Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-05-01
SPEECH OF
HON. WILLIAM A. WALLACE.

The Senate, as in Committee OF the
Whole, having under consideration the
bill III. Il. No. y making appropriations
for tho support of the Army for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1880, and for other
purposes
MIR. WALLACE said 4:
Mr.. President, this bill comes from
the Committee on Appropriations of
this body. II does not come as has been
asserted in this Chamber, from a secret
conclave or caucus. 1t comes from the
authorized organization OF this Chamb-
er, the Senate Committee on Appropra.
tions; and | rise now To speak simply
because | am one of its members
charged with that duty. AS one of that
committee, | rise to speak to the pur.
poses, the causes, tho reasons that
prompted that committee to agree to
the insertion Of the clause which is con.
tested by the Senator from Maine. This
bill came through the Senate door by
tho usual channel of communication
with the House OF Representatives, in
the hands of it's Clerk, to this body. 1t
went to the Presidents desk, and
thence to the Committee on Appropria
tions, and it came back TO this Chamber
from that committee in the usual man.
ner. Nay, more, sir, it is the bill al
most in word and letter that was adopt
ed by the committees Of conference ut
the last session of Congress, agreed upon
by the committees of conference OF the
two Houses, and which but for the dis
agreement between these committees
upon this single section would have
been passed 10y that Congress. This
bill, so far from having been treated as
measures that come from n committee
of conference usually are, has been de.
bated and contested again and again in
committee, in the House and in the
Senate Chamber. The declaration that
it is the edict of caucus ia mere idle
wind such statement has nstbise
whatever to base il. This 10 the bill
upon which the two Houses disagreed
in the last Congress il is the bill tbst
came from the House, that went 10 the
committee, that came back 90 This
Chamber through the regular commit
tees of this body, and it il now put
upon its passage with the forms and in
the customary mode adopted in such
cases.
This bill contains but a single disput.
cd section. TO that the Senator from
Maine addressed himself; that we adj
dress ourselves. There ia but a single
issue presented by this bill, TO that
shall try to con6ne myself. All that
hear me and the country know that the
convulsive throes of great people in ia
tremendous civil war hsve caused many
departures from those vital principles
that lie at the base of all civil liberty.
The history of our race and the prece-
dents of the past point them out az o.
genital elements IN the preservation of
our own freedom, and its most earnest
struggles ever have been and ever will
be made for their safety. The necessi.
ties of the hour may cause n free pco-
pie to bear for a time the subsection OF
the civil to the military power, tho sus
pension of the writ OF habcaS corpus or
the presence of armed troops Mt elec.
ton polls, but these must pass away
with the necessity that gave them birth.
They can never be crystallized upon the
necks of Anglo Saxous.
The single issue involved in this bill
is, shall the executive arm of tho Gov
ernment longer possess the power to
place troops at the election polls
4
place them there is equally a menace to-
the people and n departure from the
right oil free elections. That Is the is.
sue, the sole. the only issue that il in
this bill. We make no other we will
be diverted not from this.
The mere presence Of armed troops
at the polls is q menace to individual
liberty. The shadow OF the power of
armed men is in itself n threat, and no
free people will bear it. 1t was one OF
the struggles between Charles | and his
first three Parliaments that he should
yield to them the right he claimed
to quarter troops upon the people. Par.
lament refused to give him money and
he was accustomed to send troops into
the country districts and compel them
to be quartered and supported by the
people without authority OF law. The
Commons placed it in their bills; they
formulated and crystallized il in the pc.
tition of right, and they made tho king
yield TO their just demands in behalf
of the people. This right and privilege
is registered in the bill of rights Of
nearly every constitution in all this
land. The power to quarter troops
upon the people was wrung from the
kingly power of Great Britain by plac
ing IL upon bills under which be was
voted supplies to carry on a war for the
Palatinate with Spai2. Before they
would yield him those supplies they
compelled him to agree TO q concession
of this great right, and the right TO be
free from such intrusion became fixed
and certain. The correlative right in
regard to free elections and the absence
of troops from the polls is found still
farther back in English history. The
menace Of armed troops al the polls
was prohibited by statute in tho reign
OF George III, and it rscises the exis.
tence of the right to be free from this
menace as old as the time Of Edward
!. In the thirteenth century, nearly
six hundred years ago, the race from
which we obtain our liberty and Law,
from whose loins we mainly sprsng, as
serted the doctrine that this right of