The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-04-14

Senate, how can Il be supposed that Con-
gress. the mere creature of the Constitu-
ton. can take away the whole of IL?
Admit that the eleven excluded members
Of the Union are States, and their right to
representation Is legally irresistible. They
hold IL directly from the Constitution. I'm
less Congress has power TO put States out
of the Union when they are once in II.
their claim to their seats can not be sue
lcessfully contr0verted. Even If Congress
possessed this power. the States would re-
tain their federal rights until the power
had been duly exercised. IL requires a
regular law, approved by the President or
passed over his veto, TO admit a State; and
it would require the same TO egpel one, If
expulsion were constituti0nally possible.
Hamilton wrote lin 1S02) THE creation
of new State has been very pertinently
mentioned as decisive instance of power
in Legislature TO do thing, which, being
done, Is irrevocable." II being impossible
to put State out of the Union, 1t is i'm
possible to divest 1t of its right to repre-
sentatiOn. Being State, II Is entitled to
the two Senators of which not even the
Amending power can deprive 1t without its
consent.
Congress was valid legislature during
the war, because, although the same States
were unrepresented, It was by their own
choice. They sent no members to either
House. If any of the rebel States had sent
Representatives, they would have been
properly excluded on perfectly Ineligible
grounds. If they brought no credentials,
the Houses in which they claimed seats
could have bestowed on them no hotice.
If they brought credentials, it would have
been the duty of tile two Houses to examine
them. Suppose the applicant to have been
a Senator: the Senate would necessarily
have rejected him on the ground that the
I...-
TO have been elected, had not sworn to sup
port the Constitution of the United States /;
n qualification without which no depart
ment of the Federal Government could re-
cognise it as a Legislature at all. A Rep
resentatiye from any of those States would
have been rejected oil grounds equally
clear and sufficient. But no such objection
can be raised against the present applicants !;
and if il could, it is point to be deter
mined by investigation of their credentials.
The check on Congress provided in the
veto is nullitled and abolished by the exclu-
| sion of eleven States. Had those States been
represented, their Senators would have
voted to sustain the veto. Add their twen-
ty-two Senators to the fifteen who did so
vote, and include Mr.. Stockton, who was
expelled for party reasons, and Mr.. Dixon,
who would have voted had he not known
| that his vote would be of no avail, and the
vote would have stood thirty three to
thirty-nine, instead of thirty-three to fif-
teen. In full Senate, the Republicans, so
fur from being able to pass the bill over the
veto, could not have passed it at all The
1eto has been orerridden by minority of
those entitled to vote over it. But 1t is as
clear as any thing in the Constitution, that
Iit was never Intended that minority of
the Senators should exert this power.
When authority was given to two-thirds to
pass bill over the veto. the trainers Of the
Constitution meant two-thirds of those
who choose to be present, of Senate con-
sisting of ''two Senators from each State"
I'VE have no constitutional Senate when
a minority of the Senators can thwart the
veto.
| BY the census of 1860, the twelve most
populous States had 20,524,093 inhabitants,
and all the other States together, 10,623954.
lTwo-thirds of the Senate might, then, rep
| resents only one-third of the population
but this minority could pass no law, be-
cause in the House the populous States have
a weight proportionate to their numbers.
The Government is so organized that the
rights of the majority are protected by
| their numbers, in the House, and those of
the minority by the equality of the States
in the Senate. The prepOnderanceo of phys
ical strength being on the side of the ma
Ijority, their rights are less carefully
guarded; while the equal representation OF
| the States in the Senate is made the most
sacred feature of the Constitution-the one
feature too sacred to be ever changed or
| trenched upon so long as the Government
shall stand. But by total perversion OF
our whole governmental system, the bar
riers against the oppression of the minority,
and against the oppression of the ma jority
are alike broken down.
Both majority of the people and a ma
Ijority of the, States approve of the policy
of the President; and yet, by the uncon-
lstitutional exclusion of their representa-
tives, the Presidents veto can be overborne
in both Houses of Congress. Assuredly
this is not the system our fathers intended
to establish. The Constitution is eviscera-
ted, and all its vital parts taken out. The
veto is annihiated by the illegal exclusion
lof representatives who would make il
effective; the Government is perverted into
Ian oligarchy i'm which the minority rule
the majority ; and the equal suffrage of the
States in the Senate, which even the
Amending power can not touch, is abolished
by the mere caprice of u RlImp which calls
Iitself the Congress of the United States.
Their Duty, Plain and Imperative
We agree with the Cincinnati EaQuirei
that t- VIVA
The Proclamation of Peace having re.
moved the last preteXt for the exclusion o.
1.-THE members of Congress from the South.
ern States. they should-Senators and Rep
resentative-at opce proceed TO Washing
ton and take their place in Congress. Th'
twenty-five Senators, and the sixty mem
bers Of the House, who have been excluded
should. after taking their seats, demand o
the proper officers to administer to then
the constitutional oath of office. If they
refuse, some person should administer it L
; them and they should then proceed in tn,
business of legislation by demanding tina
, their names be called upon every question
when the yeas and nays are taken.