The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-03

masses Ol nlBgers Inat were slaves DuI snOTJ
time since.
Just at the close Of the war the Congress Of
the United States laid down basis of settle
ment for this great issue-a basis that received
the immediate assent Of nearly the whole
loyal people. This was the fourteenth Con-
stitutional amendment, which recognized that
States alone have the right to regulate
suffrage, and conceded that right to States
aflixing the penalty that il any State ruled out
any class or race it should lose propoftionate
representation in Congress. This was a set
tlement of the point in accordance with the
history and law of the division Of power be.
tween the States and the general Government
in accordance with the will of the Northern
people and satisfactory to the South. Bat
another Congress, unwilling to see our diff
culties so easily put out Of the way-uuNiling
to lose the pretext for rearranging the ele-
ments Of political power so as to give them
continued dOmination-made reconstruction
law utterly subveIting that amendment, vio-
lating that sacred guarantee of the natiOn--a
law barbarous and tyraunical in its principle
and purpose, and not more in conflict with the
Constitutional anne ndment thanitisin violation
Of the whole spirit of our laws, of the laws of
society, and the laws of God Almighty. This
brutal statute is now the code by which uni
formed despots govern the South. II is the
rod which General Grant, who consents to be
the prime tool of despodc power holds over
vast division of the American people, at the
bidding OF some wretcAes who aim at aristo-
cratic power, and expect to secure it through
sklful manipulation of their half human ami
mails OF Afriacn origin. General Grant is now
carrying out this law, and with it driving from
the polls white men of the States to admit
niggers: he is enforcing that law in derOga-
tiOn Of the Presidents authority, aud in def
ance of the amendment to the Constitution
that has been accepted by the whole people as
the true law. The issue before the American
people in the present campaign is simply as to
who is right in this difference, and which is
truly the law-that amendment which is part
of the Constitution, and leaves niger suffrage
to the States, or that reconstruction statute
which subverts the amendment, and estab-
lishes suffrage by military force in defiance of
every law, human and divine.
That is the issue, and if Mr.. Chase becomes
the candidate of the Democratic party, he will
recognize it as the issue, and sustain the
Constitution and the legitimate right of the
States as the true law. We can announce
from the best authority that he will do this.
As a citizen, as a philosopher or a theorist,
Mr.. Chase or any other gentleman may have
his views of the possibilities of government
more or less visionary, and may hold that
every creature should vote, just as he might
believe in atonemert and election with Cal
vim, or in trsnsubstantiation with the Church
of Rome; but as President of the United States
he will act on the laws, as the chief officer of
q government carried on under a written con-
stitution he will strictly accept the declara-
tiOns of that constitution as the ultimate
hight, and, giving way to no visionary notions
OF any higher authority, will carry out posi-
lively the principles OF the amendment and
the principles that result from recognition of
the vitality of all the States as sovereign
powers. This, then, is the issue, and this the
position of the candidate who will sustain the
rights OF the people; and the question for
voters is, Shall be governed by law OF
arms shall We accept as an emblem of the
authority we will submit to the ermne or the
epaulet