Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-02-06

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answering the purpose ofcivil gov,
ernments; and not only that, but
they returned the colored people
to a condition of quasi slavery;
they made them the slaves of socie-
ty instead of being, as they were
before, the slaves of individuals
Under various forms of vagrant
laws they deprived them Of the
rights of freemen, and placed them
under the power and control of
their rebel masters, who were filed
with hatred and revenge.
Sir, when Congress entered upon
this work it had become apparent to
all men that loyal republican State
governments could not be erected
and maintined upon the basis of
the white population. We had tried
them. Congress had attempted the
work of reconstruction through the
constitutional amendment by leay-
ing the suffrage with the white men,
and by leaving with the white peo-
pie of the South the question as to
when the colored people should eX-
ercise the right of suffrage, if ever;
but when it was found that those
white men were as rebellious as ev.
er, that they hated this government
more bitterly than ever; when it
was found that they prosecuted the
loyal men, both white and black, in
their midst when it was found
that Northern men who had gone
down there were driven out by So
cial tyranny, by a thousand annoy
ances, by the insecurity of life and
property-then it became apparent
to all men Of intelligence that re-
construction could not take place
upon the basis of the white popula-
ton, and something else must be
done.
Now, sir, what was there left to
do? Either we must hold these
people continually by military pow
er, or we must use such machinery
upon new basis as would enable
loyal republican State governments
to be raised up; and in the last re-
sort, and will say Congress wait
ed long, the nation waited long,
experience had to come to the res
cue of reason before the thing was
done-in the last resort, and as the
last thing to be done, Congress de-
termined to dig through all the
rubbish-dig through the soil and
the shifting sands, and go down to
the eternal rock, and there, upon
the basis Of the everlasting princi-
pie ofequal and exact justice to all
men, we have planted the column
Of reconstruction; and, sir, 1t will
arise slowly but surely, and "the
gates of hell shall not prevail
against it," Whatever dangers we
apprehended from the introduction
to the right of suffrage of seven
hundred thousand men, just emerg-
ed from slavery, were put aside in
the presence of a greater danger.
Mr.. President, the column of re-
construction, as | before remarked,
has risen slowly. 1t has not been
hewn from a single stone. 1t is
composed of many blocks, painful
ly laid up and put together, and ce-
mented by the tears and blood of
the nation. Sir, we have done no.
thing arbitrarily. We have done
nothing for punishment-aye, too
little for punishment. Justice has
not had her demand. Not man
Las yet been executed for this great
treason. The arch fiend himself is
now at liberty upon bail. No man
is to be punished; and now, while
punishment has gone by, as we all
know, we are insisting only upon
security for the future. We are
simply asking that the evil spirits
who brought this war upon us shall
not again come into power during
this generation, again to bring upon
us rebellion and calamity, We are
simply asking for those securities
that we deem necessary for our
peace and the peace of our poster
ity,
Sir, there is one great difference
between this Union party and the
so called Democratic party. Our
principles are those of humanity;
they are those Of justice; they are I
those Of equal rights; they are 6
principles that appeal to the hearts /
and the consciences of men; while
on the other side we hear appeals to
the rejudice of race against race,
The white man is overwhelmingly
in the majority in this country, and
that majority is yearly increased by
half million Of white men from
abroad, and that majority gaining
in proportion from year to year
until the colored man will finally be
but handful in this country; and
yet we hear the prejudices of the
white race appealed to to crush out
this other race, and prevent this
from rising to supremacy and pow
er Sir, there is nothing noble, 7
there is nothing generous, there is S
nothing lovely, in that policy or 1
appeal. /
How does that principle compare !
with ours? We are standing upon
the broad platform of the Declara-
tiOn of indpnnndpnpn that 1all mon