The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-10-29

the SOuth embarked IN Secession, tncrO was
under tho laws and constitution OF the Union:
which the Northern Government held she had
never left, no lapse Of the political rights OF
her people. And thus wc have shown that tic
main grounds upon which the reconstruction
measures rest are false.
2. These measures arc clearly urconstitu-
tIonal.
On this point need say but little, for the
proposition is almost salf-evldcnt. To cstab-
iish il l might simply point to the admissions
of the author himself OF the Reconstruction
acts. Alr. Stevens 1T is well known" said
Mr.. s., "that we are acting outside OF the con-
stitution' But the Radical leaders, just as
they had departed from Mr.. LiIcolns magnau-
unity, so they rcceded from Alr. Stevens can
dor. They rcpudiated this view OF Air. Stev-
ems. and sought refuge in that article OF the
Federal Constitution which authorizes Con-
rress to guarantee to every State "Republi-
can form ot government" Now have in this
address already defined the elements that en-
Ter into a propcr conception of republican
form of government. The conditions were full
TILED in the governments OF tach OF tho scceo-
ng States. And if, Ill the opinion OF the RadI-
cal l.adcrs, the institution Of African slavery
made these governments non-rcpublcan, why,
surely, they became republican just as soon as
this institution was formally abandoned by the
ac,icn Of the Legislatures OF the Southern
States The point of the Radical leaders Is not
veil taken. Inexorable logic, the facts OF tile
case the admissions made By the government
at Washington, the acts done by that govern
meut--all show conclusivcly ill.,. the Southern
States were States before the war, States dur
ing the war, ard States aitcl the war; that Con-
gress, under the laws and constitution Of thc
land, had no right to bIsak up and reconstruct
them; and that therefore, for the reasons that
I have stated, and for Other reasons that
might state, the construction acts arc I'M
constitutional.
3. These acts arc unnatural and unrcasons-
bic. II, IellUw-citzons, you were to awake
soUc morning AMI were to lind trees standing
upon their tops. mountains resting upon their
peaks, streams flowing uphill, and the whoc
order OF the material universe changed, you
would say that If the economy OF Col IS to be
Yindlcatcd in the future as in the past, this
order of things must be changed and promptly
reversed. You would naturally say that lofty
oaks must again send its roots into the
grouu1-:hat mountains must again rest upon
its broad basc-hosc streams must change
their course, and run again Ill the former chan
ncls. Now, I would ask If a state OF affairs
such as l have described in the material world
does not now exist in our political world? Under
the auspices OF q Radical regime in these
Southern States, Go we not find trees standing
upon their tops, and mountains upon their
peaks2 Is not the pyramid inverted? Is not
intelligence in the main subordnated to gno.
rance integrity to baseresS, end wealth to
poverty? Is not honesty ut discount, and
premium set upon raseality? Is not virtue dis
carded and vice prt in the ascendancy! Let