The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1866-11-15

son, and without the power or right 10
take even the initial steps for State reor-
ganization. They were practically out
of the Union as States; their State gov
ernments had lapsed; their population
was composed Of Rebels and public en-
emies, by the decision of the Supreme
Court. Under such circumstances, how
the COMMANDMENTS under Con-
gress, Of the forces of the United States
could re- create these defunct States, and
make it mandatory on Congress to re-
ceive their delegates, has always appear
ed to us one Of those mysteries of unrea-
son which require faculties either above
or below humanity to accept. In addi-
ton to this fundamental objection, there
was the further one, that almost all of
the delegates were Rebels presidentially
pardoned into "loyal men," were elected
with the idea of forcing Congress to re-
peal the test oath, and were incapacita-
ted to be legislators even if they had
been sent from loyal States. The few
who were loyal men in the sense that
they had not served the Rebel govern
ment, were still palpably elected by con-
stituents who had; and the character
of the constituency is as legitimate a
subject Of Congressional inquiry as the
character of the representative.
1t not being true, then, that the twen-
ty-two hundred thousand loyal voters
who placed Mr. johnson in office, and
whom he betrayed, have no means by
their representatives in Congress to ex-
ert controlling power in the recon-
struction of the Rebel communities, the
question comes up as to the conditions
which Congress has imposed 1t al
ways appeared to us that the true meas
ure of Cancellation, of security, of mercy,
of Justice, was one which would COM
bine the principal of universal amnesty,
or an amnesty nearly universal, with
that Of universal, or at least of impartial
suffrage In regard to amnesty, the
amendment to the Constitution which
Congress has passed disqualifes no
Rebels from voting, and only disquali-
fes them from holding Office when they
have happened to add perjury to treason.
In regard to suffrage, it makes it for the
political interest of the South to be Just
to its colored citizens, by basing repre-
sentation on voters, and not on popula-
ton, and thus places the indulgence of
class prejudices and hatreds under the
penalty OF a corresponding loss of poll
tical power in the Electoral College and
the National House of Representatives.
If the Rebel States should be restored
without this amendment becoming a
part of the Constitution, then the recent
Slave States will have thirty Presiden-
tial Electors and thirty members of the
House of Representatives in virtue Of a
population they disfranchise, and the
vote of a Rebel white in South Carolina
will carry with it more than double the
power of loyal white in Massachu-
setts or Ohio. The only ground on
which this disparity can be defended is,
that as Zone Southerner is more than a
match for two Yankees" he has an in
herent, continuous, unconditional right
to have this superiority recognized at
the ballot box. Indeed, the injustice of
this is so monstr Gus, that the Johnson
orators find it more convenient to decry
all conditions Of representation than to
meet the incontrovertibe reasons for
exacting the condition which bases rep
resentation on voters. Not to make it a
part of the Constitution would be, in
Mr.. Shellabarger's vivid illustration, to
allow "that Lees vote should have
double the elective power of Grants;
Semmes's double that of Farraguts;
BOotHs-did he Ere-douJh that Of LIN
coins, his rietim P'
1t is also to be considered that these
thirty votes would, in almost all future
sessions of Congress, decide the fate of
the most important measures. In 1852 |
the Republicans, as Congress is now
constituted, only had a majority of
twenty votes. In alliance with the
Northern Democratic party, the South
with these thirty votes might repeal the
Civil Rights Bill, the principle of which
is embodied in the proposed amend
ment. 1t might assume the Rebel debt,
which is repudiated in that amendment.
1t might even repudiate the Federal
debt, which is affirmed in that amend
ment. We are so accustomed to look
at the Rebel debt as dead beyond all
power of resurrection, as to forget that
it amounts, with the valuation of the
emancipated slaves, to some four thou
sand millions of dollars. If the South
and its Northern Democratic allies
should come into power, there is a
strong probability that measure would
be brought in to assume at least a por-
ton of this debt say two thousand
millions. The Southern members
would be nearly unit for assumption,
and the Northern Democratic members
would certainly be exposed to the most
frightful temptation that legislators ever
had to resist Suppose it were neces-
sary to buy fifty members at million
of dollars apiece, that sum would only
be two and a half per cent of the whole.
Suppose it were necessary to give them
ten millions apiece, even that would
only be deduction of twenty-five per
cent from claim worthless without
their votes. The bribery might be con.
Quoted in such away as to elude discov-
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