Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1870-04-02
WHAT HAS BECOME OF TBIE Gov
STITUTION I'll

| F. HI.H| ..
. The Hon. John Quincy Adams
made a speech before the Constitu-
tional Club Of Boston, on Washing
toms birthday, In which he reviewed
the political situation, and In which
he stigmatised in severest terms the
course Of the administration Mt,
Washington: i'ga tlt"'bf IA
II mean to ,say,n said Mr.. Adams,
q and say 1t with sense of respon-
lsibiIity,j that to-day there Is nothing
of the old Constitution OF our fathers
left 10 us except what was always
Understood and believed to be q mere
incident OF constitutional power, and
that is this war power!
The old constitutional edifice of the
fathers WINS built of white marble of
the States, which they brought to-
gether voluntarily as a work of love,
and piled up there one by one, each
in pride and delight, adding stone af-
ter stone to the beautiful and SYM
metricai edifice under which we all
lived. But what is this thing which
we now see there In Washington |?
Is that built of those stones? Is that
put together by any such bands as
those which cemenfed the old capt.
toll? Why, gentlemen, 1t Is built of
the volcanic lava, but yet hot from
the results Of the outpouring of the
mount, and 1t is clamped together by
great bands of black, rusted iron fet-
tiers. It's no such edifice at all and
! x,axxr have IN. tta 4 Il
chair q man who, when. he swears to
protect and defend and preserve the
Constitution, seems to think that
this Is the Constitution which he
swears to preserve" vas.hsr ~
Abiding to proposition which
was made In the Massachusetts Leg
islature, few days before, to fire a
hundred guns on Boston Common in
honor Of the ratification Of the If
teenth amendment, Mr.. Adams
said: ,sss5a, ,,.f,f.. =, moon
81 was only sorry that I was not
in the Legislature to propose, rs an
amendment to 10, that the United
4 States he humbly solicited to allow
the State Of Massachusetts, to fire
that salute from Fort Warren, and
that the guns might be shotted, iu
order to show the process by which
heamendment had been carried"
THE following extract Is taken
from the able address delivered by ],
b. Killebrew before the Farmers
Club: ~ hfir ii}i'li~ y wv.
Ip9H And we must organize. -organize
thoroughly AMI efficiently All
other trades and professions have
their organizatiOus, and their voices
are needed in our Legislative halls
The farmers, In this State at least
have been like disorganized army
after rOut, each one striving tn take
care of himself without any assist.
: ance from his co labOrers. Instead o.
) joining their united energies to effect
) deliverance from those evils, tina
3 have Oftentimes sOrely oppressed
$ them, they have preferred to work
slngly, pulling I'm various and oppo.
D site directions; neutralizing the pow
er of each other and producing Q
3 state Of rest and inactivity by tn,
. exertion sOflaequal and 'opposit,
/ forces. In this way they have nulli
r fled their influence and Importance
: Like broken hacks, they have suf
4 fered themselves to be hitched III the
! traces and driven at will by an,
, half-fiedged willing who had a pur
4 pose to accomplish. Let this b,
{ stepped. Let the agriculturalis
t learn to respect himself and other
I will respect him. Il Let the sheaves o
! the. brethren begin to make obeis
ance to, the sheaf of Joseph. w,
{ are q power in the land If we knew
9 it. / do not desire to array clas
against class; but l do wish to sc,
\ each class In the community wielt
' an influence proportioned to its i'm
: portance. Above all / do not like Il
4 see the legislative halls Of the coun
\ try crowded with men whose pro
D found ignorance Of this mainstay o
e national strength, is only equalle,
+ by their Overweeuing contempt for II
If our representatives are to be selec
f ted exclusively from any one class
v in the name Of Justice and right, le
: 1t be from the most numerous, tn
most conservative, the most law
{ abiding and the most useful In TIN
o community" nu l tga)