The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-04-05

l,ng time since he read history, if that
is his conclusion. Does he remember
the state of Italy after the end of tho
great civil war there? Does he. re-
member, from one end Of that penin-
sula to the other the whole country
was full of banditti? Does he. ,ssz-
member the state of France when Ma
poleon I. was elected first consul;
when it was reported to him, and re-
ported upon reliable authority, that
there were not less than forty thousand
handitti in France atsthat time living
by violence, living by plunder, and
committing murder with impunity p
" by, sir, it can not be otherwise, and
the most astonishing thing that I
know in all my knowledge of history,
and the most creditable thing to- the
American people. is this: that there
has been SO little outrage, that thers
have been SO lew bandtti, after such
great civil war as We havs gone
through. eft Ga fgiea4s,I
a / never shall cease to, admire the
American people when, sthipk that
millions of men who had been in arms,
when the war closed, qaietIy laid down
their arms and resumed the occupa-
tlons of peace In, the town in, which
l live ! saw fifty thousand of them
honorably discharged from the public
service; and say it, and say it with
a proud boast for my State, thatthough
they were discha ged and as free as 1
was to go where they pleased, they.
molested no man, they committed no
acts of violence, but peaceably de-
parte,l to their homes.J And he who
has reflected upon it for moment
must see lhat, never perhaps since the
world existed, was so great an exam
pie set OF the virtue, the moderation,
and the intelligence of a people as was
displayed nv the American people
when the great armies on. both sides
were disbanded and sent to their
homes. Why, sir, these oatrages were
not committed them But there has
been more crime at the North since
the war than there was before. and
more crime at the South. That could
not be avoided. 1t was inevitable.
Then there are other circumstances
that must produce disorder. The pec-
pie at the South had fought for q
cause they religiousiy believed in, as
much as we believed in the cause for
which our side fought They were
conquered, sabdued, Inundated. But
then they believed that the war had
been carried or, as we declared 1t
should be, to preserve the Constita-
ton and restore the Union, and theT
expected that that pledge would be
fat ,fully fulfilled. Instead, of fulfill
ing it you pat them down Under fiiaf-.
tial law, you abolished their State
constitutions, you compelled them at
the point of the bayonet to adopt ntn-
er constitutions, you set their lately
freed sla.es above them, and gave the
control OF State after. State to tha
most igno, ant, the least informed and
the least interested por ton of the com.
munity. In this very State Of North
Carolina I think it appears taat the
colored voters are eighty thousand.
The vote for the Repu hlican ticket at
the last election was eight S-thrae
thousand some hundreds, aud the vote
for the other ticket was nearly eighty
eight thousand. It clearly appears
that there is scarcely colored man in
the whole State who did not woe tbs
Republican tickit. Now, what a spec.
tacle is7 that! There is a State in
which but three thousand white men
can be found to join the Republican
party; and who are they? Where do
they come from p Where were they
horn? What spirit of adventure took
them to North Carolina? Who are
these three thousand white men who,
with eighty thousand negroes, have
ruled that old Commonwealth that
used to he called the firm Old North
Stals, the very exemplfieation of or
der? ..-.,, j.
In tie old State. that always would
vote the Whig ticket. no catler
though all the rest of the South voted
the Democratic ticket, that pattern of
order and law, that Quaker State Of
the South, but three thousand white
rren can be found to>vote the Radical
ticket; and the domination of that
party for years and wears, the plunder
of the State, the ruin OF her prosperi'
ty has been the result OF a combina-
tion of three thousand adventures
with eighty thousand negroes, and yet
the people are expected to be as mild
and p'scid and az gentle as so many
turtle doves Oh, 10, Mr.. President,
it will not DO. te. -ss-1---.-
But if we are TO have an investiga-
ton let us have It And when We DO
go into this investigation, and when
it comes to be considered by the Sen.
ate, beg Senators to look once moro
at history, and to. find That by no
armed tyranny, by no treading of peo.
pie under the heel, has order ever
b 'en restored, unless il was tile order
of despotism, the silence of its reign.
No, sir; ii you want the people Of
the South T., be orderly give them
2 ,od government; let them govern
lemselves according to the nature
and spirit of our free institutions; let
the intelligence of the country have
fair play; let the honesty and econO-
my that every body will admit existed
n those States before the civil war,
shat over faults they may have had,
,nte more take place. Let mere ad-
Ienturers retire to the back ground or
,ide themselves in the holes from
which they came let once more the
people feel that they have a Constitu-
iun that will be enforced, laws that
hey respect; and once more yon will
ave peace and order there as well as
'ou have anywhere:
Tha following little nursery rhyms