The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-11-15
nMS Capitalization.

The purpose of the leaders of the republican
party to deprive the people OF all rights and
to consolidate all power in the hands OF the fed
eral authorities, is not only apparent, but Is by
these leaders avowed and defended. The right
of the people to hold free elections, conducted
by officers chosen Immediately by the people
the right to trial by a jury drawn from the
whole body of the vicinage; the right to with.
hold supplies from the executive until griev-
ances are redrcssed, and the right to control
the coinage and currency, are among the rights
which our forcfathers achieved by conquest
centuries ago and which are solemnly reaffirm-
ed in the constitution of the United States. 1t
is now proposed to deprive the people of all
these rights, and to lodge the power to control
elections to control the currency and to select
juries in the officers of the federal government.
1t is declared that the president not as
civil officer, but as commander-in-ch of the
army, ought to have the right on election day
to take possession Of every polling place in the
country with the land or naval forces, and that
he ought to have the authority to appoint men
to supervise the registration of voters and the
casting Of votes and the making of the returns,
and that these officers, supported by the SOL
diers, should have the power to arrest without
warrant, and confne In Jail without process
any person they choose. No monarch Of the
days when representative government was In
its infancy dared to do more than this, and
not one OF them ever dared to insist that he
ought to have the right to do this conferred
upon him by statute. Yet this is exactly what
is now proposed shall be done, and it is with
shame that we are obliged to say that there are
American citizens in the nineteenth century
who declare that they are willing and anxious
1t should be done.
1t has been declared on the floor of congress
that the right to withhold supplies until grew
ances are redressed does not exist and some Of
those who are tired of being free men, declare
that the representatives of the people have no
right to refuse to vote such appropriations as
the executive may demand, and that such re-
fusal is reasonable and revolutionary, and
that whether supplies are voted or not, the ex-
ecrtive has the right to maintain and use the
army at his pleasure, and to conduct elections
BY means Of supervisors and marshals selected
by officers whom he has appointed This mon
strous doctrine is not whispered in secret, but
is proclaimed through the press and Oh the
stump, and adherence to 1t is declared to be
the badge and symbol of loyalty to the union
Already the officers of the federal govern
ment clam the power to decide how much of
the bullion, dug from our mines, shall be coin
ed, and the right to connect the federal treas
ury with the national banking system. 1t is
| IIOpOScu W ucSlloy tHc hliitia oy Stcil tStaD-
lished by the constitution, which provides that
the president shall be COMMUNICATIVE of
the militia when called into the active service
of the United States, and substitute therefor IA
system by which the congress shall MAINTAIN
the militia IN each state and by which that
force shall at all times be under the direct and
immediate orders of the president In short,
the proposition is to strip the legislative, cX-
ecuive and judicial officers of the states of all
power and authority, and to transfer the power
of the purse and of the sword, the control of
elections and the authority of the judiciary to
the officers of the federal government. The
scheme bears great resemblance to that which
the Earl of STAFFORD devised for the benefit OF
the king OF England, and which was express
svely called thorough" Against tins scheme
the people of this country must constantly pro
test with their ballots, or must expect that their
liberties will become but traduoaal.-Statt
| Register.