The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-04-14

of civil government and constitution
al right. The Stars and Stripe.
waved over that hall of legislation il
the city of New Orleans on tina,
eventful day. Was that rebellion;
What! Soldiers dispensing peaceful
assembly covered with, and taking
refuge under, the broad banner O
liberty and Of the Union. The arm
of the military invoked to overthrow
a legislative body. Granting thai
the Senator from 81. Louis be righ'
that the occupation of that assembl,
chamber by the soldiery of the Uni
ted States was at the request of the
Speaker of that body, still grea,
wrong was done. The independence
Of that body, which alone is a judge
of the eligibility and qualification q
its own members, was violated, anc
the sacred guarantees and barriers O
constitutional right were invaded ant
overthrown.
Have Honorable Senators in the
zeal of party totally forgotten the
immortal sentiments contained III
that living declaration of principles
enumerated at Philadelphia 80 years
ago? When the President says te
General Sheridan, II heartily ap
prove Of your acts;;" itmust have es.
capped his recollection, too, that that
instrument sets out as grevious
cause of complaint against George
the III, conduct and treatment Of
the American colonies, very analo
gous to the treatment of our sister
States in the South. 1t speaks in
thunder tones to us to-day, not to be
misunderstood. 1t arraigns that
sovereign.
For dissolving representative Hou.
ses and for suspending our own Leg
islatures.
For quartering large bodies OF
armed troops among us.
For rendering the military indie
pendent Of and superior to the civil
power.
For. keeping up, in times of peace
standing armies without the consent
of our Legislatures.
If the people Of this country had
the assurance that this fragrant usur
patton of rights would end here, it
might reconcile us to the belief in q
necessity that knows no law. But
even now we learn that the President
is demanding of Congress the over.
throw Of a State government in still
another of the sister States of this
Union. Does it end here? No, Mr.
President; the telegraph and the
Press inform us that a cabal of Sen
ators and Representatives even now
are conspiring against the property,
against the peace, against the liber-
ties of the people Of this nation
Why, sir, they even go so far in their
insane efforts to retain the spoil of
official plumber, in violation of the
dearest Of mans natural rights, to
invest the President with power and
authority to suspend the sacred right
Of habeas corpus-a right inherent to
us from the tented field of Runni-
mede, where the Barons of England
wrested from King John that famous
charter, the bullwark of English free
dom-and declared that "That to
every Briton as his mind be free, His
person safe, his property secure, His
house as sacred as the face Of heay-
en- watching unseen the ever open
doors, His fate determined by the
rules of right, His voice enacted in
the common voice and general suf-
frage of an assembled realm. No
hand invisible to write his DOOM
No demon springing in the midnight
hour to draw his curtains or drag
him down to mansions of despair.
10 Briton's sons on these great pill
lars, freedom of speech, freedom of
thought and freedom ofpen, the base
of Briton rests.''
Truly, Mr.. President, we fall upon
evil times when even the suggestion
that one man holds 100000 OF
people at his mercy for life or death
by drum head court martial, or OF
freedom, OR imprisonment by the
tinkle of bell, the lightning fash
over wire. Does this picture not
appall you, sir? But pause, the tri-
fling and contempt exhibited for con-
stitutional rights by the dominant
party already produces it's fruits. ]
call the attention of this Sanato RI q