Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-18

scorpions. And may we not ansWel
ike them: "What portion have we in
David9 Neither have we inheritance in
the son of JESSE
CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS.
| But, Mr. Speaker, before passing This
measure we are invited by its friends to
explore the constitutional grounds upon
which it rests. We cheerfully accept
the proposition. The gentleman from
| Pennsylvania Mr.. Kelley complained
that we should in'erpose constitutional
objections. he has be 30 long running
riot with that Constitution and with war
measures that be seems now to be dis
turbed that a time of peace has come,
when we may once more return to that
grand old charter as our guide. Our lips
are yet warm with the vows invoking
God 10 help US keep that Constitution in
its purity and strength And while the
lids of the Bible may be said to be scarce
ly dry, we are lectured and complained at
because we dare to discuss the proyis-
ions of that sacred instrument He says
il is an old and hackneyed theme, upon
which we have been raving for ten years
past. E--~
trust, sir, it may not be out of place
| to suggest that had the powers and pro-
visions of that noble instrument as in
terpreted and expounded by our courts
and wisest statesmen been more sacredly
kept and observed by certain loyal States
ana people, we doubtless would have
escaped the dark and bloody civil strife
which has filed the whole land with
misery. If loyalty to the Constitution
had been as faithfully racticed as loyalty
to sbolitionism, and to the Republican
party and ifs behests has been practiced
by many, then John Brown might have
had his grave dug in more congenial
soil than that of Virginia and been less
murderer. History will doubtless assign
him the distinction, whether to be de-
sired or not, of having fired the first gun
in the terrible war which Jared the con-
tipent to its centre. Had his gun but re-
NAMED in its rack and been loyal to the
Constitution of his fathers, the guns of
Sumter had never been heard save to re-
pei foreign enemy. / will not forego
my love for that grand old charter, nor
forget the vow which binds me to its
support, by reason of the taunts of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania. My tent
shall be pitched upon its ample folds and
around its bulwarks my camp-tires shall
be lighted.
Mir. Speaker, the gentleman from Mas
sachusetts Hr. Hoar seid:
"The Declaration of independence is
the sublime interpreter of the Constitu-
ton. Over every line, syllable, and let
ter of the Constitution the Declaration of
Independence sheds its f1sming torch
light"
Sir, while the problem is new TO me
that the grand old Declaration is one of
the csnons for the correct Interpretation
of the Constitution, and while / may re-
greet that the trainers of the Constitution
did not incorporate that magnificent pa
per as a part and parcel of the powers
intended to be conferred upon and en-
braced in the Constitution, which was
made twelve years later, thank the gen.
tleman for the reference.
But I.beg to be excused from the pro-
position that the Declaration of Indepen-
dence coDfers upon Congress the power
to pass this Ubiquitous measure now under
consideration, which is alike destructive
of State governments and individual lib
erty. Surely my distinguished friend-if
he will permit man from the Ku-Kluxed
South to greet him as such-has forgot
ten many of the leading provisions con-
tanned in that immortal paper, or his
conceptions of the present bill are singu-
larry at variance with the commonly IN
derstood meaning of the English lam
guage. Sir, that noble document de-
clsres:
''That all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. That, 10 secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men,
deriving their Just powers from the con-
sent of the governed"
Pray tell me, sir, how are '9ife, iber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness" main-
tanned, advanced, and protected, when,
under the present imquitous bill, the ab-
solute power is conferred upon the Presi-
dent, regulated alone by his discretion,
respor sibe to no human tribunals, sole
Judge alike of the law and facts upon
which he would actl Empowered to sUs-
pend your State government in all of its
departments, judicial, executive, and leg
islative, by declaring martial law! En-
powered to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus, that grand old writ of right which
the bold barons of England demanded at
| Runnymede from the usurping hand of
kindly prerogatiYe, and which our fore
fathers sought to guard and preserve with
ves,al fidelity Empowered to lord it with
unrestrsined and underlined power over
every citizen; and subject his life, hber-
ty, and happiness tothe dictates of mill
tary satrap, clothed with the .bayonet,
and supreme master of the situation. The
Declaration of independence teaches no
such doctrine, and confers no such power
on Congress. It was against such tyran-
ny that the memorable paper was issued,
and in the maintenance of which our il
lustrious fathers pledged their lives, for
tunes, and sacred honors. They denied
| that Britain's sovereign ever had such
power, and little dreamed they were
creating such upon this continent.
Sir, we know what is meant by martial
law. The late rebellion taught US far
keener and sadder lessons on this sub
iect than ever our forefathers experience
ed. England's great judge, Sir Matthew
Hale, long ago defined martial law to be
no law bu. the whim and caprice of the
man on horseback. / again thank the
gentleman for his allusion to the Declare
ton of Independence. trust he and all
of us may read it anew, and catch its
spirit of freedom. We shall there find
it was grievance against which our
fathers solemnly protested, that the king
of Britain ''kept among us, in times of
peace, standing armies, without the con-
sent of our Legislature"
| And now, sir, upon drunken brol of
two or more persons, an outrage perpe
trated by a few lawless and bad men
when the land is at peace, the power is
to be conferred upon one man to step in
and usurp all the powers of a State gov
eminent, and abolish with its edict every
vestige of civil liberty and individual
rights 1t was yet another count in this
grand indictment, framed by Jefferson
against England's king, "fOr depriVing
us, in many cases, of the right of trial by
Jury" And by this measure we are in
vited to confer upon the President the
power to abolish the right of trial by jury
and substitute in its place the drumhead
court martial. And it was yet another