The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-02-14
Democratic Detection.


sa D6m0efatIe DefeGtl0n. ~
q. Hon. II. c. HoBART in the assembly, the
other day, took his political brethFen of the
democratic persuasion, all aback, by max
ing very able and effective speech in ia
vor of ratifying the amendment to the ma
tionaf constitution proposed during the last
session Of Congress. twill be remembered
that Mr., Hobart was the democratic candi- ]
date for Governor, year ago last fall, and
supported j. y. Brown for Congress during
the canvass last fall. Indeed he was rather
the leader of the respectable portion of
Wisconsin democracy. and bombshell fall
ing into the midst of them would not have
taken the ''unterrifed' more by surprise
than this 'come OUT of Gen. Hobart. We
take the following full abstract of Mr. Ho-
barts speech, from the Milwaukee Sentinel.
ON the 9th inst General II. G. Hobart,
long leader of the Wisconsin democracy,
its standard bearer during the last guberna-
torial campaign, an ardent supporter of j.
S Brown during the late congressional can
vass, addressed the Assembly for more than
an hour i'll a carefully considered and able
speech, IN favor of ratifying the amendment
to the national constitution, proposed by the
39ih Congress. At the outset he avowed
bis belief that the present generation of men
appreciate their own circumstances and
| knoR their own wants and necessities better
than the dead generation of men. He thought
| it possible hat in the light of great events
we should know what sort of constitution
we require, better than our fathers did, who
did not walk in that broad and clear light.
| Now this was anti democratic in the ex-
IRENE. No man can be good modern
democrat who does not hold to the infafibil-
ity Of the fathers as the sheet anchor of his
political faith. TO express a doubt of the
absolute prescience of the fathers, and deny
! that they foresaw and understood all the
reat events that have transpired, all the
multitude OF new interests that have grown
up, all our growth III knowledge, wealth
and population, all the circumstances by
which we are surrounded; in short to insin-
uate that the constitution they formed and
transmitted to us is not the work of infinite
wisdom and absolutely perfect in every re-
spect, lis The most damning political heresy.
Proceeding to speak of the Amendment,
MIR. Hobart noticed the objection that it
was not legally submitted, because the
Southern States were. not represented, and
reminded members that this was question
for the Supreme Court and not for the leg
isature to decide The question for tie leg
ssslature to consider was whether the princi-
Piles embodied in the amendment were right
in themselves, and demanded by the best
interests of the country
! lie favored the provision forbidding the
United States, or any of the States, to as
sumo the rebel debt because it was wrong
to compel the people to pay debt incurred
IN the attempt to destroy their government;
and because there was real danger that un
| less there should be a constitutional prohi-
bltlOu, this debt would sooner or later be
saddled upon the country. In support of
this last position he called attention to the
fact that most of the rebel states have al
ready passed laws recognizing portions of
the debt incurred in support of the rebellion
and compelling Union men of the South to
pay their share of it.
lie favored the proposition forbidding the
United States or any state to pay for eman-
cIpated slaves, because he was opposed to
paying men who, i'll defence of slavery, had
plunged the country into war. That war
had cost the country, besides half million
of lives, many times the value of all the
slaves; and he was not in favor of
paying who had compelled such sac
r6ces of blood and treasure for slaves set
free by reason of their own rebellious course.
He favored the provision guaranteeing
the public debt. 1t was possible that the
Supreme Court might at some time declare
unconstitutional some act of the President
or Congress, under which the debt was Gre
ated. Such decision would result in wide
spread disaster and ruin, and utterly destroy
the credit Of the government.
He favored the civil rights provision that
40 state shall deprive any person of life,
liberty or property, without due process of
law, or of the equal protection of the law
In giving freedom to the slaves we had in
Cured the moral obligation to protect their
rights as free men. The people Of the south
were educated in the belief that the negroes
were not entitled to equal protection with
the whites and there could therefore be no
protection TO the colored men of the seeded
states without some such provision in the
constitution. We were morally bound,
then, to give them the benefit Of this amend
meut.
He favored the third section which pro-
hibits perjured rebels from holding office.
For his own part, he did not want to see
half the offices at w ashington filled with
rebels. lie did not want to see the leaders
IN the rebellion occupying their old seats of
power Ill the Congress OF the Uuited States.
This would dignity the rebellion at home,
and make it honorable in the eyes of foreign
nations He was not opposed to humiia-
ting rebels, and the man who was must
sympathize with them. And the men at
the North who sympathized with rebels,
who refused voluntarily to aid their imper-
lied country, and gave their moral support
to those seeking to overthrow this govern
ment, would stand out blacker in history
in all coming time, than the rebels them
selves.
He favored the further provision of the
same section that ''All persons born or nat
uralized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States, and of the states in which
they reside" upon the ground that it makes
any person born or naturaIized in this couu-
ty q free aDd@; it declares that state rights
shall not override the authority Of the fed
eral government so as to make citizen of
the United States slave; it says no slave
shall breathe the air of this country.
lie declared that the section relating to
representation raised the whole subject of
extending the elective franchise to colored
men. His opinions had undergone change
on that subject. He had voted against the
extension of suffrage in this state, but he
had become convinced that the negroes at
the South needed the ballot as protection
a oaiuSt the Snnt bern Rahels who ,..era I'M,