Year: 1879

1 SGGS8~AOA EAAAa


WASHINGTON, March 2s-Aftel


some discussion regarding the rulei


the House, at 1910 p. m, went into
COMMITTEES of the Whole-Mr


Springer, of Illinois, in the chair
on the army appropriation bill.


Mr.. Garfield, of Ohio, took the


floor. He began his speech by re-


ferring to the gravity and solemnity


of the crises that had now been


brought upon the country, and de.
cIsred that the House had to-day re.
solved to enter upon a revolution
against the Constitution and the gov.
ernment, and that the consequence
Of that resolve, if persisted in, meant
nothing short of a subdivision of the
government. He sketched the point
at issue between the two houses at
the close of the last Congress, and
read from a report of one Of the Sen
ate cOnferees, to the effect that the
Democratic cOnterees on the part of
the House were determined, unless
the action of the House was con-
Cured in, to refuse to make appro-
priatiOns to carry on the government
and he also quoted from the speech
of Senator Beck (another of the con-
ferees) to the effect that the Demo
Gratis claimed the right which the
House of Commons in England had
established after two centuries of
conquest, to say that they would not
grant the money of the people unless
there was a redress Of grievances.
These propositions, continued Mr..
Garfield, in various forms, more or
less vehemently, were repeated in
the last House, and with that situa.
tion of affairs the session came to its
close The Republican majority in
the Senate, and the Republican min
ority in the House, expressed the
deepest possible solicitude to avoid
the catastrophe there threatened.
They expressed their strongest desire
to avoid the danger to the country
and to its business of an extra session
of Congress. and they expressed
their willingness to let go what they
considered the least important of the
propOsitiOns-not as a matter of
coercion at all, but as matter of
fair adjustment and compromise
if they could be met in the spirit of
adjustment on the other side. I'm
fortunately, no spirit of adjustment
appeared on the other side to meet
their advances. And now the new
Congress is assembled, and after ten
days of deliberation, the House of
Representatives has resolved sub
stantially to reafirm the propositions
of Its predecessor, and on these
propositions we are met to-day.


The question may be asked why
we make any special resistance to
propositions which a great many
gentlemen have declared are of no
Importance. far as this is con-
cerned, ! desire to say this: We
recognize you, gentlemen Of the 9th
er side, as skilled parliamentarians
and skillfnl strategists. You have
chosen wisely and adroitly your line
of assault. You have put forward,
perhaps the least Objectionable of
your measures, but We meet that as
one part of your programme. We
reply to it as all order of battle, and
We are ss much compelled by the
logic of the situation to meet You. on
the skirmish line as we would be if
yOu were attacking the intreuch-.
ments themselves. And therefore,
on the threshold, we desire to plant
our case on the general grounds on
which we choose to defend it. Mr.
Garfield then referred to what he
had said on the last day of last Con.
gress, as to the division of the gov.
ernment into three parts-tl.e nation,
the Senate and the people; and he
said foreigner could point dozen
ways in which the government could
be killed, and that not by violence.
Of course, all governments might be
overturned Uy the sword. But there
were some ways by which this gov
ernment might be utterly annihilated
without firing a gun. The people
might say that they would not elect
Representatives. That, of course,
was violent suppOsition, but there
was no possible remedy for such a
condition of things, and without a
House of Representatives there could
be no support of government. So
the States might say through their
Legislatures that they would not
elect Senators. The very absIention
from electing Senator'S would absO-
lutely destroy the government, and
there would be no process of cOmpul-
sion. Or, supposing that the two
houses were assembled in their usual
order, and that a bare majority of
one in either house should firmly
bind itself together and say it
would vote to adjourn at the mo-
ment of meeting each day, and
woald do that for two years in sue.
cession. In that case what would
happen, and what be the meas
ure of redress? The government
would die. There could not be
found in the whole range of ju-
dicial or executive authority any
remedy whatever. The Executive
had no power to destroy the govern
ment. Let the Executive travel but
one inch beyond the line of law, and
there vas the power Of impeachoent.
But if the electors among the people
who elected Representatives, or if
the electors in the State Legislatures
who created Senator'S, or if Senators
and Representatives themselves ab-
stain from the performance of their
duty, there is no remedy. At first
view II might seem remarkable, be
said, that body of wise men like
those who framed the Constitution
should have left the whole side of
the fabric of the government open to
such deadly assaults, but, on another
view of the case, they were wise.
What was there relianceP 1t was
on the sovereignty of the nation-on
the crowned and anpOiDted sovereign