Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-02-15

leaving our government dishonoreN
and disorganized, and cast their for
tunes with the rebellion; those men
who, educated for the army or navy,
who had sworn over and over again
to support the Constitution of the
United States, educated at the pubic
expense, and went forth with the
skill, knowledge, and experience ac-
quired in our service to carry them
over to the public enemy. Perhaps
the exceptions ought to be extended
to those who took the first initial step
in secession as members of the con-
ventions. All told, probably five
hundred men in the United States are.
excepted all the rest are relieved
from disability. Why not! The Re
representatives. from. the Southern
States, one of whom Mr. Sawyerl
sits in the chair, ask this ofyou. Why
should man who held Postoffice,
or other local office, in one of the
Southern States, ,and thereby was COM
PEELED to take an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States, and
be excluded from an amnesty which
has been made SO general2 Why
should he be deprived of the power
to hold Federal or local Office? Is
he more guilty than his neighbors ?
Is the fact that he was intelligent
enough to hold q petty office rea-
son why he should be punised, while
all around him are free =? The Presi-
dent of the United States states this
objection strongly and well. No;
Senators, my own deliberate convic-
tion-and rarely take part in this
class of debate-is that we had better
unite these two measures together,
make the amnesty large and liberal,
and then, in the same law, passed by
the same majority, give our sanction
to a principle that will give every
black man deprived of the common
rights of citizenship and equality the
right to sue for his injury, and also
the right to appeal to the criminal
law. Let amnesty and Justice go
hand in hand.
Sir, the great war is over. We
have almost recovered from the evils
that grew out of it. The graves of
our dead heroes are sinking now to
the level of the earth. Our debt,
which hung like hydra over US, is
now in such shape that it no longer
need frighten the most timid man.
Our finances are rapidity becoming in
settled condition. We have moth
ing to do but meet TIE interest of the
public debt. Let US now, at this mo-
ment, before we got to our people on
collateral issues, settle, so far as we
can, all the issues that grew out Of the
wsr. I appeal to those Southern
men who call themselves Democrats
to take this general principle contain
ed in the amendment of the Senator
from Massachusetts,; give to the four
million black people in the Southern
States the right to ride in your cars,
the right to stop at your inns, the
right to 60 to your schools, and the
right to worship God in your church
es, take with it amnesty to the great
body of these who are now excluded
from office in the Southern States.
Why not2 AS sure as the earth Tolls
| in its course, as sure as time advan-
ces, every negro man in the Southern
States will have every right secured
by this amendment. You can not re-
sist it. The spirit of civilization and
progress demand 1t. No law can be
| Justified or maintained that deprlves
citizens of the United States of rights
so common and simple as those secur-
ed by this amendment.
On the other hand, why should we
keep up this discrimination between
citizens who are no more guilty one
than the other? Why should we
| continue now, seven years after the
war was over. provisions made as a
matter of temporary punishment I
The debate on the 14th amendment
was considered, and acted upon and
voted for in Congress, it was suppos-
ed that when all the States were re-
presented, when all the States were
in their places, when every district
spoke by the voice off its member in
the other House, all these measures
that grew out of the war would pass
away. This provision of the 14th
amendment was only part of the
scaffolding of reconstruction. Re
construction itself was but the tempo
rary outwork within which the tenn
pie was to rise to the sky; and this
clause of the I4th amendment about
disabilities was part of that scat
folding. Strike them away, and we
have magnificent country, with oul
power demonstrated, our wealth in
creasing, our industry prosperous,
nothing but to march forward with
confidence, with hope in the future.