Des Arc weekly citizen., 1869-03-16

Veh preVe".eu cnin ahu ais- passiN >e reconsideration ofa bill dis approved bv ths Executive.
 Much as veuerate the Constitution it must be admitted that this condition of affairs had developed deRct which, under the oppressive tendency of the legislative department of the Govern
 nient p,ay readily work its overthrow. 1t must, however, be remetlied without disturbing the harmony of the instru-
 ment. The veto power it generally exercised upon constitutional grounds, and wherever it is so applied and the son for withholding his signature, it
 ought to be immediately certified to | the Supreme Court the United States 1 for it's decision.
 If its constitutianality shall be de-
 clared by that tribunal it should
 then become law, but if the decision is otherwise it should fall, without power in Congress to re-enact it. In cases in which no constitutional ques- ton is involved, I would uot change the fundamedtal law, for in such cases no permanant evil can bc incorporated in the federal system. Itis obvious that,
 without such an amendment, the Con-
 stitution prior to the rebellion may be wholly subverted and overthrown by
 a two- thirds majority in Congress. I It is not, thererore, difficult to see
 how easily and rapidly the people may loose--shall Inot say lost-their liber-
 ties, by unchecked and uncomfortable
 authority in their law-making power,
 and whenever deprived of their rights how powerless they are to regain them | Let us turn for moment to the history
 of the majority in Congress which has
 acted in such utter rdisregardsof the con-
 stitution. While public attention has
 been carefully and constantly turned
 10 the past and exposed sins of the | South. the servants of the people in
 their high places have boldly outraged l their trust, broken their oaths or obedi- 1 enco and undermined the very foun-
 dstion ofliberty, justice and good gov ernment.
 l When the rebellion was being sup pressed by the volunteered services of patriotic soldiers amid the dangers of l the battlefield, these men crept without question into place and power in the l national councils. After all danger had passed, when no armed foe remain ed, when pcnitent people bowed their I heads to the flag and renewed their l allegiance to the Government of the l United States, then it was that the pretcnded patriot appeared before. the
 nation and began to prate about the | thousands of lives and millions Of
 treasure sacrificed in suppression of
 the rebellion.
 They have since consistently sought
 to inflame the prejudice engendered be- Itween the sections, to retard tue resto-
 ration of peace and harmony, and by every means to keep open and exposed to the poisonous breath ofparty passion the terrible wounds of a four years war. They have prevented the return of peace and the restoration of union in every way rendered delusive the pur- poses. promises and pledges by which the army was marshaled, treason re- buked and rebellion crushed and made the liberties of the people and the
 rights and powers of the President
 objects of constant attack.
 They have wrested from tho Presi-
 dent his constitutional power of the
 supreme command of the army and
 navy; they have destroyed tue strength
 of the Executive Department by mak- ing subordinate officers Independent or aud able to defy their Chief Magistrate :; they have attempted to place the
 President under tho power of q bolt,
 defiant, and treacherous Cabinet 9ih-
 cer; they have robbed the Executive
 of the prerogative of pardon rendered null and void the, acts o1 ciemency granted to thousands of persons under iho nrovi.;ons of the Constitution, and commiitcd gross usurpations by lcgis- lative attempts to exercise this power In favor of party adherens; they have conspired to change the system of our Government by preierring charges against the President in the form of articles of impeachment, and contem- yisting, before hearing or trial, that he 1 should la placed under arrest, held in l durance. an-. when it became their pleasure to pronocnee ms sentence, driven from place and power III dIs-
 grace they have in time of peace in- creased the national debt by reckless expenditure ofSpublic moneys and thus added to the burden which already weigh upon the people they have per mitted the nation to suffer the evils of d deranged currency to the enhance ment in price of all the neeessaries of I life; they have maintained large standing army for the enforcement of tucIT ~ducusutCS VI OPPiVoSsVu ''Nss have engaged in class legislation, built and encouraged monopolies, that the kfew might be enriched at the expense of the many; they have failed to act upon important treaties, endangering 1 our peaceful relations with foreign l powers.
 Their course of usurpation has not been limited to inroads upon the Exc cutive Department by unconstitutional and oppressive enactments. Tho peo- ! pie of ten States of the Union have l been reduced to condition more | intolerable than that from which the patriots of the Revolutions rcbelled. Millions of American citizens can now say of their oppressors with more truth than their fathers did of British
 tyrants, that they have forbidden the I State governments to pass laws of I immediate and pressing importance
 unless suspended until their assent
 should be obtained. That they have
 refused to pass other laws for the
 accommodation of large districts of
 people unless these people would rein- l quish their right Of representation in 1 the Legislature, a right ihcstimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. That they have made judges dependent I on their will alone for the tenure of
 offices and the amount and payment of
 claims.
 That they have erected multitude |