The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1871-09-07
Queries for William M'Candless.

speech, and that speech is published in
the Legislative Record, page 964 ant
in that speech, speaking of the friend.
OF that measure, you said: "They are
sappiug the very foundation of our lber
ties by the theory contained in the so. call
ed Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal
Constitution"
| Speaking to General Fisher, one of the
Senators from Lancaster, you said {: "The
shade Of Thaddeus will rise TO your sup.
port, and give you some reason for sur.
rendering 80 Federal power the very cit
adel of the liberties of the people of your
State" nfa
Further on you said
"The patriots of the revolution battled
for years on many doubtful and bloody
field to establish, which they did success
fully, the right of local self government
on this continent, and now, in the space
Of three hours, the majority in this cham
Der will set aside, as far as in them lies,
the handiwork of the fathers of the re.
public"
"The solar system acts By the immuta-
bic laws of nature our system by the
mutability of the political necessities of
an unscrupulous party. IF their action
to a Capitalization of power in the Fed
eral government Gas the passage of this
joint resolution will .assure) your State
rights and personal liberties will melt
away as would the planets were they in
like manner drawn by the sun, their cen
trail power, from their respective orbits. :"
off you succeed 10 doing this, you not
only overthrow our form of government,
but tear up its very foundations
"Can We approve the present PROPOSE
ton, and hope, in the future, to control
any domestic relation of the State if the
centralized power at Washington says
nay? Assuredly not"
"Can you preserve your from of govern
ment if you permit a power existing out
side of the State to regulate and control
the vote of the people within it (? To ask
the question is to answer it. Common
sense must teach you that the vital power
of the States, in their separate capacity is
gone, and you are governed by cen
tralzed depotism"
"What more fatal measure can be adopt
ed than the one now proposed"
ga human being might as well be de-
clared to live after the breath had left
the body, as State to exist when it shall
have parted with this vital principle"
Now, General, we take it for granted
that in using this language you were
speaking your true sentiments that you
verify believed that the Fifteenth Amend
ment "saps the very foundation of our
liberties" surrenders ''the very citadel
of those liberties, and "sets aside the
handiwork Of the fathers of the republic;;"
that under it our estate rights and per-
sonal liberties will melt away" that it
"ovcrthrows our form of government"
and clears up its very foundation" that
it is "tuint measure" and that it leaves
the State dead-devoid all ''vital princi-
ple." p
Very good. IF you thought SO, then,
you were right in saying so. But, do
you think SO still +? If not, why do you
not take back the many hard things you
said then, and acknowledge, like man,
that you were all wrong, and that all
these mutterings were but the sickly va
porS of diseased brain ?
But, General William M'Candless, if
you do think so still (and we take it
for granted you do), how, as good citi-
zen, much less as a good Democrat, can
you now "acquiesce' in an amendment
SO revolutionary, so fraught with direful
consequences, and confess your willing
ness to treat it as an integral part of the
Constitution Either you we're vapor-
ing, then, or you cannot be honest, now.
No honest man, no good citizen, can ac-
qulesce in an amendment which he char
acterizes as "surrendering the very cit
adel of our Liberties" sspping the very
foundations" Of our government, fatal
measure" which destroys the very life of
the State. If he believes this, he is a
a recreant to his State and traitor to his
principles if he now s'acquiesces" in it all
simply because it is an accomplished fact
We leave to the accomplished William
the task of wriggling out OF this dilem-
ma. lie is either false prophet or 4
traitor knave. If what he said in 1869
was mere buncombe or blarney for effect,
he is an unfit man for any public trust
And If that speech was the honest utter
ancc of what he really thought and be-
lieyed, he is of all men the most danger
Gus, because he now expresses willing
ness to submit to what he believes to be
a fundamental wrong, and thus confesses
that, no matter how wrong thing may
be he will submit to without resistance.
In 1869 he regarded the Fifteenth
Amendment as usurpation and revolu-
tionary. 10 1871, the usurpation and re-
volution being accom- plished, he submits
without further cavil and then he gives
the world notice that he, William M'Cand.
less, does not resist, but acquiesces in
usurpatious and revolutions when they
are successful, no matter how destructive
they may be to civil liberty. What he
wants an Office and it is all one to him
if it IS under government which, accord