The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-05-21
A M N E S TY
SENATOR sAHYER'S views ON THE
SUBJECT.
A Powerful Speech.

of universal amnesty We take the following
passages from the able speech delivered on
that occasion by Senator Sawyer:
HE ISN'T AFRAID.
After abiding to Senator Morton's denun-
citation of those who favored amnesty as I'M:
sound Republicans, Senator Sawyer said:
For one, recognize no mans right to read
me out of the Republican party until he shows
that stand on ground which is not Republi-
can. Mere denunciation, mere assertion that
| am acting in the interest Of rebels or rebel
| lion, has no effect upon me. feel no particu-
| lar anxiety to avoid pleasing the rebels II l
do right and act as Republican. think it
might be more wise and statesman-like if some
senators should remember that their chief
mission is not to make the rebels hate them.
| But there are some senators here who seem TO
conceive that consistency requires them so to
act that the rebels shall entertain toward them
now precisely the same opinion that they en-
tertained when the war was fragrant Sir,
| that is not my position. When the war was
fagrant l hated rebellion; when the war
was fragrant, to the extent or my power re-
sisted rebellion; but let me say, Mr.. President,
when the war was fragrant did not hate
rehels, and dc not hate rebels nor anybody
pelse now. 1t is not the mission OF the Repub,
| lican party tU hate the men who created and
who carried on the rebellion. 1t was the
mission Of the Republican party to suppress
the rebellion ; and it has been and Is yet
the mission Of the Republican party to reor-
ganize this government on more solid and
enduring basis than that upon which it has
ever stood before
SOUTHERN UNANMITY.
But, sir, let me tell the senator from Indiana
that the foundation upon which he would re-
organize this government the foundation upon
which he would reconstruct the States lately in
rebellion, is q foundation as unstable as water.
The rebellion took into its vortex the whole
Southern population, with exceptions abso-
lutely Insignificant in number. All classes
were bound up in sympathy with II. Every man,
woman and child, with hdRs said, insignificant
exceptions, had but one aspiration. so far as
the political situation was concerned; and that
was that the Southern Confederacy and the
cause Of the rebellion might triumph: Here
and there man Of generally very slight pOlit-
ical or social significance among his fellows
was, or professed to be, a loyal man; but the
number was so small that to carry on the gov
ernment in those States by their aid, and by
their aid alone, lisa proposition perfectly ab-
surd to any man who knows the people.
WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE.
] can understand, too, that those who would
govern these States as subject provinces, who
would continue to keep over them the strong
principle Of the American Republic, which is
local selfgovernment, administration Of local
interests BY local agents-I say can under
stand how those who would upset all this prln-
ciple and theory of government, who would
destroy this chief element OF strength in the
American system, should advocate the contin-
uance Of that system which should hold the
grip upon the throats of the great majority Of
the white population. That is the. only theory
on which non r,ndoroto n6 II. hut If nur mr.
pose Is to forget the war, il our purpose Is to
establish in the breasts Of the Southern people
alove for the institutions Of the United States,
If our purpose is to strengthen the government
in those States and to have real Union, we
must take the people of those States with all
their infrmitles upon them; we must incorpo-
rate them into the body polite Of the United
States, as equal constituent members. We
must reeollect that man in South Carolina, q
citizen Of the United States, must be placed on
precisely the same platform, and covered by
the same protection, endowed with the same
political privileges, as q man in Massachusetts
or Michigan.
FOOLISH POLICY.
When you shut out any one large section Of
the country from all aspirations for particlpa-
ton in the public offices, when you tell that
large class of men that they must have no
part or lot in the administration of the affairs
of the government you bid them to obey and
love, say you cut of from the Republican
party one OF its great elements Of strength.
When ! reflect that in addition to the third
clause OF the Fourteenth amendment imposing
these disabilities thereBtill rests on the statute
book the act known as the test oath, passed
on the I'd Of July, 1862, which keeps out Of
Federal Offices practically, not, as my friend
from Connecticut said, eight hundred thous-
and men, or all but fifty thousand Of them, but
a million men at least in the States lately in
rebellion and in the States that did not noml-
nally 60 into rebellion; when reflect that all
those boys and young men who never mad
held an Office and who had no political opiR-
ions save those that they had absorbed from
the atmosphere which they had breathed all
their lives, are cut of from all aspirations Tor
Federal preferment and Federal office, say
the folly Of man cannot conceive more blum
dering and stupid scheme than the scheme Of
keeping that test oath on the statute book.
THE TRUTH AT LAST.
We are now, in many localities in the South,
reduced to the necessity, In order to get Fede
raj appointments filed, of selecting them from
from Indiana tells us that we can select where
we wlll-that the fifty thousand loyal men are
amply sufficient to guide the c0unsels Of The
nation In those States. Now, / wish to do all
credit to the men who were loyal to the flag In
the Southern States-I wish to give them all
the praise which belongs to men VINO resisted
current that my friend from Indiana never
had to resist wish TO give them all the
laurels that belong to them. Far be it from
me, who saw their sufferings aud their sacri-
ices through that terrible contest, to take one
single leaf from the chaplet which should bind
their brows. But Mr. President, they were
few in numbers as rule they were insignif-
cant in political and social consequences; and if
you attempt to carry on the business OF gov
ernment in those States by their agency and
that Of the race lately enfranchised alone, you
will certainly fail.
WHY HE BECAME A SENATOR.
And when an senator charges that the po-
would be controlled by the consideration Of the
question OF his reelection, it is an aspersion
upon his integrity as q senator, and an impli-
cation that he will violate his oath as such.
When senator allows his official senatorial
conduct here to be governed by such motives
as those, it is better that his place should be
filled by another man; and let me say that
do not hold the seat occupy here because
would have sought the place which do hold,
nor would have held it or have been candi-
date for it, but for the fact that l desired TO
keep out others who were even less tit to be
here than myself, and that ! could select in
my State many men at that time who, If it had
not been for these very disabilities imposed by
the Fourteenth amendment, would have stood
on this floor much abler advocates Of the prin-
ciples OF the Republican party, much stronger
men for the State Of South Carolina, and FOR
sne United States, than can ever hope to pe.
PRESCRIPTION PLAYED OUT.
But, Mr. President, did not rise to speak
at any length on this bill. believe, as said