The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-04-09

find little support in the Constitution.
1t does not base mems rights in the form
of their nose and the length of their
heels. Those who claim that the negro
resembles the monkey, forget that the
monkey has no heel, and so the longer
I the negro's heel the farther he is re-
moved from the monkey.
In the Constitution the poorest aud
| lowest slave Is recognized as a man,
and as soon as his chains are broken,
his ability fits him. Nowhere in the
Constitution do we ind word squint-
| ing at 'white man" It would be as
| proper to find in the Lords Prayer
the words give us tOhite men our daily
1 bread" -f .=aE
But, good as it Is, the Constitution
/ has many defects, and il Is our duty 10
discover and amend them. Before the
war we were disposed to letwel enough
alone. At the beginning of the rebel
lion we hesitated; but now that we have
| met it and put it down we are disposed
! to remedy its defects. The war has
shown by what u slender thread our
| Government hangs, and how nearly it
come of being overthrown. We are
! little indebted to the mere structure of
/ the Government for its preservation. 1t
was because our cause was right, and
the cause of the rebels wrong, that we
conquered. The rebellion was smitteu
with death the moment that Abraham
Lincoln wrote upon our banners the
word Emancipation" That word
strengthened our whole army to fight
as they had not before. 1t frightened
and disheartened the rebels, Thew
were reminded that they were fighting
not only against their country, but
against God.
Another reason of our success was
| that we happened to have an honest
I man in the Presidential 0hafr
We discovered some errors in our
system of government during the war.
But there are more to be grappled with
and happy will it be for US, and for our
4 children, if We remove those defects
1 before the lurid light of another rebel
lion shall compel theirremoval. Happy
would it have been for us iT we had
long before resolved upon the abolition
| OF slavery. But we did it at last un-
der the pressure of military necessity.
| and we hardly deserve more crdit than
Pharaoh did for orletting the Hebrews go.
It was not until the pestilence of war
had compelled US, that we consented
to let the people go. II was necessary
that our sons should come home IeoleSs
and armless, that thousands of hearth
stones should be made desolate before
T we would do this great act Of justice.
And, too, il is due not SO much to the
virtue Of the North as to the persistent
| villainY of the South.
The sources of danger to the Repub-
| lie may be stated under two heads.
| those which are esoteric and those
which are exoteric. The speaker would
not, however, admit that a Republic
| was Inherently weak, and less power
Government If it has weaknesses thew
are not inherent In the form of the Re-
| public, but because the Governmnt
leans towards the autocratic form of
| government. The speaker was a thor
ough democrat as against monarchies-
autocracies, and ell that. He had faith
in the people. The masses of men mean
we'll. This is shown by the many be-
nevolent institutions that rise on every
hand The masses may not ALWAYS be
right, but they always mean right.
When the Government derives its in
spiration from them, it will, as rule,
go right In seeking basis of govern
ment he would base it upon the people,
and If it is made in harmony with the
Idea of the Constitution that all govern
ments derive their power from the con-
sent of the governed; that all citizens
may take part in the Government; that
| no man may be Kept from the ballot
box on account of his color; that no
woman may be kept from it by reason
of her sex-he saw no reason why it
should not continue as long as the
world stood. -,
/ Unfortunately, the Constitution COM
bined some of the ideas of aristocracy,
An age is required to obliterate ali
traces of former bondage. II was not
i easy to drive out the traces of mon
| archial institutions derived from the
British Government. 1t was not
Strange that when our fathers came to
| frame new Constitution they should
/ mingle with it some traces of The old
form under which they had lived. This
tendency appears now. While we are
/ willing thai the slave shall be free, we
| want few links to remain to remind
/ him of his former condition Our
| weakness is that we retain some of the
monarchial element which cannot blend
with Fepublieanism- g
i The first source of our danger is the
one-man, power in our Government.
| But the people are waking up to the
existence and the danger of this power.
I II Jefferson Davis taught us the folly OF
retaining the slave power in the Gov
ernment, Andrew Johnson may be said
to have taught rs the folly OF the one-
man power. If he shall teach us the
danger of this he will prove to be a
4 blessing in disguise-though horribly
| disguised. Mr.. Seward introduced Mr..
Johnson to the people of Michigan as
their King. We have laughed at this.
but there is something of truth In it,
The President is invested with some
thing of kingly power, which he may
use to the hurt of the people. Andrew
Johnson, in some of the conditions OF
mind which are quite too often with
him, has seemed TO imagine himself not
only the KING Of the United States, but
the United States.
There is danger in the breTity of the
Presidential term. II gives man inn
punity in his actions We would not
L stand Johnson an hour II we thought
/ that we had to stand him for life. There
is some consolation in the idea that we
can change our masters. When he was
q slave he was allowed the privilege OF
/ choosing his master, and when he got
a bad one it was some consolation to
think that at the end of the year he
could shake him OF. But, after all, it
\ was not RhRf he wanted, to have a new
! master, but TO have no master. and so
to be free. This is what the American
people want-at all times to- be their
own masters We are free while we
are voting, but when this President Is
elected and in.the saddle, the national
animal must go where its master drives.
The President can ride with an abso-
j Lutte power that no monarch can equal.
The Government of Englandlis exer-
1 cised with a respect for the feelings oi
the people such as is not shown in the
i United States. An officer there who
hnds that he Is not wanted by the peo-
pie, hastens at once to lay down his
Office Bur in this5eountry a man may
be invited repeatedly. to resign, but he
never accepts the Invitation. The peo-
pie of Wisconsin have invited Senator
Doolittle toTssfgn, but he says, "Whai
tdoes The people know about the duties
of SsnatoE7'' President johnson has
been invited almost unanimously tc
resign, but he does not do 1t.
The sources of this one-man power
lie in several thiu0s.- The fact that the