The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-10-24
THE CONVENTION.

THE CONVENTION.
We confess that we are sick and tired Of
hearing that it is sssxpedient to pursue certain
course of political action, therefore, it
should be DONE" This is the resort Of the low
politician, the trieksteH, the coward and the
knave. More than this, it will always be found
that the apparently e1podient is very apt to
prove q permanent and lasting injury. II one
wrong is committed for the purpose Of avoiding
temporary inconvenience, many more wrongs
must eventually be committed in order to pre-
vent that wrong from working irrsparable mis-
chief. The every day experience ofindiVidual
life proves this. The difference between an
individual and nation is, that the one is man
in the bodily, the other is man in the corporate
sense. An individual cannot violate the moral
law without punishment, and nation cannot
depart from the fixed and immutable rules Of
right and justice without being severely pun
ished. Truth alone is unchanging; truth alone
will endure; truth alone is the guide by which
we can be safely governed.
We are on the eve Of great crisis in the af-
fairs of this continent. On the one hand stands
the conservative element Of tho country anxious
to observe compacts and to preserve liberty.
On the other stands the Radical and the dema-
cocue anxious to tear the Constitution of the
United States into shreds and to establish
despotism for the purpose Of preserving party
power and the spois of office under the name
of "manhood suffrage"
The Constitution of the United States pro-
vides, among other things, that no State,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its
equal suffrage in the Senate. Ten States are
to-day deprived of that right, and tyranny
~ fastened upon them, intended to deprive
them permanently Of the right, unless they will
frame Radical constitutions and send Radical
Senators. The same States are deprived Of
their representation given to them by the Con-
stitstion in the lower House Of Congress.
The same States are guaranteed by tho Consti-
tuition q republican form of government, and it
cannot be denied that each had constitution
which was republican at the time it endeayor-
ed to dissolve its connection with the Union.
1t cannot be denied that the war would have
been an iniquity had 1t been waged on any
other ground than for tho restoration Of the
Union. 1t cannot be denied that the success
of the North in that war proved that the indi-
viduals who attempted secession were rebels,
if the war was not crime. It cannot be de-
MED that the States did not die; that their oon-
stitutions were not drowned in the sea of blood
which flowed during that bitter strife; that
they were not buried in the same graves which
contain the fallen heroes who battled on either
side for what they believed was the cause Of
constitutional liberty. 1t cannot be denied
that those constitutions are entitled to the pro-
lection Of the Government. Yet the Radical
party shamelessly force upon us o military
government, subvert our constitutions, and de-
prive US of that great privilege Of American
citizens-the birth-right Of all who inherit
English blood or English tradition-the right
Of trial by jury per legcm terra, according to
the low Of the land.
Nor is this ALL The Constitution provides
that "every bill which shall have passed the
House Of Representatives and the Senate shall,
before II becomes law, be presented to the
President Of the United States If he approve,
he shall sign it, but il not he shall return 1t
with his objections to that House in which 1t
shall have originated, who shall enter the OBJ
jections at large on their Journal and proceed
to reconsider it. If, after such reconsidera-
ton, tpo-thirds af that House shall agree TO pass
the Bill, it shall be sent with tho objections to
the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and # approved by t,co-thirds Of
that House it shall become law" That we
may not be left in doubt as to the meaning Of
the words two-thirds of that House, the Constitu-
ton itself uses the expression tco-third' cfthe
members present in the case Of impeachment, and
two-thirds of the Senator, present in the clause
granting the treaty making power. 1t also
provides that the vote shall be by yeas and
nays.
An election has been ordered in this State
for the purpose of calling Convention to
frame an organic law for this State, based on
laws passed by portion Of Congress, and
vetoed by the President. To say nothing Of
the House Of Representatives twenty Senators,
nearly one-third of the whole number were e1-
cludcd wilfully and in violation Of the Constitu-
tion from their seats. Had they been present
it cannot be doubted that their votes would
have been in opposition to the inficting of this
cruel wrong upon their native States. Had
they voted the bills could never have become
law. Granting the oonstitutionality Of the
Civil Rights Bill and the Reconstruction Acts
for the moment, if they had been passed by
constitutional voto of two-thirds Of both
Houses, can it be pretended that they are binding
rs law when the Representatives Of ten States,
(the ton States on which the laws were intend
oil to act), were forcibly excluded from the
Halls Of Congress. This becomes the more i'm
portant when we remember that the laws ore
not constitutional when they interfere with
guaranteed rights, older than the hoary headed
sinner who unblushingly proclaims them to be
"outside of the Constitution" when they inter-
ferc with tho laws of tho States, trial by jury,
and even with freedom of speech and freedom
of action, when they permit a military officer
10 subvert institutions which we have been
taught to hold sacred, when they substitute
he voice of dominant party for the voice of |
he Constitution, tyranny for liberty, and tho
icensc of faction for the constitutional will Of
. constitutional majority.
That such Convention will be unlawful the
a;nol lenders will not honestly dcnY They |