CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



22ft 



iiTiil bayonets. Now, sir, what 

 the ile\i.'c lorki-d tip in the mind of the X-n- 



r from Connecticut which will meet this 



? 



" Let me return once more to this question 



powvr, from which I have been so oitm 



u n to answer the questions that have 1> n 

 nt tome. The Constitution provides that the 

 nited States sliall guarantee to every State a 

 lican government. The State of Louisi- 

 ana has not such a government at present. 

 What remedy may we employ? I answer, in 

 tin- language of the Constitution, any proper 

 iind necessary remedy; and we are the exclu- 

 iidges of the means proper to be employed, 

 provided we possess the power to do anything 

 in i he premises. I deny that any power con- 

 iVnvd by the Constitution upon the United 

 States is subject to the consent, or falls by the 

 di>seut. of any State. The powers conferred 

 upon this Government are sovereign powers ; 

 tliey are unlimited, except where the Constitu- 

 tion itself has regulated their exercise. Where 

 the Constitution confers power over a given 

 subject, and does not regulate the exercise of 

 the power, the power of this Government is as 

 absolute as the power of the Czar of Russia. 

 Take the power to declare war. Has not this 

 Government as much power in that respect as 

 the Czar of Russia or the Sultan of Turkey? 

 Take the power of taxation. In certain par- 

 ticulars it is restricted by the Constitution ; 

 but, excepting those restrictions, it is an un- 

 limited and arbitrary power. We may declare 

 war to-morrow, with or without cause, against 

 any nation or all mankind. We may, by the 

 power of taxation, withdraw the last dollar 

 from the pockete.of the people and place it in 

 the Treasury. We may put every man, woman, 

 and child, into the army. Take the power 

 to establish post-offices and post-roads. This 

 is one of the unlimited powers conferred by 

 the Constitution, and Congress may establish 

 as many or as few as it pleases, and provide 

 such method as it pleases for carrying the 

 mails. 



" The Constitution of the United States was 

 intended to classify and distribute the powers 

 of sovereignty between the General and State 

 governments. It enumerates the powers which 

 shall be possessed by the General Government, 

 but does not, like a code of procedure, prescribe 

 the mode, manner, or extent of their execution. 

 All that is committed to the discretion of Con- 

 gress. What is proper to be done within the 

 limits of reason is for Congress to determine. 

 The Constitution says nothing about a military 

 academy ; but it authorizes Congress to raise 

 and maintain armies. How they shall be raised, 

 whether by encouraging volunteering or by 

 draft, how they shall be armed, disciplined, and 

 regulated, all that is committed to Congress by 

 that provision of the Constitution which em- 

 powers Congress 'to make all laws necessary 

 and proper ' to raise and maintain armies. 

 Congress has deemed it advisable to establish 



a school of instruction at West Point ana meant 

 of securing Miitable officers of the army. 



"Now, take this power to guarantee are- 

 publican government to a State, and assuming, 

 ax the, Senator from Connecticut agree*, that 

 the existing State government is a usurpation, 

 and assuming, as I maintain, that a republican 

 government is a government by the people, and 

 that a government by usurpation is not a re- 

 publican government, and that the Unhid 

 States are bound to correct this evil, no man 

 can deny the constitutionality of this bill, be- 

 cause it provides one, if not the best, remedy 

 for the evil. In other words, if the United 

 States have the power to interfere in this case, 

 the mode in which that interference shall be 

 made is entirely within the discretion of Con- 

 gress; and by passing this bill we shall deter- 

 mine that this is a proper mode. Those who 

 deny the power of Congress to pass this bill 

 deny the power of Congress to interfere at all ; 

 deny if they concede, as my friend from Con- 

 necticut does, that this is a case of usurpation 

 the power of Congress to interfere in case of 

 any usurpation of a State government. If this 

 be a sound doctrine, then the Constitution of 

 the United States secures to the people of a 

 State not 'the blessings of liberty,' but the 

 evils of usurpation and despotism. The people 

 cannot by force overthrow such usurpation, 

 because the government de facto will appeal 

 to the President, as this government has done, 

 and will be supported by him, as this is. It 

 must be presumed that the clause of the Con- 

 stitution under consideration was inserted for 

 some purpose ; and if not for a case like this, 

 for what purpose was it inserted? To deny 

 that it authorizes Congress to interfere in the 

 most flagrant case of usurpation, is to deny that 

 it has any effect whatever ; and if it applies to 

 a flagrant case of usurpation, it applies to every 

 case of usurpation. 



" But the great objection which this bill en- 

 counters is as to its expediency. It is said that 

 to pass this bill would be a dangerous prece- 

 dent. What is meant by saying that this would 

 be a dangerous precedent ? It is a dangerous 

 precedent to hang a man, and it might be 

 argued that if a government were clothed with 

 power to hang a murderer, it might abuse that 

 power, or make a mistake, and hanar a man for 

 murder who had not committed that offense. 

 Calomel is a dangerous remedy, and it might 

 be argued that to allow physicians to administer 

 it would set a precedent for them to administer 

 it where it was unnecessary. But all this class 

 of argument merely tends to show that, if the 

 power to pass this bill were conceded, it might 

 encourage the passage of a similar bill in a cane 

 where it was unnecessary; in other words, the 

 power might be abused. But if this is a satis- 

 factory argument against this power, it would 

 be against every other power conferred by the 

 Constitution. Chief-Justice Marshall said, in 

 a case long ago, that there was no power con- 

 ferred upon the Government that might not be 



