The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-04-03

lea would be bound to resist it as
much as though his own life depended
on his resistance. / am not arguing as
to the merits of your three amendments at ell;
am speaking Of your methods, and say thai
they are against the constitution of our coun-
try. say that they are revolutionary to the
core, and that they tend to the destruction of
the first element of American liberty, which is
free consent of all the powers that unite to
make the law. / ask anybody to take up nv
challenge and to show me where hitherto this
consent has been coerced as a condition prece-
dent to the support of the Govern
that our friends on the other side should
have gone into this great contest on
so slender topic as the one embraced in this
particular bill. Victor Hugo said, in his de-
scription of the great battle of Waterloo, that
two armies were like two mighty giants, and
that sometimes a chip under the heel of one
might determine the victory. It may be, gen
tlemen, that there is merely chip under your
heel, or it may be that you treated it as chip
on our shoulder. But, whether it is under your
heel or on our shoulder, it represents matter
of revolution, and we fight for the chip as if it
were an ingot of the richest ore
Let us see what the chip is. Do the gentle
men know what they ask when they ask us to
repeal? Who made this law which you now de-
rnand to have repealed in this bill? 1t was in
troduced into the Senate of United States by
prominent Democrat from the State of Kentucky
(Mr Powell). 1t was insisted upon in an able
and elaborate speech by him. IT was reported
against by Republican committee in that
body It went through days and weeks of de-
bate in the Senate, and, when it finally came to
be acted upon in that body, this is about the
way the vote ran: Every Democrat in the Sen
ate voted for it, and every Senator who voted
against it was a Republican No Democrat
voted against it, but every Democratic Senator
voted for it. Who were they? Mr.. Hendricks.
of Indiana; Mr.. Davis, of Kentucky; Mr..
johnson, Of Maryland; Mr.. McDougal, of Cali
fornia; Mr.. Powell of Kentucky; Mr.. Richard
son, of illinois; and Mr.. Salisbury of Della
ware There were fewer Republican Senators
who voted for it than there were who voted
against il. Thirteen Republican Senators
voted against it. and only ten for it. The bill
then came over to the House, and was put
upon it's passage here. And how did the vote
stand in this body? Every Democrat in the
House of Representatives voted for it-sixty of
them; the total number of persons who voted
for it in the House about 113, and of that num-
Der majority were Democrats The distin-
guished Speaker of the House [Samuel J. Ran
dalll voted for it. The distinguished Chairman
of the Committee of Ways and Means fernando
WOODY voted for it A distinguished member
frnm Ohio, now Senator from that
State [Mr. Pendletonl voted for it. Every
cratic party who was then in the Congress of
the United States voted for the bill, and not one
against it, In this House there were but few
Republicans who voted against it. Twas one of
the few. Thaddeus Stevens voted against it.
What was the object of the bill at that time? 1t
was this: 1t was alleged by Democrats that in
those days of war there was interference with
elections in the Border States. There was no
charge of any interference in the States where
war did not exist. But, lest there might be
some infraction of the freedom of elections. a.
large number of Republicans in Congress were
unwilling to give arv appearance whatever of
interfering with the freedom of elections, and
voted against this law, as an expression of their
purpose that the army should not be improp-
erly used in and about any election.
Mr.. Carlisle, of Kentucky-I want to ask if
the Democrats in the Senate and the House did
not vote for that proposition because it came
in the form Of a substitute for another PROPOSE
ton still more Objectionable to them9
Mr.. Gartield-1he gentleman is quite mis-
taken. The original bill was introduced by
Senator Powell, of Kentucky. 1t was amended
by several persons in its course through the
Senate, but the vote | have given is the final
vote A Republican Senator moved to recon-
slider it, hoping to kill the proposition, and for
four five days it was delayed 1t was again
passed, every Democrat voting for it. In the
House there was no debate, and therefore no
expressions of the reasons why anybody voted
for it.
Mr.. Stephens, of Georgia. wish to ask the
gentleman if the country is to be revolution
ing law that the gentleman voted against.
Mr.. Garfield think not, sir, That is not
the element of revolution that have been
discussing The proposition now is, that four
teen years have passed since the war, and not
one petition from any American citizen has
come to us asking that the law be repealed; not
one memorial has found it's way to our desks
complaining of the law; and now the Demo-
cratic House of Representatives hold that, if
they are not permitted to force on another
house and the Executive, against their will and
their consent, the repeal of a law that the
Democrats made, it shall DO sufficient ground
for starving this Government That is the
proposition we are here debating
4 desire to ask the forbearance of the gentle
men on the other side for remarks that dislike
to make, for they will bear witness that I have
in many ways shown my desire that the wounds
of the war shall be healed, and that the grass
that God plants over the graves of our dead may
signalize the return of the spring of friendship
aud peace between all parts of this country.
But am compelled by the necessity of the stu
alton to refer for moment to chapter of his
tory. The last act of the Democratic admins
tration in this House, eighteen years ago. was
StIIlIS huu uIdulailC, DuU IL Was uoIOlC
and high-souled Then the Democratic
party said: eff you elect your man as
President of the United States we will shoot
your Union to DEATH" and the people of this
country, not willing to be coerced, but believing
that they had right to vote for Abraham Lin
coin if they chose, did elect him lawfully Presi-
dent; aud then your leaders in control of the
majority of the other wing of this Capitol did
the heroic thing of withdrawing from their
seats, and your Representatives withdrew from
their seats and flung down to us the gage of
mortal battle We called it rebellion; but we
admitted that it was noble to give us the fell
gage of battle and fight it out in the open field.
That conflict and what followed we all
know too well; and to-day, after
eighteen years, the book of your DOM
ination is opened where you turned
down your leaves in 1860, and you are signaliz-
ing your return to power by reading the second
chapter mot this time an heroic one), that de-
clares that if we do not let you dash statute
out of the book, you will bot shoot the Union
to death, as in the first chapter, but starve it
to death by refusing it the necessary appropria-
tons. You, gentlemen, have it in your power
to kill this movement; you have itin your power,
by Withholding these two bills to srnite the
nerve-centers of our constitution to the still
ness of death; and you have declared your pur-
DOSn To do it if Won cannot break down tha eIn-