FAS 
 
1 
 
F 198 
 .028 
 Copy 1 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 \S' 
 
 HON. HEN11Y W^DAYIS 
 
 OF MARYLAND, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 - K j 
 
 HOUSE OF &EPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 MAY 15, 1S56, 
 
 • 
 
 ON THE BILL DEFINING THE DUTIES OF COMMISSIONERS 
 
 OF ELECTIONS IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 AMERICAN ORGAN, PRINT 
 
 185G. 
 
\ 
 
 ELECTION LAW FOR WASHINGTON CITY, 
 
 f 
 
 Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. The existing Admin- 
 istration seenis to have degenerated into a super- 
 intendent of municipal elections. For abcfut one 
 month we have had,- time and again, objection to 
 every attempt to consider business out of the reg- 
 ular parliamentary order by the resistance of that 
 stern Democrat, my friend from Tennessee, [Mr. 
 Jones.] It is to be supposed, of course, that that 
 gentleman must have had some very grave reasons 
 to induce him to do violence to the courtesy of his 
 own nature — that some great object must have in 
 duced his stern refusal of his ordinary courtesy so 
 repeatedly to gentlemen who have sought it. 
 
 I desire to inquire what has occasioned this 
 course? and perhaps in that pursuit we may find 
 why it is that so much importance is attached to 
 this bill touching the municipal elections of the 
 city of Washington. 
 
 It has been repeatedly said in this House, that 
 the Corporation authorities — that ii par- 
 
 ties are in favor of, not some bill — nor . 
 ation of the existing law — but of this bill now 
 under consideration. I say, sir, there has been ro 
 expression on the part of any c- * 
 
 ties in favor of the passage of this bill; but, on 
 the contrary, I have in my hand — which I shall, 
 before I finish my remarks, send up to the Clerk 
 to have read — a remonstrance, on the part of . 
 authorities, against the passage of any such law. 
 If, therefore, there be no application for the 
 ge of this law, we are relieved from the ne- 
 cessity of considering the weight we ought to at- 
 tribute to the application of 'parties who are to be 
 governed by the law ; and we are at liberty to ask 
 the question whether there is any existing evil 
 which this bill remedies, or any future good which 
 this bill accomplishes, which ought to induce us 
 to change the existing law, passed in 1848, and 
 which, down to this time, no great body of the 
 men of the city of Washington have found to in- 
 terfere with their civil, political, or religious rights. 
 If there be no other object to be accomplished by 
 it, we may be led to surmise that there is a politi- 
 cal purpose — that it is to break or bend the inde- 
 pendence of the judicial opinion of the Commis- 
 sioners of Election into conformity to an interpre- 
 tation of the existing liw which, in their opinion, 
 it will not bear, and which it has been attempted 
 to enact here by the first section of the original 
 bill, now stricken oat and abandoned. 
 
 Where did this bill come from ? It is said that 
 it was recommended by c jrtain officials to a com- 
 
 mittee of the Senate. But, whosoever recommenc- 
 ed it, in its origin it came from the Senate commit- 
 tee. As it came from the committee, it proposes 
 a radical alteration in the suffrage law, and in de- 
 fining the qualification of voters. It was not, as 
 the honorable gentleman from Vermont supposes, 
 because we objected to the general form of that 
 section, but because we desired to insert an addi- 
 tional clause, that the only controversy which has 
 arisen in this House did arise. No man o) jected 
 to the change proposed touching the registration. 
 We were earnestly in its favor. That, therefore, 
 was not the reason for striking out the first clause. 
 It is possible that it was dropped because they 
 found that they could not pass it in the shape they 
 desired. 
 
 The penalties would incorporate the extra-judi- 
 cial interpi : ; law; 
 I le penalties, t'; -e allowed to supply 
 the place of the missing section. 
 
 We have had some dii > what is 
 
 the interpretation of tl ing law. I desire to 
 
 lay that law distinctly before I The ex- 
 
 isting law provides: 
 
 "Thatev rbite male citizen who shall 
 
 have resided one year previously, and who shall 
 have been and paid a tax assessed on 
 
 the 31st of December for the year previous, shall 
 vote at the June election." 
 
 The first difference between the court and the 
 judges of election is as to the meaning of the 
 " free white male citizen " in connexion with the 
 residence. The commissioners of election decided 
 that the residence-was required of a person having 
 the quality of citizen. He is not described, as 
 most of our constitutions describe* him, as a resi- 
 dent — as a white person — but as a free white male 
 , having resided, &c. The commissioners 
 followed a rigid rule of grammatical construction,,, 
 when they said, that a person must have resided 
 here, being a citizen, for one year previous to the 
 election. 
 
 The circuit court of. the District of Columbia in- 
 formally, extra-judicially, without having before 
 them any case which entitled them to pass judg- 
 ment upon that point, intimated a different opin- 
 ion. It was a question not submitted to their judi- 
 cial cognizance. It was a question directly sub- 
 mitted to the persons appointed as judges of the 
 election. ^ They are sworn, by the existing law of 
 the District, to admit the vote of every person 
 who, according to the best of their judgment and 
 
 A 
 
understanding, is entitled to vote. The coart de- 
 cided that they could not issue a mandamus to the 
 judges of election. "They are the parties to be 
 controlled, bu.fc this court cannot operate upon 
 them by mandamus. They are » , and 
 
 are sworn to decide the quah rs, ac- 
 
 cording t> it is, there- 
 
 fore, left to them to pass judicially up< 
 tion, and not to the circuit court ; and the oouit 
 has disclaimed, under the existing law, the right 
 to control them. But they Have intimated that 
 they think the construction placed upon tlv 
 by the judges of election is an erroneous < 
 Still, sir, that, does not, according to the existing 
 law,: tribunal which ie --Hied to pass 
 
 tipon that question. Tiie ji lection are 
 
 bound to decide, uni , a edby 
 
 the opinion which the gentleman from Te 
 see. wishes to force upon them. They will 
 ate that judgment. Gentlemen have tried 
 in this Hoi Using 
 
 first section/ G failed to change 
 
 that law. And now 1 1 for the purpose of 
 
 clear doubts of the c 
 
 by a 
 penalty cf throwing in the (' a dungeon 
 
 and I 
 human judgment. T 
 
 Now, I s to the 
 
 dl see 
 
 ■ 
 
 rial i 
 
 rson ap- 
 pointed to supr in the 
 
 to re- 
 
 ■ 
 
 i be t 
 Of th 
 
 ion of 
 
 the law, and to 
 
 I 'orporation 
 
 "knowingly." I 
 
 of th 
 
 law d .ih rc- 
 
 
 
 ■■■ to a 
 
 . vote, or of 
 kting a vote courts may deem ought 
 
 to Lu. ,,.it;,;:d or ought to have been ex- 
 
 eluded, ;i penal offence, without reference to the 
 
 the commissioner did or did not 
 
 think ivho offered to vote really entitled 
 
 to vote — to punish a judicial officer because he 
 
 ta and diew a legal conclusion 
 
 ■ mi than drawn by am 
 
 judicial officer — is at variance with every principle 
 
 of law or justioe. 
 
 I s is no such principle to be f> 
 
 in the laws of Virginia, in I Maryland, 
 
 m which the laws of the. District 
 ; re in accordance with the 
 ga of the people of this part of the ( ountry, 
 and n I I to be considered by Cou- 
 
 ion. I have before mo gen- 
 ii ho will say that, there is no 
 | In their laws for such 
 
 : other niembeis from can 
 
 ■one such provided in the : 
 
 i - no indictment of a judge of 
 
 appens to draw a wrong con- 
 
 >i from fact-. He is responsible for nothing 
 
 but the exercise of his judgment; and it is an 
 
 -it is a gre 
 to e freedom of judgment of 
 
 ?ing upon him . iiich 
 
 prophet, ai 
 
 and sin wt. j lean- 
 
 ing of the lav. If the gen rted 
 
 have 
 ge to con- 
 fine ; 
 
 polls 
 vote he km 
 It mu t the 
 
 1 'ded 
 it, and with an intend 
 to do 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 Aceordin tied law of : the 
 
 i iged 
 only where the •- of a 
 
 com- 
 
 It i3 : 
 
 before 
 
 for the 
 
 ■ 
 
 word " corr 
 books of the Uni 
 But when corruptly shall be inserted, I maintain 
 
the bill is unfit to pass. It is not the^habit of this 
 part of the country to appoint judicial officers, and 
 then hold them to the performance of their duties 
 by penalties. We appoint men who are to be con- 
 trolled by their conscience, their judgment, and 
 their oath. And if gentlemen seek now to change 
 this law, which has rested here unchanged for 
 many years — so far as this point is concerned, 
 from 1820 down — let them say that any commis- 
 sioner of election has, in this District, corruptly, 
 wilfully, and intentionally, deprived any one man 
 of a right to vote after knowing that he was enti- 
 tled to vote, and then they will have found what 
 has not hitherto been found — a pretext for this 
 slur, this insult, this stigma, cast upon the judges 
 of the last election. Sir, the great crime of that 
 election jjwias, that the Administration were pros- 
 trated in the dust under it. Sir, this measure is 
 a fling of* a vanquished party against the characters 
 of the victors — it is a poisoned Parthaon arrow 
 shot by the flying foe, whose scratch will be dead- 
 ly, and may avenge the defeat it could not avert. 
 
 (then, after the government required its offici al 
 menials to vote after they were driven to the polls, 
 required them to vote an open ticket, subject to 
 official overseers stationed to spy them out ; after 
 the control of all the foreign votes was bought, 
 and every stonecutter who refused to support the 
 government was hunted out and marked, and driv- 
 en from the city by depriving him of his employ- 
 ment ; after all these acts had proved unequal to 
 the task cf repressing the spirit of. the American 
 people here, they ask now to be allowed — through 
 the instrumentality of the tribunal where the 
 President has the appointment of the marshal, 
 where the marshal has the appointment of the 
 jury, where the jury are the judge3 of the evidence, 
 where the passions of political strife are to hold 
 the scales which weigh that evidence — to revolu- 
 tionize the city, by indirectly revolutionizing the 
 law through the fears of the persons appointed to 
 execute, not according to the dictates of 
 fears, but of their judgments ; and all that, in order 
 that you may reverse a decision of the people, 
 where it was made fairly and without any imputa- 
 tion on the regularity of the election, or the hon- 
 esty of any one of the commissioners. If this is 
 the bill that Gentlemen of the Democratic party 
 want to pass, ,et them pass it. 
 
 Well, sir, there is another thing resting on it. — 
 The law of this city is as distinct as a law can 
 lie. It says that the tax-books, the poll-books, 
 containing the names of the voters registered prior 
 to the 31st of December, snail not be changed. 
 Yet, sir, the same court, in the same proceeding 
 in which they refused a mandamus because of 
 judicial character of the judges, took occasion to 
 give utterance to the opinion that a party, other- 
 wise qualified to vote, should be registered and al- 
 lowed to vote, notwithstanding the fact that his 
 name was not recorded upon the register prior to 
 the 31st of December. Yet, sir, with that decision 
 staring them in the face, contrary as it is to the 
 express letter of the written law, of which there 
 can be no reasonable doubt, the honorable gentle- 
 men who desire to press this bill through the House 
 will place the commissioners of elections in the 
 hands of the courts. When they refuse (as under 
 their oaths they are bound to refuse) to admit to 
 
 registry any man whose name was not placed there 
 prior to the 31st of December, no matter what the 
 cause of the omission, these commissioners are 
 subjected to all the penalties of the bill, at the 
 pleasure of any jury the marshal may summon, 
 which shall see fit to believe, in a political cause,, 
 any evidence, no matter how vile, swearJhg that 
 the party excluded was omitted from the register 
 by accident or design. 
 
 It is understood that there are not a few expec- 
 tants of thi3 pressing behind, whose names are not 
 upon the poll-books, who are awaiting the passage 
 of this bill, in the hope that, with the pen 
 contained in the bill hanging over the heads of the 
 commissioners, they will not dare to refuse to ad- 
 mit these parties to registry. 
 
 Now, sir, I will not do the injustice to the other 
 side of the House to suppose that they have I 
 aware of the evils which I have pointed out. They 
 are honorable and high-minded gentlemen ; and I 
 have the confidence to believe that they would not 
 knowingly perpetrate such an outrage upon their 
 fellow- citizens cf this city. I have more eonfn I 
 in the high bea/ing and manliness of gentlemen 
 upon the other side of the House. But, sir, I 
 have rushed so headlong in pursuit of tneir object, 
 by this measure, that I feel bound to call attention 
 to the carelessness with which they inflict penal- 
 ties, which, when inflicted, they would be the 
 to deplore. ■ 
 
 They have made the effort, over and over a| 
 to pass this, bill without discussion; to fore it 
 through under the operation of the previous ques- 
 tion. They have refused to allow the bill to be 
 amended. They have refused to refer it to com- 
 mittee, where it may be fully and fairly discussed. 
 
 I am ready to pass such a bill as the Common 
 Council of the city have asked for. They have only 
 more election precincts and niore^time 
 should be granted. I am ready to pass such a bill. 
 But I am not ready to pass a bill, with or without 
 discussion, which shall establish a principle un- 
 known, to our laws — the principle of imposing pen- 
 alties on our judicial officers, to insure their hon- 
 esty in the administration of their official duties. I 
 am still more unwilling to punish them for failing 
 to execute a law as a court may construe' it ; in 
 g the question on which judges and eminent 
 lawyers differ. The honorable gentleman i p 
 Virginia [Mr. Millsou] has stated that two law- 
 yers in Virginia, (Mr. Patten and the pres 
 torney General of that State,) agreed in the opin- 
 ion that a foreigner is entitled to vote the moment 
 he is naturalized. Sir, I will suggest to the honor- 
 able gentleman from Virginia that lawyers do not 
 ; :e with the authorities he has cited. In the 
 I in Virginia, to which he alluded, one 
 of the ablest lawyers and jurists in the State of Vir- 
 ginia, (Mr. Scott, of Fauquier,) expressed an o 
 ion adverse to the one he has expressed, and ad- 
 verse to the opinion of Mr. Patten, and to the de- 
 cision given here by the court. Yet, tfr, gentlemen 
 propose to place the commissioners of the elec- 
 tions, blind'-'old, under heavy personal penalties to 
 execute aiaff in the construction of which judges 
 and lawyers differ ! 
 
 There is n» doubt that this bill derives its pecu- 
 liar force from its connection with the existing law 
 on the statute-book. If taken independently, it is 
 
only an insult — nothing more, and nothing less. Bt!t 
 when taken in connection with the existing law, 
 and its extrajudicial effect, and exposition by the 
 courts, its effect is to enact, and enforce by pains 
 and penalties, a lav/ which the friends of the bill 
 know they cannot exact directly. 
 
 As stafcd by the gentleman from Kentucky, the 
 existing law does discriminate harshly between the 
 foreigner who receives his naturalization papers 
 the day before the election, and the young Ameri- 
 can who comes of age after the 31st of December 
 preceding the election. Every person who is a 
 citizen of Washington, that is, a resident — a per- 
 son who has his domicile here, whether foreigner 
 Or native born, whether a citizen or not a citizen of 
 the United States — is, according to the laws of the 
 Corporation, required to be assessed and required 
 to be taxed. It -is the express judgment of the 
 court, in the opinion to which T ly re- 
 
 ferred, that persons not citizens of the United 
 States are liable to be taxed, and persons, not citi- 
 zens are entitled to have their names put down on 
 the poll-books; and when foreigners so entered 
 upon the book3 receive their naturalization papers 
 the day before the election, they are entitled to 
 vote. 
 
 Mr. JONES, of Tennessee. The act of 1848, 
 "to continue, alter, and amend, the charter of the 
 city of Washington," provi<: ! Corpora- 
 
 tion shall hare power to lay and collect a school 
 ttlx on every free male citizen of the age of twen- 
 ty-one years, of one dollar perannum. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS. I*am aware of that ; but it was 
 not the law to which I referred. 
 
 Mr. JONES. That act gives the Corporation 
 the authority to lay the school-tax. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS. I am aware of that. There is 
 likewise , a general authority to ta habi- 
 
 tant ; but that is not the question". I desire to 
 meet the honorable gentlemen on the law that he 
 has quoted. Citizen of what ? Jff citizen of the 
 United States, then the honorable geutlei. 
 right. If citizen court 
 
 is right. The g j'-idg- 
 
 ment of the court, over to which he wishes to 
 turn the c mmissioners. 
 
 Mr. JONES. I say that if the court decide 
 that under that law the cit; t \ of Wash- 
 
 ington have power to tax. an alii " atural- 
 
 izeed foreigner, though he may h re for 
 
 three scor- : makes an erro- 
 
 neous decision. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS. 1 have no doubt that that is my 
 honorable friend's opinion. 
 to make the opinion of the court the law. 
 pains and penalties are unmeaning, unless con- 
 nected with the decision of -the court. This bill 
 is unmeaning to everybody, unless taken in con- 
 nection with that decision. The decision of the 
 court, however erros ir practical pur- 
 
 poses, the truth. It is the . 
 to the gentleman's pain 
 decision itself : 
 
 "27*6 Natvr :,.. — The 0] 
 
 the court in this case was yesterday pronounced 
 by Judge Dunlop, who recited the points in the 
 controversy and reviewed! 3 adduced 
 
 by counsel. lie decided, firstly : that if residence 
 as a citizen a year previous to the election had 
 
 been intended to be required by the charter to 
 qualify a person to vote, it would have been so ex- 
 pressed in that instrument ; but that such a re- 
 quirement would be tne extension of the proba- 
 tionary residence of one desiring citizenshrp a year 
 beyond the time called for by the law on the sub- 
 ject. It was held to be the true construction of 
 the charter, that if the person is subject to the 
 school tax and a resident, he has a right to rote. 
 
 " As to whether the petitioner was entitled to 
 be enrolled by the assessors as liable to a school 
 tax, that depends on the second section of the 
 charter, which says that ' the said Corporation 
 have power to lay and collect a school tax on 
 every free white male citizen of the age of twenty- 
 one years and upwards.' In the fifth section of 
 the charter it is required to qualify a man to rote 
 that he must be a free white male citizen < 
 United States ; but in the second section (which 
 gives the Corporation power to lay and collect a 
 school tax) it is stated that he must be a free white 
 male citizen, omitting the words ' of the United 
 States.' A foreigner, without being a citizen of 
 the United States, may be a citizen of Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 " In relation to the school tax, every child be- 
 tween five and sixteen years of age has a right of 
 sion into the public schools, whether a 
 child of an alien or naturalized citizen. The for- 
 eigner who resides in the city o; >n is 
 subject to the school tax ; ami, as the petitioner 
 admit:; that he was subject to the school tax on 
 the 31st of December last, it was the duty of the 
 assessors to register his name, which they I 
 failed to do. 
 
 "In the case of C. S.Wallach, last year before the 
 court, it was held that where the party was entitled 
 to be registered, but the assessors had omitted his 
 name, he should not be deprived of his right to 
 hi producing the proper proof to the com- 
 missioners of elections. The mandamus now ap- 
 plied for is to compel the Register to enter the 
 name of the applicant on the list ; but the list" hav- 
 ing passed out of the hands of the Assessor, by 
 ; it was made, is now in the hands of the 
 commissioners of election. They are the parties 
 to be controlled ; but this court could not operate 
 upon them by a mandamus. They are quasi judg- 
 es, and are sworn to decide, the qualification of 
 rcters according- to their judgment and the law. 
 Their duties are not ministerial. 
 
 "Judge Morsell spoke briefly, and only as to the 
 want of jurisdiction of the court, on which point 
 ly concurred with the opinion expressed by 
 Judge Dunlop." 
 
 Mr. JONES. It is an erroneous decision. 
 . DAVIS. Erroneous it may be, but to be 
 put in force. 
 
 JONES. I will, with the permission of the 
 
 that the court which gives that 
 
 opinion will have no jurisdiction of the case under 
 
 'I — the criminal, and not the circuit court, 
 
 will have that jurisdiction. 
 
 DAVIS. And the gentleman wishes to 
 ite on the hopeful speculatien of a difference 
 of opinion between two co-ordinate tribunals in 
 the same district, and with no better protection 
 than that doubt against subjecting his fellow-citi- 
 zens, for an error of judgment of law, to pains and 
 
penalties, to jail and fine. It is a mockery of all 
 
 law ; and jet, for being a trifle more careful of the 
 
 rights of our fellow-citizens, gentlemen are here 
 
 now threat j rth scones of bloodshed and 
 
 murder, unless this law is passed. I am willing 
 
 to enter c ■' eliberately into the di 
 
 sion of any bill offered by i 
 
 side of the House. I have prote ■ this 
 
 combined effort of both sides of the House to force 
 
 bills through ; I have uncovered the pitfall into 
 
 which gentlemen wen 
 
 on.] thoughtl ly, ia an al 
 
 advanl now, witti 
 
 jump ire it. I think — I honestly 
 
 confess it — they did not- know it. invol . 
 
 ps they did not care en 
 to think about it. 1c shows what may be a 
 plished b; : < er which the 
 
 honorabl chairman o 
 
 trict <> : o force the bill i 
 
 House. It 
 
 to ope] I tvo wing? ■ 
 
 Jeff- s hool carry oul ■ 
 
 ■ i 
 It sh< 
 now I 
 ily move, 
 when a 
 bound 
 till in the 
 wive'' ge uld shrink 
 
 I h 
 
 gentl □ 
 
 go fn 
 tojusl 
 
 ion upon 
 
 and 
 
 ■ bill, conceii 
 
 tunil 
 
 Btatul 
 
 me, t 
 
 the I :: 
 
 the hoi 
 
 minor- 
 ity is so i 
 to prei 
 
 eioaers, vi I en the law requires three to co 
 the election, 
 
 Mr. MILLSON. I wish to say that I would be 
 ' rmined as the gentleman from Maryland in 
 my opposition to any bill that would subject to 
 penalties a judicial officer, or a quasi judicial offi- 
 cer, for any erroneous opinion he might express : 
 and I man from 
 
 Maryland, i uciations agai 
 
 House, or 
 
 or me, by showing what would be the 
 
 ro of the bill, and how, if it pass, any of 
 
 bject to penalties 
 
 for an unwitting error. 
 
 . DAVJS. That was the first point upon 
 which I remarked, and I do not desire to repeat 
 that a " knowingly," aci 
 
 • . ■ mean knowing 
 
 I fact from which 
 
 es a conclusion, and upon the facts 
 
 iate tri- 
 
 re divided ; 
 
 liten the com- 
 
 s, and im- 
 
 thai as a legal 
 
 ." 
 
 the reraon- 
 , and 
 lay be read, 
 was read, i 
 
 : members 
 ■ :'-. Council 
 d 
 
 LI 
 
 ht of 
 
 ;■ to 
 
 ional 
 
 b ition 
 
 J. B 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 style 
 • ions,' 
 locally 
 o call 
 how 
 . that 
 elec- 
 
 I ri r 4, 1855, 
 
 id a Good 
 
 ly ta- 
 ttle city of I 
 more at the a] 
 charges are hurlei 
 
Department alluded to for his exertions in recom- 
 mending these contributions. We confess that we 
 see no grievous harm in all this matter. The ad- 
 ministration of General Pierce is committed, in the 
 most decided and open manner, to the principles 
 which the fanatics of the Know-Nothing lodges are 
 assailing. The.success of these principles Is im- 
 portant to the perpetuity of our institutions. — 
 They are important to the honest administration 
 of the government — they are important to the pro- 
 tection of the rights of the States, and ofth 
 of the citizens." 
 
 These words, I suppose, are to be interpn ! id 
 the "Democratic party," and not "the people of 
 the United States." 
 
 " They are important to the cause of law and 
 order" — 
 
 my friends have taken under special guardianship 
 the difficulties in Kentucky — 
 " and we do not see why gentlemen attached to 
 such an administration should net contribu: 
 honorable mean:;" — 
 a singular combination of words — 
 " to counteract the violence of organized mi 
 great cities" — 
 
 to wil re, from time iramet: 
 
 the friends of my honorable friend upon th ! 
 have made election after election one unbroken 
 scene of violence, denunciation, riot, bullying, and 
 bloodshed. They were taught a lessen last fall 
 which they are not likely to forget. They then 
 hinted at bloody resolves, and now gentlemen in- 
 voke the same argument of fear in favor c 
 bill; but though hundreds (it was I linted 
 
 in Baltimore) wore armed — many with V: 
 States dragoon pistols — en election day, they did 
 not venture to ase ta'em; and we indulge the hope 
 that these heroes at menace in Washington will be 
 
 ■• valor — 
 "w!k, ■ 1 and aim is to subvert those prin- 
 
 . Some of tie Know-Nothings think the 
 contribution referred to was intended ti 
 votes, when the fact is notorious, that it was in- 
 tended simply to provide convinces for such 
 persons as yed in this city, 
 
 but legal vote-is in Ball J thou- 
 
 sands of men not in oilicc — men who toil for their 
 living at h -give not only liberally of 
 
 their money, but of their time, to assist the great 
 cause of toleration and Democracy. There is 
 scarcely a town or a township in this wide Union 
 in which men are not to be found of this chai ac- 
 ter. Nobody accuses them of corrupt purposes ; 
 and we cannot see why any such accusations should 
 be regarded for a moment when made ■ 
 sons holding off\ land 
 
 straightout Democratic Administration." 
 
 This, sir, is eminently Democratic — c mceived in 
 the just spirit of that noble sentiment of a distin- 
 guished gentleman in another part of this Capitol, 
 which regards adherence to the parti/ as the ex- 
 clusive test of character, and covering with its 
 charitable mantle a multitude of sins ! No wonder 
 that the party is pure, when the criterion of purity 
 is holding office under this straightout Demo 
 administration. 
 
 "Those who are not for us in this fight are 
 against us. Men who doubt in times of trial like 
 this should be made to give way." 
 
 Doubt is no part of the Democratic creed ; and 
 in this fight doubt is treason. Of what use is a man 
 who doubts the fitness of governmental interfer- 
 on elections, when those elections must be 
 lost without it ? Doubt implies a scruple about 
 doing what is necessary; and a man who so doubts 
 is damned for one of steadier nerves, and must be 
 made to give way — 
 
 " to men who do not doubt, but who believe that 
 the success of the Democratic party in the coming 
 elections, as well of this year as 1856 " — ■ 
 ay, sir, they have been with premonito- 
 
 ry symptoms of the fall chills of 1850, for two sea- 
 sons past ; and it is much to be i'i at ed that the 
 shaking they got last fall may serve them with re- 
 1 violence, and it may lie a violence fatal to 
 valetudinarian power. We will prepare nod- 
 ding plumes and solemn black for decent burn: I — 
 
 accidatl — 
 u who believe that the success of the Democratic 
 party in the coming elections, as well of this year 
 as of 1856, i -;rvalion of the 
 
 Union." 
 In 'oed, sir, a singular combination of the bane 
 ' -, was their ., and 
 
 their conduct since 1852, which alone has shaken 
 it — alone has disturbed it. It lay as peacefully, 
 as quietly, as securely, in the afi if the 
 
 people as an infant on it3 mother's breast, till they, 
 at the instigation of an unholy ambifion, poisoned 
 their blood and inflamed their passions. It was 
 they who made the peaceful .. I with their 
 
 -'lull, before 1 the pro- 
 
 phetic mind of Jeft'er 1. It was they 
 
 who, without o: • ly popular 
 
 demand, without any political iJ'.out 
 
 the excuse of any practical (;ood, hoped for or 
 pretended, to the dismay oi 
 of the South, and moderate 
 
 >ns of the No -ambition 
 
 I >ers of the 
 slavery war, and com I he Unioif to the strife 
 
 of fierce factions of which they are most danger- 
 ous. 
 
 'lours of the Union! They are the evil 
 of the Union, who first stirred those sub- 
 tern: i 1 ce came that earthquake 
 lately rooked ite deep foundation-'. 
 To commit the Union to them for safe-keeping, 
 is quasi aguom luno committere devorandum} 
 
 But this precious collection *of election morali- 
 ties proceeds — 
 
 " We therefore heartily commend Mr. Washing- 
 ton"— 
 
 alas for that illustrious name in such a connexion! 
 "of the Treasury Department, for his activity and 
 energy in the contribution alluded to, and v j hope 
 the good c.< v be lollo wed throughout the 
 
 Union." 
 
 That is the language of piety and good morals. 
 Sir, the laborer is worthy of his hire ; and it does 
 not lie in the mouth of the employer to plead the 
 turpitude of the employment. Gratitude even, ia 
 not misplaced to one wuo has served them well in 
 evil doing ; but the public morals require that it 
 should be explained that this " good example" is 
 one only good to the men of this administration — 
 abhorred of every other party in this country. It 
 
s 
 
 is only good to that party which, after a career the 
 least moderate, circumspect, and scrupulous, in 
 the example it has set in its heyday of youth and 
 power, has now, in its old age and decrepitude, 
 become the special guardian of " principles of civil 
 and religious liberty, so violently assailed by a se- 
 cret political party known as the Know-Nothing 
 party." 
 
 They piously and fitly quote Scripture to prove 
 that whoever is not with them is against them. — 
 Their first points of political morality are imbodied 
 in this good example ; and the honorable gentle- 
 
 man from Georgia, at an earlier period of the ses- 
 sion, discoursed largely and eloquently of secret 
 oaths, and forbidden pledges, and midnight con- 
 spiracies against religious and civil liberty of evil 
 example. 
 
 I listened, sir, with great pleasure, but small ed- 
 ification, to that homily. Its only effect on my 
 obdurate heart was, when I reflected on the recent 
 history of the political party in whose behalf it was 
 preached, to recall the closing scenes of Vanity 
 Fair, with Becky Sharp bringing up behind the 
 j charity table. 
 
 PROSPECTUS OF THE AMERICAN ORGAN. 
 
 The American Organ having been adopted, by the Executive Committee of the Ameri- 
 can members of Congress, as the central organ of the American party, the proprietor, with 
 a view to its general and extensive circulation throughout the country, has determined, on 
 consultation with his political friends, to furnish the same to subscribers, whose subscriptions 
 are remitted after May 1st, and during the months of May, June, and July, on the following 
 reduced terms, to wit : ' 
 
 Terms of the Daily American Organ. 
 
 Daily Organ, for one year - - $3 00 | Daily Organ for six months - $2 00 
 
 Terms of the Weekly American Organ. 
 
 Weekly Organ, for one year, to single 
 subscribers - - - - $1 50 
 
 Weekly Organ, for six months, to single 
 subscribers .... 1 00 
 
 Weekly Organ, for one year, to clubs of 
 
 eight or more subscribers, each $1 25 
 Weekly Organ, for six months, to clubs 
 
 of eight or more subscribers, each 75 
 
 Weekly Organ, for the campaign, to wit: 
 
 from 1st July to 15th November, each 50 
 
 All subscribers whose subscriptions have been remitted during the month of May, have 
 been charged only at above rates. * 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 001 359 587 2 
 
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