The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-01-05
nresumnt;ons that the law vas execu.

ted, and that the registering officer
1-"rite ct solemnitur." excluded a larg
body Of their qualified fellow citizen
from the right Of suffrage. / will no
attribute to the Supreme Court or Il
any two OF its Judges, the absurdity 4
suppose that they would have held, o.
would now hold that these men, educa
ted by their own judicial Interpretation
Of these disabling laws, did not OBEY
| the law which gave them the explici
ldiscretions to exclude these deAgnatee
classes Of citizens from the exercise o
Their elective franchise. And you viii
admit with me, that for that court, Of
any other, under the light OF these pub
| lie and historic facts, or without them
to presume that the body Of these Reg
istrars were upright and conscienti Gus
men, and that they all stood by the
Constitution and disobeyed this law
would make most violent presump
ton; and if made, would be indicative
Of want Of common sense and Of com
mon honesty, as understood by them
selves. Nor is it possible or that
Court to fix any point Of time. or find
any legal mixim or the presence OF any
moral elements OF conduct from which
to say, after what had been held in the
cases decided by them, wherein they
| justified unconstitutional laws, that the
time had come when these men had 90
| "a. concerned to a better order OF
things that they had disregarded the
statute aud acted strictly under the Con-
stilution And without these facts ap-
pearing aflirmatively, after such a his
tory had been enacted, the submission
of that Amendment was not in &C
cordance with the Constitution. The
Amendment being void, regis
trar Of to-day, or by appointment under
the incoming Governor Of the State, or
under any new law Of Registration en-
acted by the Legislature Of this winter,
cannot do otherwise than disregard it, or
take upon himself the peril and the re-
possibility Of litigation in the court. and
possibly an Ter the penal sta ute. Of he
United States
While these are my convictions,
and while | can see no probability,
scarcely any possibility that any such
case, shall 60 to the Supreme Court for
adjudication, | am free TO say, that as
a lawyer managing case against the
Amendment, would, out Of abundance
Of caution (cubundantia cautele, if so
compelled to tsh in these turbid waters
of the past, inquire what the Executive
had done for the enforcement Of this
Jaw and then, if need be, how various
Boards OF Registration in the State had
responded to the policy and the law, to
show that the Constitution had been vio-
lated in fact, as it was hy the terms of
the statute.
omit here any discussion of the un-
constitutionality Of this amendment be-
cause it i, er post facto. and the serious
objection which arises under the first
section OF the twehh clause of the Con-
stitution of the State, even admitting
that a convention could make an er post
facto provision. That section provides
that in no event shall they by any
shift or advice be made to have any re.
trospec tive operation or effect" This
is very broad, and much broader than
the term er post .!acto, and includes
it, but as it could no: of itself, bind any
future convention, and as conventions
OF States are no further bound than as
they are limited by the Constitution Of
the United States, the language is use
less and migratory, unless it lis applied
20 the amendments provided for in the
second section OF the same article, un
der which the DISTINGUISHING amend
ment was adopted And as no import
att clause is rejected as idle, il it can,
any where in the instrument, have a
proper application, it does control the
second section and makes the amend
ment void.
As 10 your argument or Illustration
drawn from the vote on and adoption OF
the present constitution that its
constitutionality might be in like or
other manner questioned, that depends
altogether on another principle. That
principle is found in Luther Us Borden,
It'll Howard The generalGovernment
having formally acknowledged the divis-
ion OF Virginia and the erection of the
State of West Virginia, under the con-
stitutional power contained in the third
section Of the fourth article Of the Con-
stitution of the United States, is bound
to maintain its existence and guarantee
to it a republican form of government
Any other irregularity is cured in the
same way and upon the same principle
that all governments are established
when they emerge from a revolution or
begin their existence, as the English
charter Of Rhode Island is still, or was
few years since the Constitution Of the
State, as the first Constitution Of the
State Of Virginia was q legislative enact.
ment before the Constitution of the
United State was adop.ed-neither Of
which cases could take place now.
have now said all intended to say
on the subject Of the first proposition,
IRON The standpoint 81 politics, law and
morals. | have shown the political
importance Of maintaining Constitu-
tons as limitations upon the action of
all departments, and especially aslimi-
tations upon itself, and these as invfola-
bic, and that all else is revolutionary,
however consumated, whether by
the decision OF courts, the arbitrary
DEGREES of Legislatures, or by their
concurrent acts l have shown the
legal principles which should at all
times rule in the minds of able, wise
and selEsacrifcing judges for the main
tainance of Constitutional law and the
independently and judicial integrity Of
judges. | have shown the moral bear
ings Of these questions as they control
or might control, or, at times, modify