Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-02

the land, you see that a law passed by
two-thirds majority L. no more bindin
than if passed by simple majority. I'm
deg pretext of making Law, Congress
passis law and assumes that II is consti
tutional. In this way they make encrosch
ments upon the people. They have almos
gone far enough to make a law sbolishiDl
the executive and judicial department.
Of the government, thereby leaving Con
gress standing alone, with solitary ana
absolute power in the government. Wher
Congress assumes this attitude, let me tel
you here, TO day, as one who knows anC
feels what is being done and intended &c
be done, thai the object is 10 absorb all thu
power Of the government in the Congress
Of the natior. The judicial aud exc
cutive branches set aside, Congress becomes
the government, and it becomes a more
absolute power than that of the Gar oil
Russia. Don't We know that body Of
men thus organize when they commence
the passage Of bad laws, by association and
| protection lose direct responsibility and
pass laws that sane men would shrink and
shudder al? Bad men, by being associa-
ted, become more despotic and injurious in
the execution of tyrannieal measures.
1t was my lot on entering upon the
duties of the Presidency Of the United
| States, TO come in coHhict with the legisla.
tive department of the e vernment, aud in
doing 80 the fundamental principles OF
the government have been involved. /
| swore to preserve, protect and defend the
the constitution, aud when Congress vio-
lated that instrument, l vetoed the meas
ures, and / would do it again in spite of
threats, and face OF the axe of Official
decapitation. (Great applause
What has Congress done? Let us follow
| it up few steps and see what it has done
Let me tell you that when this people lose
their liberty and present form of govern
ment, it will be done by the legislative
department The lime has come when it's
course should be averted. When measure
involving the constitution of the land is
involved it should be submitted TO the Su-
preme Court. Voice-Tharss
This Congress, that is usurpiDg all
power of the government you are called
upon to trust and Ieqpec; this Congress,
that has taken away the trial by jury; that
has denied the privilege of The wriI of
habeds corpus; that hiss subordinated the
civil " hCdd vi TIC
army. The dominant majority in that
body have wresIed from the President his
constitutional power of supreme command
Of the army and navy. They have de-
stroyed the strength and efficiency of the
executive department by making subordi-
nate officers independent of and able 10
defy their chief. They have attempted
TO place the President under the
power Of a bold, defiant, and treach.
erous cabinet officer. They have
robbed the executive of the prerogatiVe of
pardon, rendered null and void acts Of
clemency granted 10 thousands of persons
under the provisions of the constitution,
and committed gross usurpatien by legis-
lstive attempts TO exercise this power in
favor Of party adherents. They have coz
spired to change the system of our gov
ernmsnI by preferring charges against
the President 10 the form of articles Of
Impeachment, and contemplating, before I
hearing or trial, that he should be placed
in arrest, held in durance, and, Nhea il
became their pleasure to pronCun his
sentence, driven from place and power in
disgrace. They have in time of peace in
creased the national debt by a reckless
of the public moneys and
thus added to the burdens which al
ready weigh upon the people. They
have permitted the nation TO suf-
fer the evils of deranged currency, TO
the enhancement Of price of all the neces-
saries of life. They have maintained
large standing army for the enforcement of
their measures of oppression. They have /
engaged in class legislation, aud built up
and encouraged monopOlies, that The few
might be enriched at the expense Of the
many. They have failed TO act upon i'm
portant treaties, thereby endsngering our
present peaceful relations with foreign
powers.
Their course Of usurpatiOn has not been
limited TO inroads upon the executive de-
partment.
BY unconstitutional and oppressive en-
the people Of ten States of the
Union have been reduced to condition
more intolerable than that from which the
patriots of the Revolution rebelled Mil
lions of American citizens can now say Of
their oppressors, with more truth than our
fathers did of British tyrants, that they
have forbidden the governors 10 pass
lawsOf Immediate and pressing Importance,
unless suspended until their assent should
be Obtained" that they have refused 10
pass other laws Of accanmoda ion to larg
districts Of people, unless those people
would relinquish the right Of represents
tion in the Legislature-a right inestima.
bic 10 them, and formidable TO iyrante
only" that they have made judges depen-
dent upon their will alone for the tenurs
of their offices, and the amount and pay
ment Of their salaries;" that they have
"ereCled a multitude of new offices, and
sent hither swarms of officers to harrass
our people and eat out their substance"
that they have affected to render the milf
tary independent of and superior to the
civil power" combined with others to
subject US to jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution, and unacknowledged by our
laws" "quartered large bodies of armed
troops among u.s. protected them by a
mock trial from the punishment for any
murders which they should commit on the
inhabitants of The e States" imposed
taxes upon us without our consent" "de
pIived us in many cases of the benefit of
trial by jury" taken away our charters,
excited domestic instruction amongst ~,
abolished our most valuable laws, altered
fundamentally the forms Of our govern
ment, suspended our own Legislature, and
declared themselves invested with power
to legislate for Us in all cases whatsoever"
The catalogue of crimes, long as ii is, is
not yet complete. The constitution vests
the judicial power Of the United States in
the Supreme Court" whose jurisdiction
shall extend to all cases arising under
the constitution" and "tbe laws of the
United STA es" Encouraged by this prom
ise Of a refuge from tyranny, a citizen Of
the United States who, by the order OF a
military commander, given under the sane
ton of a cruel and deliberate edict If
Congress, had been denied the conslitu-
tional rights Of liberty of conscience, free
dom of the press and of speech,
personal freedom from military arrest, of
being held TO answer for crime only upon
| presentment and Indictment, of trial by jury,
Of the writ Of habeas cOrpns, and the pro-
| lection Of civil and constitutional govern
ment--a citizen thus deeply wronged, sp-
| peals to the Supreme Court for the prOlec.
| lion guaranteed to him by the organic law
/ of the land. At once fierce and excited
majority, by the ruthless hand Of legisla'
tive power, stripped the ermine from the
Judges, transferred the sword of Justice to
tie General, and remanded The oppressed
citizen TO degradation and bondage worse
tha1 death.
All! fellow-citizens. we did not appre
ciate our constitution, and the beauty and
harmony Of the government il formed. Ia
an hour of madness, We lost hold Of oul
moorings, and bad men have mutiDied
thrown away the compass whose needle
ever pointed our course in the patti
of liberty and Justice, assumed thu
helm, and have driven us Ear on TO
ward the breakers of despotism
| tHl,; rnrnicinna ~ annie has hppn fnIlnMei