Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-10-19

MN lot KING - Laughter. lie lett you
but one alternative. You are obliged Ia
take him for one or the other, either for
President or king, if My Policy" prevails
L am not following them all around. | shall
not describe to you how sometimes they cut
outside the circle and entered into street
brolls with common blackguards how thev
fought at Cleavelend and Indianapolis and
other points. | shall not tell YOU for is il
not all written down in Colonel Forney' s
Chronicle Laughter and cheers But
coming round they told you, or one Of them
did, that he had been everything but one.
de had been tailor, | think he did not
say drunken tailor no he had been a tailor
laughter he had been constable langh-
ter j; he had been in the Legislature God
help that Legislature [Great merriment |
He had been In Congress now he was Pres.
ident. He had beeu everything but one
he had never been hangman, and he asked
the leave to hang Thad Stevens. Laugh
ter.
Now l have given you badinage enoug h.
AS stated that l would not make speech,
l will state one point Of some substance
| The great question between the President
and Congress is not how we shall recon
struct the States but who shall have the pow
er That is the great question for this ma
ton to determine, and upon your decision
| depends the security or the despotism Of this
| Government
When the Southern States went out of
the Union through rebellion, and all the
ties that bound them to the Union were
| consumed In the hot fires of the war, they
became conquered provinces under our
| armies. BY the law Of nations the sover-
ign power Of this nation was to fix
their fate, Who is that sovereign power
Cries of Congress, Congress. IF
that power is the President, then he is right
and may go On Teconstructing the State in
his own way. But if Congress has the SOW
ereign power then the issue Is in our favor
As l said, the sovereignty of the nation
must fix the status of the new States and of
conquered nations. By the Constitution of
the United States, in single sentence the
first paragraph Of the first article in the
Constitution says that all legislative power
shall be vested in Congress of the United
States, which shall consist of Senate and
a House of Representatives. There is the
whole legislative power Of the nation. You
cannot find a word in the Constitution
which gives to any other branch of the gov
ernment one particle Of legislative power
How, then, Is it that the soyeign power rests
in the President? In this country there is
u
the sovereignty Of the nation. 1t rests in
the people, and nowhere else and the peo-
pie speak through Congress to all their SER
wants. Therefore, it is you, the sovereigns
Of the nations, who are reconstructing these
States In no other branch of the Govern
ment can you find particle of sovereignty.
The President cannot even erecta bureau;
he cannot doa legislative act. He is the
servant OF the people as they order through
Congress. Now, then, Congress is the SOW
through them and Andrew johnson must
learn that he is your servant cheers and that
as Congress shall order he must obey.
lCheers. That is the whole question. The
question Of how our States shall be recon
structed is another one to which l shall not
now refer. shall only apologize for hav-
ing detained you.
Mr.. Stevens here retired, but the calls for
bis temperance were so prolonged that he
again came forward, and, and, amid loud
cheering, said
suppose you never fought chickens in
your young days. Laughter. If you had
you know there was a breed that they called
the 'Wheelers. They would fight awhile
and then go back, and then turn and fight
again must be a Wbeclnr, | suppose
Cheers and laughter. And since you have
called me out, and ! am able to speak, viii
explain one single point, which | have been
informed, my friend Mr.. Doolittle made par
ticularly upon me, and which, | have no
doubt, some of my Republican friends con
sidered particularly well made to put me be-
low the ticket. cannot blame them in this.
| shall not blame them for anything Of the
kind, but | shall be just as good friends with
them as before.
But let me explain He spoke of negro
equality. Let me tell you exactly how it is.
He, | understand, found fault with me, par
ticularly because [ advocated what he called
negro equality. Under our law there is not
a word said in either the civil-rights bill or
the new proposed amendment about color.
1t simply provides that the same law which
Furnishes one man shall punish any other for
the same offence; it simply provides that
the law which gives verdict to one man
shall render the same verdict to another,
whether he is Dutch, Irish or negro
| Cheers. Is there anything wrong III that?
| Voices, "No" That is the doctrine Of
negro equality. There is nothing which
prohibits the negro from learning to read
and write and say his prayers. There is
nothing in it which says he shall have any
| thing superior to another.
| admit that these Copperheads have
Abme cause to complain that there is such a
provision, for there is great danger that
| those who find fault with this provision will
! find rivals among the coloTed race in busi-
ness and in life. There is one thing how
ever, which 1 noticed Mr.. Doolittle alluded
| to--a bill which / introduced for fixing the
! condition of the Southern States-and since
am here | will say one word in explanation
of that. introduced bill into Congress
! for the purpose of enabling the rebel States,
under certain conditions, to form loyal gov
ernments. They have no governments now
except some counterfeits put up by Andy
! johnson. ''rhree cheers for Thad. Ste
veus
| proposed in that bill that every one Of
! those conquered States should be put upon
the same footing with Territory; should
elect delegates to convention to form re-
publican constitutions mot such as they have
got now, with slavery in them), and in fixing
! the right Of voters to elect those delegates |
made it universal allowed the rebels,
allowed the black men, allowed every man
to vote for delegates to the convention.
! When they came to form the constitution
they should form il to suit themselves (not
doing as Andy johnson did, debating what
! the terms of the constitution should bel,
and when they formed it, they should be al
lowed to refer it back to the people for rati-
fcation; and if ratified they might present
it to Congress. Now, | did hope, in doing
this, that our loyal friends, together with the
Ill oolo~a1 ,,,nr would .a,.rx, tho cAnvap-