The Portland daily press., 1870-03-18
senator rseveis as ma o.s,sr'

Senator Esevels as nE Siaior'
Mr.. Reves' appeal in the U. S. Senate Wed
nesday "for the protection of the strong arm of
the government for her loyal citizens, ire
spective of color or race, who are residents of
Southern States, and particularly of the great
State of Georgia." consumed about thirty
minutes, the Senate, with the exception of
one or two Democrats, the dispatches say, paid
most unusual attention throughout. At the
close nearly every Republican in the Senate
congratulated the speaker warmly. Mr.. Nor
ton followed and prefaced his remarks by al
luding to the gain the country had made in
patriotism by exchanging Jefferson Davis for
Mr.. Revels. We extract the material portion
of his remarks:
Mr.. President, maintain that the past rec
ord OF my race il trne index of the feelings
revengeful thoughts, no hatred, no animosfties:
they aim not to elevate themselves by sacri-
ficing one single interest of their white fellow
citizens; they ask but the rights which are
theirs by Gods universal law, and which are
the natural outgrOwth and logical sequence of
the condition in which the legislative enact
ments of this nation have placed them. They
appeal to you and to me to see that they re-
ceive that protection which alone will enable
them to pursue their daily avocations with
success, and enjoy the citizenship on the same
footing with their white neighbors and friends.
l do not desire simply to defend my own race
from unjust and unmerited charges, but I also
desire to place upon record the expression of
full and entire confidence in the integrity of
purpose with which believe the President.
Congress and the republican party will meet
these questions so prolific of veal or woe not
only to my own people, but to the whole
South. They have been, so far as can read
the history of the times, indamed by no
spirit of petty tyranny. The poet has well
said
so. lis excellent to have giants strength,
But tyrannous to use it like giant"
And how have they used that power lodged
in them by the people? In acts of cruelty and
oppression toward those who sought to twain
this goodly fabric of our fathers, priceless
heritage of so much hardship and endurance
in revolutionary times? Let reconstruction
enactments answer the interrogation. No
poor words of mine are needed TO defend the
wise and beneicent legislation which has
been extended alike to white and colored cit
liens. The republican partyis not influenced
as some would fain have the country believe,
against the white population of the South.
Its borders are wide enough for all truly 10y
al men to find within them peace and repose
from the din and discord of angry factions,
and be that loyal man white or black, that
great party of our republic will, if consistent
with the record it has already made for pos
terity, throw around him the same impartial
security in his pursuit of liberty and happi-
ness. fla certain certain class OF the South
had accepted in good faith the benevolent
Overtures which were offered to them with
no niggard hand, to-day would not find our
land still harassed with feuds and conten-
tons.
l remarked, Mr.. President, that rose to
plead for protection for defenceless men who
now send their delegation to the seat of gov
eminent to sue for that which this Congress
alone can secure to them. And here, let me
say, farther, that the people of the North owe
to the colored race deep obligations which it
is no easy matter to fulfill When the federal
armies were thinned by death and disaster,
and sombre clouds hung over the length and
breadth of the Republic, and the very air
was pregnant with rumors of foreign inter.
ference; in those dark days of defeat, whose
memories yet haunt us as ugly dreams, from
what source did our nation in its seeming
death throes gain additional and new found
power? They were the sable sons of the
South who involuntarily rushed to the res
cue, and but for their intrepidity and ardent
daring many Northern freeholds lwould miss
to-day paternal counsel or brothers love,
Sir, l repeat the fact that the colored race
saved to the noble women of New England
and the middle States many whom they lean
upon to-day for security and safety. Many of
my race, the representatives of these men on
the field Of battle, sleep in countless graves at
the South. If those quiet resting places of
our honored dead could speak to-day, what
mighty voice, "like to the rushing of mighty
wind" woald come up from those sepulchral
home! Could we resist the eloquent pleadinss
of their appeal? Oh, sir, think this question
of immediate and ample protection for the
loyal people of Georgia would lose its legal
technicaiities, and we would cease to hesitate
in our provisions for their instant relief
Again, regret this delay on other grounds
A taunt is frequently flung at us that Ne
mesis more terrible than the Greek persona
ton of the anger of the gods awaits her hour
OF dreful retribution. We are told that at no
distant day great uprising of the American
people will demand that these reconstruction
acts of Congress be undone, and blotted forev-
er from the annals of legislative enactments.
inquire, sir, if this delay in affording protec-
ton to the loyalists of the State of Georgia
does not lend uncomfortable significance to
this Boosting sheer with which we so often
meet? Delay is perilous at best, for it is as
true in legislation as in physic, that the lon
PNOSAsSoAAAtSeS
remedies, the more chronic becomes the maa-
dy that we seek to heal. The land wants such
as dare with rigor execute the laws. Its fes-
tered members must be lanced and tended.
He is bad surgeon that for pity spares the
part corrupted till gangrene spreads, and all
the body pershes Gle that is mereful unto
the bad, is Cruel to the good"
Mr.. Revels then reviewed the history of the
reconstruction of Georgia, and proceeded to
speak against Mr.. Bingham's amendment,
which he said would legalize the organization
of legislature in 1868, and the appointment
of the judge who had decided in favor of class
distinction in the State. AS means of flu
ture protection for loyal Georgians he desired
that these terms should begin from the date
of the present legislation. He asked this in
the name of one hundred thousand white and
colored citizens of the State, and reminded
the Senate that he who permitted oppression
shared the crime.