The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-01
Remarks of Mr. Thomas, of Coffee.

: Remarks of Mr.. Thomas, of Coffee
] Mr. Speaker and Gentle 7 en- Of the House:
have been in time passed one of YOU
|. associates, but am now called before YOU t
answer some questions propounded by tn
; gentleman from Bedford and Rutherford
Mr.. Mulilns). I must say that it is rathe
strange for man to give evidence sgains
. himself, but nevertheless, I will proceed
as there has never been a time in nv If
D but what have been willing for my char
: acter snd standing ss & man 10 be mad,
! public. Therefore / am perfee ly willing
70 answer the questions proPounded by Mr.
Mullins.
Question 1st. Did you not enter into .
compact and caucus with the bolting mem.
bers to break up the State Government
. answer / did not. l say emphaticslly
did not, for / have been at all times fer.
vent advocate Of reorganization, and to sus.
tain the State Government. l have advo.
Gated 1t before my people all the while, and
now advocate II, for assure you that am
an earnest advocate Of law and order.
Question I'd. Did you sign the boilers
manifesto?
Ianswer emphatically that did: and will
state further that did it in good faith, and
Rave never regretted my action in doing so,
for thought It proper and rightto refer
the matter 70 the people vino sent me here
tor there was franchise bill then pending
before this House, which involved the
rights Of the people whom had the honor
! TO represent upon this floor. Sirs, as one Of
the slgners Of the boilers manifesto, as it is
called, Will read paragraph from it.
1t reads as follows: and we dare ap-
peat to you, people Of Tennessee, who with
strong arm and stout heart, in the field and
| by the freside, as exiles, or mourners bv
your desOlate hearth-stones, maintained
| through good as well as through evil re-
port, your loyalty TO the Union, upon the
| issue now made up between the undersign-
ed and the members of the present House
Of Representatives supporters Of thepend
| ing Franchise Bill. Gentlemen, I did ap-
peal to the leyal people Of my district, and
have been almost unanimously sustained.
Gentlemen, you may throw out all the votes
II you see proper, cast by loyal citizens, and
take the discharged Federal soldiers vote,
and then l will have msiorIty of three To
one over both my opponents. Then, sirs,-I
am willing, IN making this offer, for you to
| give to my opponents all the votes they re-
| ceived, whether they be loyal, disloVal. or
| disrespectful, and then the Federal soldiers
| vote will give me a majority Of three to one
| over both my opponerfSs. But then it is
said by some that | am disloyal. Why.
SIR, am willing to compare records with
| any member OF this House. l do not saw
that l have better record than other loysI
men, but l claim it to be second to none.-
| Sirs, have always been loyal TO the Gov.
ernment Of the United States, and always
expect to be.
Mr.. Speaker, upon the subject of my Ioy-
atty to the Union / refer you to the Union
men 8nd Union soldiers hence, you see the
reason l signed the address which was
made to the loyal people of the State of
Tennessee, and they have fully sustained
my course in this House. But, sirs, SUD
pose man who had been a rebel had been
elected in my place, would you have per-.
mltted him to Jake his seat? This is ques-
tion you should decide.
Qusuon Sd. Did you not resign for the
purpose of defeating the VIII of the major-
ity and reducing the House below quor-
rum? " " . 81 -
This question, Mr.. Speaker, is put in
twO-told sense, but, nevertheless, I Will pro
ceed to answer. I did resign to defeat the
Will Of the majority on the Franchise bin
because 1 believed the bill in most Of its
provisions wrong in principle and policy;
and IN the next place the good people whom
had the honor to represent believed the
same thing, and so instructed me and
when l say the good people l do not mean
nauYe citizens altogether, but the dis
charged Federal soldiers from the different
States North gave me the same instructions.
30, Mr.. Speaker, you see, that i'll hHd not
resigned / would have acted in bad faith.
to say the least Of it, to myself and the
people whom l represented. l will now
answer IN reference TO reducing the House
below quorum. did not know my resig-
nation would reduce the House below
quorum, for the record will show that / re-
e1nFund 2 naf an ba I,,FLN
and the other members resigned on the
26thy three days later.
Question 4th-Did you not say while can
vasslng your district that the franchise bill
allowed the negroes to vote?
shall answer this question by saving
emphatcally that / did not; but I did saw
that loyal white man, under the provis-
ions Of the bill, would be subjected to many
hardshiPs in getting his cerJihtate- 10 vote,
provided he differed politically with-the
Commissioner, from the fact that the bill
has no provision to punish the Commits
sloner, who is TO be appointed by the Gov
ernor, for failing to give loyal white men /
certificates A loyal white man might prove
by two other loyal white men that he was
entitled to q certificate to vote; but then all
that would be necessary for the Commits
sioner to refuse the loyal white man a certi-
hcate, you'd be TO call for three negroes to
swear that he was not loyal man, for the
bill provides that all persons who are COM
petent witnesses before or in the courts,
shall be competent witnesses before the
Commissioner. Hence you find the object
of the loyal white man defeated. This is
what said before my people.
Question 5th-Wih you 80 for a measure,
II permitted TO take your seat, to pay the
unnecessary expense the State and counties
were put to by the unnecessary election?
Mr., Speaker, cannot say that / under
stand the purport of this question; but if it
means to have my constituents taxed extra
to pay the expenses of the Stale, while the
Legislature was below quorum, answer
emphatically that l will not. No, sir, never
will 60 for such a measure; for, sir, bet
ter people than WHOM l have had the honor |
to represent is not found anywhere. They |
are law-abidiug and O law-loving ,peo- |
pie, and 1 feel prond to-day that have |
had the honor to represent such 7
constituency. Sirs, that people are To- /
day doing everything IN their powssr q rre I
~ si1ey are as loyal 10 the Government 4
to-day as any people of the State. tbough /
many Of them was at one time counaeted /
with the rebellion; and as a loyal man I
feel from the very depth of NV /
heart that they are entitled to sil /
the rights and privileges, as citizens, that 7
am myself. Mr.. Speaker, is it right for me
20 do wrong, becsuse my people are doing
right? or, in other words,is it right, when
they come forward to sustain the Union, for
me, as loyal man, to say they shall not9
Sir II l should do this could not be loyal
Inysei. SIR, am willing TO extend my !
hano 70 every man who is now loyal, and
say welcome brother.
The gentleman from Bedford and Rutber-
ford MIR. Mullins asks me another oues-
tiOn, and that IS If the people OF nv town. |
-Tullahoma--on or about the 18th or I6th
of February last, had meeting; and if /
did not state 10 that meeting that other
and myssil hSf greed, in caucus.
in the city Of Nasilviile, to red ucc the House
below a quorum 70 prevent the passage of
the franchise billg II vii answer that there
was a meeting Of ths eitizens of my town ,
about the date named, and l said to the ,
meeting We would resign our seats, rather
than see said bill pass, and refer the matter
10 the people for their decision.
Question, by Mr.. Smith Of Hardeman +;
Dld you not pledge yourself, before your
people, that If you were elected to your seat I
lgaiR that you would repeat the same act [
gain 70 reduce the House below q quorum? I
answer that ! did not; but | will tell .
-ou what did say. I said that could not, 4 /:
Tor would not, make any pledge what /
hould do IN future, If | was elected to q seat,
or no one could say what would be presen- t
cd, and therefore It would be nonsense for @
ne 10 make any pledge. I simply ssid to :
hem that had known me long as q loyal 4
nan, that they might judge my future =
curse by my past. .
Question I'd, by the gentleman from Har
eman: Ifvou are allowed to take your seat,