Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-12
Have we a CONGRESS 2

The first article Of the Constitution creates
Congress and vests all legislative power in it.
There can be, therefore, no legislation without
a Congress there can be no Congress"
unless it be constituted in the manner pre-
scribed by the Constitution. OF what does the
Constitution declare Congress shall consist p
''Of Senate and House of Representatives"
OF what does the Constitution declare these
bodies shall be composed - The Senate Of
the United States shall be composed of two
Senator'S from each State" "The House OF
Representatives shall be composed OF members
chosen every second year by the people Of The
SeUerdl States" Are the bodies now sitting in
Washington, claiming to be Senate and House
of Representative, composed Of two Senators
from each State" and Members chosen by the
people Of "the several States ?" Certainly not
The Senators and Members from eleven States
are refused admission into those bodies, and
the States, whose commissions they bear, are
denied representation. Does the Constitution
give power to Congress to deny representation
to States So far from it, it declares that not
even Convention, with power to alter or
unmake the Constitution, shall be allowed
to do this, the language being, "NO State,
without its consent, shall be deprived of
equal suffrage in the Senate" So far there
can be no doubt. The Constitution itself
speaks. The only possible question or bubble
is whether the communities that are denied
representation are portions Of the United
Nit tho TTnforf Arc haN
so or not 2 They were undeniably States in
the Union before their respective ordinances Of
secession. Has the United States Government
ever admitted for a moment that those ordi-
nances took them out Of the UniOn2 Never for
one moment. II waged the most tremendous
war known to history in denial and prevention
of that very result. 1t sent millions Of men to
the field, and expended thousands Of millions
Of money to prevent those who were endeavOr-
ing to withdraw from the Union from carrying
out their purpOse-and it succeeded. The hat
of war was that no State had gone, or could 90,
or should go out of the Union. That fiat
was acquiesced in by the defeated partieS.-
All the departments Of the Government
legislative, executive and judicial, gave their
sanction and assistance to the war waged, with
the object we have stated, and all are unitedly
bound, by the result, to the conclusion that
the States which were in the Union before the
war, were in it after the war. But they are
bound also, separately, by the individual action
Of each. For example the legislative depart
ment is bound by having enacted law levy
ing direct tax upon each Of the States, by |
name, that attempted to secede, which tax is |
now in process of collection. If they were not |
States in the Union, this tax could not be le- |
Wed, for the Constitution declares Direct |
40 taxes shall be appOrtioned among the several |
" States which may be included within this |
" Union, according to their respective num- |
" bers." The levying and collecting Of this |
tax is the official admission of Congress that
the States on which it is levied are "included |
within this Union" carrying with it, of course,
the admission that they are States. The
Executive Department has made the same
acknowledgment officially, by a formal pro
clamation. The Judicial Department has
made the same admission by the order
of the Supreme Court placing the names
of the States on its docket. By all depart
ments Of the Government then, unitedly and
separately, and by that power mightier even
than the Government itself-the people-who
fought and furnished the war to prevent States
from withdrawing from the Union, it stands ad
mitted, decided and settled that Virginia, the
Carolinas, Georgia, &c, are States and States
IN the Union. As such there is no power in the
Government to deny them representation and
it follows, with irresistible force and undenia-
BILE certainty, that the Congress into which they
are denied admission is not the Congress ere
ated by the Constitution and endowed with the
power Of legislation. Such body is clearly
without authority, and its acts must be held to
ha of no hindinU force