St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-01-11

arose and addressed the senate IN
these ringing words, which called
out more applause than any speech
delivered in the senate in the last
30 years
AT time like this when the peace of
great communities is not only threatened
but broken; when the law is openly de-
he'd when great central city tone of
The first in this or any other land has its
homes threatened with reign of blood
and fire and terror; when civilization and
the very form OF government are heaving
under the mighty ground swell OF great
agitation, it seems to me that any sena-
tor who arises and appeals to party-as
the senator from Kansas has done-has
descended very far from the lofty plane
OF craftsmanship. What matters it
whether senators are republicans or dem
ucrats? What matters on what side
they stood in the late great American
conflict of the past? They stand now
shoulder to shoulder Tor the peace OF the
country, for the enforcement OF its laws,
Tor the support OF its dignity, and for the
pcrpetuatOn of the liberties of it's people.
will not speak OF such a subject from a
Southern standpoint. 1t matters not to
me whether the woe which threatens
Chicago be Western, an Eastern, a
Northern or a Southern woe. Itinvolves
IN its meshes the very lite of the republic
which is a republic OF law if it is repub-
lie at all. And whenever the will of the
people fails to support the law the gov
eminent will be deiunct. There is no
government here except a government
recognized and upheld by the free will OF
the people as government OF law-law
sanctioned by the popular WILLIAM to
protect public property, private property
and private rights-law to protect the
workingman in his right o dispose of his
labor and to sell it where he pleases and
whenever that right is impeded by Mr..
Dcbs or Mr. Any body else, it is defiance
not only OF the spirit that lies at the
foundation of the institutions of the
country, but it is the inauguration of a
system OF slavery not known in the past
history of this republic. There has been
a time when the Southern master had the
right to order slaves to deslst from labor
or to begin labor but that institution
bas been recognized in the fundamental
i0w OF the land and was wiped out in
biuod drawn from the veins of the North.
rrn and Southern kindred. But there
never has lived Il man on this continent
who had the right TO order one OF his own
blood to cease from labor Such a right
vs. so preposterous, so utterly abhorrent
TO every thought, which an American
ought to entertain, that it is impossible
Tor hlm to treat it with any consideration
"o'NIeTer. recall at no little pain anc
SpH..e misgivings that wonderful proph
ccy OF Lord Macaulay, that in some great
public upheaval Ukc that which con
fronts the country today the rcpubli,
will either lose its civilization through
mob law, or in putting down mob law
by the strong arm OF power will lose it
liberties do not believe it; but | con
fess If such doctrines as the senate ha
heard to-day were to become popular, tn
people would have to pause and conside
whether Lord Macaulay's prophecy is {
he realized or not. prefer to think wit
Gambetta that at such times all the lit
crty-lovlng people OF the country wi
unite and save the government, howeve
much they may fight each other abor
politics, stand here to proclaim not {
a Southern man, but as an American c
izen land | wish my voice could reac
every law breaker on the continent
that the men who wore the grey in 1856
10 1865, and who confronted the sta
and stripes in that great conflict, will |
found side by side with the men who wo
the other uniform, following that san
flag in unfolding the dignity of the
public over which it floats and every la
upon the statue books"