The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1868-01-29
LOUISIANA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY % 1868.

.NDRIA, LOUIS,
authority is to be found in the Constitu.
ton; on the contrary, it is asserted to he
outside of the Constitution. This is an
admission Of the nullity Of the whole
scheme. k7I at
j How can Congress act outside of the
i Constitution Outside of the Constitution
there is no Executive, no Judiciary, no
Congress--no Government of the United
States. Outside of the Constitution, Con
| gress-or rather the men who compose it
i-llaye no more authority than any other
body voluntarily assembled. Outside of
the Constitution, they hayeno commission
to legislate upon any subject, for any .pnr.
4 pose or in any manner whatsoever. Eve
Epation and utterly void. What vitality,
| then, can there be III State government,
constructed in pursuance of flaws passed by
authority, claimed to be outside of the
| Constitution? How long can it stand, af-
/ ter the bayonets which prop it up have
been removed? it is a fabric without
foundation and must fall. These are all
selfevident propositions, too automatic to
admit of argtiment; and they necessarily
Fpresent, for the consideration of the people
of the United States-especially of the
people of those States designated, in the
parlance Of the day, as loyal--this grave
and momentous question. If the State
governments. now being. constructed by
4 Congress, are, thus invalid and can be
maintained only by force, are they prepar-
ed to incur the expense and hazard to lib
erty of a standing army, for such purpose?
Are they prepared for military despotism
over ten great States of this Union, for the
mere purpose of Expressing the white race
and sustaining negro supremacy? Will it
be seriously maintained that the govern
/ ment can retain its federal character and
yet sustain such a policy? Will any can
did man assert that it is consistent with
the confessedly reserved rights Of the
Statess Who does not perceive that it
will be their entire absorption and the
| conversion of our constitutional Republic
into an elective oligarchy, whose aciH,
instead of the Consultation, will be the
| supreme law of the land?" And all this
for whatg For the sake OF negro supremacy
over the Southern States; for the sake of
degrading eight millions of white people,
that four millions Of negroes may be fore
ed into status for which they are utterly
untitled. We appeal to the people of the
North, who have the power, to preserve
the Constitution. Are you prepared put
| i'll jeopardy our wise fabric of government
and the liberty of more than thirty mil
lions Of yonr own race, for the sake of en-
| franchising four millions of illiterate and
semi-ciyilizel Africans? 1--WE speak as
unto wise men, judge ye what we say
| We beg to offer another view for tile
calm consideration OF the Northern PEOPLE
They almost universally contend that Sc
cession was a nnllity. The war having so
decided it as question Of practice, it is not
necessary now to contest it as a question
of right Then let the assumption be
granted. It follows, then, that not only
| the Ordinance of Secession was void, bnt
that all the subsequent proceedings--the
entire fabric erected upon it--wcre also
void. This, fabric was the State govern
ments which were in existence and in OPP
GRAFTON when the Confederate arms were
surrendered and the war was terminated,
These State governments were illegal be-
cause they were built on breach Of the
true constitutional relation between the
States and the Federal Government. These
propositions are true, upon the assnmp-
| ton that secession was q nudity, as III
sisted upon by the Northern people. It
| follows from them that the States were
never ont Of the Union, and that they re-
tanned their right to continne as such,
however their visible organization and
! constitutional relations may have been
disturbed by secession. Solar, all is plain
and easy. The next step is the beginning
of the difficulty. If these State govern
ments were void, and therefore fell with
the Confederate cause, hoE can their pla-.
ces be constitntionaily supplied2 Can 1t
be done BY reconstruction BY new State
governments constructed BY the President,
Congress or any otherpower? Surely not.
No department of the Government Of the
United States, nor all of them combined,
is invested with power to construct gov
ernments for the States. Instead of be-
ing conferred by the Constitution, itispal-
pably inconsistent with it. The duty, and
the whole duty of the United States with
respect tn the State Governments, is clear
ly defined in the Constitution. That duty.
is to guarantee to every Statea Republican
form of government; guarantee 1t, not to
create it, to preserve, not destroy and then
reconstruct it. Can you guarantee what
does not exist! The very idea.of guaraa-
teeinga government implies, necessarily,
the pre-existence of the government. And
this is precisely the dutysyhich the United
States owe to each State, to support and
uphold the government with which each
State started in the Union, whether that
start was madea at the beginning or at a
later period Of our history. Whenever the
start was made, each State started in the
Union with |, Republican form of govern
ment. This is certainly true of Georgia
and all the original thirteen; and the adj
mission of other States, at subsequent Pc
RODS, was confession by the government.
which it is estopped from denying, that
they, too, were Republican. The govern
Inellt, therefore, with which State start
cd in the Union is the government which
the United States is obliged to uphold. 1t
may be modified in the legitimate way,
pllaD IL. by bio pcUpio vi UiO COalo, b"o ~
WAYS under the limitation that it must re-.
main Republican, in form. And since the
failure of secession and tic decision by the
sword, that secession was a nullity, as u
question of practice, it would seem that
each State, is bound to preserve its original
relation to the Union, as we'll as to have q
Republican form Of government. When
there is q breach Of either iofathcse limita-
tons, the tread of legality or constitution
atty is dropped All that may come after
wards is on All. illegal basis and VOID.
| Such is the inevitable conclusion, viewing
the subject from the Northern standpoint.
What, then, is the remedy7 Is it for
Congress to stepimahd constructa new gov
| eminent? We have alreadyy shown that
they have no such power. But tho reme-
dy is to go back and pick MP the thread OF
legality right where it sras dropped; or, IN
other words, restore the government which
was wrongfully displaced. 1t was not de
stroyed by secession, assuming secession to
be void; it's functions We're suspended only;
itsoffices we're racated, but not erhngmshed
Hence. it follows, that us soon as the dis