The national Republican., 1866-08-06

have its destinies fall under the control Of
pl nians who reject - divine precept
81: :.
The contest before / is Of as vital impor-
Ptance to the truest shd best tferests Of the
Aation as the exciting CONT 1of 1862 and
1864, and the issues should be cfsariy and
distinctly before the people. Tier can be
shall govern IN the councils Of the nation,
Loyalty or disloyalty ?"-Spedker Coyars
Lettf to his Constituents.
The Hon SCHUYLER CoLFAx, Speaker Of
the House Of Representatives, ought, for the
credit of the Office he holds, IS well as for his
own reputation, to be above all such tricks
as this. Accustomed as he has been for
many years, both as an editor and repre-
sentative, to understand the political issues
Of the country as they have arisen from time
to time, It Is difficult to assign any reason for
such a frolic as this, which Is creditable either
to his intelligence or honesty. II he really
does not know that his representation Of the
present issue before the country is untrue,
the public have greatly over-estimated his in
telligence; and il he does, they have over-esti-
mated his honesty. For il is hardly possible
that his present aspirations have all at once
upset both so suddenly and completely as his
statement above quoted seems to indicate.
We are not unaware of many things which
transpired in the caucus which consented to
elect him Speaker. We may not, and prob
ably do not know, of all the pledges he made
in order to get into his present honorable
position. We thought at the time shat they
would, like those made by Ex-President
BUCHANAN, come up to plague him all through
his administration, especially as he would sit
in full sight and hearing Of the whip Of that
prince Of demagogues, THADDEus STEVENS,
who pertinaciously insists that the union of
States was dissolved by the war, and that
those which are unrepresented, including the
home of The PRESIDENT, has been degraded
into the condition Of Federal colonies. We
have, therefore, watched his course in Con-
gress since 1T time with more or less appre-
hension thatD would become more or less
demoralized by the heresies Of that danger
ous old man. He well enough knew that
The PRESIDENT was not only obligated by
his oath Of Office, but by the precedent
established and partly executed by his
predecessor and the Union platform
upon which he was elected, not only to
recognize the unrepresented States as mem
bers of the American Union, but to use his
,t,n Ia inf, TO 90
all the rights to which they were entitled
under the Constitution, among the chief Of
which was that Of being represented in Con-
gress, and that any conspiracy which he
might, for Interior purposes, enter into with
STEVENS, to oppose that policy, would be
likely to lead to rupture in the Union
party. As 1t is known that STEVENS has all
along desired to produce such q rupture be-
tween Congress and The PRESIDENT, and as
Mr.. CoLYAx seems to be acting according to
his wishes, we are left to infer that he is in
for the whole Of the programme to deny the
remaining ten States any representation in
Congress whatever until after the next pres
idential election, t0ih the intention of disre-
gdrding their electoral voice at that time.
If he has enlisted with STEVENS for that,
which will not be a bloodless campaign, we
presume we ought not be astonished at any
excuse he offers to his constituents for carry
ing out that nefarious purpose.
Loyalty, as the term is used in this coun-
try, means fidelity to the Constitution. OF
that there cannot be two honestly different
opinions. Loyalty by common consent is q
condition precedent to the admission of any
Senator or Representative to seat in Con.
gress; and, as tho law now stands, loyalty
which has not at any time been tarnished by
completely with the rebellion, with conces-
sion of the power Of each House to judge of
that question in every individual case, the
President urges that Congress shall not
longer evade its responsibility, but shall dis
charge that incumbent duty as 1t ought, and
as the Constitution requires, to the end that
any Senators and Representatives elect who
shall upon such examination be found to be
loyal and otherwise competent may be al
lowed to take their seats. The issue before
the country touching this subject is not
whether loyalty or dsloyalty shall govern in
the councils Of the nation in any such sense
as the Speaker set forth in his letter, but it
is simply whether the members Of the Senate
and House not0 here shall be excused from
performing a saoorn constitutional duty.
Utterly stultifying himself in respect to
the resolution Of 1861, for which he voted,
defining the objects Of the war, he launches
this as his justification:
at has been well said in language as
terse as it is true that the power to carry on
war for national existence carries with it the
power to prescribe the terms of peace. The
duty Of guarding the land against the danger
Of a second rebellion is as imperative as its
preservation from the first: And nothing
seems clearer than that the same authority
which prevented eleven States from destroy
ing the Union has right-as indisputable as
the right of selfdefence-to regulate the re-
sumption Of the relations Of those States"
Will the honorable Speaker inform us who
said thisf No sound constitutional lawyer
or statesman will venture to affirm this Of
our GOvarnynant ,y;tho,t ,,,a liG nm tians Rat