The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-10-11
SAUL AMONG THE PROPHETS.
The New York Times Urges the South
RatifY the Constitutional Amendment.

SAUh AMUNu lHE fhUfnEID'
The New York Times Urges the South to
Ratify the Constitutional Amendment.
[From the New York Times September 24th.]
There is not the slightest difference of
opinioa, so far as we are aware, in the Union
party and very little anywhere else, as tc
the wisdom of ratifying the Constitutional
Amendment proposed by Congress. 1t re.
ceived every Union vote in the House, and
is sustained by every Union journal through
out the country, The only point upon
which differences do prevail is as to the pol
Fcy of making its adoption condition pre-
cedent to the admission of representatives
from Southern States. Upon this, Union
nemh.ars of Congress were not agreed
among themselves Some were opposed to
admitting them until after the amendment
should have become part OF the funda-
mental law. bv the ratification OF three
fourths of all the States. Others like Mr.
Bingham, Of Ohio, insisted that whenever
auv Southern State should ratify the amend
meut that State should thereUpon be admit
ted to representation. Others like Mr. Bout
well. of Massachusetts, and Mr.. Kelley, OF
Pennsylvania, refused to pledge Congress
to admit them even after the amendment
should be adopted, and others still did
not deem it within the Constitutional power
of Congress to impose its adoption as a con-
dition of admission to the fundamental riglt
of representation.
In point of fact, the adoption or rejection
of the amendment has nothing whatever to-
do, as the law now stands, with the adms-
sion or rejection of members from the
Southern States A bill providing for their
admission on condition. of its adoption, was
rejected by the House and even if every
Southern State should ratify the amend
ment tomorrow, Congress has not pied geo
itself in any way thereupon to admit their
representatives to Congress. The two ques
tions are entirely separate and distinct, and
each must be determined upon It's own
merits.
The objects sought to be attained by TINS
amendment are important ana desirable.
The first which clothes with the equal
civil rights belonging to citizenship all the
native born inhabitants Of the United States,
commends itself to every mans sense OF
Justice and of public policy. 1t was the
worst feature of slavery that it kept large
ella IS of persons outside the protection OF the
law and now that slavery has been swept
on..~y, there is no shadow of excuse for per-
,etTa ting this worst of all its wrongs. we
tr,,S. -. Southern States will make speedy
,1ro,,;a;a,, W extending the full protection
r. az - - their enfranchised slaves, IN
common With all their people but aside
fron, The tLoro GRO many reasons OF justice
IN , Ills 'n1 III National Constitu-
ana PfopIlety why LIZ ~flarantee universal
tion should make this
and perpetual. ..o.,l,,ant 10
The Second clause of the H1ielinsn0ni 20
designed to remedy an iEeI u@"'s o TEL
now exists in the enjoyment p.s-' ~
power. 1t was decided by the tr. ~'lCi' ~.
the Constitution that population N~ no'
voters should constitute the basis OF .
sentation, and this ceases to be the wl.sS -
rule only when large masses Of the popul d
ton are excluded from suffrage in some Sec
tons of the country and not III others. Then
it becomes an element of inequality and IN
Justice. A voter in one section has double
the political power of a voter IN the
other, This inequality exists to-day be-
tween Northern and Southern States, and
it ought to be corrected. This would be
true if the question had never had anything
whatever to do with the rebellion, or If the
inequality were in favor of the North instead
of the South. Every man can see that 1t IS
unjust, and the Southern States ought to
see it as we'll as the Northern. And as no
section is to be benefited in the long run by
any inequality or any injustice, the South
as well as the North ought to ratity this
amendment. 1t Involves, it is true, tenn
porary surrender of a portion OF the political
power now enjoyed under the constitution !;
but that surrender would be more than COM
pensated by removing an injustice which so
long as it exists, must be the fruitful source
of sectional discomfort and national dlscord.
The third clause of this amendment de-
clares certain classes of persons who took
a responsible part in the rebellion lnelllgl-
bic to Office until relieved theretrom by two
thirds of Congress. While the power
of Congress to participate II the ex-
ercise of the pardoning power, or to pre-
scribe qualifications for local office IN the
several States, may be open to doubt, none
can rest upon the substantial justice Of this
provision, so far as Federal office Is con-
cerned Men who have waged war upon
the Government cannot complain OF any
wrong in being excluded for a time from
personally sharing its authority and power
And the time when they may thus be read
mitted is within the wise discretion of the
Government itself This is a wholly differ
ent question from that of admitting States
to representation, as it touches only the
question of the character and qualifications
of the persons by whom these States may
be represented and in this respect the
amendment is not unduly harsh or severe
AS it originally passed the House this clause
excluded everybody who had taken part ii
the rebellion or given it aid and comfort il
any way, from voting until after the mex
Presidential election but this was chang
ed in the senate, and as it now stands is uo
open to serious objection.
The fourth clause simply forbids the pay
ment of the rebel debt and is not oppose
by anybody and the fifth only gives Coz
gress power to carry the other provisions il
to effect-a power Congress would probabl
possess in the absence of any such specif
grant.