Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-23

e gress of the United States, or as hneihosI
e ef anv state legislature of any state "a
u support the constitution OF the chiteu
O Sfates and afterward engaged IN lnsur-
. Faetion or rebellion against the United
States. or given aid or 0oiGiort 70 tne
= enemies thereof; that | VIII iGlthfui's
support the constitution and obey ule
laws Of the United States, and wlli, 70
the best Of my ability, encourage o'hefs
SO to do: So help me God"
Which oath or affirmation may be
: administered by any registering officer.
The following is also inserted, as Sec
! tiOn 9
; oqbat at said election, the registered
. voters OF each stale shall vote Ter or
AGAINST a convention to taTm o constIIu-
? ton therefor, under this acti those
voting in favor Of such convention
shall have written or printed on the bal
, lots by which they vote for delegates IS
: aforesaid the words, for convention
+ ANA ti.nse voting against such eohVen-
ton shall have U.itten or printed on
, such ballot the words, against 2 CON
: veDtion.i The persons appointed 10
a,lperintend said election, and make re-
Etlrn of the votes given thereat, as herein
! provided, shall count ana maze return
Or the votes given Tor and against con,
! yention, and the commanding genera
10 whom the same snail nave oFeh re-
turned shall ascertain aud declare the
, totsI vote in such state for and against 8
convention, II a majority OF the votes
, given on that question shall be for con
yention. then such convention shan De
held as hereinafter provided; but II
majority cf said votes shall be against q
B. convention, then &c such convention
shall be held under this act. tvOFiGsi,l
That such convention shall not be held,
i;nIass a majority of all such registered
voters shaii have voted on the question
Of holding such convention"
An exchange says, in respect to the
former of these two provisions
As registration viii be considered
Droof of a right to vote, the DILL snoutd
h Iaoorne G law in its present form, viii
disfranehise but a comparatively sElslI
number of the people Of the south. Inc
reconstruction bill provides for the dls-
reimbursement of all persons excluded
from holding federal or state offices IN
der the third section of the pending con-
stitutional amendment. By it such eN-
eIusion extends not only to eX-memOers
~ 'eongrass and state legislatures, but TO
all executive or judicial officers Of state
who having taken an oath to support
the constitution Of the United states, az
terward engaged in rebellion. mus II
will be seen that the supplementary Dili
is much more liberal than the origlnai
one, and being of later date, OF course,
repeals all portions Of the original win
which it clashes.
That is true, as far as it goes. But it IS
to be noticed that ths party is also to
swear that he has not been disfranehised
for participating in any Rebellion or Civil
War against the United States; andthat
if the Constitutional amendment be-
comes a part of the Constitution before
he takes the oath, then the number Of
persons excluded, and who cannot take
The oath, Will be immensely increased.
No man will be able to take it, who has
ever held any Office, to qualify for which
he swore to support the Constitution Of
the United States. Moreover, Congress
may itself pass an get disfrsnchising
every man who participated in the Civil
War against the United States. But the
intention Of the clause of the act as TO
Acknowledgement is, no doubt, to apply
the Sd section Of the Contitutional
Amendment, when it shall have-beeome
a part Of the Constitution.
Whatever may be the object Of the
second provision above qzoted, the effect
of it will be increased delay, and the eX-
cIusion Of the Southern Provinces from
voting in the next election for President.
1t would not be very uncharitable to be
Iieve that this was the object. Upon
this, the Chicago Times says:
The strenuous effort making by the
more radical radicals in congress to
amend the reconstruction act in such n
way that the work of reOrganizing the
southern states under that act shall not
begin until the people in those states vote
in favor of il. is one Of the most remark
able exhibitions of partisan unscrupu
lousness ever witnessed in this or any
other country.
The amendment offered 10 the senate
by Mr. Drake, and supported by Morton,
Chandler, Howard, Harlan, SUMNER,
and thirteen other extreme radicals,
had for its object simply and only to
further delay the return of representa-
tives from those states in the govern
ment. Bad and outrageous as the re-
construction act Is, it provides way by
which the excluded states VIII be re-
turned to their places in the govern
ment, probably before the next presi-
Dental election. This is what the ex-
treme radicals now aim to prevent. This
is what the Drake resolution was in
tended to prevent. For it is well known
that if the question Of reorganization
under the reconstruction act were made
to depend upon majority vote Of The
southern people in favor OF 1t, the
; work of reorganization would not
begin for some years to come.
majority of the southern people
] would unquestionably vote to continue
under military government rather than
! give their direct approval to measure
] which ninety-nine in every one hundred
Z of them cOnseientiously believe 10 bs
{ wrong and tyranuicsl. If it were lefi
I. dependent upon themselves, they would
T decide TO accept fate, whatever il might
1 be. rather than voluntarily acquiesce il
what they conceive to be the last degree
of humiliation. This the extreme radt
=, Gals very well know, and hence the pro-
I position to devolve the initiative in the
work of reconstruction under the mill
Y tary government act upon the southern
) people, instead of upon the military
/ rulers VINO are sent 10 HoNGIn li4NiA1s L ut
! effect would be TO keep the south undel
: military subsection for an indefinit,
5 length Of time, and leave to the "loyal
e disunionists " full swing " in carrying OF
I the radical revolution they have already
Q insugurated.
t And the st. Louis Republican says:
e II is nearly two years since the rebel
= lion collapsed, and yet the union is no
; restored. Indeed, that result seems fur
: ther off now than at any time subse
: ouent to the surrender OF Lee and John
: sion. After months of labor and speech
: living. the reconstruction committee a
y tie close Of the first session of the thirty
= ninth congress brought in a measure, il
: the shape OF constitutional amendments
y which was declared to be the real balm
!, to heal up the eOuntry's fractures. A
the next session Of the same congress |
? was found that another change must b
l made in the radical policy, and after tedi
: ons wrangling the military recGnstrne
y fion bill was passed. This was pu
u forward as finality, an ultinldt1nt, an
= IL was given out that nor the southern
! people would know exactly what wa
}, expected Of them TO do in order to b
: entitled TO representation. But as sool
= "a the foTtieth congress meets, alOn
= comes another change of base, and de
y mands for new guarantees are made D
= the shape of a supplementary act.
81 really seems that the ingenuity OF tn
y radicals in devising plans to harass th
ol southern people and obstruet the restC
= rstion of the union is inexhausiible, an
~ that the spirit of revenge grows nor
( md more bitter with the lapse of tint
n the bill which passed the senate Ss
re ,,rdav night provides for just such arb
nt trsry ii. registration dOings as have dh
orsced or Missouri, MarS land and Tennel
see in case the military authorities,
=. ns whom alone the matter is intruste,
ar ar prove TO be so tyrannlcal as the ofiicia
81 n the states named have been. TIL
70 nhiect is 10 disfranehise the greater pa
20 os The whites (who cannot take the CAT
ol ,,rascribed), and throw the control Of u
,n pnestion Of amending the state constitl
;" IONS into the hanos Of class who a
?. NOT hy any means representatives of u