Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-02-03

ana you canDOLdVOlu lJ--nODOuy can
that the House of representatives. is
the sole exclusive judge of when the
contingency occurs that entities it to
act; and if one of these candidates
had received three -fourths of the votes,
and you, sir, under this claim of power
in the Constitution had decided that
he had and that they were all valid
votes and that he was the President,
the House could retire into its own
hall and in the very same language of
the Constitution turn round and say,
by the same authority we decide, on
the same reasons exactly, that nobody
has a majority and we will elect our
President" Then if you would fol-
low it a little further in the same line
it SAYS that in case of failure to elect
the Vice President shall be President.
Somebody comes Immediately in and
says, II am the Vice President. Every
body admits that am elected. / declare,
under this power Of the Constitution,
that the contingency has occurred
1 when | am to act as President"
say to the man that the President
Of the Senate has appointed to be
declared elected, $50 your way,
you are not President" [ say to
the man that the House of Re
else, Depart. The same Constitution
that you live by also gives me the last
chance at this and | send you away,
and | am President, because deter
mine whether the contingency has hap
pened whether [ am to act or not.
/ And then you might come back the next
/ day Mr.. President, to carry it clear
through, and say that they were both
disabled and unable to perform their
| duties, and you would act as President;
and that is conclusive. Sir, to borrow
phrase from my learned friend from
/ Ohio (Mr. Thurman), that won't do.
/ (Laughter.) To do an act which the
Constitution demands issone thing; to
/ decide dispute is an entirely different
| thing. Whatever the Constitution de-
mands you are to do. Whatever the
/ Constitution commands the Executive
/ he is to do. Whatever. the constitu-
tion authorizes to be decided that the
| Judiciary, or some other tribunal, fixed
! by law or by the Constitution itself, is
to decide These are the only three
ways in which the government can ex-
i express itself, sothat whatever you are
/ to do, whatever the claims at the other
| end of the Capitol may be that they
/ have right to do; whatever the Vice
President may say that he has a right
/ to do under the Constitution, when the
/ President has not been elected; what
| ever you, the President of the Senate,
/ have right to do when both of them
are unable to peform the duties of
az etill hoh
| 1t all in the very essence of govern
ment the necessity of having power
| that binds you all at the same time, to
determine when and under what Cir
cumstances each iof you shall bring
your forces into play, and as the Con-
stltution has not fixed that tribunal it
has declared that Congress shall pass
every law which shall carry into exeu-
tion every power which is vested any
where in the government.
WHY WAS THE CONSTITUTION SILENT? |
The question may be asked, Why did |
I not the Constitution say so then? 1t |
did not say so because, after having |
defined the range of powers and their
nature, for every department of the |
government, and commanded what |
should be done, it left, as all consitu-
tions in all civilized governments
everywhere have done, and must do |
forever, to the law making power from |
time to time to carry all these great /
powers into effect by the regular meas
ure of legislative procedure. | can
scarcely state that so well-I am sure |
I cannot-as it is stated by the Supreme |
Court of the United States ITSELF more |
than sixty years ago, when, just as now,
and Just as alwsys in governments,
there arise great disputes touching the !
powers of government. This was a |
question of State rights, of the right |
of the Supreme Court of the United |
States to disregard and set aside the
Judgment of the great State of Vir-
ginia, and, when arguments similar to
those that | have been putting forward !
as what might be suggested against this /
bill and about the language of the |
Constitution were made, the Court an
sWered them in this way =
The Constitution unavoidably deals |
in general language. 1t did not suit |
the purposes of the people in framing
this great charter of our liberties to
provide for minute specifications of
its powers or to declare the means by |
which those powers should be carried
into execution.
Mark the words, Mr.. President, 'or
to declare the means by which those
powers should be carried into execu-
tion" 1t was foreseen that this would |
be perilous and difficult, if not i'm
practicable task. The instrument was
not intended to provide merely for the
exigencies of a few years, but was to
endure through long lapse of ages,
the events of which we're locked up in
the inserutable purposes of Providence.
1T could not be foreseen what new
changes and notifications of power
might be indispensable to effectuate
the general objects of the charter, and
restrictions and specifications, which
at the present might seem salutary
might in the end prove the overthrow
of the system itself. Hence its powers
are expressed in general terms, leaving
to the Legislature, from time to time,
to adopt its own means to effectuate
legitimate objects and to mould and
model the exercise of it's powers as its
own wisdom and the public interests
should require. (Martiu VS.. Hunters,
lessee, Wheaton, 326). IF there is
any one principle of constitutional law
that is settled as deep as the founda-
tions of the government itself it is that
which l have just read. There is
scarcely one-in fact, | only remember
one-provision of the Constitution of
the United States that has been said |
to execute itself, and for which it was
not necessary or proper that there
should not be the provisions of legisla-
ton to carry it into effect and to regu-
late the methods and manners by which |
results should be arrived at.
A SLAVERY ILLUSTRATION.
I believe it was said in the case of |
Prigg VS.. The Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania on the subject of fugitive
slaves, that as the Constitution recog-
nized a slave as property, and as the
fugitive clause in the Constitution gave
the master the right to his property if
it should have escaped from him, that
clause in the Constitution did execute
itself, so far as the right of the master
was concerned, to recapture his prop
erty anywhere he could find it, if he
could do so without violence and with
ont a breach of the peace, That was