The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-02-20


! met here Henry Clay Dean, Esq,
who was attending to some impor-
tant railroad cases, in the district
court. Mr.. Dean devotes most of his
time to the practice of the law. He
has got in press book which will
soon be out, and which will produce
Il sensation, andI know of no man
i'll the country better competent TO
write a work upon the crime and
wickedness of Lincolns reign of ter
ror than Mr.. Dean.
Governor Morton's Speech.
Delivered in the Senate of the United
States, January Gath, 1868.
This amendment, as l have before
said, was rejected, and when Con-
gress assembled in December, 1866,
they were confronted by the fact that
every proposition of compromise had
been rejected; every halfway meas
ure had been spurned by the rebels
themselves, and they had nothing
left to do but to begin the work Of
reconstruction themselves, and in
February, 1867, Congress for thefirst
time entered upon the execu-
ton of the guarantee provided tor in
tho constitution by the passage of
the first reconstruction law. A sup
Elementary bill was found necessary
in March, another in July, and / be-
lieve another is found necessary at
this time, but the power is with Con-
gress. Whatever it shall deem neces-
sary, whether it be in the way of
colored suffrage, whether it be in the
way of military power-whatever
Congress shall deem necessary in the
execution of this guarantee is conclu-
sive upon the courts, upon every
State, and upon the people ofthis ma
ton.
Sir, when Congress entered upon
this work it had become apparent to
all men that loyal republican State
governments could not be erected
and maintained upon the basis
Of the white population. We had
tried them. Congress had attempted
the work of reconstruction through
the constitutional amendment by leav-
ing the suffrage with the white men,
and by leaving with the white people
Of the South the question as to when
the colored people should exercise the
right Of suffrage, if ever; and when it
was found that those white men were
as rebellious as ever, that they
hated this government, more
bitterly thanever; when it was
found that they prosecuted the loyal
men, both white and black in their
midst; when it was found that North
ern men who had gone down there
were driven out by their tyranny,
by q thousand annoyances, by the in
security eflife and properly, then it
became apparent to all men of intel
ligence that reconstruction could not
take place upon the basis of the white
P opulation, and something else must
be done.
Now, sir, what was left there to
do 8? Either we must hold these peo-
Pie considerably by military power, or
we must use such machinery upun /.
new basis as would enable loyal re.
publican governments to be raised up
and in the last resort, and / will say
Congress waited long, the nation
waited long, experience had to come
to rescue Of reason before the thing
was done-in the last resort and as
the last thing to be done. Congress
determined to dig through oil the
rubbish, dig through the soil and the
shifting sands, and 60 down to the
eternal rock, and there upon the basis
Of the everlasting principle of equal
and exact justice to all men, we have
planted the column Demonstration
and, sir, it will arise slowly, but sure
ly, and "the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it, Whatever dan
gers we apprehend from the introduce
ton of the right of suffrage of seven
hundred thousand men, just emerged
from slavery, We're put aside in the
presence ola greater danger. Why,
sir, let me say frankly to my friend
from Wisconsin, that / approached
universal suffrage in theSouth reluct-
antly. Not because ! adhered to the
miserable dogma that this was white
mans government, but because en-
tertained fears about at once entrust-
ing large body Of men just from sla-
very, to whom education had been
denied by law, to whom the marriage
relation had been denied, who had
been made the basest and most abiect
slaves, with political power. And as
the Senator has referred to speech
which ! made in Indiana, allow me
TO show the principle that then actu-
ated me, for in that speech / said:
SIN regard to the question Of ad.
hitting 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 to
vote without distinction of color OF
race. / yet believe that in the case
of four million of slaves Just freed
from bondage there should bea period
ofprobation and preparation 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 recon,
struct 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 untila year
and half after that time that Con.
gress came to the conclusion that
there was no way left but to resort
to colored suffrage, and suffrage to oil
men except those who were disquali
fed 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
ofthe constitution. It is said that in
the reconstruction measures of Con-
gress we have gone outside Of the
constitution, and the remark of some
distinguished statesman Of the Re.
publican party is quoted to that effect
Sir, if any leading Republican has