The semi-weekly Republican., June 11, 1872, Image 1

About The semi-weekly Republican. (St. Francisville, La.) 1872-1872

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HM President by tl»e vote
of the People.
AMENDMENT TO THE C0X8TITU
IflON or THE UNITED STATES.
Jsmsoros, June 2.—The follow
îendinent to the Constitution
üuited SUtes has been intro
ia the Senate by Mr. Sum
as, According to existing
, the President of the United
I of being chosen di
| by the people, is chosen by
lervention of electoral colleges
I several States ; and
vus This system, beside ex
5 the people from a direct vote
(choice of President, is opera
I the caucus or convention, an
insible body, unknown to the
[Constitution, where a few per
? combination, and sometimes
ne or corruption, succeed in
[ forward a candidate who be
orthwith the exclusive repre
Ire of a political party, so that
prnpli of the party assures his
n ; and
■ws The caucus or conven
er being the engine for nom
j of President, allowing the
I little more than to record it*
«mes the personal instru
I the President when elected,
Iiiin a dictatorial power, which
I employ in reducing the peo
Jonformity with his purposes,
kmotiug his re-election, all of
s hostile to good government
pill example ; and
as, The existing system of
President, beside being
[artificial and cumbersome, is
p defective and unrepublican,
|b as it fails to secure for
ter the opportunity of declar
flie candidate of his choice,
»operation substitutes there
pictation of a caucus or con
I therefore, in order to super
caucus or convention, so
kali uo longer be the engine
lomination of the President,
^he is elected, the instru
personal will, and to
foe electoral college, so that
Jple shall vote directly for
It.
the Senate and House
ftnMm( of Dm United States
w Congress assembled
w of each House concur
r n )> That the following be
I 88 an amendment to the
[i®. which, when ratified by
stares of three-fourths of
'I States, ahull be valid, to
and purposes, as part
»-wit :
votive power shall be visi
J "esident of the United
(America ; he shall hold his
J the term of four years,
-i as follows :
I voters shall meet at
folding elections
States and Terri
J first Monday in April,
r 1876, and on the first
April every four years
[Inder such rules and reg
| e ingress may by law
L* 4 vo ^ e by ballot for a
Runder tho Constitu
ât, and tho reBult
■ J? ' u each State and
r sJ1 be certified, sealed,
«d to the seat of Gov
,, SUch manner as tho Con
I ,? iw direct.
^Sfe88 shall bo in session
Mouday ia May after
such election, and on the Tuesday
next succeeding the third Monday in
May, if a quorum of each House
shall be present, and if not, immedi
ately on the presence of such quo
rum, the Senators and Representa
tives shall meet in the Representa
tive Chamber in joint convention,
and tho President of the Senate, in
presence of the Senators and Repre
sentatives thus assembled, shall open
all returns of tho election and do
dare the result. The person having
the greatest number of votes cast for
President shall be President, if buc I i
number bo a majority ; if no person
have such majority, or if the person
having such majority décliné the of
fice or die before the counting of the
vote, then tho President of the Sen
ate shall bo proclaim ; whereupon
the Joint Convention shall order the
proceedings to bo officially publish
ed, stating particularly tho number
of votes for each person as Presi
dent.
Another election shall thereupon
lake place on the second Tuesday of
October next succeeding, at which
election the duly qualified voters
shall again meet at the usual places
of holding elections in their respec
tive States and Territories, and vote
for one of the three preceeding elec
tion in April, and the result of such
election in each Stato and Territory
shall be certified, sealed, and for
warded to tho seat of Government
as provided by law.
On third Tuesday in December af
ter such second election, or as soon
thereafter as a quorum of each House
shall be present, the Senators and
Representatives shall again meet in
joint convention, and the President
of the Senate, iu presence of tho
Senators and Representatives thus
assembled, shall open all tho returns
of the election, and declare the per
son having the highest number of
votes duly elected President for the
ensuing term.
No person elected to the office of
President shall thereafter be eligible
for re-election.
In case of the removal of the
President from office by impeach
ment, or of his death, resignation,
or inability to discharge tho powers
and duties of tho office, the same
shall devolve temporarily on the
head of an Executive Department,
senior in years. If there bo no
head of an Executive Department,
then the Senator senior in years
shall act as President until a succes
sor is chosen and qualified.
If Congress be in session at tho
time of the death, resignation, dis
ability, or removal of the President,
the- Senators and Representatives
shall meet in Joint Convention, un
der such rules and regulations as
the Congress may by law prescribe,
and proceed to elect by viva-voce
vote a President to fill such vacancy,
each Senator and Representative
having one vote. A quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a majority
in each House of the Senators and
Representatives duly elected and
qualified, and a majority of all the
votes given shall be necessary to the
choice of a President. The person
thus elected as President shall dis
charge all the powers and duties of
tho office until the inauguration of
the President elected at the next
regular election.
If Congress be not in session at
the time a vacancy occurs, then the
acting President shall forthwith is
sue a proclamation convening Con
gress within 30 days after the occur
rence of such vacancy.
On the presence of a quorum in
each House, the Senators and Re
presentatives shall meet in joint con
vention, and elect a President, as be
fore provided.
The office of Vice President is
abolished.
The Senate shall choose their own
presiding officer.
G ratz Iirovi* il*
his lettek accepting the nomina tion
of the cincinnati convention
St. Louis, Mo ., June 1.—In reply
to the notification of bis nomination
as Vice President by the Cincinnati
Convention, Gov. Brown makes the
following response :
Executive Office, Jkffekson City,
M ay 31, 1872.
Gentlemen : Your letter advising
me of the action of tho Liberal Re
publican Convention at Cincinnati
has been received, and I return
through you my acknowledgment of
the honor which has been conferred
upon me.
I accept the nomination as a can
didate for Vice President, and in
dorse most cordially the resolutions
setting forth tho principles on which
tho appeal is made to tho whole peo
ple of tho United States.
A century is closing upon our ex
perience of republican government,
and while that lapse of time has wit
nessed a great expansion of our free
institutions, yet it has not been with
out illustration also of grave dangers
to the stability of such a system. Of
those successfully encountered, it is
needless to speak ; of those which
remain to menace n.s, the most
threatening are provided against, as
I firmly believe, in the wise and
pacific measures proposed by your
platform. It has coine to be the
practice of those elevated to positions
of national authority to regard pub
lic service but as a means to retain
power. This results in substituting
a mere party organization for the
Government itself, which constitutes
a control amenable to no laws ot
moralities, impairs all independent
thought, enables a few to rule the
many, and makes personal allegiance
the road to favor. It requires little
forecast to perceive that this will
wreck all liberties, unless there be
interposed a timely reform of the
Administration from its highest to
its lowest station, which shall not
only prevent abuses, but likewise
take away the incentive to their
practice. Wearied with the conten
tions that are carried on in avarice
of spoils, the country demands re
poso and resents tho efforts of offi
cials to dragoon it again into parti
san hostilities. And I will zealously
sustain any movement promising a
sure deliverance from the perils
which have been connected with the
war. It is safe to say that only
those are now to be feared which
come of an abuse of victory into per
manent estrangement. The Union
is fortified by more power than ever
before, and it remains as an impora
tive duty to cement nationality by a
perfect reconciliation at the North.
A wide-spread sympathy is aroused
in behalf of those States of the South
which, long after the termination of
resistance to the rightful Federal au
thority, are still plundered under the
guise of loyalty and tyrannized ever
in the name of freedom. Along with
this feeling is present, too, the rec
ognition that in complete amnesty
alone can be found hope of any re
turn to constitutional government as
of old, or any development of a more
enduring unity and broader national
life in the future. Amnesty, how
ever, to be efficacious, must, be real,
not nominal ; genuine, not evasive.
It must carry along with it equal
rights as well as equal protection to
all ; for the removal of disabilities
as to some, with enforcement as to
others, leaves room for suspicion
that pardon is measured by political
gain. Especially will such professed
clemency bo futile in the presence of
the renewed attempt at prolonging a
suspension of the habeas corpus and
the persistent resort to martial rath
er than civil law in upholding those
agencies used to alineate tho races
whose concord is most essential, and
in preparing another elalorato cam
paign ou a bauis of ucad isaucs and
arbitrary intervention. All will right
ly credit such conduct as but a
mockery of amnesty, and demand an
Administration which can give better
warrant of honesty in the great re
construction and reform. In the ar
ray of sectional interests, a Republic,
so widespread as ours is never en
tirely safe from serious conflicts,
.rhfise become still more dangerous
when complicated with questions of
taxation, when unequal burdens are
believed to be imposed on one part
at tho expense of another part. It
was a bold as well as admirable pol
icy in the interest of present as well
a3 future tranquillity to withdraw
tho decision of industrial and reve
nue matters from tho virtual arbit
ration of an electoral college, chosen
with tho single animating purpose
of party ascendency, and refer them
for a more direct popular expression
to each Congress District, iustead of
being muzzled bv some evasive de
claration. The country is thereby
invited to its frankest utterance, and
sections which would revolt at being
denied a vcico out of deference to
other sections would be content to
acquiesce in a general judgment
" honestly elicited," If local govern
ment be, as it undoubtedly ia, the
most vital principle of our institu
tions, much advance will be made
toward establishing it by enabling
tho people to pass upon questions so
nearly affecting their well-being dis
passionately through their local rep
resentation. The precipitance which
would force a controlling declaration
on tax or Tariff through a Presiden
tial candidacy is only a disguised
form of centralization, invoking haz
ardous reaches of Executive influ
ence. A conclusion will be much
more impartially determined, and
with less disturbance to trade and
finance by appealing to the most
truthful and diversified local expres
sion. Industrial issues can be thus
likewise emancipated from the pow
er of great monopolies, and each
representative held to fidelity to
ward his immediate constituents.
These are the most prominent feat
ures of that general concert of action
which proposes to replace the pres
ent Administration by one more in
sympathy with tho aspirations of the
masses of our countrymen. Of course
such concert cannot be obtained by
thrusting every minor or past differ
ence into the foreground, and it will
bo for tho people, therefore, to de
termine whether these objects are of
such magnitude in the present urgen
cy as to justify them in deferring
their adjustments until the country
shall bo first restored to a free suf
frage, uninfluenced by official dicta
tion ; and ours becomes, in fact, a
free Republic, released from appre
hensions of a central domination.
Without referring in detail to the
various other propositions embraced
in the resolutions of the Convention,
but seeing how they all contemplate
a restoration of power to tho people,
peace to tho nation, purity to the
Government, that thoy condemn tho
attempt to establish an ascendency
of military over civil rule, and affirm
with explicitness the maintenance of
equal freedom to all citizens, irre
spective of race, previous condition,
or pending disabilities, I have only
to pledge again my sincere co-opera
tion. I have the honor to remain,
very respectfully, yours,
B. Gkatz Brown.
Private sincerity is public welfare.
The first new baby in Cairo since
the Cincinnati Convention lias been
named Horace Greeley Comings.
He who prays for bis neighbor,
will bo heard first for himself.
Hon. C. M. Conrad, Ex-Secretary
of War, writes a letter to the N. O.
Times, in which ho indorses tho
noiiiiiKiiion of Horace Greeley and
1). Grata Drown.
V Iii»!* Tribute.
AKCnBTSIIOr PURCELL ON THE NOMINA
TION OF HORACE GREELEY.
{From the Catholic Telegraph, ctliteil l»y the Vel?
Rev. Kdwaul l'uveeH. |
The nomination of Horace Gree
ley to the Presidency by tho Cincin
nati Convention, in spite of the po
litical manoeuvers to confer that hon
or upon some ambitions aspirant less
worthy, more pliant, and more easily
managed, is a strong indication of a
more healthy change in the political
life of the nation. Tho bare nomi
nation, even if it be not followed by
an election of the chosen candidates,
will strike all who watched tho plans
and plotting.? of sectional cliques to
force their favolito for selfish pur
poses upon the people as not only a
staggering rebuke to political job
bery the great curse of the country,
but a cheering sign that the reac
tionary movement against political
corruption and disgrace will have
victorious force and enduring influ
ence.
It is rumored that the German
vote will be withdrawn from him on
account of his views on the temper
ance question. Wo do not credit
this. As a body we think that the
Germans are too sensible, and are
too deeply interested in the prosper
ity of this country to be led astray
by empty bowlings of the Grant par
ty on a matter of minor, or rather
of no importance in this political
contest. If they submit to the so
phistry of the corruptionist, which is
already making itself heard and ap
pealing to them for indorsement,
they will be guilty of the greatest
folly they could possibly commit. If
defeat comes the guilt be justly
charged to them, and be it at their
doors. Equally foolish and calami
tous will any separate action of the
Democratic party. The only wise
course open to it will be to unite
under the leadership of Greeley in
relieving the country from the hor
rors of a repitition of four years more
of misrule. Thero are strong signs
on the political horizon, daily grow
ing more clear and distinct, that the
coalition will be cemented. Such an
event will at once dispel all fear of
defeat, and give us political redemp
tion.
* * ♦ * *
On no tenable grounds can those
who sincerely desire reform refuse to
support the man who during tho
course of a long life has shown, even
in the errors of his judgment upon
some political issues, a constant, en
thusiastic and disinterested devotion
to the welfare of tho whole country.
By industry, truthfulness and disloy
alty to principle, that no selfish in
terest has ever been able to shake,
he lias risen from obscurity to hon
orable fame. He has never espous
ed a cause which had nothing to re
commend it but the pressure of false
public opinion ; and he has never
refused to champion a movement
that ho believed would be beneficial
to society, because the political par
ty to which ho was attached, oppos
ed it. He had never worn the collar
of political slavery to enrich himself
or secure office. Rather lie has cast
away the hrighest prospect of pre
ferment, and estranged himself from
those who would have conferred
honors upon him, because he indig
nantly refused to purchase them at
the expense of bis integrity. He
has always been the open-handed
and free-tongued friend of the emi
grant, and the outspoken enemy of
every institution incompatible with
the widest civil and religious liberty.
It will be a refreshing change
when honesty, sobriety and old-fash
ioned republican simplicity expel
bribery, drunkedness and awkward,
uncouth mimicry of royal dignity
from the Presidential mansion. This
change hangs upon the fusion of the
best elements of all parties to 'elect
Horace Greeley.
Jefifersou Davis' Bail Itoiid.
deeclieii on it.
(From »I«! Tl'lbimi', Mu y 20, 1ÜB7 .j
Mr. Beechor, in reply, spoke sub
strant.ially as follows :
" Brother, I stand upon thin ques
tion of the punishment of Davis just
where I did two yeal's ago. If it can
bo proved that he was privy to any
scheme of assassination, or that ho
cruelly violated the laws of war, I
«ay let him be tried and condignly
punished. [Here thero was some
applause, which Mr. Becher prompt
ly cl O 'ktd, saying, " H« ttr all I have
to say, and then applaud home, if
yon want to."] But if he is charged
with any offence, let him be tried
for it. And I say that to detain »
man in prison for months and years
without trial is atrocious. It is con
trary to all constitutions, and laws,
and all justice. I have felt a pro
found mortification over the fact
that such a thing was done in thin
land of liberty and law. And 1
honor Mr. Greeley and Mr. Gerrit
Smith for interposing to prevent the
continuance of such a crime. If it
had been necessary I would have
become bail myself. [Here Mr.
Beecber criticised the character of
Davis very sharply, but paused and
went on as follows] : But I haw
no right to speak of him thus in his
absence. I take it back. Such things
should be said before a man's face,
if all, and Mr. Davis is not here to
defend himself."
THE EONDSMES.
The names signed to Jefferson
Davis' bail bond, in addition to bis
own, were :
Horace Greeley, New-York.
Gerrit Smith, New-York.
Augustus Schell, New-York.
Aristide« Welch, Philadelphia.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, New-York.
W. H. McFarland, Richmond.
R. Barton Haxall, Richmond.
Isaac Davenport, Richmond,
Abraham Warwick, Richmond.
Gustavns A. Myers, Richmonh.
William M. Crump, Richmond.
James Lj'ons, Richmond.
John A. Meredith, Richmond.
William H. Lyons, Richmond.
John Minor Botts, Virginia.
Thomas W. Doswell, Virginia.
James Thomas, jr., Richmond.
Horace F. Clark, New-York.
Benjamin Wood, New-York.
The Louisville Courier-Journal
gives the following vigorous sketch
of Mr. Greeley's successor in the
editorship of the Tribunes Mr.
Whitelaw Reid, who by the retire
ment of Mr. Greeley, becomes the
editor-in-chief of the New York
Tribune, and who will doubtless per
manently control the destinies of
that groat newspaper by reason of
Mr. Greeley's final exit from journal
ism next March, is a young man not
much turned into the thivties. Born,
like Mr. Greeley, a farmer's boy, and
raised in the West (he is a native of
Obit)), he has had experience as a
newspaper correspondent, a cotton
planter, a book maker, a political
writer, and a managing editor. He is
conspicuous for tact and judgment,
and is thoroughly qualified to han
dle tho Tribune at this criticle period
in its career. The Tribune is a stock
ocracy whose demands bave always
been more or less whimsical and ex
acting, and after Mr. Greeley's pecu
liarities, it is unlikely that anything
short of very striking elements of
success could get on at all. Riod
happens to have these, for example,
knowledge of tho world, variety of
information, solid discretion, an ac
tive industry and a vigorous under
standing, all of which, will be requir
ed of Mr. Greeley's successor. His
career is a striking proof of what
may be achieved by well-directed
purpose, self-discipline, and honora
ble ambition. At thirty-two be finds
himself occupying the most power
ful newspaper position in America,
with sound health, irreproachable
habits and troops of friends. The
portrait accompanying Mr. Ried 'a
biogrophy in Harper's Weekly repre
sents him as a handsome man, and—
for the benefit of the Kentucky read
ers of the Tribune—-it may be added
that he is six feet high and a good
rifle shot. In opiuions Mr. Ried is
a Liberal of the Western rather
than of the New England school,
dashes his politics considerably with
agriculture, and takes his Bourbon,
like his course as a journalist,
straight ! Ho owns a farm ill Ohio ;
I runs tho night work of the Tribune
! by telegraph, aud is uumurriud.