Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1867-03-29

ing, nor fix any penalty for the ofense, we
must not forget that martial law prevails,
that every person is answerable to a military
commission, without previous presentment
by a grand jury for any charge that may be
made against him; and that the supreme au-
thority Of the military commander deter
mines the question as to what is an offence,
and what is to be the measure Of punish
ment
The fourth section of the bill provides
THAT the commanding general of each dis
trict shall appoint as many boards of regis
tration as may be necessary, consisting of
three loyal officers or persons" The only
qualification stated for these officers is that
they must be "loyal." They may be per-
sons in the military service or civilians, resi-
dents of the State or strangers. Yet these
persons are to exercise most important du-
ties, and are vested with unlimited discretion
They are to decide what names shall be
placed upon the register, and from their de-
cison there is to be no appeal. They are to
superinted the elections and to decide all
questions which may arise. They are to
have the custody of the ballots, and to make
return Of the persons elected. Whatever
frauds or errors they may commit must pass
without redress. All that is left for the com
handing general is to receive the returns of
the elections, open the same, and ascertain
who are chosen according to the returns of
the officers who conducted said elections y
BY such means, and with this sort of agency,
are the conventions Of delegates to be con-
stituted.
AS the delegates arc to speak for the peo-
pie. common justice would seem to require
that they should have authority from the
people themselves. No convention so con-
stituted will in any sense represent the wishes
of the inhabitants of these States; for, under
the all-embracing exceptions of these laws.
by construction which the uncertainty of
the clause as to disfranchisement leaves open
to the board Of officers, the great body of the
people may be excluded from the polls, and
from all opportunity of expressing their own
wishes, or voting for delegates who will faith
fully reflect their sentiments
[ do not deem it necessary further to in
vestlgate the details Of this BILL No consid-
Grafton could induce me to give my approval
to such an election law for any purpose, and
especially for the great purpose Of framing
the constitution Of State fever the Amer
lean citizen should be left to the free exer-
else of his own judgment, it is when he is
engaged in the work of forming the funda-
mental law under which he is to live. That
work is his work, and it cannot properly be
taken out of his hands. All this legislation
proceeds upon the contrary assumption, that
the people of each Of these States shall have
no constitution, except such as may be arbi-
J trarily dictated by Congress, and formed un-
der the restraint of military rule. A plain
statement of facts makes this evident
| In all these States there are existing con
situations formed in the accustomed way by
the people. Congress, however, declares
that these constitutions are not loyal and
republican, and requires the people to form
them anew. What, then, in the opinion Of
Congress, is necessary to make the Constitu
ton of State ssloyal and republican .
The original act answers the question: 1t is
universal negro suffrage question which
the Federal Constitution leaves to the States
| themselves All this legislative machinery
of martial law, military coercion, and pelti-
cal disfranchisemcnt is avowediy for taatpur-
pose, and none other. The existing Consti-
tuition of the ten States conform to the &C
knowledged standards Of loyalty and repub-
| licansm. Indeed, if there are degrees in
stitutions are more fepupncan now than when
these States-four of which were members of
the original thirteen-frst became members
of the Union
Congress does not now demand that sin
gle provision Of their Constitutions be
changed, except such as confne suffrage to
the white population. Tits apparent, there
fore, that these provisions do not conform to
the standard Of republicanism which Con-
gress seeks to establish. That there may
be no mistake it is only necessary that refer
ence should be made to the original act, which
declares "such Constitution shall provide
that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by
all such persons as have the. qualifcatlu2s
herein stated for electors of delegates. p
What class of persons is here meant clearly
appears in the same section. That is to say
"the male citizens Of said State twenty one
years old and upward, of whatever race,
color, Or previous condition, who have been
resident in said State for one year previous
to the day Of such election"
Without these provisions no Constitution
which can be framed in any one Of the ten
States will be Of any avail with Congress-
This, then, is the test of what the Constitu-
ton Of State Of this Union must contain to
make it republican. Measured bv such
standard. how few of the States now COM
posing the Union have republican Constitu-
tions If, in the exercise Of the constitution
al guaranty, that Congress shall secure to
every State republican form of government,
universal suffrage for blacks as we'll as whites
is SINE qua non, the work of reconstruction
may as well begin in Ohio as in Virginia,
in Pennsylvania as in North Carolina.
When | contemplate the millions of our
fellow-citizens Of the South, with no alterna-
tive left but to impose upon themselves this
fearful and unuried experiment Of comeplete
negro enfranchisement and white disfran-
chisement, it may be almost as complete, or
submit indefinitely to the rigor of martial law.