The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1917-05-24
THE .JEFFERSONIAN


against CONSUMPTION, at time when British
troops were fighting us on our own soil, when
British ships were bombardng our forts, and
when British wreckage strewed the public
places of Washington City:
But, Sir, there is another consideration The
services of the men to be raised under this
are not limited to those in which alone this
government is entitled to the aid of the militia of
the States These particularly stated
in the ConstitutiOn-"to repel invasion, suppress
Instruction, or execute the laws But this bill
has no limitation in this respect
This then, Sir, is bill for calling out the
Militia not according to its existing organization,
but by draft from new created classes-not merely
for the purpose Of repelling INVASION SURPRISING
instruction, or executing the laws, but for the
general objects of
What is this Sir, but raising standing army
cut of the Militia by draft, and to be recruited
by draft, in like manner, as often as occasions
require?
This bill, then, is not different in principle
from the other bills, plans, and resolutions which
l have mentioned. The present discussion is
properly and necessarily common to them all.
1t is a discussion, Sir, of the last importance.
That measures of this nature should be debated
at all, in the councils of free government is
cause OF dismay. The question is nothing less
than whether the most essential rights Of personal
liberty shall be surrendered, and dcsp0tism
braced in its worst form.
have risen on this occasion, with anxious and
painful emotions, to add my admonit0ns to what
has been said by others. Admonition and remon-
STRANGE, am aware, are not acceptable strains.
They are duties Of unpleasant performance.
l am anxious above all things, to stand &C
quilted before God, and my conscience, and in
the public judgments, Of all participation in the
Counsels, which have brought us to our present
condition and which threaten the dissolution
Of the government. When the present generation
Of men shall be swept away and that this govern
ment ever existed shall be matter of history
only, desire that it may then be known that
you have not proceeded in your course unad-
monished and unfOrewarned. Let it then be
known that there were those who would have
stopped you, in the career Of your measures, and
hold you back as by the skirts of your garments,
from the precipice, which you are plunging,
and drawing after the government of your
Country. .
Let us examine the nature and extent Of the
power which is assumed by the various military
measures before us In the present want Of men
and money, the Secretary of War has proposed
to Congress Military Consumption, For the
conquest Of Canada the people will not enlist,
and if they would the treasury is exhausted and
they could not be paid. Consumption is chosen
as the most promising instrument both Of over
coming the reluctance to the Service, and of sub
DUNG the difficulties which arise from the def
ciencies of the exchequer The administration
asserts the right to fill the ranks of the Regular
Army by cOmpulsion. 1t contends that it may
now take one out of every twenty-five men, and
any part or whole of the rest, whenever it's oc-
casiOns require. Persons thus taken by force and
put into army may be compelled to serve there,
during the war, for life. They may be put OH
any service, at home abroad for defense for
invasion, according to the will and pleasure of the
government
Is this, Sir consistent with the character Of a
free government? Is this civil liberty? Is this
the real character Of our constitution? No, Sir,
indeed it is not. The Constitution is libelled,
foully libelled. The people of this country have
not established for themselves such a fabric of
despOtism. They have not purchased at vast
expense of their own treasures and their own
blood Magma Charta to be slaves.
Where is it written in the Constitution, in what
article or section is it contained that you may
take children from their parents and parents from
heir children and compel them to fight the battles
OF any war which the folly or the wiCkedness of