Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-02-24
ESTABLISHED lS4S.
senator virgins speech.

| 1Ou. oCO. VI WIb6hS hnNS "h S-aNSi
lent speech favoring the amendment
offered by Senator Morton, contem'
plated giving to the people of the Dis
trict the privilege of electing the Board
of Commissioners. The question a
Issue in the Senate appears to bs
whether the officers of the District
shall be appointive or elective. Judge
Wright favors placing the choosing o.
officers in the hands ofthe people. The
speech is an able and exhaustive one
The latter part of tho speech took 0
wider range, touching upon the strug.
gle now being waged between the two
great parties. We give below an ex'
tract from his speech. He said:
We have heard much, Mr.. President
within the last few years especially, Of
the danger Of central Government
| of power escaping from the people and
being absorbed by the executive head,
These feare, / confess, have not and
do not share. And to me it is not O
little strange that our friends on the
other side, upon question at least ad /,
mitting of fair argument against their
construction, should so persistently
deny to tho people--to a people for
the most part intelligent and we'll able
/ to Judge oftheir own wants-the righ,
to select their own officers. would
do no one injustice, nor for one mo-
ment misconstrne his motives. give
to the able Senator from North Caro-
lima the full benefit and all the adYant-
age of his disclaimer that the colored
vote in this District in no manner nor
to any extent influences his view oi
the Constitution. And yet I think
know something OF the strength Of hu-
man prejudices, certainly know
how Incompetent we all are to Judge
of or weigh their existence or strength
when Judging Of ourselves. In such
matters we are very, very unsafe
judges. And l cannot resist the ex-
preston of fear that the withholding
of the ballot from those lately in
slavery, coupled with the streng feel
ing, honestly entertained it may be.
that they are incompetent to its exer-
else, may too much influence the opin.
ion that the power to select their mu.
nicipal officers is lodged elsewhere.
Nor, / confess, can avoid tho con-
clusion that IL the ballot was given
now as formerly in the District only
to the FREQ schite male inhabitants OF
the requisite age, our friends would
hesitate long, would be exceedingly
reluctant to withhold from the one
hundred and forty thousand people
here residing the poor and yet invalu.
able privilege of selecting the officers
who should administer their local af.
fairs; and especially SO when, If the
argument that they must be appointed
is sound, then it applies to all, the very
lowest and humbiest as well as the
highest and most important; and that
part Of tho original bill which makes
part Of the school board elective
clearly violates the Constitution for
If only tho President under the Con
sitution can appoint, then he must
.~raint all. even cnnstablcs, path-mas-
ters, and fence viewers. The power,
If in him, is exclusive. 1t applies to
all. Fit may be derided, therc is an
end Of the argument.
Mr.. President, we are gradually but
certainly coming face to face with the
gravest issues, more so even than those
proceeding or Immediately following
the war. For one / wonld not be
blind to them nor ignore them in
my action. They are before us, and
40 man ia true to himself or duty who
fails to see them.
That we are approaching these grave
issues beg to remind the Senate, in
addition to the extraordinary aoe.rs".
which have endeavored to combat,
that the very ablo Senator from Ken
lucky, Mr.. Stevenson, Senator who
is ever frank and candid, and able as
he is frank and candid, who always
weighs well what he says, and whose
high position and unquestioned intcg-
rity entitle his utterances in this
Chamber to the most profound respect,
and indeed invest them with the deep
est oracular significance-I say I beg
to remind you that almost Immediately
following the speech of the Senator
from North Carolina, the Senator from
Kentucky told US, in appealing to the
Senator from Maryland Mr.. Hamil-
ton to withdraw his amendments to
the pending currency bill that in his
opinion the legal-tender act was clear
ly unconstitutional that to repeal it,
however. would be rash and prema-
ture. He continued:
$50, too, in regard to the fourteenth
and fifteenth amendments. l do not
believe they were constitutionally
adopted, but the country has acquiesc-
ed in them, and am against disturb
ing them. l stand by them in good
faith until they have been fairly tested
aud fully tried"
Then what? Yea, 1 repeat, then
what? Suppose the time shall come
when in the opinion of that Senator
they have been ''fairly tested and fully
tried, " and they shall not answer pub
lie expectation or the end proposed |; If
they were never constitutionally
adopted, what then? What then be-
comes Of the guarantees therein
thrown around the privileges and inn
munities of the citizen2 What of the
basis of representation {; of tho penal.
ties denounced against those violating
their oaths In taking up arms against
the Government; OF the sacred char.
acter of the public debtp How stands
tho debt In aid OF the rebellion !?
What of the right of suffrage, which
under these amendments Is not to Re
abridged on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude !?
What becomes Of the duty Of Con-
gress to enforce these amendments by
appropriate legislation? The enforce
ment OF these articles and the great
principles by them embodied in the
Constitution, If the Senator's position
is sound, rests of course not upon tho
commando of the instrument, mot upon
the binding obligation Of these pro-
visions a. q part of "the supreme law
OF the land" but upon tho Judgment
Of each one and of political parties
and organizations whether after "fair
test and full triaP they should com.
mand his or their respect and support.
Coming az this language does
from one standing so high in these
halls and before the country, his ex-
pressed purposes have to me a most
momentous and startling significance.
It Is ono thing to stand by a law be-
cause it is 30 written and found upon
the statute book it is quite another 10
stand by and enforce it because you
hnlieva IL To ha RIGHT n Ia ono thipo