The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-08-08

hon, JAMES v, YHROCKMORYON,
m BE- az ceiiin.
lunaE rEnnIs, sPEEoII.


conclusive vlndlcatlon OF Governor
Coke, aud regretted that wo could
not then publish full synopsis Of his
speech. TO our regret we learn that
Judge Ferris has seen III 10 indulge In
very hnrah language about our report OF
the convention. "A his Ire could only
have arisen from u neglect on our part
10 publish his speech In full, We pro-
pose 10 make Nil thlngs serene by CIV
Ing 10 our readers the following report
of the Judges excellent speech, taken
from the Houston Telegraph Of the LIT
Instant;
JUDGE FERRIS SPEECH
Judge j. w. Ferris, Of ELLIS, then
arose and entered Into an explanation
and thorough ylndlcatlon Of Governor
Coke. He said he Ind known the
man since he was u boy, he had known
him when u man, aud he has known
him AZ governor Of the state lie had
watched hs administration closely,
lie was surprised 10 hear the charge Of
u want Of llrmnoss made. He lind
stood fast throughout u storm when
the strongest might well have quailed.
Reset by the entangling snares Of n
powerful, rich aud influential corpora
ton, bound In the chains OF the
D international railroad, he hnd refused
10 surrender one iota of the states
welfare or submit 20 one peL-mark
of dshOnor for the sake OF n little
temporary glory for himself He has
laid his own body on the sacrificing
altar. He has voluntarily subscribed
himself 10 the virulence Of n disnp-
polluted portion of the newspaper press
rather than surrender one titho OF that
trust which u fifty thousand majority
of The confident people had placed In
his hands last December, Governor
Coke Ia assaulted because there IN no
money In the treasury. You must ro-
member, my friends, that when the
Davis administration was elected ron
the state house II lott nothing. IL not
only left no money, but II burned owe
ry paper containing the slightest infor-
nation. The governor was lett entire
~ cnpty-handed. lie hid TO COM
mence ut the bottom OF II new founda-
ton and build up. That he has not
succeeded In filling the treasury vaults
with gold and silver In six months, IL
no wonder. II would he II great won
dor | { he had, or even ifany other man
had under better circumstances. lie
has not been allowed to move along
unmolestcd In that building up. You
know that he has been fought at
every step by strong Influences, who,
getting their fingers tightly grlpped
into the throat of the commonwealth,
wanted to commence twisting.
II IL charged also that the admlnls-
tration IL stultltled because q constitu-
tional convention was not called. !
will explain that so that II must ap.
pear to the mind of every sensible and
unprecedented man. 10 begin with the
plank in the platform upon which
Governor Coke was elected did not say
when the convention should be called.
Mind you II said only that n constitu-
tional convention ought TO bc called
My friends, In case of great public
emergency the executive possesses an
otherwise latent function which
stretches Its broad arms out over all
other authorities written and under
stood. II Is the authority OF his discrc-
ton. In times of hostile invasion and
great public calamity, there occur ex-
igencles which no law can meet. II is
then that the fate of the common
wealth Is committed into the hands Of
one man, and he does what seems In
his own good discretion to be the best.
all .llp hA IN u
act, and If in acting he violate one of
the laws, no court can hold nm and
no man condemn him.
Now for my application. DO you
not know that last winter the state
capital was beset and beseiged by
thieves and usurpers? Yes you do.
You know that the eye of the general
government was on us too. And you
know that we all trembled lest the up
lifted hand should fall upon ours In
stead OF our enemies heads. Well, yon
know all this, but do you know that
our enemies were not crushed when we
put them down Do you know that
they still hope to reverse the decision
of the national executive and get their
feroclous hands again through the
YOU do not. will tell you what |
know, and 1t is what saw with my
own eyes. l know that Flanagan stood
ready at Washington, and that the
agents of Davis left hurriedly for that
place, and bent with listening ears
to catch the first accents of the news
from Texas that u constitutional
convention had been voted. |
know that Davis supreme court judges
We're there, and that the other promi-
nent men of the Davis stripe We're
there, at the ear OF the president,
waiting and wishing for 1t. And |
know that had their wish been graft
fled, the mailed arm of the military
would have again descended, and that
within less than thirty days, our streets
and state capital would have been gar
rlsoned with United States troops. 1t
was dire emergency. II was u great
black cloud that hung over US then,
though all did not see it. The fate of
us all, rs freemen, was In that terrible
moment committed to the discretion
ofGUvernor Richard Coke, and whether
he has done anything we may Know
not; but we know this: We still lift up
our hands unclaimed to our God.
SO YOU see why we did not got II con.
stitutional convention when we asked
for IT, We want 1t bad enough, God
knows. Now think the great emer-
gcncy is passed. and that we can call a
convention without cndangering our
selves. am In favor ofa convention
at MS early q day rs possible, that | will
fell vou that I halievp TINT Govprnor