The Republican journal., 1877-01-11
The Message Of Conn &c tiout's Gov
ApuOr.
rhe eminent lnrist, Richard ID. Hub

ornOfs
The eminent iurist, Richard u. Hub
bard, waa inaugurated ~ Democratic
Governor of Connecticut Wednesday. Jan,
Sd, in the Senate chamber OF the old State
House at Hartford-the magnificent new
Capitol not being yet quite ready for oc-
cupancy. The new Governor occupies
the unusual position of addressing Leg
islature that is politically opposed to him
and to the majority of the people The
Connecticut Governors message is q re-
markahle document, full of wise sugges-
tons and courageous and statesman-like
utterances. Unlike the inaugural ad-
dresses of the several Republican Gov
errors made that day, this message does
not dodge the great questions of the
hour, but boldly talks OF the reforms
needed in this critical time in national
affairs, and makes pointed and unanswer-
able commentaries upon the unconsttu-
tional and dangerous military interior
ence with the State governments by the
federal administration The rights and
Interests of all the States are bound up in
one, and as this message OF Gov Hub
hard's IS the best inaugural OF the season,
and as nothing which concerns any one
OF the States in its relations to the federal
government can be Il matter OF inditter-
enre to another, il may be profitable to
give particular notice 10 this model docu-
ment
The sel-poise OF the American people,
so often exhibited TO the surprise Of for
eign nations in crises which would in
other countries have produced as their
least result threatening public commotion
and violence, is the fitting subject of a
congratulatory paragraph, in connections
with the general order and tranquility
which marked the recent hotly contested
and acrimoniously conducted Presidential
election. Nearly nine millions Of votes
were polled in thirty-eight States, reach
or disturbance; and Gov Hubbard rightly
remarks that without this popular self
poise and regard for law, popular gov
eminent would be impossible. and il it
were possible, it would be curse In
every State where the people are left free
to govern themselves, they are contented
and law abiding; if there is danger of re-
volt, says the message, it is only where 4
government of fraud is maintained by ex-
ternal force. The undenable truth is
stated that the people of the United
States under honest laws honestly admin
istered are the most obedient and loyal
people in the world They are accus-
toned by education and habit to respect
law, simply because it is law, and do not
need forever before their eyes, as some
other peoples do, its visible symbols in the
shape of sword: and shoulder-Straps. But
perhaps it must be confessed says the
Governor : and the confession may be
made without shame that with gov
eminent founded on fraud, force, and
usurpation, they have less patience and
exercise less torbearance than any other
people on the globe. The complications
which have arisen out Of the wicked plot
to set aside the verdict of the people in
the Presidential election are Justly regard
ed by Gov. Hubbard as menacing our re-
publican system of government with
grave peril. He thinks the situation ap-
peals with peculiar force to the patience,
reason and sober Judgment OF the people
To honest men of both parties-and espe-
cially to honest and patriotic Republicans
he makes this forcible and patriotic ap-
peal, coupled with its closing definition
of what revolution may sometimes con-
sist in, as in the existing case at Wash
ington =
We are face to face with legal question de-
pending on the Interpretation of an ambiguous
phrase in the constitutional question requir-
ing the iInpartiality of the judicial mind and
unfit for the petifoggeries and cupidities of the
partisan mind. On Just such q question as
by reason, can easily go to wreck. Revolutions
are sometimes like the avalanche which topples
with the weight of mans foot. Is it not high
time then, that good men of all parties, instead
of remaining shut up i'll party camps and in the
bigotries of party politics, should, in the pres
ence OF such dangerous possibilities, make
truce with each other and common cause in the
interest OF peace, law, and order? Let us not
in a time Of peril mistake partisanship for pat
riotlsm, passion for courage, nor party for
selves, if the law is wrong, the people change
it; if fraudulently administered under legal
forms they change the administrators. Revolu-
ton is the last necessity of nations, and is a
crime except when fOrbearance has ceased 10 be
virtue. But let it not be forgotten that revolu-
ton is not always the uprising of the people
against the ruler; it is the insurrectlOn of force
against the law. This on the part of the people
is sometimes duty; on the part Of the ruler 1t
is always not only revolution hut treason and
intamy.
Further on this excellent message says
that it will not do TO assume that the
might Of a standing army makes right.
assumption must not he all on one side
and torbearance all on the other. If there
is not enough Of sense left amongst party
leaders tor just and reasonable concession,
there is folly enough for anarchy and revo-
luton"
Near the end Of the message there is a
so full of vital truth that al
though it is long we cannot forbear re-
producing it here entire -
1t is vain to say, even if it were true, that the
military interference of the government-which |
has been confined not to Il single state, on the |
call of its executive, but has been practiced |
and wherever the administration has
seen fit, in the heat of political canvass, to or
hat the troops have acted with moderation and
Orbearance. Such instrumentaties are unfit
o be used in q free country, even by good
'nler much less by a bad one; for unfortunate