New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-26
THE ADHESION OF TENNESSEE

Il 6s6E
/ We know of nothing more absurd than the
formal proceedings and vote by which the So
called Congress of the United States the other
day, made a pretence of admitting Tennessee
into the Union. According to radical doc
trines Tennessee never was ont of the Union
nor, indeed any other State OF the South.
There was no such thing as secession. A
State once in the Union was always in. We
believe they allowed to new State the right
to say whether it would go into the Union or
not but, having once decided in the affirma-
tive, its decision was irreyocable. It was i'm
possible to come out again-and it was upon
this very point the radicals waged four years
of terrible war upon us, to convince US by
g blows and knocks that we were always in
the Union, and they never intended to let us
out of it. ... .....#
But after We had surrendered the question,
ana accepted. perforce, the radical interpreta-
ton of the Constitution on the secession
question, they turn round then and occupy
the very ground that they fought us four years
for standing on! They say we are out OF the
Union-that we have no right in Congress-no
right to hold federal office-have no connec-
ton with the federal government in any way,
except the right to pay taxes and help to bear
the public burdens. If they would only
kindly relieve us of this latter privilege-this
privilege of tax-paying, the South would very
nearly be in the condition which she fought
four years to reach, that of absolute political
independence
But our radical masters at Washington
neither acknowledge our independence, nor
admit that we belong to the Union After
dallying with us for eight months, they finally
enact the formal farce Of admitting into the
Union" State which it was claimed had
never regularly joined the Confederacy, and
which was sufficiently in the Union, even so
far back as two years ago, to furnish a Vice
President, now the President of the United
States Congress, in truth, has been dealing
with Tennessee as cat sometimes does with
a mouse-slowly torturing the victim, and
sporting with its agonies, and finally letting
it alone when it is utterly helpless and in the
last stages Of dissolution.
There never was more preposterous piece
of political knavery in the history of this
country than this pretended admission of
Tennessee. In the first place, it was a condi-
ton precedent that the State should adopt the
new constitutional amendments. A legisla-
ture elected by only portion of the people--a
large number of voters being denied the right
of suffage-was called on to make the rati-
fication. But when the Legislature assembled
there was no quorum in the larger branch of
it. Officers of the law were sent out to scour
tors, and some of them were even dragged
from their beds at midnight, forcibly carried
to Nashville and made to take their seats in
the Legislature case of compulsory
legislation never heard of before in this
country, nor indeed in any other
But, with all this, il was found impos-
sible to get the quorum in the House of Re
representatives. which the Constitution of Ten
nessee prescribes. In this emergency happy
idea occurred to a member Heproposed that
by simple resolution of an Illegal assembly
for it was not House, in the legislative sense
of the word, unless a quorum were present
they should override the constitutional re-
quirement, and make quorum out of two
thirds of those members of the legislature who
were present in Nashyille By this simple
expedient all difficulties were obviated, the
constitutional amendments were rushed
through in hot haste and the iubilant Brown
low crowns his triumph by telegraphing his
respects to the dead dog" who occupies the
chair at Washington!
FDha &c
cause it procures the admission Of the Ten
nessee members into Congress. They were
entitled to admission without any such form
Atty Most Of them, also, are radicals, and a
few radicals, more or less, in Congress, will |
make no appreciable difference in the compo-
sition of that delectable body. Nor did it
make any special difference whether Tennes-
see adopted the constitutional a nendments or
not. Whether those amendments become in
sorporated into the Constitution OF not, is
matter of small moment when the same OBJ
iects proposed by them are effected by civil
rights bills and freedmen's bureau bills,
such as are already announced to be
laws. It is not for this reason, nor for the
radical absurdity Of admitting into the Union
a State which, on their own theory, had never
been out of it, that this Tennessee business il
worthy of remark But what does give sig.
to It's the exhibition Of that drifting
towards anarchy, and disregard of all law and
Justice, which seems to be well nigh general
now all over this country. If an object is to
be accomplished, it is aceomplished-la
perhapsif it be more convenient to do it that
without law, and in positive disre
gard of law, if no other method Cher. Even
before the war there were exhibitions Of /
his sort which were disgraceful to the
,eople of this country, and reproach upon
rec institutions, In some of the Western
,tates members of one House or the other of
Legislature would refuse to go into an cleo
ion of a United States Senator, rather than
ee a pol teal opponent chosen. We all re-
ollect by what frauds public officers in
Kansas have been elected from the very first.
We remember how California became a State
ut of the Union, and then State I
n the Union, informally and Illegally. i
We see, even, that where Senators or mem
ers are fairly and regularly chosen to Con a
ress, they are summaIily expelled IL politically Il