Arizona silver belt., 1896-02-08
TILLMAN'S ATTACK ON CLEVE-
 LAND.

nho"h bS AONOiNi But his speech surpassed in bitter inyective and denunciation of the President any similar deliverance ever made in either house of Congress. The speech is notable, not only for the harsh language used in assailing Presl- dent Cleveland, but also in that no voice was raised in protest by Senators who had before defended the policy and acts of the administration.
 Following arc some of Tillman 'smost vicious charges:
 "In the entire history of this country the high office of President has never been so prostituted and never has the appointing power been so abused. Claiming to be the apostle of civil service reform, he has debauchsd the civil service by making appointments only of those whose sponsors would surrender their manhood, and with bated breath walk with submissive head in his presence. With relentless pnr- pose he has ignored his oath of office to uphold and obey the law, and has paid ont gold instead of coin and issued bonds to buy more gold, by both actions overriding the law and giving no heed to the interests of any bat moneyed friends-I might say his own CTS or partners.
 "While to this besotted tyrant coin has come to mean gold alone, he can not by his mere 'ipse dixit' change the law of this land and pervert the plain meaning of the English language. "
 Referring to the question of tariff reform, the Senator said that Presi- dent Cleveland had persistently pre- sented to the people the iniquities of the tariff and the demand for its re- vision. In season and out, with 'damnsble iteration, he had sung this siren song in the ears of the farmers Tillman quoted from messages of the President of 1887 and 1888, as he said, flor the purpose of pointing ont the evolution of a tyrant and of showing the transition from conscientious, law-abiding chief magistrate to an arro- gant and obstinate ruler who ignores the law and issues bonds at will, and issues them under statute that is sub- ject to the suspicion that it was intended to be temporary and limited in it's application, instead of conferring n discretionary authority. He not only issues them, but does it secretly, with his law partner as a witness to the con- tract, and has created the impression in the minds of millions of his country men that a President of the United States eau use his high office for private gain.
 ''If he was honest at the start (and l am willing to grant that much) his association with Wall street and his connection with wealthy men had debauched his conscience and destroyed all sympathy with the masses.
 There are many people, especially in the West, who will agree with Sena- tor Tillman that conspiracy exists to depress silver and oppress the masses, but will hesitate to impugn the motives of the President However, an un- biased opinion must certainly find Cleveland guilty of an utter disregard of party pledges, an arrogant assump- ton of power not delegated by the Constitution, and a blind and obstinate disregard of the wishes and interests of the masses, in favor of monopoly and the Shylocks of the Eastern States and of Europe.
 Comments upon the policy of the government, and upon other matters of public concern, including the con duct of government officials of whatever rank, are protected by the law of privilege, if uttered or published in good faith, but in the early years of the Republic such language as Senator Tillman used would have subjected the offender to indictment and punishment It was during the administration of John Adams that the alien and sedition laws were passed. The first fruit of the sedition law was the prosecution of Matthew Lyon, member of Congress, for the publication of letter alleged to be defamatory of President Adams.
 For this offense Matthew Lyon was indicted, arrested and tried October ', l798, at yergennes, Vt, in tLe Circuit Court of the United States. He pleaded the unconstitutionality of the sedition law and undertook to prove the truth of the publication, but the plea was rejected by the court and verdict of guilty rendered by the jury, and Lyon was sentenced to four months imprisonment and to pay fine of 5000 and costs. A motion was made to expel Mr. Lyon from Congress, but was lost, failing to receive the neces- sary two-thirds affirmative vote. The sedition law expired by limitation
  March 3, 1901. Forty-two years after Lyons conviction, Congress passed an act repaying to his heirs the fine, with interest.
 The Star publishes q Fort Thomas