The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-04-10

146ut W 6soAs anu II you uO uOG give IL we Will
refuse to do our constitutional duty. refuse to
do what the constitution requires us to do . IS
not their action then nnconstitutional? IF
they say to- those who deny them, and who
have the constitutional right to denv them.
| You shall agree or We will refuse to DISCHARGE
our constitutional duties we will refuse ia
pay the salary of the President; we will refuse
TO pay the salaries and expenses of the courts
we will refuse to supply the money necessary
to carry on the machinery of this Government,
IS not that unconstitutional? And if it be un-
constitutional to do that; if their refusal goes
to the destruction of the Government itself. if
| it stops the wheels Of Government: if it brings
us to standstill and destruction, is not that
revolutionary?
My friend from Ohio as I have already said
warned us that it becomes us to look sharply
and keenly to the use of military power. for,
/ by the military and through their means. re-
publics have always died [ beg to take some
issue with him there upon his historic accuracy
and fairness. The last final blow to the liber-
| ties of republics has usually come from the
sword but it has not been until some branch
of the Government has usurped to itself rights
which it did not enjoy under the constitution
! and laws of the country, and HAS thus destroyed
| the unity and power of civil government It
has not been until some branch of the govern
ment, usually branch claiming most especial
/ ~ to represent the popular will, has usurped
to itself powers which did not belong toit and,
absorbing or destroying the other branches.
has broken down Government and M
settled society. It was only after the
Long Parliament of England had disguised
| the people of England by their disregard of
civil and personal rights and by their assump-
ton to themselves of everything which belonged
to the Government that that soldier, Oliver
Cromwell, dared to invade that house and dis
solve 1t with military power. It was only after
assemblies and the councils of the French re-
public had made France with it's fair corn
fields and its vine-clad hills run red with the
blood of its best and noblest not until Europe
was appalled, at the scenes of murder and of
wrong which they perpetrated, not until the
world stood aghast at the crimes which were
committed in the name of liberty, that young
Napoleon with his armed soldiery was able to
seize upon the Government of the country and
erect npon it's ruins his military empire
Now, Mr. Chairman, we belong to system
of Government with coordinate and limited
powers, all bearing relation to each other
each having its appropriate sphere, each clothed
with It's actual duty, each having under the
constitution its proper scope, power and re-
straint 1t is like the solar system in the
heavens, each member Of it dependent upon
the other, each held in its place. each governed
in It's motions, each restrained in it's orbit by
the power and the attractions of the other
members of that system. Let one of those
break loose from the influence of the laws of
gravitation which move and direct it, and from
the centipetal and centrifugal forces which
hold and control it, what becomes of it and the
system of which it is member? It wanders
abroad, not only to the destruction of it's CO.
ordinate spheres, but an object of terror to the
universe and of destruction to ITSELF
Now, we are here coordinate members of
this Government, all held in harmonious &C
cord by rights, privileges powers and restric-
tons of the constitution of the United States :
and when one member Of that system breaks
loose from that attraction which holds and re-
strains it in its true relations to the other mem
bers, its old landmarks all swept away, it's old
traditions all forgotten its old and safe attrac-
tons all gone, it will riot through the system,
an object of terror and dismay, mighty in
strument of evil
Mr.. Chairman, it is on the ruins of disrupted
systems of government that military power
arises. 1t is in the confusion, the disorder
arising from the loss of civil rights to be guar
anteed and executed by the civil officers of the
law, it is with the overthrow of constitutional
law and amid the smoke of such a conflict
which this occasions, that the man on horse
back rises and liberty is sacrificed to order
30 long as the civil processes of the law may
be properly executed by the civil officers in
this country, SO long there is no danger of mil
itary power. The strong arm, the clear head,
South would never yield to military usurper,
though backed by standing army Of 100000
of men, unless it became absolutely necessary
under the pressure of the usurped and arbi-
trary power of some irresponsible assemblage
to sacrifice liberty to order. That time swill
never come in this country unless we disregard
the plain teachings of the constitution which
our fathers gave to us and which we are sworn
to preserve.
Mr.. Chairman the gentleman from Ohio took
occasion to say, in allusion to the Executive of
this country, that his title was in doubt and his
tenure of Office yet uncertain. do not claim
to speak for the Executive, but I cannot think
the gentleman really meant all that Certainly
| hope he did not mean it as threat, because
| if he did, if that is the giant of revolution
whose baby fingers to-day we see" in the &C
ton of this House. let me say to the gentleman
that the excitement which is apparent through
out the country to-dayis but the muttarings of
q storm which will increase in fury, will grow
In strength and resistless power, until the men
and the party who endeavor to unsette the title
of the President of the United States will be
swept forever from the political horizon
am sorry, Mr.. Chairman, that have been
led from the line of legal discussion which I
intended to pursue, and have been only able to
| suggest to the House the general topics which
I otherwise would have tried more carefully to
iIl1