The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-02-16
! - SREECH OF
SENATOR THURMAN.

Southern States Voting the Democratic
l. Ticket. zHsI 1H
The Senate having under considera-
! fion Senator Morton's mott on to ap-
point Special Committee TO roam
over certain of the Southern States for
inquiry into the alleged Ku-klux out
RACES, on which pretext would be
based for Military interference and an
other Radical Reconstruction of States
i lately voting and electing the Demo
cratic ticket, Senator Thurman, OF
| Ohio, said:
The resolutions (for the special COM
mittee) would seem to be in response
/. to this clausein the Presidents annual
message--the opening paragraph OF
the message; G.7I
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatiyes. g 6ll " 4
t:.fA year of peace and general pros
bperity TO this nation has passed since
4 the last assembling of Congress. We
i have, through kind Providence, been
4 blessed with abundant crops, and have
been spared from complications and
i war with foreign nations. In our
/ midst comparative harmony has been
i restored. 1t is TO be regretted, how
i ever, that free exercise of the elective
! franchise has, by violence and int;mi-
| dation, been denied to citizens, in ex-
| ceptienal cases, in several of the States
lately in rebellion, and the verdict of
the people has thereby been reversed" !"
!, g.; The Senator from Indiana (Norton)
/ on previous day of the session, if L
am correct, introduced a resolution
| calling upon the President for the in
| formation on which this statement in
the annual message is based. A re-
! sponse having been made to that reso-
| luton, he now moves that select COM
imittee be appointed to take the testi-
mony thus furnished by the President
|. into its consideration and also with
power to send for persons and papers.
L 1 think, therefore, am quite right in
assuming that the object and scope of
this resolution is to inquire whether
I the exercise of the elective franchise
in the Southern States has been inter-
rupted by violence. That / take to be
the object. is, in other words, to
preserve the purity of elections.
Now, the first thing that strikes with
surprise one who has investigated this
subject is that the learned Senator did
not go further in his resolution. Which
are the States referred to by the Presi-
dent? i have puzzled my brain over
that problem, and cant find but two
States to which he could have referred.
He refers to States in which the verdict
of the people has been reversed by
threats and intimidation, reversed in
the elections in the year 1870. He cam
not referto Virginia, for she voted in
1870 as she voted in 1869. He cannot
refer to South Carolina, for She voted
Oh i,,
not refer to Georgia, for the election
had not been held in Georgia when this
message was sent in NOR in Mississip-
pi, for I think there was no election in
Mississippi this year; nor to Texas, for
there was no ELECTION there; nor to
Arkansas, for. there the Republicans
prevailed. The only States, then, to
which he can have referred are the
States of North Carolina, Florida and
Alabama. But in Florida, by means
that l shall presently allude to, the
Republicans are declared to be elected.
SO that the message would seem to re-
fer to but two States, North Carolina
and Alabama, where the Conservative
or democratic party carried the elec-
tions, although they were previously
carried by the Republicans.
The first thing that strikes one as
singular, when. you come to analyze the |
message, and find that these are the two
States which are rererred to, is thai in |
each of those States Conservative has |
been elected to the Senate of the Uni |
ted States; and a suspicious man, a |
man who was inclined to impute mo-
tives--which am not, and [ impute |
none-would be very apt to surmise |
that the whole scope and object of this |
thing is TO lay foundation for de-
feating the will of the people in those
States in the choice of their Senators. |
~ But, Mr.. President, wanted to ask !
the Senator who moved this resolution I
why tits. withuhis views of the power
of Congress, that he limits his inquiry
to these exceptional cases of violence
If he wishas to preserve the purity of
elections in the South, why, is it that
he can see nothing but some violence
ofamysterioTfs or mythical Ku-Kluxl
Khan !? % WHY'S it that he cannot look
at the, statute laws of South Carolina,
of Florida, of Alabama, of Texas, of
Arkansas. Of Louisiana? Why is it I
that sheadoes not Tsec that in each of
those States, unless Alabama is an ex-
ception, it is by the statute law, enact
ed by Radical legislatures, absolutely
in the power of Radical Governors of
those States to elect whom they please,
and defeat whom they please, for
every important office within the gift
of the people? Why is it that he can F
not see that? -o
Talk about violence! What violence
to the elective franchise ON the part f
of few men who violate the laws
and are punishable for it is comparable
to this wholesale wrong which enables
one man in State to dictate who Il
shall be elected in that State to every
Office of any importance Sir, when b
the proper time comes l shall present
to the Senate the statutes of those
Stetes and make the remarks that are
pertinent upon them. l have them at
home. If had them here might do
it to-day but / have them not, and | /;
will show that if you " ant to preserve
the purity of elections, if you want
the majority of the legal electors in
those States to determine who shall
be their officers, if you want the voice b
of the people to prevail, if you want
such thing as true Republican Gov
ernment in those State, then, if YOU
have the power. there is the place to
apply the remedy. s-Ts-
Why, sir. look at the election in
Florida; look at eight counties thrown
out that gave majorities tor the Con-
servative candidates, upon the merest
technical grounds about their return
that ever sophist imagined, while
another county, giving ailarge Radi-
cal majority, anG to whose returns the
same same precise objection applies, is
counted in favor of the Radical oandi-
dates, and they are installed in office.
Look at that. What is little yio-
lence in North Carolina or Alabama
compared to that? Look at the elec-
tion laws in Louisiana look at them
in Texas, where the Governor ap-
points every officer in the State from ,
the Chief Justice of the State down |
to the lowest bailiff; not one appoint
oA -hu auu Afbapf -s1,,una ~, |