Wyoming democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., Pa.) 1867-1940, 1869-03-10

sent should he obtained that they have
refused to pass other laws for the accom-
modation of large districts of people unless
those people would relinquish the right OF
representation in the Legislature, right
inestimable to them and formidable to ty-
rants only; that they have made Judges
dependent upon their will alone for the
tenure OF their offices, and the amount and
payment of their salaries; that they have
erected amultitude of new offices and sent
hither swarms of officers to harasS our peo-
pie and eat out their substance. That they
have affected to render the military indie
pendent and superior to the civil power !;
combined with others to subject us to Il
jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and
unacknowledged by our laws quartered
large bodies of armed troops among us );
protected them by Il mock trial from pun
ishment for any murders which they
should commit on the inhabitants Of these
States imposed taxes upon us without our
consent deprived MS in many eases of the
benefit OF trial by jury; taken away olr
charters melted domestic insurection
amongst us abolished our most valuable
laws altered fundamentally the form of
our government; suspended our own legis-
latures and declared themselves invested
with power to legislate for us III all cases
whatsoever
This catalogue Of crime, long rs it is, is
not yet complete. The Constitution vests
the judicial power of the United States in
one Supreme Court, whose jurisdiction
shall extend To all cases arising under the
Constitution and laws Of the United States.
Encouraged by this promise of a refuge
from tyranny, Il citizen of the United
States, vino by the order of military com
mander given under the sanction Of i cruel
and deliberate edict of Congress, hns been
denied the Constitutional rights of liberty
OF conscience, freedom of the press, and OF
speech, personal freedom from military ar
rest, OF beng held to answer for crime only
upon presentmcnt Of IN Indictment, Of tri-
al by jury. of the writ OF habeas corpus,
and the protection OF IL civil and constitu-
tional governmental citizen thus deeply
wronged, appeals to the Supreme Court
for the protection guaranteed him by the
organic law of the land At once IL fierce
and excited majority, 10y the ruthless hand
of legislative power, stripped the ermine
from the Judges, transferred the sword of
Justice to the General, and remanded the
oppressed citizen to a degradation and
bondage worse than death.
1t viii also be recorded as one of the mar
vels Of the times that a party claiming for
itself monopoly of consistency and pa
tliotism, and boasting of It's unlimited sway,
endeavored by a costly and deliberate trial
to impeach one who defended the Constitu-
ton and the Union, not only throughout
the war Of the rebellion, but doing the
whole term of Office as chief magistrate :
but at the same time could find no warrant
or means at their command to bring to tri-
al even the chief Of the rebellion. Indeed,
| the remarkable failures in this case We're so
often repeated that, for propliety's sake, if
|
necessary to extend to him an uncondition-
al pardon. What more plainly than this
| illustrates the extremity Of party manage
ment and Inconsistency on the one hand,
and of faction, yindictiveness, ,.and intOler-
auce on the other. Patriotism Will hardly
be encouraged when, in such a record, it
sees that its instant reward may be most
virulent party abuse and obloquy, If not at
| tempted disgrace. Instead of seeking TO
make treason odious, it would in truth seem
to have been their purpose rather to make
the defence of the Constitution and Union
Il crime, and to punish fidelity to an oath
of Office, if counter to party dictation, by
all the means at their command.
Happily for peace of the county, the war
has determined against the assumed power
of the State to withdraw at pleasure from
the Union. The Institution of slavery also
found its destruction i'll rebellion com
menced in its interest 1t should be borne
in mind, however, that the war neither iln-
pairednor destroyed the Constitution, but
on the contrary, perservedits existence, and
made apparentits realpower and enduring
strength. All the rights granted to the
States or reserved to the people are, there
fore, intact. Among those right is that of
the people of each Stateto declare the quail
ifications of their own State electors 1t is
now assumed that Congress can control
this vital right, which can never be taken
away from the States without impairing the
fundamental principles of the government
itself. 1t is necessary to the existence of
states as well as to the protection of the
liberties Of the people; for the rightsb elect
the elector in whom the political power of
the State shall be lodgen invol yes the right
of the State togoyern itself. When deprived
| of this prerogative, the States will have no
power worth retaining. All will be gone,
and they will be subjected to the arbitrary
will of Congress The governm ent will then
be centralized ii, not by the passage of laws,
then by the adoption, through partisan
influence, of an amendment directly in con