The Van Buren press., 1879-02-01
MISSOURI'S NEW SENATOR.
Address of Hon. Geo. q. Vest.

day is that OF Hon. Geo. q. Vest, thu
newly elected Senator from Missouri
which we find In the st. Louis Repnbli
can, of the 22d 1t was addressed to {
Joint session of the Legislature.
For the compliment to me personally
evidenced by your action, to-day, words
are inadequate to describe my gratitude
and can only hope, bya faithful dis.
charge of the duties devolvipg upon me
by the high office to which | have been
elected, to prove myself worthy of youl
generous confidence.
My political opinions are SO well
known, aud have been so often express.
sci, ,,.lt no extended address w.tl be
necessary in defining my position on the
questions now prominently before the
people, nor can there be any uncertainty
Us TO my action ia the future upon any
issues involving the well-defined differ.
ences existing between the two great
parties now struggling for supremacy
These differences, in my judgment, affect
the very existence Of republican iustitu
tions, as established by tho trainers OF
our government; and commencing with
the government itself, they center now,
as they have always done, into every
public question. When our fathers de-
elared their independence, aud when they
afterwards framed the constitution, their
leading idea was to avoid the centraiza
ton which characterized the govern
ments of the Old World, from one of
which they had just separated after n
long and cruel war. Every drop Of pa
triot blood shed in that unequal strife,
every skeleton bleaching upon its battle
fields, every hour of cold and hunger and
agony in the long, dark winter at Valley
Forge, every prayer that went up from
the patriot mother for her soldier son,
every tear upon the graves of the patrl-
OF dead, were each and all protests
against Capitalization. For ages the on
ly object of government had been to en-
able few to enjoy the labor and proper.
ty of the many, and even the benign re,
ligion of our Master had been sometimes
the handmade of Capitalization. Our
fathers, with courage for which we can
never be sufficiently grateful, declared
that all just government derived its pow.
er from the consent Of the governed, and
that the best government is that which
centers the greatest good upon the
greatest number. Upon this they estah.
lislied the only true and real republic
that has ever existed, and for this |, their
descendant, standing in this historic hall,
upon the prairies of the Far West, and
IN the centre Of the vast empire, which
hrs come from their matchless courage,
ayouch this, their great deed, aud mag
Nifty their sacred names.
The advocates Of Capitalization have
asserted that when the trainers of the
declared their object to be
the formation of more perfect gov
ernment, they intended to abridge the
rights OF the states. 1t is false. A
more perfect government simply meant
one in which the rights of the people
would be more thoroughly protected, and
to that end the powers vested in the diff
ferent departments Of the government
more distinctly defined and limited.
Under the monarchial system, from
which our fathers had escaped, govern
ment was something alien from and an
Lagonistic to the people, an aristocracy
in the air, to be worshipped afar off, but
not to be touched by vulgar hands. Up
on this infamous superstition, our faith
ers trampled, as they marked tho snow
with their bleeding feet, and in its stead
they created the system Of state govern
ment, coming from and near to the peo-
pie, the system SO clearly enunciated in
hat clause of the constitution which de.
,lares that "the powers not delegated to
United States by the constitution. nor
prohibited by it to the states, are reserv-
I'd to the states respectively, or to the
people,"
What could more clearly establish the
great truth upon which the Democratic
party is based, that the federal govern
nent is the agent of tho states, acting
Inder the power Of an attorney in the
shape of written constitution. Inter-
woven with every fibre Of the party, this
doctrine has given TO 1T the vitality that
las outlived so many adversaries, and
survived so many disasters.
Capitalization means force as an anti |
hetie to popular will, and must always
,e associated with monarchy and heredi-
airy rank. State government, on the |
,ther, next to that OF the family, will al |
Ways be dear to the Amdrican heart.
The one is of foreign, the other of do
nestle growth, and whilst a great CEN
rallied government may dazzle for a
ime, like the sun, with its garish light,
It MONDAY, it is at last in the states, and
~ the unpretending but steady light of
hat lamp which Jefferson fixed as bea-
on for posterity, that our liberties must
'e preserved.
Capitalization is the presiding deity of
he republican party. 1t permeates all
Is policies, aud regulates its councils.
wen the federal Judiciary, keeping step
nth the political department, has, under
ne device or another, extended its juris
iction to every class of litigation, until
4 the terse and emphatic language of
'ol Benton, " the federal tribunals stand
pea, like the gates Of hell, by day and
ight" Emboldeued by past success,
minent leaders of the republican party
ow propose TO organize national mill
a, to be controlled by the general gov
Independent of the states, and
/ violation of the constitution.
Why is it, to-day, that Grant is the un-
uestioned leader of the republican
4 "a. 49, / ,