The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-07-11
"The Drowning Infamy.'


"The Drowning Infamy.'
Congress plies the pyramid OF usnrpae'on.
It is guilty Of such a succession OF infamous
acts. each worse than the hast preceding
one. that the caption which we have put TO
this article is nearly always " in order" and
appropriate. These acts are done asspeed-
fly as IL they were the vermillion DEGREES OF
an emperor.
In the House Of Representatives on Fri
day q bill was reported by Mr.. BINGHAM
"to regulate the mode Of determining the
ratification of amendments to the Constitu-
ton,' the rules were suspended, and the
bin was passed under the lash. The kadl-
cal members of the House are not a whit
better than 40 many automatic, or slaves
If you prefer the word. They have no
wills of their own. They are mere tools
in the hands Of their leaders. A bill
whose features are so outrageous that the
mere proposition to enact them into a Ia"
ought TO have called down upon It's au.noi
the indignant denunciations OF every tr1eha
Of good government in the House, was
passed without debate. The stupid simple
tons always know what is expected Of them
when one of their leaders calls for the pre-
vious question or moves to suspend the
rules. They incontinently become mere
supple.jacks, moved hither and thither
along a fixed line by the men who pull the
strings. They know not, they care not,
whether the bill proposed to be passed Is
right or wrong, constitutional or uncon-
stitutional. All they know, or care to know,
is that BINGHAM, O BUTLER, or some other
Of the unprincipled politicians who now
assume the role Of statesmen, desires their
Votes in favor of certain measure. They
30 give them; and, like dogs that have
pleased their masters, they manifest great
satisfaction at the fact.
The first section Of Mr.. B1NGHAM's bill
makes tt the duty of the GoueTnor OF each
State whose Legislature shall have ratified
a proposed amendment to certify forthwith
such ratification to the United States Secre-
tary OF State! Think of that. The Fede-
raj Congress prescribing duties for the Co
vernon of a State! What would MADISON,
or JEFFERSON, or HAMILTON, or PATRICK
HENRY, have said if such q bill had been
even SO much as proposed in their day? In
the better days Of the republic its author
would have been severely reprimandcd
if moi ANONYMOUSLY expelled from Con-
gress. Congress has exactly as much right
pass such q law rs we have to order the
of the Richmond Wing to per-
form orp rani,J .ary;,n $1,of rr,o IaCirc
to have done. 1t has no more right to pass
u 4 law than it has to require Judge
MoNCURE to certify to that body all his
opinions in the various cases that come be-
fore the Supreme Court of Appeals of Yir-
ginia. The act is n Of gross usurpation.
1t should be treated with scorn and con-
tempt by the Governor of every State in
the Union. 1t is so clearly unconstitutional,
80, plain and unmistakable an infringe 4
ment upon the rights Of the State Govern |
ments, that it would unquestionably be
pronounced null and void by any respect
able judicial tribunal in the country.
The other two sections Of the bill are, if
possible, more outrageous than the first.
The second makes it unlawful after an
amendment has once been ratified for any
State officer to certify any repeal of such
Affirmative always ; negative
Though an amendment fail for fifty
years to be ratified by the requisite number
Of States, yet, if at the end of that time the
requisite three-fourths be obtained, the
States which first ratified shall not have the
privilege Of Withdrawing their ratification
Can usurpation further 60? And the third
section proposes to fine and imprision any
member of any State Legislature who shall
even propose to repeal q ratification ! These
asses in Congress passing 4 law to define the
duties Of members of the State Legislature
But this is too much. 1t degenerates into
farce. We do not believe that such a bill
can ever get through the Senate. If it
does, we shall not waste any lamentations
over its passage, but shall look upon it as
another of those infamous acts which,
though conceived in sin and born in ini-
guilty, will have a tendency to educate the
northern people in politics up to that high
standard which obtains in the South.
Of course this bill had its origin in a feel
ing of spitefulness towards Ohio and New
York for having repealed their Publications
of the fifteenth amendment. There is no
precedent for such a law !; no warrant for
it in the Constitution /; and its enactment
would be a gross violation of the spirit of
that instrument. Yet this Radical House
of Representatives, which can find no au-
thority in the Constitution for excluding
the Chinese from this country, did not hest
tate to make a wrong precedent, trample
upon the Constitution and upon the rights
of the States, and pass q bill which ought
to send its authors to the gallows, OF at
least to prison.