Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-03-26

\ hat body tD exclude Robert Toombs
1 JEFF Davis, If elected, and that no
est oath could be prescribed to them;
Fhile, on the other hand, there were
hose who looked upon those States ss
provinces, to be governed |
nth absolute power,jnst aH England
Ireland, with unhappy results |
o both, that would continue to exist I'M
il England did justice to Ireland.
Applause As that was St Patricks
law, he fell inclined to say . good word
Ior sa0uId ireland, for the good men
The had given to this country. He was
,f the opinion that great many people
came from Ireland who were caught By
he decisive name Of Democracy, and
Who always fought against their own
interests and against their consciences
The Irish people oHght to be the truest
Union men in the country. Fbs SOutt er1
States, in his Judgment, were States OF
this Union in a condition of insnrrec-
ton, and had no right TO choose Repre-.
sentatives to Congress unless they could
To certain specified conditions
a resolution embracing those ideas
PASSED BY an almost unanimous vote 10
Jnfy, 1866, only Messrs Salisbury, Gar
ret Davis and Powell, of Kentucky, vo-
ting against H.. The President Endorsed
this proposition even in his veto mes
SAGE. and also In the unfortunate speech
be made on the 22d of February. The
Senator read ansextraet from President
] ohnson's veto, which set forth that Rep
resentatives in, Congress must be men
who never aided in the rebellion, and
said il the sCopperheads could indorse
that they had harder dose to sw.llow
than they ever had before The only
question was what terms and qualiica-
tons, what tests of loyalty should De ap-
pfeh to them He Mr.. Sherman)
aanted no better test than the oath
which was prescribed twoSor three years
ago. That was the position of Congress
and Andrew Johnson . The point OF d.
vsrgency was that the President insisted
on complying with those tests that each
House shall be the Judge of the qualiti-
cations Of it's own members, while Com
gress insisted that, while it had the con-
stitutional power each for itself to do
so, il inevitably has the power to act
jointly upon this question, and ne
thought in that Congress bad the best OF
the argument. The President had never
said, and 10 bis judgment never would
say, that Vanrepentaut rebels like
Stephens, of Georgia-though be was
The best Of them all-shail come back
and take their places to make laws for
the people Of the United States. .s Ea
The second question was as to the
basis of Representations, which the
speaker discussed at considerable Length.
By the Constitution of the United States
representation was based upon the mum
Der Of inhabitants, and the result of the
abolition of slavery, which heretofore
entitled the Sonfh 90 the REPRESENTATION
Of thres-6fths of the slaves, would be to
give to the Southern States increased
poliGcal power IL this were permitted.
the white men OF Soush Carolina would
have two and one third more political
power than the white men of Connects
cut. Democrats were In favor OF this
because they knew chat the white men
of South Carolina would vote for al the
negroes, which would be 90 much butter
in the charm of the Democratic party.
They were opposed to any change in this
condition ofaaffairs, and wantsd "the
Constitusion as it is" Both the Presi-
dent and Congress cafirm that there
should be change in the basis of rep
reseniation. The President was in favoE
of basing the representation upon the
voters, leaving every State TO say who
should vote. There was class of men
in Congress who we're in favor Of taking
Ethis power from the people; but thai
proposition did not meet with much
favor, as each State was jealous Of til
own powers. In many of the Western
States they did not allow rebels to vote
although they in Connecticut allowed
rebels TO vote The COMMITTEES of Re
reconstruction, when examining this mat
ter, found difficulties presented in th'
rule laid down by the President, tbs
Representatives of the Northern anC
border States claiming that If the Pres
/ dents plan we're adopted their State
would lose power. Finally the commit
tee hit upon plan which they though
would meet with universal acceptanc,
which was that representatives shall b
appointed among the several States &C
Eeording to their respective numbers
Il counting the whole number of person.
| in each State, provided that the electiv,
| franchise shall not be denied o
/ abridged in any State on account Of rae
or color. Every Union man voted fo
this measure, and every Dcmocra
| against 1t, because it took political pow
er away from rebels, which Democrat
- rm ffvno Tho
proposition came tolthe Senate and wa
debated. and because some feared ths
there might be buried in the simpl
words that State might exclude peopl
on account of race or color, it was de
feate d, and the matter was postpone'
till next week. The difference between
the President and Congress on thi
point, was that of twesdlednm- and twee
dIedee. BE. (Mr. Shezmsn] did not be
lieveS that the people Of New Bingham
would have O right to complain if th'
Hladias were counted ont, because thei
descendants in the Western States woult
be sure to vote New England principles
He did not think that the people woult
cry about it very much if the unnatu
rallied foreigner in New York city wer'
excluded from representation. II peo
pie wanted to abuse Andrew johnson
on account of differing with Congress
on this point. they ought rather to differ
with those Union members of Congress
who refused TO help to carry out this plan
There was another point upon which thu
President and Congress differed, and
that was how far the elective fraaehiss
should be extend to the negro popula
ton of the Southern States He 9th
speaker) never could understand VIII.
| ANYBODY should be excluded from thu
elective franchise merely because b
was black. Bot he could understanl
Why people might be excluded on &C
coualc0f condition In bic opinion sh
negroes of the South were mere children
in iatellent, and he thought it would no
by Wise CHOW to compel the Southern
States, 90 q condition Of re-admission
to give the colored people the slectiv
franehise--not because they were black
/ but because it would be time enoug
for them to have it when the
were educated sufficiently to kno'
what was right and what wa
4 wrong If he was compelled I
. IL