of government, have not, in that condition, | thirty-seven. Three-fourths of thirty seven acted upon it. THE AMENDING POWER. The withdrawal of the assent of Ohio and New Jersey to the ratification of this amendment, after it had once been given, will bring up an exciting question, should the ratification or rejection turn upon the vote of those two States. The New Orleans Picayune, in an article written before New Jersey had withdrawn her assent, and after Ohio had done so, presented the question with great clearness: "The rescinding, by the present Legislature of Ohio, of the assent given by the previous Legislature to constitutional amendment XIV, has raised new questions in Congress. "The first is, whether a State Legislature, having in due form ratified an amendment to the Constitution, can, under any circumstances, revoke its assent. "Of course, if the requisite number of State ratifications has been obtained, and the amendment is adopted in fact and form, there can be no right of change; for that would be equivalent to the conceding of a right by which a single State might change the Constitution itself. The point mooted is, where does the right of a State to object to a change in the Constitution cease to be within its own control? Is there any such period short of the final closing of the question, against all parties, by the full ratification of the amendment proposed? "Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, started up in the Senate to maintain the position that a State can not withdraw its consent, when once given, any more than it could withdraw from the Union. States can not be less than twenty-eight. Ten States are more than one-fourth; consequently, the negative vote of ten States, or more, is the final defeat of the amendment-that is, Mr. Sumner's rule would so decide it, beyond reversal. "The amendment was passed in July, 1866, and on the 16th day of that month it was transmitted by the Executive Department to the Governors of the thirty-seven States. The "If the Sumner theory be conceded to be the true one, the votes of the thirteen are no more subject to revisal to the affirmative, than that of Ohio is to the negative. them, than by the universal rule of Mr. position is really stronger, in respect to Sumner, which would also deny the right of reconsideration before decision. These votes decided the question, because they ber sufficient to reject. On the most rigid constitute more than the constitutional numground, as well as Mr. Sumner's wider rule, the amendment is defeated, and can not by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of become a part of the Constitution, except Congress, and a new submission to all the State Legislatures. "This is a very extravagant assumption of Mr. Sumner's argument in favor of the Therefore, it becomes a necessary part Pending a proposition, and before a decision, the right of reconsidering a judgment is as vitality of the amendment, to assume that reasonably the privilege of a State as it there are not thirty-s 7-seven States, but only was for any member of Congress, by whom twenty seven States entitled to be counted. the amendment was proposed, to change his Three-fourths of twenty-seven, which can own vote in any of the preliminary stages; be sufficient to ratify. not be less than twenty-one, are claimed to though he could not do so after the result There are, without was declared. It is the rational and repub-insists triumphantly that the amendment is Ohio, twenty-one ratifying States, and he lican view of the right of judgment, against which no suubtleties, drawn from the armratified, and the action of the Ohio Legis ory of party warfare, ought to be allowed lature is impotent to effect the result, even to prevail. if it were lawful, which he denies. But, if Mr. Sumner establishes this point, that States having once voted on the question, are foreclosed forever from reconsidering it, he encounters consequences he is obliged to meet by other and more extraordinary assumptions. "The number of States in the Union-at least the number recognized by all the other departments of the Government, and even in numerous acts of the Legislature itself-is “Here there arises, in Congress now, and probably before the Judiciary hereafter, the grand question of all-whether there are twenty-seven States or thirty-seven States in the Union; in other words, is the Constitution in force in only twenty-seven States, with the others subject to powers outside of the Constitution? "The Ohio resolution, which has been sent before the Senate Committee of the Judiciary, brings this question up directly. | the Legislatures of the following States, toOn that, a judgment can not well be avoided; wit: Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, and the issue on that question includes all the important issues connected with the Congressional methods of Southern reconstruction. "Mr. Sumner is certainly a little afraid of the plain issue which his previous course and declarations would make; for, on sending the question to the Judiciary Committee, he accompanied it with the suggestion for a quibbling way of reading the Constitution, for the purpose of escaping the consequences of his own doctrines. He found in the Constitution that constitutional amendments are to be ratified by "the Legislatures" of three-fourths of the States, not by three-fourths of the States, and he implies that there may be States without Legislatures and without functions. The existence of Legislatures is the condition of the right of voting, and where there are no Legislatures to vote, there is no right of a State to be counted at all. There may be States without Legislatures, but if they have no Legislatures, they are not to be counted at all, and the power of these suppressed votes is to be distributed among the others. Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine and Iowa. Besides these acts of ratifications, notices and certificates have also been received by the Secretary of State, that the same proposed amendment has been ratified by the Legislatures of the States respectively of Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina, which notices and certificates last mentioned were received from the newly constructed and established authorities assuming to be and acting as the Leigslatures and Governors of the said States of Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina. These acts of ratification are for this reason stated in this report separately and distinctly, and for the more accurate information of Congress, a copy of all the acts and resolutions of ratification of all said Legislatures, is herewith subjoined, together with a copy, also, of certain resolutions of the Legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey, which purport to rescind the resolutions of ratification of said amendment, which had "This is a complete swing round the previously been adopted by the Legislatures Radical circle. The State Legislatures, of those two States, respectively, and to while in the exercise of their complete withdraw their consent to the same. functions, are violently suppressed, and their Respectfully submitted, votes on amending the Constitution are then annulled, because they have no Legislatures. It is as if a military commander should call up a prisoner of war, take Military Interference in Elections. away his commission and burn it, and then hang him as a marauder for not having WILLIAM H. SEWARD. RADICALS AGAINST PROHIBITING IT. On the 22d of June, 1864, the Senate voted on a bill to prevent any interference by the military forces of the United States ITS RATIFICATION at any election to be held in the United States. This bill was made necessary by elections which had been held in Kentucky, the flagrant interference of the military in Missouri, Maryland and Deleware. On the 16th of July, 1868, the President sent a message to the Senate, including, among other papers, the following letter from the Secretary of State: To the President: It passed the Senate-Yeas 19, nays 13, as follows: Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Davis, Collamer, Dixon, Foot, Foster, Harris, Howard, The Secretary of State having received a resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, requesting him to communicate to that body without delay, a list of the States of the Union whose Legislatures had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, with copies of all the resolutions of ratification in his office, and to communicate to that body all resolutions of ratification of said amendment which he may hereafter receive, so soon as he shall receive the same respectively, has the honor to report to the President that official notice has been received at this department of the General Thomas, in 1863, issued the folratification of the amendment referred to bylowing special order: Democrats in Italics, Radicals in Roman. The Radical House did not act upon it, thus justifying military interference in elec tions. HOW BOLDLY IT WAS DONE. WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Special Order No. 19.] interposition, and will take advantage of it if I can.' What a contrast to the action of the Sen By direction of the President, the follow-ate of the 11th inst. ing officers are hereby dismissed from the service of the United States: Lieutenant Blasphemous Old Thad. Stevens. A. J. Edgerly, Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, for circulating COPPERHEAD TICKETS, and doing all in his power to promote the success of the rebel cause. By order of the Secretary of War. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. To the Governor of New Hampshire. The Blasphemy and Irreligious Tone of the Radical THADDEUS STEVENS ON THE BIBLE. This old miscreant, whose decaying legs the heat of spoken words, but in a document are already sinking into the grave; not in written and printed, which he caused to be read for him by the mouth of Beast Butler, speaking of President Johnson's attempted removal of Stanton, uttered the following atrocious blasphemy: Baser than the betrayal by Judas Iscariot, who betrayed only a single individual, Johnson sacrificed a whole nation, and the holiest of principles l' It is horrible to repeat such words of blas The Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Intelligencer, published at the home of Thaddeus Stevens, thus alludes to a phase in his char-phemy, even to execrate them, and the conto read them for the rotten wretch. The coctor of them, and the Beast that consented only a single individual" that, being God, became man, and died for love of man, is has no love, and of whom he expects no "an individual" for whom Thad. Stevens salvation. But it is a mournful fact that a acter, which will be exceedingly gratifying to the pious preachers of the Gospel who have been his special enemies and antagonists. It says; "During all his life Thaddeus Stevens has openly scoffed at the Christian religion. A few years since, while trying a case at a town in another part of the State, he and some other lawyers were conversing one evening, when one of the party adduced the Bible as authority for some statement he had made. 'Oh,' said Mr. Stevens, 'the Bible is no authority. It is nothing but the obsolete history of a barbarous people!'" Chief Justice, in his robes, and Senators, in their places, sat and listened to so horrible a blasphemy, without one of them crying out, and calling the blasphemer to stop! The gods of Radicalism are all profane. Witness Wade with his mouth stuffed with abuses of the Almighty name; Thad. Stevens, who alluded to Jesus as "that single individual;" Karl Schurz, who, a few years since, spoke of the Redeemer as "the ideal gentleman beyond the skies, called by some The following is a striking comment upon people God!" The divinities of Radicalism the fact that on Monday the Senate ad-shock the religious as well as political sense journed in consequence of Senator Howard's illness: The Man whom it is Proposed to make President for Nine Months. "About two years ago, upon a motion to postpone action (upon a message of the President vetoing the Civil Rights bill) because of the illness of Senator Dixon and the late Senator Wright, Mr. Wade made one of his characteristic speeches, which drew from Senator McDougal a reply which was characterized, by all who heard it, as one of the happiest impromptu oratorical efforts of the age. of the people. Radicalism, in its last anlysis, is infidelity-infidelity to man and God.-Augusta (Ga.) Constitutionalist. The American Inquisition. BEN. BUTLER'S SYSTEM OF ESPIONAGE. [Correspondence of the New York World]. WASHINGTON, May 19. The Board of Managers, now resolved into a Board of Inquisitors by authority of the House, continued to-day the investiga tion of charges trumped up against Senators "Senator Wade then said some shock- who voted for the acquittal of the Presi ingly blasphemous things, and among them dent. The charges and insinuations which the following: 'I feel myself justified in Butler and his gang are hopelessly trying taking every advantage which the Almighty to sustain, are, in effect, that the votes of has put into my hands to defend the power certain Senators were purchased with money, and authority of this body, of which I claim or procured by other improper means. to be a part. I will not yield to these ap-a verity, Butler, as will be seen in this narpeals of comity on a question like this, but rative, neglects and refuses to solicit or acI will tell the President and everybody else, cept testimony in support of the rumors that, if God Almighty has stricken one mem-that votes were bought on the side of conber so that he can not be here to uphold the viction. The pachyderm from Massachudictation of a despot, I thank him for his setts is not quite thick-skinned enough tọ Of "The Campaigns of General Forrest," written by General Thomas Jordan. In noticing this book the New York Times (Republican) has the honesty to say: tened forward with all possible speed, and put an immediate stop to the misdeeds of that part of his command which had captured the fort. The proofs he furnishes on this matter are numerous and abundant, and will, no doubt, lead many to new views of General Forrest's conduct at Fort Pillow." Nevertheless, the Radical press will con tinue, we predict, to denounce General Forrest for the Fort Pillow massacre. They believe that a lie well stuck to is as good as the truth. At any rate, they always act upon that principle. listen to anything of this sort with patience. The inquisitors proceeded to-day with the examination of Mr. Charles W. Woolley, of Cincinnati, a lawyer who has been for some time engaged here on business intrusted to "General Forrest's connection with the him by his clients. Mr. Woolley, one of the Fort Pillow massacre has been the black bitterest enemies of the so called "whisky spot upon his reputation as a soldier. Upon ring," was, as it seems, conveniently sus- this episode and Forrest's connection with pected by the impeachers of sympathizing it, General Jordan throws much new light. with that delectable body; so when Mr. He shows from Federal documents and the Woolley entered the miniature Star Cham-testimony taken before the Congressional ber where Butler now presides, the latter at Committee, that General Forrest himself once began to question him, upon the sup-not only took no part in the massacre, but, position that he had had the impudence to being absent from the spot at the time, hasoffer money to doubtful Senators. Before proceeding to relate Mr. Woolley's experience, I wish to make your readers aware of how closely he, his friends and everybody else in Washington whom the managers choose to make a note of, had been watched, Innumerable letters, both anonymous and signed, were in possession of the managers, bearing dates all the way up from a week after the beginning of the trial until the present time. The hints thus conveyed are presumed to have guided the detectives, who are in some instances known to have dogged certain Senators for days previous to Saturday, when the verdict was rendered upon the eleventh article. Chief-Justice Chase was tracked incessantly. Nobody entered his house without observation. The When Griswold, the Radical candidate persons with whom he dined were marked. for Governor, was elected to Congress in So with respect to Senators Fessenden, 1862, he had, like a good many other "loil" Trumbull, Grimes, Henderson, Van Winkle, men, heavy contracts with the Government for building war vessels. During the summer of that year the materials entering into the construction of iron-clads largely and rapidly advanced in price, and Griswold's fellow-contractors, filled with patriotic emos tions in behalf of their own pockets, appeared before Congress and asked "relief." The Tribune then came to their rescue by announcing that the iron-clad builders were "menaced with ruin." Griswold with characteristic modesty and propriety, secured a place on the Naval Committee before which his own and his partners claims were discussed and finally adjudicated. The resolution affording the "relief" asked for passed Congress-ayes, 85; noes, 36-the reserved and patriotic Griswold, of course, voting in favor of the measure. wold, his partners and sureties, were released from their contracts, and thereby enabled to get out of the Government several hundred thousands of dollars. This is he whom the Radicals have nominated for Fowler and Ross. The espionage was so strict on Friday night that some of the detectives employed missed and mistook their men. I am informed to-day that one Senator, one of the most violent im peachers in the chamber, was tracked that evening by a detective, who labored under the impression that his man was a doubtful one! This detective had a long chase, which ended at a house of ill-fame. The hostess, as it is said, agreed, for a consideration, to open the door of the apartment to which the prey of the detective had hied. The spy peeped, beheld the Senator, a bottle of wine, several glasses, and three damsels in decidedly negligent attire, and vanished, overcome with disappointment and disgust. The Senator thus apprehended is said to be a "man of prayer." The Fort Pillow Libel on General Forrest. For years, indeed, ever since it happened, it has pleased the Radical press to charge the Confederate General N. B. Forrest with the responsibility of what they call the Fort Pillow negro massacre in 1863. He has been exonerated from this aspersion in a late book issued in New Orleans, entitled The Radical Candidate for Governor of New York. [From the New York World.] Thus Gris Governor of the State of New York. Mr. Pendleton and Governor Seymour. The following manly and generous private letter addressed by Mr Pendleton to Washington McLean, of the Ohio delega tion, before that delegation left Ohio, was | but a sample. On all the great questions handed to John A. Green, Jr., on their ar- before Congress there is more or less of this rival in New York: "CINCINNATI, Thursday, June 25, 1868. "MY DEAR SIR: You left my office this morning before I was aware of it. I seek you at home but you are not here. I must say what I want by note. feeling, and on the little ones too. The Twenty-per-cent-bill will pass next winter, or certainly would do so, if it had not been brought up now and defeated, because members did not care to face their constituents after voting for it. It would not have hurt "As soon as you get to New York see has been raised from three to five thousand the consciences of gentlemen, whose pay Governor Seymour. You know well my affect on and admiration for him. You dollars, to give the departmental clerks 20 know well what was my feeling before and per cent. more than they had when paid in after I heard from him last fall. He is to-gold. However, it can not be done now. day the foremost man in our party in the This, as well as other things, must wait."United States. His ability, cultivation, and Washington (D. W. B.) Correspondence N. experience put him at the head of our Y. Independent. statesmen. He commands my entire confidence I would rather trust him than myself with the delicate duties of the next four years. You know I am sincere. "Make him feel this, and that he can rely on me and my friends. I have a natural pride-an honest pride, I believe-in the good-will of my countrymen; but you, better than any one else, know that it is neither egotistical nor overruling, and that I am ready-anxious to give up the nomination to anybody who can get one single vote more than myself. Express all this frankly to the Governor, but delicately, and let him understand my views of men and measures as I have frequently given them to you. Good bye! God bless you! "Very truly, "GEORGE H. PENDLETON. "To WASHINGTON MCLEAN, Esq." The Rump Congress as Pictured by a Radical Pen. The dishonesty of the Radical Congress is well depicted by the following, written to one of their leading organs: "After the vote to tax Government bonds, in the House, last Monday, many sagacious Republicans feel that there is greater risk in remaining than in the postponement of many important bills. The grand difficulty of legislation just now is the fact that a Presidential campaign is opening. The members cast their votes almost solely with reference to that. If a measure affecting the rights of colored people were brought up in either House at this time, it is quite probable that it would be killed outright, or be kicked unceremoniously to one side till next winter. "The Republican members who come from the Middle and some of the Western States are very much afraid of the 'negro question,' in some of its aspects, just now. They will vote right enough next winter, when the election is passed; but would rather be excused at this moment. This is Congressional Indignity to the Memory of Mr. Buchanan. LETTER FROM THE HON. THAD. STEVENS. The following letter from Mr. Stevens was addressed to Dr. Henry Carpenter, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: "WASHINGTON, June 23, 1868. "DEAR SIR: I learn there was a report in Lancaster that I opposed paying due honors to Mr. Buchanan at his funeral. "On the other hand, I attempted twice to introduce resolutions laudatory of Mr. Buchanan's private character and personal history, and asked the House to adjourn to attend his funeral. A single objection would prevent its being introduced that day. Mr. Van Wyck, of New York, constantly objected. I earnestly appealed to him to withdraw the objection. He persisted until I left the House. He then permitted a very tame resolution, barely appointing a committee, to be passed. I am anxious that this mistake should be corrected, for I should be ashamed of such prejudice against would be glad if you could have this statethe dead. I have no such prejudice. I ment in some way communicated to the public, through Democratic organs, as I do not wish Mr. Buchanan's friends to believe so mean a thing. "THADDEUS STEVENS." The above, says the Cincinnati Enquirer, is creditable to Mr. Stevens. The shameful manner in which the House of Representatives, under its Radical leaders, behaved in relation to the death of an ex-President of the United States, was one of the many incidents. which show the malignant temper and character of that organization, which carries its political animosities beyond the grave, and like hyenas, prey upon a corpse to gratify its hates. By reference to the proceedings of the House of Representative it will be seen that Mr. Stevens' statement is verified, and how |