Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-11-08
Magnificent Popular Demonstration.
J. sr7sfs -a so-:, -.5 AL .r-.-l .---iza..i.le.
MUSIC HALL, MILWAUKEE,.
Four Thousand People In and
A s1 Around the HALL. di-.l
THE BUSINESS MEN Present IN foRcJ
SPEECH OF HON. GEORGE b.
s.s.ri PENDLET0N. aga l.5

y
would give me a cordial welcome. You
have fulfilled that promise. Although L
see around me few faces which have never
seen before; although five hundred miles .
my home on the beautiful river
from yours on this beautiful lake; although
some of you may possibly differ with us, to
the largest degree, in political opinions, L
cannot feel that we are altogether stran-
gers. Here the speaker was interrupted
by the coming into the hall of brass
band and torchlight procession.l
e Are we not citizens of the same country,
bound up with her in a common destiny
Is not her honor our honor her prosper
Does not the benificence of her govern
ment reflect at once the wi.dom and Sc
cure the happiness of all her people ?
Are we not all children of one mother,
who opens wide her arms, and forgetting
our follies and pardoning our crimes, en-
folds us all, Democrats and Republicans,
alike, to her warm and loving heart And
are we not bound, each to the other, by
the common tie which binds us to her ?
Citizens of one country, we cannot be al
together strangers; children Of the same
mother. in the midst of your h )spitable
homes, | cannot address you except as
fellOw-citizens and friends
am oppressed by the presence in which
. [ stand. have traversed your State from
the lake to the river; have seen its at
tractive scenely,-its productive fields, its
eXhaustless mines; 1 have seen its fertile
soil respond with bountiful harvests to the
touch OF the husbandman; 1 have seen it's
people contented with the abundant re-
wards of cheerful industry; stand in the
midst of your city, which rises in peerless
beauty from the bosom of this inland ocean,
populous, rich, the centre of mighty COM
merce-the wheat market of the world; L
meet the busy crowd which jostles through
its streets; l see the spacious stores where
business plies its avocations; the roomy
schools where education lends its powers to
the natural facilities; the handsome
churches where religion seeks to soften the
asperities of life; the luxurious home
where culture and refinement give new
charm to wealth; the Courts, where justice
is admiuistered-and over all, 1 feel that
the genius OF law and social order and li5-
erty presides, and that spirit of content
ment which marks prosperous. free and
happy people. l remember when your
State was Territorv-furJher back, when
it was part of Michigan; further back be-
fore your city was founded; when all this
vast territory did not contain one-twen-
tieth part of the population of your munic-
ipal limits to-day. And when l recall this
past, and compare it with this present, 1
bow in reverence before the benificence of
that system OF government which has per-
mitted this wonderful development that
system of government which presents your
State as an integral part of the Federal
unit which rises SO splendidly among its
sister sovereignties of the world, and yet
leaves in its hands the entire regulation of
all its domestic and local affairs. Acquired
from Virginia at the close of the revolu-
ton, the Federal government did in fact
hold and govern this territory until 1S4S,
and then it abdicated its power as owner
here, proclaimed you sovereign State,
recognized your equality with those elder
States which had formed the Union, de-
clared that you did possess all the rights
which had been reserved, on the sole con-
dition that you would concede the powers
which had been delegated.
1 will not analyze that system. I will
not seek to define its form or to give it
name. Its whole foundation is that inter
national and interstate affairs are entrusted
to the Federal government, while TO the
State itself is confided the care of the life
and liberty and prosperity of its citizens,
1 the maintenance of social order, the adj
ministration of Justice, and the definition
of the body of citizens in whom political
power shall reside. Its whole philosophy
is expressed in these two provisions: that
the Constitution and. all laws passed in
pursuance thereof are the supreme law,
and that all power not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor pro-
| hibited by it to the States, are reserved to
l Tue SIdIts respectively OT W Cue peOple. llS
whole history shows that if nullihca-
| tion and secession are revolution on the
part of the States, usurpation of power by
| the Federal government is revolution also,
and equally dangerous to the peace of So
ciety and the liberties of the people. The
i Constitution defined the terms OF Union.
1t breathed into the Federal government
the breath OF life. 1t prescribes the pow
ers which shall be used and the manner of
their exercise. If we seek the power of
/ the Federal government, we must look to
the powers delegated by the Constitution.
If we seek the power of the States, we
must remember that all power not delega-
ted nor prohibited is reserved. There is
no Inherent power; mo power arising
from necessity;" no ''power of a conqueror''
in the Federal government unless it is del
egated by the Constitution, "for all power
not delegated is reserved"
| l will contest with no man about the
name which this system should have. II
The recognize these fundamental laws of its
p existence he may call it by whatever name
he pleases. But if by giving it a name he
seeks to change its form, if by appeals tc
our partizan spirit, or love of splendor, OF
lust for power, or even our calm convic.
tions of what would be right, he seeks tc
give the Federal Government other powers
than those delegated in the Constitution
then he is an enemy of our form OF Gov
ernment and designs its overthrow. Jap
plause.]
How vain are theories and speculations
! The Constitution, so plain that the way.
faring man, though fool. need not erl
therein "-settles them all. How vain the
inquiry whether, under the light of passing
: Gus with its formation, the Constitution
might be made to wear different interpre
tation from that which time has given to it
, The practical question is: Has it proven {
good Constitution and form of Government
for you? Have you prospered under it
; administration? Have you been prosper
Gus, free and happy people,? Has this sys
tenn by which all the interests of you
daily life, all the protection of your alien
able rights, all the management of youl
State affairs have been cOntided to you
: own care without Interference from tn,
Federal Government, worked well in you
: case? Has it not worked well in the cas-,
. of every other State? Has it not left tt
you liberty which you know how to en-
joy? Has it not imposed and enforced tn
y obligations necessary to its existence
# The Federal system. justly administered, i
the strongest for defense, the weakest fO
aggression. Its head possesses energy ant
. domain and power, its parts enjoy liberty
}, Great applause.
2 Why then call it weak system? VIII!
e seek by gradual aggressions upon the State
to change it? Why hope to strengthen tn
!. edifice by drawing from the strength OF tn
/ pillars which support it? Is it not true,
b appeal to every candid man who hears me
= = is it not true that every evil of government
= which you have ever experienced arise
J. from Excessive administration" to use tn
y language of the Massachusetts Convention
: and not from vicious s. stem? Is it nc
: true that every drawback upon your un
I paralleled growth has arisen from perver
lsions of our system? The passion for con
lsolidation is at the bottom of all trouble
1of the country this day. Let me illustrat
/ -and bear with me while enter somewha
q info dafailg. They NAV waary rou bu