Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL II. WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 29, 1866. NO. 85. THE HERALD IS PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MOPNING, At Newberry C. HI., By THOS. F. & R. U. GRENEKER, TERMS, $8 PER ANNUM, IN CURRENCY, OR PROVISIONS. Payment required invariably in advance. Advertisements inserted at $1 per square, for irst insertion, anc. 75 cts. each subsequent inser 'tion. Mafriege notices, Funeral Invitationa, Obitu aries, and Communications subserving private interests, are charged as advertisements. Special and Lgal Notices, $1 per square each insertion. Address to the People of the United States. Having met in convention at the city of Philadelphia, in the State (.f Pennsylvania, this 16th day of August, 1866, as the repre sentatives of the people of all sections, and all the States and Territories of the Union, to consult upon the condition and the wants of our common country, we address to you this declaration of our principles and of political purposes we seek to promote. Since the meeting of the last National Convention, in the year 1860, events have ,occurred which have changed the charac ter of our internal politics and given the United States a new place among the na tions of the earth. Our Government has :passed through the vicissitudes and the perils of civil war; a war which, thougi mainly sectional in its character, has ne vertheless decidc. political differences that ,from the very beginning of the Govern ment had threatened the unity of our na itional existence, and has left its impress deep and ineffaceable, upon all the inter 'sts, sentiments and the destiny of the Republic. While it has inflicted apon the whole country severe losses in life and in property, and has imposed burdens which must weigh on its resources for genera tions to come, it has developed a degree of national conrage in the presence of na ta1 dhngers, a capacity for military or ganization and achievement, and a devo tion on the part of the people to the form of Government which they have ordained, and to the principles of liberty which that Government was designed to promote, wvhich must confirm the confidence of the nation in the perpetuity of its republican institutions, and command the respect of the civilized world. Like all great con tests which rouse the passions and test the endurance of nations, this war has given new scope to the ambitions of political par ties, and fresh impulse to plans of innova tion and reform. Amidst the chaos of comn'icting sentiments, inseparable from such an era, while the public heart is keenly alive to all the paisions that can sway the public judgment and affect the public actions; while the wounds of war a.re still fresh and bleeding on either side, .and fears for the future take unjust pro portions from the memories and resent ment of the past, it is a diffcult but an iunperative duty which, on your behalf, we who are here assembled have undertaken to perform F'or the first time af;2r six long years of daienation and of conflict, we have come to gether from every State and every section of our land as citizens of a common coun try, under that flag, the symbol again of a common glory, to consult together how best to cement and perpetuate that Union which is again the object of our common love, and thus secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. In the first place, we invoke you to re .member always and everywhere that the war is ended, and the nation is again at peace. The shock of contending arms no longer assails the shuddering heart of the JRepublic. The insurrection against the supreme authority of the nation has been suppressed, and that authority has been again acknowledged by word and act in .every State, and by every citizen within its jurisdiction. We are no longer required or permitted to regard or treat each other as enemies. Not only have the acts of war been discontinued, and the weapons of 'war laid aside, but the state of war no longer exists; and the sentiments, the passions, the relations of war, have no longer lawful or rightful place anywhere throughout our broad domain. We are again people of the United States-fellow citizens of one country, bound by the dutics and obligations of a common patriotism, and having neither rights nor interests apart from a common destiny. The duties that devolve upon us now are again the duties of peace, and no longer the duties of jwar, We have assembled here to take poinsel concerning the interest of peace ; to decide how we may most wisely and ef fectively h,eal the wounds the war has ,made, and pesfect and perpetuate the benefits it has secured, and the blessings which, under a wise and benign Provi ~dence, have sprung up in its fiery track. This is the work, not of passion, but of 4calm and sober judgment ; not of resent ' anent for past offences, prolonged beyond the limits which justice and reason pre acribe, but of a liberal statesmanship, which tolerates what it cannot prevent, and builds its plans and its hopes for the future rather upon a community of inter @sts and ambition than upon distrust and the weapons of force. In the next place, we call upon you to recognize, in their full significance, and to accept with all their legitimate consequenceS, the political re silts of the war just closed. In two most important particulars, the victory achieved by the National Government has been ial1 ad decisive. First, it has established. beyond all further controversy, and by the highest of all human sanctions, the abso lute supremacy of the National Govern ment, as defined and limited by the Con stitution of the United States, and the permanent integrity and indissolubility of the Federal Union as a necessary conse quence. And second, it has put an end, finally and forever, to the existence of slavery upon the soil or within the juris diction of the United States. Both these points became directly involved in the contest, and controversy upon both was ended absolutely and finally by the result. In the third place, we deem it of the ut most importance that the real character of the war, and the victory by which it was closed, should be accurately understood. The war was carried on by the Govern ment of the United States in maintenance of its own authority and in defence of its own existence, both of which were me naced by the insurrection which it sought to suppress. The suppression of that in surrection accomplished that result. The Government of the United States main tained by force of arms the supreme au thority over all the territory, and over all the States and people within its jurisdic tion, which the Constitution confers upon it. But it acquired thereby no new power; no enlarged jurisdiction; no rights, either of territorial possession or of civil authori ty, which it did not possess before the re bellion broke out. All the rightful power it can ever possess is that which is con ferred upon it, either in express terms, or by fair and necessary application, by the Coistitution of the United States. It was that power and that authority which the rebellion sought to overthrow, and the victory of the Federal arms was simply the defeat of that attempt. The Government of the United States acted throughout the war on the defensive. It sought only to hold possession of what was already its own. Neither the war nor the victory by which it was closed changed, in any way, the Constitution of the United States. - The war was carried on by virtue of its provisions, and under the li4itations which they prescribe, and the result of the war did not either enlarge, abridge, or in any way change or affect the powers it confers upon the Federal Government, or release th,it Government from the restric tions which it has imposed. The Constitu tion of the Un:ted States is, to-dav, pre cisely as it was before the war, "the supreme law of the land, anything in the Con stitution or laws of any State to the con trary notwithstanding" And, to-day, also, precisely as before the war, "all the pow ers not conferred by the Constitution upou the General Goveinment, nor prohibited by it to the States, is reserved to the seve rl States, or to the people thereof." This position is vindicated not only by the essential nature of our Government, and the language anid sp>irit of the Consti tution, but by all the acts and the language ofour Government in all its departments and at all times. From the outbreak of 1the rebellion to its final overthrow, in every message and proclamation of the Execu tive, it was explicitly declared that the sole object and purpose of the war was to mamn tain the authority of the Constitution and to preserve the integrity of the Union. And Corngress, more than once, reiterated this solemn declaration, .and idded the as surance that, whenever this object should be attained, the war should cease ; and all the States shonld retain their equal rights and dignity unimpaired. It is only since the war was closed that other rights have been asserted on behalf of one department of the General G3overnment. It has been proclaimed by Cot gress that, in addition to the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution, the Federal Government may now claim over the States, the territory and the people involved in the insurrec tion, the rights ot war, the right of con quest and of confiscation ; the right to ab trogate all existing Governments, institu tions and laws, and to subject the territory conquered, and its inhabitants, to such laws regulations and deprivations as the legislative departments of the Govern ment may see fit to impose. Under this broad and sweeping claim, that clause of the Constitution which pro Ivides that "no State shall, without its con sent, be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate of the United States," has been annulled, and ten States have been re fused, and still are refused, representation altogether in both branches of the Federal Congress; and the Congress in which only a part of the States and of the people of the Union are represented has asserted the right thus to exclude the rest from repre sentation and all share ia making their own laws, or choosing their own rulers, until they shall comply with such condi tions and perform such acts as this Con gress, thus composed, may itself prescibe. That right has not only been asserted, but it has been exercised and is practically enforced at the present time. Nor does it find any support in the theory that the States thus excluded ,are in rebellion against the Government, and therelore precluded from sharing its authority. They are not thus in rebellhon. They are one and -all in an attitude of loyalty to wards the Government, and of sworn alle giance to the Constitution of the United States. In no one of them is there the slightest indication of resistance to this authority, or the slightest protest against its just and binding obligations. This con dition of renewed loyalty has been official ly recognized by solemn proclamation of the Executive Department ; the laws of the United States have been extended by Con gress oe,- all thes Sates and the people thereof; Federal courts have been re opened, and Federal taxes imposed and levied; and, in every respect, except that they are denied representation in Congress and the electoral college, the States once in rebellion are now recognized as holding the same position, as owing the same obli gations, and subject to the same duties, as the other States of our common Union. It seems to us, in the exercice of the calmest and most candid judgment we can bring to the subject, that such a claim, so enforced, involves as fatal an overthrow of the authority of the Constitution, and as complete a destruction of the Government and Union, as that which was sought to be effected by the States and people in armed insurrection against them both. It cannot escape observation that the power thus asserted to exclude certain States fro.a representation is made to rest wholly on the will and discretion of the Congress that asserts it. It is not made to depend upon any specified conditions or circum stances, nor to be subject to any rules or regulations whatever. The right asserted and exercised is absolute, without qualifi cation or restriction-not confined to States in rebellion, nor to States that have re belled-it is the right of any Congress, in formal possession of the legislative author ity, to exclude any State or States, and any portion of the people thereof, at any time, from representation in Congress and in the electoral college, at its own discre tion, and until they shall perform such acts and comply with such conditions as it may dictate. Obviously the reasons for such exclu sion, being wholly within the discretion of Congress, may change as the Congress it self shall change. One Congress may ex clude a State from all share in the Govern ment for one reason, and that reason re moved, the next Congress may exclude it for another. One State may be excluded on one ground to-day, and another may be excluded on the opposite ground to-mor row. Northern ascendency may exclude Southern States from one Congress. The ascendency of Western or of Southern in terests, or of both combined, may exclude the Northern or the Eastern States from the next. Improbable as such usurpations may seem, the establishment of the principle now asserted and acted upon by Congress will render them by no means impossible. The character, indeed the very existence, of Congress and the Union is thus made dependent solely and entirely upon the party and sectional exigencies or forbear ances of the hour. We need not stop to show that such action not only finds no warrant in the Constitution, but is at war with every prin ciple of our Government, and with the very existence of free institutions. It is, indeed, the identical practice which has rendered fruitless all attemps hitherto to establish and m-aintain free Government in Mexico and the States of South America. Party necessities assert themselves as superior to the fundamental law, which is set aside in reckless obedience to their be hests. Stability, whether in the exercise of power, in the administration of Covern mernt, or in the enjoyment of rights, be comes impossible-and the conflicts of party, which, under constitutional Govern ments, are the conditions and means of political progress, are merged in the con flict of arms, to which they directly and inevitably tend. It was against this peril, sv conspicuous and so fatal to all free Governments, that our Constitution was intended especially to provide. Not only the stability, but the very existence of the Covernmnent is made by its provisions to depend upon the right and the fact of representation. The Con gress, upon which is conferred all the le gislative power of the National Govern ment, consists of two branches, the Senate and House of Representatives, whose joint concurrence or assent is essential to the validity of any law. Of these, "the House of Representative," says the Con stitution, Article 1, Section 2, "shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States." Not only is the right of representation thus recognized as possessed by all the States, and by every State, without re striction, qnalification, or condition of any kind, but the duty of choosing representa tives is imposed upon the people of each and every State alike, without distinction, or the authority to make distinction, among them, for any reason, or upon any grounds whatever. And, in the Senate so careful is the Constitution to secure to every State this right of representation it is expressly provided that "No State shall, without its consent, be deprived of its equal suffrage" in that body, even by an amendment of the Constitution itself. When, therefore, any State is excluded from such representation, not only is a right of the State denied, but the con stitutional integrity of the Senate is im paired, and the validity of the Govern ment itself is brought in question. But Congress, at the present moment, thus excludes from representation in both branches of Congress ten States of the Union ; denying them all share in the enactment oN aws by which they are to be governed, and all participation in the election of the rulers by which those laws are to be enforced. In other words, a Congress, in which only twenty-six States are represented, asserts the right to govern, absolutely, and in its own discretion, all the thirty-six States which compose the Union ; to make their laws nl chbose their rulers, and to exclude the other ten from all share in their own Government, until it sees fit to admit them thereto. What is there to distin guish the power thus asserted and exer cised from the most absolute and intol erable tyranny? Nor do these extrava gant and unjust claims on the part of Congress to powers and authority never conferred upon the Government by the Constitution find any warrant in the ar guments or excuses urged in their be half. It is alleged : 1. That these States, by the act of re bellion, and by voluntarily withdrawing their members from Congress, forfeited their right to representation, and that they can only receive it again at the hands of the supreme legislative authori ty of the Government, on its own terms and its own discretion. If representation in Congress and participation in the Government were simply privileges con ferred and hel. by favor, this statement might have the merit of plausibility ; but representation is, under the Constitution, not only expressly recognized as a right, but it is imposed as a duty, and it is essential, in both respects, to the ex istence of the Government and to the maintenance of its authority. In free Governments, fundemental and essential rights cannot be forfeited, except against individuals, by due process of law. Nor can constitutional duties and obligations be discarded or laid aside. The enjoyment of rights may be, for a time, suspended, by the failure to claim them, and duties may be evaded by the refusal to perform them. The withdrawal of their members from Congress by the States which resisted the General Government was among their acts of insurrection-was one of the means and agencies by which they sought to im pair the authority and defeat the action of the Government. And that Act was an nulled and rendered void when the insur rection itself was suppressed. Neither the right of representation, nor the duty to be represented was in the least impaired by the fact of insurrection, but it may have been that, by reason of the insurection, the conditions on which the enjoyment of that right and the performance of that duty for the time depended, could not be fulfilled. This-was, in fact, the case. An insur gent power, in the exercise of usurped and unlawful authority, in the territory under its control, had prohibited that allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States which is made by that fundamental law the essential con di tion of representation in its Government. No man within the insurgent States was allowed to take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and, as a necessary consequence, no man could lawfully represent these States in the councils of the Union. But this was only an obstacle to the enjoyment of the right and to the discharge of a duty. It did not annul the one, nor abrogate the other, and it ceased to exist when the ursurpation by which it was created had been overthrown, and the States had again resumed their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States. 2. But it is asserted, in support of the authority claimed by the Congress now in possession of power, that it flows di rectly from the laws of war; that it is among the rights which victorious war alvays confers upon the conquerors, and which the conqueror may exercise or waive, in his own discretion. To this we reply, that the laws in question relate solely, so far as the rights they confer are concerned, to wars waged between alien and independent natio~ns, and can have no place or force in this regard in a war waged by the Government to sup press an insurrection of its own people, upon its own soil, against its authority. If we bad carried on successful war against any foreign nation, we might thereby have acquired possession and ju risdiction of their soil, with the right to enforce our laws upon their people, and to impose upon them such laws and such obligations as we might choose. But we had before the war complete jurisdiction over the soil of the Southern States, lim ited only by our own Constitution. Our laws were the only national laws in force upon it ; the Government of the United States was the only Government through wich those States and their people had relations with foreign nations, and' its flag was the only flag by which they were recognized or known anywhere on the face of the earth. In all these res pects, and in all other respects involving national interest and right, our possess ion was perfect and complete. It did not need to be acquired, but only to be main tained, and victorious war against the rebellion could do nothing more than maintain it-it could only vindicate and re-establish the, disputed supremacy of the Constitution. It could neither en large nor dirinish the authority which that Constitution confers upon the Gov ernment by which it was achieved. Such an enliargement or abridigement of constitutional power can be effected only by .he amendment of the Gonstitution itser and such amendmaet:t can be made only in the modes which the Onstitu tion itseff prescribes. The claim that the suppression of an insurrection against the Government gives additional author ity and power to that Government, espe cially that it enlarges the jurisdiction of Congress, and gives that body the right to exclude States from representation in the national councils, without which the nation itself can have no authority and no existence, it seems to us is at variance alike with the principles of the Consti tution and with the public safety. 3. But it is alleged that in certain par ticulars the Constitution of the United States fails to secure that absolute jus tice and impartial equality which the principles of our government require, That it was in these respects the result of compromises and concessions, to which, however necessary when the Constitu tion was formed, we are no longer con pelled to submit, and that now, having the power, through successful war, and just warrant for its exercise in the hos tile conduct of the insurgent section, the actual Government of the United States may impose its own conditions and make the Constitution conform, in all its pro visions, to its own ideas of equality and the rights of man. Congress, at its last session, proposed amendments to the Constitution enlarg ing, in some very important particulars, the authority of the General Govern ment over that of the sev.eral States, and reducing, by indirect 'disfranchisement, the representative power of the States in which slavery formerly existed. And it is claimed that these amendments may be made valid as parts of the original Constitution, without the concurrence of the States to be most seriously affected by them, or may be imposed upon those States by three-fourths of the remaining States as conditions of their re-admis sion to representation in Congress and in the electoral college. It is the unquestionable right of the peo ple of the United States to make such changes in the Coi,stitntion as they, upon due deliberation, may deem expedient. But we insist that they shall be made in the mode which the Constitution itself points out, in conformity with the spirit and the letter of that instrument, and with the prin ciples of self government and equal rights, which lie at the basis of our republican in stitutions. We deny the right of Congress to make these changes in the fundamental law without the concurrence of three-fourths of all the States, including especially those to be most seriously affected by them, or to inpose them upon States or people as con ditions of representation, or or admission to any of the rights, duties or obligations which belonig, under the Constitution, to all the States alike. And with still greater emphasis do we deny the right of any por tion of the States, excluding the rest of the States from any share in their councils, to propose or sanction changes in the Consti tution which are to affect permanently their political relations, and control or coerce the legitimate action of the several members- of the common Union. Such an exercise of power is simply a usurpation-just as& un warrantable when exercised by Northern States as it would be if exercised by South ern, and not to be fortified or palliated' by anything in the past history either of those by whom it is attempted, or of those upon whose rights and liberties it is to take ef fect. It finds no warrant in the Constitu tion; it is at war with the fundamental prin ciples of our forni of government. If toler ated in one instance it becomes the prece dent for future invasions of liberty and con stitutional rights, dependent solely upon the will of the party in possession of power, and thus leads, by direct sequence, to the most fatal and intolerable of all tyranies the tyranny of shifting and irresponisible factions. It is against this, the most formi dable of all the dangers which menace the stability of a free Government, that theCon stitution of the United States was intended most carefully to provide. We demand a strict and steadfast adherence to its provis ions. In this, and in this alone, can we find a basis of permaneut union and peace. 4. But it is alleged, in justification of the usurpation which we condemn, that the condition of the Southern States and people is not such as renders safe their readmis sion to a share in the Government of the country ; that they are still disloyal in sen timent and purpose, and that neither the honor, the credit, nor the interest of the na tion would be safe if they were re-admitted to a share in its councils. We might reply to this: First, that we have no right for such reasons to deny to any portion of the States or people rights expressly conferre,d upon them by the Constitution of the Umi ted States. Second, that so long as there acts are those of loyalty, so long as they conform in all their public conduct to the requirements of the Constitution and laws, we have no right to exact from them con formity in their sentiments and opinions to onr own. Third, That we have no right to distrust the purpose or the ability of the people of the Union to defend and protect, under all contingencies and by whatever means may be required, its honor and its welfare. These would, in our judgment, be ful! and conclusive answers toethe plea .thus ad vanced for the exclusion of these States from. the Union. But we-say further, that this. plea, rests upon a complete misappre hension or an unjust perversion of existing facts. We do not hesitate to affirm that [oncluded on fourth page.