The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1866-08-21

cognized by common proclamation OF the |
Executive department. The laws OF tue |
United States have been extended by Con-
erress over all these States and the people |
thereof Federal courts have been reopeneu, |
and Federal taxes imposed and levied anu
in every respect except that they are denied |
representation in Congress and the ElectoIdi
College. the States once in rebellion are re- |
coguized as holding the same posltlon, -
owing the same obligations, and subject TO |
the same duties as the other States OF our |
common Union. 1t seems to us, IN the eAer-
else of the calmest and most candid jung
ment we can bring to the subject, that such
a claim. so enforced, involves as fataI an
overthrow of the authority OF the CohstlIu-
rion and as complete a destruction OF the
Government and Union, as that whcn was
sought to be effected by the States ana peo-
pie IN armed instruction against them ooIh-
IL cannot escape observation that the
mower thus asserted to exclude certain STATES
from representation, is made TO rest Wholiy
in the viii and discretion of the Congress
that asserts it. 1t is not made To depend
upon any specified conditions or cHcuih-
stances nor to be subject to any rules or re-
ouIations whatever The right asserted anu
exercised is absolute without qualification
| or restriction: not confined to States III re-
bellion, nor to States that have rebelIed- Ii
| is the right of any Congress, IN formal pos
| session of legislative authority, TO eAciuue
any State or States, and any portion OF une
| people at any time, from representation III
| Congress and in the electoral college at It's
own discretion, and until they shall perform
/ such acts, and comply with such conditions
| as it may dictate. Obviously the reasons
| for such exclusion, being wholly within tie
discretion of Congress may change as the
| Congress itself may change. One Congress
| may exclude a State from all share III the
| Government for one reason, and, that reason
| removed, the next Congress may eAcluue IL
| for another. One State may be excluded on
one Ground to-day, and another may he eN-
cIuded on the opposite ground, tomorrow
| Northern ascendancy may exclude southern
States from one Congress; the ascendancy OF
Western OF of Southern interests, OF OF both
| combined may exclude tue Northern or the
Eastern States from the next. Improbable
As such usurpations may seem, the establish
ment of the principle now asserted and acted
upon by Congress will reIder them by no
| means impossible
The character. indeed the very existence,
of Congress- and the Union is thus made de
pendent, solely and entirely, upon the party
and sectional exigencieS and forbearance of
the hour. We need not stop to show that
such action not only finds no warrant i'll the
| Constitution, but it is at war with every
principle of our Government, and with the
| very existence of free institutions. 1t Is, IN
deed, the identical practice which has rem
dered fIuitleSs all attempts hitherto to es-
I
! Mexico and the States of South America
Party necessities assert themselves as supe-
riOr tie the fundamental Ilaw, which IS set
aside in reckless obedience to their behestS
Stability, whether i'll the exercise of power
in the administration of government, or i'll
the enjoyment of rights, became impossible
and the conflicts of party, which, under con
stitutiOnal governments, are the conditions
and means Of political progress, are merged
in the conflicts of arms to which they Ill
rcctly and inevitably tend.
1t was against this peril, so conspicuous anC
So fatal to all free governments, that Oul
Constitution was intended especially to pro
vide Not only the stability, but the very
existence of the Government is made by Its
provisions to depend upon the right and tn,
fact of representation.
The Congress, upon which is conferred nj
the legislative power of the national govern
ment consists of two branches, the Senate
and House of Representatives, whose join
concurrence or assent is essential to the va
lidity of any law OF these, ''the House o
Representatives" says the Constitution
article /, Section 2,) shall be composed o
members chosen every second year by the
people of the several States" Not only i:
f the right of representation thus recognized
rs possessed by all the States, and by every
State without restriction, qualification o.
distinction of any kind, but the duty o
choosing Representatives is imposed upOI
the people of each and every State alike
without distinction or the authority to make
distinctions among them for any reason o.
| upon any grounds whatever. And III The
Senate, so careful is the Constitution to Sc
cure to every State this right of representa-
, ton, it is explicitly provided that no Stat,
shall without its consent, be deprived of it
equal suffrage in that body, even by al
amendment of the Constitution itself
When therefore, any State is excluded from
t4gtfn not lOht n
State denied but the Constitutional integri
! tN of the Senate is impaired, and the ,EfI II
tV- of the L5@VA0ougreSS, at the present mo
/ ment, thus excludes from representation il
both branches of Congress ten States of the
Union denying them all share in the enact
ment of laws by which we are to be govern
t ed, and all participation in the election o
= officers by which those laws are to be Ell
forced. In other words, a Congress in which
only twenty-siX States are represented as
SertS the right to govern absolutely, in its
own discretion, all the thirty-six States
which compose the Union; to make theil
; laws and choose their rulers, and to exclude
the other ten from all share in their OWL
Government, until it sees fit to admit them
thereto What is there to distinguish the
power thus asserted and exercised from the
most absolute and intolerable tyranny?
FIRST Nor do these extravagant and un-
inst claims ON the part of Congress to pow
ers of authority never conferred upon the
Government by the Constitution, find any
warrant in the arguments or excuses urged
on their behalf 1t is alleged, at first, that
these States, by the act of rebellion, and by
voluntarily withdrawing their members
from Congress, forfeited their right of rep
Presentations; and that they can only receive
il again at the hands of the supreme legis-
latiVe authority of the Government, on its
own terms, and at its own discretion. If
representation in Congress and partcipa-
ton in the Government were simply privi-
legcs conferred and held by favor this state
ment might have the merit of plausi-
/ bllity but representation is, under the
| Constitution, not only expressly recognized
! as right. but it is imposed as a duty and
1t 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 be
forfeited, except against individuals, by due
/ process of law; nor can constitutional duties
/ and obligations be discarded or laid aside
| The enjoyment of rights may be for a time
| suspended by the failure to claim them and
/ duties may be evaded by the refusal to per-
| form them. The withdrawal of their mem
| beers from Congress, by the States which
resisted the Government, was among their
1 acts OF mSurrectlon, was one of the means
and agencies 10y which they sought to impair
/ the authority and defeat the action of the
! Government and that act was annulled and
( ltiltlCi0u Noitl when In6 1nSufrecUlOn Itself
was suppressed Neither the right of repre-
sentation, nor the duty to he 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 and unlawful authority.
had prohibited, within the territory under
Its control, that allegiance to the Constitu-
ton and laws of the United States which is
made, by that fundamental law, the essen
tial condition of representation in its Gov
eTnmeut.
No man within the insurgent States was |
allowed TO take the oath to support the Con- |
stitution of the United States and. as a ne |
eesSary 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 aud to the discharge
n tNr~ Il 4 I.