The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-03-16

/ the Union. Amendments so vital to the
safety of the nation and to the liberty and
happiness of nearly five millions of peO-
pie, adopted under circumstances so sol
emn and so strange in the worlds history,
can not be nullified but by struggle
which will shake our government to its
foundations.
! When we look at the reign Of violence in
the South, the bitter and bloody persecu-
ton Of men for opinions sake, and at the
OminOus cloud of nulifcatiou which
makes the political horizon black, who
will dare to say that the mission of the Re-
publican party has been performed?
Mr.. Morton then argued to show the
right and power Of Congress to require
! guarantees from late rebel States as the
conditions precedent to representation in
the governments that these conditions had
taken the form of constitutional amend
ments, and, having been severally accept
ed by these States, it WIS absurd for other
States now to question the validity of those
amendments. He held that the Democratic
party, by its attempted reputation of those
! amendments and the laws Of Congress en-
forcing them, was committed to nullifica-
tion and subversion of existing laws. In
answer to the allegation that the ratiica-
tiOn of the 18th Amendment by the Indiana
Senate was illegal because of the absence
of constitutional quorum at the time, he
/ said the question had been decided by the
Indiana Supreme Court upon the Appro-
priation bill passed the same day, the
Court holding that it had no power to go
behind the enrolment of the bill. In that
| controversy the Democrats held that a
quorum required tWO-thirds of all the
members elected, while the Republicans
maintained that twO-lhirds of those pres
ent was meant. The 18th Amendment
received twenty-eight votes in the Senate
and ffty-six in the House, which was
clear majority of all the mem bers elected.
| These resolutions purperting to rescind
| the assent of the State were a mere harm
less nullity, and were deserving of no cou-
sideration except for their political signif-
esncs in indicating the spirit of the De-
mOerscy. They breathed the doctrines of
notification and secession, aud did not
represent the sentiment of the people of
Indiana, which was Republican. It was
well for the country to know tho issue
made by the Democratic party, which did
not mean to accept any of the results of the
war, or recognize the reconstruction acts,
or the l4th or 18th Amendment, but would,
if they had power, nullify them all. As
! IcorrObOTutiOn of his charge that the pro-
gramme of the Democratic party was to
overthrow aud subvert the laws of the
land, he cited as a significant fact, that the
! Democratic members of the House of Rep
resentatives at the last session voted sol
idly against resolution asserting the l4th
and 18th Amendments. Other Illustrations
were to be found in the notification by
Kentucky of an important provision Of the
I4th Amendment, and also the Civil Rights
/ bill il refusing to cOlOred men the right to
testify In her Courts in cases in which
white person is party; in a recent decis-
ion by the Supreme Court of California,
practically affirming the States rights dog
ma, and in a message CT the Governor of
that State denying the validity of the COLI
stitutiOnal Amendment.
The nullifcation of the Constitution.
al Amendments and the setting aside
by the military power of the Recon-
struction acts of Congress-contiuued
license to Ku-Kluxism, and the driv-
ing and keeping from the ballot box
the constitutional, legal voters-all this
would follow from the accession of the
Blairs and the Davises to power. Mr..
Blair, now in the Senate, said in ref
erence to his well known Broadhead
letter:
Mr.. Morton substantially repeated the
question, when Mr. Blair said he would
endeavOr to be sufficiently explicit. He did
not regard the amendment as complete
and as part of the law of the land. He had
never held any other doctrine in regard to
it. He did not now and never had regard
ed the Reconstruction acts as any part Of
the law of the land, and if be had been in
place of power and called on to act upon
the sO-called laws he should have acted
out his conviction, let the consequences be !
what they might. He never did believe
them constitutional.
In the celebrated Broadhead letter, so
much talked about, he (Blair) had said the
army should be made to undo their usur-
pations. His idea was, that that would be
done by recalling the army, when the car
pet-bag governments would be dispersed
at once.
On a recent occasion, Senator Davis,
of KY, maintained in the Senate "that
the property of the dislOyal occupied
equal footing with that of the loyal,
and that all were citizens and entitled
to the same protection. The military
powers, according to the Blair pro-
gramme, may be used to set aside the
reconstruction acts of Congress, but
may not be used to protect the lives,
rights and property of citizens of the
United States, or to secure the purity
and freedom of elections from mob vi
Olenee and rebel turbulence.
These and other indications show the
a,ainaus of the Democratic party. The
action of the Democrats of the Legis
lature of Ohio, at the end of their re-
cent session, might be added to the
enumeration made by Senator Morton.
Our Representative in that body, Hon.
John L. Hughes, and his fellow-Dem-
ocrats, left on record a solemn protest
against the legality and enforcement Of
the 18th Amendment!
Now, would the policy of this party,
as thus foreshadowed, be calculated to
restore peace and good order to our
whole country? Would we not, in
stead, witness and experience another
furious outbreak of rebellion, which is
now only kept down by the strong
hand of power? Its long pent-up ven
geance would be wreaked upon the de
spised Union man-upon the hated
"carpet-bagger" er"-and the poor, unfor-
tunate colored man, whose only crime
is that he accepted that liberty which
was thrust upon him.
AL 95is will not be put into the
platform of the Convention, but here
is their action when out of power and
anxious to return 81 power. How
much better and more conservative
will they belwhen they get the power
actually into.their itching palms? The
acts passed by the Republican party, |
and the steps taken by the Administra-
fiOu tO DrOtpnt local vOtnrS and DrnyznDf |