Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-05-03

II
the same, and the plot if persisted In, Will
bury its aiders and abettors in opprobium,
and will leave buoy on the sea OF time
warning political mariners to keep aloof
from a treacherOus channel In which pO-
litical party toundered and went down.
a The size of the army and It's pay have
both been exactly fixed by laW-by law
enacted Dy Democratic House, and APP
proved by a second Democratic House. 1t
has been decided and voted that the coast
defenses and the Indian and frontier service
require 8 certain number of soldiers: and
the appropriations needed for provision
and pay have been ascertained to tarth-
ing. Nothing remains to be done, but to
give formal sanction and warrant for theuse
of the money from time to time. I0ls was
all true at the last session. But Demo
cratic House, or, moro justly speaking the
Democratic majority In the House, refused
to give its sanction, refused TO allow ing
peoples money to reach the use Tor Whlch
the people paid it, unless certain long
standing laws were repealed. When the
Senete voted against the repeal, we were
bluntly told that unless that vote was re-
versed, unless the Senate and the EAecu-
tive would accept the bills, repeating
clauses and all, the session sA9uIu aI5' ~ 10
appropriations should be made, and the
wheels ofthe Government should stop. Inc
threat was executed; the session dld Gle,
and every branch of the Governme was
left without the power to execute lis duties
after the 30.h of next June.
We were further told that when the extra
session. thus to be brought about, should
convene, the Democrats would rule both
houses, that the m jorlty would again IN
sist on its terms, and that then, unless the
Executive submitted to become an accom-
plice in the design to fling down the bar
rriers that block the way 10 the ballot box
against fraud and force, appropriations
would again be refused, and again the SEES
sion should die leaving the Government
DaralyZed. The extra session has convened;
the Democrats have, indeed, the power In
both Houses, and thus far tbs WAT and the
caucus have come up to the manifesto. 80
far the exploit has been easy. The time Of
trial is to come: the issue has been made,
and OF its ignominious failure there can DO
no doubt, if The Executive shall plantitsel
on constitutional right and duty and stand
firm. The actors in this scheme have man
aged themselves and their party into pre-
dIcament, and unless the President lets
them out, they will and they must back
out. Laughter, and manifestations OF
applause in the galleries.
The Presiding Officer (Mr. Wallace IN
the chair. y Order.
Mr.. ConkliGg-Should the Executive in
terpose the constitutional shield against the
political enorimity of the proposed bills,
and then should the msjority carry out the
y
without making the needed appropriations,
I hope and trust they will be called back
instantly, and called back as often as need
be, until they relinquish a monstrOus pre-
tension and abandon a reasonable posi-
ton.
The Army Bill now pending is not in its
political features the bill rendered US at the
! last session few days ago, it is not the
same bill then insisted on as the ultima
tum Of the shortly. The bill, rs it comes
| to US now, condemns its predecessor as
crude and obi ectlOnable. 1t was found TO
| need alteration. 1t did need alteration
| badly, and those who lately insisted GA 1t
| as it was, insist on II now Us 1t then was not.
| a grave proYiso has been added 10 save the
| right of the President to aid Il state gasp
| ing in the throes of rebellion or Invasion
| and calling for help. AS the provision
| stood when thrust upon us first and last at
| the recent session, it would have punished
| as a felon the President Of the United
| States, the General of the Army, and
! others, for attempting to obey the Consti-
| tuition of the United States and two ancient
| acts of Congress, one Of them signed Dy
| George Washington. ShOrn Of this alb
surdity, the bill as it how stands, should 1t
| become law, will be the first enactment
| of lis kind that ever found its way into the
| statutes OF the United States. A century,
! with all its activities and party StrItes, Win
all its passionate discords, with all its eX-
| pedients for party advantage, with ali Its
| wisdom and its folly, with all IFS patriotism
and its treason, has never till now pro
duced a Congress giOnal majority which
deemed such q statute fit to be enacted.
Let me state the meaning Of the amend
| ments proposed under the guise OF enlarg
ing liberty on election day-that day OF
days when order, peace and security for
all, as well as liberty, should reign. The
! amendments declare in plain, legal effect,
that, no matter what the eXigency MAJ be,
no matter what violence or carnage may
run riot and trample down right and life,
no matter what mob brutality may become
master, if the day be election day, any
officer or person, civil, military or naval.
from the President down, who attempts to
interfere to prevent or quell violence by
| the aid of National soldiers, or armed men
| not troops, shall be punished, and may be
| fined $1,000 and Imprisoned for i've years.
| This Is The law we are required to set up.
| Yes, not only 20 leave murderOus ruHian-
| ism untouched, but - invite it into action
| by assurances Of safety in advance.
In the city of New York, all the thugs
and shoulder-hiLters and repeaters, ali the
carriers Of slungshOts, dirks and blud-
geOns, all the fraternity of the bucher-
shops, the rat-pits, the hells and she slums,
! all the graduates of the nurseries of mod
ern so-called Democracy laughter; all
those who employ and incIte them, from
Kings Bridge to the Battery, are to be told
| in advance that on the day when the mill
ion people around them choose their mem
bers of the National Legislature, no matter
what God-daring or man-hurting enOrml-
ties they may commit, no matter what
they do, nothing they can do Will meet
with the slightest resistance from any Ma
/ tional soldier or armed man clothe with
| National authority.
Another bill, already on our tables,
strikes down even police oil GERS, armed or
| unarmed, of the United States. In South
| Carolina, in Louisiana, in Mississippi and
the others States where colOred citizens a.e
| counted TO swell the representation in
! Congress and then robbed of their ballots
and dismissed from the political sum IN q !
| such States, every rife club, and white
/ league and murderous band, and every
| tissue ballot box suffer, night-Tider ana
! laW-breaker is to be told that they may
| turn National elections into bloody farce,
| that they may choke the whole proceed
| ing with force and fraud and blood, and
! that the Nation shall not confront them
| with one armed man. State troops, whether
under the name OF rifle clubs or white
| leagues, or any other, armed with the mus
kets of the United States, may constitute
the mob, may incite the mob, but the \ a.
tional arm is to be tied and palsied. re-
peat, such an act Of Congress has never
yet existed. If there eyer was time
when such an act could safely and fly
stand upon the statute-b book, that time Is
not now, and is not likely to arrive in the
mar TTDfil rnknlIiDD raised