Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-31
sATURDAY..........JULY 81. 1886.
States. or Provincesr
The Indianapolis Journal quotes
without dissent the following remarks

States. or Provinces
The indianapolis Journal quotes
without dissent the following remarks
Of The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"Hers each State is absolute master
Of itself, and il 1t were not, would
soon be by the decree Of the popular
viii. We treated the southern States
- conquered provinces for year or
two only"
The word "here" refers to the
United States. Here in the United
States, says the Inquirer, "each State
il absolute master of ITSELF" But our
Philadelphia contemporary qualities its
statement with words that must seem
to an Epslishman or other stranger to
DO ironical. 1t would puzzle the most
astute of lawyers to tell how State
that was "absolute master Of itself"
would be liable to the fate Of being
held as Q conquered province for
even 80 year or two"
"a year or two" is, it is true, q
very short period in the life Of ma
ton. So day or two is very short
period in the life of . man; but he
would have to confess that he was any
thing else than "absolute master Of
himself" il other men, no better than
himself, had the right to hold him q
prisoner for never so short time be-
cause be did not manage his own do
nestle affairs so as to please his neigh
bors. State affairs to States are what
domestic affairs are to men.
The States are not mere provinces.
thinks our Philadelphia contemporary.
Who ratified the thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth amendments in the south
ern States? They were ratified under
duress. The people agreed to their
ratification in order to get rid Of carpet
bsggsr and scalawsg and military rule.
They were never ratified in the manner
provided for in the Federal Constitution.
And how was the State of West
Virgins erected? By force and fraud.
The real Legislature Of Virginia never
consented to the erection of that State
q the Federal Constitution requires .
State To consent before new State can
be erected. They must be erected with
the consent Of the States from which
they arc carved out. But as neither
Virginia nor West Virginia was sab
solute master Of ITSELF" and as the
Supreme Court of the United States
recognized the rape of Virginia as .
constitutional proceeding, all that we
could do was to submit to the outrage,
remembering that ours was q "con-
qusrsd province"
Each State is absolute master OF
ITSELF" Well, that is good joke. How
happened it that the electoral votes Of
Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and
Oregon were stolen in 1876? What
power overawed the people, and, despite
thoir protest, counted the votes of those
States for HAYES? What Government
wasrepresented by General De TRoBRI-
AND, when, sword in hand and with
soldiers ct his beck and back, he super.
vised the organization Of the Louisiana
legislature Did he represent the
United States or State that was I" ALB
solute master Of itself"?
Oh, no. None Of the States OF the
American Union are absolute masters
Of themselves" They owe their SEEM
ing freedom to public opinion which
can at any time be influenced, as 1t was
in 1861 and till 1876 and later, to put
any State in chains. II the States dc
,as they are told, they may continue ia
be absolute masters Of themselves "
in the sense in which they are so now
but II they undertake to do AZ they
please, UNCLE SAM will soon let them
know that be is the only potentate on
this continent that is absolute master
of himself"