Litchfield enquirer., 1868-12-24

is. s4oa fls aailehs sEfIW3a ;oa {ts2a 51#of -. .l ....,...... ...... ---- l -----.- L-I--
 sherlffs and justices of the peace ana
 members of the Legislatures before youl
 Federal courts because they have accepted the offices to. which the people chose them
 You infict upon them fines and imprison
 ments. You centralize the entire power o
 this Government. Sir, I am no particulal ! believer in. nor have any particular re
 spect for, what is called the doctrine O
 State rights; but do believe that, essen
 tlal to our republican system, essential tc
 the liberties of the people, is the continu
 ance of. local self government, and the bil of the Senator from Nevada compels the Federal authority to interfere in every To
 cal election throughout the Republic wher- ever thepeoples hall choose to select for of
 ice person affected by any of these disa
 bllties. But suppose, on the other hand
 that you do not enforce the law; that the bill of the Senator from Nevada shall not pass, and that the constitutional amend
 meat shall be left to stand to enforce it. self, then, as we, know from experience, il will not be enforced In every one of the recently reconstructed States. States that have made republican constitutions and sent them here. and we have approved, in different parts of those Statessthe local constituencies have chosen public officers obnoxious to some of these disabilities.
 Will you enforce your law? You cen tralize the Government and you strike a fatal blow at the existence of local self government, the proper foundation of our republican system. Will you decline or neglect to enforce your law? You bring all law into contempt. So that in either point ot view It Is true, as I said, that the bill offered by the Senator from Nevada is 2 forclble argument in favor of the meas ures which advocate.
 Again, sir, now that the strife of civil war IS over; now that the three years of anarchy which a bad President has brought upon us are brought to close; now that the people have by such overwhelming ma- Jorities declared that this Government henceforth is to go back to the system which Jefferson contemplated when he framed the Declaration, it is needful for the building up of that homogeneous state of civil society all over the Republic, which IS essential to the continuance of our in stltutlons, that these disabilities should be removed. have felt rejoiced at the amend ment after amendment to the Constitution which has been offered in the two houses of Congress at this session for the aboli- tlon of the class distinctions which still dlsfgure the legislation of many of the States of the Union. 1 have always believed that our Republican system can only endure upon the basis of true and broad democ- racy Government deriving it's powers from the consent of the governed. And how can l stand here and vote for an amendment to the constitution to strike out all distinctions of color in the exercise of the suffrage and at the same time insist upon the continuance of such disabilities as yet remain upon the Federal Statute book? Why, sir, it does seem as if the ex- perlence of the, last fifty years ought to en- hghten us as to the chimerical character of the dan gers which have been apprehended from taae exteasion of su ffraga and tlaa eli gibillty to office at one time and another
 It has been thought once, even in this land, that poverty disqualified a man from votlng,o and no man, unless he was the owner ot property was permitted to exer- else the suffrage. Time went on; the prop erty qualification disappeared; and nowhere are law and order more respected, are per son and property more secure than in those communities where suffrage Is most universal a and government rests upon the broadest foundation. aoLH gri
 It has been thought that dangers might assail, us in the influx of the enormous i'm migration from the Old World, and great party was once organized upon that very The fear has passed. away for time and experience have demonstra- ted that the evils accompanying that inn migration are but temporary, aud will pass away in single generation.
 That time has been when the negro was beast of burden and nothing else. The time Is now when good men often appre- bend the danger of an extension of the suf- 'frage unto him by reason of the ignorance which Is the result of centuries of slavery; but 1t is beginning to be seen. by the prac- tical operation of the laws extending suff- rage, that all these fears are chilnerical, and the black man as we'll as the white is an element or strength and prosperity in civil society. .e '.
 And so now other good men fear that the extension of the suffrage and the re- moval of the disabilities to and from, the entire class lately engaged in the rebellion will bring peril to the community The apprehension in the last case in my judge ment will prove as fallacious as in all the other cases; and q l think that with the adoption of some one of the constitutional amendments to which have referred. with the sweeping away off your statute book o i all these disabilities, we may realize in a brief space of time that which Jefferson contemplated when he framed the Declar. ation-a government wherein rich and poor, native and citizen of foreign birth the negro and his former master, may all
 constitute elements in republican de-
 mocraey, which shall be as broad as the continent, and as enduring as the national life. @lh# "9d a0'f 1'''AS'-''
 's} t,.rs3 sfts i-si # .,7s5 @ tti# tei iui It has come to light that General Gran
 wrote 8 letter complimenting MT. Motle, for the great speech he delivered at Bostoii
 during the recent political campaign. (" It is suggested, in extenuation of thei
 conclusion, that the Cole jury were san I"just before" and immediately after,
 but horribly idiotic at the moment of ren
 dering their verdict. s..sssa 9s1.Ia rs.S a','. fs Some of the students of Princeton Col | i0Oa dlSnIavinoJ tr &ba:,, >r.,,, Is,o..o ga