The daily gazette., 1878-12-14

before its adoption, predicted by its
author, not because fraud and outrage
were expected at the polls, but because
the Southern white men were permitted
to vote at all until the fabric of reconstruc-
ton was, as the phrase went, 'consoli-
Dated The fourteenth amendment
the acceptance Of which, it must be re-
remembered, was made condition sine
qua non to the reconstruction of all the
Southern States-was the work of the
JOINT committee of fifteen on reconstruc-
ton in the Thirty ninth Congress, of
which committee Thaddeus Stevens was
chairman. This committees, OIL 30th
April, 1866, reported To the House a joint
resolution providing for an amendment
to the constitution. This amendment
was substantially that which is now
known as the fourteenth amendment,
except the third section, which read as
July, in the year 1870, all persons who
voluntarily adhered TO the late insurrec-
ton, giving it aid and comfort, shall be
excluded from the right TO vote for
Representatives in Congress and for
electors for President and Vice President
of the United States This action,
which was ardently supported by the
laaIino ranuI,linana ipclu1inu Mr. D1aina
who spoke in It's favor, was stricken out
in the Senate on motion of Mr.. Reverdy
johnson, by unanimous vote. In the
House how ever, the resolution, with the
section included, was adopted by vote
of l2S to 81, Mr.. Blaines name being
recorded in the affirmative. 1t will be
seen from this that Mr.. Blaine was in
favor ofthe disfranchisemen ofpractically
the entire white voting population of the
Southern States, and as he now confesses
he supported negro representation and
suffrage in those States from no other
motive than because he wanted to add
thirty-five votes to the republican strength
in Congress.
But he must have known at the time
from the Vaccinations of Mr.. Thaddeus
Stevens, that the South could only be
kept republican by continuing the dis
franchisement of the Southern whites.
Without that "vital proposition, as Mr..
Stevens sad, 'the amendment amounts
to nothing. do not care the snap of nv
finger whether II be passed or not if that
be stricken out" If that section were
not re aimed, he said, before the amend
E:ent could be got 10 work that side Of
the House acH be .fiisd rh yeiiing
seceSSionists and kissing copperhedds.
Give us the third section or give us moth
ing As MIR. Blaine voted with Mr..
Stevcl,s, he must have thought with him
that solid South would be the neces-
sary result of lhe defect in the fourteenth
amendment. Mr.. Blaine and Mr.. Stevens
in short, both knew the truth Of what
Mr.. Thurman told the Senator on We'd
nesday-that in the end the intelligence
and properly of the South were bound to
rule that section aLd to control its repre-
SentatiOn, just as the same elements con-
trolled in the North. They proved this
by the support which they continued to
give to the ireedman's bureau and its
agencies and TO the carpetbaggers until
the outraged senses of their own people
them 10 abandon hese wretch
ed adventures. 1t is too late now for
the advocates of the fourteenth amend
ment TO regret their action ia 1866, the
legitimate and necessary consequences
of which Were plainly set before them at
the time. What has been done cannot
be undone.
1t Slibelous to human ingenuity 10
imagine that those who could be made
to vote unanimously for carpet-baggers
cannot be induced TO vote unanimously
for those that over.hrew the carpet
baggels. The radical chickens have
SIMPLY come home to roost, and Mr..
Blaine's speech does no more than oon-
iess the fact.