The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-08-21
Radical Enconsistencics.


ust 18th. A clearer, more concise, oI
more forcible presentation of Radical
inconsistencies cannot we'll be made:
When | ventured lately TO condemn
the whole policy of the Republican
party, AN Influential party newspaper
exclaimed-"but what remedy does Mr.
Pendleton PROPOSE He exhorts us to
returned to and stand by the Constitu.
tiOn-we do not exactly understand
what he means by that
Gentlemen. that is true; that is the
whole difficulty. The Republican par
tv does not now, and never did know
what il is "to stand by the COnstitu-
tion." They have never made it the
rule of their couduct-theguide of their
action. They have never appreciated
its wisdom; they have never cultivated
respect for it's binding obligation, and
so they have never studied it's spirit or
its letter. Whatever they desire to do,
whether from sincere belief that the
good of their country demanded it, or
that their party interest required it,
that they have always done. Their OWL
will, not the Constitution, has been
their rule. And to this standard, and
none other, they have always been per
fectly true.
In 1920 they opposed the establish
ment of the Missouri Compromise Line.
In 1854 they opposed its abrogation.
Ia 1860 they opposed its re-enactment.
In 1876 they refused the use of State
iails and State magistrates to execute
Fugitive Slave Law, on the ground
that the return of fugitives was the
duty of the Federal Government. In
lS50 they refused to vote more strin-
gent Federal law, on the ground that the
return of fugitives was the duty of the
State governments. In 1856 they pass
ed personal liberty bills, on the ground
that the State should not assist the
Federal Government; and in 1861 they
repealed all laws Oh the subject, on the
ground that neither State nor Federal
Government should execute the Consti-
tuition.
In 1858 they had possession Of the
State governments; they magnified
States rights, adopted the resolution of
Us and go at their conventions, exalted
the idea of confederation as against
unity, and prepared 10 array the States
in armed conflict with Federal author
ity. In 1862 they had possession of the
Federal Government; they denounced
States rights, called the Kentucky re-
solutions treason, and have, rs far as in
their power, by mere brute force, as
we'll as by legislation, reduced and de-
graded the State governments.
In 1859 they declared that "no var
could be right, and no peace could be
wronC;" that if the South desired TO
change their political relations and
form of government, their right coalG
not be denied. In 1862 they declared
that the trinity of our salvation was
taxation, emancipation and war.
In 1854 they declared that the inter
est of the country required the restrlc-
tion of suffrage, and that the Germans
and Irish and English and French
ought to be disfranchised. In 1857
they declare that the interest of the
country requires its extension, and
that it must be given even to the ne
groes.
In 1859 Mr.. Chase, then Governor of
Ohio. asserted: "We have rights
which the Federal Government must
not invade; rights superior to its power,
on which our sovereignty depends;
and we mean to assert these rights
against all tyrannical assumptions OF
authority" In 1867, General Hayes,
who aspires to be Governor of Ohio,
asserts that the States have no sover-
eighty whatever.
In i564they asserted that the Pres
ident had the power, by proclamation,
to emancipate four millions of slaves.
In 1867 they deny that he has power to
remove 4 member of his Cabinet.
~ 1862 party purposes required them
10 con&Iar the Union unbrOken. In
possession Of New NS75al fi,G Government Thad had
aT@ittsT pInSTs Hahn and Flanaet221ne They They
seats as Representatives from Tia,
State. In 1865 it had possession of
every foot of the State; these same
men present themselves as Senators, and
they are rejected because the State. of
Louisiana has ceased to exist. a
In 1869 thay dosire1 tn create West
y;rg;nia-they must have the conseuU
of the old State-they elect Governor
Pierpont and q Legislature, and take
their laws as the solemn act of the State
of Virginia asserting to its own dis
memberment. In 1866 they set up a
military government over Pierpont and
his Legislature on the ground that prior
to his election secession had destroyed
the State.
In '6l, go, '63 "a '65 and &c, during
the war and after the war, they admit.
ted Representatives. from Kentucky, and
now they eject them until committee
can inquire whether Kentucky has re-
publican government.
In 1863, they established military COM
missions in Ohio for the trial of citi-
zens, and by their Judgment sent them
to death or exile. In 1867, the Su-
preme Court, by unanimous decision,
declares the tribunals illegal, and their
sentences void. In 1863, they vexed
us with many oaths, and in 1867 the
Supreme Court refused to administer
them.
For this they have threatened to i'm
peach the Judges, and they have actu-
ally reduced their numbers.
In 1861, the appealed to the patriot
ism of the people, and raised immense
armies to sustain the Constitution and
the Union.
In 1865, they preferred to continue
the war rather than make peace on the
basis of maintaining the Constitution
and Umon.
& And to-day, calling themselves with
ostentatious hypocrisy the Unien party,
they would prefer to recognize the in
dependence of the Confederate States
rather than restore the Union on the
basis of the Constitution.
They held and abandoned every the
ory of government and every political
opinion.
I'm the short space of one revolving moon,
Was statesman, poet, fiddler and butfoon.
They have been true to their passions;
true to their desires, true to their pal
tisan interests, but never true to the
Constitution. They do not understand
what it is to "stand By tho Constitu-
ton" They proclaim loudly that the
Constitution does not exist either In
theory OF practice in ten States of the
Union; and their most trusted leader,
in the fulness of his contempt for that
instrument, and for tho few Republicans
who are willing to obey it, declares in
- l.. Glxt