Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-04
SPEECH OF HON. w. @.
= WHITTHORNE. -
Delivered in lhe Izouse OF Represen-
tatives, March 90, 1871.


Mr. Whitthorne said:
Mr.. Speaker: The gentleman from Mas
sachusetts (Mr. Hoar) has announced
certain political axioms which meet my
hearty appreciation; and l trust l shall
find him, with those of his political asso-
ciates who believe in their truth, follow
ing them to their logical conclusions.
The first was that the Declaration of In
dependence was the great beacon. light in
the formation and institution of our pc
culisr Government, and he asserted that
liberty, equality, and believe fraternity,
was the corner. stone on which our Gov
eminent rested. have to say 10 the
gentleman that for the people whom l
represent upon this floor l claim that and
nothing more. And trust before l shall
b We done that l shall be able to demon
strate that the Offense of that people
E'hath this extent, no more" And again,
Mr.. Speaker, when he asked with whom
are our liberties safe if not with the ma
jority of the people, l grant his PROPOSE
ton, and ask him and his friends to CO.
operate with me as a delegate of the
people in preventing our liberty passing
from the hands of the majority into the
hands of feeble man.
We are entering upon the consideration
| of questions which are TO effect, by the
solution we give them, the veal or woe
of the people of the United States, now
and in all time to come. | trust what |
may say upon this occasion may not tend
| to the prejudice of the people l love and
4 Oh fnrir.na To,, a,,l
| have been identified in times past; peo-
| pie brave, honest, and who are joint in
| hcritors with you of the great rights of
personal liberty and free government, the
work of our common fathers, and whose
only desire is that these may be porpetu-
ated and secured by an inheritance for
| their children. | would do injustice TO
the common sense of this House aud the
country if l failed TO recognize in the
message of the President, and the bill
submitted by majority of the special
committee to whom it was referred, that
the whole people of the South are ar
Taigned and charged with the commission
of outrages, violation of the CoDstitu-
ton Of the United States. Forredress of
these alleged outrages the President is
pleased TO say: ....
"Ihat the power to correct these evils
is beyond the control of the State authori-
ties Chez do not doubt"
These evils being, in his own language,
| that
GA condition of affairs now exists in
some Of the States of the Union rendering
life and property insecure, and the carry
ing of the mails and the collection of the
revenue dangerous.
To what extent the allegation of fact
may be true in ''sOme of the States of
the CniOnn | am not here to take issue,
because l submit that before pleading to
the tender of the issue 1t should be more
specific. But, sir, as have said, not TO
| do injustice to the common sense of this
House, / accept it as specific allegation
that this condition of affairs exists in the
Southern, or late rebellious $50 called
States. The allegation, if it means that
there is an organized opposition in the
Southern States to !he constitution and
laws of the United States, is not true; if
it means only that here and there there
| may be local disturbances or local tres
passes upon life or property, / am not
here TO deny or Justify. On the contrary,
my mission is TO protest, in the name of
my people, that what they desire is the
protection of life, liberty and property,
and the equal recognition of their rights
under the law; to say, on their behalf,
they desire peace, free government, and
constitutional liberty.
l respectfully but firmly deny, for
| them and in their name, that they are not
| animated by as true and loyal devotion to
law, order, and the sacred rights of per-
son and property as any portion of the
American people. Crime exists every
where. Defiance 10 law by exceptional
individuals is historically coincident with
law itself and while to this extent it
may exist, aggravated by the peculiar
condition of society just emerging from
war which sweptsover it with all the
devastation of flood, and which, like
the flood, left its drift and scum as de-
post, yet, sir, the whole body polite is
not demoralized. On the contrary, that
people present TO you higher evidences Of
thrift, economy, labor, wealth, ana pros.
pcrity-the natural results OF obedience
to law aud oIdcG-than any other given
section Of your Union, as think l will
be able to show before | am done. But
before entering upon this task, will you
90 with me, Mir. Speaker, for a moment
INTO review Of the condition of the
South since the close of that great civil
struggled
To the returned Confederate SOLDIER
when his flag was fGrlec, home was a
scene Of desOalion. Gaunt poverty in
tr0duced hirl to barren fields and a cheer
less fircside. His companions had been
thinned; numbers Of them were no more;
al around him was mourning. FalsehOod
and trtaChcry, ard rot of the negro, for
in thg'main he YVES true, had been the
s-ntincls who had guarded his loved Onc5
during his absence. There was much in
this TO discourage him; and yet, further,
many Of them were without the means Of
support to life. They cried for bread.
Look at Georgia and Alabama AID South
Carolina during 1866 and 1867, when
whole communities, without regard 81
former position, were dependent upon the
charity of others. Yet when ordinarily
despair would have welcomed death you
fed the Southern man not forgetting that
he was an American, in whom self-,aught,
il not inherent, there existed a devotion
to popular institutions, love of the great
principles upon which these States arc
founded, uDquenched and unconquerable.
This loyalty, inherent, he pledged 70 the
Government, TO whose allegiance and pro
lection he returned, and at once yielded to
its laws a ready obedience. He was born
an American, he was citizen of the
United States, and entitled by the funda-
mental principles upon which its Govern
ment was based to al the rights, priVi-
leges, and inmunities of a citizen.
With courage, alacIity, and cheerful
ness he went 10 work to repair his indi-
vidual fortune, to build up waste places,
to restore order, to aid his ncighbor and
the public; in fine, to perform all the du
ties OF the laboriOus, useful, citizen.
How was this spirit met? Pause ana
look at the picture. Special courts and
tribunals hitherto unknown TO the law,
were organized, and his rights made sub
iect thereto. He was deprived of the
right to hold Office, even the most petty;
he was cut off from the highest badge
of American citizenship, the right to
vote; all motives of individual eXertion
were taken away from him, and the ne
gro, his inferior, invested with them and