The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1868-02-27

if ever he venerated mother or loved
sister or wife, his heart and hand will be
for the pale-faced woman and child of his
own race. Whatever may have been the
sympathies of the north for the negro in
the claim made on his behalf for civil
rights, just and generous men will turn
with horror from the congressional policy
that places the white race under the pow
er and government of the negroes, and
seeks to establish ten negro states in the
union"
Frequent reference in the course of
this debate have been made to supposed
outrages and cruelties upon union men in
the southern states. On that point beg
to refer to report No. %, of the thirty
ninth congress, in the house of representa-
tives. In the minority report the follow
ing statement of the evidence is made:
1t is true that they Generals Thom-
as, Sickles, Wood, and Baird mention, in
general terms, that union men, federal SOL
diers, and freedmen were not safe in their
departments, but when asked to specify the
number of cases, and the localities where
they have occurred, and the names of the
parties injured within the last twelve
months, they could only mention one case
in the state of Tennessee, at Nashville |;
one in the state of Mississippi, at Granada
one in the state Of Louisiana, on the road
between Alexandria and Monroe; and not
a single case in the state of Virginia, ex-
cept the Watson case, and no case in North
Carolina. Georgia, Florida, or Alabama.
Gen. Thomas proves that the accused
in the case at Nashville was promptly ar
rested and held for trial.
"Gen. Wood states that in the case of
the murder at Granada, the civil author
tiles did exert themselves to have the mur-
derer arrested, and that it was not their
fault that he was not arrested
"Gen. Baird says, in regard to the mur-
der of the officer of the freedmen's bureau.
on the road between Alexandria and
Monroe, that we never succeeded in find
ing out the parties who did it.
Gen. Scho6eld testifes: 6" I have not
seen any disposition manifested to inter-
fere with soldiers of the United tates, so
far as committing assaults on them, and l
know Of no instance in which there has
been anything like an unprovoked attack
upon them and as to the freedmen, he
says: When negroes are arrested under
any criminal accusation, think they are
dealt with rather leniently than severely
| do not think there is disposition to per-
secute them, or to be unnecessarily harsh
to them. In fact, the general feeling Of
the respectable people of Virginia is that
of pity toward the freedmen They all
testify in the most explicit manner, that
they have no fault to find with the COVER
nors of the respecSge states, OF The ligh
officials, or the JUICES of the superior
courts, or the intelligent aud well-informed
citizens; that they have always manifested
an earnest desire to assist them whenever
called upon to do So
Now, sir, when I have noticed a very
few points made by my colleague upon mat
tcrs not exactly connected with the issue
before the senate, I shall have closed what
/ fels it to be my duty to say to the SEN
ate. He says that gentleman spoke but
for himself when he said your rccOnstruc-
ton measures were outside Of the consti-
tuition. l suppose my colleague refers to
Mr.. Stevens, of the house.
Here is what Mr.. Stevens said upon
that subject. l read from his letter Of
the Goth of August, 1867:
"Some of the members Of the senate
some of the majority, of course, he refers
to-''seemed to doubt their power under
the constitution which they had just re-
pudiated, and wholly outside Of which all
agreed that we were acting, else our whole
work of reconstruction was usurpation"
He does not speak for himself alone !;
he says all agreed. l wonder where you
did agree to it. / know there were fire.
quent caucuses, aud Of course 1 cannot
state what was agreed upon. But he says
that all agreed that this policy of yours
and these laws of yours are outside of the
constitution, and if not they are acts of
nsurpaton. My colleague very summari.
ly disposes of him. Why, sir, who is Mr.
Stevens? He is no obscure man. He
was the chairman, as | understand, of the
committee on reconstruction; and is the
very author of your bills From his
brain they sprung; from his brain they
received their support in the house of rep
resentatives. 1 Lelieve he is still the
chairman in the house of representatives
of the committee on reconstruction. He
is authorized to speak much more than
my colleague, who was not, when the first
bill was passed, member of this body.
Then Mr.. Stevens being chairman of the
committee, and being conversant with
your councils and secrets, says all agreed
that this policy was outside of the consti-
tuition; aud if it was outside it was clear
case of usurpateon.
Now, Mr.. president, I will not prose-
cute this matter further. There can be q
special caucus held to settle this particular
question. 1t is fight between Mr.. Ste
vens and his brethren. If he has placed
any of them in the wrong in the church
they call him to account. 1t is none of
my business. He says it is outside of the
constitution He is a bold man. | be-
lieve that he is right; and 1 invoke his
great power as q leader in the house in
support of my statement now made, that
l regard this entire legislation as outside
of the constitution of the United States
But, sir, my colleague remarked that
the arch traitor of the southern rebellion
was at large, and not hung. Why so? If
you have power to send military commits
sions down into the southern states and
hang men, why have you not hung JEFF.
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