Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-08-09

/, ~ GNU municipalities,
out that each shall be left free to
enforce the rights and promote the
wcll-being Of its inhabitants by such
means as the Judgment of it's own
people shall prescribe. The mean.
ing OF all this in plain English is:
NO matter how the colored citizens
may be abused, wronged and op-
pressed, Congress shall not inter-
iere for their protection, but leave
them to the tender mercies Of local
SCI! government, administered by
white rebels. Do you, as friend
TO tho colored man, approve the
position of Mr.. Greeley? You can
not forgets Mr. Sumner, how often
during thd Hast session of Congress
you conferred with me in regard
to the possibility of having your
Civil Rights bill passed by the
House. 1t was introduced by your
personal friend, Mr.. Hooper, and
nothing prevented its passage by
the House except the rancorous and
factious hostility of the Democratic
members. If | have correctly ex.
amined the Globe, the Democratic
members on different occasions,
resisted the passage Of the Civil
Rights bill by the parliamentary
process known as filibustcring.
They would not even allow it to
come to vote. Two intelligent
colored members from South Caro-
lima, Elliott and Rainer, begged of
the Democratic side OF the house
to merely allow the Civil Rights
bill to be voted on and they were
answered with a denial so absolute
that it amounted to a painful jeer
at the rights of the colorcd man.
And now you lend your voice and
influence to the reelection of these
Democratic members who are CO.
operating with you in support of
Mr.. Greeley. Do you not know,
Mr.. Sumner, and will you not, rs a
candid man, acknowledge, that with
these men in power in Congress
the rights of the colored men are
absolutely sacrificed, so far rs those
rights depend on federal legisla-
tion?.
Still further, the rights of the
colorcd men Of this country are
secured, if secured at all, by the
three great constitutional amend
mcnts, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth
and Fifteenth. TO give these
amendments full scope and effect,
Legislation by Congress is impcra-
lively required, as you have SO often
and so eloquently demonstrated
but the Democratic party are on
record, in most conspicuous man
ncr, against any legislation on the
subject. 1t was only in the month
of February last that my colleague.
Mr.. Peters, offered resolution in
the House of Representatives affirm
ing the validity of the constitutional
amendments, and of such reasonable
Legislation Of Congress as may be
necessary to make them, in their
letter and spirit, most influential
This resolution, very mild and
guarded as you will see, was adop'
ted by 1874 yeas to So nays; only
eight of the yeas were Democrats
All the nays were Democrats. The
resolutions of Mr.. Peters was
followed g week later by one offered
by Mr.. Stevenson, of Ohio, as fol
lows:
| Resolved, That we recognize as
valid and binding the existing laws
passed by Congress for the en-
forecement of the Thirteenth
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
ments of the Constitution of the
United States, and for the protec
ton Of citizens in their rights
under the Constitution as amended
On a vote upon this resolution
there were l07 yeas to G5 nays. AL
the yeas were Republicans and they
are now unanimous in the support
Of General Grant. All the nays
| WClC DSttoSAbto, W nv AAV HON
equally unanimous in the support O
Mr.. Greeley. 1t is idle to affirm, as
some Democrats did in the resolu
ton offered by Mr.. Brooks, of New
York, that ''Thesc'' amendments
are valid parts of the Constitution,
so long as the same man on the sam.
day voted that the provisions o
those amendments should not b,
enforced by Congressional lcgisla
ton. The amendments are bu
sounding brass and tinkling Gym
balls to the colored man until Con
gross makes them effective ant
practical. Nay, more, if the right.
of the colored men are to be left tt
the Legislation Of the Southern States
without Congressional Intervention
!! he would, under u Democratic Ad
m;nfstration, be deprived of til.
right of Suffrage in less than two
years, and he would be very luck,
if he escaped some fern of chatte
slavery or peonage; and in proof
Of this danger l might quote vol
umes Of wisdom and warning from
the speeches Of Charles Sumner
When, therefore, you point out te
the colorcd men that their rights
will be safe in the hands of the
Democratic party, you delude and
mislead them, 1 do not say willfully
but none the less really. The
small handful Of Republicans com
pared with the whole mass who
unite with yourself and Mr.. Greeley
in going over to the Democratic
lparty cannot leavcn that lump OF
political unsoundness, even if you
preserve your own original prin.
ciples in the contact. The Ad.
ministration Of Mr.. Greeley, there
fore, should he be elected, would be
in whole and in detail. Democratic,
and you would be compelled to &c
with the current or repent and turn
back whom too late to mend the
evil you had done. Your argument
that Horace Greeley does not be-
come q Democrat by receiving
Democratic votes, illustrating it by
the analogy Of your own election ia
the Senate, is hardly pertinent
The point is not what Mr.. Greeley