The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-09-04

unwise, unjust, uupatriotic. anti Re
| publican. disunion,a uaosEs ftntienal
measures and policy of reeonsfrue- :,
Fion. adopted by the 1domina1it major :
fityofn the $50 called Congress OF the
+ Uhfted States" Tt does not .detEact
/ from his merits or popularity To say
i fhe truth, that his, great majority. WAS,
attributed to the active and aunyield-,
ing opposition of the people of K CD
| tueky to- that sdespetism which the
/ dominant party in Congress continue
| to assert everBa large. portion of our
tcopnl country, and fixed purpose
upon the part of our people tobcon-
i stantly assert and maintain the aprin-
! i,ciples of freeg constitutional govern
ment Ja 9ns il0r-H sa---- q. s-szi1- 4i- u iiuA
- Governor Helm in his inausural
speech referring to the Federal refa-
! tionS said 9" --47iii" ~ 1bo ~
$ 20 1t is my fondest wish, most ardent
hope, and earnest prayer, that all the
States may be restored to their equal
rights under the Constitution, and
| that the Union may be as lasting as
time itself. Thanks to God the tread
! of hostile armies is no longer heard,
| the roar of canon and the peals of
musketry are hushed, and peace,
blessed, glorious peace, sheds her
bsaigha,als land efolgent beans
throughout the entire length and
breadth OF the Republic. Now. my
7 countrymen. IS the proper time to
c. N the troubled waters, to heal all
woundSi and dissensions, TO restore
concbrf and fraternity, and nobly TO
redeem the pledges which we
V0luntlsifg 1as3 S@rankly made at
| the commencement of our late and
unhappy pyacivil war. As early as 1861
| Congress adopted almost unanimously
| the celebrated Crittenden resolutions,
in which they proclaimed to the world
tsithat this Iwar Is not waged on our
part in any spirit of oppression, nor
for any purpose of conquest and sub.
jugatiOn, nor for the purpose of oyer
| throwing or interfering with the es-i
tablished Institutions of the States,
y gSussSts defend - and a. nsja!ain
and to preserve the Union with
ali theD dignity, Equality audi rights
of the several States of the Union.
unimpaired, and that as soon as these
objects are accomplished the war
ought to cease" Fortunately for .
all the: war Is now oven, the sauth ority
of the Federal Government is every
where fullyrestored, and it is full time
that the faith of the nation so solemn
,lyi plighted should be redeemed. Let
us forget the bitterness of the past;
I-let as forgive its errors, remembering
that" to err is human, to forgive, di-
vine, and then when we no longer
keen the heel Of military despotism
upon the people of ten sister States.
we may cry out against the oppression
of England against Ireland, of Rus
sia against Poland, of Austria against
Hungary, but the world will think
that we may well be silent until then.
Referring to the exclusion OF dele
gates, he says:
The people of Kentucky have just
cause to complain of the action of
Congress in excluding from their seats
the Representatives from the State
who were duly elected in accordance
with all the requirements of law. and
Who had all the qualifications pre-
scribed by the Federal Constitution.
Nothing can be more explicit than
the Constitution upon this subject;
for under article 1st, section I'd, We
find the following:
LIST. The House of Representatives
shall be composed Of members
chosen every second year, by the
people of the several States, and
the electors of each State shall
have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous
branch of the State Legislature 81
End. " No person sha be Rep
resentative who shall not have attain
ed to the age of twenty-6 FIVE years, and
| United States, aad who shall not,
| when elected, be an inhabi of the
State in which he shall be chosen y
These are the sole and entire quail
| fcations which are required by the
| Constitution, and Congress has no
| Constitutional power to add to or SUBJ
tract from them This is the funda-
| mental law, and ii is admitted by
| both friend and foe that our Repre-
sentatives were all elected by
the duly qualified voters of the
State, and that all of them had the
| Constitutional qualifications above
enumerated Knowing that these
things are full and susceptible, and
cannot be contradicted or refuted, the
force of constitutional liberty points
US to another clause of the Constitu-
ton, which says each House shall be
the judge of the election returns and
qualifications of its own members,
and under this clause claim that
Congress is omnipotent upon this sub
ject, and can deprive a free people of
representation. Nothing can be more
absurd or at war with common sense
and reason. This clause in the Con-
! stitution is as plain as those first