The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-08-29
SCHUYLER coLfAx.
speech of Mr.. Colfax in Response TO . Ser
s enade. Saturday Evening, JuIy 90.

FKLLow2 CITIZENS. There are two
kinds of serenades in Washington the
first when members arrive to enter on
the discharge Of their duties, and the
last, when after the close Of their, ,1abors
they are about to return to their homes.
Az Holy writ declares that he who taketh
of his armor has more right to be proud
than he who putteth it on, value this
mark, of regard more highly because
our work being completed, you mean by
IL "Well done, good and faithful SER
wants" [Applause,] Congress sincere
ely, desired to avoid this midsummer ses-
sion,. They passed the Military Recon-
structions bills last March. The Presi-
dent vetoed them on the explicit ground
that they made the military commanders
supreme and absolute over the people Of
the late rebellious States Congress ac-
,cepted his construction Of them and re-
passed them over his veto They were
cordially endorsed by the loyal people
of the North and sacquiesed in more
readily than had been supposed by the
people Of the South. Soon it became
apparent that under them loyalty would
triumph in most of the Southern States;
and then the President vetoed his own
veto. and promulgated decision of his
Attorney General that under these laws
the military commanders were mere po-
li0men, subordinate to the provisional
governments over which they had been
placed, the army buta posse cossitafus to
enforce the decrees 81 the rsbel COVER
nors and mayors. sand that every rebel
was to be his own registrar. The peo-
pie, surprised at these decisions. appeal
ed to the Congress in which they placed
such deserved confidence, to reassemble,
and from Maine to California they came
hither to resume their Legislative author
ity, and to 90 declare the meaning Of
their legislation that no legal sophistries
Of any Attorney General could mystify
it. Vetoed again, they re passed it again
by vo.e Of four to one, and it has gone
on the statute book, as one of the laws
which the President, by his constitution
al oath, must take care to have faithfully
s1ecuted. aFa 7ta5 F So
Some, / know, condemn Congress for
having done too much in lis past legisla-
tion, and some for having done too little;
but think it has struck the golden mean
r r.y, op1 x,nx ,,r,,lau< ~orro~oo,,a nth
out undue excitement. infexible and yet
wise. The President in his last veto
denounces this military despotism, as he
calls it, and declares that Congress has
subjected the South to a tyranny most
We have heard til ese
charges OF military despotism before.
during the war, from the party which SO
bitterly opposed his election three years
ago. Every act tending to strengthen
the government, such as the suspension
Of the habeas corpus, trials by court
&C., was denounced as militia
ry despotism; but the people rendered
their verdict and it could not be revers- !.
ed. Instead of tyranny, the keynote of
The Congressional policy is protection to
al, and the vindication and triumph of
oyalty, and, God keeping us, we shall
stand BY it until it is crowned with tri-
amph. [Applause.] I will use no word
If disrespect toward the President, for
differing with him in policy as
vide as the poles, respect the Office
which he holds, and prefer argument to
nvective. When listened yesterday
70 Mr.. Mcpherson. the Clerk Of the
House, as he read the bold and defiant
of the President. I could not
ont feel that in the whole Of it he ar
aligned himself far more than the Con-
yress which he addressed. All parties
lGSs~ that he spoke correctly when in !