136 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



tive chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Monday, 

 the 15th day of October next, then and there to con- 

 sider and determine such measures as, in their wis- 

 dom, their duty and tue welfare of the people may 

 seem to demand. 



In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, this 5th day of 

 May, in the year of our Lord 1877 and of the Inde- 

 pendence of the United States of America the one 

 hundred and first. 



By the President : K. B. HAYES. 



WILLIAM M. EVABTS, Secretary of State. 



The Senate was called to order by the Vice- 

 President, William A. Wheeler, of New York. 

 In the House Samuel J. Randall, Democrat, 

 was elected Speaker, having received 149 votes, 

 and Jaines A. Garfield 132. For message of 

 the President, see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1877, 

 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



In the Senate, on October 22d, the follow- 

 ing resolution, offered by Senator Edmunds, 

 of Vermont, was adopted : 



Resolved, That a select committee consisting of 

 seven Senators be appointed, whose duty it shall be 

 to take into consideration the state of the law re- 

 specting the ascertaining and declaration of the re- 

 sult of the elections of President and Vice-President 

 of the United States; that said committee have pow- 

 er to report by bill or otherwise ; and that said com- 

 mittee have power to confer and act with any com- 

 mittee of the House of Eepresentatives that may be 

 charged with the same subject. 



Ordered, That the Secretary communicate a copy 

 of this resolution to the House of Representatives. 



In the House on the same day, on motion ot 

 Mr. Southard, a similar resolution was adopt- 

 ed, but making the number of the committee 

 eleven. 



No act was passed in consequence of a re- 

 port by this committee. 



The special object of the extra session was 

 to provide for the expenses of the army, owing 

 to the failure of an appropriation at the pre- 

 vious session. 



On November 8th, Mr. Atkins, of Tennessee, 

 from the committee of the House, reported a 

 bill making appropriations for the support of 

 the army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1878. He said: "The estimates as submitted 

 to us by the War Department for the present 

 fiscal year were $30,516,756.50. We have 

 provided in this bill for the sum of $25,763,- 

 000 as the appropriation for the present fiscal 

 year. Last year the estimate was $31,896,- 

 935.90, the amount appropriated was $25,987,- 

 167.90. But the estimate included twenty-five 

 hundred cavalry. For that there was an ad- 

 ditional amount appropriated, running up the 

 general aggregate of the appropriation for last 

 year^to $27,624,567.90. There is besides a 

 deficiency, for which an estimate has been 

 sent to this House, for the item of transporta- 

 tion, amounting to $1,200,000; making in all 

 $28,824,567.90 the entire sum appropriated for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, which is 

 in excess of the appropriation which this bill 

 makes of $3,061,567.90. 



" Mr. Chairman, this bill is made up upon the 



basis of twenty-two thousand enlisted men in 

 the service, exclusive of officers, for the first 

 four months of the present fiscal year. For 

 the remaining eight months of the present fis- 

 cal year the basis of the bill is twenty thou- 

 sand enlisted men, and we have made our cal- 

 culations accordingly. 



" The question, therefore, which will natural- 

 ly suggest itself to every mind is this : Are twen- 

 ty thousand enlisted men, exclusive of officers, 

 sufficient to meet the legitimate military de- 

 mands of the country? Upon that question 

 there may be a wide divergence of opinion in 

 this House. 



" That we may arrive at a proper conclusion 

 on this point, it is necessary to inquire what 

 are the proper and lawful uses of the regular 

 army of the United States. 



" The Constitution of the United States pro- 

 vides that Congress may 'raise and support 

 armies.' It also provides that 'the President 

 shall be Commander-in-Chief of the army and 

 navy of the United States and of the militia 

 of the several States when called into the actual 

 service of the United States.' The Constitu- 

 tion also provides, in article 4, section 4, that 

 'the United States shall guarantee to every 

 State in this Union a republican form of gov- 

 ernment, and shall protect each of them against 

 invasion, and on application of the Legislature, 

 or the executive (when the Legislature cannot 

 be convened), against domestic violence.' In 

 these constitutional grants and limitations of 

 power, it is manifest that it is in constitutional 

 contemplation that the civil authorities of the 

 States are expected to preserve internal order 

 and protect their own governments. If, how- 

 ever, the States are unable to do so, and should, 

 through the Legislature or executive (the Le- 

 gislature not being in session), call upon the 

 President for military aid, in that case it is his 

 duty to furnish the assistance asked for. There 

 his right to interfere terminates. In the his- 

 tory of this country but a very few instances 

 have occurred where Federal interference has 

 been invited by State authorities, except by 

 the anomalous and revolutionary State govern- 

 ments which have for the last decade disgraced 

 American civilization. For the purpose of 

 maintaining order and preserving peace in the 

 States the instances are so few and exceptional 

 that we logically assume that for such a pur- 

 pose alone there would not be any necessity of 

 a regular army whatever, as State military or- 

 ganizations would answer for such defense if 

 called into service. 



"The universally accepted theory of our sys- 

 tem of government is that the States must reg- 

 ulate their own affairs in their own way, not 

 inconsistent with the Federal Constitution. 

 Those rights necessarily carry with them the 

 duty of self -protection by their own civil passes. 

 When that theory and practice is abandoned it 

 will be a rueful day for republican government. 

 If the ordinary constabulary force in a State 

 cannot preserve the peace and protect life and 



