Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-26
SPEECH OF SENATOR FOWLER
ON THE BILL TO ADMIT VER-
-. CHINA,
Delivered i'm the United States Senate


ON THE BILL TO ADMIT VER-
GINA,
Delivered i'm the United States Senate
on the 18th of January, 1870.
Mr.. Fowler said Mr. President, for
the most part on these questions | have
been content to give a silent vote, and
have not generally given thereasons which
induced me to cast that vote / desire,
however, on a question so important as
the present to give some reasons for the
vote shall give.
1 have listened with great attention to
the discussion of this bill. l have partic-
ularly paid attention to the objections that
have been raised against the admission of
Virginia, and | cannot pursuade myself
that l have heard any very good or tangi-
bic reason for Directing to the bill that
has been proposed by the Judiciary Com
mittee to the Senate, and particularly to
the one that has been sent to US from the
House of Representatives. 1t is true
that, in many cases, many of my votes on
these questions | might now denOminate
as futile legislation. | do not know that
l should be able to give very good rea-
son for them if it were not for the tergiV-
creations in legislation of this body and
the other on that subject, which, to some
extent had to follow Not long since we
had a very excellent reason given for the
changes that we might make, that so
varied and 50 fruitful was the age of
change that an individual who should be
found in the situation he was year or
two ago would be considered nothing bet
ter than a man who was setting up mile
stones upon a deserted highway. In or
der to avoid that useless and unnecessary
work we sometimes turn from these old
highways.
Now, sir, | want to know some valid,
definite reason why the State of Virginia
should not be admitted to her place in
this and the other body. | listened with
as much attention as / was capable of to
the speech of the Senator from West Vir-
ginia, Mr.. Foreman. l expected, as l
knew he was better acquainted with the
character of the people and the circum-
stances that surrounded them than any
other person, that he would give US some
reason other than fancied One-because
Georgia or some other Southern State had
proved, as it said, treacheTous, that there
fore Virginia must be considered in the
same light, and that she must be brought
here bound hands and feet and shOrn of
her ancient glory, that glory which be-
longs to all the States. / have heard no
good preteXt for any such course, except
possibly it may be this, that there are
many offices to be filled in Virginia and
they viii be filed by those who are inca
,oI,Ta Of folvinr tho oath vagr1iraI bn
are laboring under disabilities imposed
upon them by the fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution. Admit that to be
true, that they are under these disabilities,
could we not do with them SIS we have
done in other cases, remove their disabili-
ties for the purpose of enabling them to
hold Office? This has been done here
again and again. The method is a short
and easy one. The questions thatI should
ask in this case are: are these men honest;
are they capable; are they friends of the
country! | should 90 no further.
do not propose to examine into the
merits Of any Of the amendments; they
are 20 me all the same. l care not what
they are. You may pile them up noun
tain high. These conditions are only
conditions to me, and nothing else.
put them under one head and shall dispose
of them in that way.
As / regard the reasons that controlled
my action on this bill as the reasons that
guided me in other cases, having never
voted for any of them, l have taken some
care to prepare my views.
The question before the Senate is, Shall
Virginia be acknowledged as a State of
the Union, or is she province? If she
is State she is the equal of New York
or Delaware, or even Rhode Island. Ger
tainly she might rank with Nebraska or
Nevada in all the clements known to the
Constitution and laws of this republic. If
she is less than a State Inherently, she vii!
not be made one by any act of Congress.
No legislative enactment can add one
cubit to her stature, nor take anything
from her but rights. A State is either a
State absolute, or, if we may attach any
meaning to the innumerable amendments
and the fundamental conditions that have
rung their everlasting changes in this hall,
conditional
The United States is a government
formed of homogeneous and equal units;
that unit is a State. As well might you
expect to find variety of particles of diff
ferent kinds in the diamond or in a lump
of gold as to find States of different kinds
and diverse properties in the Union. One
definition, and but one, can be found for
State. There is but one State, although
there are many individuals. l can COM
prchcHd what was meant by all the great
statesmen of the yirtUOus age of the Re
public when they said independent, equal,
OF sovereign States, only upon the by
pothCsis that these terms all meant States,
and nothing more. No amplitication, no
piling up of adiectiycs, could for mo-
ment change or limit or enlarge this unit
Of the nation; nor do l believe a State
can ever be anything less or more than
State, except under the power of success
ful and permanent conquest or revolution.
So long as the Government is what it was
designed 10y Washington, Jefferson, Ham
ilton, Jay, Ellsworth, and their cotempo-
rarics no change can take place.
l have never admitted the fact that the
States were either out of the Union or
ceased 10 exist, so long as the same people
remained unchanged on the same soil.
Military power might prevent the meeting
of the Legislature which il had dispersed,
Just as the armies of Great Britain dis
persed and sent Our own national and
State Legislatures perambulating the Coun-
try during the revolutionary war, and
again during the later war with that ma
ton. Numerous instances might be given
to support this position, if it were requi-
site The permanent occupation of the
country would not have the effect TO de-
story the government of a conquered
country. Not one of the monsters of
history would think of the destruction Of
the government of a people that he
had placed at his feet, unless he were a
mailman.
The conqueror may suppress such insti-
tutions or such parts Of the government
as are Inconsistent with his own safety
and rspugnant to humanity; but he could
not destroy it. To interfere with the
courts and subject the inhabitants to the