The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-01-10


Gates and count the vote. they would
| have said 50. That amendment of the cOnsti-
tuition, sir, was adopted in day when the
senatOriai toga was worn by statesmen OF god
| ike mein; by senators distinguished for wis
! dom, conscience and patriotism. lApplause.l
IL was adOpteN IN day when small and VI
ciOus men were kept in Obscurity, when
giants ruled end giants made the laws. such
men meant what they said and said what they
meant. From the very beginning Of The exis-
tence Of this government down TO 1868 the
senate and the house OF representatives, after
appointed joint committee TO report y meth
cd OF counting the electoral vote. Here then,
sir, IL period OF Y years, extending from l7&
down to 1865 during which congress has con-
tinuously asserted its power TO cOuntth votes
for president and vice president. The twenty
second Joint rule was adopted on the 9th day
OF February, 1856. The electoral vote was as
eeriained under thss rule for 1854, 1855 and
1872. II was not re-enacted during either one
Of the two periods it was employed after its
adoption and nobody made any question
about il.
win not, sir. take mp your time with proofs
at the command OF every one; that the most
representative men Of the republican party,
living aid dead are on the record against the
pernicious assumption that the president Of
the senate can receive the electoral returns
open the certificates, count the =Ote and pro-
claim the result without let or hiDdrance any
where. Every prominent republican now in
the senate is fully committed TO the doctrine
that the power Of its president over the elec-
ceived the certificates and broken
the seals IN the presence OF the
Two nGstnCnes OF con &rerS. The same uarfy is
committed, too, to the doctrine that cOSgress
has the power TO go behind the returns and to
scTutinize them. That these very men have
done this thing can not be successfully denied.
They did IL In 1859 and as late as 1873 i'm regard
10 the electoral vote OF ARKANSAS and Louis
lana.
But we have higher ground 10 take to-day
We are no, confined TO the result OF hunting
down the presidents of any party. / have
always believed that under our constitution
black, foreign born and to the manor born, in
office and out of office, was accountable some
where and to somebody for every political act
done; that absolute license and individual
domination are tolerated nowhere. The ex-
ecutive, the judicial, the legislative powers OF
this government are mighty powers, but
they are IN no sense independent and ire
sponsible powers. Not one of them could sur
vive an hour without the support IL gives and
and receives. And, sir. here is the sheet
anchor of our safety. This Is a republic. II
rests entirely upon the constitution. That,
and that alone, Is ihe rock upon which ii
stands. Sovereignty concentrates nowhere
in this government where every function Of
the federal constitution is not absorbed The
senate and house OF representatives, consti-
tute the legislative power of the republic. II
is grand power, but great and majestic as It
Is, II is restricted power. All the power IL
possesses, or-that any officer, agent or menu
Der connected with fl possesses, was expressly
derived from the constitution in its grant Of
powers 10 the United States, and all the
powers not 50 delegated were reserved to the
states, or 10 the people thereof. There stands
the legislative power, there the executive,
there the judicial: co-ord mate. but no single
one OF them supreme. Nowhere, sir, in the
legislative, executive or judicial range of This
whole government is there so much as one
square inch of ground where any man can
set his foot and exercise independent
arbitrary, imperial, supreme and despotic vo-
lition, ike that now claimed by the desperate
element of the republican party, for the presi-
dent OF the senate There they tell US he must
lake his stand, ana IN the face OF frauds as
black as hell over the protest of millions OF
unwilling people, and looking out upon the
deSOlatiOn OF three states, embracing the hal
and I,ufaKV
and the very place where jackson re-estab-
lished the supremacy OF our flag and made
this good anniversary day sacred In history
forever. There, sir, there In such "A pres nee,
and with such surroundings they tell us he
must take his stand and do an act OF arbitrary
supervision unsurpassed in the imperialism of
CtSar CrOm well-the president of the SEN
ate, with conflicting returns before him, to
determine Tor himself, IN the presence of the
whole legislative establishment OF the federal
government, sitting powerless nd with sealed
lips at his sovereign feet, who is and who Is
not president of the United States!
Sir, he has no such power. He Is but the
creature of the will of the people; he can not
be greater and stronger Than the will OF the
people, which created him. Should he at
Tempt TO exercise such dangerous power.
and with tyrant's tongue say TO the four mill
lion three hundred thousand freemen who
voted for Tilden and Hendricks, and gave
them popular and an electoral majority, that
he viii commit their votes to the flames of
the imperial furnace of The senate because ne
presides there, and of himself seat Hayes and
Wheeler as president and vice president OF
the United States, then, sir he viii be guilty
OF usurpation. and usurpation Is the first dark
lining of the black shadow of treason. ZAP
plause and cries That's So
The conspiracy, Mr.. Chairman. to force
Hayes and Wheeler into the presidency of the
United States over the heads of unwilling
people, like all conspiracies sprung its own
leak at exactly the right time and in exactly
the right place. And that sir, is the sole
cause of the desperate eXpedient We are now
considering. When Indiana was lost in Octo-
Der, and il seemed inevitable that New York,
New Jersey and Connecticut would follow on
i'm no 1ar
November, then but one desperate alterna-
tive remained TO the conspirators. That was
any way possible, and then, with
the aid OF the cabalistic return
ing boards, bolstered up by military
and count in Hayes and Wheeler, in the three
states, South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.
What was the plan TO get the needed lS5 votes?
II laid in The midnight junto of as bad
men as were ever banded together for the
work of conspiracy. LApplause.l The Clifford,
Ashley, Buckingham. Arlington, Laudeidale
ministry of Charles IL, the first letters Of
whose infamous names spelled the word cabal,
and first coined II into word OF common
usage, were justified and sanctifed saints,
compared to Grant, Chandler, Morton, Sher-
man, Cameron, and their dishonored and
loathsome allies, lcheeIsJ Wells, Stearns and
Chamberlain. Who doubts there was a con-
spiracy, long cheris he'd by the plotters, against
popular government, to do just what has been
done, in our late presidential election? Are
these men so fool hardy as not TO know their
sin will surely find them out? Already the
0fSt Whisper mas come OF the part plhye0
the whisky ring of California, the most
gigantic corruption institution in the world.
1t stands there upon the remote shores of our
western SeaboaTd-it has stood there undis-
turbed by government authority for years.
How much did IL contribute TO the ends of the
conspiracy? immediately after California,
Nevada and Oregon had been heard from and
nearly two months before anybody knew
what the legal official count would be in a
single parish or county OF Louisiana, Florida,
or South Carolina. why did the chairman of
the national republican committee issue his
proclamation to the country that Hayes was
elected7 He did il, sir, because he knew he
had party Pandora's box in each one OF
those three i'll fated states, which shielded by
the army in the hands of president without
a conscience, could be made 70 accOmp .iSh
anything he wanted done.