New-York tribune., 1868-08-07
THE REAL QUESTION.

FRANK DldH. III is Iulc 10 Iuh VI p'ii'''
"greenbacks, gold, the public faith, and the
public credit We must have a President who
"will execute the will of the people by Tram
"pling into dust the uSurpatiOnS Of Congress
"kno,Cn as the Reconstruction acts. | wish TO
stand before the Convention upon this issue,
"but it is one Which embraces everything etSe'"
Frank was entirely right this is the real
and only question; this does embrace every
thing else. Shall the Constitutional Amendment
now solemnly incorporated in the foundation
of all our law, remain For this amendment
is the Congressional plan of Reconstruction.
The subsequent measures were adopted III order
TO secure the success of the amendment; and
NOW that the amendment has become part OF
the Constitution, and is so proclaimed by the
Secretary of State, the military bills are OF no
further effect they pass out OF existence
Military rule at the South, i'll all the states
which have adopted the amendment, IS at an
end. 1t was never intended to be more than
temporary, and its aim having been accom-
pliShed, 1t ceased.
The real issue now before the people, that
which they must decide at the next Presiueh-
tial election, IS shall the Fourteenth Amend
ment stand as a part of the fundamental law
of the land Let us see what this means.
The first section of the amendment fixes the
status of the negro, matter which Is as neces-
sarv for the enforcement of the legal rights OF
the white man as of the black. Under the Dred
Scott decision, the Constitution was held to con-
fer no rights of citizenship upon negroes; and,
so far as individuals are concerned, the judicial
power of the United States extends only to cases
affecting citizens or foreigners. negro, there
fore, could be a party to no suit brought in
United States court. If colored man COM
mitted tort, held property unjustly, or IN
fringed on the rights of citizen Ill another
State, he could not be sued nor made amcnable
to United States law 1t is as important, there
fore to whites as to blacks that the first section
of the amendment should be undsturbed.
The second section secures the right of white
men, North and South, to equal representation.
Before the war. representation was apportloned
according to the whole number of free persons
with the addition of three-fifths of "all others"
the "Others" being slaves. The Representa-
| tives, however, were all white; SO that every
white man living in a slave State had three
! ffths of a vote more than any citizen in free
! State. When Slavery was abolished these
black population, StiH not rotiag, was added to
that according to which representation was to
be apportioned. The white population was
thus allowed to represent not only itself, but
the four millions of blacks; thus really gain
ing by the crime of treason. man at the
| South, fresh from rebellion, had what
amounted TO double the vote of a
! loval man at the North The second section
of the amendment simply provides that repre-
sentation shall be equalized; that only those
who vote shall bc represented, and leaves 1T
for each State to say who shall vote. 1t Sc
cures that the vote of man In the Rebel
States shall be worth no more than the vote
of a citizen in one of the loyal States. Not a
very harsh punishment, that to intlct on those
who had carried on the blOOdest rebellion IN
hstory-that they should have 10 more rights
| than their victOrs in the Government which
| thev had strven to ovcrturn. Yet this Is what
| the Seymour Democracy and their Rebel allies
! fight hardest against. They cannot consent to
place the Rebels on a political level with the
! loyal men of the North.
| The Rebels claim, and the Seymour Demo
Gratis claim, that they want White Mans
! Government they, lChO wdRt TO base a GOrern-
nient on black representation. The Second Sec
ton of the Fourteenth Amendment provides
the nearest approach to a White Mans Gov
eminent that this country has ever seen. 1t
provides that black men who do not vote shall
not be represented. The Rebels and their
Northern allies claim that the blacks shall be
represented, but that Rebels shall represent
them, and more than that vote for them.
That is the kind of White Mans Government
the Democracy is clamOring fOr-One in which,
by virtue of a non-voting population, the
whites of the South shall have twice the pOliti-
cal power of the whites of the North. That is
what Frank Blair calls the real and only
"questOn." Loyal men, are you willing to
give this power to traitOrs-tO Wade Hamp-
ton, and Forrest and their alles3
The third section secures the punishment of
the officials who violated their oaths to this
Government; it Furnishes treason in the only
legal way now possible. For when a whole
community shares with its leaders in crime, it
is idle to talk of Furnishing those leaders by a
trial by jury. The jury in such population
share the guilt of those whom they try, and
the experience of the last three and half years
has shown that no jury can be found in any
Southern State to convict a man of treason on
account of acts done in the late Rebellion.
The jury violate their oaths as readily as the
leaders whom they are to try. But this sec
ton makes the punishment of treason part of
the fundamental law of the land, and vindi-
Gates the offended majesty of the Government
by inserting in its very Constitution the ina
bility Of the greatest criminals TO hold Office
under that Government. Again, a slight pun
ishment, where other nations would have taken
life and property. But these men insolently
maintain that they must not be excluded from
a prominent share in the very Government