The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-10-22


Now, ask you upon principle, if yo,
are to elect in the State government judges
governors, and legislators, who should de
eide the voters upon these officers The,
are State officers, they are not Federal off
GERS. Ought it not, upon principle, to b,
the people of the State who should decid,
for themselves =? Our fathers thought so
and so they provided, and so it has remain
ed since 1882 Have you observed any
reason to change the Constitution in thai
respect, and take away from the State gov.
eminent power that is essential to hel
existence as an independent State wher
l use the word-independeat State; gentle
men, do not mean State with right to
withdraw from the Union. When l speak
OF the rights of State, do not speak Of any
right of secession. l speak of those rights
OF government and those powers of govern
ment that the Constitution of the United
States recognizes as belonging to the States
That Constitution has always recognized as
belonging to the State the right to regulate
the franchise in the State. Now, you pro-
pose to take it from the States and confer
that power upon Congress. Do you men
of Ohio feel that the power is safer in Con-
grees than with yourselves? "No, no.
With yourselves you regulate it according
to your own pleasure. If it be handed
over to Congress you cannot tell what will
be the result. Now l know of no State in
the Union having larger interest in this
question of State rights than Ohio. No
State has greater interest in maintaining
except it be more distant States-the
rights, dignity, and equality of the States
under the Constitution of the United States
You have great State; your population
is large; your wealth is enormous; your
interests are varied. Are all these inter-
ests not better protected when your home
government is maintained, with all its con-
stitutional rights and powers? Your pro-
perty is protected, and your person is pro-
tected under the laws of your State. If
you are offended by wrong done to your per-
son or property, you go to the State for
protection. If the laws that regulate the
disposition of your property and domestic
relation be unsatisfactory, they are correc-
ted by your home legislation. If you once
allow the Congress of the United States to
become the controller of those powers and
questions which the fathers left with the
people of the States, how far is it eventual
ly to go? You cannot tell. So that your
safety, in view of your power in this Union
in view of the great interests to be pro-
tected-your safety, in Ohio, is in main
tanning all the rights, the dignity, and
equality of the States unimpaired. (Ap-
plause) This is but one step in the wrong
direction-to take from the people of the
States power that they have, and give it
to the Congress of the United States. l am
not going to discuss this afternoon, before
you, whether the negro is fit to be voter,
or whether the negro is your equal, or my
equal. l suppose each gentleman has his
own judgment upon that question. be-
lieve that this question belongs to the
States, and that it is change in the very
nature and framework of our government
to take it from The States and confer it up
on Congress. In the name, then, of the
States, l object to this amendment. On
behalf of our home government, | object to
it. We are safest when we are protected
by government near by US; where the
public officers are responsible directly to
the people. What does Congress any lon
ger care for the will of the people if it can
carry their measures, purposes, and policy
They do not turn any more to inquire what
the people believed or what the people
want. They are ready to make pledge to
you in advance of the election, and disre-
gard it as soon as the election is over. This
fifteenth amendment shows this. If the
members of the Legislature don't obey
your will, but pass laws that they know
you do not want, they have to come home
to you and answer for that. But members
of Congress have now come to feel sort Of
independence of the judgment, wish, and
will of the people. am not in favor, then,
| of hand no ovnr tho noworc that hnlDpu of
right to our home and domestic govern
ment to government further removed from
the people. think you expressed it very
well in one of your resolutions of the DEM
ocratic Convention of this State: ".Con-
solidation, in this country, means the abso-
Lutte dominion of monopoly and aggregate
perty of the toiling masses" Stand by
your State governments, for they are your
home protection. Stand by them, not in
any hostility to the general government,
but stand by them under the Consti luton
of the United States, and maintain forever
that harmony between the States and gen
eral government which gives security to the
people and respect and dignity to both
forms Of government
THE NATIONAL BANKS.
In the speech to which I have referred,
Governor Morton makes defence of the
national banking system, and as that was
the speech which opened the campaign, it
is to be regarded as declaring the views of
the party in the State. Can you see any
advantage to the people in the national
banking system9 Governor Morton says
Democrats want to break down the present
system and establish the State banking
system. He says that without finding it in
the platform, or declared by any of the can
didatcs, so far as 1 know. The Democrats
say this: That if the government of the Uni
ted States must furnish currency, why not
issue it directly from the Treasury, like she
did during the war instead of interposing
a banking system between her and the peo-
ple2 1t is done in this way: If a man
wants to establish National bank he goes
to Washington and deposits an amount of
! bonds, and then strikes off as many bank
bills as that deposit will allow, and brings
those bank bills out and circulates them
as money, the bonds of the United States
standing as security for these bank bills
In other words, the government is security
for the banks Now, if the government is
to be security for the banks why not al
low government to issue Treasury notes at