Year: 1866

! 0GAAA9 ~ AS4n


In the very able speech of the Hon


Columbus Delano, of Ohio, published


IA the Commercial of yesterday, the
! following remarkable passage occurred;


Suppose you establish, so far as


this House can settle the question, that


the insufgent States are dead, and sFe


10 be governed indefinitely as Terrific


ries. Do you expect united Republi.


can party upon that decision2 If you


do, your hopes are as diVulsiye as the


baseless fabric of q vision. You will


find, sir, united South, a united cop
perhead party, and divided Union


party. You viii 90 into the next
Presidential canvass, possibly, in this
condition. And it requires no great
stretch of imagination TO see by the
united Southern vote, and divided


Northern vote, that Presidential can
dinate of the so-ealled Democratic
party may have q majority of the Elec-
ioral College, counting the Territories,
the eleven seeding States. What fol-


lows, sir? You deny the rigt of these
Southern Territories TO vote, but they
assert their right to do so; and take
care that the majority in some of the
Northern States does not also assert it.
And then comes strife for the Execu-
tive chair. How will it end2 In civil
war again; more blood, more graves
more widows, more taxation more an
archy, more dead States"


That this is not the vision of q dis.
tempered Imagination, but real dan
ger visible thoughtful and observsnt
persons will agree. We profess to be-
lieVe that our form of government is
republican, and that the consent of
the governed is an important consid-
Grafton and yet, palpably, minority
of the people of the whole country are
assuming the right to govern it. That
such an assumption is likely to Be re-
sisted it does not require the philosoph-
ical insight of craftsmanship to dis
cover.


Mr.. Delano points out in what way
contest for the executive Office might
arise, owing to the disputed status of
States. There was possibility of such
a contest even at the last election of
President, and if the work OF recon
struction does not proceed more hope
fully than recently, there is almost
probability that such peril will be
upon US in 1868.


No longer ago than yesterday, there
was joint resolution offered in the
House that the States that adhered to
the Union through the war shall be
competent to amend the Constitution
of the United States, without taking
into account the States that seeded.
1t will be remembered that the Presi-
dent, through the proclamation of the
Secretary of State, announcing the
adoption of the Constitutional amend
ment abolishing slavery, recognized the
presence in the Union of all the States
that had ever been in it, and counted
the votes OF South Carolina and some
of the other seeded States, that have
been reconstructed The design of
the jointresolution now offered in Con-
gress, Is to amend the Constitution in
the absence of the Southern States.
and without the concurrence and in op-
position to the officially expressed
views of the President. There is dan
ger, if Congress proceeds on the Ste |
Eens and Sumner programme, that |
there will presently be the most seri- |
Gus disputes as to what the fundamen-
tai National Law actually Is


Congressional election, almost gen.
eral, takes place next fall. There is
no question that in every Southern
State full delegations will be elected, |
no matter what may be the action of |
this Congress. 1t is possible that a good
many radical gentlemen may be left |
at home, so that the political complex
ion of the Congress may depend upon
the admission or rejection of the South
ern delegations. AS we pointed out |
some months ago, the Senate is body |
fortified against the danger of losing
its organization, while the House-the |
popular branch of the Government
passes out of existence, and is reorgan>
ICED out of the chaos Of mass meet
ing.


The House had no right to reject the
Tennessee Delegation, al the COM
mencement of this Congress, other
than that of the strongest. Mr.. May
nard had as perfect right on the floor
as Mr.. Stevens had, only he had not
the majority to sustain him in the as
sertion of that right and the political
complexion of the House was so deci-
ded that the controversy as to rights on
the floor was not Immediately practical
that is to say, it was not obvious that
the legislation of the country would |
turn upon the admission or rejection,
retention or expulsion, of few mem
bers. But suppose the full delegations
from ten States should present them
selves, with the support of the Execu-
tive, and of large minority of the del |
egations from the constantly adhering |
States, and that upon their admission
or rejection the character of the |
House depended.


That there would be extreme danger |
in such situation is obvious. The |
Southern delegations, and those from
the North sympathizing with them, |
might form a House of themselves out
numbering the other, and it might be |
disputed which body constituted the |
House; and the President might recOg- |
niEe one body and the Senate the other, |
as the House; and in the inevitable |
controversy, in such case, the very
foundations of the Republic might be |
broken up That this might as easily
happen as the disruption of the
Charleston Convention, and its reap
pearance after an adjournment in two
bodies, Is clear to the understanding of
every student of the politics Of the
country.


So there are in this doctrine of dead
States at least three formidable dan
gers !. That there may be 8 contest
between States and parts of States as
to who has been chosen President .
That there may be g controversy ss TO
what constitutes the Constitution. g.
That the popular branch of Congress
may be disrupted Reasons enough,
We should think, for pursuing in the
policy Of reconstruction q moderate
and careful course, that will command
the suffrages of the gIeat majority OF
the people, restore the States that have
been pslsied in rebellion to their places
in the Union IS speedily as is eonsis-
tent with the dictates of common pru-
dence, aud thus provide for the secu.