The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-01-29

lRlS CENTENNIAL. SPEECH
IN THE
House of Representatives.

House of Representatives.
N Y. Herald.l
THE CENTENNIAL APPROPRIATION.
| After the call of the committee was con
| cluded the House. at one O'Clock, went int
the Committee of the Whole, Mr. Wood, o
New u ork, in the Chair, on the Centennial
Appropriation Bill.
The debate was continued by Messrs
Thompson, of Massachusetts; Robbins, oil
North Carolina; Williams, of Wisconsin
and Lamar, OF Mississippi, in favor of, ant
Messrs. Southland, of Ohio; White, of Ken.
| lucky, and Goodin, of Kansas, against the
bill. ~
MR.. LAMAR's SPEECH.
In the course of Mr.sLamar's speech, he
structively violated the Constitution he
should vote against It, for he agreed with
gentlemen whospoke against the Constitu-
tionali:y Of the measure that the sovereign
| ty of this country lay in the supremacy oil
the organic Law and its inyiolability. Eve
| ry act of the government which did not
bring around it the clear and complete sane
| ton of that instrument was a 1aw1ess act,
and established precedent that, If persist
ed in, would result In the destruction OF
Constitutional government. He argued
that the powers of government in foreign
| relations were in the federal government.
and that the States had either divested
themselves or had been Invested of every
single attitude of power in their relations to
foreign affairs. The States did not even
have as much authority in that respect as
the British colonies of Canada aud Austria
liza had to-fisy, for they could tax the COM
modities IL foreign countries and even Of
the parent country. He quoted Calhoun in
support Of his position, and asked whether
it could be said that in view of this plenary
power Ofthe general government in regard
frsf ,v. Moi ft<aro
incom potency in Congress to invite COM
missioners from foreign countries to bring
here the productions of commerce, art and
industry Was it unconstitutional in the
President to give the invitation which this
law authorized him to give? If not, it was
clearly and unqualifiedly
go THE DUTY OF CONGRESS
TO appropriate the moneys for that purpose.
Referring to an allusion made last week by
Mr. Frye, of Maine, to the Constitution as
an enigma he remarked that it was very
dangerous for New England to take that
ground. If the people of the country were
to rise and demand that Maine should be
struck from her equal right of representa-
ton in the Senate, she would hold up the
Constitution not as an s'er.igma," but as a
clear, radiant shield to protect her sover-
eighty.
Mr.. Hoar, (rep.) Of Mass explained, in
Mr.. Frve's absence, that the word ssenigma''
itself, but the various Interpretations OF it.
Mr. Lamar replied that on the same 'prin
ciple the Bible might be called an enigma.
The Constitution was no enigma. 1t was a
grand, august, imposing reality. He favor
ed the celebration in order that the people
Of the North should become satisfi ed of the
longing desire Of the Southern people t.
live with them in perpetual union, and be-
| fore that passion all others sunk into insig-
nificance. -lg-sf- :
Mr.. Townsend, of New York, last week to
Preston Brooks, and intimated that the
Inevitable effect of the allusion was to ex-
cite passion, to inflame luminosity and to
awake the hatred of sectionLlism He
quoted an extract from one of Mr.. Summers
speeches in reply to a similar allnsion, in
which Mr.. Sumner said that no one had
ever heard him speak of Preston Brooks in
unkindness, and that his name should not
be brought up to
AGGRAvATE THE PASSIONS
of political confict and to arrest the longing
| for concord. He (Lamar) advocated this
scheme because it carried out the spirit Of
peace and recon iliation. II was some
thing like the image Of the feeling OF the
people who demanded that the alienation
| and distrust which had heretofore existed
| between the two sections of the Union
should no longer obstruct the glories of the
Republic or the prosperity and happiness o.
|
Judge he did not believe that that alienation
existed any longer. Never since Jefferson
was first inaugurated had the entire mass OF
the American people been animated by a
purer, intenser, broader, more universal pa
| triOtism, looking to universal brotherhood
and affection. He knew that that sentiment
had not found its full expression here that
it had been kept down and smothered in the
meshes of an intolerant political urganiza-
| ton, and that its voice had not been heard
amid the clamors and appeals of impassion-
ed partisans. But, in the political as well
as In the natural World, the agencies that
we're most powerful were not the most
noisy. Violence, passion, fanaticism. ami
mostly. could always find voices and fill the
air with their facIious elamors, while the
deep and earnest feelings of a great people
lay unspOken in their hearts. The currents
of passion and feeling might flow hither ant
| thither, dashed by extraneous agencies, bu
there was in the great sea of unsoundet
| depth common humanity, q common hope
a common interest and a common patriotism
which lay unspoken. (Applause.)
/ Mr.. Lamar spoke under a rule limiting
the time to ten minutes but as soon as tina
time xpired Mr.. Garfield rose, and, beine
recognized, courteously yielded his time t
| Mr. Lamar.