, as owing the
same obligations, and subject to the same
duties rs the other States of our common
Union.
1t seems to us in the exercise of the
calmest and most candid judgment we can
bring to the subject, tht such claim, 90
enforced, involves as faal an overthrow of
the authority Of the Constitution, and as
complete destruction IF the government
and Union, as that which was sought to
be effected by the Stans and people in
armed insurrection against them both. 1t
cannot escape observation that the power
thus asserted to exclude certain States from
representation, is made to rest wholly in
the will and discretion Of the Congress
that asserts it. 1t is not made to depend
upon any specified conditions or circum-
stances, nor to be subject to any rules or
regulations whatever. The right asserted
and exercised is absolute, without gualif
cation or restriction, not confined to States
In rebellion, nor to States that have REBEL
ed; it is the right Of any Congress in for
NAL possession of legislative authority, to
exclude any State or States, and any por
tion 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 os it may die
tate. Obviously, the reasons for such ex
clusion being wholly within the discretion
OF Congress, may change US the Congress
itself shall change. One Congress may
exclude State IRON all share in the gov
ernment for one reason; and, that reason
removed, the next Congress may exclude
1t for another. One State may be exclud
ed on one ground to day, and another may
be excluded on the opposite ground to
morrow. Northern ascendancy may exclude
Southern States from one Congress-the
ascendancy of Western or Of Southern in
terests, or OF both combined, may exclude
the Northern or the Eastern States from
the next. Improbable as such usurpations
may seem, the establishment Of the princi
pie now asserted and acted upon by Con
gress will render them by no means impos
sible. The character, indeed the very ex-
istence. Of Congress and the Union is thus
made dependent solely and entirely upon
the party and sectional exigencies or for
bcarancc 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 prin-
ciple of our government, and with the very
existence OF free institutions 1t is, in
deed, the identical practice which has rem
dered fruitlcss all attempts hitherto TO es.
tabllsh and maintain free governments in
Mexico and the States OF South America
Party necessities assert themselves as su-
perior to the fundamental law, which is set
aside in reck less obedience to their behests.
Stability, whether in the exercise, of pow
er, in the administration of government,
or in the enjoyment Of rights, becomes i'm
possible; and the conflicts of party, which,
under constitutional governments, arc the
conditions and means of political progress,
are merged in the conflicts ofarms to which
they directly and inevitably tend.
1t was against this peril so conspicuous
and so fatal to all free governments that
our Constitution was intended especially to
provide. Not only the stability but the
very existence Of the government is made
by its provisions to depend upon the right
and the fact of representation. The Con.
gress, upon which is conferred all the leg
islative power Of the national government,
consists of two branches, the Senate and
House of Representatives, whose joint con