The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-12
MARYLAND'S PROTEST.
Eloquent Speech of MIR. $. T.. Wallis, De.
Iivered mt Baltimore the Occasion of
the Louisiana Indignation Meeting, Held
January 9Th.

The following superb effort of one of Mary
lands most gifted and respected sons, Nj,
s. r. Wallis, on the occasion Of the grea
mass meeting held at Baltimore on the 15t
alt. to protest against the Louisiana outrage
We commend to the thoughtful perusal q
every Louisianian. The New York World, il
referring to this speech, said:
"No one who reads the first words will Ia,
it aside till be has finished it-so scholarly. S,
simple, yet SO earnestly said-so eloquent il
the best and highest sense. 1t was Spoken
not to partisans of one political school-tha
to which we are proud to say Mr.. Wallis nm
Ainchingly adheres-but the applause which
greeted it came from those who rarely sy,apa
thized with him before. As he gave utter
ance to words of eloquence that came burn
ing from his lips, there no doubt were bitter
memories OF personal experience throngina
to his mind. But the instincts of good TASTE
admonished him to repress them"
My Ftuo,o- Ctizens-I could, under no cir
cumstances. add anything that it were worthy
you should hear to what has already gone to
you from the hand and from the heart of the
venerable and eminent citizen who presides
over this meeting and whose DISTINGUISHED
abilities and long honored public services give
to his utterances the authority of judicial
sentence. But l am particularly unfit this
evening even to do the little justice that |
might ordinarily be able to do to the ques-
tons before you, for it is but an hour or two
since l returned from a two days absence
from the city, during which was engaged in
severe professional labor. have, therefore,
neither voice nor strength to speak to you as
could DESIRE and l am only here, as you are
here, because feel that it is an occasion on
which no man should willingly remain at
home, who deserves or desires to have q
acme, where he may rest under the vine
and the fg-tree of the laws and Constitution
OF his country. The hand of military des-
potism, it is true. is not at your throat or my
throat There is tranquility in our streets,
thank God, tonight. But we should be un-
worthy the name of American citizens if a
blow stricken at the bosoms of our brethren
of Louisiana, SO foul as this blow is, did not
wound our bosoms also.
Fellow-citizens, if we have been taught any
thing frem our cradles, it is that this govern.
ment is government OF law, and not gov
eminent OF force. One Of the controlling
reasons assigned by our torefathers in the
Declaration of Independence for dissoIving
the connection betwesnsthe Colonies and the
government of England was the assumption
of the Kirg Of England to put the military
over the civil power. In forming the original
Revolutionary Constitution Of this State of
Maryland, with the echo of that Declaration
IN their ears, your forefathers made it one of
the leading and fundamental principles of
your Bill of Rights, that at all times and in
all cases the military should be under strict
subOrdination to and control Of the civil
power.
As the tide of our civilization has swept
over the wilderness, and new States have
sprung into being in its course, each one of
them furn b.C 10 thic vital ~: n; ,,la
Of free government the cornerstone of its
political organization. II has been borne
from the farthest L ,st to the remotest West,
and the farthest Of our farrell sisters planted
it deep in the foundation of her Constitution
when she reared it On the golden borders Of
the Californian seas. The +. publican system
under which we live would be mockery
without the maintenance of this vital element !
of its existence, and whenever an attempt is
made no matter how slight, to overthrow it, |
there is no time for parleying or waiting. We |
cannot stand still until the outrage shall have |
been consnmmated.
We should rush forth at the first alarm as
at the sound of the tocsip, and rescue the |
public liberty, before there is time to smite it, |
There is. no.question Of politics or Of party at |
such moment. I'm questions merely polit-
Zeal, F" says Junius, ia his noble letter to Lord
Mansfield, can honest man may stand neuter.
But the laws and Constitution are the common
property Of the subject. Not to defend is to |
relil quish, and who is there so senseess as to |
his share in a common benefit, I'M
less he hopes to profit by new division OF the
spoil ?" And tell you, fellow-citizens, that
IL now as in the infancy Of this Republic the
cradle Of liberty is to be rocked, the whole
land must rise up and stand as a nursery
mother beside II !
What does this thing mean, my friends,
that brings us here tonight? Is it not the
simple and single question whether the peo-
pie of THE land are to: be governed by their
laws and Constitution. or are to be regulated
shall be governed by their institutions or be
governed by Lieutenant Generals? That is
the question, md that is the issue that is be-
hind the entire question. II is that and
nothing more. How does the matter stand
Two or three years ago the President of the
United States thought proper to interfere in
HE affairs of Louisiana How? Interfere
for the purpose of carrying out any Of his
constitutional obligations? No! l do not
propose to introduce anything into what 1
lave y say to you that savors of partisan
D Sifnal discussion.
IT {iwere capable of prostituting such an
3ccasion and abusing your confidence by
turning Them over to the purposes of parti-
,anship, should be as unworthy as the basest
If the carpet-baggers whom reconstruction
aas created from the dust of Louisiana as the
permin sprang up from the dust of Egypt
when it was smi.ten by the wand of Aaron.
But when read the message of the President
If the United States, delivered day before
to Congress, and find that he places ,
HE defense Of his interference with the army ,
If the United States, in the affairs of Louisi- {
ina, on the ground that assassination and
murder are rife there, and that his armed in {
exposition was matter of duty and necessity &
o save the lawful government and society in
hat unhappy State cannot feel bound by
my respect for his high Office to treat that as ]
rue, which I know not to be true I
cannot submit to be told that he inter- !
cred to save what as he says, the laws and
Constitution required him to save, when | {
lold here in my hand, the report of the SEN :
tie committee of February, 1873, and read in s
the kilograms which the President of the