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(Saris.
rpiIOMAS J. INGHAM, ATTOR
_L NEY AT LAIV, LAPORTE, Sullivan
Connty.Pa.
PEORGE D. MONTANYE, AT
\J TORNEY A T I.A IT—Office in Union
Block, formerly occupied by JAMACFARLANE.
W r T. DAYIES, Attorney at Law,
• Towanda, Pa. Office with Wm. Wat
kins, Esq. Particular attention paid to Or
phans' Court business and settlement of dece
dents estates.
MERCUR & MORROW, Attorneys
at kmc, Towanda, Penn'a,
The undersigned having associated themselves
together in the practice of Law, offer their pro
tessional services to the public.
ULYSSES MERCUR, P. D. MORROW.
March 9,1865.
PATRICK & PECK, ATTORNEYS AT
LAW. Offices In Union Block, Towanda,
Pa., formerly occupied by Hon. Wm. Elwell,and
in Patrick's block, Athens, Pa. They may be
consulted at either place.
H. W. PATRICK, apll3 W. A. PECK.
HB. MCKEAN, ATTORNEY &
• COUNSELLOR AT LAW , Towan
da, Pa. Particular attention paid to business
in the Orphans' Court. July 20, 1866.
HENRY PEET, Attorney at Laic,
Towania, Pa. jun27,66.
W H. CARNOCHAN, ATTOR-
Y V • NEY AT LAW, Troy, Pa. Special
attention given to collecting claims against the
Government for Bonnty, Back Pay and Pensions.
Office with E. B. Parsons, Esq. June 12,1865.
EDWARD OVERTON Jr., Attor
J-Jriey at Law , Towanda, Pa. Office in Mon
es Block, over Frost's Store. July 13,1865.
TOHX \. CALIFF, ATTORNEY
t) AT LAW, Towanda, Pa. Also, Govern
ment Agent for the collection of Pensions, Back
Pay and Bounty.
0S" No charge unless successful. Office over
the Post Office and News Room. Dec. 1,1864.
OD. STILES, M. D., Physician an d
• Snrgeon, would announce to the people of
Rome Borough and vicinity, that he has perma
nently locate: at the place formerly occupied by
Dr. G. W. Stone, for the practice of his pi ofes
sion. Particular attention given to the treat
ment of women and children, as also to the prac
tice of operative and minor surgery. Oct. 2,'66.
Dll. PRATT has removed, to State
street, (first above B. S. Russell & Co's
Bark). Persons from a distance desirous of con
sulting him, will be most likely to find him on
Saturday of each week. Especial attention will
be given to surgical cases,and the extraction of
teeth. Gas or Ether administered when desired.
July 18,1866. D. S. PRATT, M. D.
Doctor chas. f. paine.—of
fice in GORE'S Drug Store, Towanda, Pa.
Calls promptly attended to at all hours.
Towanda, November 28, 1866.
ED W'D MEEKS—AUCTIONEER.
All letters addressed to him at Sugar Run,
Bradford Co. Pa., will receive prompt attention.
Francis e. post, Ipainter, 7w
anda. Pa, with 10 years experience, is con
fident he can give the best satisfaction in Paint
ing, Graining, Staining, Glazing, Papering,,&c.
*3" Particular attention paid to Jobbing in the
country. April 9, 1866,
j J. NEWE LL ,
COUNTY SURVEYOR,
Orwell, Bradford Co., Pa,, will promptly attend
to all business in his line. Particular attention
given to running and establishing old or dispu
ted lines. Also to surveying of all unpattented
lands as soon as warrants are obtained. myl7
Dtntistrp.
rr\VENTY-FIYE YEARS EXPERI-
X ENCE IN DENTISTRY.
J. S. SMITH, M. D., would respectfully inform
the inhabitants of Bradford County that he is
ucrmanantly located in Waverly. N. Y., where
he has been in the practice of his profession for
the past four years. He would say that from his
long and successful practice of 25 years duration
he is familiar with all the different styles of work
done in any and all Dental establishments in
city or country, and is better prepared than any
other Dental operator in the vicinity to do work
the best adapted to the many and different
cases that present themselves oftentimes to the
Dentist, as he understands the art of making his
own artificial teeth, and has facilities for doing
the same. To those requiring under sets of
teeth he would call attention to his new kind of
work which consists of porcelain for both plate
and teeth, and forming a continuous gum. It is
more durable, more natural in appearance, and
much better adapted to the gum than any other
kind of work. Those in need of the same are
invited to call and examine specimens. Teeth
filled to last for years#ud oftent mes for life.—
Chloroform, ether, and "Nitrous oxide" admin
istered with perfect safety, as over fonr hundred
patients within the last four years can testify.
I will be in Towanda from the 15th to 30th of
every month, at the office of W. K. TAYLOR,
(formerly occupied by Dr. O. H. Woodruff.) Ha
ving made arrangements with Mr. Taylor, I am
prepared to do all work in the very best style, at
his office. Nov. 27,1865.
DR. H. WESTON, DENTIST.—
Ofliee in Patten's Biock. over Gore's Drug
and Chemical Stors. Ijan66
WARD HOUSE, TOWANDA, PA,
On Main Street, near the Court House.
C. T. SMITH, Proprietor.
Oct 8,1866.
AMERICAN UOTELT
towanda, PA.,
Having purchased this well known Hotel on
Bridge Street, I have refurnished and refitted
it with every convenience for the accommoda
tion of all who may patronize me. No pains will
be spared to make ail pleasant and agreeable.
May 3/66—tf. J. S. PATTERSON,Prop.
YDER HOUSE, a four story brick
L/ edifice near the depot,with large airy rooms,
elegant parlors, newly furnished, has a recess in
new addition for Ladies use, and is the most
convenient and only first class hotel at Waverly,
1. ft is the principal office for stages south
ana express. Also for sale of Western Tickets,
ana in Canada, on Grand Trunk Rail-way. Fare
.o Detroit from Buffalo, 14, is cheaper than any
other route. Apply for tickets as above to
„ C. WARFORD.
stabling and care of Horses at reasonable
rates.
Waverly X. v., o ct .26,1866.-3 m. C. W.
LMNE ASSORTMENT OF PRAY-
X KB Books at the NEWS ROOM.
OR ANY OTHER AR
,7- E m our linc "' ordered at short notice
calling at the _NEWS ROOM.
DOCKET CUTTLERY LOWER
J- than at any other establishment in town
n!,e NBWS ROOM.
E. O. GOODRICH, Publisher.
VOLUME XXVII.
REMARKS OF
HON, GEOROE LANDON
ON THE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.
Mr. LANDON. Mr. Speaker, the
amendments now under consideration
guarantee to all persons born upon
American soil the privileges of citi
zenship, and the immunities of impar
tial justice before the law. They de
clare, in substance, that if the color
ed people are allowed to vote, then
shall they be counted in the basis ot
Congressional representation ; if de
nied the elective franchise, then they
shall not be counted. They affirm that
no person shall hold office under the
United States, or under any State,
who having previously taken an oath
to support the Constitution,shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same. They exclude, in
a word, from power and place, all
perjured, red-handed traitors. They
affirm the validity of our national
debt, contracted for tbe preservation
of the Government. They repudiate
the confederate debt, and all alleged
claims or losses arising from tbe
emancipation of slaves. They em
power Congress with full authority
to enforce these provisions by all ne
cessary and appropriate legislation.
These provisions are so mild and
so necessary that the malignant hos
tility to them, from certain quarters,
would be surprising but for the re
flection that there never was a cause
in the world's long history, so good,
so just, so pure as to be exempt from
bitter opposition. The better the
cause the more violent its opponents
—the sublimer the truth the more
virulent its falsifiers—the holier the
man the more diabolical his tradu
cers. Such is the perversity of some
sections of human nature. Ouce ex
claimed a Scotch clergyman, "0 !
that the Deity would present to the
world the embodiment of virtue ! then
would mankind worship it 1" Anoth
er responded, " The Deity has al
ready presented the incarnation of all
that is grand in virtue and truth, but
instead of worshipping, the world
crucified it." The hostility of certain
classes to every proposed expedient
for the advancement of liberty and
tbe preservation of the country, expe
dients suggested by necessity and
approved by wisdom, is bat a further
illustration of human moroseness and
illiberality.
It is a pitiable fact that the men who
oppose these amendments have per
sistently arrayed themselves against
every other patriotic proposition,from
the raising of armies to the manumis
sion of slaves. True to their origi
nal instincts, they remain unmitigat
ed and unchanged. That our Gov
ernment has fallen into serious diffi
culties is a known fact. Direful com
plications have involved us, compli
cations striking home upon ten thous
and hearts and hearths, and involv
ing the very life of the nation itself.
We have passed through the first
chapter of woes—the first wild war
tempest has spent its force, leaving
the marks of desolation and disrup
tion in its path.
Now, sir, what is the duty of every
man, of ever lover of the country,
statesman, the philosopher,the Christ
ian, the law-maker—of all, indeed,
without distinction—who have pres
ent interests to conserve and hopes
for the future to maintain ? Is not
this their duty : To put forth every
possible effort,with perseverance and
painstaking, to extricate the Govern
ment from the present complications
—uplifting it from the embedment of
treason and crime, laying its founda
tions firmer, deeper, broader than ev
er before. We should be guided by
enlarged, expansive ideas, not by
contracted, bigoted dogmas. We
should seek tbe good of all sections,
all classes, all eras.
Free from all vindictiveness, far
above and beyond all factions, firmly
just but magnanimously geuerous.we
should uow provide for the greatest
good of the greatest number for the
greatest length of time. The South
ern half of the country has been for
ages diseased, debauched. Her edu
cational theories were wrong, her la
bor system ruinous, her politics en
venomed, her Christianity a carica
ture upon pure morality. Steadily
degenerating at heart, in 1861 the
malady came to the surface in the
form of treason, war, blood and anar
chy. And now that section having
sowed to the wind has reaped the
whirlwind, and lies bleeding and
smitten by the inevitable consequen
ces of her own criminal follies. In
few words, bcr status is this : Mar
tially crushed, financially impoverish
ed, domestically vitiated and politi
cally bedeviled. Yet with all her
guilt and degradation upon her,crush
ing her to the very dust, may we not
hope for a brighter and better future
iu reserve. To this I look with most
unqualified faith As the South has
all the natural resources of great
ness, and wealth aud progress, the
time should come and will come,
when her public mind will be illumin
ed and expanded with correct concep
tions of government, of manhood and
liberty—when her undeveloped treas
ures shall be brought into the mark
ets of the world, when shackles and
plantation whips shall be hung up in
museums as painful mementoes of
abandoned barbarism, when disen
thralled and regenerated, the resort
of capital, the theatre of enterprise,
the broad area of untrammeled indus
try, she shall stand forth beautiful in
virtue, venerable in wisdoni, strong
in patriotism, opulent in productive
ness—the garden of the continent.—
But, sir, to attain so desirable a con
summation, two things are essential
ly, inevitably necessary.
First. The South must be fenced
in by a system of positive, strong,
just legislation. The lack of this has
wrought her present ruin; her future
I renovation ran come only through
pure and equitable law; law restrain
ing the vicious and protecting the in
nocent, making all castes and colors
equal before its solemn bar. This,
sir, is the sine qua non. Without it
all else is vain ; with it all else that
is good is sure to follow.
Secondly. The South must have
time, much time. It is a law of the
physical universe that growths of
small value come quickly to maturi
ty, while those of more worth ripen
slowly. A mushroom grows in a
night and withers in the morning,
while a pomegranate tree is said not
to blossom till a hundred years old,
but then it produces choice fruit. It
takes a nation yet longer to grow—
to grow out of all that is bad, and in
to all that is go d—but when thus
grown it is the sublimest vision be
neath the stars, and yields most am
ple harvests. The present generation
of malicious slaveholding rebels must
die out. Some will accept the situa
tion as it is and make the best of it,
but the majority will grin and scowl
and die in their malignity. Each suc
ceeding generation will come on the
stage improved in sentiment and
chastened in practice, and thus step
by step as slow years pass away, old
lies will be eradicated and new truths
will strike their roots into the public
heart. Having passed the Red sea of
blood and wandered the necessary
period in the wilderness, the South
shall at last pitch her tents in tho
promised land, the earth all joyful at
her feet and the heavens all luminous
above her. But, sir, write it in char
acters of living light, flashirg to the
extremities of the laud, to attain this
she must have law and time; the one
in its main features must be furnish
ed by the Congress as now constitut
ed,the other by an outraged but mer
ciful Providence. It may be proper
to remark, while passing, that the
fewer prescriptions she accepts from
Northern Democratic quacks the more
rapid will be her restoration to polit
ical sanity and vigor.
I am a friend to the South, and I
say to every man, do not allow your
selves to be governed by anything
like revenge ; be charitable; remem
| her that the South are our wayward
sisters, erring, but still related to us.
Do not work merely for the present,
but have an eye to the future. Labor
not for the elevation of one part only,
but for the whole, remembering that
the good of each part is the good of
the whole, and that the glory of any
one section is the glory of the whole
land ; if one State is prosperous, all
are benefited ; if South Carolina is
crushed, Pennsylvania is injured. If
I should labor to apply a false sys
tem upon the South I am not only in
juring them, but myself; if I benfit
them, I benefit the country at large.
I tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is worth
something to live in this age ; it is
worth more to live in this country ;
it is more still to occupy a high van
tage ground, from which a man's
voice can reverberate far out,moving
and stirring the hearts of multitudes.
Hence the importance of striving to
utter the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so that the
truth shall go out from every deliber
ative body of the land, as the rays of
light radiate from the sun. Ido not
stand here to build up the Republi
can party, or to tear down any party.
I stand here as a man. I desire to
vindicate the right, and be right; aye,
sir, from my heart of hearts 1 wish to
be right. I never voted for Henry
Clay, but I always admired his senti
ment, " I would rather be right than
be President."
When the war closed in 1865, how
stood the case ? Congress was not
in session. President Johnson assum
ed the responsibility of reorganizing
the Southern States ; he appointed
Provisional Governors, and other offi
cers,and he pardoned the most arrant
rebels, that he might have fit tools to
serve his vicious purposes. He or
dered constitutional conventions ; he
dictated tfhe terms of the Constitu
tions themselves,saying to the South,
put in this and leave out that; he is
sued bis proclamation, declaring that
the rebellion was ended, peace restor
ed, and everthing lovely; and it only
remained for Congress to admit the
Southern States into the hails of leg
islation. At length Congress assem
bled; they looked over Mr. Johnson's
restoration system, reviewed what he
had done, and after mature delibera
tion, came to the conclusion that
there was a little something more
needed for the permanent peace of
this land and Government. They
were not satisfied with Mr. Johnson's
ultimatum, hence these amendments.
Congress entertained the very ration
al idea that the President was but
the servant of the people, and not the
master—his province being to execute
laws and not make them, much less
to dictate constitutions and organize
commonwealths. When the war clos
ed, had he appointed military gover
nors, as commander-in-chief, to hold
matters in statu quo, then summoned
Congress together, saying to them :
Gentlemen, the soldier has done his
part, it now remains with yon to pro
vide for the reorganization of civil
government in these rebellious States,
and I shall be happy to co-operate
with you in all wise and effectual
plans, he would have saved the Gov
ernment from trouble and himself
from infamy. Pursuing the opposite
coarse, aye, arrogating to himself the
prerogatives of an autocrat, Congress
in obedience to the will of the people
proposes to furnish the necessary
legislation, with the President's con
sent, if granted, without it if with
held.
Accordingly these amendments were
passed by the requisite two-thirds
majority, and are now submitted to
the States for the necessary ratifica
tion. If approved by three-fourths of
the Legislatures of the States author
ized to act thereon, then they become
a part and chapter in the organic law
of the land. The opposition profess
TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., FEBRUARY 7,1867.
I to discover great difficulties in this
proposed mode of reconstruction. In
deed, they object to every proposed
plan which does not imply the resur
rection of their debauched, dead par
ty. Life and supremacy to that par
ty would be death and humiliation to
the country. They have laid in the
grave long enough to stink, but not
long enough for their corruptible
part to slough oft". The worm and
the sepulchre have yet a mortgage
upon them. When their full claims
are canceled but little will be feft for
immortality.
But, sir,we admit there are tangled
questious in this matter of recon
struction. Abstrusities and compli
cations there in all the ranges of hu
man thought. Theology has its un
fathomable depths, science its com
plexities, and the adjustment of Gov
ernment its difficulties.
At the same time, in all sciences
and philosophies, whether human, di
vine,or governmental,there are great,
primary, unchangeable principles
which serve as keys to the innermost
chambers, and like lantern lights will
guide the inquirer through all laby- i
riuths, though way marks be remov
ed, aud finger posts obliterated. No
more difficult task was ever imposed
upon human wisdom than the forma
tion and adjustment of Constitutional
Government. Said Washington, aft
er laboring assiduously for four
months with the best intellects of tbe
age, in forming our present Constitu
tion, " Our work is not perfect ; we
have made it as good as we could,
and provided in the instrument itself
for its own amendment, as future
emergencies may arise." Authority
must be lodged somewhere, but un
der such check and balances as not
to be abused with impunity. Justice
must be maintained, but mercy must
not be forgotten. The evil inclina
tions of all inusc be restrained, but
tbe rights of none impaired. The
people must submit to the adminis
tration of law, but both administrator
and law must be subject to the will
of the people. Government must be
strong, that it may command respect,
but its strength must not become a
tyranny. It must be lenient, that it
may be loved, but its leniency must
not degenerate into weakness, for
this challenges contempt and not af
fection. Government must be servant
to the mau, and not the mau slave to
the Government—its provisions must
be conformed to his rights, and not
his rights to its provisions. In a
word, the whole texture of the Gov
ernment must be so woven as to hang
loosely yet firmly upon the body poli
tic, affording protection to all, being
a burden to none, never galling the
innocent, but with hoops of iron en
girding the guilty.
If these principles were faithfully
applied, there could be no cause of
complaint. Upon tbe general subject
of reconstruction there is a disposi
tion to higgle upon technicalities.—
Multitudinous questions are propound
ed and discussed. Had the rebel
States a right to secede—are they in
the Union or out of it—are they sov
ereign commonwealths or subjugated
provinces—have they a right or have
they not to immediate and full repre
sentation in Congress ? My friend
ou the left declares them sovereign
and entitled to such representation.
He lays down an axiom—no people
should be taxed without representa
tion. We tax the South, therefore
the conclusion. We also tax State
prison convicts, at least their proper
ty, but I am not aware that we allow
them to vote. I wish to ask the Sen
ator from Fayette [Mr. SEARIGHT] one
question. We tax the colored people
all over the land, North and South ;
will you allow them representation ?
Mr. SEARIGHT. I spoke of white
people.
Mr. LANDON. I understand the
distinction,sir. According to the gen
tleman's ideas the whites, however
degraded, can be called persons or
people, while the blacks, no matter
what their redeeming qualities, must
be denied even this poor compliment.
During the last years of bloody car
nage, when the Senator and his
friends, and your friends and mine
were drafted, and the colored man
went as our substitute, to fight and
die in defense of the country, who
wer e people then ?
Aye, sir, when General Butler, at
at the head of a colored regiment,
looked upon the frowning battlements
of a rebel fortification, and said:
" Boys, that stronghold must be tak
en|; remove the caps from your mus
kets, use only the bayonets, and you
have my consent to go over those
walls," they went over like a flash of
lightning, leaving four hundred of
their number upon the ground silent
yet .sublime in death. O, sir, as I
reverence God and honor the brave,
the heroic men who died for the coun
try, for me and my children, shall not
be branded as too low to receive the
appellation of " person." If taxation
is a title claim to the ballot and rep
resentation, then must the gentleman
give both to the calored man, for he
is everywhere taxed. This is the log
ical conclusion of his premises. I
know it pinches, bat whe i he chooses
his position between the upper and
nether millstone, he must submit to
tbe flattening, though it leaves him
so thiu that mooubeams would shine
through him. Passing from this I
call attention to some plain proposi
tions,which, to my mind, open a clear
path through this whole subject of
reconstruction.
All constitutional legislative and
rightful authority iu the Government
adheres to those who adhere to the
Government, while the communities
or States that forswear the Govern
ment and levy war against it, seek
ing its destruction, by that very act,
per se, dissolve themselves from all
authoritative connection with the
Government. The only bond between
the two is that which binds the crim
inal to the statute book. They be-
REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER
come a community of criminals, dis
robed of citizenship, spoiled of au
thority and subject only to penalties.
Look at the case narrowly. In 1861
eleven States seceded, with all tbe
pride and circumstance of persistent
war. They taxed every expedient,
strained every muscle, robbed tbe
cradle and the grave for material
strength, and perpetrated barbarities
that make humanity blush that they
might overturn the established au
thority of the land. During the con
test they were public, avowed, ac
knowledged enemies. We applied to
them all the laws of nations regulat
ing war. Foreign powers recognized
them as belligerents. They sneered
at the idea of having any constitu
tional connection whatever with the
United States, aud would have sneer
ed at it still if success had crowned
their bloody efforts, but having failed
therein, what is their real status ?
Plainly this; no more, no less : They
are conquered enemies, disarmed
traitors, vanquished rebels, subjugat
ed provinces. We may prevaricate,
dodge, wriggle as we will, to this
common sense complexion must it
come at last, and when Congress
plants itself squarely upon this posi
tion its course out will be as plaiu as
a turnpike.
On the other hand, twenty-five
States hooked their shields together,
and around the altars of a common
destiny, swore by the love they bore
to the fathers, those altars should be
defended even to the heart's blood,
and they did it. While the war was
progressing, who constituted the Uni-
I ted States—who was the embodiment
: of all constitutional authority in the
i laud ? Plainly those twenty-five Sta
' tes who clung to the stars and stripes.
Their plenipotentiaries were received
i abroad as tbe legitimate exponents
:ol national authority at home. We
! considered them the depositories of
plenary power. It was theirs to
make laws, organize armies, contract
debts, and by every agency within
their grasp, to conquer a common
foe. Answer me, sir, one question :
If these twentv-five States were the
embodiment of all constitutional au
thority, when struggling against an
armed enemy, have they diminished
their authority by conquering that
enemy ? If armed traitors had no
rightful connection with the Govern
ment while armed, does the circum
stances of their mourned defeat re
place them in authority ? No, sir, no
more than the capture of any crimi
nal reinstates him as he was before
his misdeed.
If it be said tbe rebels have been
pardoned by the President and all
disabilities are thereby removed, my
reply is, such wholesale forgiveness
is a prostitution of the pardoning
power, and, therefore, the pardou is
a nullity—while he who thus de
grades his authority gives too pain
ful proof of smuggled treason in his
own heart. The deductions from all
this are very plain. The sovereign
people of the loyal States who fought
the battles of the country and achiev
ed the victory are now masters of the
situation. Having saved the Gov
ernment from rebel clutches, theirs is
the right and duty to provide for the
future peace aud liberty of the whole
land. They, and they only, should
determine when and upon what terms
the rebel States should come into
legislative power and fellowship.—
They have the rightful authority to
amend the Constitution, or enfran
chise the freedmen, and the traitor
has no more right to participate in j
the decision of these matters than
the horse thief has to sit upon the
jury when his own case is being tried.
In the broadest, strongest terms pos
sible, the whole truth is condensed
into a single sentence, the loyal peo
ple are the ultimate and supreme au
thority ; theirs is the right aud duty
to provide fully for the country's safe
ty ; whoever end whatever throws
itself athwart their pathway is to be
set aside as treasonable in principle
and usurping in practice.
Crime must be punished. This prin
ciple is old as creation—has been re
cognized by both civilized and bar
barous communities, and underlies
the very existence of society itself.
Your penal codes, criminal courts and
gloomy prisons are outstanding de
monstrations both of its justice and
necessity. The forms of punishment
must be determined by the dictates
of wisdom and the demerits of the
guilty. But abolish that fundamen
tal idea, throw down all retributive
barriers to evil, give full license to
human passion, and such is the per
versity of many, that no interest
would be safe, no right respected,
and without the restoration of retri
butive justice, community, disrupted
and ravaged, would dissolve amid
riot aud carnage.
Armed treason with its concomit
ants is the greatest of crimes—the
agglomeration of war, rapine and
blood. Verily, sir, disrupting civil
ties, smiting down hundreds of thou
sands tf the best men of the age,
piling up a debt that must descend
to distant posterity, convulsing the
land with groans and agonies, all to
perpetuate human servitude and grat
ify a diabolical ambition fired from
hell itself, is the superlative of guilt,
the maximum of criminalities, deserv
ing corresponding retribution. Yet
to this hour never a hair of treason
has been harmed. Lands confiscated
have been restored. Privileges for
feited have been restored. Leading
traitors are courtiers at the White
House, basking in Presidential smiles
while unprotected loyal men are
massacred throughout the South,
without so much as a coroner's in
quest held upon their remains. Aye,
sir, the arch rebel, the master spirit,
the Beelzebub of the maddened horde
arrested under the charge of com
plicity in Lincoln's assassination, has
been, and still is, the nation's guest
—feasted aud housed at the public
charge.
Is this stupendous iniquity—thiß
flagrant outrage upon the country—
to be exempt utterly and entirely
from justice and judgment ? Then is
virtue below par and crime at a pre
mium. No longer insisting upon con
fiscation, banishment, or halters, the
demands of justice are narrowed
down to the proposition contained in
the third amendment, that perjured
traitors shall not hold office. All
this tremendous system of blood and
war and desolation is opposed by the
single requirement that its instiga
tors shall not mount the high civil
positions of the land. And my friend
from Fayette [Mr. SEARIGHT] demurs
from that because, as he says, it
would exclude from the halls of Con
gress the best men of the South. The
mosrt arrant rebel would say the same
thing, and object to the amendment
upon that very ground.
Mr. Speaker, my idea is that those
leading men deserve pre-eminently to
be hung ; they should not be law
makers of this land. Shall they
come into the halls of legislation to
make laws for the government of you
aud me and our children ? Shall they
make laws for the government of the
boys iu blue that met them at Get
tysburg, and rolled them back as tbe
wave rolls from the mountain's base?
No, sir ! No I No ! They never
shall, by my vote aud with my con
sent, so help me God ! This exclu
sion from office is hardly worthy the
name of punishment. You well re
member when John BrowD, with fif
ty-two followers, invaded Virginia,
throwing the whole Commonwealth
into hysteric convulsions. Henry A.
Wise w.s Governor. He swaggered
and swore Brown was a traitor, and
should be bung. He was executed.
This same mau subsequently waged
war upon the government, defies its
authority to-day, and avers that if
successful, he would have stripped
the North as naked as when born.—
Who is the most guilty, Brown or
Wise ? Why, sir, I was about to
say Wise should hang from the same
tree with Brown, but I would not thus
dishonor the old heroic martyr. Hung
or unhung, let neither him, nor any
of his ilk, ever wear the badge of of
fice on American soil.
The Government should vindicate
its assailed majesty. Its dignity
should not be flung to the dogs.—
Sworn foes should be taught to rev
erence its authority, and firm friends
encouraged to trust its protection.
The fourth section of the amend
ment forbids the assumption of the
confederate debt. The necessity of
its adoption will be seen by a brief
analysis of the subject. Financial
interests are always sensitive to dis
turbing influences, and necessarily
connected intimately with public
peace and prosperity. The North
has contracted a debt of three thou
sand millions of dollars—a sum be
yond the grasp of the human mind.
This debt is represented by bonds of
various denominations, and is held by
every class, from the millionaire down
to the washer woman and the wood
sawyer. Our whole banking system
is based upon them. Prick those
bonds and you thrill every financial
fibre in the land. On the other hand,
the South has contracted a debt
equally expensive. Her bonds are
held by all classes,and large amountß
are in the vaults of European capi
talists, all of whom are anxious and
will watch for final payment. The
assumption of the confederate bonds
would double both our debts and
taxes. With these doubled tbe bonds
we now hold would depreciate cer
tainly one-half, and might become
worthless through a general collapse
and bankruptcy. Six thousand mil
lions of debt would crush the pillars
of the country, strong as they are.—
Without this constitutional prohi
bition, how would the business of as
sumption naturally work. The many
Congressmen elected from the South
have large investments in confederate
bonds. Their constituents are equal
ly interested. All these would vote
to assume every time. Their North
ern sympathizers, who now insist up
on rebel representation, will be quite
likely, five years hence, to vote lor
rebel payment. Sift it still more
closely. Suppose English capitalists
come to Washington with a hundred
millions of confederate bonds. Unas
sumed they are worth nothing ; when
indorsed by the Government they are
worth dollar for dollar, for that
amount would not 6tagger our credit.
The holders of these bonds could pri
vately distribute fifty millions to
members of Congress for voting to
assume, and both parties make hand
somely by the speculation.
If the Southern States, iu their
State Conventions, repudiate their
own debt, it is of no account, for
when once fully in the Union they
can change their constitutions, ex
punging the repudiating section, and
no power can forbid them. If Con
gress pass an act of repudiation it is
equally unreliable, for a succeeding
Congress could repeal the act of its
predecessor. There is but one path
of safety in this matter, and that is
to write it as with a pen of iron in
the organic law of the land—engrave
it upon the very pillars of our civil
fabric—that this traitor debt, con
tracted in the attempt to subvert the
government, shall never be paid.- -
With this clause in the Constitution,
the whole question is settled-.
It wonld be a pity if our struggle
with treason should result iu the in
crease of the power of the traitors.
1 But, if you leave things as they are,
it will result in giving the South
twenty more members in Congress
than they ever had before. There
are no slaves now ; hence, instead of
counting three-fifths, five-fifths are to
be counted, which will give the South
twenty additional Congressmen.—
| Hence, this other amendment is pro
posed regulating the matter of rep
resentation.
I will say that I dislike the second
#2 per Annum, in Advance.
amendment. We cannot change it ;
but if I had been in the body which
drafted it, I would have fought it to
the very utmost. I shall vote for it,
because we must vote for or against
them all. It proposes to leave the
four millions of colored people in the
South at the disposal of the white
rebels. It says to them, you may de
termine whether these men shall vote
or not. I dislike that feature of the
thing. I never would leave a color
ed patriot under the heel of a white
traitor. Government, to be peaceful
aud progressive, must be based upon
the truth, and we must mete out ev
enhauded justice to all classes, high
and low, rich and poor, black and
white. In regard to the colored man,
the government has revolved for the
last fifty years around his head ; but
up to the war it was made to revolve
in such a manner as always to grind
the negro. Fugitive slave laws had
no respect for him, and were always
made so as to bind him. The old
ship was launched, sir, with a color
ed face at the mast-head, which has
made all our trouble. The fathers
put one worm-eaten stave into the
national cask and the wine has leak
ed out. It was the negro without
guilt on his part who brought war
upon the country. Here was justice
and crime, right and wrong, liberty
and slavery, progression and retro
gression, all jumbled together, and it
was the decree of fate that there
must be a collision. They would not
give up oppression—we would not
become slaves—and hence the war
storm.
Now, sir, are we willing to obey
the principles which underlie God's
universe ? If not, we treasure up
wrath against another day of visita
tion. I charge Senators—l charge
all men who have the high honor of
representing a brave people who
saved the country—to respect the
great principles that must necessari
ly underlie national stability and
progress and good feeling. Base
your government upon the right, up
on truth, and mercy, and love, and
good will ; then, 6ir, you may rea
sonably hope that your Government,
in coming years, will arise higher in
the heavens of history, and like the
sun of Joshua, hang aloft, ever shin
ing, but never setting.
We owe it to ourselves to be just to
the colored man ; we owe it to our
reputation ; we owe it to our dignity
and our national character, to do jus
tice to the four millions of colored
people, around whom all our govern
mental machinery has revolved. We
owe them a debt of gratitude. For
half a century we have been wring
ing from him unpaid toil and forced
labor. Our morning cup of coffee
has been made palatable by the fruit
of his unpaid toil upon the planta
tion. We have reared national
wealth upon crushed natures and
prostrated rights, and when we fell
into this conflict, and appealed to
Heaven for help, the colored man was
ever ready to assist us, ever loyal,
and, unlike the Senator on my left,
he was not ashamed to be so consid
ered. When the prisoner escaped
from a Southern dungeon,the colored
man had a lantern to light him. He
did not divide his bacon with the
hungry soldier, but gave the whole
to him ; and when you allowed them
to fight, they marched in bravely and
heroically.
We profess to be a very enlighten
ed nation, a Christian nation ; we
profess to believe the Bible ; we are
a church-going people. Well, sir,
here is a very beautiful chance now
to illustrate our real Christianity, or
our real national hypocrisy. And
the whole point, sir, will turn upon
the treatment of these four millions
of colored men who are asking for
justice. The simple question to-night
is whether the colored man shall be
a ma a or a serf; whether the South
ern rebel, with our consent, shall put
his heel upon him and crush him to
to the earth ? You owe it to your
selves to do justice, complete justice,
to the colored race. Do you sup
pose this country can be prosperous
with four millions of serfs ground
down ?
No, sir ; you violate the laws of
God's universe, and they will fly back
in your faces, as they did in 1861. I
demand, sir, for the loyal colored
man as good treatment as you award
to the white rebel ; I demand it of
Republicans, of Democrats, of all
men, in the name of humanity, in the
name of my country, that bled at
every pore. I demand for the color
ed man as much consideration in ev
ery particular as you award to the
red handed rebel. My God, how
long, oh, how long, will the nation
be blind ? The way is clear. Do
justice ; give all men the rights of
manhood. I demand that you shall
give Robert Small the rights of a
man ; at least treat him as well as
the rebel Robert Lee. Come square
ly up to it ; I entreat you, boldly
meet the issue.
Radicalism is the hackneyed taunt
from the other side of the House. I
am called a " radical.'' My ideas are
so characterized. You ask me :
What do you want for the colored
man ? I reply, do you let the white
rebel go to school ? 1 claim that the
colored man shall go to school; do
you protect the white man before the
law, you shall protect the colored
man before the same law ; do you
punish a crime in a colored man, you
shall puuish the same in a white man
in the same way ; and a virtue that
will reward a white man shall be re
warded in the colored man.
Do you let the white rebels of Car
olina or Florida vote, then in the
name of Heaven command that the
colored man in the same State shall
vote. I demand it, as a broad prin
ciple, that you shall treat your friends
with as much consideration as you
treat your enemies. I ask you, do
you object to it ? I run the line here:
what you do for the traitors, I de
mand for the loyal colored patriot.
But J am called " a radical," and
my associateß are called radicals :
and we arc not ashamed of it. D
you not know every man who has
been a radical. The Wilberforces
and the Washiugtous, the Lafayettes,
and the Patrick Henrys, and the Jeff
ersons, were all radicals ? Are you
ignorant that the Great Teacher, the
brightness of the Invisible, who spake
as never man spake, whose stern,
freat truth flashed across the world's
ark mind, as flash the lightning's
upon the bosom of midnight, was the
very personification of radicalism ?
Don't you know that radicalism
fought at the battle of Gettysburg,
while poor, miserable, conservatisu
went mouthing about searching the
shortest path to Canada ? Radical
ism 1 It has been the head that did
the thinking, the hand that did the
execution, it was the heart that felt
and the will that resolved. It was
the moving power of the Govern
ment, the steam and driving wheel
of the engine. I am a radical. I
want to be a radical—radically true,
radically in earnest, radical!}'right.
If any one is ashamed of that char
acter, let him go and clothe himself
in that shame and wear the glory oi
it, and when he dies the world will
not remember him as long as his body
will keep warm after vitality has left
it. Democracy sets itself up as the
paragon of excellence, while we are
denounced as deserters ; wc are the
disunion party. It has been affirmed
and will be reiterated again and
again. 1 will state here Ido not in
tend say an unkind word ; I would
not willingly hurt a hair of a dog ;
I have as much of the milk of human
kindness as I could have and be po
litically healthy. We meet together,
I love to greet them, and they love to
greet me. But lam speaking of the
broad principles of historical facts
and partisan practice ; and if an iu
fdividual assume the responsibility of
partisan practice, why then—my
words apply to him.
The Democratic party is yet true
to its original instincts. The spots
of the animal are yet visible, and its
running sores unmollified.
The history of that party is an ex
ceedingly interesting one, though
more painful than interesting. In
1801 one half of the party swung off
into open rebellion, and a largo por
tion of the other half was in open
sympathy with them. I well remem
ber whenjthe question came up touch
ing the right of secession, that that
party said, if any State does secede
there is no power in the government
to prevent it. You are all familiar
with the fact. And you understand
very well in 1863 that same party
held a convention in these very halls.
They went through all the paraphre
nalia of a political convention ; they
passed resolutions and made haran
gues. At that very time invading
hosts of traitors were approaching
our confines and thundering at the
gates of the capital. While the very
hills trembled with the echoes of ar
tillery, these patriots par excellence,
having passed biting and bitter res
olutions against Mr. Lincoln and the
administration at Washington, never
made one allusion to the invading
armed rebels. But having breathed
out their spleen, waived themselves
to their homes. In 1801, when they
assembled in Chicago—when the
country's interests were imperiled—
when every mother gave up her first
born son to die in the country's de
fense, and every true man's soul was
offering up a prayer to God to save
us from degradation—they said the
war is a failure, must have peace,
we must submit—ju3t what Jeff. Da
vis desired them to say.
NUMBER 36.
They nominated a Presidential can
didate, and their nomination was ap
plauded from the battlements of the
whole South. When we issued our
greenbacks, they prophesied the ruin
of our financial credit ; they said :
Greenbacks will be very good for
bandbox and trunk makers : and
when we issued our five-twenty and
seven-thirty bonds, instead of breath
ing life into the public credit, th y
said they would be nice to papei
country cottages.
When Andrew Johnson, assuming
to be a patriot, went through the
States, pleading with them to stand
by the Government against traitors
—when he uttered that noble senti
ment, that treason must be made odi
ous, and traitors must be punished,
and their property confiscated, and
the leaders hung, to use his own
rhetorical phrase, "every devil of
them"—then these conservative gen
tlemen denounced him, and made
caricatures of him, slammed State
House doors in his face, and declared
he was an abolitionist, hireling and
renegade.
But true to their original instincts,
as a dog returns to his vomit, so
soon as Andrew Johnson went back
on himself and falsified every noble
principle he ever uttered, and would
hand the country over to those who
sought its life, then this same Demo
cratic party gathered about him as
buzzards gather around the carcass
of a dead ass, seemingly eager to
gorge their foul stomachs upon his
rotten entrails. True to these ante
cedents and their unpatriotic impul
ses they oppose these amendments,
and to a man will vote against them
Mr. Speaker, this subject is so ex
pansive, so prolific in thought and il
lustration,that to exhaust it is impos
sible. I may as well pause right here'
I will observe that I have entire con
fidence in the triumph and perpetuity
of this Government, despite the short
comings of weak men and the bad
purposes of base ones.
I remember reading iu the Good
Book that once on a time there was a
ship tossing on the troubled bosom of
the Sea of Galilee, and driven by the
maddened elements so that all on
board were greatly alarmed, except
one, and lie was Master of the ele
mentary war. Our Government was
born in the bosom of Providence, and
the Ruler of Nations will notadandon
us unless we first forsake Itini. Our
ship of State has rocked and may still
rock upon the billows ; storm has
succeeded storm,and storms yet may
come, but if true to the teachings oi
all past ages,if faithful to our rcspon
sibilities, jealous <>f liberty and ten
der of humanity, the Ruler of the uni
verse will be on board and we shall
com** finally, freighted with the per
fumes of the past,the triumphs ol the
present and the hopes of the future,
to the broad armed port of universal
freedom, established peace and abid
ing power.