Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-12-24
Tn, au..t,on Of the Suffrage.

l. If "A majority ofthe voters oil New orh
should amend the State Constitution IN
such manner as to vest the political pow
/ er of the State in one family exclusively
say the houses of Morfissey and Woou
would the people of the Union be une
able censtitutionally to help themselves
| And if thirty other States should do the
| same thing, would the Union be without
constitutional remedy? Is the Govern
ment of the United States powerless to
preyent the erection of monarchy in any
| States Is it powerless to prevent the
| fatal consequences of a want OF harmony
| among the States in the fundamental
principle of their organization? ms
was q question which naturally occurred
! TO the Convention that framed the Gov-
ernrnent. The most sagacious mind in
/ the Convention foresaw that the peril OF
the new system would be the centrifugal
and not the centripetal tendency; anu
the whole body saw the folly OF leaving
the supreme power at the mercy OF any
lesser authority, and thel lefore the Con
vention comprehenslvely providea IN
the Constitution that 1.-The United States
| shall guarantee to each State republi-
can form of government" f..eI gr
This provision, of course, forbids any
State from adopting any form OF govern
ment that it may choose, and restricts IL
to particular form. Otherwise, as
| Hamilton said, the liberties of the citi-
zens of the United States might be over
thrown by State authority, "while the
National Government could legally do
nothing more than behold its encruach-
ments with indignation and regret.
The constitutional provision is peremP
tory and mandatory upon the United
States authority. 1t is also unlimited
TIE guarantee is perpetual. Whenever
State, from any cause, has ceased TO
have a republican form of government,
it is the duty of the United States to in
tervene and restore that form. The Uni
ted States are, therefore, necessarily
vested with the authority of determ1n-
ing that is a republican government.
An exact definition of the term is hardly
possible. Madison, in his famous sem
tence, says that in a democracy the
people meet and exercise the govern
ment in person; in a republic they as
semble and administer it by their repre-
sentatives and agents." But he leaves
the deriuition of the word people" still
wanting.
1t is, however, very easy to see what
is not republican government. The
governments of Turkey and Paraguay
are not republican. A system which
|
one person, to one family, or to one class,
founded upon arbitrary, and whimsical
distinctions, is not republican. Practi-
cally speaking, a republican form o1
government is that in which all the
T adult citizens of sound mind and inno-
cent of crime take part. If it be objected
that this could not have been the opin'
ion of the trainers of the CONSTITUTION,
because they did not mean that slaves
,, should vote, the reply is that it was the
/ conviction of the Convention that slay,
cry was rapidly disappearing, and thai
in few years there would be only free
men in the population, while color alone
in their Judgment did not disable @
citizen from voting. Moreover, the III
definite clauses of a written constitution
must always be interpreted by the
light of greater experience and just rea
son. If, fer instance, circumstances a.
: any time compel the United States t.
II enforce the constitutional guarantee OF {
= republican government, they must de
i termine for themselves what the Consti
e tuition does not, namely, what is a re
: publican form. Madison, again recur
ring to the subject, as Mr.. Howard M
= Jenkins, of Wilmington. in Delaware
quotes in the admirable pamphlet, "Ou
Democratic Republic" of which W.
spoke last week, and which is vigorous
and able statement of the subject, de
2 clares substantially that republican
!, government is one that derives all it
D powers from the great body of the peo
n pie, and to which it is essential that i
be derived from 10 favored class of soci
!, ETY.. ~
q If this be true, and it can hardly b.
denied, in seems to be plain that Con
It gress may enforce the constitutions
e guarantee by protecting the right o
i every citizen to the suffrage. If an.
State by disfranchising any class of in
. nocent adult citizens destroys its repub
t lican government, Congress would seen
to be authorized to restore it by prevent
y y ing such acknowledgements. And if ex
perience should show so confused a sen
,- timent upon the subject as to make thi
+ destruction constantly menacing dan
e ger, why might not Congress execute
$. the guarantee once and forever by for
# bidding any State to give pOlitica
it power exclusively to favored class?-
n Because, say some, the Constitution
+ provides that electors of members o
j, Congress shall have the qualification
d requisite for electors of the most numer
e Gus branch of the Legislature; and Q
y course the State alone may decide VIII
= shall vote fer members of the Legisla
- ture. This is the favorite method o
e, proving that Congress has nothing to d.
rs with the suffrage in the States. ma "A
But suppose that the State decide
that only persons named Smith ant
Hamilton shall be electors of the mos
numerous branch of the Legislature. o
8. only persons six feet in height, or of
blonde complexion, or of negro blood
s has Congress, under the obligation t
guarantee a republican form of govern
ment, no power whatever to interfere?-
Suppose that a Legislature SO electe'
.Tr sends a Senator to Congress, has tn
n Senate no right to object, upon adequat
Information of the facts, that the Stat
which sends him is not republican il
!; form? II such action of the State i
IF final, is it not evident that the Stat
alone decides what is republican gov
of ernment, and that the constitutions
If provision is nullified by the very actiol
n which it was intended to prevent. TIL
h doctrine that the States alone are com
a petent under. the Constitution to dea
,e with the suffrage is the result of the lon
Is dominance in the government of tn
h Southern theories of the Constitution
lie 1t is the qualification and the extent Q
e. the suffrage which really determines tn
10 question of form in government, and a
70 no subject is now more important W
+ + shall next week resume the discussion. =
ct Harper's Weekly. ali b''1 3di
Or THE Washington correspondent Of tn
to Cincinnati Gazette says: "All indica
le tions are that office seeking and oftic
,e getting will be very different matters
.s under Grant, from the disgraceful thing
n I. L.