Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-30


And then, having laid down these cOndi-
tions upon which alone resort to rebellion
can be justified, they proceed to file that ter
rible indictment against the government of
their king. 1t is toe familiar to the Senate
to Justify me in reading even extracts from
it; but there is scarcely an act of arbitrary
power known to 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 by the Government
of the United States Nobody asserts that.
The men who made this rebellion administers
edthe 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
maRd; 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 statute-book of which they complained;
not a single Judgment in any one of your
department of the Government had acqui-
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 a late Senator from Ken
lucky, who is now In arms against the author
ity of his own State and of his own country,
declare here on this floor that this was the
best form of Government which the wisdom
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
sssodevoted friend OF the Union am / that
when Gas know it must be, because see dis
position to or topreyent it,l the eight cotton
States have withdrawn from this Union, as they
will in the next two months do, and meet in con-
vention to adopt federal form of government for
themselves, and to establish foreign department
for one shall advocate the adoption, without
crossing or dotting an I, of the same old glori
Gus Constitution thai was ratified by the old thir-
teen States "-CongressiOHdl 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 ctof 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 as the election of Mr.. Breck-
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
as fully as others, who opposed Mr. Breckin-
ridge, had the right and enjoyed the right to
vote for Mr.. Lincoln.
But is the election Of a President of the
| United States, a cause, Justification, or an
i 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
taithless as Floyd, if he had been as vain
glorious as Toombs, if he had been as spirit
! !css as Buchanan, if he had been stained with
every crime and with every excess, still hi:
election would have been no cause for rebel
| lion; and why? For the simple reason thai
the term of President is very brief, and the
measure of his authority is very restricted
| ity to work mischief is extremely limited
| and the term in which he can do anything
1 good or bad, is limited TO four years. L pu
it to the Senate, or to any one who is dispos
ed to palliate this rebellion, if they believe
that our forefathers would have declared fo
secession from the British empire if they b.
four years could have terminated the reign o
George III? Do you think revolution would
ever have been resorted to to depose Jane
ii, ifby four years or ten years endurance
his reign could have been terminated by al
election of the people !?
| THE PRESIDENT AND HIS POWERS.
was. surprised to hear Senator, WIFI
usually speaks with great deal of accuracy
speaking on this point some days since, US
this language in reference to the President:
al can very readily imagine aconditiono of thing
| in any country the face of the earth when Gov
eminent, the President, or, If you please the rul
| ing power. the Executive had become so obnoxiou
| to the peopIe and was pursuing a course so dia
metricaIly opposed TO its interests, that 1t Nigh
be necessary in the Senate of the United States o
in the House of Represen tatives, or in either o
both to say distinctly from the place which we oC
| cupy from this place, call on the people of tn
United States to resist this outrageous exercise
| power.'" N
/ undertake to say, no such necessity AM
no such occasion viii ever occur in the histo
~ of this Government under its present Con
stitution. The President, as have said be
fore, lis one of the most harmless agencie
ever employed In the affairs of Government
No matter what may be his personal charac
ter, he is as harmless as the marshal of dis
trict or the sheriff of county. He is but
mere agent of the people TO obey their law
to execute their express commands embodle
in positive enaetments; and when he goe
one inch outside of the express authority Q
law, he has not the slightest protection an
more than the constable of town. If b.
withholds debt from you or assaults you, h
} is amenable to the same corrections that 20
! are if you withhold debt from another or as
| sault another. If he commits any crime o
! misdemeanor he may be removed from offic
| at any time. He is at all times at lcOrk sunpt
for tie people sclto employ him, and he IS ottert
poUerleSs except as he IS executing their espresso
wiH But while he is executing the will o
the people of the United States, while h
irepfesents these twenty-six million people
then he is a power-a power which, unit
within few years, there was no power oil
earth that dared to gainsay; and if we ar
true to our form of Government, he will in
very short space of timeagain become pow
err that no potentate on earth viii dare Il
Withstand. When acting in obedience to tn,
people of course they cannot desire to resis
him at all. When acting in defiance of then
there can be no more necessity for their re
| sisting with force than there is for the stock
holders of a railroad or of bank to emplo
force against their superintendent or cashier
i .1rxv4 Ia hi Of nluffn IN