Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-18
COLUMBUS, D., FRIDAY MORNING,

lowed to recuperate itself by the restor-
alton of a general era of good feeling. But |
the meeting of Congress soon dispelJedr all |
such authorizations, because the ambitious |
leaders which controlled it, plainly saw
that they could only retain themselves in |
powerCby makingthe people believe that
they were more, loyal than those who had |
borne your flag to the front and conquered |
a peace, to 'be maintained by submission to |
the Consultation and authority of the |
United States. Z" Civil1 goyernments had |
been set in operation in all the late rebel
States except Texas, and Senator'S and
ii. General u s. Grant, the present Radical
candidate for President, in his report of
December 18th, 1866, sent to Congress, says:
i"My observations led me to the conclu-
sion that the citizens of the Southern States
are anxious to return to self government
within the Union as soon as possible. That
quire protection from the Government; that
they are in earnest,iand wishing to do what
they think is required; by the Government
not HUMILIATING to- them as citizens, and
that If such course Is pointed out, they
would pursue it in good faith. TITS TO be re-
GREETED that there Cannot be a greater COM
mingling at this time bet,oeen the citizeps ofthe
toith the lato making poioer.n Who then is
responsible for the change of feeling now
existing in the South as asserted by the
Radical leaders as an excuse tor their out
rageops system of legislation? ,rso,.,y I
Until Congress interfered, by pouring hot
oil on smouldering embers in the shape of
negro suffrage, freedmen's bureau bills,
and military reconstruction laws, framed
purposely to humiliate the white race,
Everything promised well, accordingto the
testimony of their own candidate for the
Presidency. Indeed, Congress has ilegis-
lated from the start with the design of in
flaming the old sores and prejudices at the
South, in hopes of excitip g resistance there,
to give a pretext of using military force to
carry out its preconceived intentions. How
pertinent is now the inquiry. in Henry Ward
Beecher's letter of August 80, 1855, to the
Cleveland Soldiers Convention, in which
he asked: 6 Is the nation then to remain
disunited, to serve the end of parties 7"
The secession leaders at the Charleston
Convention broke up the Democratic par
/ ty, because they feared that2a new set of
men, under Douglas, would take the lead
in the future, even if their own party tri-
umphed, and that their clique would not
continue to hold office; they vainly imag-
! ined that a separation of the Union could
be effected which would continue them as
the great men of an independent nation,
but they failed, and not only ruined them.
selves, but their whole section. oh 1u"H %
| Now the same idea has taken possession
of the Congress which found itself in un-
limited control of political power at the
close of the war; and for fear that they
could not continue to monopoliZe the OF
fees ii the States lately in insurrection
should be restored to representation they
have inaugurated, under the forms of law,
| a rebellion against the Constitution of the
United States, which will destroy the whole
country, unless the authors of it meet with
the same fate as the Confederate Chiefs. In
the meantime, the people were to be de-
ceived as to their true design, under vari-
GUS pretexts. The public mind would have
been shocked, at first, by the demand of
Negro Suffrage as condition precedent to
State exercising its rights in the Union !;
hence, the proposed XIVth Constitutional
Amendment was gotten up, as a sort of
bridge to carry over the elections-but
with no intention of adhering to its terms
In good faith. 1t was strenuously denied
until after the elections were over that Ne
gro Suffrage was the object of the scheme.
A'more gigantic fraud was never perpe-
| trated on the people, when for the purpose
of giving Congress control of the negro
population of the South you were asked
here in. Ohio to surrender powers of legis-
lation over your own domestic concerns,
that would enable Representative from
4
the same power over you as the Legislature
of Ohio-a Capitalization which in time
will reduce US to the condition
of France, where universal suffrage
prevails, but license must be OBJ
Itained from Paris to carry on the smallest
local business. Do you desire to be COM
PEELED to refer in the same way to Washing
ton City? The great merit claimed for the
XIVth amendment is, thatit equalizes rep
resentation, making voter in Ohio equal
in political power to voter in South Caro-
lima or any other State. The constructive
representation allowed to the South for
Ethree-fifths of their negroes was complain
ed of; while nothing was said of the con-
structive representation of women and
children in New England, which gives her
| the same advantage over the West, If voters
are to be taken as a basis of political pow
er. On the apportionment of 1860, the six
| New England States for twenty seven Rep
resentatives in Congress have 1S,909 votes
apiece, while the six Western States, Ohio,
| Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Iowa, require 24029 votes each, difference
of over 5000, thus giving New England an
advantage of over 135 600 votes in repre-
| sentation. Yet, when the Western: men,
through Senator Sherman in Congress, pro-
posed to shape representation on voters as
they had promised their constituents be-
fore the election, New England would not
agree to it, but through Mr.. Blaine, OF
Maine, got up the present proposed consti-
tutional amendment, which operates TO
continue the inequality against the West,
as will be seen by the following table,
which is calculated on the total vote tor
President in 1860, 4730, 1893; estimating
South Carolina at $4,000 and dividing by
$685. as provided in the act of May 23d, 1850,
4 which gives fraction over 10000 to a Rep
resentative, and assigns additional mem
hers to the largest fractions, so as to make
the whole number 242, as at present: :.Ir
ApPoRTIoNMENT ON CENSUS OF 1860.