The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1866-08-24
of the state in the full exercise Of that

OF Tue STATE IN the luii exeTCIso VI tudl
right.
This is one of the rights Of the states
We place This question of suffrage among
rights. 1t is one of the rights the states
have enjoyed from the beginning Of the
government, and for the federal govern
meut 10 attempt to control or dictate upon
that subject is to violate both the letter Of
the constitution and spirit which gives it
life. We have no right to take from the
people their right TO settle that question.
can very we'll understand how here in
Wisconsin,, where We have very few col
oIed people, and those colored people
have been brought up freeman, our people
here can come to give them the right Of
suffrage.
But when you 60 down among the
slave states and among the slave popula>
ton, where you may saw ninetentls of the
men have no sense of family ties, and the
women no sense of virtue, aud undertake
to force suffrage in the face Of this state
OF society, it is not only unconstitutional,
in violation of its letter and its spirit, it
is more it would be to stultify ourselves,
to make ourselves the laughing stock Of
the world in order to accomplish what
General Grant and General Sherman, and
President johnson and Thomas Jefferson
have said again and again, would force on
war between the races, that would result
only IN the determination of one or the
other. (Applause.)
THE PROPER SPHERE OF THE STATES.
"The maintenance inviolate of the rights
Of the states, and especially of the tight of
each state to order and control its own do
nestle concerns, according to its own
judgment exclusively, subject only to the
constitution Of the United States, is essen
tial to that balance of power on which the
perfection AID endurance of our political
system by the usurption and Capitalization
of power in congress would be revolution
dangerous to republican government and
destructive Of liberty
You remember the pure and beautiful
language of Jetferson's Inaugural, per,
haps, when he discusses the proper limits
of power between the central and federal
government and the states. No language
of mine can add to it. 1t is beautiful al
most beyond expression, and yet It covers
the precise point which is involved in
this revolution: The truth is, that in
our system, as in the polar sy7tem, there
is, SO to speak, great centripetal force,
whose tendency is TO draw all things 10 a
center and there is another force, which,
may be called the centrifugal force, which,
if left to itself, unchecked BY the centlip-
etal force, would carry the states into
anarchy and into space, beyond our sys-
TEN /; while the joint action and the prop
er action Of the two forces, by each modi-
tying and restraining the other, carries
each state around in its proper sphere,
and makes perfectly true the motto which
our fathers adopted: 81 Pt1ribus
Unum Though many, we are one
which is the very essence of that system
upon which the endurance of our fabric
depends"
CoSGREss-TnE TWO HOUSES JUDGES OF
MEMBERSHIP TAKEN.
But there is another point that 4" each
hou-e OF congress is made, by the consti-
tuition, the sole Judge Of the elections, re-
turns and qualifications Of its members
but the exclusion Of loyal senators and
representatives, properly chosen aud
qualified, under the constitution aud laws,
is unjust AID revolutionary
Here is An assertion of the power OF
each house to judge for itself, and this
question has been one of great dispute
during the whole of tie last session. 1t
has been stoutlv maintained, from day to
! day, that the president Of the United
! States was unwilling that congress should
have any Judgment on the question of the
election returns and qualifications of its
mem bers. But this assumption is utterly
false and unfounded. The president has
simply insisted that the senate shall Judge
of the election of senators, and quahfica~
tons of senators, and return of senators,
and that The house shall Judge of the cleo,
ton of members, the return of members,
and their qualifications.
What is involved in this question Of
Judgment upon the election of senators !
Why, i, involves the whole question.
GU CaDuOL eject senator uUl6So tHeTC
is legislature to elect one. And the
senate is authorized TO Judge for itself
whether, when mar claims that he was
elected, there was a legislature which
could elect HIM. 1t is all involved in
that.
So, precisely, the house Of representa-
tives, in Judging on elections Of their
members, having a right to inquire wheth-
err The election was held whether the
district in which the election was held
was in such condition that there could
be an election and if that district was
overrun by civil war, you could not, Of
course, have any election. Cannot the
house Judge Of that! And is it necessa-
ry that the senate should be brought in (?
That question belongs to the house alone.
Why, we saw the folly Of that the other
day, among the closing scenes Of con-
gress: this famous idea, upon which the
committee of fifteen was born, that the
house should not admit any members
without the consent Of the senate. We
saw that idea trampled under foot. 1t
arose in the case of Mr.. Patterson. Mr.
Patterson had been elected by toe Union
men of Tennessee as Judge, and took the
oath Of office, when, at the same time,
he was surrounded hv tho rnhoi militarv