The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-12-10

u
AS along and well-written article on
ne Question of Acknowledgement. The
writer fasors an amendment ofthe reg
stration law which shall provide that
no one shall be disfranchised for COM
plicity in rebellion who has not been
of treason by court OF com
petent jurisdiction. he also fayors the
early assembling Of a constitutional
to regulate the suffrage and
make other much needed changes in
he Constitution Of the State, His ar
pument concerning the FLICK Amend.
ment is 30 forcible and so well stated
that we present it below in full, togeth-
er .Rith his remarks in reference TO the
convention;
THE FLICK AMENDMENT.
In order to arrive at correct under
standing of this proposition, it is neces-
sary to 90 back to 1869. The Legisla.
ture which assembled in January, of
that year, on the eve of its adjourn
ment, pretended to ratify the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States. The next Legislature,
which met in January, 1870, was COM
posed ofaalarger number Of Democrats
than any preceding it, and they, to-
getherwitlf certain "let-up' Republ-
cans, attempted TO procure some legisla-
ton for the relief Of the. DISTINGUISHED
portion of our citizens We are all IA
miliar' withAthe result. Every PROPOSE
ton booking to their relief was per-
sistently voted down by the Radicals.
Thew refused to amend the registration
law in any particular. They even re-
fused to ALLOW the registrars TO be elect
ed by the people; and this notwith-
standing the many pledges made by the
leaders otthe party. Fearful OF ther
suit Of theif action, when it came to be
canvassed before the people, in order
to save themselves from the just indlg-
nation which their treacherous con-
duct so justly merited, with great show
OF liberality, towards the close of the
season, what has since been known as
the Flick Amendment" was intro
duced 1t was furthered by the Radi-
Gals, and was passed by them, with the
aid of such Democrats as were willing
to overlook the evils OF negro suffrage,
which it legalized. in order to obtain
the boon Of acknowledgement which it
promised. It was merely tub, thrown
to the, whale Of public opinion-a trick,
to bridge over the ensuing election, and
to obtain from the Democracy an en-
dorsement of the action OF the former
Legislature in ratifying the Fifteenth
Amendment. That this is true, cannot
be successfully controverted; for, the
very men who were the fathers Of this
measure had refused, time and again,
to do anything looking to the ameliora-
ton Of the condition of the dis.
franchised; and when Mr.. Davis, Of
Harrison, offered a substitute for the
proposed anne ndment, which waa identi-
cal with ii; save that it retained the word
white, every radical and "let up" in the
House, and, we regret to say, at least
one Democrat voted against ii. Here, if
they were truly solicitous to relieve our
disfranchised citizens, was an opportu-
nifty. The question was fairly and
squarely presented, unembarrassed by
any other observation-disclosures or no
enfranchisement-and the result was
that our Radical friends, who are now
SO exceedingly fearful lest the Democra-
CIV should 60 astray, refused, fully, to
have anything to do with the rebel en-
franchisement, unless 1t ,oas allied to
negro suffrage! Were further proof OF
the insincerity of the Radicals necessary,
it would be found in the action OF their
State Convention, which refused to en-
dorse the measure, as did also the Dem
ocratic State Convention.
But the friends Of the proposed
say that to adopt it would
mot be an endorsement of negro sui-
frage:" that by the force Of the XVIII
Amendment, that is now an accom-
plished fact" and that We must 'ac-
cept the situation
No more pernicious doctrine than
this was ever expressed! All the liber-
ty in the world was, from time to time,
born Of a proud, stubborn and success
full resistance to accomplished facts"
and all the usurpations. all the political
crimes and all the despotism which have
existed, came from following these
doctrines and accepting the situation"
Whenever the situation" is one of
wrong, oppression and usurpation, it is
the duty of every man to resist This
is one OF the selfevident truths, and
needs no commentary. Every Demo
cratic paper, every orator, every states
man in its ranks, has proclaimed time
and again that the present situation"
has been brought about by fraud, VIC
lence and corruption, and that the
XVIII Amendment has not been adopted
in either of the ways prescribed by the
of the United States for its
1t was not passed by two
thirds of a legally constituted Senate,
nor has it been ratified by three-fourths
Of the States.
The pretended ratification by South
ern States is sham and a-fraud. A
partisan Congress made the passage of
ratifying this amendment
precedent to their admission
into the Union. And herein partially
consists the fraud which has been prac-
ticed. They were either not States in
the Union when they acted upon the
amendment or else they were never
out of the Union. fthey were out OF
the Union they could not ratify an
changing the Constitution
Of the United States, and through it the
of other States; il they
we're in the Union, then Congress could
not preserve any condition to be &C
in order to insure their adj
mission into the Union; and the acts Of
their pretended Legislature, convened