Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-26

The Georgia Birz-Effect of Recon-
structIon ON RcpubIicanism.

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Senator Carl Schurz, Of Missouri, re.
Gently delivered in the United States
Senate, one of the ablest arguments that
has been made in that body on the Georgia
bill. Senator Schurz is well known to the
country as one of the original panel of
Republicans. Although foreigner he
shows more intimate acquaintance with
and a higher appreciation of the princi-
Piles of our Government than many of his
party who are native here. He has
certainly taken a correct view of the
effect on his party in the South of their
continued prescription. This has long
been evident to every sensible Radical,
who was not an unadulterated Office
seeker. We give the conclusion of Sena-
tor Schurz' speech, and especially invite
to it the attention of Southern Recon-
structionists
In conclusion Senator Schufz said:
Mr. President The conscience of the
American people willingly accepted many
a stretch of power as long as the life of
the nation was in danger. But let no
man deceive himself. The conscience Of
the American people has by no means
become insensible TO q Wanton disregard
of the laws. You mean to preserve by
this act party ascendency In one sIngIe
State of this Union. Why, Senators, if
you have read the history of this country
with profit you will have learned that it is
by just such acts that party ascendency is
lost in the nation. Such acts are very
rarely performed with impunity; and
when you come at last to strike the bal
ance, having jeopardized your ascend
ency in the nation for local success, l
ask you what will be your profit in pro-
portion TO your loss9
But am not speaking of party ascend
ency alone. We all are willing, we all
are anxious to protect the lOyalists and
the freedmen of the South. | must con-
fess that l listened the other day to the
honorable Senator from Misssissippe, (Mr
Revels, when he spoke of the past and
present condition of his race, with pro-
found interest. / honor him for his solic-
itude. do not pretend to have been one
of the most efficient advocates of the lib
Grafton of his race; but l may say that !
certainly was not the least Jealous and
the least sincere; and now in advocating
the course of policy have laid before
the Senate to-day, it is not in disregard
of their interests, but what say is q plea
for their own welfare.
Have Senators considered in what con-
dition they are about to place the very
persons for whose safety they mean to
provide? Have they considered the con-
sequences of imposing set of usurpers
upon the neck of an unruly people under
circumstances like these9 Have they
considered not only how many enemies
they are going to exasperate, but how.
many friends they are going to disgust
and turn into enemies by such policy
Have they considered what authority a
State government is likely to WELD the
legality of whose power is rightfully de-
MED by its enemies, and most seriously
doubted, nay, more than doubted, even
by its friends2 Have they considered
what it means to put into the hands of
those who to-day are still under the ban
of public opinion as Rebels the formida-
bic weapon of cIuse which by ninety
nine hundredths of the American people
will be admitted to be the cause of just
constitutional principles Have they
considered what it win lead to if they en-
able those from whose turbulent and law
less spirit there is so much to fear, TO
clothe their very acts of sedition into the
color of a justifable resistance to usur-
patton of government? Have they con-
sidered that the very means by which
they intend to curb the spirit of violence
which is abroad in the South, is more than
anything else calculated to yitaliZe and
to envenOm and to inflame that spirit
Have they considered that the very per-
Torrance of such an act will be like the
bugle-blast for the Ku-Klux Khan in the
South, and will call recruits for the work
of evil out of every neighborhood there
Have they considered, finally, what kind
of a precedent they are about to set, and
how they by such acts despOn us of the
| most potent means by which we can avert
the consequences of such precedent
mean our moral power over the peoples
repeat, sir, Senators would do well to
| stop and consider calmly before they ven
ture upOIr so ruinoGs and shOrt-sighted
policy.
We have had time enough to study the
condition of things in the South. We
ought now at last to be prepared to aban-
don all our old decisions and to Understand
its philosophy.
There is nothing particularly strange in
what we see in the late Rebel States.
Every rebellion from the beginning of
history to the present day has had its
epilogue, and those epilogues have certain
characteristic features which are almost
invariably the same, or similar at least
under similar circumstances. When 4
| rebellion is defeated some of those who
took part in it will, as soon as their first
encouragement is overcome, try by any
means within their reach to regain some
thing of what they have lost. To this
end, impelled by vague illusions and false
hopes, they will indulge in foolish, reck-
| less, adventurous, oftentimes criminal
attempts. They will try again and again,
until it becomes evident that all the
means at their disposal are absolutely in
sufficient to upset and overturn new or
der of things well secured. Then the
moral reason of them will stop, and those
who have great material interests at stake
will join the law and order party, for the
purpose of suppressing those who still
disquiet and disturb society by repeatingex
cesses which are reckless, criminal, and
| at the same time useless for their ends and
dangerous to all So it always has been
under similar circumstances, and SO it is
now at the South.
1t will not surprise me at all if most of
the Southern States should have to pass
| through q process of second fermentation.
You cannot prevent that altogether, Meth
er by legislative enactment nor by execu-
! tive measures. 1t is one of those pro-
| cesses which will work themselves out,
| just like fevers, which haveto pass through
a crisis before they can be finally cured.
You may aggravate that process by an in
| reference too violent; and you may also
facilitate and accelerate it by methods that
are adapted TO the pathological character
| of the case. | know well that this pro-
cess appears grievously slow to us, and it
appears much more so to those in the
South who have to suffer under it. But
if we are wise we shall at last make up
| our minds to the fact that the real evil
| there does not consist in this mans or
/ that mans possessing political power, but
| that it there consists in the inveterate
habits, opinions and ways of thinking of
| Southern society. The true and the only
cure is in the reformation of those habits
and opinions; and that reformation will
be ga plant of slow growth" under any
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