The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-03-27

tainted Win III oppOslt'OH W
candidate thoroughly established an opponent to
the Government in past time.
That, sir, is the language Of the South.
'Let US do what we cannot help doing, IN
order that we may gain by diplomacy and
votes in Congress what we did not gain by
our fighting"
Not single man in South Carolina and
not man in the South whose feelings and
prejudices are in favor of the Union are per-
mitted to go into those conventions. That Is
the kind of loyalty that's manifested through
out the South, and the representatives ofthat
section, whose hands are yet dripping with
the blood of our brothers and who are unre-
pentant of their crimes, are asking to get
into Congress, and these gentlemen on the
other side are so kind hearted that they are
begging and using all the means in their
power to enable these unrepentant rebels,
covered from head to foot with the best blood
of the North, to get into power. That is the
fact with regard to these rebels in the South.
For all their crimes and murders, the massa-
ere at Fort Pillow, the starvation of our Pris-
oners, the poisoning and numbering of our
brothers by wholesale-for all these crimes
not word of repentance has yet como up
from there-not a single word. Sir, l am
unwilling to sit in council with such men /
National Legislature shall sit in council with
these murderers of my neighborS and friends ;
and | invoke the loyal people of this country,
by the memory of the fate of those heroes, by
the memory Of the butchery at Fort Pillow,
the starvation of our prisoners and their tor
ture by slow process and by every means to
which those men could resort-by tha mem
ory of all these things, | invoke the people
and invoke this Legislature to adopt the
memorable words of our patriotic President,
Andrew Johnson when he said that "treason
is crime to be punished :" from which the
logical conclusion is that unrepentant traitors
are criminals deserving of halter and the
gallows, rather than seats of power and trust
BY the way, sir, these gentlemen talk q great
deal IN idle platitudes about supporting An
drew Johnson ; but they have never yet put
themselves on record in favor of any one of
his measures. | test them upon that one,
that he has time and again repeated and
avowed, that treason is a crime to be pun
ished. Has any one of their speakers in this
House or in the Senate chamber, where a de-
bate has been going on for three or four days,
has a single one of those speakers stood upon
the platform OF Andrew Johnson? Not one
of them and there is not a newspaper in the
loyal States representing their party that puts
them on that platform-not one of them
They dare not say that treason is crime to
be punished or that single traitor ought to
be hung. And | say they have not put them
selves on record in favor of single measure
of Andrew Johnson's. l test them upon
this great principle, that treason against the
United States is crime that must be pun
ished, and challenge them to show where a
single Democratic convention has endorsed
that principle. Take another question of
equal importance. Take the great measure
of the administration of President Lincoln,
which has been adopted by President Andrew
Johnson-the Constitutional amendment 10
abolish slavery throughout the United States.
That was measure of Andrew Johnson's.
What is your record upon that question ?
Against it-every man of you-aganst it
everywhere, at all times, and until it has been
made the law fthe land. And so upon every
other measure Of Andrew Johnsons. You
talk about sustaining Andrew Johnson; but
when it comes to endorsing his measures, we
find that you never sustained one Of them
not single one. 1t is then. to say the least,
rather cool for them to come in and talk about
supporting Andrew johnson and being his
friends Come up, gentlemen, if you propose
to be his friends, and step upon his platform :;
late. endorse his doctrine that treason against
the United States is a crime to be punished.
During tha war-all through the war and up
to this time-a period of FIVE years, not a man
of you has ever spoken of secessionists as
TRAITORS or as criminals; you talk about Sc
cession as being very odious. That is true
enough. But the gentleman from Montgom j..
cry allowed it to leak out why they were op-
posed to secessio~. 1t was because thereby
a larger part of the Democratic party seeded
away from them. And that is the only cause
for regret Jhst they have ever expressed not
that the South seeded from the Government
of the United States, but that they seeded
from the Democratic party. And, sir, it was
well said in the Senate of the United States
that every gun fred against the soldiers of
the Union was fred by a Democrat. From
the commencement Of this war to its close,
every gun fred against the Union was fred
by a Democrat. Sir, the gentlemen have in
vited this discussion. | did not propose to
name their party or to refer to it but they
invited it when they challenged this investi-
cation. and they should have the full benefit
of II at all times. here and elsewhere. In the
first place. they ought to weep IN Sackcloth
and ashes over their errors, acknowledge
their faults like honest men, and then come
in and as patriots sustain the Government !;
but so long as their misdeedS in the North and
in the South are unrepented of, they should
be dumb.
1t is alleged that President Johnson IS sat-
isfied with the "honest loyalty" of these rebels
down South | take it that that is not ac-
cording to the record. How comes it that
he holds every one of these rebel States under
the bayoEets ofthe army the United States ?
How comos it that he is compelled { o use the
bayonet down there in order to maintain
civil law? 1t is true that in pursuance ofhis
instructions provisional Governors have been
appointed to govern those States; but yon
know, sir and every man knows perfectly
well that if these bayonets were withdrawn
there is not a Southern State that would not
on the instant present an entirely different
state of things from that which is now pre-
sented. And, sir, the very fact that he still
holds those States under the control of mar