The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1866-08-23

voluntarily withdrawing their members
from Congress. forfeited their right Of rep
reservations and that they can only receive
Il again at the hands Of the supreme lcgis-
latiyr authority Of the Gov, nment, ON its
own terms, and at its own discretion. -
representation in Congress and partleipa-
ton in the Government were simply puyi-
leges conferred and held by favor This state
ment might have the merit OF plansi-
bilty but representation is, nnder the
Constitution, not only expressly recognized
AS a right but it is imposed as duty and
il is essential in both aspects, to the existence
of the Government, and to the maintenance
Of its authority. In free Governments,
fundamental and essential rights cannot De
10 ieited, except against individuals, by due
process Of law; n0r can constitutional duties
aud obligations be discarded or laid aside.
The enjoyment OF rights may he for time
suspended by the failure 10 claim them, and
duties may be eyaded by The refusal 10 per-
form them. The withdrawal of their mem
beers from Congress, by the States which
resisted the Government, was among their
acts of instruction, was one Of the means
and agencies by which they sought to impair
the authority and defeat the action Of the
Governments and that act was annulled and
rendered void when the insurrection itself
was suppressed. Neither the right ofrepre-
sentation, nor the duty to be represented,
was in the least impaired by the fact of in
surrection; bat it may have been that, by
reason of the Instruction, the conditions ON
which the enjoyment of that right and the
performance Of that duty, for the time de-
pended, could not be fulfilled. This was, in
fact, the case. An insurgent power, in the
exercise of usurped aud unlawful authority
had prohibited, within the territory under
its control, that allegiance to the COnstitu-
tion and laws of the United States which is
made, by that fundamental law, the essen
tial condition of representation in its Gov
eminent.
No man within the insurgent States was
allowed to take the oath to support the Con-
stitution of the United States, and, as ne
cessary consequence, no man could lawfully
represent those States in the councils of the
Union. But this was only an obstacle to the
enjoyment of the right and TO the discharge
o duty; it did not annul the one or abro-
gate the other; and it ceased to exist when
the usurpation by which it was created had
been overthrow, and the States had again
resumed their allegiance to the Constitution
and laws OF the United States.
SeoOad-But it is asserted, in support of
the authority claimed by the Congress now
in possession of power, that it flows directly
from the laws OF war; that it is among the
rights which victorious war always c0nfers
upon the cOnquerors, and which the con-
queror may exercise or waive in his own dis
erection. To this we reply, that the laws in
question relate solely, so far as the rights
they confer are concerned, to wars waged
between alien and Independent nations, and
can have no place or force, in this regard, in
a war waged by government to suppress IN
soil, against its authority. If we had carried
on successful war against any foreign ma
ton, we might thereby have acquired pos
session and jurisdiction of their soil, with
the right to enforce our laws upon their peo-
pie, and to impose upon them such laws and
such obligations as we might choose. But
we had, before the war, complete iurisdic-
ton over the soil Of the Southern States,
limited only by our own constitution. Our
laws were the only national laws in force
upon it. The Government of the United
States was the only Government through
which these States and their people had re-
lati0ns with foreign nati0ns and its flag
was the only flag by which they were recog- |
nized or known anywhere on the face of the |
earth.
In all these respects, and in all other re-
spects involving national interests and |
plete 1t did not need to he acquired, but |
only to be maintained; and. victorious war
against the rebellion could do nothing more |
than maintain it. 1t could only vindicate
and re-establish the disputed supremacy of
the Constitution. 1t could neither enlarge
nor diminish the authority which that Con-
stitutiOn conters upon the Government by
It which it was achieved Such an enlarge
ment or abridgement of constitutional pow
sr can be effected only by the amendment of
lhe Constitution itself; and such amend
nent can be made only in the modes which
5he Constitution itself prescribes.
The claim that the suppression of an in
against the Government gives adj
litional authority and power to that Gov
especially that it enlarges the iu-
'lsdiction of Congress. and gives that body
he right to exclude States from representa-
ion in the national councils, without which
he nation itself can have no authority and
10 existence, seems to us at variance alike
With the principles of the Constitution and
With the public safety.
Third. But it is alleged that in certain
che Constitution of the United
states fails to secure the absolute Justice and
equality which the principles of
'ur Government require; that it was, in
his respect, the result of the compromises !
md concessions, to which, however necessa- {
y when the Constitution. WAS formed, we )
re no longer compelled tosubmit; and that
low, having the power through successful ]
var, ana Just warrant for its exercise in the '
lostile conduct of the insurgent section, the {
ctual Government of the United States {
nay impose its own conditions, and make (
he Constitution conform in all its provis- Z
Ons to its own ideas of equality and the {
\ a tnaf afi rs last |
proposed amendments to the Constitution, I
nlarging in some very important particu- /
lls the authority of the General Govern '
lent over that of the several States, and y
educing by indirect disfrauchisement the !
representative power of the States in which !
lavery formerly existed; aud it is claimed a
hat these amendments may lie voted as {
arts OF the original Constitution without @
he concurrence of the States TO be most !
eriously affected by them, or may be inl- {
osed upon those States by three fourths Of $
he remaining States, as conditions of their J
e-adnlssion to representation in Congress J
nd IN the Electoral College.
IL Is the unquestiOuable right of the peO- a
lie OF the United States to make such chan I
es I'm the Constitution as they. upon due a
may deem expedient /; but we {
lsist that they shall be made in the mode I
Thich the Constitution itself points out, in j
Uniformity with the letter and spirit of that 4
Instrument and with the principles of SELF
oyernment and of equal rights, which lie |
the basis of our republican institutions.
We deny the right of Congress to make these
hanges IN the fundamental law without the
oncurnenee of three fOurths of all the States 4
especially those to be seriously +
fected by them, or to impose them upon n
tates or people as conditions of representa-
on, OF obligation which belong, under the b