The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-03-03
1.-THE Supreme Issue. :,

Gle siSneu AlDemafle. winch appears IN |
another column. We do not concur in the
views OF the writer, but our rule is to en-
courage intelligent discuss ion of public |
matters, and to the end that fair deter |
use of our columns to those who agree and |
to those who disagree with us, with equal
cordialty. That "Albemarle" presents an
able and ingenionsly constructed argument.
no one can deny, but we do not think it
meets the points, fairly. and squarely, which
Republican Debt-Payer'' so forcibly set
forth. The two writers are we'll pitted.-
Both are learned in the law, and both are
talented and devoted Virginians. We would
have no disposition to enter the lists where
champions such as they contend, were it
not that "Albemarle" gives to US the chal-
lenge direct, and respectfully asks frank
reply"
To answer the inquiries our correspo :
dent so pointedly puts, it is necessary to
glance at the line of.argument which leads
up to them.
"Albemarle' acknowledges that restric-
ton Of the right Of suffrage is a violation of
the fundamental conditions under which
Virginia was again admitted to representa-
ton, but claims that Congress had no right
to impose those conditions, and that there
fore they were not binding. Upon this
point the argument hinges.
The Act of Congress OF March I'd, 1867,
provided 'that when the people of said
rebel States shall have formed con-
stitution in conformity with the constitu-
ton of the United States. and
when that constitution shall provide that
the e1ectiue franchise shall be enjoyed By all
persons haoing qualifications for delegates 4
Il x and when such constitution shall be
ratified by majority of persons voting, and
shall have been submitted to Congress for &C.
animation and approval, and 1t shall haze been
approved x said State shall be en-
! titled to representation, &C. That was
the general law, and the same power which
| enacted it and made re-admission of the
States possible, also provided in it that the
constitutions adopted by those States should
be approved by the power whose actrehabil-
lated them. If this act of reconstruction
was not unconstitutional, and the Supreme
| Court has decided that it was not, then
| Congress had the right to prescribe con-
ditions, for it had the right to approve or
reject.
The Act of Congress admitting Virginia
to representation recites that whereas
the people of Virginia have framed and
adopted a constitution which is republi-
can and whereas the legislature of Vir-
ginia, elected under sal constitution, have
ratified the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments. X and whereas
the performance of these several acts an
good faith, was a condition precedent to
representation in Congress, therefore the
State is entitled to representation, sc. "upon
the following conditions: Then follow the
conditions which "Albemarle'' insists
were unconstituti onal, and imposed by
''men of Congress in violation of their
solemn oaths." Without those conditions
Congress would have withheld it's approval.
which it had right to do. 1t prescribed
these conditions as precedent to it's approval
and the people of Virginia subscribed to
them when they permitted their represen-
tatives to take seats in the National Con-
gress, and allowed the Commonwealth to
assume her place in the sisterhood of
States.
But had there been strict obedience on
the part of our people to the obligations of
1oiy, Md
of would never have been regarded as OBJ
noxious. Had the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments, which every voter solemnly
sw ore he would faithfully observe, been lived
up to, those conditions would have
been forgotten. When we;of Virginiaswore to
support those amendments sin good faith, I"
and that oath was recorded, as honest men
and true, we were bound to abide by it,,
come veal or come woe. Have we done
it? We ask tAibemarle' to answer affirma-
lively, if he can, to these questions Have
we, as people, sought to live up to the let
ter and the spirit Of the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments? Has there been no
effort to nullify them either by legal tech
nicality, fraud or violence? Have the class
of people they were specially intended to
affect received the full benefit which, under
our oath-bound obligation, we had promised
to accord them Will any intelligent man
pretend to say that this restriction of stuff
rage was not intended to operate harshly
upon and disfranchise the negro? There
is where the whole difficulty lies, and try
how we may, we cannot justify our con-
duct by taking refuge behind hair-splitting
constructions and legal bubbles. The broad
truth confronts us that we haze been I'M
faithful to the letter as we'll as the SPIRIT
of our sworn obligation, and it is the Mem
esis which follows swiftly in the path OF
broken faith that has reduced this once
proud Commonwealth to the humiliating
position she now occupies. Had there been
the Esame effort to observe those amend
ments that there has been to circumvent and
nullify them, another and different con-
dition of affairs would have been pre-
sented. The moral code by which the peo-
pie have been taught to ovoid rather than
obey the laws, has been given broader
application than was, perhaps, first intended,
and the result is that the civilized world now
looks upon us as dishonest and unworthy
of confidence. Let there be a departure
from the straightforward, manly path OF
duty, and the descent becomes easy.
And now we shall proceed briefly to an
swer the questions which ''Albemarle" asks
us direct: l. If Virginia has complied with
the terms and conditions under which she
sought and was accorded re-admission into
the Union, then she is and should be the
equal of any State.
2. We do not believe it either.just or right
that the payment of a head tax should be
made prerequisite to the exercise of suff-
rage in any State, North or South. It is
wrong in principle. If it is right to require
one or two dollars, then the principle is
applicable should the tax be raised to
400 or 81 900. 1t is an error to suppose
that because man has neither land nor
cattle, that therefore he possesses no ''evi-
dence of common interest with and attach.