The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-05-05

| the Georgia Legislature, by Act of Con-
| the Blood and Thunder Yarns about the
South. - -.s .-
{ In the United States Senate, on the
4th ult., Senator Thurman made an
able and forcibte speech on the Geor-
gia question, especially pointing out
the monstrous political wrong involv-
| ed III the proposition, supported ;by
/ most of the Radicals, that Congress
shall intervene and extend the term of
the Georgia Legislature for two years
longer. than that for which it was
elected by the people. Senator Thur
man stated the case as follows:
CoNGR Ess ELEcTING A LEGISLATURE FOR
GEORGIA.
The proposition is simply this =
Georgia, if this bill pass, is to be re-
stored TO relations, her. Senators are
! TO come upon this, door. hei. Represer .
natives are to take their seats in the
House OF Representatives, she is then,
according to your reconstruction laws,
| to be fully in the Union once more.
and according to the oft affirmed and
| true doctrine of the Senator from
Michigan, she will then stand upon
| in the Union, and Ill, respect to that
State, thus as fully in the Union as
Massachusetts, herself, having all. the
rights Massachusetts, herself has, the
Senator from Massachusetts proposes
that Congress shall Intervene and ex-
tend the term of her Legislature two
years longer than that for which it
was elected by the people. Mr.. Pres
ideEt, there are some things that o
| lawyer cannot argue against with a
very good temper. l have always
found that when there was a really
difficult question, the most irascible
lawyer could keep his temper in the
argument of it, but when propositions
are made that are so utterly absurd as
| to shock the common sense of man.
kind, and the decent respect of the
| profession for itself and the law, it is
difficult for even an old man of a mild
temper to keep his temper as well as
| he should. oa 3ni So ,s; Oh '+-'''
But now I invite the heattention again
of my friend from Massachusetts,
What is the excuse he gives for this !?
He says that the legislature of Geor-
gia became demoralized. How did it
| become demoralized? 1t organized
and adopted the fourteenth amend
ment. Was that all act of demorali-
| zation? It elected two Senators, as
your reconstruction laws contempla-
I ted it should do. Was that an act of
decentralization? 1t elected the nee
essary State officers whose election
devolved upon it. Was that an act of
decentralization That legisla T. e
passed appropriation bills, it made
laws suited to the new circumstances
of the State. Were those acts of de-
naoraliZation ?iit' i'.r@ziiila- 'f.
is What act of Decentralization then,
did it commit? It was this in ac-
cordanee- with the opinion expressed
F by the highest judicial finctionary in
| that State, it declared that the black
race were not entitled to hold Office in
Georgia. The legislature of Georgia,
or rather each branch foritself, hay
/ ing the absolute right to determine
that question, and the right to deter
mine it without being bound by the
decision of any Judiciary, before there
/ had been any judicial decision to the
contrary, and acting upon what was
the declared opinion of the most emi-
nent lawyer of the State, and the
most eminent Radical in the State in
the canvass in which the Legislature
was elected-acting upon that advice,
ON those principles, and with that cir
cumspection, it tresolved that the ne
gro members were not entitled to
their seats, and it ousted them. That
was the first appearance of demorali-
zation. Then it did what l admit
was all wrong, it seated the minority
candidates. VIC i7lf't.i D:tiiaIt;f
What did you do? Although this
| was question over which that legis-
lature, and that alone, had jurisdic-
ton, although this was question un-
der the constitution of the State of
Georgia, over which Congress had no
manner of control whatever, any more
than it has over the constitution of
Massachusetts or Ohio, or over the
legislatures of Massachusetts or OHIO,
| yet because that legislature did that,
you took Georgia in hand again last
December, not because her constitu-
ton was not republican in form, the
only thing you had a right to look to,
the only thing that the constitution of
the United States gives you any su-
pervision or Jurisdiction over, not be-
cause her constitution was not repub-
lican in form, for you had affirmed
that, but what you complained of was
that that republican constitution had
not been obeyed, and you took Geor-
gia in hand again and passed your act
of December last. Hs+a -
And now, when we are brought to
the present state of things, what is
the excuse of the Senator from Mass
achusetts for perpetuating the power
of the present legislature of Georgia /?
Why, that it was guilty Of that horri-
BILE crime of turning the negroes out
and of seating the minority candi-
dates. Let me tell the Senator from
Massachusetts that of the men who
turned the negroes out, more than
seventy are members of the present
legisture, holding their seats now, and
for that act, which he considered an
act of such atrocity,E he proposes to
reward them by giving them a lease
of power for two years longer. Let
me tell him further that of the pres
eHt members of the legislature there
are fifteen or sixteer,s l believe, who
were minority candidates, and who
are therefore seated in the present
legislature by just such ademoraliz-
ing act, just such an ,atrocity as that
of which the Senator so teloquently
complained last December, and now
. the; e;reward which the Senator from
Massachusetts proposes to grant to
those men thus illegally seated, men
who never were elected at all, men
who hold, their seats by plain and
flagraDt violation of the constitution
and the law, is to give them lease of
power for two years longer.
RAW HEAD AND BLOODY BONES INyES-
TIoNs OF SENATOR WILSON. .:...l4
[1rSenator Thurman continued at
length in review of the legal PROPOSE
tions involved in the contemplated
legislation. lie then passed to the
consideration of q startling declara-
tion made in the Senate by pharisai-
cal saint Henry Wilson, of Nfassachu-
sets, that !" there were more assassi-
nations i'll the South since Lees sur
render than there were men lost on
any field of stricken battle during tho