National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-04-07

of Fridays session. and Immediately went into
Committee Of the Whole Mr. Springer In the chair
on the army appropriation bill.
The pending amendment is as follows:
Prorided That nothing contained IN this section
MS amended shall be held or deemed to abridgc OF
affect the duty or power Of the President Of the
United States under section 5207 OF the Revised
Statutes enacted under and TO enable the United
States TO comply with section T. article 4, of the
Constitution ON application Of the Legislature or
Executive, as provided for In said section.
AT. REAdAN opposed The amendment as being
entirely unnecessary.
Mr. SPARKS denied that the proposed legislation
was coercion Of the action of the President lie
President vetoed the bill. But he believed That In
This particular case Congress should say to the Pros
ident. 'lfyou do not want this law We do not We
have the constitutional power TO let It alone, and
as you have chosen 70 arrest 1t, let the subject
drop But the President would say, "Gentle-,
We'll why not take II and make II effective o.
because II had some provisions In Il objectona.
bic to me-" What do you propose to dor" 81
me-" Where was the coercion there II the Presi.
dent had the power to prescribe the character OF
that coercion Of Congress? IN any ATTEMPTS had
been made to cocrce the President they had been
made by the stalwart members Of the party that
Here was the issue Of the Democrats and they
went to the country upon it, The issue was
whether or not In this country this free country,
this great Republic, the armed soldier, the paid
servant oil The sovereign people, was to come TO the
polls to drive the sovereign people away That
was the issue. The election in Chicago had been
the irst popular response and from Republican
city II had been startling IN Its character.
Gentlemen, he said addressing the Republican
side), you make the issue, we 20 TO the country
upon II, we mean to stand upon 1t; we know that
this sovereign power that stands behind u.s. stands
behind you, and to i President, Governors and
Congress must all yield, and the sovereign people
we know nre with us.
Mr.. CIIIrTEYDEN said Excepting only their indi-
vidual frcside, there was nothing ON earth so
Amprlp0n npnnlp n n
the ballotb0x. Now 1 ask what have you heard in
this great debate from the Democratic side of the
House, for the partical security OF the bnllotbox
We have had lectures from the gentleman from
mississippi Mr. Chalmers) about the liCentious,
ne6qGGhed ana ana despoc party TO which no owes
we have had their speeches lashng into fury
sectional politics. We had three speeches sailed
with excellent sentiments upon the sectional issue,
by gentlemen who one and all of them predicted
as The winning party In 1880 that party whose rep.
resenaives nthls floor before the American people
OF American industry and uprightnesS, by paying
the national debt In irredeemabio greenbacks
or. naTe Rad an n'eeTWes'RE picture drawn BY the
larry of State being here intimldating the Repubi-
can party on this side:of the House when the gen.
House last Saturday, and want to say here in
parenthesis to the gentleman from Kentucky that
hsd the honor to sit BY the side Of the Secretary
sage, Laughter, and will swear that the Score.
tary OF state was IN his normal condition. He was
~, rs min as ever; his pockets were not stuffed he
Ind no shotgun, 1 viii tell the gentleman from
Kentucky he had no revolver; he had no knife !;
he had no stick laughter and the gentleman
from Kentucky may be sure that there Is no fear
from Mr., Evnrts. We have had from The eloquent
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tucker the maxim
70 which every one Of us subscribe, that he be.
mum Of liberty" SO does everybody, but what
does ho believe by the minimum of powerP'
, How much power That Is the point which the
American people ask these gentlemen who split
hairs for thousand years about the meaning of the
Constitution The question which the American
power does It take to secure fair and honest ballot.
box In the district from which tho gentleman from
mississippi (Nlr Chalmers) comes who read the
does 1t take to secure an honest balotbox in Virgil
niaY How much power does II take to secure n sa-
SreI 6olIot.boN IN Kentucky? How much In New
questions in regard to their respective States but
hold IN my hand something that tells the story
about New York. 1t relates TO what existed there
before the laws of 1862 20. H. and 70 were made
=, You propose to-day TO deny to the Federal au.
mnoIity me power to protect peace at the polls,
which were anactcd with great nains.taklng and
great study at time and under circumstances very
different from the present but enacted IN good
faith. Yon propose to repeal them pel ,mcll, You
propose to substitute. You come here and pro.
pose that /, as citizen of New York, and those |
represent shall be in fact DISTINGUISHED to certain
extent-for when you repeal these laws you dis.
franchise not only the weak and ignorant In every
part OF this country, but in all the large cities you
bi'iluuNilSC men WHO nuNc HOT INC courage 10
at the polls.
hold In my hand letter from the last Demo.
cratic candidate for the Presidency, now dead, TO
the present Democratic candidate for President,
who still lives, and ask every man on this floor,
without regard TO party, when he finds II in the
Record TO read It, II Is ten years old but II is peren-
NAL living fire of truth which lies at the very bot
tom OF our free institutions and II will last and en-.
dnre while honesty and the ballotbox are sacred.
He then sent to the Clerks desk and had read ex-
tracts Of the letter sent to Samuel J. Tiiden, as
chairman of the Democratic committee, by the late
Horace Greeley.
Just before noon the committee rose and the ses.
sion OF Friday was closed. That of Saturday was
then opened with prayer by the Chaplain and the
House went into Commitee of the Whole mir.
SSRf!"seF I" the 'h''F' on the army appropriation
Mr.. LOWE moved to strike out the sixth section
OF the bill and instruct the committee to report Il
TO the House with recommendations that II be In
troduccd us q separate bill. lie expressed himself
however as opposed TO the use of military at the
polls preeriing the tumults of free people 10 the
order resulting from military domination Tho
contest between tho two great parties recalled the
times when Caesar had party and Pompey had n
party but Rome had none.
He did not believe that II was the purpose of the
majority tOCocrce the Executive or TO stop the Gov
ernmcnt If the President should veto the bill he
believed that the majority lin the absence of the
constitutional wo-thirds) would acquiesce in the
result, and would recognize. as the Democratic
party had always recognized, the prerogatives of an
Independent and coordinate branch of the GOV.
eminent But while there was no danger of starry.
ing the Government, there was danger of starving
the people, The question of finance and currency
and business and labor rose in Importance far
above the political issue which had monopolized
the time Of the House from the beginning of the
session.
Those members Of the House who favored fnan.
clal relief had tried In vain TO engage for single
moment the attention of the Chair and ofthe House.
IL the leaders of the two great parties should con-
tnue TO ngitate mere sentimental politics and per-
sist IN ignoring the great financial question he
hoped and believed the people of the country,
without regard TO party, would hold them to just
accountability.
Mr. MCLASE said that In common with every
member of the Democratic side of the House who
had expressed an opinion on the subject he be.
leYed that the law which was about to be repealed
was unconstitutional He believed 1t unconstitu.
uonnl for the United States 10 keep the peace any
where IN the States, either at the polls or anywhere
else,
The vote was thon taken on the amendment of.
fered by Mr.. New, and given above and IL was
agreed to-Sl to i-thc Republicans retaining from
voting on either side.
Mr. Lowe moved to strike out section G of tho
bill which contains the proposed repeal
MIR, CoNGER suggested 70 his friends on the other
side that they should agree TO strike out the section
aud then, SO far as the committee could recon-.
mond 10 the House, should recommend the PASSAGE
of bill repeating entirely the two sections of tRe
Statutes. He thought lie was authorized to saw TINT
Il ON the committee rising and recommending to
the House the Introduction of separate bi no.
pealing those two sections OF the Revised Statutes
so far as his side of the House was concerned ii
could be passed, without debate and without delay
leaving the army appropriation bill without any
Objectionable feature upon II.
Mr.. MCMAHON said that In 1866 the party which
was represented by his friend from Michigan had
claimed almost unlimited power with the troops.
The law not only denied that unlimited power, but
put the seal of crime on the officers WHO violated
Wnntn1 nd mn