The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-06-17


DISTRICT ATTORNEY
The ratio Of repr sentation will be the sams a. tn,
adopted by the Republican State Convention.
JNo II. aKAR, Chm Judicial Committee.
SECESSION THE RULING PRINCIPLE
OF the DEMOCRACY.
HARRIS, the Democratic Representative il
Congress who barely escaped expulsion las
session for his reasonable utterances an,
threats in that body, was one of the selecte,
two appointed by the Democratic members t,
make speech in opposition to the Constitu-
tional amendment. and during the course o
that speech he thus declares the position o
his party on the question involved:
Mr. Harris, of Maryland, addressed tn,
House in opposition. He declared that il
principle he now stood as he had stood aftel
the war was declared as he had stood in the
last Congress, when he received its crown O
censpre; as he had stood in person before
that internal instrument of tyrsnny, q court
martial; and as he stood in principle, SO be
would stand in practice whenever occasion
might require. He declared himself an old
line Democrat, believing in the doctrine oi
secession believing that the several States oi
the Union have the right to separate from it,
cdGu hCtluk IOE ItScu. he QCCl8T0O MS DGllel
that abuses and usurpations had been prac
tced, and threatened to SO great an extent by
their associates and partners in the Govern
nent that the Southern States were justified
In going out, and his further belief that by
the ordinance of secession they did 90 out,
and thereby became to this Union foreign
States These convictions he could not
change, and he did not expect they would
ever be removed. He would most assuredly
proclaim them and stand by them as long as
a single citizen of the Confederate States was
III chains, or subject to penalty for asserting
them. Referring to the base assassination OF
Mr.. Lincoln, he said Marry Surratt was con.
yicted, of course. She was tried by court
martial; her immediate execution was or
dered. She entreated for four days to enable
her to overcome the shock, and the better TO
prepare her soul 20 meet her God. Not an
hour, Numbered forth the voice from the
War Department "On with the gallows .
the coffin and the grave The angels of
heaven shall not rejoice over this repentant
sinner. Agents of mercy sought the ear of
higher authority. and probably more mer-
oiful heart but Preston King was ianitor that
day. and they were excluded. Where is
Preston King? Echo answers, where? She
was thus executed speedily; and, notwith-
standing app saton had been made. in be-
half OF her heart broken daughter for bei
remains, those remains are still in the keep
ing OF the War Department. Pontius Plate
delivered the tcGy {, .a4us 10 Joseph of
Aumathea but worse than Pontius Plate
il here. He continued at some length, and
said that so long as the test oath remained on
the statute books, he would do oil that he
could TO remove 1t, and rescue the noble citi-
zens of the South from the slavery and deg
relation it imposed. He claimed secession
as a ruling principle Of the Democratic party
from 1893 up to the time of the late war;
and in harmony with this rs Southern SEN
timen. very generally, an apt illustration OF
which may be found in the following CONVEX
satlon reported by a letter writer travelling
over that section;
TnoRouGHLY RECONSTRUCTED.
| met a man who was evidently thoroughly
reconstructed, as that term is understood in
Dixie. He was representative man, an ex-
ample of at least four ifths of the population
south of the Tennessee River, SO far ms his
views we're concerned. was settling;for two
days board at the clerk s desk at the hotel,
when the individual to whom refer came up,
and seeing the clerk put mark at iey name
and that was from Nashville, he at once
commenced a conversation with me. He was
one of the better class he had been Major
in the rebel army, and possessed fair edu-
cation.
"You are from Teunessee7,' said he.
s'lhat Is my home"
'Wel, how are you getting along with the
niggers there? Are they going to serve then
as they did in Memphis?'
told him | did not anticipate any trouble
at least not at present.
II Think he went on, "that there will bt
good many Memphis riots as soon as we ge
back into Congress-. Next fall, the Demo
Gratis up there viii be majority, and then w
will get our seats, and this will make two
thirds at least, and then We will have thing
our own way ard ,cc triH see II zee don't ge
onr ntggers back. =
He then went on to eulogize many of thu
leading Democrats of the Vallandig
ham, Voorhees,, the Woods and others
sbut,' he added, "though these leader
couldn't make the Democrats fight for us, il
the late war, they can make them vote for us
at least, and we will outvote the Abolition
lists. 1t won't be long till we have State
Rights President, aud then, if We can't &c
our niggers back in the Union, why, we vii
just 60 out, aud be won't try to coerce us
and by the time his term is out the Yankee
will give up the thought of driving us back
If yalandigham were President, there woul,
be no difficulty about it; he might coax us +
stay, but If we wouldn't, that would be tn
end of the matter.
But" l suggested, II think Vallandig
ham could not be elected
s'That was just what was going to say,
said my louuacious friend. ..He has been to-
bold State rights man. But there are 9th
ers who have been sort of non committal
who might be elected, and Valandgham il
the Cabinet, would be the real President
You know something of the example Of Gen
PIERCE said he.
Iassented.
swell, the tactics Of 1852 can be readl
repeated. Had we adjusted them in 1860
instead of going into war, it would have bee
far better for us.
OTHERS CONCUR.
Iconyersed with many others, of the NOR
intelligent classes, and they all held to nearl
the same opinion. They all acknowledge
that they had lost by the war: and that it wa
for this that they expressed regrets, and nc
for the war itself. Southern independents
was what they we're lsboring for; II Is thei
dream yet but they hoped to achieve it b
diplomacy. and not by force Of arms. Tn
ciivslry have found that the Northern PEG
ple-peaceful. quiet. orderly and intelligent
will light. They believe that suficier
number Of the voting machinery in cities c.
be bought, to give the Democratic party th
majority, and themselves the control Of II
Government and - : result, they can the
ashisvs Southern independence.