Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-01-30
VOL. 40--WH0LE NO. 2055.


hended. We have submitted, almost
without complaint, because every whis-
per of protest has been construed into
disloyalty by our oppressors.
We have offered the feeble opposi-
ton of scarcely uttered remonslrance,
only because outnumbered at the bal
lot-box, and therefore impotent for
successful resistance. The Conserva-
tive people Of Georgia feel that tame
submission has ceased TO be a virtue,
and has become a crime against their
country, their race and future gener-
ations. The ruthless arm of nnhal-
lowed power may enslaye and degrade
them, but they will never, by word or
deed, active or passive, consent to the
outrage offered to their manhood, but
they will struggle against it by every
legitimate means which they can COM
mand- They appeal to the friends of
Constitutional government through
out the land to rally to its rescue from
the grasp of relentless centralism.
1t is the province of enlightened
craftsmanship to search for the cause
of political maladies, with a view to
their removal. 1t is casy for any can
did observer to detect the origin of
those existing evils which threaten
such calamity to our country. We
have previously remarked, that the
Reconstruction Acts assume that Con-
gress has the power to construct gov
crnments for the prescribed States.
This assumption is the fruitful parent
of all our political troubles. 1t is not
pretended that the authority is to be
found in the Constitution, on the con
trary, II is asserted to be outside of the
Constitution. This is an admission of
the nullity Of the whole scheme.
How can Congress act outside of
the Constitution Outside of the
Constitution there is no Executive, no
Judiciary, no Congress-no Govern
ment OF the United States. Outside
of the Constitution, Congress-or
rather the men who compose it-haye
no more authority than any other
body of individuals voluntarily Assem-.
bled. Outside of the Constitution,
they have no commission to legislate
upon any subject, for any purpose or
in any manner whatsoever. Every
act outside of the Constitution is us
urpation aud utterly void. What vi
tality, then, can there be in q State
government, constructed in pursuance
of laws passed by authority claimed
TO be outside OF the Constitution Z
How long can il stand after the bayo-
nets that prop il up shall have been
removed Z IL is fabric without
foundation and must fall. These are
all self-evident propositions, too axio.
matte to admit ofargument; and they
necessarily present, for the consider
alton of the people Of the United
Statcs-especially the people of those
States designated, ia thu paalenos 81
the day, as loyal-this grave aud mo-
mentous question. If the State gov
crnmonts, now being constructed by
Congress, are thus invalid, and can
be maintained only by force, are they
prepared to incur the expense and
hazard 20 liberty of a standing army
for such purpose 2 Are they prepared
for military despotism over ten great
States Of this Union, for the mere pur-
pose Of expressing .he white race and
sustaining negro supremacy? viii it
be seriously maintained that the Gov
ernment can retain its federal charac
ter and yet sustain such a policy 2
VIII any candid man assert that it is
consistent With tbe coniessodly resorv-
cd rights OF the States 2 Who does not
perceive that IL will be their entire
absorption and the conversion of our
constitutional Republic into an elec.
tive obhgarchy, whose ioiil, instead of
the Constitution, will be the supreme
law of the land 2" And all this for
whatg For the sake Of negro suprem-
dcy over the Southern State; for the
sake of degrading eight millions Of
white people, that four millions of ne
groes may be forced into a status for
which they arc utterly untitled. We
appeal TO the people of the North,
who have the power, TO reserve the
Constitution. Are you prepared to
put in jeopardy our wise fabric of gov.
ernment and the liberty of moro than
thirty millions of your own race, for
sake OF enfranchising four millions OF
lilliterate and semi-civilized Ahicansl
1--WE speak as unto wise men Judge
yc what we say"
We beg TO oilor another view for
the calm consideration Of the North.
ern people. They almost universally
contend that tsecession was nlulity. The
war having so decided it as n question
Of practice, it is not necessary now to
contest it as question of right. Then
let the assumption be granted. 1t
follows, then, that not only the Ordi-
nance Of Secession was void, but that
all the subsequent proceedings-the
entire fabric erected upon it--were
also void This fabric was the State
governments which were in existence
and in operation when the Confcder-
ate arms were surrendered and the war
was terminated. These State govern.
ernments were illegal because they
were built on breach of the true
constitutional relation between the
States and the Federal Government.
These propositions are true, upon the
assumption that secession was a nulli-
ty, as insisted upon by the Northern
people. 1t follows from them that the
States were never out Of the Union.
and that they retained their right to
continue as such, however their visi-
bic organization and constitutional