The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-04
LAWFUL s1ArEs OF TIE ur1or.

OOneCltuuOn, 10 take new securities for their
future safety, and require their acceptance by
the inBurgent States as q condition Of restora-
tion, That Is cheap logic which declares that
in the nature OF the case the people of a State
noI admitted to representation by reason of its
disOrganizatiOn and treason, cannot ratify and
accept constitutional amendment rs q condi-
ton of restoration. Who does not know that
the people of the Territories, before admission
to representation, have elected Senators by
their Legislatures and elected Representatives
to Congress by ballot before Congress had
declared them entitled to representation,
and before they were, in fact, admitted
as States of the Union? The subsequent
admission by Congress of such State
by relation gave legal effect 10 their
acts. Who does not know that the Constitution
Of the United States, in 1889, when the Congress
first met under it and legisated for the nation
there represented, had not been ratified by
Rhode Island or North Carolina, and that the
same was ratified by each OF those States, when
in fact they were not in the Union nor repre-
sion in 1890, by special law, the Judiciary act
passed in 1889 was extended over them? Ia de-
manding this condition to representation in the
Union the nation in 1867 does precisely, and
with more justification, what the nation did in
l7s9-declares that only the States faithful to
the Union and the Constitution should be re-
presented in Congress, and exercise the powers
OF States in the Union. 1t must not be for
gotten that, as we have seen, this act of the
people in 1889 was forbidden by the Arti-
cles of Confederation, which declared that
the assent of the Legislature of every State
They were not only altered, but utterly swept
away by the eleven States which ratified the
Constitution, and organized the Government
under it, When the right to do this great act
essential to the safety of the people, was chal-
lenged, the answer was given by the father of
the Constitution, This ls the peoples right
derived from the transcendant law of nature
and of natures God" Happily there is no such
limitation in the Constitution, and by every
intendment every State which secedes and re-
volts ceases to be Constitutional State of the
Union or part of the organized nation, and,
therefore, whatever States maintain their legal
State Government and abide by the Constitu-
tion of the United States, hold the political
power of the nation, and may rightfully and
constitutionally assert all the powers of the ma
tion in peace and war.
In support of this position / ask your atten-
ton to the words of Burke:-
When men, therefore, break up the original com.
capacity TO state, they are no longer peoples they
sbr0sd They numPeT Of
them all pGse IS to again. they KNOW MS
how many weary step is to be taken before they
form themselves into mass which has true politi
cal personality" Burke's Works vol. ill., p. 50.
l Will not argue it further. The question is
talions of Lee surrendered to Grant, and those
of johnson to Sherman.
DIsFRANCHIsEMENT OF WHITE MEN.
Judge Thurman utterly misstates the fact
when he says that the proposition IS to make
"non-voters out of majority of the white men
South" Let him remember that his party in
Congress voted for DISTINGUISHING white men to
the extent that they are disfranchised by the Re-
construction act And let him remember that
not more than thirty thousand Rebels out of
two and a quarter million voters are prevented
from voting, and this only in the preliminary
organization of the State. When the State is
organized the restriction is terminated. The
people of the South had the opportunity to Or
ganiZe without any suffrage distranchisement
by Congress, upon the adoption of the amend
ment, as did Tennessee. They refused. Now
they can organize with only temporary dis
franchisement. If they still refuse, let the in
corrigible traitors be disfranchised forever!
REGENERATION OF THE SOUTH.
The people of the nation will not consent that
the vast territory of the ten disorganiZed States
disorganized by gigantic treason, shall remain
subject to the control OF mob Those ten
States, extending from the Potomac to the Rio
Grande, embrace an area of 900 square
miles; are equal in resources to the vast terri
tories of France, Prussia, and Austria; capable
OF furnishing homes to 100, 600, 600 freemen; and
if under Just and stable local government,
would yield to the national treasury, annually,
$780, 100000 Without local government, the
sense of security is wanting in those States; and
as a result, enterprise and capital shun them.
This must not be. The local governments must
be established and maintained 1t is the pre-
sent great want OF the nation; and 1t is the
nations will that it shall be done, and done
| speedily. If the present population refuse,
another will take its place. and do what the pre-
| cent population ought 10 do for themselves, and
! for those who are to come after them. Let no
man for moment suppose that l. or the
| party with which have the honor to act desire
| to impair or change that admirable structure of
| general and local, national and State govern
! ment, which was framed by those great fathers
| of the Republic. There is nothing IN the amend.
| ment proposed, or in the measures advocated by
| the Union Republican party, which tends to
| take from any State of the Uuion any power
| which by right belongs to it. We stand upon
| the impeTshable words of the Declaration that
these States may do, subject to the Constitution
| of the United States, whatever free States may
of right do; that their governments derive their
| Just powers from the consent of the governed;
that to protect the rights of all within their
jurisdiction they were instituted; and that when
they become subverslve OF this end of their crea-
tion, they should be altered in the mode pre-
| scribed for their amendment.
THE POWERS OF STATES.
accept in all its force the words of that
| profoundest of all the European thinkers who
| has come hither to study our institutions, and
| as expressive OF the philosophy OF our dual sys
| TEN of goYernment:-'' Centralized power, de.
centralized administration" While l would
maintain intact the powers of the national and
| State Goyernments-the one for general defense
| and protection, the other for local admlnistra-
| tion and personal security would not forget
| nor have others forget that both are for the
| maintenance of nationality, the establishment
of justice, the promotion of the general welfare,
and the security OF liberty TO all, aud intended
| to present to the world an example of Tepresen.
| tative government, which like the Divine gov
ernment OF the God of nations, is no respecter oi
| persons--so just that no one, however humble
| who obeys its laws is beneath its protecting
! care, and so strong that none, however power
| full, who defy its authority are above its aveng
| ing or restraining power.
|