The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-08-27

lately urged on with railroad speed,
seems to be suddenly suspended. What
is the matter. Do the tools so eagerly
grasped by the usurpers begin to cut
their own fingersi Do the negroes be-
gin to rebel against their new masters !
Is it certain that their new tledged vo-
ters in the South will not vote against
the Radicals in the approaching Presi-
Dental electioni 7 Behold their expedi
ents to avoid such calamity! The
first is, to take from the people in the
reconstructed States the right to vote
for electors. The second is, to deny
to the unreconstructed States the
right to choose electors in any mode.
By these two expedIents they expect to
secure the electoral votes of the one
class of States, and avoid the danger of
having the votes of the other cast
against them. Of the latter class of
States are Virginia, Mississippi, and
Texas. Is Virginia in the Union, or oaf
She went to war to get out, aud was
forced to stay in. If she is not in now,
,rho has put her Outf What but Congress!
And has Congress power to put States
out of the Union? They. have prac-
tically usurped that power, and have
passed an act prohibiting that and the
other unreconstructcd States from TAX
ing part in the approaching Presideu-
tial election. If Congress can at will
put States out of the Union, and can
establish military empire outside of
the Union, woe be to the cause OF lib
erty within the Union!
The members of Congress cannot es-
cape their responsibility to the people,
aud their allegiance to the Constitution
by any such subterfuge. The people
will ask thcm why they denied all rep
resentation' to the Southern people in
Congress, when, in their unquestioned
privilege to judge of the qualifications
Of their own members, they had the
power to exclude all members elect
who had taken part in the rebellion, or
were disloyal to the Government. They
will ask why they suspended the writ
of kabeas corpus in ten peaceful States,
subjectng the people theresf to mill
tary despotism, when the Constitution
expressly forbids the suspension Of that
writ, except Gin cases of rebellion or in
vasion," and then only when "the pub
lie safety may require it I" They Will
ask why, when there was no resistance
to the civil courts, the citizens of ten
States have been subjected to military
tribunals, in violation of positive law,
and the most sacred principles of free
government! They will ask why so
many little States have been carved out
of the Western wilderness; why the
President has been impeached, and the
Supreme Court threatened aud paral-
yzed; why Congress has usurped tue
power to regulate suffrage III the States;
why, in the exercise of this usurped
power, every male negro III the Sauth,
twenty-one years OF aye, has been made
voter, and multtudcs of white men
DISTINGUISHED; why, by er post fdcto
laws, they imposed new disa-
bilities upon men who had
been pardoned by the Presl-
dent; why they have removed them
from many of the most notorious rebels,
and enforced them upon the less guilty;
and, finally, why they now propose TO
deprive even the negroes as well as the
whites in the South of the right to vote
for Presidential electors TO all these
questions, and many more, the Radical
leaders can in truth give but one an
swer, and that is-"WE INTEND TO
KEEP POSSESSION OF THE GOV
ERNMENT. We feared the people of
the Southern States would vote against
us if they wero suffered to remain in
the Union, and for that reason alone
ce practically hrust them ont. We knew
they would still vote against us il al
lowed to come in on the basis of the
Constitution, and for that reason we
had to legslatc outside of the Con-
stitution,' assume the power to reg
ulate suffrage, enfrauchisc the negroes,
disfranchise the whites. and impose
upon them constitutions virtually of
our own making. Fearing there might
be some resistance to our plan for sc
curing to our party the votes of the
South by disfranchisiAg the whites, and
subjecting them to the government of
their late slaves, we thought it neces-
sary to suspend the writ of habeds
corpus, and put them all under martial
law. The President was ih our way,
and VIC stripped him of his legitimate
powers as far as we could by legisla-
ton, and not satisfied with that,
we would have removed him from
office, but for treason in our own
ranks. 1t was rumOred that the
Supreme Court would set aside all our
legislation outside ofthe Constitution,
and to prevent that we restricted its
Jurisdiction, and denounced its MEM
bers. Sad to relate, our new fledgGd
voters of the South most ungratefully
showed signs unmistakable of dispo-
sition to go over to the enemy; so, to
make sure of the votes of the recon-
structed States for our candidates next
fall, we have advised their Legislatures,
composed chiefly of our minions, to take
the appointment of electors into their
own hands; and as Virginia, If recon-
structed, would Immediately follow the
example of the adjoining States-Mary-
land and Kentucky-and go for the
Democratic ticket by an overwhelming
majority, we determined to prevent
that catastrophe, and have decreed by
act of Congress, though outside of the
Constitution it may be, that she, as
we'll as Mississippi and Texas, shall
have no vote at all. We remove the
disabilities of every red d-handed rebel
who will vote our ticket, and enforce
them upon every man who seems in
tclined to vote against us. In short, the
political power of the nation re are deter
mined to retain by any and all necessary
means, whether inside or outside Of the
Constitution.
Such is the practical language of the
Radical leaders. And if you ask them
how they expect to induce the people of
the North to Sustain them in these open
outrages upon the Constitution, and ev-
cry principle ofrepublican liberty, :hey
virtually answer, ave have a popular
Union soldier as our candidate for the
Presidency, and We expect the people
to lose sight of the principles involved
in their admiration of the man. In ad-
dition to this we have powerful argu-
rnents in ringing the changes, through
our organs and orators, upon the words
rebel, copperhead, sympathiser, traitor to
the party, &c, &c." What but these
are the means employed to secure the
aseendancy of the Radical party in the