The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-01-27
PLAIN TALK.
Speech of General BIafE atter
his Election to the u. states
Senate.

Of General Blair to the U. States
he waA invited to address
the JOINT convention. This extract
is from his speech on the occasion /:
"Yuch was said IN the debate pre-
vious tsahe election, of aletter ad-
GressS4by me to a distinguished
citizen Of this State, in 1868. ! de-
sire, now that this election has been
corsummated, to speak = few words
IN explanation and by way of allay-
ing the approximations expressed by
some gentlemen upon this floor
That letter and lis language is 20 be
interpreted by the circumstances
attending its writing. At that time
the reconstruction acts, so-called,
some of them lad been passed and
were in process Of execution, they
were laws Of Congress. The prIn-
ciples upon which these acts hing
ed had been declared unconstitu-
tional BY the Supreme Court of the
United States. The acts by which
large numbers of the people of the
Sonth had been deprived OF the
suffrage was declared unconstitu-
tIonal in a celebrated case which
went up from this State-that OF
Cummings against the State of Mis-
souri,. 1t was there in that deci-
sion Of the Supreme Court declared
to be &C post fIcto and an a%ttninder,
and for that reason uncUnstitution-
al. The other principle which sup
ported these acts, and upon which
they rested their vitality, was the
power conferred upon the military
arm 10 try and to execute the pris-
oners who had been condemned by
. military commission, in time of
peaee-that was declared unconsti-
tutional by the Supreme Court OF
of the United States in the MillIgap
and Bowles. Previous to tho time
that this letter was written there
was under consideration, by the
Supreme Court, the McArdle case,
a case arising under the reconstruc-
ton acts, where q civilian had been
arrested and tried by tho military
commission of Vicksburg. This
case was taken up by ha6eas corpus
to the Supreme Court OF the United
States, and the Judges unanimously,
subsequent 10 the writing ofthelet-
ter spoken OF, declared that such
convection was unconstitutional
Subsequent to this there was the
case CT Ysrger for the murder Of
Colonel Crane. He was tried be-
fore a military commission IN jack
son, Mississippi, convicted and con-
demned to die. Hi body was take
en- by hdbeaS corpus from the militia
~ authorities and their decision-
the death warrant-was set aside,
and the case was turned over 10 the
authorities of the State of Aississip-
pi, to be dealt with according to
the law and the Constitution of the
United States. l held in this let
ter that those laws being unconsti-
tutional, and SO declared by the Su-
preme Court of the United States,
that the President could not with
out s violation of bis oath execute
those laws and that if had been
In that position | never
would have executed any unconsti-
tutionai lnw-so declared by the
Supreme Court ofthe United States.
It would have been perjury upon
his part 10 have done it it would
have boon q violation of has oath of.
Office TO MAINTAIN the Constitution.
1t was his sworn duty 10 set aside
these acts, Wanted by gentlemen
upon this floor as being acts Of Con-
gross /; it would nave been no nsur-
patton. After the doeisIon of the
Court ne could have had
no other alternative. But these re-
construction acts have been put in
TO execution. The President ofthe
United States, who is now in the
Executive chair, is not called on to
execute them or to set them aside
either, because their execution has
boon completed. But 1 say again,
as / said in my place upon this
floor, that the use of the military
arm-cAllIng soldiers from every
quarter of the country to wherever
may be an election about to be held
il be IN the city of Now
York or the city of New Orleans,
or in Texas or Alabama, or Geor-
gis, or South Observation-Disclosures
these elections cen you may well
predict that there the troops of the
United will be carried to maintain
IN power persons placed there nn-
der unconstitutional use of the mil
itary force OF the country.
And / say now, as l SAID IN my
seat upon this floor before / receiv-
ed the votes of the honorable gen.
who have made me their
SENATOR say now thar l Will new
er give my assent az long as / am a.
Senator Of yours, or IN any posi-.
ton IN life in which l may bel
will never give my assent TO the
use of the military arm to overawe
the orderly and well behaved peo-
pie of this country In their elec-
tions. L thought it was due to you
that l should make thIs brief ex-
of that which seemed to
be the cause Of some alarm among
those WHO opposed my election
who denounced that letter as revo-
lutionary. The reconstruction acts
yer revolutionary. The recon.
acts subYerted the consti-
tuition, and as lhavs predicted, and
many older and wiser men than
myself have predicted, the use OF
military force, covered over with
tho pretext that the people of the
South were still in rebellion-that
the use of military force which had
been employed so successfully to
the Radicals in power in
the Southern States, would, under
that precedent, be carried else
whore in our country, and if nv IL