The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-02-19

| have set here and had it hurled in your
| face by the gentleman from Madison that
| you were here hy fraud and violation or
| law. l have stood upon this floor and
| hurled back their charges of slander upon
| the brave men of the East. prolonged
apDlause.) The 175 600 men that stand
| behind us are heroes. and were willing
! TO apply heroic remedy to save North
| Carolina. Shall the heroism cease wii-
/ them. The hour has come when we must
| pull down from the high places the men
| who would destroy the work that the peo-
pie of North Carolina have accomplish
ed. Yes, l for one. am willing to apply
! the heroic remedy. loud applause).
| "Ta klpbaout public sentiment: | 40
not know how public sentiment is 1t is
not my greatest concern how it is. MY
greatest concern is to know the right ana
DO it. | think that public sentiment is
| about all one way. ! have heard from
the men of the mountains, and know that
| they are with me. In the towns of the
| state there are some, l will admit, who
are afraid of what other people NAV
| think, and they are alarmed. There is
public sentiment here against the i'm
| peachment, public sentiment manufac-
tured by a powerful lobby. applause
! 1t is always thus when you attack men
in places of power. The people have no
| lobby. They are at home attending to
their daily occupations We gentlemen
are here to represent them, that great
| constituency that has no lobby. So far as
| am concerned | defy that lobby. Cloud
| and prolonged applause.) Members of
this House can hardly walk the streets
without being button -holea OFF in corners.
| and even the Senate itself-the court to-
| try this case. has been approached
There was a public sentiment in this
State when Holden was impeached. Some
people were frightened, and advised
! against it. He too, employed great law
yers to defend him. There was one that
he could not employ. Vance was offered
fee of $4,000, and though he was poor,
/ almost needing the necessities of life, he
replied that no amount of money could
purchase his services against his people.
| He said he could live and die in poverty,
! but there was not gold enough in their
! golfers to buy him. (Applause.) You
older men remember those dark days of
GS. There were great men in this State
| that counselled submission to a victorious
| enemy. You remember how the great
| leader of the people stood upon the por-,
| tico of the National Hotel and hurled de-
! fiance at the -baggers and scala
| wags applause His voice rang like a
trumpet note from the mountains to the
sea. He saved North Carolina. | wish
/ that we had a Vance today. applause
1 Would that pointing TO Vance's picture)
that lion head could speak again; thtat
| from those li1s of "love and melting pity
| and greatness and fiery wrath, there
! could come one bugle call. This public
! sentiment would vanish. He would make
! it more tolerable for Sodom and Gomor-
| rah in the day of judgment than for
! these men in North Carolina who are
! trampling down our Constitution and de-
stroying our State. loud applause
| Oh. that his spirit could descend uDon
! some Of his beloved and talented follow
| ers today. and breath into them the
! spirit Of the men of '6S and 20 and '76.
| There would be none of this lobbying
here. This is not the Constitution Of 80
| Ccr of '6S or of 70. 1t is the Constitution
| that has been building since the day when
William THE Norman sets his foot upon
Britain It is magma charter, bill of
rights, the declaration of Mecklenburg
the declaration OF PHILADELPHIA moulded
| into one great organic law.
''The question is, shall we preserve
this Constitution, this heritage from our
fathers; $S35.00 is a small matter. but if
they violate the Constitution for that
then for a million dollars, for the special
| tax bonds, they would destroy it and
J leave not one stone upon another. 1t was
for this Constitution that our fathers
went to battle in 1851 (Applause.) 1t
was not for the preservation of slavery
but for the preservation of their rights
guaranteed by the organic law. 1t was
when the Constitution was violated that
the drums began to beat, armies set out
artillery ratified along, clouds of cavalry
galloped in the storm, and Stonewall
Jackson transfigured into an arch angel
of war. advanced amid the thunders Of
! battle with united people at his back
cloud applause.) 1t was not until the
bodies OF our brothers and fathers had
been crushed Into the bloody earth by the
heel of an invading army that the Con-
stitution was destroyed The spirit OF
our people was not broken; they hob
bled home on orutchcs from Appomattox;
with empty sleeves they came; they had
nothing but the old Confederate uniform
but they youchsafed to us an undying
| devotion to Constitutional government. In
| the name OF the men who died on Gene
terry HILL IN the name of the men who
met the peril IN the wilderness and in the
trenches around Richmond. in the spirit
of those men we will defend and pre-
serve our Constitution today, if it does
require heroic action. Loud applause).
1T is a time of usurpatiCn. / wish
had time to talk about it. One of the
great political parties OF this country has
fels it necessary to make a solemn dec
laration against government by inunc-
tion. We have felt the power Of a Fed
eral judge from South Carolina. and he
eniolned the constituted officers of this
State from levying taxes on powerful
corporations (Applause.) The usurpa-
tion Of power by Judges must be stopped
II is more to be dreaded today than the
advance of an imperial army cloud
applause),
If this supreme olargarchy can fla
grantly and lmperiously destroy the
statutes of this State one after another
what has become of the government by
the people? Dc these judges EXPECT that
they can forever continue in their un-
precedented usurpatlons and never be
stopped? Do they think that they can
tare down one after another every rule