Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-05-01
"a Senat0rial Rebnka.,

Ina recent debate upon the civil rights
bill in the Senate, Mr.. Wade, of Ohio, op-5
posed t. the Postponement of the vote which
was asked for in order to enable the Senators
who were i'll to be in attendance when the
vote should be'taken, and said :1-se ne ta
Hs i am very frank to say that when gentle.
men tell us that if we persist here with all
the physical power the Almighty has put into
our hands we may probably prevail, it is not
an argument against my staying here, stand
ling by the Constitution, standing by these
powers that the Constitution has armed me
with, and which / have no right or authority
to give up, No Senator on this floor has a,ly
right to surrender the authority with which
we are clothed. The moment President
can rise and interpose his interference with
Question. purely congressional and Legislative,
your Constitution is not worth the paper upon
which it is written. That is the reason that
/. l urge, and beg of my friends on this floor to
tahe e0e7y adUantage that the .Almigbtv has
put into your hands to maintain, uphold, and
sustain that Constitution that we have sworn
we will support. 4...-. ~
Mr.: McDougall, of California, administered
herfollowing severe and dignifed rebuke to
his brother Senator T'-!
Mr.. McDougall.- Mr. President. the Sen
ator from Ohio is in the habit of appealing to
his God in vindication of his Judgment and
conductj it is common thing for him to do
so; but in view of the present demonstration.
it may be well to ask who and what is his
God. In the old Persian mythology there
was an 0romasdes and an Ahriman--a god
of light and beauty, and god of darkness
and death. The god Of light sent the sun to
shine and gentle showers to fructify the fields:
the pOH Of harE h. Il u
tempest and the thunder scathing with pesti-
lence the nations And in old Chaidean
times men came to worship Ahriman, the god
OF darkness, the god Of pestilence and famine;
and his priests became multitudinous they
swarmed the land, and when men prayed then
their offerings were, CIV e will not sow field
of grain, We will not dig WELL we will not
plant tree" These were the offerings to
the dark spirit Of evil until prophet came
who redeemed that ancient land but he did
1t after crucifxion. like our great Master
The followers! of Ahriman always appealed
to the same spirit manifested blythe Senator
from Ohio. Death is to be one of his angels
now, to redeem the Constitution and the laws
and to establish liberty. Sickness, suffering,
evil, are to be his angels and he thanks the
Almighty, his Almighty, that sickness, dam
ger and evil are about! 1t may be good
god for him in this world but if there is any
truth in what we learn about the orders of re-
ligion in this Christian world his faith will
not help him when he shall ascend up and
ask entrance at the crystal doors If there
can be evil expressed in high places that com
municates evil thoughts, that communicates
evil teachings, that demoralizes the youth who
receive impressions as does the wax, it is by
such lessons as the Senator from Ohio now
teaches by word of mouth as Senator in this
Senate Hall.
Sir, the President of the United States is
n constitutional officer, clothed with high now
er, and clothed with the very power which he
has exercised in this instance and those who
conferred upon him these powers were men
such as Madison and Jay and Hamilton and
Morris and Washington and a hbst of wor-
thies, men who, think, knew as much about
the laws OF government, and how they should
be rghtly balanced, as any Of the wisest who
now sit here in council. 1t is the dutv of !
the President of the United States to stand
as defender of the Constitution in his place.
as the conservator OF the rights of the people,
as 1t was in old Rome when the people did
choose their tribunes to go into the Senate
Chamber among the aristocracv of Rome, anI
when they passed laws injurious to the Ro-
mar people, to stand and say, 81 forbid it."
q That is the veto power, incorporated wisely
by our fathers in the Constitution. conferred
upon the IreSldcnt OF the u nlted States, and
to be treated with consideration and no ap-
peal Of the Senator to his God can change
the Constitution or the rights of the Presi-
dent of the United States or can prevent a
just consideration of the dignity of this Sen
ate body by persons who have just considera-
ton, who feel that they are Senators
1t is strange thing, an exceedingly strange
thing, that when few Senators in the CITY
of Washington, i'll at their houses, give as
surance that they can be here to act upon a
great public question on the day following
this, e-shOuld hear piece of defamation,
the Senator appealing to his God, and saying
with an 10 t'iOmphe air, ''Well or i'll, God
has made them ILL.," Sir, the god of desola-
tion, the god Of darkness, the god Of evil is
his god never expected to hear such OBJ
jections raised among honorable men; and
mem to be Senators should be honorable men,
/ never expected to hear such things in this
Hall land rose Simply to say that such SEN
timents were to be condemned, and must re-
ceive my condemnation, now and here, and
+ if it amounts to a rebuke, l trust it may be
rebuke. r.,.-.,H .# ,3 ...s'
THE LARGEST MAN IN THE WoRLD.-A
number years ago the Nashville Dispatch
published statement which was not generally
credited at the time The editor in a late
number of the paper revives the story, and