Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-02-01

been reversed"
The Senator from Indiana CMorton),
on previous day Of the session, if 1 am
correct, introduced a resolution calling
upon the President for the information
on which this statement in the annual
message IS based. A response having
been made to that resolution, he EoW
moved that a select committee be ap-
pointed to take the testimony thus fur
nished by the President into its consid-
Grafton, and also with power to send for
| persons and papers. / think, therefore,
I am quite right in assuming that the
object and scope of this resolution is to
! inquire whether the exercise of the
elective franchise in the Southern States
has been interrupted by violence. That
I take to be the object. 1t is in other
words, to preserve the purity of cleo
tons.
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-
/ dcnt2 I have puzzled my brain over
/ that problem, and I can find but two
States to which he could have referred.
He refers to States in which the verdict
of the people have been reversed by
| threats and intimidation, reversed in the
elections in the year 1870. He cannot
refer to Virginia, for she voted in 1870 as
she voted in 1859. He cannot refer to
South Carolina, for she voted in 1870 as
she voted in 1859. He cannot refer to
Georgia, for the election had not been
held in Georgia when this message was
sent int nor In Mississippi, for 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 CARROLL
ma, Florida, and Alabama. But in Flor
ida, by means that shall presently al
lude to, the Republicans are declared to
be elected. So that the message would
seem to refer to but two States, North
Carolina and Alabama, where the Con-
servative-or Democratic party carried
the elections, although they were pre-
viously carried by the Republicans.
The first thing that strikes one as sim
gular, when you come to analyze the
message, and find that these are the two
States which are referred to, is that in
each of those States a Conservative has
been elected to the Senate of the United
States; and suspicious man, man
who is inclined to impute motives
which am not, and lido impute none
would be very apt to surmise that the
whole scope and object of this thing is
to lay a foundation for defeating the will
oflhe people in those States in the
choice Of their Senators.
But, Mr.. President, I wanted to ask
| the Senator who moved this resolution
why it is, with his views of the power
of Congress, that he limits his inquiry
to these exceptional cases of violence.
If he wishes to preserve the purity of
elections in the South, why is it that he
can see nothing but some violence of a
mysterious or mythical Ku-KluX Klan? I?
Why is it that he cannot look at the
statute laws of South Carolina, of Flor
! ida, of Alabama, of Texas, of Arkansas,
of Louisiana ? Why is it that he does
not see that in each of those States, un-
! less Alabama is an exception, it is by
| the statute law, enacted 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
with in the gift of the people? Why is it
that he can not see that?
Talk about violence! What violence
to the elective franchise on the part of a
few men who violate the laws and are
punishable for it is comparable to this
wholesale wrong which enables one man
in a State to dictate who shall be elected
in that State to every office of any i'm
portanoe! Sir, when the proper time
comes I shall present to the Senate the
statutes of those States and make the
remarks that are pertinent upon them.
I have them at home. If had them
here might do it to-day; but I have
them not, and will show that if you
want 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 Of the people to prevail, if you
want such thing as true Republican
Government in those States, then, if you
have the power, there is the place to ap-
ply the remedy.
Why, sir, look at the election in Flor
| ida; look at eight counties thrown out
that gave majOFities for the COnserva-
tive candidates, upon the merest techni-
cal grounds about their returns that ever
a sophist imagined, while another coQn-
ty, giving a large Radical majority, and
| to whose returns the same precise OBJ
lection applies, is counted in favor of the
Radical candidates, and they are in
stalled in Office. Look at that. What
| is O little violence in North Carolina or
Alabama compared to that? Look at
the election laws in Louisiana; look at
them in Texas, where the Governor ap-
points every officer in the State down to
| the lowest bailiff; not one appointed by
any other source or authority than the
] Governor; every election officer,
every calvassipg officer, every return
| ing officer, every judicial officer, every
executive officer, everything but the
Legislature themselves, (whOm he can
not appoint directly but can indirectly
through his ageneies) appointed by one
man
Look at that. Talk of your purity of
] elections there Talk of the voice of
the majority of the people prevailing
| Why, there is not a Senator on this floor
from a Northern State who would listen
without his blood boiling from the top
| of his head to the sOles of his feet, if it
were proposed to vest such a power as
that in the Governor of his own State
| What would you say if it were proposed
to vest in the Governor of Connecticut,
\ a Democrat, or the Governor of New
York, Democrat, the power to appoint
every officer in those States, election
judges, every returning officer, every
canVasser of votes, and to allow them,
|
business in secret, and be responsible
to nobody whatsoever? No; if you want
to go into the question of the purity of
elections, first cast out the beam that is
in your own eye before you look for the
mote that is in your neighbOrs.
But, Mr.. President, that is not all
There is something very singular about
these Investigations. Less than two
wears AGO there was an election in the
city of Washington, where Congress eX-
i erCises exclusive jurisdiction. A color
ed man nearly lost his life at the hands
of mob on that election day; his life
was only saved by the interference of
the police, and for a time the police it.
self was borne down by the mob. What
was that eOlored mans offense? Moth
ing but this, that he sought to vote a
! Democratic ticket. Where then were
your denunciations? Where then, with
full and exclusive power of legislation,
were your remedies? Where then was
your committee of investigation Moth
ing of the kind happened. 1t was only
Democratic negro who was mObbed by
Radical negroes, and the thing passed
in silence !
Sir, the Senator from South Carolina
speaks about his State. I do not know
how true it is, but I do know that the
papers of the country, during the last
political campaign in South Carolina,
were filled with cases in which mObs of
negroes prevented the Conservative can
didates from addressing the people,
And who does not know that for a color
ed man to vote the Democratic ticket in
much the greater portion of the south
ern country is to risk his life? Talk OF