Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-04-14

were excluded, and he had control owe
that Legislature, and succeeded in fall
ing upon the State q debt, the discovery
of which lately caused him to flee from
the State, to escape the punishment
which would have followed the fraud
committed So it is with the member
of Congress elected from these Southern
States. They promised to remove tn,
political disabilities from the adherents
and they are always ready to do il
where they can gain favor.
Three cheers were here heartily given
for Horace Greeley, who was espied
on the pl storm.
Senator Trumbull-I am glad to heal
such cheers here in honor of the first
champion, / believe, in the country-and
he proclaimed it bOIdly--of universal
amnesty. (Renewed cheers.) One
great measure, then, which is
demanded in the name of hon.
esty, in the name of peace, and
the best interests of all, is the passage
of general bill removing political disa-
bilities. Great cheering Another
cause of complaint among the people is
the one in which the patronage of this
government is used, as if it was 50
much money to carry elections, not in
the interest of the party even, it does
not rise to that high dignity, but in the
interest of a faction of party. Great
i applause. 1t is notorious, YOU all know
it, in the city of New York, for it has
recently been disclosed by an investi-
eating committee which sat in this city,
/ that your customhOuse is here filled with
men who instead of having received
! their appointment in consequence OF
/ their fidelity, of their ability, and of their
capacity to discharge the duties of their
! offices for the bes1interests of the country,
! but are appointed because of the influence
/ il is supposed they can exert at some
/ primary election or State convention,
or in teaching you people whom to vote
/ for at the polls. Laughter. This civil
/ service system of ours is the parent of
many, very many, evils which cannot
stop tonight to point out The officers
/ in many localities are taxed portion of
their salaries for party purposes, and if
they do not perform the political duty
required of them they very soon are re-
moved and others substituted in their
places who viii be more active in the
! political duties devolving upon them.
! In passing from this question ofthe civil
service system, which would occupy an
/ hour to discuss properly before you, /
come to another measure which should
create alarm throughout the country.
allude particularly to the assumption of
the unwarranted power on the part OF
the Federal Government (Cheers. To
! illustrate, the military OfficeTin command
/ in Georgia issued an order prohibiting
certain men to sit in the Legislature,
and allowing others tS take their seats,
! in direct defiance of an act of Congress,
! and which should have subjected that
! officer to an imprisonment of not less
/ than two years in the penitentiary.
! Was any notice ever taken of it? Yes;
! the matter was referred to the Commit
tee of Judiciary, in the Senate Of the
/ United States, and report was made
! by that committee, drawn up by Senator
I EdmOnds, of Vermont, an ardent friend
of the Administration, expressing in
mild terms that the committee were
constrained to say that the action of the
military authorities was contrary to law
/ Iapplausel; and that is all the notice ever
taken of that encrOachment upon the
rights of the Legislature and the peO-
pie of Georgia. A few years ago
Congress passed a law that no
officer in the regular army should
discharge the functions of civil officer,
anu Vet NlU uot7 llQl hllOM llldb lllt
White House Is filled with army officers
acting as secretaries. Applause Not
a day passes during the session of Con-
gress that we do not receive messages
from the President of the United States
delivered, no by the secretary for whom
the law provides and pays, but by an
officer, a major in the regular army.
[ Applause and Kisses. Fellow citizens,
suppose Andrew johnson had sent an
army up to Albany and organized a
Legislature for you, and to tell you that
certain persons should take seats and
certain others should nOt-and there is
no positive statute of Congress against
it-wOuld it not be q gross usurpatiOn?
And suppose johnson had tilled the
White House with military officers, dis
charging the functions of civilians con-
traTy to law, do you think it would
have been forever unnoticed? How long
can this people preserve their liberties
if they quietly submit to this enerOach-
ment of those in authority. Applause.
The safety of a citizen, let me say to
you, and protection to his person and
property, is to be found in local laws
which people themselves administer,
[applausel, and not in the central
government where the powers of the
government are combined. If this sys-
TEN of encroachment is permitted to go
on, the day is not distant when our
Republican systen, based on the idea of
a division of the powers between the
Federal government and the States will
be transformed into one imperial despO-
tism, and with all the power in the City
of Washington, and care not whether
that power is exercised by a single per-
son, or a monarch, or by five hundred
persons, called a Congress, it is equally
a despotism [applausel, and the doc
trine is now being boldly proclaimed
power ferries of "GoOdl goodp'] and
position placed in the hands of honest
men. Now, why cannot this be done?
had hopes, fellOY-citizens, that all the
reforms of which ] have spoken could
be accomplished through the instru-
mentality of those now having control
of the government, but the experience of
the past session Of CongTess,and the pres
ent session has satisfied me that these
reforms cannot be accomplished through
the agency of the ruling spirits now con-
trolling them. [Applause. Protesting
to be for amnesty, they defeat every
amnesty bill that is offered by limita-
tiops and incongruOus amendments
Protesting 10 be for civil service reform,
they will do nothing practically
to accomplish it. Applause. ]
Protesting, with loud voice,
to be in favor of full in
vestigatiop and correction of abuses,
they appoint commissioners contrary TO
all parliamentary precedent [applausel
and all common sense if the object is to
find out whether abuses exists. They
nY an ,r-rro izaA fn 1a oor, Cd i,ry
the friends of the accused, and from !
which every person is carefully excluded
who believes that abuses exist and wants |
a strict investigation, [Applause.l In !
my judgment this government, econom- |
ically administered, need not expend
many million dollars year now, eXclu- !
sive of what it pays as interest and on
the public debt and for pensions. Fifty
million dollars year ought to be saved
by am economical administration of the |
government. But as | have said, we
have been unable to bring this about
through the instrumentalities now eXer- |
cising control. And why? Because
the machinery of the government, the |
machinery Of the Republican party |
is I'm the hands of more than |
sixty thousand offiee-holiers Of the
country, they control the Republican |
party by packing conventions, and |
otherwise through the instrumentality |
of members Of Congress and others CO.
operating with them, to whom they owe
their places and TO whom the members,
in turn, many of them, owe their seats
in Congress. How, then, is remedy
TO be obtained? Must the people sub
nit? Are these encroachments upon |
the rights Of the people TO continue?
Is this collection of taxes, to be squan-
dered among the hirelings Of the Repub-
lican party, TO go on until the people /
find themselves bound hand and foot to
=. at kUaalIrcrso, fa.of /