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

thOr1ty Tor Tie Di1 II .-s P.Ss 49, =
the preamble. This doctrine is as new a
t Is STARTLING. What sir, the preamble
mere declaration of the objects for which
the Constitution was undertaken, to Il
now resolved into grant OF powerl Il
seams ;mnossible that men should be SC
blinded. But let US read the preamble
and see if power is conferred on Congress
10 turn free States into military despot.
isms and deliver them over, bound hand
aad foot, to some imperial sstrap:
eve the people of the United States
.n,O in order to form q more perfect
union, q, J establish justice, 80 insure
domestic tranquility, "a provide for
the common defense, % promote the
general welfare (6, and secure the bless
ings of liberty TO ourselves and our pos
terity, do ordain," &c.
Sir, ask, will the Union be more per-
feet when the navy is floating in South
ern waters to lombard her cities and
towns instead of protect against foreign
invasion9 Will the Union be more per-
feet when we are in hourly expectation
of gazing upon a bursting bomb, because
of simple fight between some negro
and some white mani Sir, ask, will
Justice be established when martial law is
supreme, our courts silenced, jury trials
forbidden, habeas corpus suspended Sir,
will domestic tranquility be insured
when our hill-tops are lighted with the
beacon fires of an unfriendly soldiery.
sent among US to pillage and ravage the
landG Will we be tranquil when the
tread of the soldier is heard, day and
night, through all our borders, and mill
tary orders and passes are again the or
der OF. the dayg .-.-.--ss
Sir, will the common defense be pro-
vided for when the armies of the United
States, by land and sea, are devastating
the doomed and devoted sod of the South
Sir, will the general welfare be promoted
when the laws of the Southern States are
all suspended by military edict; when
her commerce, trade and industry are all
checked and destroyed by the presence of
armies; when soldiers are quartered in
every town, village end hamlet of the
South2 Sir, will the blessings of civil
liberty be secured to ourselves and our
posterity after us, when the South lies
bleeding at the foot of a military despot,
and when drum head court martials are
holding their inquisitions in every capital
of the Southern Stetes2 No, Mr.. Speak
er; we shall have what the Duke of Alvs
gave to the free States of the Neither
lands-misery and expressions, until the
very air will be thick with pain and suf-
fering. We shall have what bloody
military tyrant gave to Scotland when he
had murdered her legitimate sovereign
and assembled his throne a ruined coun-
try. And the Southern patriot, who loves
his country, his whole country, when fly
ing from her distress, because powerless
to help her, may well exclaim, as did the
poor Jew when Roman armies dictated
laws from the seat of his ancient kings:
"Child of the wandering foot and weary breast,
Where shall ye fee away and be at rest?
The wild dove hath his rest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country, the southron but the
grave"
No, Mr.. Speaker; the power for this
great military law is not found in the
preamble. Other sources must be ex-
plored. Let the Republicans come up,
and when done reading their Ku-Klux
stories, and when they have properly
stirred the passions of the country and
aroused the vengeance of our northern
brothers, frankly say there is no warrant
for the power in the Constitution, and
plant themselves upon that old maxim,
Necessity is the plea of tyrants, +" and
90 before the country on that issue, and
let us have the verdict of the people, if it
be not too late after the law has passed
and is in the process of enforcement, say
you need the law to keep alive the Re-
publican party.
ARTICLE FOUR, SECTION FOUR.
But Mr.. Speaker, the friends of this
measure, not feeling safe for the power
of Congress to pass this law upon the
powers and provisions of the Declaration
of Independence, or the preamble, at
tempt to find the needful authority in the
fourth section of the fourth article of the
Constitution. Let US examine this Sec
ton. 1t reads:
''The United States shall guaranty to
every State in this Union a republican
form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion, and on
application of the Legislature, or of the
Executive (when the Legislature cannot
be convened), against domestic violence.
This section naturally divides itself into
three parts. The first duty of the United
States is to guaranty to every State in the
Union a republican form of government.
The second duty is to protect each and
all against invasion. The third duty is to
protect each and all against domestic vio-
lence, upon the application of the Legis-
lature of the State, and when it cannot
from any cause be convened, upon the
application of the Executive of the State.
The first question we would ask is,
what is republican form of government
1t is a government of the people, as con-
tradistinguish, d from monarchial or
aristocralic government. This clause
supposes a government slSeady establish
ed, and this is the form of government
the United States have undertaken TO
guaranty. (Story's Constitution, S ,807 ;
Burrill's Law Dictionary AS long as
the existing republican forms are con-
tinued by the States, they are guaranteed
by the Federal constitution. Whenever
the States may choose to establish other
republican forms, they have right to do
so and to claim the Federal guarantee
The only restriction imposed on the
States is that they will not exchange re-
publican for snti-republican constitutions.
(See Federalist, Nos. -21, 43.)
Mr.. Speaker, every State engaged in
the late rebellion has been restored to its
relations in the Union and under the con-
stitution. All have republican forms and
substance. Each one has the three great
departments after the model of The Fed
eral Constitution-the Executive, Judi
cial, and Legislative. Every State has
conformed its constitution and laws to the
Constitution of the United States and the
later amendments thereto. What now is
wanting2 Life, liberty, and property are
all guarded and protected by wholesome
and safe laws. That felonies do some
times occur and that wicked Individuals
do sometimes commit Outrages is but too
true. In what State of the Union is not
this true2 When has this not been the
csse2 Where can you find State or q
community that may dispense with its
criminal courts, its jails, and penitentia-
ries2 Sir, would cheerfully enter upon
the statistics of the criminal dOckets and
have no fears but that my native State,
Tennessee, will compare favorably with
any and all of the States of the Union.
And so l believe of all the Southern
States. Because q few sporadic cases