Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-06-22


his thing was discovered they
ought, in my opinion, to have come
Town to the Government and said,
I'VE learn that such and such has
occurred, and we believe that you
have acted in q way that is contrary
to the Constitution of this country,
and we want you to explain what
YOU have done" The Government |
would then have said, eve have |
acted in a great emergency; we |
think that secresy is a matter OF |
great importance. There are great |
difficulties, and everybody must |
know those difficulties, in moving !
those troops; and we do not at the
present moment wish to discuss this
Question because we believe that it
is for the interest of this country
that it should not be discussed.
What oughtthent to have been done?
The leaders of the Opposition ought
to have said, awe give you credit
for what you have said, but mind
we shall call you to account. The
time will come when Parliament
will step IN and will ask graVely
why you have done this, and if you
are not able to give us satisfactory
answer, then we shall move a vote
of censure.D That would have been
straightforward and honest conduct.
(Cheers.) But what have you done?
Not wishing to call in question the
policy of the GOvernment-nO, not
openly Cheers you bring forward
an abstract resolution, which If
passed would be a censure upon the
Government, and you throw diff
culties in their way on all points
which prevent them from bringing
forward a complete defence of their
pOlicy-thatcO complete defence which
| hope they will make, but which,
if they do not make, they Will find
me as much opposed to them as any
right honorable gentleman on the
front Opposition bench. Clear,
hear.) When they come to make
that defense, they will make it
with respect to their policy; they
will say, 1--WE thought, and we
think now, such and such to be the
law; but if we have Overstepped the
law, these are the grounds which
induced us to do So" If those
grounds are weak and insufficient,
punish the Government, but do not
interfere with them at the very mo-
ment when the interests and vitality
of the country are concerned and at
the very moment when there is a
crisis in the negotiations which are
going on. (Cheers.) While we are
debating in this House the envoy of
Russia is possibly laying before the
Government the things he has to
say on the part of his Sovereign,
and negotiations are going on of the
most delicate description. Yet in
this state of thin gs you come down
and embarrasS and trouble the Gov
eminent with a resolution of this
sort. That is not what honest and
DatriOtic men would do. cloud
cheers.) x The OPPOSE
ton speakers feel themselves in the
position that they cannot assail the
Government directly, that they
cannot rush into their camp and say,
eve will burn your camp over
your heads by a vote of cenSure ;
| but we can trouble you, We can
weaken the influence of your cOun-
try, we can make England less
powerful than she is, and we will
| do it." loud cheers.) Does any
one believe that England will suffer
| from the debate which is now pro-
! ceeding? (Hear, hear.) /, for one,
certainly do not think so; but can
| easily imagine what has been pass
ing through the minds of those who
support the line of action which has
been pursued by the noble Marquis
who leads the Opposition in this
House. They will have argued
with themselves in this Wise-"Oh,
the Government is weak, and there
fore we are delighted the people OF
| England may suffer, but our party
will gain" (Cheers.) In the course
of this debate | have seen nothing
of generous conduct on the part OF
those who are opposed to the Gov
eminent. No one has come forward
and said plainly, eve think you
have done wrong, but the country
is under your charge; her interests
are under your guardianship, and,
| instead of attempting to weaken
your hands at the present moment,
we will assist you to maintain the
power of England but we will call
you to account for it afterwards y
(Hear, hear.) If this had been done,
the Opposition would have deserved
the appreciation and applause Of the
country but, not having done it,
say without hesitation that they
| will receive and have deserved it
! most severe condemnation. cloud
cheers.)
Thus the designated movement O
troops was condemned because they
were Indian troops moved into Eu
rope by an order not subject to the
approval of Parliament; it was de
Tended because the troops were no
brOughtintO England, and especially
because they were not exempt from
the authority Of Parliament, which
had the power ut any time to stOJ
the whole proceeding by refusing al
appropriation for their pay while 81
employed. And such censure Mr.
ROebuck well says would compe
the resignation of the administra
ton, who would be fortunate if they
escaped impeachment instead o
dismissal from Office if they per
sisted in such a policy against thu
express will of Parliament.
1t is here that the matter become
interesting from an American poin
of view. In the English way o
looking ut it, all precedents and al
clauses in the bill of rights becom,
immateriaI because Parliament ha
acquired the power of crushing a
once all dangerous exercise of mill
tary discretion on the part of tn,
executive by means of its contro
of the money power. 1t does no
seem that in this country we havt
any such means of resisting on
executive in its dangerous abuse o
its military authOrity-neither sucl
means nor any other. This wa
fully tested last year. The Hous
of Representatives, rightly i'm
pressed with the despotic use tina
had been made of the army in tn
last Presidential election and durin,
the controversies relating to tn