The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1865-01-26
OTTUMwA, IOWA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1865

!. Brooksl stands a. here in defensa Of thos
who are now in rebellion, so far as to decla
that slavery has not ruled the country. /,
wish, sir, that he had been more conversan
with American history; that be had rea'
less Of newspapers and more Of our politica
theory, Why, sir, it is well known that th
great majority Of the people of this tr,
have been controlled by the institutions o
the South. We propose to break away from
that control, and, to stand forth free and in
Edependent, never more to be bartered AVA,
| by's body of rmen ba'1ded together for an,
political or selfish purposs, much less b,
those in the control Of tyrants. rau5s
Idl fyou look into the facts and figures II
regard to tn is control, you will find mat q,
to the year of the rebellion for two thirds o
the time the Presidency Of the United State.
had been held by Shareholders or southern
men; you win find chat Of the Presidents o.
sbe Senate slavery had sixty.one out Of sew
enty.seven; you will find that of Speakers
Of the House of Representatives. they had
twenty one out ofthirty three youwilI ind
that of Attorney Generals they hadfourteen
out of nineteen and that they have had the
the Secretaryship Of State nearly two thirds
of the eime and since the slavery agitation,
as If to be ready for this conflict of arms, for
four fifths of the time have the Secretary o
Wsf and the Secretary of the Navy been
from the South. Il, ra.re lFar
Look, too, ct the Supreme Court of the
United States and its organization; slavery
has had seventeen out Of :he twenty eight
members. 1t was organized purposely, as
all the world knows, to give five judges 20
the slaveholding States, and four to the free
States, Notwithstanding that the free States
exceeded the slave States almost one third
in population and one half in wealth aud
| IN business for the courts. E ai 7.E7,3
Thus do facts answer that assertion of the
gentleman. And hence it is the business,
the high and holy work Of the American
people henceforth to sunder these shackles,
and no mote to be controlled blythe system
OF slavery which was fast binding US and de-
fenseless to be cast into outer darkness.
Mr.. Speaker, have noticed the agouies of
gentlemen over the tomb of slavery. I do
not forget how. they agonized, even to the
going down Of the sun, against the abolition
of slavery IN this District There were, &C.
cording to them, untold horrors looming up
from that measure; but what has been the
result Of its passages It has raised the val.
ue Of property in this District two hundred
per cent. 1t benefited a race and enacted
justice. Not one Of the horrors which filled
mems imagination have visited US. Then,
again, when the enlistment of negroes was
proposed, we were told that the negroes
would not fight, and that if we tried to make
soldiers of them our white troops would re-
sist it, and the rebels would fight with in.
creased desperation. Neither assertion was
true. So, too, on the discussion Of the con.
fiscatlon law, we were told that If it were
passed rebels would fight to the last ditch,
and our last victory was won. Twenty
thousand people in Savannah and a hundred
aud fifty THOUSAND in New Orleans have
made your prophesy false. They came out
to take food from your hands and welcome
the old flag. You shed INK in great profu.
sion in protest and opened the lachrymal
founts over unborn children; yet the born
children mock at your fears. and you are
gentlemen, in tolerable health to-day, except
IN that sense political in which you seem 10
be on the verge of dissolution. But there is
political health to be found in this grandcst
opportunity OF the century which is given to
make the land Of the Pilgrims and Of WASH
ington free; SO free that another rebellion
will be impossible; to make the nations des-
tiny so glorious that Heaven shall look down
to see. glrsa Hs,es
Mr.. Speaker, an aware that there has
been much coaxing outside and inside Of this
Hal in effort to induce Democrats who have
voted against the Republican party and
against the amendment s, long to come now
and vote fo- the amendment. for one do
not share the solicitude of many on this
point. | am in no coaxing mood If these
gentlemen see no wisdom in giving orders
for shroud, that there may be an eariy and
decent burial of that which is in its death.
throes and ought to have been hastened to
the tomb long ago. we can endure its pu-
trescence till the "ides Of March" at least,
when at called session of Congress-, if a
necessity, jubilant majority will give the
vote which they were elected to east, and
will ally their names with the honored dead
of the centuries. We can pass the consti-
tutional amendment then without coaxing,
thank God. The next Congress was elected
for that purpose. and we shall have an over
shadowing majority which will open new
page in our political history and to, vote for
this constitutional amendment is just the
feast to which those members fresh from the
people were invited. Those who sunder
party ties and vote for cannot fail Of crate
full remembrance, for slavery and Democracy
have been mutual supporters Cor thirty years.
They cling together like the Siamese twins.
And so theirs shall be the folly, theirs shall
be the curse, if they do not resist the sor-
Gerry of party. Let them abide together and
go down to the depths with bubbling groan,'
for, pleasant in their lives, in dea tn they
should pot be divided. .0 "
Mr. Speaker, | need not give my reasons
in full why shall vote for this constitu.5