The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1863-03-19
ID. w. VOOrhies on the Indem-
nifty BiIl.


State on the indemnify Bill on account of
length. We make some extracts and ad
wise our readers to procure the whole
speech if possible. 1t is one of the great
est ever delivered in the halls of Congress:
Sir the history of the progress ofliborty'
next to the history of the Christian relig
ion, is the most sublime and instructive
lesson taught in the annals Of the world
LIS fortui e.. ind ed, have been various, but
no season of adversity has ever sutficed to
quench the vestal fires which burn on its
affairs. And in all the terrible struggles
with which it Jared the nations and liber
Grated the people, It's sole antagonist has
been the principle that to no one man be-
longs the right to govern many. Kings.
and the courtiers of kings, who talk of
divine right to the possession and exercise
of power, have been the enemies which
liberty has had to encounter Every con
test it ever waged has been to put restraint
and control OH the will, the preiensions.
the authority of one man. Every battle
fought beneath its banner, in all the four
quarters Of the earth, has been fought to
resist and repel the arrogant and unlawful
claims uf power made by one man. Every
law which was ever enacted in its inter.
est, from the laws Of God OH Mount Sinai
to the present hour, has been enacted to
protect the masses from the ravaging and
and oppressive hand of ons man. This
has forever been the issue. and it is the is
sue now.
When the lights of liberty faded away
in the sky Of Southern Europe, aid Grecian
and Roman glory went down in the gloom
and night OF despotsm. ages of darkness
followed, over whose paialyzed faculties
the spirit of absoutism held undisputed
supremacy But liberty had made one
grand epoch. 1t had built monument Of
law, literature, science. and art, which still
stands, tower ne up in the back ground of
history Ike some awful pyramid against
the distant sky. The statesman, the phi
losopher, the poet, the artist, and the his
torian, al bend rcverently before the grand
achievements Of that age Of liberty. Then
came, however that mysterious tomb Of
a thou ,and years. in WHICH the principles
OF ..ee government sept. But it was not
the sleep of death. Liberty found its res
ure OIL at the hand, OF that great race
from whose loins the American citizens
have desccn LED. 1t awoke with returning
on tie soil Of our ancestors, at
the touch Of of + iwaid tie coniesSor and
Alfred the Law maker. But it awoke sim.
ply to renew the struggles Of the past with
iis ancient foe Ode man in tn the robes
of office, living power with selfish love,
and exercising it in disregard Of The law,
met the genius of iber raj institutions at ev-
cry ST. p on this sie of the dark ages. as
well as in the days Of Tiberius and Philip
Of Mac don. The struggle has never ccas-
ed. The people gra.ped at power; for to
them the possession Of power is freedom.
Ctowned heals claimediit as their right; for
to them it was the qualification of passion
more consuming than all others that ever
corrodcd the human heart-the avarice of
dominion lusl for personal suprema-
cy. The safety of the people lay in written
laws judicially interpreted. and this they
eooa learned. Kings sought to govern by
proclamations which suspended or disre-
garded the law. Hence arose those glori-
Gus efforts to fix the boundaries between
the ruler and the boundaries between the
ruler and the citizen-to pat restraint on
the one. and give security to the other,
which constitute the chief glory of England
and the just the pride of the Englishmen.
Why did the British Barons meet at Run
nymede? Why is the NAM Of that sp ot
immortal? What causes produced that
wonderful assemblegc in the month of
June, and in the year 1915? Why is it
that We talk to-day of that event transpiring
more than six hundred years ago with the
familiarity which belongs to an event of
yesterday? Sir the old contending princi-
Piles were there brought face to face. and
a great laudmark was erected in behalf of
personal liberty and against the abuse Of
power. as high as the heavens, and as en-
during as the earth The people confront
ed King John, who had been arrestng
citizens without charge, and Furnishing
them without trial, and made him record an
oath before angels and men that he would
forever abandon the practice Of such out
RACES This was Magma Charta. These
were the causes which produced it. 1t be-
came a perpetual law. and every English
monarch, from John TO Victoria, has sworn