The Union flag. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1865-187?, 1868-01-10

1 j
Why, sir, pr!nciRleS Of justice are as
uDchangablc us the Rock of eternal
ages. Men may aud do change az is
witnessed ii the person of Andrdw
Johnson the accidental President and
tho gentleman from Smith, buta prin-
ciple of justice never
Let me say, sir, that if the time ev-
er was when it was right AZ a measure
of justice to cOntistate the property of
rebels il is now, And to show the an
alogy of the principle of justce in the
resolution before us, let me drect at
tentiOn to practice which prevails in
all courts of justice, of which the gem
tleman himself, being of the legal pro-
fessiOn, cannot be ignorant. When an
unjust suit is instituted against an
honest, law.abiding citizen and the
prosecution fails to make out his plea,
IL it not the innocent party acquitted
and the bill of cost accruing colected
OHt of the effects of the prosecutor,
and In many instances damages award
cd /? Or do the courts as the gentle.
man and his rebel friends would have
done in this case, divide the cost of the
suit between the parties In order to
promote peace and friendship between
them and their families, thus making
the innocent man bear a part of the
burdens of malicious and uniuAt law.
suit investigated without causeY
The analogy between the Two cases
| hold to be a good one. The rebels of
the South instituted an unjust war
against the Government by appealing
to the arbitration of the sword in q
civil conflict, bloody and terribly dis,
astrOus. They appealed to the Lord
of Sabbaoth f~r the justness of their
cause, striking at the life blood Of their
own beloved country; and seeking to
destroy our free, republican inslitu-
tiObs in order that they with bloody
hands and treason stained souls, might
erect Coufvderacy the chief corner
stone of which was to be slavery the
" sum of all williams" And in their
wicked attempt ID DO this they COM
PEELED loyal men with the point of the
bayonet piercing their flesh to do their
dirty work, or leaye their families and
seek refuge under The old flag Of the
Union, having to steal their way
through the pathless mountain gOrges
or climbing steep and rugged heights,
wadiny deep and frozen Fivers, with
out food and necessary clothing, sleep.
ing upon the frozen earth with the
driving snow for covering, and guild
ed in their trackless way over rnoun-
tain, valley and stream by the sun;
moon and stars, for hundreds, of miles,
leaving their wives and little chlldreh
to the cruel mercy of men who in a
little time haG changed from peaceable
neighhors, through the crime Of trea-
son, to savage fiends, to be pIuHdered
and robbed and left to staryo TO death,
while they themselves were hunted
down like wild beasts and their bones
left to bleach the mountain heights,
while others pined away in the hells
of Knoxville. Tuskaoosa, Libby priel
On and Andersonvile, or dangging
from the limb of some tree by the way
side, like poor Haun and others, the
rememhranceof which now Chills the
very vitals Of our life.
Mr.. Speaker. / speak of things with
which / am familiar. 1t may not have
cost the gentleman from Smith much
to be u Union man. But it has cost
us something, yes, sir, and there are
gentlemen upon this floor who are
ready to endorse all / have said !
am well acquainted with the customs
and habits of rebels. / have had to
stand where the brave men sometimes
tremble. Yes air; l can revert
back to the day when the forest gal
lows was pointed out to me as the In
strument selected upon which to sliuf-
he off this mortal coil for the simple
reason that | maintained my loyalty
to my government amid the great
apostasy in which the southern chival-
ry went off to ruin and many of them
elsewhere ,'t.
But Mr Speaker: I will returh to
the point l aimed to make. They;
the rebels appealed. The suit went
against them. And in accordance with
the practice ofall courts of law and
equity, my resolution requires that
the cost he taxed upon the proper
parties. This is asked on the prin.
ciples Of Justice, which the gentleman
from Smith admits to have been just
at the termination Of Tie great stiit in
1865 when the sword, the arbitef Of
nations, decided in fatbr Of the loyal
men and against the rebels, and from
which there is no appeal on earth
ln reply TO the gentleman from Car.
roll, who says he never was in favor
cunfseation; and that he dnes not de-
sife that his children should live on
the effects of other mems labor, | have
10 say that neither do | desire that
mine should. But at the same lime |
am not willing that otheIs should
live At my expense. And my resolu.
tion onlv aska that rebela restore TO