Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-06-30

gfeSS 10 say anu not lOI tIle lSSAuCn''
fAppause on the Democratic side. He
must take the army as we giveit to him,
for the purposes which we declare 1t
shall be used for, we being the power to
create il.
Strange to say, the President and his
advisers, and the gentlemen on the
other side OF the House, seem to have
lost sight of the constitutional provision
which gives the President the power to
execute the laws. The language Otthat
instrument is that the President OF the
United States may call upon the militia
OF the several States to execute the laws.
There is the power given to him for the
execution of the laws; not the army,
unless Congress says so, but the militia
of the States, because the Constitution
so provides.
Never for an instant did our bills in
teriere with the power OF the President
over the militia OF the States, but only
over this army, this creature OF ours.
The President has the militia OF the
States. from one end of the United
States TO the other, to aid him in execut-
inc the laws on election day or at any
other time, at the polls or anywhere
else.
What is the result now alter the We
toes? Some gentlemen have said that
the Democratic party has backed down,
has surrendered. Sir, when We entered
upon this fight we did not expect to gain
the victory i'm a dav. When power has
for twenty years been entrenching be-
hind all possible legislation, we cannot
dislodge it in a moment We entered
upon this contest knowing that many a
battle must be fought, many victory
be gained, before the ultimate triumph
could be achieved
In the Forthwith Congress we said to
the President your army-our army,
mean-our army shall not be used as a
pOSse cOmitd5g. In the FOrty-siXth Con-
gress we have said our army shall not
be nscd as a part of the police force.
And before the FOTty-siXth Congress
shall have closed its term, l say TO gen
tlemen that we will have taken from
the statute book every law which pro-
poses to use this creature OF ours at the
polls 10 intimidate American citizens in
the exercise of their highest prerogatiye.
[Great applause on the Democratic
side
| would have gentlemen on the other
side and the country remember that
there has been no surrender the prin-
ciple with which we began this contest.
We claim that the representatives OF the
people, by virtue of their power to orig
mate appropriation bills, can secure re-
dress of their grievances by stopping the
supplies for the support of the Govern
ment, either of the President or OF any
other branch of the Government, unless
our views on the subject TO which the
appropriations relate are carried out.
saw 10 gentlemen on the other side and
To the country that, SO long rs the Dem
ocratic party is in majority IN this
house, il will never surrender that grand,
healthful power which more than any
other made England free nation, and
which was put into our Constitution IN
order that the legislative authority might
have wholesome method OF controlling
executive power.
Mr.. Chairman, this extra session has
made up the issue between the two
parties. The Democratic party declare
that the army shall be kept from the
polls; that juries shall be impartially
drawn; that the test oath shall be re-
pealed. and that the federal authority
shall not interfere i'm elections within
the states. Upon that question the Re-
publican party takes issue with us. Con-
iidentlv appealing only to the patriotism
of the country, the Democratic party
goes into this contest. Never, in all the
history Of this land, have more impOr-
tant questions been submitted TO the
American people for their determination.
They relate 10 the pure administra-
ton of justice; they concern the
gravest questions of Constitutional
law; they affect the fundamen-
tai principles of civil liberty.
Every man who runs for any Office in
any State, and every citizen who goes to
the polls to deposit his ballot, is inter
ested. The whole method OF ascertain
ing the popular will in the Republic is
involved i'm the issue. So far-reaChlng
are these principles that, if upon this
issue the Republican party shall be sue
Cessful, then all the power over elections
i'm States would be drawn 10 the central
Government. The States would lose
their places in the iederative system,
and whether the army shall be used at
the polls or not would be a question not
OF right and of constitutional law, but OF
Executive discretion. Such q result
means the end Of the Republic and the
uplifting of the empire. Can there be
any doubt as to a controversy like this?
I'm Russia, where absolute deSpOtiSm
slences individual opinion, it might
be doubtful. In Germany, where
imperial power suStalus itself
bv an immense standing army, it might
be doubtful. In France, where the peO-
pie under mOnarChS and cmperOrs for
ages have slumbcTcd, it might be doubt
iul. But here in free America, with the
traditions OF our English ancestors, and
with the sacrifices and triumphs of our
American iOreiathers in behalf of civil
liberty, it cannot be doubtful. APP
plause. Shall civil liberty perish upon
It's own threshold and by it's own fire
side? Shall the beacon light which has
shonc from our shores for the encour-
agcment Of struggling ireemen every
where flicker i'm its socket and 90 out even
as they are gazing upon il? Shall the sun
of free government in this continent, ere
breaches the meridian, sink into night?
Shall the shadow and the cloud Of the
army darkcn our free fields, and free riv-
crs, and free lakes, and free prairics, and
pOllute the air so that freeman cannot
breathe it? The century of triumph just
ended protests; the bright prospects of
our future protest; the hopes OF the
world protest; and, what practically OF
more value. the Democratic party, with
its majority of half 4 million OF Ameri-
can people, protests.
Gentlemen, the contest will soon be-
gin. Ave, it has already begun. Ihear
the whispering OF American inquiry. |
hear the mutterings of Anglo-SaXOn re-
solve. hear the tread of the legiOns
forming, with the banner of civil liber-
" above them. The contest has already
begun, and God give victory to freedom
and the right. Loud applause.
Fresh Supplies of Vitality
To renew a waning >t,Ck may De gathered from
a source accessible 20 all, and never sought in