The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1871-01-10

9 ident upon accusations that are said t.
: have been made by the Senator from
? Massachusetts, and this body of mel
$ who are to 60 to San Domingo are tn,
; Jury who are to go and take view
! adopting the suggestion of the Senator
3 from Wisconsin.
: Ah! Mr.. President, if this is Grimm
) al trial, If the President of the United
States is accused, when, in the history
/ of criminal jurisprudence, did it evel
, happen that the prisoner chose his own
: Jury? When, before, was such thing
{ as that known? This is the jury to &c
and take the view; this is the jury to
| find the truth or falsehood OF these ac
{ cusations and the high criminal, or al
Ileast the alleged criminal, is to have un-
, restricted power to select his triers =
!, That is strange thing to me, most
lunfortunatei Illustration, as it seems to
J me. say sir. that fairness does require
that this Senate Should have some voice
in the selection of these commissioners,
} if they are to be appointed. There is q
plain, direct opposition of opinion be-
tween the President and large portion
of the Senate on this question, and it is
| but right and fair that the selection OF
this Commission should be subject to
the revision of the Senate of. the United
States ;'and the Senator from Indiana, as
| understood him, expressed himself as
ready to acquiesce in such an amend
ment if it were offered. / think he did
wisely. to say SO; and at the proper time,
Isueh an amendment will be offered to
the resolution, should it not be referred.
j Now, Mr.. President, having got
through with this little skirmish line,
want to say in very brief words why it
is that am opposed to the annexation
of San Domingo.
am opposed to it, first, because, as
have already sadly can not by joint
resolution Gas is apparently contempIa-
ted here) annex it as territory simply !;
you can only do that by treaty; and 1
do not believe there is a Senator on this
floor who thinks for an instant that two
thirds of the Senate will ratify any such
treaty, no matter what may be the re-
port of this commission. l take it.
therefore, that the whole upshot of this
movement is to bring in joint resolu-
ton for the annexation of Dominica, ,and,
as have said before, and as was SO we'll
shown by the senior Senator from Hen-
lucky, Mr.. Davis, you can NOT do that
consistently with the Constitution Of the
United States unless you annex Domin-
lea as State.
You are hurying this thing so that
the subject may be acted upon before
the 4th of March next; and the ques-
ton is, are you prepared to bring in as
one of the States of this Union one hum
Cred and twenty thousand people, not
one. hundred of whom can speak the
English language; not one hundred of
whom are white; not one out of ten
thousand of whom, perhaps, can read
in any language or ever had any educa-
ton that could be called any education
at all ? And when speak OF education,
do not speak simply of the education
that is derived from books. There are
thousands of men in the United States
who are educated on the subject of: gov
ernment sufficiently to be safe deposita-
ries of the right to vote. Your juries
educate them; your courts educate them;
your stump speeches edncate them; the.
debates in your legislative hodies edu.
cate them; and thousands and thousands
of intelligent men, fully competent to
Judge Of public affairs, and to cast intel
ligent votes in the United States, are
unable either to read or to write. But
there has not been any such education
as this in Dominica nothing of the kind.
1t has been land of throes and convul-
sions ever since the foreign rule was at
an end ever since it has been an inde-
pendent country, with no civil order, no
regular Government, none of the edu-
cation that attends man in the United
States from the time he can speak and
understand until he is laid away lr. his
grave; nothing of that kind, but rather
a volcano of human passions and riv-
er of human blood. That kind of peo-
pie are the population there; and the
question is, whether here, this day, you
are willing to take one hundred and
twenty thousand of such people and
make them the members of State in
this Republic ?
Mr., Sherman-Will my colleague give
way? There is a strong desire to have
a vote to night, but think We are over
taxing ourselves, and rise to ask ifit
can not be arranged generally that If we
adjourn now, my colleague having the
floor, that we take the vote
Mr.. Thurman-If my colleague will
permit me, in fifteen minutes / will be
through, and then / shall be most hap
py to vote for an adjournment. | would
rather close the few remarks / have to
make.
Mr.. Sherman-Verv we'll.
Mr. Thurman concur with my col
league that we ought to adjourn, and
when get through shall he most hap
py to yield to him, or l will make the
motion myself.
Mr.. Sherman-I would not myself
vote to adjourn unless we have some
understanding about taking the vote To-
morrow at reasonable hour.
Mr.. Thurman-Well, sir, will agree
to vote, or to anything else, almost, lath-
er than sit here all night.
But again, sir, if these people were
the most intelligent people in the world,
if they were American citizens, if they
were American-born, if every man of
them were white and we're educated, stlll
there is an objection to admitting them
as State. You have gone too far al
ready in admitting States with INSULT
cient population Already you have nd
mitted new States into this Union whose
population is scarcely more than that Of
the little city IN which l live. ] TO not
complain of that about the original
thirteen; nobody has any right to com
plain about it Those thirteen original
States formed the Government. The
assent Of Delaware was as essential as
Il