230 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



day, when the right of suffrage is exercised in 

 the island of Great Britain. 



" Let me here recall the noble preamble of 

 the mutiny act under which the standing army 

 is maintained in Great Britain : 



" Whereas the raising or keeping a standing army 

 within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land in time of peace, unless it be with the consent of 

 Parliament, is against law ; 



" And whereas no man can be forejudged of life or 

 limb, or subjected in time of peace to any kind of 

 punishment within this realm by martial law, or in 

 any other manner than by judgment of his peers, and 

 according to the known and established laws of this 

 realm. 



" Oh, what a proclamation of the rights of 

 the subject is that ! No king, no potentate, 

 no power but the law of the land can coerce 

 the subject in time of peace. 



"In the forty-first section of that bill is 

 another provision, which until it came under 

 my eye the other day had escaped notice : 



" No person who shall be commissioned and in full 

 pay as' an officer shall be capable of being nominated 

 or elected to be sheriff of any county, borough, or 

 other place, or to be mayor, portreeve, alderman, or 

 to hold any office in any municipal corporation in any 

 city, borough, or place in Great Britain or Ireland. 



" So jealous are they of the military power 

 that they will not allow a military officer to 

 hold a civil commission. They are not in Eng- 

 land willing to have the power of the army 

 compounded even for a day with the machin- 

 ery by which civil process is enforced. Yet 

 we, in this country, have solemnly enacted 

 that on an election day, ' if it is necessary to 

 keep the peace,' the army of the United States 

 may be marched to the polls. Such a provi- 

 sion is at war with every principle for which 

 our ancestors contended, and which is em- 

 bodied in the framework of our Government. 

 Every hour that we allow it to remain on the 

 statute-book is treason to the great men who 

 achieved liberty for us, who founded this Gov- 

 ernment of ours after fighting for the right of 

 representation, who imbedded this right into 

 the Costitution, who jealously guarded it 

 from the foundation of the Government until 

 1860, and whose spirits, if they could speak to 

 us in this Hall, would entreat us to remember 

 the sacrifices by which this liberty was se- 

 cured, and not allow it to be imperiled by the 

 insidious use of the military power. 



" Now, I count upon the cordial support of 

 both sides of this House in the attempt to 

 amend the statute which I have just read, by 

 striking out the words ' or to keep the peace at 

 the polls.' At the proper time I shall offer an 

 amendment for that purpose. This provision 

 is not now in the bill as reported to the House, 

 because I think it better that there should be 

 a direct vote of the House taken as to whether 

 it shall come in or not." 



Mr. Hale: "The gentleman proposes to 

 move that as an amendment to the army ap- 

 propriation bill ? " 



Mr. Hewitt: "Yes, of course, subject to a 



point of order, which I trust no gentleman 

 will make. I count, indeed, upon the unani- 

 mous support of both sides of the House of 

 such an amendment." 



Subsequently the bill was amended so as to 

 strike out the words mentioned by Mr. Hewitt 

 in the statute, and it was then passed and sent 

 to the Senate. 



In the Senate it was reported back by the 

 appropriate committee with amendments. The 

 bill and report were considered in Committee 

 of the Whole, and the amendment of the 

 House was struck out, as follows : 



SEC. 51. That section 2002 of the Eevised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" No military or naval officer, or other person en- 

 gaged in the civil, military, or naval service of the 

 United States, shall order, bring, keep, or have under 

 his authority or control any troops or armed men at 

 the place where any general or special election is held 

 in any State, unless it be necessary to repel the armed 

 enemies of the United States." 



And that section 6528 of the Eevised Statutes be 

 amended so as to read as follows : 



" Every officer of the army or navy, or other person 

 in the civil, military, or naval service of the United 

 States, who orders, brings, keeps, or has under his 

 authority or control any troops or armed men at any 



lace where a general or special election is held in any 

 tate t unless such force be necessary to repel armed 

 enemies of the United States, shall be fined not more 

 than $5,000 and suffer imprisonment at hard labor 

 not less than three months nor more than five years." 



After the action of the Committee of the 

 Whole was concluded, the bill was reported to 

 the Senate. In the progress of its considera- 

 tion in the Senate, Mr. Beck of Kentucky 

 asked for a separate vote on striking out sec- 

 tion 51 as above. The roll-call having been 

 concluded, the result was announced as fol- 

 lows: 



YEAS Allison, Anthony, Blaine, Booth, Bruce, 

 Burnsidc, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cameron of 

 Wisconsin. Chandler, Conkling, Conover, Dawes, 

 Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry, Harnlin, Hoar. Ingalls, 

 Jones of Nevada, Kellogg, Kirkwood, McMillan, 

 Matthews. Mitchell, Morril, Ogelsby, Paddock, Pa- 

 terson, Plumb, Kollins, Saunders, Teller, Wadleigh, 

 Windom 34. 



NAYS Bailey, Barnum, Bayard, Beck, Butler, 

 Cockrell, Coke, Davis or West Virginia, Dennis, 

 Eaton, Garland, Gordon, Grover, Harris, Hereford, 

 Hill. Jones of Florida, Kernan, Lamar, McCreery, 

 McDonald, McPherson, Maxey, Merrimon. Morgan, 

 Eansom, Saulsbury. Shields, Thurman, Voorhees, 

 Wallace, Whyte, Withers 33. 



ABSENT Chance, Davis of Illinois, Eustis, Howe, 

 Johnston, Eandolph, Sargent, Sharon, Spencer 9. 



The bill was passed by the Senate with other 

 immaterial amendments, and sent to the House 

 for its concurrence in them. The House re- 

 fused to concur, and asked for a conference. 

 At the conference the House insisted on its 

 position, and the following were the subse- 

 quent proceedings on its part : 



In the House, on March 3d, Mr. Hewitt of 

 New York said : " Mr. Speaker, the conferees 

 on the part of the Senate and on the part of 

 the House are in no disagreement as to any 

 questions of money involved in this bill. The 

 bill was so carefully matured in the House that 



