e of
the States, is not only subversive of the Constitution, and
revolutionary, but constitutes a demand, in itself, upon the National
Government, to obey that imperative mandate of the Constitution (Sec. 4,
article IV.) comprehended in the words: "The United States SHALL
guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."

[The meaning of these words is correctly given in an opinion of
Justice Bronson of New York (4 Hill's Reports, 146) in these words:

"The meaning of the section then seems to be, that no member of the
State shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of his rights or
privileges unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon
trial had according to the course of common law. The words 'due
process of law' cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit
instituted and conducted according to the prescribed forms and
solemnities for ascertaining guilt or determining the title to
property."]

It is well that the truth should be spoken out, and known of all men.
The blame for this condition of things belongs partly to the Republican
Party. The question is sometimes asked: "If these outrages against
citizenship, against the purity of the ballot, against humanity, against
both the letter and spirit of the Constitution of our Republic, are
perpetrated, why is it that the Republican Party--so long in power
during their alleged perpetration--did not put a stop to them?" The
answer is: that while there are remedial measures, and measures of
prevention, fully warranted by the Constitution--while there are
Constitutional ways and means for the suppression of such outrages--yet,
out of exceeding tenderness of heart, which prompted the hope and belief
that the folly of continuing them must ere long come home to the
Southern mind and conscience, the Republican Party has been loath to put
them in force. The--best remedy of all, and the best manner of
administering it, lies with the people themselves, of those States where
these outrages are perpetrated. Let them stop it. The People of the
United States may be long-suffering, and slow to wrath; but they will
not permit such things to continue forever.

When the Rebellion was quelled, the evil spirit which brought it about
should have been utterly crushed out, and none of the questions involved
in it should have been permitted to be raised again. But the Republican
Party acted from its heart