Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-30
NEW SERIES, NO. 2os
EXPOSURE OF OuTRAGEs.



/, lTet-E Representatives.
. The debates in the House O
Representatives in the last hour
of the first session. of the forty
first Congress, have only recently
been published in the Conqressio,s-
al Globe, in which we find tell
ing little speech from the Hon.
James Brooks, of New York. The
occasion was this A majority Of
the House, by party votes only,
had brought into the House Rad
ical whit member from Louisiana,
(after excluding before the negro,
by ''the name Of Mensrd,p who had
exactly the same case, and had
afterward forced in Radical from
South Carolina, three thousand in
the minority, over the Democratic
member who had the certificate, but
who could not take the test oath
Then came up the Philadelphia
case Of Moffet, (Dem.,) elected by
about one hundred and fifty major
ity,. and Myers, Rad, } when Mr..
Brooks, in something of an excite
ment, rose and said:
Mr.. Speaker, where is all this to end
How far will this spirit of audacity 90
Yesterday you forced into this House by
your own election, not by the voice o.
the people of South Carolina, white or
black, so-called Representative 1900
votes in the minority; and yesterday
again in defiance Of the people, white and
black, you forced into this House as the
Representative of the people of Louisi>
ana, a man 1900 in the minority.
Where, l repeat, is all this force and vio-
lence to end / expected nothing else
| from an election committee so constituted
as this was-0ut of nine members six Of
them being from States from which there
were contested elections, with only two
Democrats on the committee to offset the
seven against them. / say il, and am
sorry to say it, that i. was the most un
fair, the most outrageous,ths most IN
just organization of the Committee of
Elections which | ever knew in the par
liamentary history of this country, or
in any other country. Some of these
gentlemen who are not from States from
which contested election cases have
come, have exhibited spirit of fairness
and business in the decisions at which
they have arrived; but there are others
unaecustomed to parliamentary courtesy
of debate, l will not say ignorant Of the
manners Of gentlemen, for that would
not be courteous and parliamentary
within the walls Of this House, but ig~
norant Of the rules which regulate cleo
ton contests, who have refused the least
opportunity for discussion on the most
important cases, and who are thought,
By the resonance of their voices or the
obstreperousness of their clamor, to have
been especially selected, not only to do |
injustice to the minority, but to drown
the clamor for justice which might come
from the minority Of the Hous Tell us
if the House is to be constituted in this |
way, tell US before an election is to be
taken how much the minority is to be
allowed on the floor Of this House, and
then we shall know how many members
to elect before an election occurs.
Sir, the gentleman from Pennsylvania
mir. Moffet) tells you-I told you the
same six yeare before on the floor Of this
House-that if you thus commit injusS
tice and outrage upon the people who |
have the right to be present here, he |
will come backbone back as the gems |
tleman from Indiana (Mr Voorhees,
came back-eOme back as the GENTLE |
man from Ohio, (Mr. MOrgan) came back |
with increased majorities, too.
In addition to that you have allowed |
no opportunity for fair discussion; and |
while you take in one Representative
from Louisiana, representing nobody |
with no constituency Whatever to repre- |
sent upon the floor Of this House, you
exclude two Democrats from the same |
State, one elected by 1900 and the |
other by over 1900 majority. This
morning you took in three Representa-
tiVes from, the State of Connecticut with |
not even a regular certificate Of election. |
Against all such injustice | enter my
protest not expecting 1t will he heard |
here, for truth and justice are seldom |
heard in an election contest upon the |
floor of this House. But to the gentle |
men from Wisconsin, (Mr. Paiae,) the |
chairman Of the Election Committee,
whom / have found to be an honorable
man in all these things, l appeal, and | |
ask him hereafter to give especial atten- |
ton to this subject and to do equity and
tice to the minority in this House
The party in the majority has nothing
whatsoever to lose by justice and
equality. The Democratic majority in
my district was Increased by from five to
ten thousand in consequence Of the in
justice to me in depriving me of seat in
this House. In what might have been q
doubtful district in Ohio and in what was
doubtful district in Indiana, Democrat
ic representatives were sent back here by
increased majorities. Whenever you
perpetrate injustice or outrage upon the
people they will aFenge the wrong, beN
cause the hearts Of the people are right,
and they will not be trampled upon or
misrepr ssented upon this fOor-I will not
say by outrageous decisions, for the ma
jOrity will not even look at the docu-
ments which are prepared before them /;
but will say by acts which outrage
equality and do the greatest injustice to
the people. You have forced your two,
thirds majority upon the floor Of this
House; why are you not content with it?
We elected our seventy members by the
popular vote; by your action in regard to
Missouri, Tennessee, louisiana, and else
where, you have reduced US below fifty
at the most. Why, then, trample upon
us more? Consider US oppressed and
down trodden, but, in the name Of God,
grant us liberty of speech and of COM
plant. Do not stiae us, a. the gsntle-
man from Pennsylvania Mr.. Cessna did
the other day, by using an arbitrary rule
CT the House, not even allowing word
Of discussion on our. side. Strike, but
hear" Give us a fair opportunity not
for decla nation, but for proper exami-
nation Of the cases that are presen: ed
before the House.
The few minutes Mr.. Brooks got
to utter this he borrowed from Mr..
Burr DEM, on the Committee of
Elections, for the committee allowed
no others to enter the debate. The
effect was afterwards seen in Mr..
Paines coming to the rescue of de-
L