The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1868-06-06
Extract from Senator samIsbury,s
speech.

at one and the same time. A war against
the Southern States, war against their
political opponents, and war against the
Constitution of the Uuitcd States. In the
prosecution Of these wars they were gull.
" OF almost every offense for the commits.
sion Of which our fathers declared their
Independence of the British Crown and
made war to secure that independence. l
will say nothing of their action in regard
to the people of the South. Against those
who adhered to the Union, and who were
much more devoted to the Constitution
and Government Of the United States
than they were themselves, they were
guilty Of the following offcnscs charged
in the Declaration of Independence:
1st They dissolved Legislatures for op-
posing with manly frmness their inya-
sions on the rights of the people. 2nd.
They obstructcd the administration Of
justice by imprisoning judges and officers
Of the law. 3rd. They attempted TO
make judges dependent on their will
alone for the tenure Of their Offices and
the payment Of their salaries. 4th. They
erected multitude Of new Offices aud
sent among them swarms Of officers to
harass the people and eat out their sub
stance. 9Th. They kept among the peo-
pie, who were at peace among themselves,
standing armies, without the consent Of
their Legislatures. 9th. They rendered
the military independent of and superior
to the civil power. 7th. They subjected
the people to a jurisdiction foreign to
their Constitution, and unacknow!edged
by their laws. 9Th. They quartered
large bodies Of armed troops among them.
9th. They protected officers and troops
from punishment for murder and other
crimes committed by them. 10th. They
cut of the trade Of the people among
themselves and with other parts of the
world. 1lth. They deprived the people
in many cases Of the benefits of the trial
by jury. 18th. Without authority of
law their President exercised the follow.
ing powers which belong exclusively to
Congress, aud was thereby guilty of usur-
patton, which usurpation was approved By
the Republican party, and thus it became
their act: j, he increased the army
2, he increased the navy; 8, he appro-
prlated the public money; 4, he regula-
ted commerce with foreign nations; 5, he
regulated commerce between the States !;
@, he contracted debt on behalf of the
nation 7, he suspended the writ of hdbe-
as corpu. 18th. The following powers,
denied both 10 Congress and the Presi-
dent, their President exercised, which ex-
ercise of unauthorized power they ap-
proved, and thereby are guilty as a party
of the usurpation themselves: l, he
proclaimed martial law; 2, he arrested
without legal warrant; 8, imprisoned and
punished without conviction and legal tri-
al; 4, punished under er post facto or
non-existing law; 5, introduced lettres tle
eachet, bastiles, and the midnight secret
proceedings of the Inquisition; 6, in
terdicted reports; Z, favored some ports
to the prejudice of others; 8, regulated
the commerce of State within its own
bounds; 8, impaired the freedom Of
speech and of the press; 10, infringed
the peoples right to keep and bear arms !;
IL, made unreasonable searches and seiz.
ures; u, prohibited emigration and
required passports Is, dismissed the
police of cities in States not proclaimed in
insurrection and appointed others in their
place IA, interfered by the military
force with the freedom of elections in
the States; Is, took private property
for public use without jnst compensation.
10th. This party has conferred the elec-
tive franchise upon the negro in the Dis
trict of Columbia against the will of the
people. 18th. They have placed Gov
ernors over the people against their viii
and IN violation of their laws by military
force. 10th. They have caused pretend
ed Legislatures to be selected in the
States against the will of the people in
the same manner and by the same en-
ployment of the same means. 17th. They
have by the same means appointed pre-
tended conventions to form and revise the
constitutions of the States. 18th. They
have forced illegal State constitutions up
on the people against their wills. 10Th.
They have appropriated money out of the
public Treasury for the support of negroes
living in idleness, and have levied taxes
upon the white citizens for that purpose.
Goth. They have attempted to deprive
the people of the States of the power to
determine evidence and regulate the ju-
dicial proceedings of their own courts, In
violation of their laws and constitutions.
21st. They have deprived the State
courts of the jurisdiction to hear and de.
termine questions relating to tho rights
of persons, liberty, and property within
the State, and to pass and determine up
on the guilt or innocence of those accus-
ed of crimes committed within the State.
I'D. They have authorized the arrest and
and punishment of judges for deciding
questions of law against their enactment,
23d. They have annulled the constitution
al authority and prerogatives of the Exec
utive of the United States. 24th. They
have banished the citizens from family and
home without trial. 25th. They have
violated every one of the twelve amend
ments to the Constitution designed to pro-
tect the people in the enjoyment of their
rights of persons, liberty, and property.
26th. They have sacrificed the lives Of
half q million men in war which they
might easily have averted, and have bur
dened the industry Of the people by the
creation of debt amounting to billions
of dollars.
q And now there was no foe in arms
T. unite their factions with alarms,
But all reduced and overcome,
Except their worst, themselves, at home,
Who'd compass'd all they pray d and swore
And fought and preach'd and plumber d for.
Subdued the nation, church, and state,
And all things but their laws and hate