The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-10
The Disqualified.

1
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The Disqualified. s ]
After a long silence the World has at-
tcn,rted to make out its point that the four
tceuth amendment disqualifies nobody.
We have never seen newspaper, nor heard
Of anv lawyer, that entertains the same view.
Yet, as the World is a leading journal, its
utterances must be treated with respect. 1t
first reproaches us for the ignorance which
we manifested when in writing upon another
subject we credited Dir. MEpILL with the
invention of the discriminating veto-a re-
proach which we accept as having deserved
it-and then makes the following argument
The second section of the fourteenth
amendment speaks of participation III re-
bcllion. or other crime" lie who participated
or engaged in rebellion was therefore lpso
facto a criminal. When rrdoned he Is no
longer a criminal. You cannot IN law say
that he has been criminal. As Blackstone
has if. he isa 'ncw man. AS the supreme
Court of the United States says, pardon
includes amnesty" 1t blots out the offence
hardened" The Dispatch insists, how
ever. that while the guilt of tho participation
is gone the fact of the participation remains.
But the fact 's the guilt. The one beng
blottcd out how can the other remain!
We agree to almost all that the World as
scrts in the above extract. We differ only
rs to the last allegation and as to the neSa-
tive with which its question is pregnant.
We do not look, however, to the second, Dllt
to The third. section of the fourteenth amend
mcnt to ascertain who are disqualified. That
section is in these words:
"SrcTroS 3. No person shall bc Senator
or Representative in Congress, or Elcctof oi
President or Vicc-Presdcnt. or hold any Oh
flee. civil or military, under the United states
or under any State, who. having previously
taken an oath aS Il member of Congress, or
as an officer of the United States. or rs il
member of any State Legislature, or us an
executive or judicial officer of any State. TO
support the Constitution OF the Unltcd
States. shall have engaged in instruction or
rebellion against the same, or given ald or
comfort to the enemies thereof. But Con-
.rcSs may. by Il vote of two-thirdS OF each
House, remove such disability"
We are prepared now to answer that 1.-the
fact is " not the guilt" but that the guilt
being blottcd out the fact remains.
The World seems TO /" stick in the bark,
as tho lawyers say. "When man is par
,loned he is no longer CRIMINAL says that
journal. So say we. Pardon includes am
ncstv." 1t blotS out the offence pardoned.
SO SAYS the Supreme Court. So say we.
But what of all this? Nothing mt all. The
third section does not disqualfy certain men.
because they are rebels, but it disqualifies
certain men who rcre rebels. The words
merely describe these men. They might
have been disqualified by name. And
here is where the World is i'll error. 1t
assumes that man could not be disqualified
unless he had Dcen guilty of some crime OF
other. No mistake could be greater. CAR1
ScHuRz is disqualified for the office OF Prcsi-
dent. SO is every foreign-born citizen. But
not cdusd crimints. Every forclgll-born cltl-
zen might, By new amendment, he dis
qualified for every office under the Federal
and State Governments. So every native
under thrty-fye is disqualified for the office
of President, and under thirty for the
place of senator. But not for crime.
Every man under fifty might have been
DISQUALIFIED. A. new amendment overrideS
every State law and constitution, and every
part of the Federal Constitution itself, il
there be conflict. Indeed the fourteenth
amendment does confer upon Congress Il
pardoning power-a power previously con-
fined to the President. The fourteenth
amendment might have disqualified every
man who had ever been member of Con-
-rcss before its ratification, whethc: lie had
engaged in rebellion. or had been 4 firm, con-
sistent, and unwavering friend of the Union.
1t might have disqualified HORACE GREELEY,
| MANToN MARBLE, GEORGE TICKNoR CURTIS,
WENDELL PHILLIPS, and U. S, GRANT, by
name. The words of that amendment
are used to describe certain persons,
just us HORACE GREELEY's name points
him out. No more, 10 less, There is no
question of guilt or Innocence of crime i'll
volvcd. These persons cannot escape under
the plea that they have been pardoned. A
demurrer on the part Of the Government
would bring from court of Justice the de-
cision that notwithstanding their innocence
of the crime of being rebels they are still the
same persons who were once rebels, and that
those who were once rebels are disqualified.
I'VE have quoted above the Worlds entire
argument. That Journals faith in the sound,
ness of its opinion had been shaken, we
judge. Will it not now acknowledge its
error? If not, let it at least show wherein
| it thinks we are in er,nr.