The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1866-01-25
Speech of Hon J B Grinnell of the
9TH District, Iowa, on Negro Euf-
frage in the District of Columbia,
Delivered in the House Of Represen.
tatives. January, 18th. 1885. a,

II sAtAVcc, SuAUoAy, AHIAy AOOO. @
MIR. Speaker, I happened to have knowl
edge of the gentleman's own district il
the city Of Eew York, and can hardl,
forbear saying, as he has draw the com
parison, that hundreds of times there
while resident of city, have been, will
a brogue, asked for aims; while in thi.
District, during my years of residence her,
1 was never accosted by a negro who pre-
sented himself as u beggar and can bu
say that the gentleman's statement is
libel upon race which hns established it.
manhood BY fighting our battles. n
Mr.. Speaker, ii was i'm fable that mar
pointed a lion to the picture which rep
resented the king of the forest PROSTATE
with mans foot on his neck, and asked
what he thought of that. The reply was
Lions have no ,painters.' For days the
unblusing apostles of sham Democracy
have i'm this House drawn pictures of the
ignorance and degradation ofthe people OF
color i'm the District Of Columbia. Had
the subjects OF their wanton defamation
have been different coloring TO the pic
ture. and I would gladly leave their de-
/ fense to the Representatives of classes who
have by hundreds darkened these galleries
with their sable countenances, waiting for
days to hear the decisive vote which an
nounces that their freedom is not mock
cry.
Who are they to whom this bill propos-
es to give suffrage? They are twenty
thousand people. owning twenty-one
churches, maintaining thirty-three day
schools, and paving taxes on more than
one and a quarter million dollars worth of
real property. Thirty per cent. of their
number were slaves hut the census does
not show that there is "A Democratic con-
gressional district in the Union where a
larger proportion of it, population are
! found attendant at the churches or i'm the
schools.
| They did not follow the example Of their
pale-faced neighbors, to the number of
thousands crossing the line to join i'm the
rebellion; but three thousand and more Of
their number went into tH6 Union Army,
nearly one thousand Of whom, as soldiers,
fell by disease and battle i'm the room If
those who wept on northern soil fof rebel
defeats, and now decry the manhood and
withhold Just rights from our true nation
al defenders. This country, with the best
Government on earth, which should be
the ireest from partiality. stands alone by
an undemocratic and unjust discrimina-
ton based on color. The days of national
Democracy beng numbered. the outhern
half having gone off rs tSititors, it is left
| for the remnant to establish the new der
which will be known as the Cuticle DEM
Ocr,rH, ana The latest and neshcst cllampi-
on Oft faith here is the gentlcmTn from
Pennsylvania, Mr.. Boyer,l who SAYS
that AZ a race they did far more to SIS
tain the rebellion than to suppress IT,"
pronounce il ~ libel. What is the basis If
his assertion? /? On what battle field was
the colored man found confronting tie
Union Army? In what report of a rebel
/ military general does he find mention of
his prowcss? Did they dare arm their
slaves? No. II WAS too well known that
Il ey would come to our ranks i'm reyi-
ments: and il was the complaint of one of
their generals fhW thousands of their
into the interior, as II contact with our
soldiers was utterly destructive of their
cause. If they raised food, it was under
the lash, or to satisfy hunger.
IN the South they were our friends. In
the language of an official dispatch of Seq
retary Seward To Minister Adams. "Ev-
erywhere the American general receiv. s
N Al
from The negro. who halls his coming AS
the harbinger of freedom" Not one. but
many, of onr generals have proclaimed
that the negro has gained bv the bavonet
the ballot. Admiral Du Pont made men
tion of the negro pilot. Small who brought
out the steamer Planter, mounting a rfled
and siege gun, from Charleston as a prize
to t,s under the Very guns of the enemy.
He brought us the first trophy from Fort
Sumter, and information more valuable
than the prize.
The celebrated charge of the negro brig
ale at the conflict ut Port Hudson has
passed into history, and the testimony of
Major General Banks is the most emphatic
commentator. could read numerous
military dispatches of the same import.
hold in my hand the speech of one
Thomas lloyd, president of the board of
aldermen ofthis city, and since he has
favored me with this copy, will give it a
passing notice. 1t is a prefaced by a rpso-
luton that 1.-The secretary he authorized to
have five hundred copies printed for the
use of the board. the expense thereof to he
paid ont of the contingent fund of the
board.r
This speech is a Wpfsir anes untrue rep
resentation of the condition of the people
of color. such as could not be made Gy n
slave-owner, and but for the official posi-
tion of the author should regard it as The
illumination of = "Snob." 1t must be paid
for in part by those who are held mp to de-
rision and are taxed against their will
What can be more infamous than this res
olution asking the unrepresented to pay
for the weapons used for their oppession?
1t is only equaled BY tire decision of
Judge Lynch, that the culprit shall fur
nish rope and gallows fees in advance of
the execution; and hardly surpassed by
that feature in the Jewish crucifixion,
where the martyred Son of God was COM
PEELED to bear up the mount unto fainting
the cross to which he was nailed. The
speech asserts "that the people of color
have been granted every right and privil-
ege with reference to the enjoyment of
property and the carrying on of business"
Protection! This is n city of hack men of
both colors, rs il is of distances but can
You at the most profitable hours for buss~