Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-03-08
A SPICY DEBATE.

on the 2Sth ult., MIR. Bingham, OF Ohio, in'
troduced the amendment to the Constitu.
tioo, providing for greater security Of the
rights Of the people in the several States,
and upon it very spicy debate sprang up.
We print below that part Of itio which
our Representative took part, copied from
the n Y. Tribune:
Mr. BINGHAM tOhio) said he approached
! the discussion Ut the question, aware that
il was utterly impossible for him to do jus.
tice TO it in the time allowed He Thought
! that the gentleman from Vermont Mr..
! Woodhrdge) bad altered words that ought
| to be considered and accepted BY gentlemen
| when he said that the action Of this Con
gress on the future prosperity Of the coun.
try would be felt by generations to come
He believed that the people had entrusted
Congress the care Of the Republic not only
for the present, but for all the hereafter
The Committee on Reconstruction would
not have recommended This proposition but
for their confidence that its adoption and
ratification were essential to the safety Of all
the people of every State present and to
come. He repelled the suggestion made in
the heat Of debate, that the Committee, or
any OF it's members, sought in any form to
mar the Constitution, or to take from any
State rights that belonged to it under the
Constitution. This was simply PROPOSE
ton to arm the Congress of the United
States, by the consent Of tho people, with
power to enforce the bill Of rights as il stood
in the Constitution. 1t had that extent, no
more.
Mr.. HALE IN. W wished to ask ques-
tion.
Mr.. BINGHAM declined to yield, and said
that gentleman who seemed to be very de-
sirous of standing we'll with the President
of the United States--recent converts
would, if they looked narrowly to his Mes
sage at the opening of the session, find this
very proposition vindicated and approved
by him, for he then told Congress that II
was the right of every man to be secure in
} life. liberty and property !; but that rested
on higher authority-en the authority OF
the people, speaking through their Consti.
tuition, when they declared that the citi.
gen of each State should be entitled to all
the privileges and immunities Of citizens OF
the United States in each State, and that
no person should be deprived of life liberty
or property without due process of law. He
argued that the proposed amendment did
not in any way interfere with the reserved
rights of States.
Messrs. RoaERs and HALE each sought
to ask a question, hut Mr. Bingham per.
emptorily refused To he interrupted, and re-
ferred to the statement of the gentleman
from New Jersey tMr Rogers) that he wa:
' opposed to it because it came from john
5 committee more tyrannical than any tyranny
: which disgraced the reign Of louis XIV.
: IF the amendment was good he bingham
i. did not sec that that was any objection t.
it, though the gentlemen seemed to think i
n. VI. hoy 10,
: sportivelv or ironically. Probably he woult
. not have spok en- at all hut for the fact tha
a somebody else at the other and Of the avenu
had 50 spoken when he denounced, in
speech tn party Of the gentleman 8 chooq
r ing this innt Committee on Reconstruction
It raised hv both Houses, as being 1icfatoriit
- Unconstitutional, an1 upauthorlz9d hv law
}, It the gentleman were mt speaking iron,c
IS ally, one would have supposed he woui'
. have mada haste n Withdraw himself Irou
!, all conrection with su"h committee. |
:. was a wonder that he did not shake the lu'
: from off hia feet as a testimony against 1t
!, and lifting M hi. hanfs, thank God tha
he was mt made like other men AMI eS
claim, "Mv sou' be nor thou nnited vii
them!" The Fl ,u.e haA heard tho othe
+ extraoriinary argument mada by the gen
y tlemen from Penn yvania (Mr Randall,
it should not be passed in the absence Of tn
:. representatives of tho eleven States late|
o in rebellion Mr.. Bingham refrred in thi
9 connection tn the reply of Mr. Madison
when asked in regard to the adoption Of III
Federal Constitution bv nine Of the thirtee
original States, hv what right it should b
male binding; the answer being: Tho righ
d of the people 10 self preservation iustifss il
If II rests upon the transcendan. law Of ma ture
}, and natures God " That righ, had gon
c with the people through all their struggles
Tf the arguments Of the gentleman fror
PENNSYLVANIA were logical. Congress coul
y not have passed single bill during the pas
- five years affecting in any sense the interest
. of the eleven Rebel States. In that obiet
. ton the gentleman had simply been borrow
: ing another argument from the Presiden!
I who had set forth something like it in hi
Veto Message. Then the house had hear
' the calmer and more deliberate utterance
,, Of the gentleman from New York (Ml
IS Hale) in opposition to the amendment, n
d iterating the cid cry Of State rights d
Il (Mr. Bingham) would like to know where
E. (Mr. Hale) had derived the notion that an
3, State had a right to deny to the citizens of an
l other State any of the privileges or immun
). ties Of citizens ofthe United States. Ifnn
J. how ceuld the right OF the States be impaire
j BY giving to Congress the power to enforc
- these provisions2 1t took from the State
= no rights which they had. But If they oer
: spired together to enact laws refusing pr,
!. lection to life, liberty, or property, it arme
~ Congress with the power to hold the recu
+, ant legislators to an account before tho bs
qf of the Federal Constitution. He did n!
ID doubt that this very grant of power woul
t. have been in the Constitution originally
IN il was not that it was incompatible with ti
is existence of Slavery in any State. For a
,e though slaves might not be admitted to /
: citizens. thcy must he admitted to be pc
/, sons. That was the reason there was fs
10 ter on the foot Of the nation. Thank Got
y that fetter had now heen removed It ha
x been turned 10 dust before the breath Of Il
y pcopIc, speaking as the voice of God, d
as caring that Slavery was forever prohihlte
~ within the. Republic The people had c,I
fiiad great trust in this Congress, an,
. God helpins him he would NOT hetray
!, even though men in high piaceS showed
!" a disposition TO do 60 What uttetance
4 h. asked, arc given out in these days2 VI
of havo in tho Gr.t place the utterenceS Of a
a a., - an, vu olaatat Nlnp Pres