Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-08-29

United States" has been annnlled, and ten
States have been refused, adarestill: refused
representation altogether in both branches
of the Federal Congress. And the Congress
in which only part of the States and Of the
people of the Union are represented has as
serted the right thus to exclude the rest from
representation, and from all share in making
their own laws or choosing their own rulers
until they shall comply with such conditions
and perform such acts as this Congress thus
composed may itself prescribe. That right
| has not ouly been asserted, but it has been
exercised, and is practically enforced at the
present time. Nor does itlfnd any support
in the theory that the States thus excluded
are in rebellion against the Government, and
are, therefore, precFuded from sharing its au-
thority. They are not thus in rebellion.
They are one and all in an attitude of loyalty
toward the Government, and of sworn allegi-
ance to the Constitution ofthe United States.
In no one.of them is therethe slightest indi-
cation of resistance to this authority, or the
slightest protest against'its JUS md binding
obligation. This condition Of renewed 10y
atty has been officially recognized by solemn
proclamation of the Executive 'depai sment.
The lawsof the United States have been ex.
tended by Congress over all these States and
the people thereof. Federal Courts have been
re-opened, and Federal taxes imposed and
levied, and in every respect, except that they
are denied representation in Congress and
the Electoral College, the States once in re-
bellion are recognized as. holding the same
position, as owing the same obligations, and
subject to the same duties as the other States
of our common Union.
It seems to us, in the exercise of the calm.
est and most candle, Judgment we can bring
to the subject, that such q claim, so enforced,
involves as fatal an overthrow of the authori-'
ty of the Constitution, and as. complete de.
struction of the Government and Union, as
that which was sought.sto be effected by the
States and people in armed insurrection
against hem both. Itcannot escape obser--
vation 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 specific conditions or cir
cumstances, nor to be subject to any rules or
regulations whatever. Fhe right asserted
and exercised is absolute, without qualiica-
ton or restriction, not confined to States in
rebellion, nor to States that have rebelled it
is the right of any Congress in formal posses
sion of legislative authority to exclude any
State or States, and any portion OF tho peo-
pie thereof, at any timet from representation
in Congress and 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 reasons for
such exclusion, being:wholy within the dis
cretion of Congress, may change as the Con-
gress itself shall change. One Congress may
exclude State from all share in the Govern
ment for one reason and that reason removed,
the next Congress may exclude 1t for another
One State may be excluded on one ground
to-day, and another may be excluded On the
opposite gronud toz1n&row. Northern ascen
5dency may exclude s9uthern States from one
,Congresss the. ssesnE;sncy Of Western or OF
Southern interests, or ofboth combined, may
exclude the Northern or the Eastern States
from the next. Improbable as such usurpa-
tons may seem, the establishment OF the
principle now asserted and acted upon by
Congress will render them by no meaDs i'm
possible. The haracter-indeed, the very
existence-of the Union is thus made de-
pendent solely and entirely upon the party
and sectional cxigencies or forbearance 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 fruitless NIL at
tempts hitherto to establish and maintain free
Governments in Mexico and the States OF
South America. Party necessities assert
themselves as superior to the fundamental
law, which s set aside in reckless obedience
to their behests. Stability, whether in the
exercise of power, in the administration OF
Government or in the enjoyment Of rights,
becomes impossible; and the conflicts of party
which, under constitutional Governments, are
the conditions and means Of political progress,
are merged in.the conflicts Of arms to which
they directly and inevitably
It was against this peril so conspicuous and
80 fatal TO ell free governments that our Con-
stitution 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 rep
resentation. Tho Congress-, upon which is
conferred all the legislative power of the Ma
tional Government, consists Of two branches,
the Senate aud House Representatives,
whose joint concurrence or assent is essential
to the validity of any law. Of these the
Honse of Representatives, says the Constitu-
tion (Article |, Section 2 Z" shall be COM
posed of members chosen every second year
by the people of the several States" Not
only is the right Of representation thus recog.
nized as possessed by oil the States and by
every State without restriction. qualification
or condition of any kind, but the duty of
choosing representatives is imposed upon the
people Of each and every State alike, without
distinction, or the authority to make distihc:
tions among them, for any reason or upon
| any grounds whatever. And in the Senate,
80 careful is the Constitution to secure to every
State this right of representation, it is ex.
pressly provided that no State shall, without
its consent, be deprived of its equal suffrage"
in that body, even by an an amendment OF the
Constitution itself When, therefore, any
State is excluded from such representation,
not only is right of the State denied, but
the constitutional integrity of the Senate is
impaired, and the validity Of the Govern
ment itself is brought in question. But Con.
gress at the present moment thus excludes
from representation, in both branches Of Con-
press. ten States of the Union, denying them
all share in the enactment of laws by which
. they are to be governed, and ell participation
in the election of the rulers by which these
laws are to be enforced. In other words a
Congress in which only twenty.six States are
represented asserts the right to govern, abso-
lutely and in its discretion, all the thirty.slx
States which compose the Union-to make
their laws and choose their rulers, and to ex'
clude the other ten from all share in t''air
own government until it sees Gt to ADMIT
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