Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-08-14
TUEsDAY. AUGUsT ID. Iseo.
BRILLIANT AND sCATHING REVIEW
OF THE RUMP CONGRESS.
SPEECH OF
H o n. S. S. CO Y,
Before the johnson Club, of New York
City, August 9th.

before the johnson Club, Of New Yor
City, August 9th.
Below we give the opening Of
speech Of great power and eloquenc
delivered by Hon. s. S. Cox, formerly
member Of Congress from Ohio, but now
resident of New York city. Want Of spac
forbids the insertion of the entire speech
but from these extracts thereader may judg
Of the castigation administered to Congres
for its misdeeds.
SPEECH OF HON. s. s. cox.
The first session of the Thirty-ninth Con
gress has ended. The best thing it did wa
10 die (Laughter.) Not altogether loyely
in its life, its death was its chief merit Pos
terity will remember with gratitude, tha
spark Of patriotism which led it to-thC
tomb. But it is not altogether dead. Nor
0HRis moriar. Il survives in the memories oi
men and in 5000 pages Of Congressional
Globes ! (Laughter) Upon five volumes
Of immortal type, piled quarto upon quarto,
sits, on a sublime pedestal Of talk, this
American Rumpl (Laughter.) 1t is, there
fore, monumental Let me lay my inmor-
telles on its tomb. NERO had his friend, and
his affection, after death, has an historic fra
GRANGE. | would lay my little forget-me-not
at the shrine Of this congregation Of petty
NEROs. (Laughter.) Ny sadness is very
similar 10 that Of the minister who was re-
quested TO preach the funeral Of a very bad
young man. After giving his characters
tics, he ordered the the body removed, while
the choir sang the hymn:
with raptdre we. delight to see,
This wicked cuss removed"
True, IL was not a symmetric body 1t
was a Rump. 1t was misbegotten and mis-
shapen. But il was all ours. The mother
loves more dearly her mutilated offspring
True, il was not angelic in disposition. IL
had in its nature more temper than reason /;
more wickedness and less love; more gall
and less milk. But the charity condones
for such infrmities in a ricketty organizm.
(Laughter.)
Its composition, motives and acts were
incongruous and extraordinary. Before re-
viewing them, let me tell you what the
Thirty-ninth Congress should have been.
The war had ceased. Its object, the resto-
ration of federal authorieiy, was achieved
The incubus Of secession had been thrown
from the national breast, where it had been
AbAAliAk Abl AOhA 1NaA0 anu NAAN boDA AAANA Va
the land were pouring balm into the half
healed wounds Il was under these peaceful
omens that this Congress met
BY the law Of the 4th Of March, 1862,
il was declared that after the Sd Of March,
1868, "the number Of members Of the House
of Representatives OF the Congress Of the
United States should be 24l" Could this
law, passed since the war, be carried out
after peace came? Why not? II was as
much Of a law as that which gave TO the
Clerk Of the House the right to ignore
States, in making his roll. 1t remained un-
repealed. The 24l members never all took
their seats Only a fraction secured them.
Hence il was called a Rump. To make up
this number of 24l, Virginia was allowed
8; Tennessee, 8; Georgia, Z; North Carolina,
Z; South Carolina, 4; Arkansas, 3; Louisi-
ana. 8, Mississippi, 5; Alabama, 6; Florida,
l; and Texas 4 Here were 50 members
ready to sit in the Federal Legislature.
They we're anxious 10 serve the interests Of
the great peoples 20 be affected by its legis-
lation. Two Senators were ready, or soon
would have been, TO represent each Of these
eleven States.
They we're not excluded for disloyalty
for no inquiry was condescended upon that
point Of qualification. Nevada, California,
Oregon--iar distant and newly made States,
linked 10 us by no historic associations,
only by their shining ores and grand ad
ventures-thcse were represented; but on
the call of the roll ffty-eight members and
twenty-five Senators, from States full of all
revolutionary and fraternal memories, and
anxious TO be inbound again in the same
destiny, were debarred. If these eleven
States were in the Unicn on the 4th Of
a., Tavt,11fy Y,og.oI
the law fixing the number of members
why were they not in on the 4th Of Decem-
Der, 1865, when, sitting under the painted
escutchcons Of the States in our Capitol
halls twcnty-four usurped the rights Of
thirty-fye? (Cheers.) Those gilded and
colored ceilings, each panel Of which franz
ing the emblem Of n State sovereignty, but
all irradiate with the lustre Of a common
central orb glowing through them upon the
hall beneath should have been far more
significant appeal for representation than
even the empty seats Of the fifty eight
members or the vacant chairs Of twenty
two absent Senator's. Why was this? History
will in vain strive TO answer, until she
brings her microscopic ken 10 bear upon
the partisan infuS0rir which have wrigg ed
their hour in this congressional element.
In the analysis of this singular unrepresen-
tative body, where one-thrd Of the States
were not, ] propose first to glance at the
men and then at the measures Of this Con-
gress.
l. As 20 the men; they are classed par
tisans Over two-thirds in each House were
of the Republican party known as Radicals.
With the exception Of three, and perhaps
four. of the Republican members from the
North, there was nearly always concert OF
action and votes among these two-thirds. In
the Senate there @ere CowAN DrNoN, Doc
LITTLE and NoRroN,
who. amid the reign ocerror,
Dared sublmely 20 be true.
They stood undaunted among their vim
dictive brothers, holding up the hands of the
President in his patriotic efforts to entlndlC
love and inspire patriotism. In the HousC
| can recall but one whose vicissitudes o
policy leave me in doubt as TO his classiica,
ton. That doubt, l trust, Is yet 10 be cleared
M. / refer 20 Mr. RAYMOND He has beer
harshly criticized by his own friends but
will not copy their dispraise, as he is my
Congressman. Though elected by the op
posite party. I will do him the justice 70 say
he is half right all the time; for he ha
given some votes in vindication Of patrl
otic President and Democratic policy, al
thourb he voted for the Directory and negr'
suffrage qualified We will discuss him here
after
The party ascenda.t were led in the Sen
ate by men Of the French revolutionary type
like RonEsr1ERRE, the incoruphble, an'
CAMILLE DEsNoULINs, " the Atiomey-Gen
eral Of the lamp post They were full 9
fine theories, which they illustrated u
"bloodv instructions They lacked tn
courage Of MARAr, DANroN, and MRABEAJ
and the purity Of the Girondist chief,
SUMNER. fEssENpEN, and WADE turnis
typss Of the dominant Radical, while SrI
yFNs. boutwell,, BINGUAM, WAsHBURNi
WILSON. DAWES, CoLrAN, and WENrwoRll
furnish samples of the unconscionable, wa
dictive. incongruous, pietistic parliament;
rian. who. without needing the warnings {
history. the sanctions Of law, or the Interest
of Union, pursued their course, for part
success, regardless Of their country's need
Cheers.
But the ruling spirit Of these Jacohin
was THApEUs STEVENS. lie Is a man
iron will. strong convictions, untailing sa
c,sm and vindiCtiye feeling. His tamila
spceches consist in references 20 the abode
of the damned. rs il familiar with the
ruler. He has been likened 20 that primo
IA a 80 Erfgn nf MTTTDl