Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-02-07

AAAQAN4 Ill EAAa LAQEENHa dig through
The soil and the shifting sands, and 20
down to the eternal rock, and there uT-
on the basis Of the everlasting principle
OF equal and exact Justice 20 an men.
We nave planted the column OF recon-
StEuetion and sir, it win arise slowly
not prevail against it.5' Whatever 6a77-
gers We appreheud from the introduc-
tlon or the right OF suffrage Of seven
nunored thousand men, Just EMERGED
rom sAe very We're put aside in the pre-
seuee OF q greater danger. Whv- air
let me say frankly to NV friend er-~-4
Wisconsin that approached T777ivr~1-~T
colored suffrage in the South reiurfTr,f-
iy. Not because adhered TO the n7ia-
erable dogma that this was tho vvhi4.
mans Government, but because Il en-
tertained fears about at once iutruHtina
a large body Of men Just from slaverw
to whom education had been denied BY
law to whom the marriage relation had
been denied, who had been made the
basest and most abject slaves, with po-
litfcal power. And as the Senator baa
referred to a speech which 4 made In In-
diana in 1865, allow me 10 show the
principle which actuated me, FOR ia that
speech 4 saids
ting the freedmen Of the Southern States
20 vote, while j admit the equal rights
of all men, and that in time all men
viii have the right 70 vote without disc
tinction Of color or race y yet believe that
i'm the case Of four millions OF slaves
inst freed from bondage there should
be a period OF probation and prepare
ton before they are brought TO the exc
ercise Of political power"
Such was my feeling at that time, for
it had not been determined by the
bloody experience of the last two years
that we could not reconstruct upon the
basis of the white population, and such
was the opinion OF q great majority OF
the people OF the North and it was
not until year and a half afber that
time that Congress came 70 the conclu-
sion that there was no way let but 70
resort to c0lored suffrage and suffrage
to all men except those who were dis
qualified by the commission Of high
crimes and miEdemeanors.
Mr.. President, we hear much said in
the course Of this debate, and through
the press, about the violation OF tha
Constitution. It Is said that in
the reconstruction measures Of Cona
gress we haVc gone outside Of the
Constitution, and the remark Of some
distinguished statesman Of the Repub-
licRn party is quoted 70 that effect. Sir,
if any leading Republican has ever
said so he spoke only for himself, not
for another, deny the statement 10
toto. i insists that these reconHtructfon
measures are as fully within the pow
ers of the Constitution az any legisla-
son but by authority. And who are
the men that are talking 50 much about
the violation Of the COnstitution, and
who pretend to be the especial friends
of that Instrument? The great maasof
them, only three years ago, were in
arms to Oyerturn the Constitution and
establish that of Montgomery ia it's
place, or were their Northern friends,
VINO were aiding and sympathizinR in
that undertaking.
i had occasion the other day 10 speak
of what was described as a constitution
al Union mana man living inside Of
the Federal lines Eympathizing with the
rebellion, and who endeaVOred 20 aid tha
rebellion by insisting that every war
measure for the purpose Of suppressing
it was violation Of the Constitution Of
the United States. Now these men who
claim to be the especial friends Of the
Constitution are the men who have
sought TO destroy it by force Of arms
and those throughout the country who
have given the aid and comfort Sir,
you will reneun Der that once q Oelebra~
ted FrenchWoman was being dragged
to the scafold, and as she passed the
statute of liberty she exclaimed HHoW
many crimes have been committed in
thy name :" and / can say to the Con-
stitution, how many crimes against
liberty, humanity, and progress are be-
ing committed in thy name by these
and sought its destruction,
now, for party purposes claim 70 be its
friends.
D00LErrrlt7 soPHIsTRIEs.
Ny friend irold cousin yesterday
compared what he called the Radical
party on the North I'd the Radicals OF
the South and when he was asked the
question by some Senator, 4'WhO are the
radicals Of the South" he said, "thsy
are the BecesstouiEtB. Sir, the aecea-
sionists Of the South are Democrats to-
day, acting in harmony and concert
with the Democratic party. They were
Democrats during the war who prayed
for the success Of Mcclellan and Pen.
dletOu, and who would have been glad
TO vote for them. They were Democrats
during the war, men who sympathiBed
with the rebellion, who aided in bring
ing il on. These are the radicals Of the
South, and my friend from Wisconsin,
after all, is acting with that radical
party.
The burden Of his speech yesterday
was that the reconstruction measures Of
Congress are intended to establish me-
gro supremacy. Sir, this proposition ia
without any foundation whatever.
believe it was stated yesterday by the
Senator from Illinois Mr.. Trumb bully
that in every State but two the white
voters registered ont numbered the
States the cOlored voters outnumber
The white voters Is owing to the simple
accident that there are more Colored
men in those States than there are
white men. Congress has not sought
10 esta ablish negro supremacy, nor has
It sought to establish the supremacy Of
any class or party Of men. IF 10 had
sought to establish negro supremacy, it
would have been an easy matter, by exc
sluding from the right OF suffrage all
men who had been concerned in the re-
0eIlton, in accordance with the propo
lition Of the distinguished Senator from
< Mr.. Sumner), in his
speech at Worcester, In 1865. he pro-
posed to exclude all men who had been
concerned in the rebellion, and confer
suffrage only on those who were left.
That would have established negro sue
premacy by giving the negroeB an over
majority in every State and
If that had been the object Of Congress,
lt could have been readily done. But,
sir, Congress only sought to divide the
political power between the loyal and
The dislOyal leaders, leaving all the rest
Of the people TO vote. They have been
on both sides, that neither
should be placed in the power Of the
other. The rebels have the right TO
vote so that they shall not be under
lhe control and power of the Union men
2nly; and the Union men have been
allowed to vote 50 that they shall not
be under the control and power Of the
rebels.
This is the policy, to divide the polit-
cal power among those men for the
protection of each. Sir, the charge that
We intend to create q negro supremacy
lr CoIored State Governments is With
1ut the slightest foundation, for &c
would have been In the power Of Con-
gress to have easily conferred such SUI
lremacy by simply excluding the dis
oval from the right of suffrage pow
n which It had the clear right to eIer-
Use.
Now, Mr.. President, allow me TO con-
ider for q moment the amendment Of
cred by the Senator from Wisconsin,
md upon which hiE speech was made,
md see what is it's effecs-I will not
ay its purpose, but it's inevitable effect
-sh0uld it become a law I win Rak
which the Senator from Wisconsin has
,rnrhnsan 70 tho -GarlnIn