Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-10-21
JUDGE JERE IS. BLAtHs SPEECH.

At Democratic mass meeting at York
Pa, on the sth OF October, Judge Jere s.
Black, the distinguished Democratic jurist
shall bexfn at once, without preface O,
apology, tQsaywhat have in my mind But
on the issass oAthe hour win be better un:
derstood III recur briefly to certain original
This d5ternmsnt of ours, though badly
iH u nai,i y eysnsy Years q
framed blythe wisdom of sages; heroes have
devotedthe fl blood to it; and rightly admin.
1stered. IT promises more happiness and
greater prosperity to us and our childrenlthan
have eva been enjoyed by any equal portion
AS wholeaits organism is not free from
complications, for it was made to secure the
rights OF thefseparate States as well as the
neceSsarEpotSerS OF the States united, and so
to adjust them that the liberties of the people
could not be invaded by either. 1t needs no
by military force. breaks down the rights of
the StStes Or tra1nples on the liberties of the
people as guilty OF treason as mucn n, as ne VINO
Cover nmept, for the life of our political sys-
tenn issas certainly destroyed one way as an
The United States could not properly govern
the internal affairs of a state If they would
try; they have no machinery that fits a local
government--no rules tor the protection of
individual rights or the enforcement OF pr1-
yate obligations. Wherever they have put
their arbitrary force in the place OF q State
Government they have converted law into
ruffianism and made justice a mockeIy. Be
through the agency of the General Govern
ment orotherwlse, undertake the government
of another State in its domestic affairs,
THE MISGOvERNMENT OF THE STATE
so controlled as certain as the death OF
man when the heart is cut out of his body.
No community has been decently, peacefully,
or honestly governed by strangers, whose
wishes, feelings, and interests are different
from its own. If aliens, by accident, or force
will inevitably rule you for their own pleas
ure and piunder you for their own profit,
or your rights Ask Poland, struggling in the
bloody grip of Russia, if this be not SO: Learn
sSs as hSt nnSSer of tns yoe
of Austria before she threw it off.
Go, to the far past, if you please and let
of the Gaul and the Goth. Or come down to
the present day. Interrogate Ireland, and
she will answer by pointing you to seven cen
turtles of unmitigated outrage as the steady
practice OF an alien Government, always dis
honest, treacherous. and cruel. If this does
ment on the unspeakabe infalnies of the
pet-bag domination in every State where they
citizens, this Necessity for home rule as the
only safeguard for life and property was the
gress thnndered into the ear Of the world
when it declared that each and every one of
these States should be sovereign, independent
and free to regulate i.s own internal aft ,irs
according to the will of its own people, and
to the maiutenance of this principle they
pledged their honor, devoted their lives, and
expended their fortunes. On this point OF
STATE SOVEREIGNTY,
az between themselves ana aSanst tnG out
No one thought of denying that such was the
relation created by the success of the Revolu-
ton. A Federal Government was agreed up
on, clothed with certain powers which the
States could not exercise efficiently or well in
carefully enumerated and the compact ex-
pressly provides that the powers not granted
are reserved to the States and the people. 1t
was political corporation, strictly limited by
the terms of its charter.
The man who will say in the face of these
Rights is political heresy, or that the States
are not supreme and sovereign to the whole
fbe metal ot or the ma OF
good citizen; he is unfaithful to the plainest
duties he is fit only for treason, stratagem
1t is vain to say that this is a matter OF
opinion upon which men may conscien..
Interpretation; the words Of the
Constitution are express. There is nothing
palmer in the decalogue. You might as wen
say that the eighth commandment commands
you ossteal sas to assertthat the Federal Con,
stitution extinsuishes State sovereignty. To
hold thar this IS and was originally a self -exis
tent Nation, which made the States and was
not made bytllem, is as inconsistent with the
genesis of our institutions as it would be with
the Mosaic history to declare that Abel killed
Cain. When yon hear man deny that the
States have any rights except what the Nation
with a big NJ has bestowed i'll its mercy and
NAV takeiawav in its wrath, you may assure
yourself that he is insincere and dishonest
Sucn II CteOfN Is not only W1unOuC truth, DuC
without plausibility, and can not impose upon
person OF common understanding.
In all this am not pleading for an abstrac-
ton, 1t is the very core OF the practiced con
troversy which has been going on for CEN
fury between the friends and the enemies of
honest government in America. 1t can not
be otherwise than transcendently important;
for the destruction OF State sovereignty is the
& our pIv 0e1aTh have rs neon1
without independent States. 4 .-.
Our Constitution also provides for the Sc
eral Government to certain prescribed modes
of executing its granted power. In the per-
f9rmance OF its proper functions it. must not
corpus or punish him without a trial by jury,
take his property without just compensa-
POPULAR LIBERTY AND STATE SUPREMACY
in matters of domestic concern are essential
tional man aver that these vital principles
can be cut out of our Government without
destroying its life? If person who has
or exting,lished the just authority of a State by
military violence should be indicted for4rea-
not be made with equal effect by one who is
tried for resisting the Federal Government in
the execution of its purely Federal powersg
have put this question publicly and privately,
in speech and writing, to the foremost jurtsts
of the Administration party, among others to
their candidate for the Presidency, and have
never yet got an answer which denied that L
was rght-morally, legally, and logically
But our opponents held the doctrine and
by some of their most influential men it was
openly avowed, that the great compact which
our fathers had made to respect the rights of
the States and to mantainSthe personal lib
erty of the citizen was can agreement with
death and n covenant with hell" Taking adj
vantage of our supineness and want of con-
cert, they got possession of the Government,
and /, great civil war was the consequences.
We are bound to acknowledge, and we did
admit in words and deed, that it was our plain
duty to,defend the General Government, and
aid it in the execution of its laws against all
opposition. But no man was willing to join in
revolution which would subvert its free
principles and make it a despotism by oblit-
Grating the Constitutional limitations of its
power. To quiet our apprehensions, they pro-
fessed to take the same view of their duty that
we,did land they distinctly promised, in the
solemn form of resolution unanimously
passed by both Houses of Congress, that the
war should be waged solely to maintain the
supremacy of the Constitution and not to i'm
pan any right of States or people. IS .i 81 81
UPON THE FAITH OF THIS PROMISE II
millions in the North and hundreds of thou
sands in the South rallied to the standard of
the Administration. But the promise was
most perndiousE broken. The enemies Of
the Constitution took that opportunity to
feed fat tho ancient grudge they bore II, %
broke down the right of the States, North as.
- G liberty