The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-09-22

c., TUESDAY MORNING
scry no other remedy than refusal to admit
which thus transform their governments. In
an article on the lit inst. upon the expulsion
Of the negroes from the Geol gia Legislature,
the Times said:
How the wrong may be remedied is question We
not disposed to answer with the same degree Of
confidence It is difficult and delicate question.
| The House has right to decide upon the election
and qualification of its members and no State Court
has Jurisdiction over it. An adverse Judgment may
be announced, but the PROMINENT advocates OF eI-
tuls on have announced their intention to disregard
it. They claim to bs judges Of law as well as Of
fact and will heed no opinion or decision at varl-
ance with their action Wns,, Men, can Congress
supreme control ouer elections did qualifications and
respectively refuse TO Gdmte tsnators aaG representa-
tiues ,uhoRi Georg ,oiN se1d ths nezt session The
inquiryis not eItrava ant IN NEW OF tne fact that
Georgia reganed its privilege OF sefgovernment IN
part by ratlfying the fourteenth amendment which,
without tsat -ate, would stu be law. The act of
ratification however, In the Georgia house, was car
red by the votes Of the colored members who have
been expelled as ineligible If they had no lawful
title to seats they could have nome to votes; and
after STRIKING them of, the m9ion to ratfy becomes
failure. Interpreting the aSfion OF the Legislature
cent proceeding, no speciil pleading would seem
necessary to Justify revision by Congress on the
| ground of fraud. For If what purported to be
ratifcation was really not suoh I'D mission obtained
in reliance upon 1T was in fact admission by false
pretences and Congress may rsndicate its integrity
and punist the fraud by rusing TO rectiue the Geor
gia senaters and representatives. That step would
virtually be declaration that the reconstrncton Of
| the State is still Incomplete
Now, VIVA ever may be thought of this
remedy in other respects, the Times must per-
ceive that it cannot work when we come to
have Democratic President and House ofRe.
representatives.. All that Congress could do at
the next session, would be to stultlfy itself and
carpet-bag members it has just admitted, and
coveting with derision the. first plank of the
Chicago platform, whichI congratulates the
country on the perfect SUCCESS OF the recon-
struction policy. But as goon as there is
Democratic House, the Republicans are check
mated. The joint resolution readmitting the
States and slnctioning their governments can
not be repealed without The concurrence of
both Houses; and, until it iS repealed, neither
can refuse to admit members on the ground
that there is no valid State government. The
Times must therefore see that lts party will be
bound, hand and foot, I'M .fetters of it's own
forging. There will be no necessity for de.
molishlng the gallows erected by Haman,
when he can so easily be hanged on it him
self.
LATER DECLARATION.
The New York World Of Saturday last has
another leader on the same subject as the
above, and even more nnmistakable in its
drift. We quote the more important portions.
OF the article:
THE GREAT BUGBEAR.
The chief topic Of Republican invective,'
since the opening OF the canvass, is the imput-
ed intention of the Democratic party to dis
{ha
after the Inauguration OF Seymour and Blair.
The Times, if we understand ITS rejoinder to
| the World yesterday, admits that this Imputa-
ton cannot be sustained unless it is logical
| sequence of the Democratic platform. This
puts the controversy on its true ground; and
on that ground we proceed to show that the
| imputed intention is baseless chimera.
The Times, arguing from the platform. rests
it's case on the declaration that the Recon-
struction acts are pations-unco constltu-
tional, revolutionary and void, and on the fact
that this clause was inserted in the platform at
the instance OF General Wade Hampton. The
fact that Wade Hampton suggested it signifies
nothing, unless it can be shown that it is doc
trine which the Democratic party had not pre-
viously held. Now, it ID notorious that this is
| n subject on which thero-ha never been aay
| difference OF opinion IN the Democratic ranks.
From the very inception OF the Reconstruc-
ton acts the Democratic party has, to
man, consistently and Indignantly de-
nounced them as high-handed usurpations
and fragrant violations Of the constitution.
Every speech made against them in Congress,
by every Democratic member, has proceeded
upon that ground. All Of President Johnson's
numerous veto messages, uniformly applaud
ed by the Democratic party. have held up the
Radical measures as revolutionary violations
OF the constitution. This doctrine did not orr
ginate with Wade Hampton; it did not origi-
nate with the South; it has been, from the
first, the spontaneous, settled, universal be-
lief Of the whole Democratic party. Ii it had
not appeared in the platform in the words sug-
gested by Wade Hampton, it would have been
introduced in some other words; for it has
been the constant sentiment OF the party on
that subject.
The only pertinent inquiry is, whether the
! Times inference is well drawn; whether, in
other words, declaration that the Reconstruc-
ton acts are unconstitutional, revolutionary
and void" pledges the party to disperse the
new governments by force. It is an accepted
principle Of logic that an argument VIII /
proves too much proves nothing. II the rea-
soning of the Times proves that it's editor is
pledged to abet the overthrow OF the Radical
policy BY force, he will perhaps recoil from his
own conclusions, and admit that his formidable
inference is Ill drawn.
The World then addresses the editor Of the
Times, MIR. II. ]. Raymond, in @ powerful
argunsentun, ad honainum reminding him OF
the strong protest which he himself drew up
against the Reconstruction acts, and which
was adopted by the Philadelphia Convention,
and contrasting his positions then and now.
The World then concludes as follows
But we need no assistance from the Phila-
delphia address to confute the pretence that
the Democratic party is pie lged to destroy the
new State governments by force. There ls not
only nothing of the kind in the platform, but
nothing which can bear that construction in
the action of tie Southern people. Wade
Hampton himself is trying to carry his own
State for Seymour and Blair through the
agency of the carpet-bag government
Every Republican paper has circulated that
fact, and rung with denuncations of the
methods he has advised for influencing the
negro vote Everybody knows what has been
done in Georgia In all the reconstructed
States they are attempting to effect a change
BY political action which recognizes the usurp-
ing governments de facto, while denying their
validity de lure. The example of Georgia de-
monstrates that this peaceful method will be
successful if indorsed by the public opinion Of
the country in the Presidential election. No
force will be resorted to-none will be neces-
u l. l.