Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-02-06

rock, ana there, upon the basis of the ever
lasting principle of equal and exact justice
to all men, we have planted the column o
J reconstruction akd, sir, it will arise slowl,
: but surely, and ''the gates of hell shall ntt
!, prevail against it, Whatever dangers W.
apprehended from the introduction to thu
right of suffrage of seven hundred Thousand
!, men, just emerged from slavery, were put
aside in the presence of a greater danger
Why, cir, let me say frankly TO my friend
from Wisconsin that approached universal
coiored suffrage in the South reluctantly.
Not because | adhered to the miserable
dogma that this is the white mans govern
ment, but because entertained fears about
at once entrusting a large body of men just
from slavery TO whom education had been
denied by law, to whom tie marriage rela-
tlon had been denied, who had been made
the most ahject slaves with political power.
And as the Senator has referred to speech
which made in Indiana in 1866, allow me
to show the principle that then actuated me,
for in that speech said
"ln regard to the question of admitting
the freedmen of the Southern States to vote,
while admit the equal rights of all men
and that in time all men will have the right
10 vote, without distinction of color or race,
yet believe that in the case of four million
of slaves, just freed from bondage, there
should be period of probation and prepar-
alton before they are brought to the exercise
of political power"
Such was my feeling at that time, for it
had not then 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 a great majority of the people of the
/ North ; and 1t was not until year and
half after that time that Congress came to
the conclusion that there was no way left
but to resort to colored suffrage and suffrage
to all men except those who were disquall-
f1ed by the commission of high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Mr. President, we hear much said in the
course OF this debate, and through the press.
about the violation of the Constitution. 1t
is said that in the reconstruction measures
OF Congress we have gone outside of the
Constitution, and the remark of some dis
tinguished statesman of the Republican par
ty is quoted to that effect. Sir, if any lead
ing Republican has ever said so, he spoke
only for himself, not for another | deny
the statement in toto
insist that these reconstruction measures
are as fully within the powers of the Con-
stitution as any legislation that can be had,
not only by reason, but by authority. And
who are the men that are talking so much
about the violation of the Constitution, and
who pretend to be the especial friends of
that instruments The great mass of them,
| only three years ago, were in arms to over
| turn the Constitution and establish that of
Montgomery in its place, or were their
Northern friends, who were aiding and SYM
pathizing in that undertaking.
had occasion the other day to speak of
what was described as a Constitutional
Union mana man living inside of the Fed
eial lines during the war, sympathizing with
the rebellion, and who endeayored to aid
the 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 them aid and com
fort. Sir, you will remember that once
celebrated French woman was being drag
gcd to the scaiiold and as she passed the
statue OF Liberty she exclaimed "How
many crimes have been committed in thy
name?" And can say to the Constitution,
how many crimes against liberty, humanity
and progress are being committed in thy
name by these men who, while they loved
not the Constitution, and sought its destruc-
tion, now, for party purposes, claim to be
Ito topCtidi iiiCiitiSs
My friend from Wisconsin yesterday com
pared what he called the Radical party of
the North to the radicals of the South, and
when he was asked the question by some
Senator, "Who are the Radicals of the
y he said, "they are the Secession
lists. Sir, the Secessionists Of the South
are Democri Is 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
dleton, and would have been glad to have
voted for them and they were Democrats
before the war, and the men who made the
rebellion. These are the Radicals of the
South; and my friend from Wisconsin, after
ALL is voting with the Radicals.
The burden of his speech yesterday was
that the reconstruction measures ofCongress
arc intended to establish negro supremacy.
Sir, this proposition is without any foun-
dation whatever. | believe it was stated
yesterday by the Senator from Illinois (NIr.
TrumbulD that in every State but two the
white voters registered outnunbercd the
colored voters; and the fact that in two
States the colorcd voters outnumbered 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 to establish ne
lisi the supremacy of any class or party of
men. If it had sought to establish negro
supremacy it would have an easy matter by
excluding from the right of suffrage all men
who had been concerned in the rebellion, in
accordance with the proposition of the dis
tinguished Senator from Massachusetts (Alr.
Sumner) in his speech as Worcester, in 1865.
He proposed 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 supremacy by
giving the negroes an overwhelming major
ity in every State; and if that had been the
object of Congress, it would have been
readily done. But, sir, Congress has only
sought to divide the political power between
the loyal and the disioyal. 1t has distran-
chised some fifty thousand disloyal leaders,
leaving all the rest of the people TO vote.
They have been enfranchised on both sides,
that neither should bc placed in the power
Of the other. The rebels have the right to
vote 50 that they shall not be under the con-
troll and power of the Union men only, and
the Union men have been allowed to vote
so that they shall not be under the control
and power of the rebels. This is the policy
Ito divide the political power among those
men for the protection of each Sir, the
charge that we intend to create negro su-
prcmacy or colored State governments is
without the slightest foundation, for it would
have been in tho power OF Congress to have
easily conferred such supremacy by simply
excluding the disloyal from the right of suf-
frage-a power which it had the clear right
to exercise.
Now, Mr.. President, allow me to consider
for a moment the amendment offered by the
Senator from Wisconsin, and upon which
his speech was made, and see what is its
eiicct--I will not say Its purpose, but its in
evitablc eifect-should it become law.
will ask the Secretary to read the amend
ment which the Senator from Wisconsin has
proposed to the Senate
The Secretary read as follows;
"ProUided, nevertheless. That upon an
election for the ratification of any constitu-
tion, or of officers under the same, previous
to its adoption in any State, no person not
having the qualifications of an elector under
| the Constitution and laws of such State pre-
vious to the late rebellion shall be allowed
| to vote, unless he shall possess one of the
following qualifications, namely
81. He shall have served as soldier in
| the Federal army for one year or more
Il . = I.-h l..