Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-04-27


new guards for their future security %
And then, having lid down these condi
tons upon which alone resort TO rebellion
can be justified, they proceed to file that ter
rible indictment against the government o
their king 1t is too familiar to the Senate
| TO justify me in reading even extractSfroH
it but there is scarcely an act of arbitrary
power known 10 the history OF governments
| that is not charged in that document upon
+ George III
In the light of these examples let the guilt
of this rebellion, with which we have to deal
/ to-day, be tried. Were the men who made
| this rebellion oppressed bv the Government
of the United States Nobody asserts that.
The men who made this rebellion administer
ed the Government themselves Senators went
out of this Chamber to fight the authorities
OF the United States; ministers went Of your
Cabinet; officers in your Army and Navy
deserted their colors and betrayed their COM
mand; clerks went of your bureaus your
own agents, your own employees, paid by
you to protect your interests abandoned their
trusts and took up arms under the authority
OF government alien to you and alien to
them, until they made it to overthrow your
authority. There was not a single act upon
your statuse-book of which hey complained;
not single judgment il any one of your
courts of which the, complained. Every
esced in every demand they had made.
There was then no impression on the peo-
pie who made this revolt. There was moth
ing TO complain of in what the Government
had done. Did they make this rebellion to
correct the form of Government Sir, you
! heard and heard late Senator from Ken
lucky, who is now i'll arms against the author
| ity of his own State and of his own country,
| declare here on this floor that this was the
hos tbo
| of man ever devised. Nay, sir, you heard
another Senator representing the State of
Texas who went out of this Chamber and
| out of the employ of the people of the Uni
ted States to make war upon them, declare
90 Sc devoted friend Of the Union am 1 that
when Gas know it must be, because 1 see dis
position to save or to prevent IT'D the eight cotton
States have Withdrawn from this Union, as they
will in the noxt two months do, and M let in con-
vention to adopt federal form of government for
themselves, and to establish foreign department,
1 for shall advocate the adoption, without
crossing or dotting j. OF the same old glori
Constitution that ratified by the old thir-
teen States "-CongreSsionaE Globe second session
Thirty Sizth Congress, page IA
So, then, it was not the purpose of this re-
bellion to redress any wrong which its au-
thors had sustained under the government,
nor to correct the form of the government
itself They approved of the form of the
government, and they themselves guided its
administration. Against what, then, did
they rebel? A President had been elected
That was the act of the people. OF that they
complained With the election of the pres
ent incumbent they were not satisfied. The
election of Mr.. Lincoln was known to be OBJ
noxious to them the election of Mr.. Brock
inridge was known to be obnoxious to those
who voted for Mr.. Lincoln. The men who
preferred Mr.. Breckenridge had the same
right to vote for him and enjoyed that right
a. fully M nr- tpbn Mr. Rrnclin-
| ridge, had the right and enjoyed the light to
vote for Mr.. Lincoln.
But is the election of President of the
United States, cause, justification, or an
excuse, even, for rebellion, for all the evils
and all the woes of revolution? Sir, if the
man elected President in 1860 had been as
ambitious as Jefferson Davis, if he had been
as false as Franklin Pierce, if he had been as
tathless as Floyd, if he had been as vain
glorious Toombs, if he had been as spirit
! less as Buchanan, if he had been stained with
every crime and with every excess, still his
| election would have been no cause for rebel
| lion; and why? For the simple reason that
the term of a President is very brief, and the
| measure Of his authority is very restricted
He is harmless if he is ever so vile. His abil-
ity to work mischief is extremely limited :;
and the term in which he can do anything
good or bad, Is limited to four years. | put
it to the Senate, or to any one who is dspos-
ed TO paliate this rebellion, if they believe
that our forefathers would have declared for
secession from the British empire if they by
four years could have terminated the reign of
George III? Do YOU think revolution would
ever have been resorted to to depose James
III, if by four years or ten years endurance
his reign could have been terminated by an
election of the people?
THE PRESIDENT AND HIS POWERS.
was surprised to hear Senator, who
usually speaks with great deal of accuracy,
speaking on this point some days since, use
this language in reference to the President;
can very readily imagine a condition of things
in any country on the face of thu cart when Gov
eminent, the President, or, if you please, the rul
Ing power, the Executive had become so obnoxious
to the people and was pursuing a course so dia-
be necessary in the Senate of the United States
in the House of Representatives, in either or
both to say distinctly from the place which we oc-
cupy, from this place, call on the people Of the
United States, to ress. this outrageous exercise of
power. -
undertake to say, no such necessity and
no such occasion sill ever occur IN the hiSto-
~ of this Government under its present Con-
stitution. The President, as | have said be-
fore, is one of the most harmless agencies
ever employed In the affairs of Government
No matter what may be his personal charac-
ter, he is as harmless as the marshal of a dis
trict or the sheriff of county. He is but a
mere agent of the people to obey their law,
TO execute their express commands embodied
in positive enactments and when he goes
one inch outside of the express authority of
law, he has not the slightest protection any
more than the constable of a town. If he
withholds debt from you or assaults you, he
is amenable to the same corrections that you
are if YOU Withhold debt from another or as
sault another. If he commits any crime 5r
misiemeanor he may be removed from office
at any time He IS at oil times at gOrk Smaply
Tor tie people 1olo employ him, and he IS utterly
pooerIeSs ercept he IS executing their expressed
loU. But while he is executing the will of
the people of the United States, while he
represents these twenty-six million people,
then he Is a power-a power which, until
within few years, there was no power on
earth that dared to gainsay; and if we are
true to our form of Government, he viii in a
very short space of time again become pow
er that no potentate on earth viii dare to
withstand. When acting in obedience to the
people of course they cannot desire to resist
him at all. When acting in defiance OF them
there can be no more necessity for their re-
sisting with force than there is for the stock
holders of a railroad or of a bank to employ
= II ~ ,N,-a