The Republican journal., 1871-09-21
SENATOR THURMAN'S SPEECH IN OHIO.
Grant and his Party Arragned.

Grant and his Party Arraigned
DAMAGING AND UNDENIABLE CHARGES.
The following is the substance Of Senator
Thurman's speech delivered last week at Co
lumbus-
My fellow citizens. | want to call your atten-
ton to what are the claims of General Grants
administration to the confidence and support of
the people; what are his claims set forth by
the prominent advocates Of his administration
and | ask you whether these claims are well
founded or not? And first and foremost of these
claims is this that he has restored all the States
i'll the Union to their proper relation TO the fed
eral government; that great work has been by
him, that merits the credit, the everlasting credi,
and confidence of the American people
KEEPING STATES OUT OF THE UNION.
Now say boldly that so far from having re-
stored those States to their normal condition. or
rather so far from the Republican party IN Con-
grcSs, which is the real governing power in this
land. having done that work, they have done
nothing in the world since the war closed, but
retard that work. When the war closed, What
WAS the condition of the country: The Conted-
crate army had already dSbanded; within
thirty days after the surrender at AppOmatON
there was not an armed man in all this land in
hostile array against the government Of The
United States. There wern some of The States
that had gone into the rebellion with precisely
the same boundaries, with precisely the same
people, save those whom death haG stricken
down, and what is more, with precisely the
same constitution that they had before the re-
belion began. What then, was necessary to
restore those States to their normal and proper
relation to the federal government. Nothing
IN the wide world but that they should elect
their senators and representatives, ami allow
those senators and representatives, to take their
places. That was the whole that was necessary,
ana The whole thing could have been done IN
less than thirty days after the surrender at Ap-
pomattoN, and in ninety days every wheel and
cog and plnlOn Of the government would have
been in its place, and that machinery would
have been i'll a> smooth and perfect operation as
it ever was since the constitution was formed.
Was it reluctance on the part of the South TO
elect their senators and representatives? Why,
50 far from that they We're most anxious To
have them elected. Who kept them out The
Republican government kept them out. | must
say lhat was not the sentiment of the people of
either party when the war closed, in that shout,
which all over the land was, let Us close the
breach; let II, have the government Of our
fathers. Yet the Republican party determined
that that should not he; they determined that
those States should be kept out of the Union,
which they had for four years tried to do, hat
iuilcd
THEY ONERrHOW STATE GOVERNMENTS.
Now, my. friends, they kept them out Of rep
rcScntation; not only that. they have oycrturu-
Ell every one of those State governments. and
compelled the people to form new con stitutious
not such as the people want, bat such As the
Radical party in Congress see fit to dictate, and
thus it is that year after year the question of re-
construction is agitated and thus the disorder
TO which it gave rise.
NEW DEpARTURE"-TIIE AMENpMENTS.
Now. my friends, it has been common for the
Republican party Of this country to say that the
Democrats have taken new departure, and
lhat new departure consists in saying that we
have been wrong, and the Republicans have
been right. say there has never been any such
confession rs that. We are as much opposed 10
what has been done as when we gave our votes
against it. What We're these reconstruction
laws? Why, if | should see Il man strike an
other in an unlawful and brutal manner iii the
street. throttle him ami knock him down and
tre>paSS upon his rights, and | should see his
wounds and bruises and see linn bleeding,
should | be compelled to say that the william
who outraged him had done what was proper:
Laughter. SO when these men have throttled
the Constitution and ruined the peace Of the
country, when they have made the South
almost is ruinous AZ in the midst Of war, we
have demonstrated and opposed them. Bee ause
we can not deny that they have done 1t, and be-
cause we can not deny that the thing has been
accomplished, iorsOoth, they turn round and
Say we have no right TO speak against the
amendment.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constiti-
tlon WaN passed. We opposed it. WHY dtl We
oppose it: Because it provided that all people
IN the nlted States should be equal before the
law There IS not one Democrat from the Ohio
river to Canada-not one in the United States
who opposed it upon any such ground That
has always been the law in Ohio, that has
always been the law in the Northern States.
When has been the time when negro was not
equal before the law to IA white man in Ohio.
hat is meant by legal rights before the law
Is having equal legal rights; not voting, that is
4 political right; but the reason we opposed the
amendment was. first, because OF its diStran-
ehising clause. 1t distranchised the men whose
ant was most necessary to restore peace at the
Suuth-thl men of influence: the men of intel
lcct the men of education; the men whose
good will ought TO have been cultivated. and
they made co-Work"rs with the rest to aid in re-
storing harmony throughout the land. They
said these men, because they had differed from
Us, were perlured men, rs if we had never dit
tered about the Interpretation of the Constiul-
ton; rs if Wings and Democrats had not differ
ed about the Interpretation of the instrument !;
rs if the different parties had not differed about
it until the present day.
Again: We said the language WAS ambigll-
Gus, and such as would enable IN ambitious
| President to usurp the power that belongs to
| the individual States, and to overthrow every
| one Of the reserved rights OF the people Of the
| States. And were we not right: for it is under
| this ambiguous and loose language of that
| amendment that this miserable Ku-kluX bill was
| paSscd-under the pretence of the authority de-
| rived from that loose and ambiguous language
| by which the congress Of the United States have
f! nsulted the South.
The President could have power in the State
of Ohio to displace the Governor, dethrone the
| Legislature, turn cut at a.liac our Judges and
establish martial law from one end of the State
| to the other, whenever he thinks or pretcnds to
| think it necessary for htm to take material pos
| session OF Ohio in order to protect the rights OF
I individuals. We were right then i'll opposing
| that amendment thus framed and thus phrased.
| Then came the Fifteenth. OF the Thirteenth
| amendment | should have spoken, which abol-
ishet slavery. No man can point to any act OF
! the Democrats in the Northern States that ever
sanctioned slavery. There never was a North
! ern Democrat that advocated slavery. What
| were we advocates of? We We're advocates of
the Constitution. We believe we were bound
to obey the Constitution. Thousands and thou
| sands of us had taken the oath to support the
| Constitution. We felt that those oathS We're
| binding on our conscienceS. We felt, too, that
| it was the Constitution that made the republic,
and ithat when you broke the Constitution to
| pieces you broke the republic at the same time
| and when we found that the right of the slave
| holder to hold his slaves was inherent i'll the
| Constitution; we allowed them this privilege.
| But what Democrat in the Northern States ever
proposed to have slavery in the Northern States
| Not one. No such man ever lived. OA the
contrary, we all said those people down there
| have slavery; it is their misfortune. We ere
| free from it, and by the help of God we will al
| ways be free from it. Therefore, we never made
any objection to the Thirteenth amendment.
| The Fifteenth Amendment we opposed, be-
| cause, first, it was fraud upon the people in
the way that the thing was proposed and carr-
ed out, and direct violation Of solemn pledges
of the dominant party, made in the platform ut
Chicago. We opposed it for stronger reason
than that. We said it was perfectly monstrous
that you should turn over at least one-half of
these Southern States to the control of a race
| not one in ten of whom could read, much less
write, and of whom not one III thousand had
the least idea of the government under which
he lived. and under which they were now to
discharge the duties of law makers. If the
time comes when they should be educated up to
a proper standard to enable them to exercise
this right with intelligence and the welfare of
the country, we said it would be right.
EFFECTS OF Observation-Disclosures
PLUNDER-ASToUNDING FACTS.
Now. what has been the effect of this in the
reconstructed States down South with their
preponderance of negro voters? The result has
been that they are the worst governed part of
Gods globe this day. These States have been
delivered over to the tender mercieS of the car
pet-baggers and adventurers of the north, and
of the meaner men, the scalawags of the south;
onJ will, thp OauronS in ppmbiu .ti tlo,,,