Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1866-09-15
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NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, 9pENN'A.
SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER Is, 1866.
OLD SERIES, VOL, &c, NO. 40.

| tempt 10 loYerturn fthe Constitution = apt
Government Of the United States. As In,
whole force of the people in each of the rebe
communities was engaged in this work, tn,
whole OF the people were rebels and publ,
enemies Nothing was left, in each case
but an abstract State, without any externa
| body, and as destitute of people having
right to enjoy the privileges of the Consti
tuition as if the territory had been jswep
clean of population by a a,pestilence.p 1t is
then, only this abstract State which has
! right to representation in Congress. Blu
how can there be a right to representation
when there is nobody to 5e represented
All this may appear puerile, but the puerilit,
| Is In the premises as well sin tho logica
deductions /; and the premises are laid down
| as indisputable constitutional principles by
| the eminent jurists who supply ideas fol
the National Union party. III, -..a. Fa.
,g The doctrine of the unconditional right OF
the rebel States to representation being thus
demonstrated absurdity theionly question
relates to the conditions which Congress
proposes to impose. Certainly these condi.
tons, as embodied in the constitutional
amendment which has passed both Houses
by such overwhelming majorities, are
the mildest ever exacted of defeated
enemies by victorious nation. There is
not distinctly radical" idea in the whole
Notwithstanding that President John
son has not himself, within comparatively
recent period, stamped with his high appro-
baton. Does it ordain universal suffrage 2
No. Does it ordain impartial suffrage2 No.
Does it prescribe, disfranchise or expatriate
the recent armed enemies of the country, or
confscate their property Z No. 1t simply
ordains that the national debt shall he paid
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rights of all persons shall be maintained.
that rebels who have added perjury to trea-
son shall be disqualified for Office; and that
the rebel States shall not have their political
power in the Union increased by tue pre-
sense on their soil of persons to whom they
deny political rights, but that representation
shall be based throughout the Republic on
voters, and not on population. The pith
of the whole amendment is in the last clause;
and is there anything in that to which rca-
sonable objection can be made2 Would it
not be curious result of the war agains.
rebellion, that it should end in conferrlng
on rebel voter in South Carolina power
equal, in national affairs, to that of two
loyal voters in New York; Can any Demo
crat have the face to assert that the South
should have, through it's disfranchsed negro
freemen alone, u power in the Electoral
College and in the national House of Rep
resentatives equal to that of the States of
Ohio and Indiana combined2 boa non.
Yet these conditions, so conciliatory, mo-
derate, lenient, almost timid, and which, by
the omission of impartial suffrage, fall very
far below the requirements of the average
sentiment of the loyal nation, are still de-
nounced by the new party of ''Union' as
the work of furious Radicals, bent on de-
stroying the rights of the States. Thus
Gov. James L.. Orr, of South Carolina, q
leading rebel, pardoned into a Johnsonian
Union man, implores the people of that re-
gion to send delegates to the Philadelphia
Convention, on the ground that its purpose
is to organize conservative men of all Sec
tions and parties, ito drive from power that
Radical party who are daily trampling under
foot the Constitution, and fast converting a
constitutional Republic into consolidated
despotism." The terms to which South
Carolina is asked to submit, before she can
be made the equal of Ohio or New York in
the Union, are stated to be "too degrading
and humiliating to be entertained by free
man for single instant" When we con-
slider THAT this Radical party" constitutes
nearly four tiiths of the legal Legislature of
the nation, that it was the party which
saved the country from ACKNOWLEDGMENT
while Mr.. Orr and his friends were notori-
ously engaged in 'trampling the Consttu-
tion under foot, and that the man who de-
nounces it owes his forfeited life to its
clemency, the astounding insolence of the
impeachment touches the sublime. Here is
confessed treason inveighing against tried
loyalty, in the name of the Constitution it
has violated and the law it has broken
But why does Mr. Orr think the terms of
South Carollna's restored relations to the
Union "too degrading and humiliating to
be entertained by q freeman for single in
stant2" Is it because he wishes to have the
rebel debt paid2 Is it because he desires to
have the Federal debt repudiated Is it
because he thinks it intolerable that a ne
gro should have civil. rightsl Is it because
he rcsents the idea that breakers of oatlis,
like himself, should be disqualified from
having another opportunity of for swearing
themselves Is it because he considers that
q white rebel freeman of South Carolina has
q natural right to exercise double the politl
cal power of a white loyal freeman of Mas
sachusetts2 lie must return an affirmative
answer to all these questions in order to
make it out that his State will be degraded
and Illuminated by Iatifying the amend
ment; and the necessity of the measure is
therefore proved by the motives known to
prompt the attacks of its vilfiers. ,- ,,.
The insolence of MIR. Orr Is not merely
individual but representative. 1t is the re-
suit of Mr.. Johnson's attempt ito produce
harmony between the two sections" by be-
traying the section to which he owed his
election. Had it not been for his treachery,
there would have been little difficulty in
settling the terms of peace, so as to avoid
all causes for future war but, from the time
he quarrelled with Congress, he has been
the great stirrer-up oe disaiiection at the
South, and the virtual leader Of tie South
ern reactionary party. Every man at the
South who was prominent in the rebellion,
every man in the North who was prominent
in aiding the rebellion, is now openly or
coverlly his partisan, and by fawning on him
earns the right to defame the representatives
of the people by whom the rebellion was put
down. Among traitors and Copperheads
the fear of punishment has been succeeded
by the hope of revenge elationl is on faces
which the downfall of Richmond overcast
and return to the old times, when q united
South ruled the country by, means of a
divided North, is confidently expected BY
the whole crew of political bullies and
political sycophants whose profit Is in the
abasement of the nation. 81 1t is oven said
that, if the majority aof the "Ilumpp Con
gress cannot be overcome by fair means it
will be by foul and there are noisy cparti-
sans of the President who assert thar he has
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