The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-02-19
REMARKS OF MESSRS. KELLEY
AND MAYNARD.
House OF REPRESENTATIVES, Feb. 10, 1867

HOUSE OFF Il CO. 10, 1COS
The House then proceeded to the con-
sderation of the bill reported by Mr. Stevens,
from the Committee on Reconstruction, to
establish military governments in the South.
Mr.. Kelley addressed the House in advo-
cacy of the bill, AID expressed the hope that
it would be passed without amendment. 1t
might not meet the views of all the members
of the majority, but no bill could be framed
that would do so. He regarded the bill as
mere police bill. The necessity for it arose
from the perfdy of the President of the
United States. Had he been true to the
duties of his high Office and his own reiterated
pledges there would have been no necessity
for the law. 1t but required the General of
the army to execute the dying purposes of
Abraham Lincoln, and the early Presidential
purposes of Andrew Johnson-that was, to
administer, under the military power of the
Government, such laws as would give Sc
curity to persons and life and property in
territory the civil government of which had
been overthrow. 1t did but what Scott did
in Mexico, and what Butler and Banks did
in Louisiana-protect life and property and
maintain peace, and await the action Of that
Government and of that branch of the Gov
ernment which had the right to frame code
of laws That this bill did. 1t wiped out
of existence the result of Executive usurpa-
ton by overthrowing the governments es-
tablished by the exercise of a greater power
on the part of the Commander-in-C Chief than
any that was proposed by this bill.
Referring to Mr.. Banks definition of the
condition of the Southern States, that it was
neither peace nor war but state of siege, he
expressed his wonder whether the people who
was shut up IN Leyden and Utrecht supposed
that in those sieges there was no war ; or
whether the women and children crOuching
in the caves in Vicksburg, when Grant be-
sieged that stronghold, had any doubt that
there was state of war existing bespoke
of the murder of Union citizens in the South,
and said that their murderers, when arrested
and convicted, had been. through the machi-
nations of Andrew johnson, the present
leader of the rebellion, turned loose and re-
ceived welcome from their fellow citizens
with an audible q" Well DONE good and faith
full servants" If this be peace, then in Gods
name, let the Union men of the South be
armed for war The atrocities of Fort Pill
low were Overshadowed by those of New
Orleans, and the outrages committed by the
English army at the storming of Badajoz
were exceeded by those of what had been
mildly called the Mempis riots.
He sent to the Clerks desk and had read
letters and newspaper extracts illustrating
the condition of things in the South. If
Congress. he said. had no right to redress
such wrongs, the bill should fail. But why
not Because, they were told, Congress had
no right to interfere with States, and these
were States. He was not surprised to hear
such dogmas from the Democratic side afthe
House But when he heard them proclaimed
by a son of Massachusetts, Mr.. Banks then
1,of 11,l, J.,
them. He claimed that there were no States
in the South There was territory, but there
were no States; and if Congress would pro-
tect Union men therein, Congress should pass
this military bill. He claimed that this had
been the view of Abraham Lincoln, who re-
called the order issued by General Weitzel
for the assembling of the Virginia Legisla-
ture rs soon as he learned that the members
were to meet as legislators, not as private
citizens and it had been the view of Andrew
Johnson, expressed to General CAN'T of Ar
kansas, Immediately after Wilkes Booth had
invested him with the Presidential office.
In conclusion he appealed to the House to
pass the bill, not as a matter of reconstruc-
ton, but as a necessary adjunct to the bill
passed by the House to-day. 1t was re1uir-
ed of the manhood of this Congress to save
Congress from the scorn and Kissing of
Union men of the South In Gods name,
then, said he, men of the Thirty Ninth Con
gress, do not weave ignominiously your
names with that of Andrew johnson in be-
traying the Union men of the South and
surrcndering one third of the country to the
rebels whom your arms conquered.
Mr.. Maynard spoke in support of the bill
Congress, he said, had either to move for
ward or to be thrust irrevocably backward
Throughout the unreconstructed States the
spirit of rebellion was as strong o-day as
it had been since the day when the first gun
flashed against Fort Sumter. Nowhere in
the South was loyalty the dominant or even
a tolerated sentiment. The peace which was
in the country now was the peace of Fesu
vius at rest-the peace of slumbering volca-
noes-the cessation of war rather than peace.
The rebellion, he said, had cost one Presi-
dent his life, and had cost another President
something dcarer than his life-his reputa-
ton. This he said not in reproach. He did
not believe that Mr.. johnson had contempla-
ted the results that had been reached. He
did not believe that the statesmen whom
Mr. johnson had selected as his agents, in
some instances at least-Governor Holden,
of North Carolinaa, Governor johnson, of
Georgia, Governor Hamilton of Texas
would ever have consented to be used as in
struments or means of restoring the rebel ell
ement to power In their several States
They did not intend it, but it had been acss
complished against their wishes and their
purposes. He would not use particle of
the national power except what was necessa
sary to protect the national life and inter-
ests He would not do anything for ven
geance. His motto would be charity for all,
but not such charity as would ruin the peo-
pie He knew that military government
was not a desirable government, but, bad as
it was, it was for the Union men of the
South, better than rebel government.
He did not understand the measure to be
permanent in its character, but temporary
measure to preserve the peace of the coun-
try and to protect the rights of its inhabi-
tants until civil governments were establish
eel there. 1t was not matter of details that
was in question; it was whether the govern
ment in all its parts should be adm Mustered
by the loyal men of the country or by the
rebels. That was difficulty which admit
ted OF no possible adjustment One side. or
the other must go down There was no mid
die course--no halfway house. It was not
only the duty of the loyal men to maint ain
control of the government, but it was their
right, flowing out of the nature of the C. on
Aiof. fhar ~ l. II, .ol>O