Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-04-03

SINCE my recollection, too, that If
act IKE this, If an usurpation Ike thi
nad been attempted it would have DR.
dueed shock throughout the natio
Inc nation would have been indignal
: from one extreme to the other nm
would have been ready to hurl fro
power the perpetrators of such an ae
but now We see things differently. w
can see men come into power, and ex
erclse power not authorized by the or
game law of the land. We have CON
outside of the Constitution in any wa
tnat Will bring this government tn Al
end' or change its character so that it
present features and present structur,
VIII all be lost. The Senator here re
Ierred to the orders sent to Gen
sheridan to proceed to New Orleans
ana SAID; Here is a General of the
army who IS sent back to people that
iupudlated him, without authority to
and look over this country and to
ssk himself out an empire and pres
'nL u the limits of this government on
nIle shall take under control. He
10 Htout the area; he describes the
pomas poru,s I'd limits of his command his
poror 49, absolute as that of an en-
l"aI Re,1t; :. tok at the growth of power
i ;OV~ m,t;nn a. ,n> dyances which usurpation
s;der ' caISnl, d when we come to con-
nor.,, us, iG. S;na y I'd deliberately, without
tbass & acts D,ts are ~ fjudiee, We find that
nsurnat;on andle other than those of
all this power " mere does
might ask, ''uponH He from And L
our Caesar feed, thss1 meat ; does TINS
great, that he can natn grown so
down emperors and pcflDe ana lay
over them2 1t is time commanders
awakened and consid& country was
If the excitement has nose thIngs-
in time gone by that manyn SO hlgh
been overlooked. l think lngs nave
rived, and [ trust the excitt mas ar
gone down, and that the ne mas
people can return to the orgaf
the land. 1t is time that thew OF
had begun to consider and weig,pie
these things. Mr.. johnson deuofiil
the organization of the Louisiana n
islature, aud continued: | cannot 4
gard the action of the military or
the President as in accordance will
the Constitution. | cannot record my
vote for this resolution. | will no
vote against the resolution because i
it is a Republican measure, but | viii
vote against it on principle. The res
olution calls on the Senate to expires.
an opinion tavoring practices which
think are eunauthorized and unwarrant.
ed. But, if we record one vote sane
tioning Presidential interference, what
are We to do in other cases ? Why
single cut this act, and In principle
sanction it, and not santion all the
high handed measures which preceded
1t? The action of the President in
Arkansas affairs was denounced by
Senator johnson, who referred to the
growth of Federal power as follows
We see how this power travels. An
empire laid off in the South, COM
manded by military chief; then we
come along to the force bill then we
come along to an endorsement by Con-
gress, and, looking over these things,
We inquire, what lies behind all this ?
Don't we see that the change of opin-
ion, the change of position, must be
for some reason? There must be
something behind all this action of the
President. There must be something
to explain his Inconsistency. There
must be something that underlies all
this. The force bill, with authority to
to take away State governments, and a
military empire laid off in the South,
and placed under the control of die
tator, must mean something. We can
only look at it in the light of events
that transpire in the approaching OF
the Presidential election. When we
have a conqueror and usurper installed
in the government, and he has gone on
extending his military power until he
has accomplished his purpose, the time
may come when some member in the
other hall may introduce a resolution
like this:
Whereas, great disturbances and
dissatisfaction exist In the country,
and lor the sake ofpreserving peace and
harmony in the country, be it
Resolved, that 4 or Il is hereby de-
clared President.
| don't care whether you call him
Monarch, or King, or President, for
the next presidential term or the next
eight years. What would you do then?
Where is the power to prevent 1t?
Where is the army? Where is the
navy? What could you do? The i'm
potency and weakness of an unarmed
peorle when brought in contact with
armed soldiers, we all know would be
powerlesss, and | here, to-day, in the
presence of this Senate, warn the peo-
pie against the approaching danger |
tell my cOuntrymen, Mr.. President,
that the empire is ahead, and that ln-
stead of having free and republican
we have kind of gov
ernment called a stratocraey; that is,
military government where the coun-
try is ruled by a military chieftain and
where the army is the power. There
is the government you have got now,
the army, the power. We have got a
stratocracy; we have not ademoeracy;
we have nUt republican form of gov
ernment. That is all the government
you have got. How far off is the en-
pire? How far off is military despo-
tism? / warn the people of my native
country against the dangers which are
coming. Don't let US talk about parry,
but let the people who compose the
run it for awhile. Let us
bring the hearts ofthe people up to the
and arouse them against
the usurpatious of this administration
The administration is trying to over
throw the government. Let every ct
fort be made to sustain the govern
ment, and eject from power the corrupt
and usurping ruler ISstead of the
resolution now before the Senate,
would go to the President with the
language, if | was permitted to prepare
the resolution. that Cato used to the
of Caesar, when the am
bassador approached him and asked
him to capitulate, saying that his name
would be second to none but that of
Caesar. would say to this emperor,
would say to this dictator, what Cato
said TO the ambassador Go and tell
the emperor to disband his legiOns and
restore the liberties of the people"
This | would say to him, even as hum
BILE as | am. | would tell him to stop
his eneroachments upon the Constitu-
ton and close the gulf between the
people, and bring peace and prosperity
to the country. Do this and L will
mount the rostrum and contrive to
gain his pardon from the people for
his violations of the Constitution of
his country, and the transeendant i'm
positions that he has practiced upon
the country. This, even as humble as
am, for the sake of peace, for the
sake of concord, for restoration and
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