Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-02-21


ers necessary TO that end, we must ask the
people to add them. We must give full
force and effect to the provision that mo
citizen shall be deprived of life, liberty,
or property without due process of law"
We must make it as true in fact as it is
in law, that "the citizens of each State
shall be entitled to all the privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several
States" We must make American citi-
zenship the shield that protects every
citizen on every foot of our soil.
What shall be done with the States
charge our duty toward themf l shall
hail with JOY the day when they shall all
again be in their places. Loyalty obedient
and fully represented by loyal men. Are
they now entitled to admission2 Are
they worthy of so great confidence? Tony
mind, Mr.. Speaker, the prinla .facis EVIDENCE
IS against them; the burden of proof rests upon
each of them TO sho1g l0hethsr they are TT again
to enter the Federal sireLe IN full communion
of privileges. We are sitting as a general
court of the nation. They are to appear
at the bar of the Republic and show
cause why they should be brought in. l
say the burden of proof is upon their
shoulders. When Ue kne10 Hen last they
we're AlsrLing the HghtniHgs Of l0ar against us;
they I0ers starting our prisoners of I0aT IN their
Dungeons; they tCers burning our t0l0HS; they
,0sre hating the Union above all things, and
l0srs bound By bloody oaths to destroy Il. Thus
stood the case t0hen Congress adjourned, ten
months ago. They must give US proof, clear
as Holy Writ, that they have washed
their hands and are worthy again to be
trusted. No rumors of change will salts
fly me. No Delphic oracle, telling beau
tiful tales of peace and restoration; no
gentle declarations like those we hear
from the other side of this Chamber,
that the people of the South shave ac-
cepted the results of war;" will suffice
know they have accepted the results of
war-as Buckner accepted them at fort
Donaldson; as Pemberton accepted them
at Vicksburg; as Lee accepted them last
April in Virginia.
hasten to say, Mr.. Speaker, that do
not expect seven million men to change
their hearts-to love what they hated and
hate what they loved-on the issue of
battle. Nor are we set up as a judge over
their beliefs, their loves or their hatreds. |
Our duty is to demand that before we ad
nit them they shall give US sufficient as
surance that, whatever they may think, |
believe or wish, their actions in the fu-
ture shall be such as loyal men can ap-
prove. What have they done to give US
that assurance?
Mr.. Garfield proceeded to cite various
indications of the sentiment of the South |
ern States, referring to the proclamation
of Governor Humphreys, of Mississippi, |
recognizing rs valid the legislation of the
Confederate States and the rebel State
Government of Mississippi, the recent |
law passed by the Virginia legislature
for the enslavement of all ne
gro Yagrants. and to Governor Brown
lows protest against the removal of mil
itary authority from Tennessee, to show
how unfit these States are for restoration
to power. He continued as follows:
In view of these facts we await further
proof.
But, sir, there is duty laid upon Us by
the Constitution. The duty in declared
in these words:
'The United States shall guarantee to
every State in this Union republican
form of government"
What does that mean? Read the
twenty-irst and forty-third numbers of
the Federalist, and you will understand
what the fathers of the Constitution
meant when they put that clause in our
organic law. With wonderful foresight;
amounting almost to prophesy, they ap-
pear to have foreseen just such contin-
yency as has arisen. Madison said that
IN insurrection might arise too powerful
20 be suppressed by the local authorities,
md Congress must have authority to put
t down and to see that no usurping gov
srnment shall be erected on the ruins of
| State.
What is q republican form of govern
nent? When these States were admitted
nto the Union, there was not one of them
n which one-tenth of the citizens were
iisfranchised. | will read a few words
rom one of the ablest men that ever
tood upon this floor, that man so un-
imely dead, so sadly and lately removed
rom among US, whose words were like
laming swords, and who was intellectu-
lily one of the greatest and most gallant :
# men-Henry Winter Davis. He is
lere describing the conditions OF q re- {
publican Government, and after premls- !
ng that at the formation of the Consti- '
ution all the States but three admitted ]
rec colored persons as citizens, he says:
In Virginia there was but one free col
red man to thirty-six of tie population; G
q South Carolina one to seYenty-seVen; I
u Georgia one to one hundred and TWEEN 3
weight" and so on; showing that there G
Tas not more than one-tenth of the adult !
nales in any State disfranchised. And
ow, SAYS he, we are asked to recognize [
S republican such despotism as the fol- c
owing: ..--.. ..---.- .... 4
"In North Carolina 6SI, 900 citizens !
ill ostracize $4,000; in Virginia, 6l9,-
OOcitizens will ostracize 533, 900 citizens; h
1 Alabama, 596, 900 citizens will ostracize 5
SIS. 600 citizens; in Louisiana, 357 900 O
itizens will ostracize $50, 900 citizens; in h
flssissippi, 354, 900 citizens will ostraeize
&c, 900 citizens; in South Carolina, 291 900 i,
Itizens will ortIacize AL 900 citizens" n
We are asked to guarantee all these as e
governments Gentlemen up i,
q the other side of the House ask US to n
It such shameless despotisms as these e
3 represented here as republican States. s.
venture to assert that more monstrous a
roposition was never before made to an "
merican Congress. F Ii
L am therefore in favor of the amend o,
Lent to the Constitution that passed the W
her day to reform the basis of represen- Il
.tion. / could have wished that it had IN
zen more thorough and searching in its k
rms. took it as the best we could OF
IT; but 1 say here, before this House,
at I a0iH nepsr, so Lang as I have any d.
ice IN political affairs, rest satisfied until the
~ is opened be- tchiei these citizens, so soon
then are s1ortky, shall be lifted Hp to the
u riSAts of citizenship. l will not be fac " "
BUS in my action here. If 1 cannot to- 10
" get ali l desire, will try again to- as
orfow, securing all that can be obtain d d
to-day. But so long as I hare any voice h'
vote here, they shall atd IN giving the su6r So
"a to every citisen qualified, By Intelligence, al
exercise Il.
Mr.. Speaker, know of nothing more IT Ir
.ngerous to Republic than to put into u u
very midst four million people strip se
d of every attribute of citizenship, rob 8
4 Of tba riOhE of reDresenta tatiOn but re