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CONGEESS, UNITED STATES. 



That it shall be lawful for the President of the 

 United States, or such person as he may empower for 

 that purpose, to eniploy such part of the land or 

 naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, 

 as shall be deemed necessary to prevent the violation 

 and enforce the due execution ot this act. 



" I expected that the gentleman who has 

 this bill in charge would explain that section 

 and let us know how these troops were to act, 

 how they were to enforce the provisions of 

 this bill, how they were to prevent its viola- 

 tion. Let me ask the attention of that gentle- 

 man. There are in the State of Ohio about 

 fifteen hundred election precincts. I suppose, 

 taking the whole United States together, there 

 are not less than twenty -five or thirty thousand 

 election precincts in the whole United States 

 and the Territories thereof, all of which are 

 covered by this bill. Now, what are you go- 

 ing to do with your troops ? It will be said 

 that it will not be necessary to send them to 

 every one of these election precincts. Mani- 

 festly not. You would have to increase the 

 army twentyfold, fiftyfold, to do that. It is 

 supposed, then, that there are some places only 

 to which it will be necessary to send troops ; 

 and you put it entirely in the discretion of the 

 Chief Magistrate of this country, whoever may 

 be that Chief Magistrate, in a law which you 

 intend to be permanent it ought to be per- 

 manent or not be a law at all to interfere with 

 the military at 'any poll where he may see fit 

 so to interfere. 



" In any section of the country, in any State, 

 in any district, in any closely-contested State 

 or closely-contested district, you put it in the 

 power of one man, the President of the United 

 States, who may be directly interested in the 

 result, who may be a candidate at that very 

 election, to surround the polls with the troops 

 of the United States, to do what ? To see thai 

 this act be not violated ; to see that this act 

 be enforced. Nay, more, you put it in his 

 power to delegate to some person, not an offi- 

 cer at all either of the State or of the United 

 States, and in a district where there is no 

 domestic violence, no insurrection, no rebel- 

 lion, but perfect peace; you put it in the 

 power of the President to give to some single 

 individual the delegated power of employing 

 the whole Army of the United States to see 

 that this act be not violated; to see that there 

 is no cheating at elections. Why, sir, what a 

 power is that ! 



"I asked the gentleman who has this bill in 

 charge, the day before yesterday, what the 

 troops were to do when they surrounded the 

 poll. I will take a case. Here is an election 

 poll, and here are a hundred troops of the 

 United States under the command of a captain 

 or lieutenant of infantry. He is sent there to 

 do what? In the language of this bill, 'to 

 prevent the violation and enforce the due exe- 

 cution of this act.' What, then, is to be pre- 

 vented ? The violation of the act. What is 

 to be the violation of the act? The improper 

 rejection of the vote of some colored man, or 



other citizen of the United States. That is 

 the violation that is to be prevented. What 

 is the enforcement of the act ? To compel the 

 reception of that man's vote. To prevent the 

 violation of the act is to prevent the rejection 

 of the vote. To enforce the act is to enforce 

 the reception of his vote. When the judges 

 of election, the sworn officers of election, de- 

 cide that a man is not entitled to vote, then, 

 and not until then, can this military officer be 

 called into requisition. And what then? Is 

 his judgment to override that of the judges of 

 election ? 



" Is he to adjudge that they have wrongly 

 decided ? Is he to decide that they have vio- 

 lated the act? Is this military man to decide 

 this question of law under the constitution of 

 Ohio, or the constitution of New York, or the 

 constitution and statutes of Kentucky, and to 

 hold that the judges of election men versed 

 in the election law have decided the question 

 wrongly, and therefore it is necessary for him 

 to interfere, and do what ? Interfere and com- 

 pel them at the point of the bayonet to receive 

 the vote that they, under their oaths as sworn 

 officers, have rejected. If it is not that, it is 

 nothing. If it is not that, it is simply intimi- 

 dation. If it is not that, it is simply holding 

 the bayonet to the throat of the civil officer, 

 and holding it there by command of the Presi- 

 dent of the United States. Show me some- 

 thing that these troops are to do; show rne 

 how they are to prevent the violation of this 

 act; show me how they are to enforce this act, 

 unless you give the military man the right to 

 override the judgment of the civil officer ; to 

 override the solemn judgment of the sworn 

 judge of election deciding as to the law of his 

 own State and the constitution of his own 

 State and the right of voters thereunder. 



" I know it may be said that the soldiers are 

 there for the purpose of preventing violence. 

 That is not what this act says. It may be said 

 that they are there for the purpose of prevent- 

 ing the intimidation of voters, and the like. 

 That is not what the act says. The section is 

 as broad as the whole act. It provides for 

 troops being at the polls to prevent any viola- 

 tion whatsoever of this act, and to enforce 

 every one of its provisions. 



" Sir, I say once more, if this can be done in 

 a free country, let us hear no more talk about 

 the one-man power ; let us hear no more talk 

 about the power of the President of the United 

 States; make a monarch of him at once. Louis 

 Napoleon has been charged with controlling 

 the elections in France. Louis Napoleon never 

 surrounded every polling-place in France with 

 the troops of the empire, or the troops of the 

 republic before it was an empire. Never did 

 he dare to do that. Not a soldier appeared at 

 the voting-places in Paris even, where there 

 was the strongest opposition that existed to the 

 emperor at the late election there; but the 

 votes of the soldiers were taken in their now 

 barracks, their own camps. Throughout all 



