Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-07-02

Tue same SOuFb nSid tilAt tHe OlOAuouCk
Of 1TS7 was not 10 force In Ohio. Il
said, at is impossible to look at the
six articles which are supposed, in the
argument, TO be still in force, without
seeing at once that many of the pro-
visions contained in them are ineOn-
slstent with the present Constitution.
And if they could be regarded as yet
in operation in the States formed
within the limits Of the North
western Territory, it would place them
J In an inferior condition as compared
with the other States, and subject their
domestic institutions and municipal reg
alations TO the constant supervision and
control of this Court. The six
articles, said to be perpetual as a COM
pact, are not made part of the new
Constitution. They certainly are not
superior and paramount to the Constitu-
tion, and cannot confer power and juris-
dietlon upon this Court. The whole ju-
dieisI authority of the Courts Of the Uni
ted States is derived from the Constitu-
ton Itself, and the laws made under it."
The Court said that so far as the provi-
sions Of these articles were continued in
force, they owed their legal validity and
force, after the Constitution was adopted,
and during the Territorial Government,
/ to the act of Congress OF August Z, 1859,
which adopted and continued the Ordi-
nance of 1857, and, with some modifica-
tions, carried its provisions into execu-
ton and that in the States formed
there, these provisions, so far as they
have been preserved, owe their validity
and authority to the constitutions and
laws Of the respective States, and not to
the authority OF the Ordinance Of the old
Confederation. at ceased to be in
force" 4" the Court said, "upOn the adop-
ton Of the Constitution, and cannot now
be the source Of jurisdiction Of any des-
cription in this Court"
II Mr.. Sumner had only proposed to
establish the proposition, that Congress
or the nation, or the States already in
the Union have the power to prohibit
slavery in or impose other terms on 8
territory, or that one or the other may
egitimstelly refuse to admit State un-
less i: will agree to prohibit slavery, |
after the adoption of the amendment to /
the Constitution sbolishing it every |
where, he might have msde a logical AZ
gUment to prove either proposition.
But the condition proposed, and which
he was endeavoring to maintain, was
quite another than either Of these. There
is no provision in the Constitution or
amendment to it that gives freed ne
groes the inalienable light to vote, or
makes them citizens of State, or COM
pels State to extend the privileges Of
citizenship to any persons who are citi-
zsns OF the United States without being
citizens Of State, or in any way limits
or sbTidges the original right of each
State to determine for itself who among
Its citizens shall vote. Yet Sumner pro-
poses that in admitting States, Congress
shall impose it on them IS 3 condition,
that they shall never deny negroes the
right to vote, and that if they do so they
shall incontinently be cast out of the
Union. 10 the absence Of a constitu-
tiOnal provision abOlishing slavery
every where, 3 State admitted with
out slavery had always the right TO
slavery within its borders
whenever it pleased. Nobody ever
doubted that. Congress could not
sbridge this power: and it has no sort of
righgW power to abridge their right to
regulate the matter Of suffrage for them
selves.
Sumner is one Of those men who pre-
tend to discuss questions in legitimate
manage their materials with
some ability and more plausibility, and
proceed with much pomp towards their
while begging the whole
Ease in a single line, uttering the most !
'allacicus propositions with confident .
ease that causes ordinary readers to ac. :
,ept tnen without inquiry, and misap-
plying, in the most extraordinary man d,
leI, well-known principles Of interna- +.
.ional and municipal law.
All that belongs to the trade of the :
whose whole care and duty are
20 secure success for the side on which
he is feed.
Czlihara}q Gspici'e't, non qltd in co."
Partisans are like feed attorneys, and
ook at everything through the haze of !,
interest, passion, and factious feeling:
L,1ida yi,s'1t Q'ssesSRqUe hentuv arquaa." I
There are two very different uses of t
Either it is employed for the t
purpose of convincing an intelligent
nan, by appealing fairly to his reason,
u it is used to have effect, by unfair I
means and the trickery of words and /
phrases, on the unrsaecting, or on the '
partisan already convinced by interest, 4
prejudice, end passion; and this is the {
lse to which it is put by Sumner. He
aid:
Ths Missouri act takes up the rule as i
serted in the ordinance and declares that T
N certain Territories slavery shall be Z
prohibited forever A territorial exist
sBce terminating in State government !
8 short-lived government. Only by /
the power CT the nation over a
he states formed out Of the Territory
,an this government have a meaning :
above the prsttle of childhood or the !
yaunt OF Bombastes. THE whole preten- 8
sion against the proposed condition is in I
The name Of State rights.
Unquestiouably States have rights un-
ier the Constitution which we are bound Il
10 respeet-nsy, more, which are a source o
Df strength andadvaltage. 1t Is through n
the States that the people everywhere
govern themselves and our nation is
saved from q central dOminstion. Here &
Is the appointed function OF the States, h
They supply the machinery OF local self !,
government for the convenience of life.
while they ward off the attempts of an )
absorbing Imperialism. But there can q
be no State rights against human rights: s
because a State constituting part OF
rational organization dedicated to hu- q
nan rights may govern itself aud sdp- n
ply the machinery of local self-govern. II
nent, 1t does not follow that such State 1.
nay deny human rights within its bor-
iers. There is but one active provision 81
n the Constitution which treats the 81
States as equal, and this provision shows i
loW this very equality may be waived. Q
Every State, large or small has two :,
Senator's, and the Constitution places 8
hia anualitv of Efafaa undar Sic q q f.r,r,.,-,l q