The Weekly sun. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1870-1872, July 12, 1871, Image 2
THE DAILY SUN
FftEDAV MORNING JuLY 7 '
[instead of being a mushroom place,
Ue are the distributing point for a
vast section of country. This great era
has. revolutionized thoorder of commerce.
Tl»e Mefcting Last NigHt—The
People Heard From. :
not it only remains for *the citoteo
Atlanta and the people along th'
the road to come up fait a r ' °2
their duty. I can pick - -o line of
.a square to
rat in five min-
uglit to take §10,000
misrep- yoa to take stock in
ciistnuuung puxkxu. ;* -— ~ 0 entlemen, Ido not wioli to
side of yonder park runs into the j m ^esent the facts in the case or to
amldSTohanged the old rules of trade! j utes
GEORGIA WKSTKHN no AD. are jt'aiS^road,-
distributing point The water on that
con. GEO. W. ADAIR. PRESIDENT
* WALLACE. L. J. GLENN, A
COL. COWART, COL. CAPERS, AND ALDER-
MAX CA8SIN. SPEAK.
of Mexico, and the water upon the other
side, runs into the Atlantic ocean,
are at a topographical and geo^ \Ye
CAMPBELL point, that renders this cb«*' 0 raphical
*** spoken of almost inevi^' -age’I have
. w. MITCHELL, P^ of ft(i .able. The great
.a ATJT> alder- K. 5 -^st came here, and
fuio ic the natu r ’ . ' S3h 0111116 here, and
'. l. .,' ; d point from which they
I aS •’ ; ° utcd - That is the reason
Why A -Ati 3 has, up'lo {his time, enjoyed
her unprecedented prosperity, for I re
member well, though but a boy,
when thjtfe was nothing here, not a
According to previous announcement;
»considerable crowed assembled in front ^uore was naming nere, not a
of the Kimball House last night, to listen h^hse in the place. I, was here when the
to the speeches of various gentlemen in
behalf of the Georgia Western Road.—-
The assemblage was composed mostly
of the solid thinking men of Atlanta,
who came there, not for mere idle curi
osity, but from a sense of doty, and the
deep interest felt in the inauguration of
the greatest enterprise Atlanta has ever
set on foot.
Jndge Ezzard took the stand, and in a
few explanatory remarks as to the object
of the meeting, announced
COL. O. W. ADAIB. [f*'
Amidst considerable applanse, this
gentleman mounted the stand and said i
Gentlemen: This is rather a small, af
fair in the way of a platform, but T am
inclined to call it the first platform on
the first depot of the great Georgia Wes
tern Railroad that wo propose to build.
We will call it that for the time being at
any rate.
I am accustomed to appear before au-
dicnocs in Atlanta very frequently; but
almost always when I am stimulated by
five per cent, behind, in my public ca
pacity, Bnt to-night l am' actuated by a
higher motive—something that rises
above the five per cent., and anything
bnt that modesty that you know charac
terizes me will prevent mo from giving
yon a pretty good talking, modestly
speaking.
This, gentlemen, is an age of invention,,
an age of improvement. I don’t propose
to detain you long, nor to bore you, and
if I do, our meeting is so organized that
yon ore not obliged to stand and take it
-Wiot being seated. This age is an age
of steam, an ago of invention. The in-
ventivo genius of man, for the better ad
vancement of his own interest, Iiob
brought into play almost every imple
ment that saves labor, and every labor-
saving mnohinc that -could bo conceived,
has been brought before us, and is now
in practical use. This is a practical age,
an age of steam, an age of railroads and
steamships, growing out of the active,
quickening, inventive genius that has
been brought to play under our peculiar
institutions. Ono of the greatest bless
ings of the ago that has arisen from
that peculiarity of our institutions,
bos been the impetus that has
been given to commerce, and
to transportation through the appli
cation of steam to all of these usefu^ur-
poses. Not more than 60 years ago, the
far-seeing men of New York, conceived
the idea of opening up the great West
that was teeming with its fertile soil, its
fine water courses and its fine climate,
adapted to bringing the forth of products
for tho use of man. - They conceived the
plan of reaching this great country.
They inaugurated the first canal itlnyt
reached out in that direction, and soon
after that, they inaugurated the great
Erie Railroad. Then Philadelphia start
ed the idea of tho great Pennsylvania
Control, and these roads have gone out
into the West. They have increased the
vnluo of the land; they have prepared
homes for tho teeming millions
that have sought our shores
for cheap soil and republican
institutions. They have gone into that
country from the fact that they had a
way to get there, and a cheap mode of
getting their products to market from
. tho land where they settled. When
events took this course, the whole great
West was peopled by an industrious, ac
tive, energetic people. These people
came from the Old World, and moved
out in thatdirection, and then the active,
energetic men of New England went out
iu this western country, and they cleared
up the land and settled and cultivated it.
Alter that they conceived tho idea of
manufacturing, and they commenced
manufacturing there. About the time
this western country was thus opened
and developed, some energetic gentle
men in this country, and, by the way,
Jndge Ezzard was one of the Commis
sioners appointed to investigate and
report upon the matter—conceived
the idea of opening up a di-
reot line of communication between this
wealthy ond populous part of the United
States and the great West. The result
of that idea was the building of the
State Road, or tho Western & Atlantic
Road from this point to Chattanooga.—
Up to that time not a single thing that
was in use in this country coming out of
a store,-came from any other course than
from the East. Now all that has been
entirely changed, and we go West for the
supplies of the things we most need.
I am often asked in my business capa
city, why it is that Atlanta prospers, and
why it is that her merchants are doing
well, why it is that real estate is so valu
able, and why it is that men lay out their
money hero in property. I have heard
that question asked a thousand times,
aud I have heard it answered a thousand
different ways I suppose, but the great
secret of the prosperity of Atlanta and of
its people, arises from the fact that a large
portion of the goods that are used in this
section of the country, and around in
Middle Georgia, and Southwestern Geor
gia, and in Western Alabama, and in
Western South Carolina, nro manufac
* tured in an entirely different section of
the country from what they were former
ly. Heretofore they have been manu
factured in New England, aud now they
are manufactured in the West—such
goods as leather, ironware, furniture,
woodware, etc., and all those great nec
essaries. such as bacon, hay, etc.’ All
these things we bring down in great
quantities over the State Road, and they
oil become articles of merchandise.—
They come down over that Road to At
lanta; and she has heretofore been a dis
tributing point for all.these manufactur
ed goods. A largo proportion of manu
factured goods, besides these great pro
ducts that are necessary for the suste
nance of the cotton belt, have been dis
tributed from this point. Therefore,
first tree was blazed on the land that the
city now stands upon. We have grown
marvellously since that day, and we are
now iff a position similar to many
rich men’s sons. A great many
boys whp have rich fathers set down flat
and look at their boots and*smoke their
cigars and read'their yellow backed lite
rature, and lot the old man provide for
them. We have been occupying that
kind of a position for some years past.
Atlanta has been called a city of railro.-.d s,
but wc have never built any of them our
selves—somebodyelse has built them for
ns. We have set down and done nothing
ourselves. Oqr prosperity has been
thrust upon us, and if we have grown
prosperous, it is the result of things over
which we have had no special control.—
But: how like the rich boy when the old
man dies, apd: other heirs come.in aud
turn him out, or the old man dies in
solvent, and he is obliged to go to work
and do something for himself or beg,
so now we propose to do some
thing for ourselves, and that is why
tin’s meeting is called here to-night We
are threatened by other heirs. There
are other interests arising not in harmo
ny with with ours. We are environed by
difficulties that are formidable to my
mind. I will examine these difficulties
briefly, and then I will apply the reme
dy, and then I will quit. I do not rise
for the purpose of making an eloquent
speech, for I have not the vanity to sup
pose that X could do so, were I to make
the attempt. Rut I want to talk sense
to sensible men. I want you to see the
difficulties that surround us, and to point
out. the remedy if I can. That is my ob
ject in coming here to talk to the citi
zens of Atlanta, upon this important
question.
They are now preparing in the eastern
part of Georgia, to build a railroad that
will take from us, if we are not active
and energetic, a large portion of the
trade in these manufactured goods, that I
have spoken of. Already they have projec
ted a railroad from Augusta up the Sa
vannah river to Clinton, called the Blue
Ridge Rroad, which will open a route for
eastern Georgia to the great West. That
is difficulty No. 1.
Another railroad has been projected
from Macon to Covington and thence to
Knoxyille, which will open still another
route' to the West and be another draw
back to our commerce here. That is dif-
ficnUy : No. 2. «
Then there is a road projected from
Athens west. Then there is a road pro
jected from Madison to Griffin, and from
Covington to'Griffin—all of which will
injure ns and draw away from us a large
proportion of our trade. Now, in the
face of all these difficulties that environ
us, the question" comes up", how shall we
take care of ourselves ? That is the se
rious question before us to-day fer con
sideration. All these roads that are be
ing built are direct blows struck at
Atlanta. Now, in’ order to meet
these threatent difficulties, we
must devise some other source of pros
perity than that- derived from our coml
munication with the West and from dis
tributing supplies and manufactured
goods throughout this State and the
Western portion of Alabama. In short,
Atlsnta must become, a Manufacturing
place, for I tell you gentlemen that if we
depend upon onr trade for our prosperity
as we have in the past, we might as well
emigrate. We must do something else.
have told you all these difficulties
gentlemen and now the practical question
comes up, what remedy have we for these
difficulties? I have but one answer to
make, aud that is to put our minds and
our hearts, our energy and our money to
gether and build a Road from this point
to Ely ton, Alabama, and beyond, cross
ing the Mississippi at Gaines’ Landing
just below the mouth of the Arkansas
rive, aud .then beyond connecting with
the Great Southern Pacific Railroad.—
That is or project on a grand scale.
But our more immediate object is to
build this road through to Alabama; and
the object of our meeting to-night is to
see how far we can get the people of At
lanta interested in the work. Already
our company has been organized, and a
President and Directors were elected. It
does not matter particularly abont who
were elected Directors, we have a chief,
able, experienced, active, earnest and
possessed of the confidence of the peo
ple; and under his guidance and his man
agement we will go on and build this
road from here to our first point, and
that is Elyton, Alabama. The city of
Atlanta lias already §300,000, not in
bonds but in greenbacks. The Georgia
Railroad has subscribed §250,000. This
road will run into Shelby and St. Clair
counties, where are found vast and al
most inexhaustible deposits of iron and
coal. I have been in the mines and seen
what they are capable of producing.
Here then is a cheap and direct route
from this city to the ooal and iron beds
of that section.
It may hurt the lessees of the State
Road, and, by the way, I am glad that
they have got the road. §25,000 a
month, is a great deal better than noth
ing, and I want them to keep it and ran
it; but if I build my road and it hurts
them, I want them to bear it. I want
this road, to these cheap coal and iron
beds,-completed without delay, and when
that is done, we can manufacture most of
the articles that we have heretofore been
in the habit' of purchasing from the
North, right here at home. There is no
reason why Atlanta should not be a man
ufacturing city, and if this straight, di
rect line is built to the coalbeds of Shel
by and St. Clair counties, Alabama, she
certainly will be. We have already
candy factory and a cracker factory, and
a soap factory here, and with this road
completed, we could manufacture all
kinds of iron-ware, hard-ware, wood
ware, etc.
Now, gentlemen, I have pointed ont
to you tho benefits that will be derived
from the construction of this road, and
.oiead yon. I do not say to you that the
stock will pay at the outset,but I will tell
you during my experience of many years
renting up estates, I have always.found
that when a man died who owned rail
road stock, he always had" greenbacks to
leave to his children, every one of them.
I do not say that this stock will pay an
extravagant dividend at first but
I do say that if the road is built
it will pay in time. As I was going on
to remark, there are ton men who ought
to take §10,000 each, there are one hun
dred men in Atlanta'who can with perfect
safety and perfect impunity take §500 of
stock, and there are certainly five hun
dred men who can with perfect safety'
take §100 in stock. What is §50 or §100
to some of you young men who spend
rnncli more than that in ways that are of
no benefit whatever to you, by putting
a few hundred dollars that you would
probably spend in some foolish way into
the stock of this Road. You may save
yourself or some one dear to you from
trouble and distress in the future. Let
every mechanic economize and put a part
of his little surplus earnings into this
stock. There is a good deal of talk abont
a collision between labor and capital.
There is no necessity for any such thing.
The way for a poor man to do is to work
for tho rich man and get his money and
grow rich himself. There is no necessity
for any collision between them.
All that is necessary to insure success
to this enterprise is to work together, and
contribute our combined energy and
muscle and money and skill to the work.
The Yankees understand this business
of uniting much better than we do.—
There, if two men have got only §5,000
each they put it together. They don’t
unite in an enterprise there and put in
some inefficient, worthless man,* with no
qualification for the position; but they
rat in the best man they can find, and
lave him to manage the business, and
then they go to work and make buckets
or brooms or something of that sort, and
make more money.
Let us profit by the lessons the Yan
kees teach us iu this respect, and don’t
stop working just because you have got a
little stock in a rail oad company. Here,
as soon as a company is formed, aud a
little stock subscribed, every stockholder
wants to be an officer and draw a salary.
That is not the principle upon which suc
cess in this or any other enterprise, is
based. We must combine our money,
and our energy for the accomplishment
of the object that we all conceive to be
important to our interests. Let us lay
aside bickerings and strife, and go to
work as earnest, sensible men.
Thanking you gentlemen, for your
kind attention, I will close. [Applause.]
After Colouel Adair had finished,
gether for the success of the Great Atlan
ta and Southern Pacific Railroad.
Books of subscription will be opened
to-day at the Banking House of J. H.
James, where all are invited to go and
subscribe towards the completion of this
Atlanta enterprise.
>■ •-*
The
Supreme Court and the
Amendments.
PRESIDENT WALLACE
was loudly called for, and after taking
the stand, he remarked that he had been
building railroads for a number of years
—with what success the people all knew;
bnt during the whole course of his rail
road career, this was the first time he had
ever attempted to make a speech. It is
evident that the President was no speak
er, bnt he, in a very modest and appro
priate way, extolled the enterprise whuse
projectors had called him to take clnu-ge
of it, and demonstrated to thq^jnost
skeptical mind present the‘ necessity of
the road to the future welfare of Atlanta.
The Major retired after thanking the
Stockholders for the great confidence
imposed in his ability, and to the citizens
generally, for the cordiality his election
to the Presidency seemed to be received
by them, and assuring them that his
whole time, talents, energy and inflnenoe
should be. given to its early completion.
Loud calls were then made for
COL. A. W. MITCHELL,
one of the solid men -of the city, and
also a Director. In a few words he as
sured the assembly that all that was
needed to make the enterprise a success
was work on the part of Atlanta, and for
one he was willing to use his best endea
vors in furtherance of the road.
COL. L. J. GLENN
made a powerful appeal to the masses to
come to the support of the enterprise.
It was of vital necessity, not only to At
lanta, but to every city in Georgia. What
was Atlanta’s interest was that of Macon,
Augusta, Columbus and Savannah. -He
showed how Atlanta and her sister cities
were being hedged in, out off, and would
be made to play “second fiddle” to other
places which had heretofore been of no
considerable importance, bnt which were
fast taking from Georgia cities and Geor
gia merchants that trade which they have
heretofore enjoyed. He predicted for
Atlanta a ten fold prosperity if the West
ern Road was built.
I COL, H. D. CAPERS, OF SAVANNAH,
was present, and amid repeated calls,
took the stand. This gentleman is a
staunch advocate of the Atlanta and Sa
vannah Railroad, and is in the city on
business connected with that project.—
He said, the people o£ Middle Georgia
and of Atlanta must not understand the
actiou, as reported, of the people of Sa
vannah (in reference to the Savannah &
Atlanta Railroad). The fact is the peo
ple of Savannah have never been allowed
to express their opinion on the subject of
the construction of the Atlanta and
Savannah Railroad. The Mayor of the
city,fas the President of a corporation
whose- interests might be effected, was
the controlling power in this matter.—
But the time would come when the busi
ness man, the people, the bone and sin
ew of Savannah, would be heard, and
when the people of this section heard
from them, it would be above and be
yond corporate interests, it would be the
voice of an energetic people, who were
ready and wishing to meet the people of
Georgia on a common plain of fraterni
zation in the development of the interest
of the State.
The Atlanta and Savannah Railroad
was the continuation of the Georgia
Western, and “the two were the eastern
termini of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
The people of Atlanta could not fail in
the accomplishment of this great enter
prise. They had never failed iu any
thing they had ever undertaken and
give a lesson to the whole people of the
State in their enterprise and activity,
Messrs. Cowart and Cassin both niade
sensible and good speeches. All differ
ences and former bickerings were laid
aside, and a calm, cool determination
From the Louisville Ledger.
' We do not think any legal mind, after
having carefnliy considered the question,
can doubt that the Supreme Court may
take jurisdiction, and, if the recent
amendments to the Constitution, or either
of them, were not proposed and ratified
in accordance with the requirements of
the fifth article of the original document,
may adjudge them, or either of them, in
valid. On the subject of the judicial
power under the Government, Chief
Justice Marshall, of the Supreme Court,
used the following language: “While
weighing arguments drawn from the na
ture of the Government, and from the
general spirit of an instrument, and
urged for the purpose of narrowing tho
construction, which the words of the in
struments seem to require, it is proper to
place in the opposite scale those princi
ples, drawn from the same sources, which
go to sustain the words in their full op
eration and natural import. One of these
which has been pressed with great force
by the counsel of the plaintiffe in error,
is/ that the judicial power of every well
constituted Government must be co-ex-
tensive with the legislative, and must be
capable of deciding every judicial ques
tion which grows out of the constitution
and laws. If-any proposition may be
considered as political axiom, this, we
think, may be considered.” (Cohensvs.
Virginia, 6 Wheaton, 284 to 390.)
If the judicial is co-extensive with the
legislative power of the Government, it
follows that whatever acts the legislative
department may promulgate must be sub
ject to revision by the judiciary, at least
so far as to test the conformity to the
fundamental law, which prescribes and
circumscribes the functions and powers
of all the departments. And can any one
contend that an amendment to the Con
stitution is an exception to this rale ? It
as certainly grows out of the Constitution
as any act of Congress, and is no less ex
empt from revision. Whence the differ
ence? However, the question is not an
open one; it has long since been de
cided, and we need not argue it further.
That the Supreme Court may take cog
nizance of the regularity’of the adoption
of amendments to the Constitution was
clearly assumed by that tribunal as early
as 1798, when a case was heard (Hollings
worth et. al. vs. Virginia, 3 Dallas, 378 to
382) involving the validity of the eleventh
article to the amendment to the Constitu
tion. The proposition mainly relied on
by plaintiffs was, that “the amendment
has not been proposed in form prescribed
by the Constitution, and, therefore, it is
void.” At this proposition the court was
not startled in the slightest degree; did
not think of the supremacy of the “po
litical department” of the government,
but heard the arguments, considered the
questions raised, and adjudged that the
amendment was “constitutionally adopt
ed,” and consequently overruled the plea
—necessarily implying that if it had not
been “constitutionally adopted” judg
ment would have been so pronounced.
In that case the ground of objection was
that the resolution of Congress, propos
ing the amendment to the States, was not
signed by the President. This the court
decided is not necessary; but, the infer
ence is unquestionable, that if the learned
judges had been of opinion that the sig
nature of the President is necessary to
the proper submission they would have
held the amendment invalid—in other
words, that the court entertained juris
diction over the question.
Now this is all we contend for in rela
tion to the fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments. We claim that they were not
constitutionally adopted,” and upon
this we desire the judgment of the Su
preme Court. We contend that neither
of these amendments was constitutionally
proposed to the States for ratification, to
say nothing of the many circumstances of
force and fraud which vitiate the pre
tended ratification.
It will be borne in mind that the fifth
article of the Constitution provides that
“ the Congress, whenever two-thirds of
both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose amendments. Article 1,
sect.on 1, makes Congress consist of the
“ Senate and House of Representatives.”
Sections2 and 3 provide: “The House
of Rapresentatives shall be composed of
members chosen every second year by the
people of the several States.” * * *
“The Senate of the United States shall
be composed of two Senators from each
of the States, chosen by the Legislature
thereof for six years.”
As was well and ably argued by Gov.
Bramblette, in his message to the ad
journed session of the Legislature, de
livered January 3, 1867, accompanying
which was the resolution of Congress pro
posing the Fourteenth Amendment:
“The Congress as defined by the Consti
tution, consists of a House of Represen
tatives, composed of members chosen
every two years by the people of the sev
eral States, and a Senate, composed of
two Senators from each State, chosen by
the Legislature, two-thirds of whom (L e.
the members chosen to each House most
concur in submitting amendments. An
amendment, therefore, is not proposed
to the States for ratification, unless it
has been passed by a vote of two-thirds
of the members chosen to the Senate and
House of Representatives. By another
provision of the Constitution, a majority
of each House shall constitute a quorum
to do business; but it requires two-thirds
of both Houses of Congress to propose
amendments. A quorum is not the Senate
or House, bnt only a majority of either,
and only authorized to do such business
as a majority of either House could pass,
if all the members chosen were present
and voting: All the members chosen to
either House in the prescribed form must
be considered as members composing
* the Congress’ until, for defect iu ‘ the
election, returns, or qualifications,’ their
seats be declared vacant by the respective
Houses. That they are not permitted
by the majority to take the oath of office
does not destroy their membership ; it
only prevents their individual action as
members. They, by the Constitution,
when chosen, became members, are
entitled to vote, and be counted as com
ponent members of Congress rmti] their
disqualification and exclusion from seats
have been determined by their respective
houses, and their seats declared vacant.
For it must be borne in mind that it is
not the oath of office that constitutes
ner prescribed, and they take the oath of
office because they are ‘members.
The power to amend the organic law was
more fully guarded by the framers of the
article, thah the power of impeachment.
It only requires two-thirds of a quorum,
or of those ‘present’ constituting a quo
rum, to impeach an officer, but to pro
pose amendments to the Constitution,
two-thirds of both Houses of the Con
gress’—not two-thirds of a quorum, or of
those present, but of both Houses—iunst
concur. The resolution submitting the
Fourteenth Amendment came not witLi
the sanction of two-thirds of the members
ohosen by the several States to the Con
gress ; twenty-two ‘Senators’ chosen by
eleven States, and fifiy-five members of
of the House of Representatives chosen
by the people of eleven States, not being
admitted to seats nor counted in the pas
sage of the resolution; it was not, there
fore, constitutionally submitted.”
This is the view entertained not only
by Gov. Bramblette, bnt by very many
of the ablest lawyers in the land, and we
have no question as to its correctness. If
it be correct, andyet if there be no reme
dy, as the Commercial and the Radicals
contend, outside of the dictum of the
“political department” of the Govern
ment, then the idea of our judiciary is
farcical Onr judges simply amount to a
set of arbitrators, to settle personal quar
rels; for the “political department” may
seal their lips at pleasure as to any ques
tion of interpretation of. a higher grade,
by proclaiming an amendment to the
Constitution, which they must obey im
plicitly without question, except to ascer
tain that the said “political department
has pronounced it to be an amendment—
a proposition, the statement of which is
sufficient refutation.
Baltimore Correspondence.
HOJY. LINTON STEPHENS
BALTIMORE.
IN
An Important Trial—His Great
Power as a Lawyer and Ad
vocate-—Triumpliant Success.
was expressed by the speakers to unike 1 ibem members, but they so become by
a strong pull, a long pull and a pull ultu- virtue of haying been chosen in the man*
Baltimore, July 1.
Ed. Sun : The appearance of the
Hon. Linton Stephens in the Courts
of this city was an interesting event.
He had come on to defend Madison
J. Marcus, of Augusta, who had been
indicted for purchasing goods here
last September on false pretenses.—
Although Mr. Stephens was so un
well upon his arrival (having just
arisen'from a bilious attack at home)
that the trial had to he postponed sev
eral days, and although continuing
quite feeble during the more than a
week occupied in the trial, he yet ex
hibited his wonderful abilities as a
lawyer to a degree that delighted the
bar and the public. Mr. Marcus had
been a friend and a comrade of the
war times, and Mr. Stephens, assured
of his perfect innocence, came to stand
for him in his hour of trial. His
speech, of twqhours’ length, was a
master-piece of forensic eloquence.
Many were the tears that were shed
as he pleaded in the defense of his
friend. The acquittal was full and
triumphant, and when it was render
ed it would be difficult to say which
was the more rejoiced,-the defendant
or his eminent counsel.
Mr. Stephens made a very deep im
pression here. His eloquence and
great legal talents caused to be made
to him the suggestion that he could
obtain a large and lucrative practice
at his profession were he to remove to
Baltimore. Bnt he smiled, and shak
ing his head, answered, “I can never
have any other home than Georgia.”
That great old State may well he
proud of such a son and the faithful
love which he feels for her honor and
prosperity. J. M. R.
Jere. Black.
The Savannah (Ga.) News, the West
chester (Pa.) Jeffersonian, and a few other
journals calling themselves Democratic,
but in reality being anachronisms merely,
axe comforting their seventeenth century
souls with the statement that “all such
true and Tried Democrats as Hon. Jere
miah S. Black oppose” the World's policy
as “a false departure.” The World's
policy has nowhere been better stated
than in the Pennsylvania address by the
incomparable pen of Mr. Black. When
will these Bonrbon ghosts stop their
squeaks and gibbers, pluck up their pet
ticoats, and vanish? Gentlemen, the
day is breaking.—N. Y. World, July 3.
Avery lame attempt to claim as an
advance movement a very judicious
and timely change of base to the rear
ward, with a view of regaining that
‘•road xohicli alone leads to peace,liberty
and safety .”
This the World could not do ex
cept by “retracing >> some of its previous
steps, which may have been “taken in
moments of error or alarm.” If it is
any salvo to its pride to “holdout”
to its followers that it is but going
forward to its original objective point,
when in fact it is retreating, though
awkwardly, let it enjoy this morsel of
gratification to its heart’s content.
“Gentlemen, the day is breaking.*’
Stick to Jere. Black’s Platform; and,
with him, arraign all usurpations and
abuses of Power “before the bar of
public reason”—giving sanction to
none—and these Bonrbon ghosts will
no longer disturb your repose.
A. H. S.
»-♦ •< ■
From the Milledgeville Recorder, 4th.
On Saturday afternoon a fine male, the
property of Mr. Daniel Caraker, was shot
by some unknown person, on the city
common, and shortly after, coming up to
the stable, died.
THE VALIDITY OF THE XIVth
AND XVtli AMENDMENTS.
And the Great Wrong as well as
Impolicy of the Democratic
Party Approving it in Ad
vance of its Proper
Adjudication.
Whether the Fourteenth and Fif
teenth Amendments be valid parts of
the Constitution or not, is not the
question we. now propose to discuss.
That they were carried by “fraud,
perfidy and violence” all admit.
How, whether validity can, in this
way, he imparted to any private, ju
dicial or legislative act, might very
well seem to be a superfluous ques
tion. But what we have to say, at
this time; is, that no people, who are
true to their rights, will ever,, volun
tarily, give their sanction, in advance,
to the validity of such outrages upon
the rights of the people and of the
States as those by which these Amend
ments were openly and avowedly com
mitted.
Have they, then, ever yet been held
to he valid, or proclaimed to he valid
parts of the organic law by any “au
thority constitutionally appointed?”
We say emphatically that they have
not!
The President has no authority,
whatever, to declare, by proclamat ion,
what are, and what are not, valid parts
of the Constitution. Has the Su
preme Court of the United States
ever yet decided upon their validity?
It has not!
Why, therefore, should the De
mocracy, North or South, he asked, at
this time, in advance of the decision
of the question, to assert their belief
that these Amendments are valid, and
have been passed or incorporated in
the fundamental law “in. the mode
and by the manner Constitutionally
appointed?”
It is against this that we enter onr
earnest protest
The'Hew York World, the leader
on this line of policy, in a late article,
admits that the question touching
the validity of these Amendments has
not yet been decided by the properly
constituted authority. That paper,
in the same article, goes further, and
says that, in its opinion, they “ought
not to be held invalid” when they
shall be properly acted Upon.
Why, then, in advance of the de
cision of the question, should the De
mocracy he committed to the mon
strous doctrine that “fraud, perfidy,,
violence and open usurpation” can give
permanent validity to such a revolu
tion in the Federal Government and'
such deprivation of the rights of the*
States and people as these so-called
Amendments were aimed to effect? Is it
sound policy, or wise statesmanship?
We give our readers, in another
column, to-day,- an able article on
this general subject, taken from the*
Louisville, Kentucky, Ledger, which
we commend to their careful readings
It is headed “The Supreme Court and!
the Amendments.” A. H. S.
"When the Radical party cannot use the
workingmen they insult them. This is
the case at the present time in this State.
The Radical State Convention bated
their hook with some stale platitudes
about protection to American interests,
and expected the workingmen, as a body,
to rise for the prize. But they were mis
taken, and now the Press reproduces a
manufactured statement from the Scran
ton Republican, that “negotiations have
been, or will at once be, opened between
the Democratic State Central Committee
and the W. B. A. leaders, for the sale
and transfer of the) entire vote of the
Workingmen’s Benevolent Association to
the Democratic party, at the next elec
tion.” To be sure, the Press talks about
the “virtue and intelligence” Of the work
ingmen, bnt the insult to the large body
of operatives named, is none the less
pointed and offensive. Workingmen are
Dot the material which can be sold and
transferred, and the Press has made a
mistake, as well as committed a crime,
in wantonly assailing them at thin time.—
Philadelphia Age, June 28.
This insult to the most deserving
masses of the people everywhere, by
the Philadelphia Press, one of the
organs of the Imperialists of this day,
is in perfect keeping with all their
policy. They aim at ruling by bayo
nets and not by votes, and hence this
slur at those who earn their bread in
the sweat of their brow, as a class
that can be bought and transferred—
sold, indeed, as horses, sheep and cat
tle in the market. The working men
throughout the United States in the
hour of trial, we apprehend, will
show all who thus speak of them in
trivial terms, that they know their*
lights, aud dare maintain them in
the free exercise of unbought suffrage,
influenced by neither gold nor bayo
nets.
A. Cojpy of the Weekly Sun WanM.
If any subscriber to our Weekly, hi
a copy of the 'Weekly Sun of the 14t
June, which-he does not wish to keep,
favor will be conferred by sending it 1
us, for which we will be thankful