Feliciana sentinel., 1879-05-24
EATON ON STATES RIGHTS

SENATOR EATON ON STATES RIGHTS
MIR. Eaton addressed tho Senate on the
repeating clauses OF the bill. lie first re.
ferred to the speech ofDa" cs on April 16,
in which he (Eaton) asked if Webster
had not said that the government was
not confederacy. After reading from
the Record of that date what was said by
Dawes and himself, he said he now be-
lieyed that Webs ter had never spoken OF
the nation as a confederacy, but had spo-
ken of it as a compact. He ought to
! have no iced the matter at the time, and
| did intend to speak Of it tho next day,
but the absence of Blaine, who had taken
part in the debate, prevented it. Since
! then he had suffered from attack, by ILL
| humored newspapers, in saying that Web-
| ster called the Union g. compact, and
in reaffirming that statement he should
be branded by the newspapers as in SYM
pathy with slavery. Mr.. Dawes had said
that those who held the opinions with
him in this regard had come back here to
accomplish by legislation what they had
failed by rebellion. He wanted to say
that he acknowledged the results OF the
war, but the war had not settled any
thing by changing the government in
! any way. The emancipation proclama-
tion did not tree the slave. The govern
only by making changes in that instru-
ment has anything been changed, but the
constitution was changed, not by war,
but by the consent of tho sovereign
States. Ifany gentleman wanted to deny
this proposition he might have an oppor-
tunity here. The emancipation procla-
nation did not abolish slavery. It was
the change in the constitution that did
it. The late struggle was war of sec
tions, and the present unstinted denun-
citation of Sou uthern men on this floor was
umwise and wrong. Let the dead past
bury its dead. Let us so hereafter, as
band of brothers. No man ought to be
the judge of the motives of his brother.
The statesmen among the fathers had
spoken again and again Of this govern
ment as {: compact and confederatcd
Union, and in 1889 Jefferson called 1t &c
confederate republic ;" in 1851 Webster
had called it" 4 confederated republic )"
Clay had called it a confederatcd re-
| public ;; yet tho Senators were row
blamed for using similar language. The
nation is q compact of States, and the
little State of Connecticut or Delaware
has more power in one direction than all
the other tfirty-six combined that is
the State cannot be deprived of its rep.
! resentation in this without it's own con-
sent, even though all other States pressed
it. The constitution itself was ratified
by only nine States at first. Rhode Is
land and North Carolina remained out
for a time. The former sailed it's flag on
every sea for q year as an Independent
State, and that State was still an indc-
pen :ent commonwealth. The Senator
from Maine would, if he became q citizen
of Connecticut, be asked to swear to
maintain the; Constitution of that State
as free and independents ene. Coming
down to the oill under consideration,
Eaton said that he had believed all
along that these repeating bills ought
to have been presented separately to the
President, but he had yielded to the
wishes of freemen, but now Congress
was at loggerheads with the Pres ident,
and the latter had put his foot twice
upon the bill passed by Congress to re
peal odious laws. The second of these
was simple bill and was not q rider
upon the appropriation bill, yet that was
vetoed upon reasons which, to say the
least were remarkable, Yet he had
thrown the gage of battle not in tho
courtsy manner of knights of old, not as
Prince rupert, of King Charles time,
would have dono, by throwing down n
glove, but by thrustins his gauntlet in
to the face of Congress. For himself he
would accept the gage of battle. The
President had said in effect that if he
chose he would use the army at til 9 polls.
Eaton said he would insist on 4 free
people, free elections and free polls.
That was his platform. The people can
exist without an army, but free cGasti-
tusion has never existed and cannot exist
under the blighting control of a stand
ing army. s" To keep peace ut the polls"
was fine phrase. Louis Napoleon kept
peace at the polls with tho army of
France, and so had Suwarrow at the iu-
stance of Catharine of Russia, and thou
sands OF murdered peasants, their wives
and their children were prepaid for that
peace. Tho Senator from Minnesota
had factious9y argued on tho proposition
that half n soldier would go to each
vot: :ng precinct if tho army were divided
up to go around. That was not a good sub
ject FOR a joke, but he would say to that
Senator that tho little finger Of the law