Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-05-23


the President to enforce by the ord.
mary course of judicial proceeding:
the laws of the U. States within any
State or Territory, it shall be Lawful
for the President to call forth the
militia of any or all States, and tc
employ such parts of the land and
naval forces of the Z. States as he
may deem necessary to enforce the
faithful execution of the laws of the
.. States, or to suppress such rebel
lion, in whatever State or Territory
thereof the laws of the q. States may
be forcibly opposed or the Executive
thereof forcibly obstructed.
This ancient and fundamental law
has been in force from the founda.
tion of the Government. 1t is now
proposed to abrogate it on certain
days and at certain places. In my
jungment, no fact has been produced
which tends to show that it ought
to be repealed or suspended for a
single hour at any place in any of
the States or Territories of the
Union. All the teachings of expert
ence in the course of our history, are
in favor of sustaining its efficiency
unimpaired. On every occasion
when the supremacy of the Consti-
tuition has been resisted and the per-
petuity of our institutions imperiled
the principles of this statute enacted
by the fathers has enabled the Gov
ernment of the Union to maintain
its authority and TO preserve the in
tegrity Of the Nation. AT the most
critical periods of our history my
predecessors in the Executive Office
have relied on this great principle.
1t was on these principles that Presi-
dent Washington suppressed the
whisky rebellion IN Pennsylvania in
1894. In 1906, on the same princi-
pie, President Jefferson broke up the
Bnrr conspiracy by issuing orders
for the employment of such for eth
er of the regulars or of the military
and by such proceedings of the civil
authorities as might en-
able them to suppress effectuallv the
future progress of the enterprise.
1t was under the same authority
that President Jackson crushed null
fication in South Carolina, and that
President Lincoln issued his call for
troops to save the Union in 1861.
On numerous occasions of less sig
under probably every ad-
ministration, and under the present,
this power has been usefullv exerted
to enforce the laws without Obiec-
tion by any party in the country, and
almost without attracting public at
tention. The great elementary con-
stituiOnal principle which was the
foundation of the original statute of
1892 and which has been its essence
in the various forms it has assumed
since its first adoption, is that the
Government of the U. States possess,
under the Constitution, in full meas
ure, the power of self-protection by
its own agencies altogether indie
pendent of State authority, and if
need be against the hostility of State
Governments. 1t should remain en-
bodied in our statutes umimpaired, as
it has been from the very origin of
the Government. 1t should be re-
garded as hardly less valuable or less
sacred than the provision of the Con
stitutiOn itself There are many
other important statutes containing
provisions that are liable 20 be sus-
pended or annulled at times and
places of holding elections if the bill
before me should become law. l
do not undertake to furnish list of
them. Many of them, perhaps most
of them, have been set forth in the
debates ON the measure. They re-
late to extradition, to crimes against
election laws, to quarantine regula-
tions, to neutrality, to Indian reserv-
alton, to the civil rights of citizens,
and to other subject. In regard to
them all, it may be safely said that
the meaning and effect of this bill is
to take from the General Govern
ment an important part If It's power
to enforce the laws.
Another grave objection to the
bill is its discrimination in favor of
the State against the National au-
thority. The presence or employ
ment of The Army or Navy of the
q. States is lawful under the terms
of this bill at the place where an
is beng held in State to
uphold the authority of State Gov
ernment, then and there in need of
such military intervention, but un-
lawful to uphold the authority of
a State Government, then and there
in need of such military Intervention,
but unlawful to uphold the authority
of the Government of the U. States,
then and there in need of such mill
tary Intervention. Under this bill
the presence and employment of the
Army or Navy of the q. States
would be lawful and might be neces-
sary to maintain the conduct of the
State election against the domestic
violence that would overthrow it,
bu would be unlawful to maintain
the conduct of the National election
against the same local violence that
would overthrow it. This discrimin-
alton has never been attempted in any
previous Legislation by Congress, land
is no more compatible with the sound
Driciples of the Constitution or nee
essary maxims and methods of our
system of Government on occasion
Of elections than at other times. In
the early legislation of 1892 and
1895, by which the militia of the
State was the only military power
resorted to for the execution of Con-
stitntional powers in support of State
Or National authority, both functions
Of the Government were put upon
The same footing. By the act of
1907 the employment of the army
and navy was authorized for the per-
formance of both constitutional du-
Ties ih the same terms.
In all the later statutes on the
same subject matter, some measures
Of authority to the Government has
been accorded for the performance
Of both these rules.
No precedent has been found in