Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-08-24

littt CcttOlkcHtntUt Ut aUTtftUktut l enter upon this branch of the discussion with pain and pleasure-with pain be- cause l shall consider it my duty to declare some grieYous errors commit ed by friends of our side of the Con- stitution; errors, too, which amount to no less than surrender of some of the most effective remedies against these measures and with pleasure because I can still sec remaining to us remedies ample to save the. Constitution, the country and liberty, if, as rulers and people, we still have even moiety of that glorious moral courage which makes us not afraid to tell the truth and defend the right. Never, never had any people in any age of the world such an oceasion-such necessity-for moral courage as have now the people, not only of the ten States on which rape is being perpetuated, but of the United States, who are all involved in the crime and must pay it's penalties.
 That devilish spirit oftreasoD, which comes not with arms and open, manly. warning, but creeps and hides itself in some unexpected, yea, trusted form is now in our political Eden, and, with artfnl words, and with prestige of an thority, and assurances of safety and blessing and greatness, is pcrsuading our people to eat that forbidden fruit of using force to preserve Govern ment of consent, and of making by states, that like and equal which God by nature made unlike and unequal and in so doing to disobey the commands of the Constitution! And some are al- ready persuaded, and lustily cry ''It is true, let us disobey, and taste, for. we shall thereby be great and if our peo- pie awake not tnow to their danger, and drive this modern political Satan of Radicalism, with scourging and hissing from their heritage, then death--politi- cal dcath--will come, and quickly, ficrcely come, with blighting course all over this last and noblest domain of freedom, and doom ourselves and our children to the "blood and sweat" of despotism forcverl
 Oh, that some voice would rise whose thrilling notes ofpatriotism could cover all the land, and, flushing this Bedlam dire of sectional crinination, distrust and oppression, inspire the people to unite and make one more manly na- tional effort to save the Constitution, and stop the deep and ever deepening stabs which treachcry, through force and perjury. are madly making at the very vitals of liberty! We need fear less Hercules-strong in moral courage and universal countrywide patriot ism-to kill this Nemaan lion; to burn fo the roots the more than hundred heads of this Lernean Hydra to clean this Augeian stable, whose fierce ra- pacity, and prolific terrors and bound- less filth are all combined in this de- stroyer of States, this assassin of writ ten Constitution, this more than brutish defled of it's ownrace the modern Rad icalism!
 The framers of the Constitution doubtless supposed they had provided, or left existing, ample remedies for all violations of that instruments; both preventive and curative remedies. whether those violations should be made by the Government or by the States, or by tAe people and ha q also provided for the amendment of the Constitution ia proper mann CT. to suit it to such unauticipated necessities IS the future might deyclope. These remedies were distr.buted-some being lodged in the different departments of 1 the Government, and some left under regulations with the people.
 These remedies should always be ap- piled in their proper order. according to the nature and source of the viola 1 l;on. asl
 In my opinion, the first remedy against these Military Bills, was with the executive department of the Gov crnmcnt.
 1 The Government is divided into three departments, and separate powers given to each department for the great purpose of providing mutual checks and balance, so that no one department shall be able to destroy the government.
 Now, if either department can, by any means, absorb 10 itselfthe powers conii- 1 ded to the other departments, or of either of the others, it, by that means, gets to itself powers which it was not 1 intended it should exercise ; and can, by reason of this increase of powers, accomplish what the division of fpowers intended 10 prcvcnt--destroy the Gov ernment. So, if either department instead of thus absorbing to itself the powers of the other department, can, in | lieu thereof, adopt some means by
 which it can compel orinducc the other departments or either of them to exc cute its unlimited will, it can thus as I effectually and perhaps more conven- l iently accomplish the forbidden end i destroy the Government, than if it had absorbed the powers io itself; because ] the department so compelled or induc- | ed to serve, ceases to be check or bal anee to prevent destruction as was intended, but degencrates into mere tool or alder and abcttor in the work of destruction.
 Hcre--right here--is precisely the process by which this fragmentary con
 clave of n Congress is destroying the
 Constitution and the Government un- 1 der the Constitution. .-
 They first excluded from both Houses
 all the representatives of ten entire 1 States, because they were supposed not
 to he willing to the schemes of the ma
 jority making the exclusion, and, to make the exclusion etfectual, they
 denied the right of representation to
 the ten States, all, in the teeth of the most explicit and positive provisions of the Constitution, declaring how the ! Congress shall be constituted, and of
 what the two Houses shall be compos- ed. They next, under various trans parent pretences, excluded obnoxious members from other States.
 This process of exclusion continued until two-t thirds of those remaining were of one evil mind. The Executive Department, though earnestly denoun- cling the body as not organized as the ! Constitution required, yet recognized this fragment as the Congress. Thus l organized and thus recognized, this | fragmentary eonclave now become
 very bold and dictatoriai- began to ab- sorb to itself the powers and functions
 of both the other departments of the
 government, and io threaten impeach-
 ment and re-modeiing and non-appro-