Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1879-04-30

their Control. The Legislative Power
cannot be Coerced by the Executive
--No President ever vetoed a bill re-
storing rights to the People.
The Senate, as In Committee Of tho Whole
having under consideration the bill (H. r. No
making appropriations for the support Of III,
Army for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1880
and for other purposes--
Mr.. WALLACE said
Mr.. President: This bill comes from
the Committee on Appropriations o
this body. 1t does not come, as has
been asserted in this Chamber, from q
secret conclave or caucus. 1t comes
from the authorized organization o.
this Chamber, the Senate Committee
on Appropriations; and | rise now to
speak simply because / am one of III
members charged with that duty. Al
one of that committee, rise to speak
TO the purposes, the causes, the reasons
that prompted that committee to agree
TO the insertion OF the clause which Is
contested by tho Senator from Maine
This bill came through the Senate door
by the usual channel of communication
with the House of Representatives, in
the hands Of its Clerk, to this body
1t went to the Presidents desk, and
thence TO the Committee on Appro
priations, and it came back to this
Chamber from that committee in the
usual manner Nay, more, sir, tits the
bill almost in word and letter that was
adopted by the committees OF confer
cnce at the last session of Congress
agreed upon by the committees OF con
ference Of the two House, and which
but Tor the disagreement between those
committees upon this single section
would have been passed by that Con.
gress. This bill, so tar from having
been treated as measures that come
from committee of conference usu.
ally are, has been debated and contest
ed again and again in committee, in
the House, and in the Senate Chamber
The declaration that it is the edict ol
caucus is mere idle wind such state.
ment has nothing whatever to base it
This is the bill upon which the two
Houses disagreed in the last Congress
II is the bill that came from the House
that went to the committee, that came
back TO this Chamber through the
regular committees OF this body and
It IS now put upon its passage with the
forms and in the customary mode
adopted in such cases.
This bill contains but a single dis
puted section. 10 that the Senator
from Maine addressed himself to that
we address ourselves. There is but
single Issue presented by this bill, to
that shall try to confne myself. All
that hear me and the country know
that the convulsive throcs OF a great
people IN tremendous civil war have
caused many departures from those
vital principles that lie at the base ol
all civil liberty, The history OF our
race and the precedents OF the past
point them out as essential elements
in the preservation OF our own free
dom, and its most earnest struggles
ever have been and ever will bc made
Tor their safety. The necessities of the
hour may cause free people to bear
for time the subsection OF the civil tc
the military power, the suspension Of
habeas corpus or the presence of armed
troops at election polls, but these must
pass away with the necessity that gave
them birth. They can never be crys
tallized Upon the necks of Anglo
Saxons.
This single issue involved in thii
bill is, shall the executive arm OF th,
Government longer possess the power
to place troops at the election polls
Their presence there or the power K
place them there is equally a menace
TO the people and o departure from th,
right Of free elections. That is tn,
issue, the sole, the only issue that is il
this bill. We make no other; we will
be diverted not from this.
The mere presence OF armed troop
at the polls is menace to individua
liberty. The shadow of the power o
armed men is in itself threat, AM
no free people will bear it. l
was one Of the struggles between
Charles and his first three Parlia
ments that he should yield to then
the right he claimed to quarter troop
upon the people. Parliament refuses
to give him money and he was accus
toned to send troops into the countr,
districts and compel them to be quar-
tered and supported by the peopl
without authority Of law. The Com
mons placed it in their bills they for
mulated and crystallized 1t in the pc
tition of right, and they made th
king yield 10 their just demands Il
behalf Of the people. This right an'
privilege is registered IN the bill
rights OF nearly every constitution u
all this land. The power to quartz
troops upon the people was wrunI
from the klngly power oi Great britail
by placing It upon bills under whicI
he was voted supplies TO carry on
war for the Palatinate with Span
Before they would yield him thos
supplies they compelled him to agre
to concession OF THIS great right, an
, the right to be free from such intrusion
became hxed and certain. Inc COZ
relative right in regard 70 iree electio
and the absence oil troops irom 10
polls rs iouno SUI, lartner oack IN nn
ghsh history ine monaco Vi hr,ne'
troops at the polls was prohibited b,
statute in the reign Of George II
- I, rao;,.s ,ha ex;s,anoa ~ an
anu F" fe.''os 'ho oA,s.o"eo VI v"
right TO DO Tree from this menace q
old as tho time OF Edward /. In th
.L;.,oon,h oan,,ry ,aarIv s;x hundre
thr'cehs" ev"'"'y, "os'y ''N
la a M