Part 6 (2/2)

They could act only in their separate capacities In a word, the perilous exigency presented was, the friends of one candidate having a majority in the Senate, and of the other in control of the House; conflicting certificates presented, upon which hinged the result, and the tension throughout the entire country assu proportions Coupled with the question of peaceable succession to the great office was that of the durability of popular government

Tremendous issues, upon which depended unfathomable consequences, pressed for settlement; and no tribunal was in existence for their deterht of those upon as then cast the responsibility asserted itself at the opportuneof an equal nues of the Great Court was created This commission-- extra-Constitutional, as was believed bycertificates, and in effect determined as to the Presidential succession

The justification of the act creating the co eency had arisen, where necessity becos in centuries,” and a single terhed little in view of the perils that surely awaited a failure to secure peaceful adjust that in the retrospect of a life, no longer a short one, I have no regrets that iven for peaceable and lawful adjustment of a perilous controversy, that cast its dark shadow across our national pathway --such a one, as, please God, our country ain

Unquestionably the least satisfactory of the devices of our Federal Constitution is that for the election of President and Vice-President through the instrues of electors chosen by the several States Upon this subject notes of warning have been many times sounded by eminent statesh which we have happily passed, and of those which may possibly beset our future pathway as a nation, it would indeed be the part of wisdom, if by Constitutional amendment a less complicated and cu andeffective the popular will in the selection of President and Vice-President of the United States

One of the apprehensions of the framers of the Constitution was that of executive usurpation of functions lawfully pertaining to the co-ordinate departainst by the provision requiring appointh office to be by and with the advice and consent of the Senate

While the President by the exercise of the veto power possesses a negative upon legislation, the Senate by virtue of the provision quoted has an equally effective negative upon executive appointments to important office

To the President is confided pri power

Treaties are the law of the land, and their observance in spirit as well as letter touches the national honor Upon this often depends the issue of peace or war Before beco effective their ratification by a two-thirds vote of the Senate is indispensable

Froly appear what are known as ”the checks and balances” of the Constitution

An important function of the Senate yet to be h court of ih officials are amenable to its jurisdiction The initial step, however, in such procedure is by the House of Representatives, as the grand inquest of the nation, presenting articles of i the sole power of trial Six times only in our history has the Senate been resolved into a Court of Ies--has there been a conviction The earliest trial, o, was that of a supreh official position of the accused, and the august tribunal before which he was arraigned, this trial is of historic interest from the fact that it involved the once famous Alien and Sedition Laws; that John Randolph was chief of the ers on the part of the House; Pinckney, Martin, and William Wirt of counsel for the defence; and Vice-President Aaron Burr, the presiding officer of the court

The trial of Belknap, Secretary of War, is still within the memory of inning

It appearing froned his office before the presentation of the articles of impeachment, he was acquitted The fate of General Belknap was indeed a sad one, that of a hitherto honorable career suddenly teruiltless himself, his chivalric assumption of responsibility for the act of one near to hi the consequence, has invested with so of pathos, and even romance, the memory of his trial

An impeachment that has left its deep impress upon history, and before which all others pale into insignificance, was that of President Johnson, charged by the House of Representatives with the coh crimes and misdemeanors” He had been elected to the second place upon the ticket with Mr Lincoln in 1864, and upon the death of the latter, succeeded to the Presidency

Radical differences with the ress, upon questions vital and far-reaching, ultimately culminated in the presentation of articles of iht, and the excitehout the country intense The trial was protracted for many weeks without jot or tittle of abateers on the part of the House were Benjamin F Butler and Thaddeus Stevens The array of counsel for the accused included the names of Benjamin R Curtis, Henry Stanberry, and Williah character of a court, was presided over for the first and only time by the Chief Justice of the United States The trial was conducted withthe exercise of executive authority, or lawful discretion, was fully discussed, the very springs of legislative power, and its liovernment, were laid bare--all with an eloquence unparalleled save only in the wondrous efforts of Sheridan, Fox, and Burke in the historic is before the British House of Lords The spectacle presented was one that challenged the attention and wonder of the nations; that of the chief reat republic at the bar of justice, calment without popular disturbance or atteuards of law and its appointhest test of the virtue of our syste devotion of our people to its prescribedthe protracted trial the various departularity; the verdict of the Senate was acquiesced in without manifestation of hostility; partisan passion soon abated and the great iated to the domain of history

The House of Representatives has an official life of short duration

Its reorganization is biennial The Senate is enduring Always organized, it is the continuing body of our national legislature

Its e, but the Senate continues the same now, as in the first hour of the Republic

In his last great speech in the Senate, Mr Webster said:

”It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States; a body not yet moved fronity and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise,counsels”

Upon the first assenificent chao, the Vice-President closed his eloquent dedicatory address with the words:

”Though these e orous and inviolate, and the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the representatives of American States still united, prosperous, and free”

VI A TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN

THE WRITER'S SPEECH AT THE LINCOLN CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 1909 --PATRIOTIC CHARACTER OF THE MEETING--LEADING HISTORICAL EVENTS BETWEEN 1809 AND 1909--BIRTH OF LINCOLN--TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION OF ILLINOIS--BIRTH OF DARWIN AND GLADSTONE--CAREER OF NAPOLEON--WAR OF 1812--THE SLAVERY QUESTION--SEIZURE AND SURRENDER OF MASON AND SLIDELL--EMANcipaTION OF SLAVES

February 12, 1909, will long be remembered as the day of the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln For on that day was the culmination of a celebration which, in various parts of the country, had begun at least a week before Rarely has there been an occasion of so much decoration, so est celebration occurred in New York City, but that of Chicago, if not so large, was at least as interesting and i parts of Illinois some of the most memorable events in the life of Lincoln took place Yet these manifestations were not a whit es

Every hamlet, every town, and every city of the United States seemed to be imbued with a desire to do honor to the azine of whatever name or order was filled with pictures, anecdotes, and sketches of the life of ”Honest Abe” Books galore were published e every phase of his life, character, work, and influence; and they sold well

My contribution to this occasion was the following speech delivered at Blooton, Illinois, February 12: