The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1869-06-11
aspEEcHrss oF sENAToR. sPRAauE

4
equally applicable to all Legislation in
this country. The government was
framed by lawyers, fortunately in the
interest Of she people; but it has been
administered by them in their own
interest and receatly they have had en-
tire control of it, aud have brought IT to
that low stage of inEamy which has in
vitcd another class, ambitious, unscru-
pulous, but not without honor, to seize
the rcins of government and to purge
the halls of legislation the graduates of
West Point. Between those whose ed
ucation erccts the standard Of money m
stead of virtue and those who are laugh!
to gaze upon the goal Of military ambi-
ton, the people like flock of sheep,
are at the mercy Of ravcnous wolves
The Senator speaks earnestly
elbow is this body composcdi OF
sixty-six members, forty of them
have been educated as lawyers and prac-
ticed as such, five of them in the
same kind of education and of thought,
and the rest more or less governed by
tho teachings which the body thus aug
mcntcd through one profession gives to
the remainder. That is the compost
ton of this body. | have examined
partially the composition Of the other
House, and find that the prepondor-
ance there is even greater; that from
some States tho representation is entire
ly from the legal professionalism those
educated in one line, practiced in one
theory and idea; and it is to them that
the liberties, the interests, and the me-
cessities of great people are confdOd,
! ''Now, sir, we have government Of
lawyers and judges-educatcd in one
line, practiced in one pursuit educated
upon the quarrels and exhibitions of the
worst passions of human nature; prac-
ticed in the discussions, influenced by
the vices Of tho people. 1t is such a
Judgment that is brought to bear upon
everything connected with this Govern
ment, and it is that condition of mind
which is brought to lcgislato upon the
interest, upon the honor, and upon the
advancement of great people. ], for
one, in looking back upon the past his
tory Of this country-and the people,
whatever philosophers may say, will
come to the Same conclusion-have
come to bcJieve that your war has not
been won for the liberties Of any class Of
people; ]. your. WAR, just partially con
cludcd, has bad no high yirtuous princi-
pie at the bottom of it. 1t has had sim
pie contentious tor power, for place, for
occupation, commencing here in this
body and permeating throughout the
country. You have, by the contentious
beginning here, through the ambition q!
one class of men, built up two great,
two powerful bodies of people, and you
have built tn EN- up for purpose--that
they might unite with year swH anbi-
tious ends for office and place and pow
er; and you have como from here to
your respective peoples, both North and
South, in order to create great oppor-
tunities that you might go on in that
way prospecting in employment and in
office. If the philosophers of this age
do not give that exact pitch to tho tests
about us, am most sadly in error.
"Wc have been reminded, by those
who study history, of the condition of a
nation powerful now, civilized and re-
fined beyond any nation, whose people
were prosecuted, tyranized, destroyed
by self-constituted assembly, through
its agents, its triumyirate, and its direc-
tory; and this body may as well be
warned here to-day, and IN time, of what
the people whom you propose to. repre-
sent, and try to represent, may demand.
''Sir, all have studied the results of
tho Inquisition, commencing in tho
fourteenth century, and ending in this,
Obnoxious and cruel as the action of
tho Inqustion was, do not believe that
it caused more anxiety, moro trouble,
more terror, than the acts of Congress
applied to the people during the war,
both North and South, and since the
war has ended; for if ever there was
tyranny exercised, either by one man or
by set of men, aiming at given pur-
pose, that tyranny was exhibited over
the people of this country, South and
North, in the cxactions made upon them
while the war was pressing, and, since
then, in the adjustment of their material
interests. The troubles, the anxieties,
and the uncertainties which have operat-
ed upon the minds of business men and
their families, have been unknown to
the history of any modern nation.
IL do not know how other men feel
bat for myself, sir, if it is question of
tyranny, prefer the tyranny of ono
man to that of a collective body of men
and, in my judgment, such would be
the testimony of those who have suffer-
ed both. If Wa must have one, give nae
the tyranny of ono man who has some
humanity in him, whe has some account
ability and responsibility in him, rather
than the tyranny of body without re-
sponsibiity and without accountability.
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