Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1869-01-15
NUMBER 115.
Inc Cincinnatl Gazette on the
admissfon of NIfssissippk. -

AoHHees anu auHlIy stOoQ at the head OF the
Western press. Its then editor, CHARLES
hammond, never Tor partisan purposes,
either laid down bad law, or in any shape,
form or manner, knowingly wrote In favor
of violation of the Constitution even in
its most immaterial part. OF that instru-
ment he was strict constructionist, and
woe betide his party friends, who tor party
I purposes or party necessities, would at
tempt to leap over any barriers that the
Constitution had erected to shield the States
or the people. sH
But that time, when the Gazette was
numbered as among the ablest sheets in the
land, has passed-the time is, when that
sheet, sacrificing every thing at the shrine
of party, is among the most groveling Of
its class, catering to the, Radical leaders
who would sink all that the patriot holds
dear for the sake of party, and with It, th g
spoils OF Office. II contempt has the prop
erty of descending, as we are assured It
has, after the following, from that sheet OF
Wednesday, we much fear contempt vii
fail to reach the Gazette, because Of the
impossibility of following it to the lowest
depth, where its present editor is fast sink
ing it. That sheet says:
"The. people of Mississippi are greatly
agitated over the present condition Of the
/. State and the best means of getting out Of
1t and securing admission into the Union., 5Ti
Mississippi was admitted into the Union
many years since, probably before the
writer OF the above was born. Once In the
Union, except on Its own motion, and by
the common consent of the other States
composing the United States, it cannot go
mon sense, but, If the late war settled any,
thing, 1t settled the fact that the Union, OF
these States is perpetual. And the man, or
set of men, who attempt to force q
State from the Union, is as much q traitor,
and deserves as much, If not more punish-
ment, than the man who attempts to With
draw his own State from the compact. siiHe
The Gaz ,tte editor knows this, and yet
that sheet pirates, parrot like, in the lam
guage of the Radical leaders, about Mis-
sissippi securing admission into the
Union," when it is as much 8 part of the
Union as Ohio or any other State, called in
the slang of the day, "truly loyal."so7 ~
With more than prophetic sagacity-as
If the wise men who framed the Federal
Constitution, knew that in these degene-
rate days, party would spring up, who
would endeavor to overthrow the reserved
rights of the States, and to deprive them
of their political power, and of the equality
which it is the aim of the Constitution, to
enforce, and fearing that this blow might
come from a part made up Congress, like
the present, the Constitution requires that
'alllegislative powers,herein granted, shall
be vested in a Congress of the several
States, which shall consist of Senate and
House of Representatives and that the
House OF Representatives shall be composed
of members chosen every second year by
the people of theseueral States."'- g The SEN
ate of the United States" the Constitution
says, "shall be composed OF too Senator'S
from, each State" This latter clause is SO
imperative that no amendment of the Con-
stitution- can be valid which infringes it,
for, it is part of the fundamental law,
which. no constitution can set aside, "that
no State can be edeprired of It's equal suffrage in
the Senate"
The part made up Congress in session at
Washington has set its edicts above the
Constitution, and has deprived the people
of Mississippi of their right to elect Rep
resentatives, and has deprived that State
of its equal suffrage in the Senate by its
refusal to admit Senators, legally chosen,
to their seats. And because of this tramp
ling tie supreme law Of the land under
foot-willfully violating and setting aside
the plainest requirements of the Constitu-
ton, the Gazette, and its kindred prints,
say that the Union is disrupted, and Mis-
sissippi, Virginia and other States left out
in the cold by the Radical Congress, must
again be admitted to the Uhion before they
pie once enjoyed. A doctrine more pre-
posterous, dang erous and subversive of the
rights Of minority cannot well be imag-
ined, and yet without argument, or fact to
sustain its position-utterly subyersiye #
Republican Government, the Gozette take 8
| it for granted that Mississippi is out of the
Union, because the Radical leaders so aver,
and coolly announces that it must take
means to secure its re-admission to the
| United States. "tt2 -.
Three fourths of the States are required to
ratify an amendment to the Constitution.
| Some two years since an amendment was
proposed, and the States of Ohio, New
Jersey and Oregon ratified it. Before, how
ever, the requisite number of States could
be coaxed OR coerced into the ratification,
! the three States named withdrew their as
sent. Subsequently to this the required
number of States was obtained, counting
Ohio. New Jersey and Oregon as of the
number, and Congress has declared the
amendment ratified, that body, and the Ga
Zette, as in duty bound, with it, dt Gliding
that State once asserting to an amend
ment to the Constitution cannot withdraw
it. While it is true that the withdrawal
after the amendment is adopted would be
nullity, every Stave whose Legislature so
| pleases can withdraw its assent and pro-
nounce against it, and that withdrawal
! must act as if the State had never ratified
| the amendment.
Thus. while the Gazette holds that Con-
| gress can force a State out of the Union
without even repeating the law for its ad-
mission, it holds that an amendment of the
Constitution once ratified by State, is as
| fixed and immutable as the laws of th,
Medes and the PersiaDs, which, under no
| circumstances, could be altered.
We are frank to confess that we have no
| patience with editors who thus claim that
men, because they are Radical politicians
and members OF Congress, can thus change,
by law of Congress the Constitution Of
the country. and prate fiippantly of States
once in the Union, having again to seek
admission, unless they will allow Negroes
To vote Than haliara