The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1866-06-07
4 English View eE the Eurap Con
ggpSS,

thing their own way at present aud the
result is that Congress IS under the sway
Of a tyranny which is unprecedented in
the history OF civilized government. There
is much talk every where of this being the
pountry where greater freedom aud liberty
ere found than in any part OF the world
aut the history Of this session helps to
brove that there Is no county where ma
jorities rule so despotically, or where the
people submit to them so patiently, as
America. Freedom Of debate is practical
ly impossible there. Take what happened
last Monday in the House Of Representa-
tives as an example, and even Mr. Brigh!
would probably find it hard to defend OF
gloss over such an example. A member
Of the Radical party, Mr. Wilson, moved
that the Civil Rights Bill pass, and by
previous arrangement with his leaders he
demanded the previous question" upon
that motion. 1t was consequently not in
order for any member to speak upon the
resolution before the House.
Now, there were several members, be-
longing to the three different parties in the
. House, who were anxious TO say few
wor6s upon the bill, or IN explanation of
the votes which they intended to giYe.-
Some Of these were, like M Wilson HIM
self, Radicals. They went privately to
bim-l am repeating these facts from their
own lips, so that there can be no mistake
about thenl--and begged him to waive his
demand for ''the previous question" so
that they might be allowed TO speak for Il
few minutes. He held his position on the
floor, and refused. The noise aud excite
ment increased, and members surrounded
Mr.. Wilson, beseeching him not to force SO
important bill to vote, under what is
called the "gagsing law"-that is, the de-
mand for the previous question. A Judge
of the State of New York was one of those
who thus demonstrated with him, but
Thaddeus Stevens was there to prevent
Mr.. Wilson giving way, and he proved
immovable. Some members urged that,
out of respect to the Presidents veto, they
ought to be allowed time for discussion,
but Mr. Wilson simply shook his head
At last there was q general cry, "Giye an
hour" but this request-aud surely it was
not an reasonable one-was peremptorily
refused like all the rest.
Thus debate was moro efectually stihed
than has ever been seen in the French
Legislature, and certainly such stretch
Of tyranny was never exercised before in
an assembly Of men boasting to be free
I Some members asked ne whether such 4.
thing was possible in the House Of Cons
mons. Here was q bill which had been
declared by the Executive to be unconstiN
tutional in its character, and dangerous to
the peace of the country in Its provisions,
and no one man in the House elected by
the people was suffered to say a single
word upon it. What would Mr.. Bright
say Of cur freedom if he saw this ?" said
one member to me- I think that at least
half the House were thoroughly ashamed
of what they were doing-for, Of course, a
majority had sustained the demand for the
previous question. But Thad. Stevens
had smacked his whip, and his obedient
followers gathered round him, willing and
subservient. Let the bill be wise or un-
wise, just or unjust, the way in which it
was hurried through the House would be
scandal to any assembly of freemen. In
less than ten minutes the bill had been
brought forward and the vote upon it
| taken.
This is but one instance, and compared
with what [ could give you, slight in-
stance of the despotism which the Radical
majority in Congress is exercising. They
have filled every office in and about the
Capitol, and their wonderful machinery Of
committees unknown in England) has the
whole business of the country in its grip.
Foreign relations, domestic affairs, finan-
cial policy-everything is placed in the
hands of the committees, and majority in
ereyy committee consists Of Radicals, ap>
pointed by the Radical Speaker of the
House, or the equally Radical President
OF the Senate. 1t would be well if Mr..
Bright and others, who wish to American
ize" English institutions, could see this
one in full working. Such system for
concentrating tic po,cer Of Congress ia the
hands Of q tcw men, and for disarming M
dependent members Of tie sligAsest duttori-
ty and inJ9Hence, icdS ne0er seen an q dett6.
crate assembly before. The way in which
it is worked is this Let the Reconstruc>
ton Committee Of Fifteen, be taken as an
instance In the first place, no step can
be taken in Congress, as body, toward
reconstruction, until it has been first sub
mitted to this committee. 1t manages,
controls, and directs all proceedings, from
the smallest to TIE most important in re-
lation to this subject. Say that an inde.
pendent member brings forward resolu-
ton for the admission Of Tennessee into
Congress. A Radical member would i'm
mediately get up and propose that it be re-
ferred to the Reconstruction Committee
the motion would be carried, and the reso-
luton would SO to tho committee, never to
make its appearance again. The commit
tee would simply "burke it, This is no
hypothetical case-ths thing has been done
over and over again this session. 1 have
watched the process in scores of instances
since last December. Nothing returns
from these committees which the Radicals
disapprove. Consequently any man who
throws himself against the Radical party
destroys his influence and position. He
stands alone, as MIR. Raymond does in the
House at this moment. Then the commit
Ioo ,,,oota too.otbor a., ,ocrof ooJ ooro.s