The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-09-06

stltutioH WIS q tIdI VI, INC party udS
acted on that basis. If a favor:te
measure was thought to be u1constitu-
tional, they amended the constitution,
or violated it, as seemed most easy
Legislatures elected by authority or
force, were the sure and approved
means. If these were too tedious, or
too expensive, an act of Congress or
an Executive proclamation was also
1T hand.
BAYONET ELECTION LAW.
will not go back even for a few
years. The last Congress passed an
election law. II provided that in all
the cities of q certain size the Presi-
dent appoint inspectors and registers
of elections, whose authority and acts
he maintains by the army and navy
of the United States. General Grant
sought to enforce it in New York,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and
called forth an indignant rebuke from
the Governors of those States.
Fl Ku-KLUX LAW
The present Congress passed a Ku-
Klux bill. Do you remember its
provisions? Whenever the President
Shall believe that in any State a COM
bination of persons shall seek to de-
prive any man of his rights, the Pres
ident may take jurisdiction of the
subject, and if, in his opinion, the
State authorities shall be unable or
unwilling to redress the wrong, he
may suspend the writ of Aabeas corpus,
declare martial law, Dust the authori-
ties of all their powers and functions,
shut up the courts, dismiss the juries,
unseat the judges, and take redress
and punishment into his own hands
Gentlemen, do you appreciate this
law? A month ago a mob entered q
Jail in Illinois, and hung one of the
prisoners. The President might, In
der this law, suspend the writ of ha6e-
as corpws in that State, and appoint
there a military Governor. In the
city OF New York a riot occurred and
lives were lost. The President might,
under this law, suspend the present
government in that State. and govern
it by the army and his generals. He
will apply its provisions only to the
SOUTH And suppose this were true:
Is the South not in the Union? l.
the South not under the Constitution?
Is there one law for the South and
another law for the North?
PRESIDENT GRANTS UsURPATION OF
POWER.
Gentlemen, this is the insanity of
folly. He will apply it wherever pas
sion is to be CERTIFIED, or elections TO
be carried. He never refused to use
power.
When Georgia voted against him
for President, he asked authority to
supercede the State government ; and
when Congress delayed, or, in the end,
refused it, he sent General Terry to
play dictator there. When North
Carolina did not obey his wishes, he
sent a military force to uphold Gov.
Holden.
When he wanted a delegation in
his own favor in the ncxt Republican
convention in the State OF Louisiana,
he directed that the Convention be
held in the United States court room,
and that no one should be admitted
except On the authority of his mar
shall, and that a file of soldiers should
maintain that authority.
When he desired to secur the an
nexation of San Domingo, he did not
hesitate TO take money from the cas-
ury in defiance OF law, and pay it in
advance of the submission of the treaty
10 the Senate. He did not hesitate
to stipulate that he would keep its
existence a secret until he had, by
the use of his personal and official
influence, secured its ratification by
the Senate. When Sumner stood in
his way, he did not hesitate to eject
him from the Committee on Foreign
Relations. And now whilst the Sen
ate is considering the treaty, he gets
from private persons the money, and
rays tile second installment of the
purchase. There is a party in San
Domingo opposed to annexation 1t
begins to make head. Thereupon he
uses the army and navy of the United
States to protect his vendor in power.
I need not characterize these acts.
Mr.. Sumner in his place in the Senate
said:
"All this has been done by kingly
prerogative alone, without the author
ity of an act of Congress. If such a
transaction, many headed in wrong,
can escape judgment, it is difficult to
say what securities remain-what
other sacred rule of International law
may next be violated-what other
foreign nation may not be struck
what other ~belligerent may
not be heralded-what other kingly
prerogative may not be seized? ?"
Mr.. Schulz, in his place in the SEN
ate, said:
go further by force of arms q bad
scheme of the White House, in which
neither Congress nor the people Of the
United States had assumed the least
interest, the war powers had been
usurped, the Constitution invaded in
one Of its most essential and vital
features, the peace and dignity Of the
country put IN jeopardy in the man.
ner he had described. "He would
say to the Senators who had underta-
ken to defend these things, that they
had undertaken an entirely hopeless
task, and to all appearances an impos.
sible one. it was time now to dispcl
that confusion Of ideas which could
not distinguish between the authority
of the United States, and tho person
Of the President, and to arrest that
usurpation Of power which was surely
and with cat-like tread, creeping upon
the country Congress had never
been called upon to contronta strong