North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1866-08-29


same obligations aud subject to the same
duties as 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, such claim 30 cntorc-
ed involves as fatal an overthrow of the
authority of the Constitution, and AS com
piete destruction ofthe Government and
Union AS that which was sought to be ef
fected by the States and people in armed
insurrection against them. 1t cannot es
cape observation, that the power thus as>er-
ted to exclude certain States from repre-
sentation is made to rest wholly iE the will
and discretion Of the Congress that asserts
it. 1t is not made to depend upon speci-
fled conditions or circumstances, not TO be
subject to any rules nr regulations whatev
er. The right asserted and exercised is
absolute, without qualification or restric
ton, not confined TO States in rebellion nor
to States that have rcbelled. 1t Is the
right of any Congress-, i'll formal possession
of legislative authority, to excluie any
State or States, AMI any portion of the peo-
pie thereof, at any time from representa-
ton in Congress, and III the Electoral Col
lete, at its own discretion, ard until they
shall perform such acts and comply with
such conditions As it may dictate OOvi-
ousIv. the reasons for such exclusion being
wholly within the discretion of Congress,
may change as the Congress Itself shall
chang.
One Congress may exclude State from
all share in the Government for one r-a-
son. and that reason removed the next
Congress may exclude it TOR another. One
State may be excluded on one ground to-
dav. and another NAV be excluded on the
opposite ground TO morrow Northern as
tendency may exclude Southern States
from one Congress the ascen!ency of
Western or Southern interests, or OF both
combined, may exclude the Northern or
the Eastern States from the next
Improbable As such u>urpation may seem
the establishment of the principle now as
serted and acted upon by Congress will
render them by no means impossible. The
character, indeed, the very existence OF
Congress and the Union, is thus made
dependent solely and entirely upon the
party and sectional eX gencies or forhcar 70
ancc o. the hour W 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 msti-
tutions Ii is. indeed, the Identical prac-
tice VIII ch haSrcndercd fruitleSs all attempts
hitherto to establish aud maintain free gov.
rrnments in Mexico and the States of
South America. Party necessities asser-
themselves as superior to fundamental lazy.
which is set aside in reckless obedience of
behests. Stability, whether in the exert
cis., Of power in the admi .istralion of GOV
ernmen: oI in the enjoyment of rights, be
comes impossible, and the conflicts of party.
which under constitutional governments
ar" the conditions and means of political
progress, are merged in the conflicts of
arms, to which they directly and ineyit-
ably tend.
1t was against this peril, so conspicuous,
and so fatal to all free governments. that
or Constitution was intended especially
to provide. Not onIy y the stability, but the
very existence of the Government is made
by its provisions to derend upon the right
and the fact Of representation. The Con
gress, upon which is conferred all the leg
iSlation power OF the National Government.
consists of TWO braGches-the Senate aud
House of Representativcs--whoS Joint
concurrence or assent j. essential to the
validity of any law. OF these. the House
Of Representatives, saws the Constitution,
(ArlicIe 1st.. section 2d, shall be composed
of members chosen every sccoHd year by
the ople of the several States. Not only
the right of representation thus reco oLniz2d
as possessed by all 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 Stat alike,
without distinction among them for any
reason or upoE any grounds whatrver.-
Aud in the Senate, so careful is the Con.
stitution to secure To every State this righj
of representation, it is cXpreSSl ly provided
h,t no State shall without its consent be
deprived of its eq1al suffrage in that body,
even by an amendmentto the Constitution
its, If. When, therefore, any State is ex
cluded from such repr scntation, not only
is the right of the State denied, but the
constitutional integrity Of the Senate is i'm
paired, and the validity of the Government
itself is brought in question, But Con-
greSs at the present moment thus excludes
from representation in both branchrssof
Congress ten States of the Union, denving
them all share in the enactment of laws bv
which they are to be governed, and all par
ticipation in the election of the rulers by
which those laws are to be enforced. In
other ~orlS, Congress in which only
twentv-six States are repr, sented asserts
the right to govern, absolutely and in its
own discretion, all the thirty six States
which compose he Union; to make their
laws and choose their rulers, and to exclude
the other ten from all share in their own
uovarnmnnt nntil If SpaS fir m admit tbar,