Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-08-31
The Same Old Fight.

since the ordinance OF sSCesSlUu WIS
passed by South Carolina, We wouli
r Err them 20 tho following extract
from Mr.. Hendricks letter
The first work OF reform must evidently be
the restoration of the normal operations of the
Constitution of the United States, with all it:
amendments The necessities of war cannot
be pleaded in time of peace; the right of loca
self-government as guaranteed by the Constr
tuition Of the Union, must be everywhere re
stored and the centralized almost personal
imperialism which has been praciiced must be
done away, or the principles of the republic
will be lost.
There is not man in all the s0nth-
ern states who will not instantly
comprehend the "trne inwardness
Of this declaration. IL means, and
was intended to mean, that victory
OF tho Democratic party now will be
the first step toward the revival OF
the al traditional states rights doe
trine of the Democratic party -
There is no other construction to be
placed upon the restoration Of the
normal operation Of tbs Constitution
of the United States The normal
operation, in the minds of men like
Tilden and Hendricks, was that the
Constitution was merely compact
between states to be annulled at any
time by the contracting parties; that
the union of states is merely league
OF independent nationallties, some
thing like Germany WAS before the
empire was formed, and when the
different German states united in a
Z3llveren and, fnally, that each
state has abscl lte control over lis
own destiaios with III. any regard TO
the other thirty-> vah. This is the
. normal operation y WATCH Mr.. Hen
bricks has ia his mind. FhiS was
the Democratic cJnStfuctinn Of The
Con titutiOn at the time the lSepab-
ican party came into power in 1861.
1t was under this construction that
thirteen southern Democratic states
passed ordinances Of secession. II
was TO batter down this error that
the war for The Union was fought.
Mr.. Tilden, the Democrat; candi>
date for President, and Mr. Hen
bricks, the Democratic candidate for
Vice President, were both firm be.
levers ii the right Of the southern
states TO sccodc, and were both OPP
posed to the policy of coercing them
to return Mr.. Tlden refused to
sign a call for a mass meeting in
| New York " To sustain the Constitu.
ton and laws of the United States,
because he did not believe tho Con
sttution warranted g coerciVc main
tenance of the Union Mr.. Hendricks
| publicly declared that hc would not
advise anybody to go to tho war be
cause he would lot go himself, ani
the reason he could not 90 himseli
was because no tcliev q thete was
no authority for forcing tho rebels t.
lay down their arms and acknowl-
edge the supremacy of tho general
government. And now Mr.. Hen
bricks declares that this Democratic
construction OF leagno Of states
must be restored as the first great
work of r form.
This is no doubtful Interpretation
of his words, what he says about "tbe
right Of self-government" being ere
stored p" is misleading The right is
nowhere denied. He cannot point to
state in the nation where full and
uncontrolled self-government does
not prevail, except, perhaps, in Mis-
8issippi, where democratic mob Vio-
Ience has dispossessed the ma rity
of tho people. In all of the southern
states except one, the local govern
ments are in the hani l. Of the D5mo-
cratic whites, and they have been
permitted even TO abuse their rights
of self government by practically null
lifying the constitutional amend
ments. What he says about "cen-
tralized Imperialism " is likewise in
tended to confuse the Interpretation
which should BIO put upon his utter
ance. The only centralized impe>
rialism there is 10 this country con-
sists of the exercises of the national
rights to make treaties, preserve our
foreign relations, levy and collect the
taxes, exercise jurisdiction over the
territories, put down Instructions,
and perform such other duties and
assume such other responsibilities as
apper.ain to a nation. But Mr.. Hem
bricks idea is that this is not ma
ton, but league, and the logical
conclusion from his premises ia that
every state, by and for i.self, should
exercise the sovereign powers that
invest in separate, distinct and SOW
ereign nation. This includes, of
course, the right Of withdrawal from
The compact known as the union Of
states, Just as the United States gov
eminent has recently abroga,cd al
oxtradition treaty with Great Brit
ain.
A resolution of the Democratic
party means undoubtedly resou-
ton of the normal operation of the
Constitution as that party has al
ways construed it. Among the sov-
eregn powers which Mr.. Hendricks
believes to be vested in every state
for itself must be the power to regu-
late absolutely the right of suffrage,
and he would hold that the league OF
states has no authority to prescribe
thas race, color, or previous condi>
ton of servitude shall not be per.
united 10 interfere with such regula-
ton of franchise. Mr.. Hendricks,
when in the United States Senate,
voted against the constitutional
amendments because he believed
them to be 3 fagrant violation Of
the principles Of state sovereignty
Whist political rights would the ne
grocs al The South have under sach
construction as the Democrats put
upon the United States Constitution
and amendments What power
would the general government exert
under Tilden and Hendricks to put