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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Mr. Edmunds : " If that be so, then why are 

 not the people engaged in the military service 

 just as much bound as anybody else? " 



Mr. Hill: "Nobody has said that because a 

 man is a soldier he has ceased to be a citizen. 

 The Senator from Vermont understands the 

 distinction very well, and he will excuse me 

 from explaining it to him." 



Mr. Wallace, of Pennsylvania, said : "Will 

 the Senator from Vermont answer me whether, 

 if there be a battery of artillery, a company 

 of regular soldiers, in the town of Scranton, in 

 my State, and there is difficulty among the 

 laboring men, the sheriff of the county can 

 command that battery of artillery, that com- 

 pany of regulars, to aid in enforcing the law 

 without applying to the executive of the State 

 and making the call under the Constitution 

 and laws?" 



Mr. Edmunds: "I answer that I do not 

 know, because I do not know whether the 

 sheriff of that county in any case would have 

 any power over me if I happened to be stand- 

 ing by." 



Mr. Wallace : " Then I understand the Sen- 

 ator to say that the sheriff in charge of the 

 peace of the county-, having the right to call 

 out the posse comitatus, which I state to him 

 is the law, would not have the right to call 

 out the battery of artillery? " 



Mr. Edmunds: "I have not said anything 

 of the sort." 



Mr. Wallace : " What do I understand the 

 Senator to say ? " 



Mr. Edmunds: "I said I did not know, be- 

 cause I did not know what the laws of Penn- 

 sylvania were. But I say this, that if by the 

 laws of Pennsylvania in any case the sheriff 

 Lad authority to call upon me and to call upon 

 the Senator, if we happened to be present, he 

 would have the same authority to call upon 

 General Sherman and all of his staff, if they 

 happened to be present ; and if General Sher- 

 man said to his staff, ' Gentlemen, fall in and 

 help the sheriff,' they would have a perfect 

 right to do it, although this proposed statute 

 now says they shall be sent to the penitentiary 

 if they do." 



Mr. Wallace: "Now I understand the Sen- 

 ator to say that the sheriff of the county of 

 Lnzerne or any other county in my State in 

 which there happen to be located Federal 

 troops could employ those Federal troops 

 against citizens of my State without violating 

 the Constitution or the laws." 



Mr. Edmunds: "I have not said anything of 

 the kind, if the Senator will pardon me. I 

 said if my friend and myself, being Senators, 

 were standing by, and General Sherman and 

 his staff were standing by, that in my opinion 

 the sheriff of that county had the same right 

 to call upon General Sherman and his staff 

 that he had to call upon us ; and he would get 

 a good deal more aid from them, I may add." 



Mr. Wallace: "I have no doubt of it; but 

 take the case I put to the Senator from Ver- 



mont, the case of a battery of artillery there 

 stationed as a part of the troops of the United 

 States. Can the sheriff, with the power to 

 call the posse comitatus to his assistance, call 

 that battery of artillery into use and command 

 them to fire upon a crowd there standing in 

 resistance to the laws of the State, without 

 calling on the State officials and securing the 

 aid in the form prescribed by law ? " 



Mr. Edmunds: "It would entirely in my 

 opinion depend upon this : if the sheriff did call 

 upon the commander of the battery of artillery 

 and upon the soldiers, and they responded, 

 and they were then indicted for assault and 

 battery in arresting disorderly persons, they 

 could make a lawful defense upon the ground 

 that they obeyed the lawful order of the sheriff 

 in assisting him to execute the laws of that 

 State. If they declined to obey the order of 

 the sheriff and they were then indicted for not 

 doing their duty, if there was a statute of 

 Pennsylvania that would authorize that, and 

 they undertook to set up the defense that they 

 were in duress, so to speak, that they were 

 under the authority of somebody who was not 

 there, and therefore they could not go 

 whether that would be a good defense or not I 

 am not prepared to say." 



Mr. Wallace: "But the broad question 

 whether the sheriff can go to the barracks of 

 that battery of artillery, a company of regulars, 

 and require them to come to the riot and assist 

 in its suppression, is still unanswered." 



Mr. Elaine : " Will my friend allow me to 

 answer that question, or let me ask him a 

 question, which is the same thing ? " 



Mr. Wallace : " Certainly." 



Mr. Elaine : " Suppose this mob had such pos- 

 session and power as that they were destroy- 

 ing the town of Scranton, where the Senator 

 locates it, and the property of the whole com- 

 munity was under the power of that mob, does 

 not my friend think it would be a very poor 

 battery of United States artillery that would 

 not come, up and try to expel it, if the battery 

 of artillery was right there ? " 



Mr. Hill : " I have the floor, Mr. President." 



Mr. Elaine: "Will the honorable Senator 

 answer that question? If the town of Scran- 

 ton were in possession of a mob who were 

 burning and destroying the property, and there 

 was a company of regular soldiers there, a bat- 

 tery of artillery, would he not want them to 

 interfere ? " 



Mr. Hill : " Mr. President" 



The Presiding Officer: "The Senator from 

 Georgia declines to yield." 



Mr. Elaine : " I beg pardon. A single mo- 

 ment. The inquiry is one to be answered." 



Mr. Hill : " Wait until I get through." 



Mr. Elaine : " I certainly did not introduce 

 the battery of artillery into this discussion; 

 but I do not propose to fly before it." 



Mr. Hill : " I have too much respect for the 

 legal ability of the gentlemen who have been 

 addressing us to imagine for one moment that 



