Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-04-05
Dam0UAAp AMD s.auzraygyaaa

the nineteenth century and are we enligh-
tened men? Sir, 90 back to subiugated
| Hungary, 10 conquered Poland, and sec
there men, troddcn in the dust, with the
heel of tyranny upon them see there the
sore oppression of the Austrian and the
Russian upon the necks of those men,
who dared to rebel against a government
! that was above and not of them and say
! if you want to repeat in this country the
I scenes that have been there enacted.
! trust that your soberer moments, your
more serious reflection will cause you to
| blush at such language, to shudder at
such doctrines and to remember that ''to
err is human, to forgive divine" Sir,
the Senator had upon his lips at almost
| the same moment the expression, 'beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. -
If, with the ability that l know he pos
sesses, and out of respect for the vocation
that he processes, he had proclaimed the
doctrines of the sermon on the Mount and
of that glorious salution of the angels,
"Peace on earth, good will to men," he
would have been nearer, much nearer the
position that he should occupy. Sir, the
! hour for hate has passed and the hour for
! forgiveness has come they who are states
men should raise TO the heighth of the &C.
| Casicn and however much their yindictive
passions might wish TO wrcak upon these
people just punishment, yet the good of
their country, the good of their race, the
future prosperity of four millions of black
and five millions of whites, depend upon
| the adoption of some other policy.
\ PLASTIC GOVERNMENT.
Sirs, the Senator says that the Govern
ment is plastic--a most convenient word,
pllaic-that it may be formed and
moulded by the hand And, truly, it is
plastic Government-aye a plastic Gov
eminent when now, in obedience TO King
Caucus; at Washington, cabal Of men
rule the nation irrespective of legislative
or executive functions, and take upon
themselves the power of French Dircc-
tory. Well may you say the Govern
ment is plastic. Go back to the times of
1889, and remember that then the French
Government was plastic, too that it was
moulded and manipulated to suit the
ideas of designing men, and used TO op-
press and destroy the people and out of
it came boodshed-fearful, awful, horri-
bic bloodshed. No, sir; as has been
we'll said by the Senator from BerSs, (AIr.
Clymer,) this is no plastic Government.
1t is government Of lava government
of law that you and | swore to support
when we took upon US our duties in this
chamber; and they in Washington have
upon them the same obligation. There is
to be no plastic government in this coun-
try there are rights recognized by the
Constitution that are to be maintained;
the rights of individuals and the rights of
States. Sirs, the secessionists in 1861
undertook, by war and bloOdshed, to
break up this Government. and they fail
ed; four long, fearful years of struggle
saved the Government. But your plastic
Government would now seek to do by un-
constitutional legislation what the seces-
sionists failed to do in four years of war.
Is not this so? Sirs, where nO,U is your
rallying cry? Are you nor for the Tn
ion? Or are you, in obedience to this ca
bal of men at Washington, under the lead
Of Stevens, Immortal from his deeds in
these halls,) moulding your plastic Gov
ernment to sever and divide the Union
Is this 50? or is it not so Are you for
this Government as a whole, or are you
on the other side Of the issue? This is a
question that must be answered some
time and somewhere.
THE COLORED SOLDIER.
The argument that the colored soldier
took his musket and did his mite for the
protection of the Government, has been
used, and is the great shibboleth in his fa-
vOr. The whole number Of soldiers called
for from 1861 to 1865, as found in the
report of the Secretary of War was two
millions seven hundred and fifty-nine
thousand and forty-nine men, (2,759, ,O49 y
and the whole number received was two
million six hundred and fifty-eieht thous-
and five hundred and fifty-three (2,658,-
$3.50 The whole number of coIored
troops enlisted is one hundred and seven
ty-eieht thousand nine hundred and sew
enty-tiye, Q7S, ,975)-not quite 100000.
as the Senator said. The greatest num-
Der of colored troops in service at any
one time was 1913, l56 and that sirs, was
on the 18th of July last, some three
months after the rebellion had been crush
ed. Laughter.
Suppose that these 1913, ,l56 men, about
whom SO much noise is made, (''and who
are said to have fought bravely,") suppose
that those 123, 1856 men were Yankees or
Dutchmen or Irishmen, how much would
they have been missed in the whole two
million, six hundred and fifty-eight thous-
and! There are four millions of these
colored people, and out of these four mil
hons, one hundred and twenty-three thous-
and carried the musket as against two
million and a half Of the white freemen of
this Government, who took up their arms
and did battle bravely in its behalf. /