The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-06-27

The following lS the proteeg entereo ny tne
Democratic members OF the House OF Rep g.
sentatives against the admission Of the repre-
se1tatiyes of the State Of Arkansas:
The recognized presence Of three persons on
the floor of this House from the State OF Arkan-
sas, sent here by military force, acting under
briRadier- general Of the army, but nevertheless
claiming to bc members, Of this Congress, and
to share with us, the representatives from the
customs sud other laws upon our people,
mskes. il our imperative duty, in this. the
first case, to remonsLrate most solemnly,
and to protest as 'solemnly, against this
petllous and destructive innovation upon
the principles and practices OF our hlther-
to unconstitutional self-government. The 30
called Reconstruction acts, which created the
military government in Arkansas, and like gov
ernments in other Southern States, to share
with us in the Legislative power OF the North
ern and Western free people, We have every
reason to believe, have been held to be un-
constitutional by the Supreme Court OF The
United tates, the public Mnlsa 1a
strange device or this Congress- in snatching
iuri ,diction from the court in the McArdle
case, when such q public decision was about to
be made. o. the three great branches OF the
government, it seems, then, that alter the
Executive vetoed these acts as unconstitu-
tional, the Judiciary sdjndicatede them to be
so, while q Congress- tho oreatio1 On. Of pH5 ,S
the Union, overri6es these equal and co-ordi-
nate branches OF that Government, first by
voting down the vetoes, next by nutlfymg tho
Judgment OF the court.j In an era OF profound
speace, when not an armed man rises agalnst
the goyernmert fromthe Potomac to the .hlo
Grande, there, in ten States, our Anerican his
tnrtcal way OF creating the organic law has
beer utterly subverted by the bayonet. Ever
smbe the Declaration Of Independence with
60 ,fcely an excep hon-and even amid the bat
Ties OF the ReYolI ton, conventions lave been
convoked throUch and constitutions created
by,t the electors OF the Etste, the only author.
lied Repositories OF the sovereign power of
every State, without exterior dictahon, as
under the Fe6cral Constitution. The hard
est and sarshest test oath required nom
1776 to the peace Of 1888, WIS an abjura-
tione, oath OF allegiance to George the
Third. while some, Of the so-caIed bayonet-
made constitutions from the South propose
absurd and cruel tests-absurd, as in Arkan-
sas, where is ;nterwoven in the organic law
mere party test between the Radical Recon-
structionists and the Democratic Conserva.
tiyes. such asI would exclude from voting, il
living there, the thousands and tens OF thou
sands and hundreds OF thousands of Democrats
in the free stateS (art. 8. sec. A.; or cruel as in
Alabama. where no whlte man can vote VINO
and peEjure himself by swearing, In defiance
OF sthelaw Of God, that the negro is his equal
and forever to be his equal at the ballot-box, In
theiury-box. with the cart iuch-bo1, in the
school, in the college, in house and home, and
by The fireside-ln short, in every way, every
where-(article z, section A.. Now, in
these and other Southern States, IN
the midst Of war, President Lincoln in his
proclamation of December 8, 1858, Offered am
nesty and pardon to rebels then in arms, If
thew would lay, down their arms and take an
oath Of fidelity, while now net Union man IN
Arkansas or Alabama can vote, unless In the
first place he swears allegiance to the mnjesty
OF this Congress, and, in :he next, swears on
his Americanism and Africanizes himself
Hitherto, constitutions with us have been the
outgrowth Of popular life, sprineing from the
exuberance of our enterprise and energy IN
the settlement Of the forests and prairles OF
our country; but here before us now are
nine constitutions, with one, il not three,
more to come from Texas, which have all
| been imposed upon the people by tive MILL
tary satTaps or Pentarchs in O. manner
borrowed at best from imperial Roman
civilization, or from the worst precedents OF
| the French Revolution. Francs ID then I'd
corded to have had FIVE constitutions In three
wears: 80 frequently made and 80 frequently
changed that they were ironically ciassed py
the French people with the periodical htsra.
| ture OF the day. Louisiana, Q colony OF that
France, has had four constitutions IN four
wears, and constitution there has now become
periodical literature, as in France in the agomes
and throes OF the revolution. LAWS which were
Estatute laws, which can never be created by con,
| stitutions, are appended, moro or less, 10 au
| these constitutions; and these bayonet.creat'
ed. one-branoh governments, with no snecu-
| tive, no Senate, no House OF Repreeentatlyes,
no Judiciary, have ordained irrepea'apio,
| irreyersible laws in the very organism OF
the State-such as cannot thus be created
bv the Executive, the Senate and the house
| Of Representatives Of legitimate goternmont
| when acting in unison and oil combined al
this has been done without regard to proceed
| ing constitutions or precedents, or to the COM
mon law of the States, or the law OF nauops
The military, which under legitimate lnstltu-
tions can only be Used IN times ofpeaco to con-
serve or preserve the State, have here been
used to cestroy States. The General OF the
army, who represents the sword, and only the
sword OF the Republic, has been exalted Dy acss
of Congress aboys the constitutional Command
er-in-Chief OF the army and navy, in order 70
execute those military dec1ees, aid as the surSi
way to throw out every vestige left OF consul
tutional law or liberty, the same General OF IN
army, in order to prolong or perpetuate his MN
tary domination, North and West, as well as
South, has been selected in party convention
at Chicago to head the electoral vote 1or tns
Presidency in ten of our States, which are at
much under his feet as Turkey ls under tne
Sultan, or Poland under the Gar OF Russia
j I.But, as If only to add insult to tho Injury o.
this military outrage upon the popular govern
ment in these ten States either by act OF Cou