New-York tribune., 1877-05-31

Nashville is a fine specimen, have come ont
Of The civil war with minds enlarged and dis
positions greatly modified. MIR. Boutwell, has
changed neither his opinions nol MS temper
Although the war is Oyor-fOr the picSebt-ne
believes that the rehcllious spirit ot the South
survives in all it, wichedness and threatens
the Union with great ana instant danger
Mr.. boutwell, starts with the declaration that
"the supprC sson Of the rebellion IN arms was
followed by a revolution in the organic law
"of the country" This seems mistaken. 1he
adoption of the constitutional amendments 10
which he refers in bis Overbod eXordium, did
moi constitute "A revolution but development
of the organic law, and did not remove any ol
the constitutional limitations upon the author
ity Of different branches OF the Government.
Mir. Boutveil claims for "thc new Consiitu-
",ion." rs ne call. it, force and universally
which certainly did not belong to the old one.
He declares that now the power of enforcing
"thc performance of every duty ot cillzchsAlp
d" is c0extcnSvc with the jurisdiction 0i the
" Republic" aud that the power to protect
" the citizen in the fun and free exercise OF
" his political and personal rights II '2ually
comprehensive and ccrtaln.' We confess
that we do not understand what Mr.. boutwell,
is trying 10 say; but if he means that the
Federal Government has acquired, as Il result
of the war, the power to "cntorce the per
" folmance OF the duties of citizenship" and
TO protect the citizen i'll his personal ana
"poiticalr rights, he claims too much. One
of the duties Oi citizenship" is the duty
of voting; another is the duty of serving on
juries Are We to understand that the Federal
Government has recently acquired the power
10 enforce their performance Among per
"sonal" rights is the right Of personal lib
erty. Has the Federal Government then be-
come possessed of authority to interfere with
illegal arrests by the municipal police, or to
set aside Illegal sentences imposed by the
State courts Z
But the claim of new and hitherto unheard-
OF powers in the central government was
necessary to Mr.. Boutwel's argument. FROM
the assumption that the war has rev0nllonlzed
the relations between the Federal and state
organizations, he passes naturally to the posi-
zion that the States have no power to regulate
the exercise of the suffrage, even IN conformity
with the conditions OF the Fifteenth Amendment
(in fact he seems disposed to advance the strange
claim that the suffrage Is not political privilege
but a natural rghD, and that Congress is bound
to indllre into the fairness of state elections,
and TO set them aside if it believes them to
have been carried by improper means Here
then we come to the point of Mr.. Boutwelrs
commemorative address on the anniversary
of the nations dead. 1t is just this: three OF
the State governments "havc been seized by
EARNED men, and new governments in their
" stead have been inaugufated i'll blood; )"
it is the duty of the Federal power to hurl
these usuiperS from their places with rs little
ceremony as it would waste upon band OF
marauders from Mexico, or all INVASION Of for
eigners from beyond the st. Lawrence. Other
irreconcabes have criticised the Southern set
clement, accepted it under protest scolded
about it as miserable but irrcyersiblc mis-
take. Mr. Boutwell, outbids them all He
would have the settlement ripped all up again,
Packard sent back to New-Orleans in
closed in hollow square of sol
dicrs, the Louisiana Legislature dis
persod once more by Gen. Sheridan, and
Chamberlain forciby reinstated at Columbia.
The South is mt peace after years of turmoil !;
the scandalous bayonet governments have
quietly disappeared; whites and blacks are
going to work; ancient enmities are recon-
cilrd and 10. in the midst Of the calm, low
voice. away Of On Cape Cod, raises the half
forgotten cry, "MoIe hoOpsm
Place this clamor for violence, this bitter
outburst against the "crimes," the mcnaces, the
hidden purposes, the "secrct and INSCRIPTIONS
military organization of the "remnant of
&" the slavcholdng oligarchy,' alongside OF the
patriotic utteranccs of The ex-ConicGerate
soldier at Nashville; and let the country say
which OF the two speakers understands It's
/ heart