Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-07-29
TEDNESDAY EVENING. july 90. 1868.

at least OF the ninth section Of the bill,
is TO distribute arms among the Southern
States, to place them under the control
of the Radical Governors Of the Southern
States, TO be used by those Governors
and their instruments for the purpose Of
intimidation in the election and to con-
troll that election in all those States.
Mr.. President, Congress has passed re.
construction laws against the sense OF
the vast majority Of the white people Of
the Southern States. II may be assumed
that nine-tenths Of the whole people Of
the Southern States demur at this Con-
gressional legislation. The constitution
ality Of that legislation has never stood
the ordeal Of the courts. The President
dissents from Congress as to the consti-
tutionality and validity Of that legisla-
ton; and have no doubt that large
majority Of the white people Of the United
States are entirely opposed in their judg.
ment 10 the constitutionality, the expe-
diency, and the soundness of that system
of legislation. But, as that legislation
has been consummated by Congress, Con.
gress ought at least to have the justice,
the grace TO allow to the people of the
Southern States fair and free election
under the system which Congress has or.
ganized and which has been carried out
under Congressional legislation by the
establishment of new governments.
Sir, cannot wink so hard as not to
see, at least to suspect, that the true, |
might say the only object of this meas
urc is TO put into the hands of negroes in
the Southern States arms for the purpose
of intimidating and driving the white
population who, under the reconstruc-
ton laws of Congress, are entitled to
vote, from the polls. You distrust the
very system that you have organized.
The power that you have created under
an arbitrary and unconstitutional legis-
lation you shrink from permitting to 90
fairly into operation under the deformed
governments and measures which you
have adopted.
: We are about TO enter upon canvass
which, ! suppose, will be one of the most
exciting and all-absorbing canvasses that
ever occurred in the United States.
Next fall, after this heated canvass, fol-
lows a Presidential election, the import
ance of which, in the judgment of both
parties, has never been paralleled in the
history of our country. Is there any
reason, are there any public considera-
tons, which require this distribution of
arms to take place just as the canvass is
being entered upon, aud before the cleo
ton takes place? You have your Freed
mems Bureau in full organization and
operation in the Southern States. In
addition to that, you have more than
twenty thousand soldiers distributed
throughout the States. So far as there is
any power necessary to suppress dis
orders, to prevent, if you please, the ris-
ing of rebels, and to arrest them in their
effsrts, if they should make the effort inn
properly, to control and influence those
elections, is there not an ample force and
power in the Freedmen's Bureau and in
the armies that are in those States to
effect those objects? Why, then, at this
stage of this session, without any notice,
without any opportunity on the part OF
Senators opposed to this measure to ex-
anime it carefully, and deliberately to
present it to the Senate, and to present it
to the country-why, at this last hour al
most of the session, spring it upon the
Senate, and urge it SO precipitately
through the forms of legislation Is
there any cause that requires that this
legislation shall now take placer Is
there any sufficient reason for it If so,
let the honorable Chairman of the Com
mittee on Military Affairs present those
reasons to the Senate, and let the Senate
have the benefit of his exposition of his
reasons of State aud State policy that re-
quire that this measure should pass.
Why, sir, can we doubt, can human in
credulity doubt, that if these arms are
placed in the hands of the Governors of
the ten Southern States, they will be dis
tributed into the heavy Democratic Sec
tions of those States and be placed in the
hands of men who will use them for the
purpose of intimidating Democratic
voters from coming to the polls, keeping
them away from the polls, and in that
way controlling and carrying the elec-
tion2 Are not the military commanders
who now hold command in the several
Southern departments, with their forces,
amply sufficient to take care of the
peace of the country, the due enforce
ment of the election laws, or, if you
choose, the interest of the Republican
party in those States If it is coutem-
plated that fair and free election, to be
participated in by the persons who under
the constitution and laws of those States
and the laws of Congress are entitled to
vote shall take place, where is the neces-
sity of distributing these arms among the
ten Southern States Take, for instance,
General Meade, who commands in one
of those departments. Has he not an
ample force to preserve the peace, to
protect the purity of the ballot-box, to
keep off disturbers and persons who
would bring improper influences 70 bear
upon the election? Has he not force
enough and arms enough in his depart
ment, and have not all the other generals
in their respective departments enough
of force and of arms to subserve these
ends? Then where is the necessity for
passing this measure and distributing
these arms2
Mr.. President, il seems to me that the
leading members of the Republican
party in Congress are determined that
there shall be q conflict of arms. If
they have decided positively and abso-
lutely that there shall be a conflict of
arms, they have determined to drive from
the polls enough of legal Democratic
voters to make it perfectly sure that their
party shall prevail in the elections in
those Southern States. / cannot myself
understand what other object there is or
can be in the distribution of these arms,
at this time, in the Southern States.
Why, sir, this throwing all the States
into general bill to make each Of them
Che subject Of distribution Of arms is a
mere guise, a mere mask. II there was