Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-01-07

D A0AlNWA H. A----% $500 - -
Of War:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY, ST. LOUIS
| Dec, so. lS74.-Gen. W. W. Belknap
Secretary of War-GeneTal have the
honor to acknowledge the receipt Of YOU
/ confidential communication Of Dec. 20
with enclosures. Very respectfully, you
I obedient servant,
". 7. SHERMAN, General.
Mr.. Saulsbury-That is simply the ac
| acknowledgement Of the receipt Of conf
/ Dental communications, and does not state
the character Of them.
! Mr.. West-When this resolution shall
hare been passed, and all the information
comes out, the Senate will see that il was
an acknowledgement Of the receipt Of all
! orders and communications in reference tC
Gen. Sheridan being ordered to New
| Orleans. That is a fact, and know it to
be so. He then proceeded to review the
| circumstances attending the organization
of the Legislature in New Orleans
on Monday last, and charged that, By the
| laws of louisiana, the acts Of the Con-
| servatiye members Of the Legislature were
/ ILLEGAL, violent and revolutionary, and, in
! fact. were the acts Of a mob. The seating
| of the i've members whose seats were con-
tested. before any permanent organization,
was without parallel. The vote by which
! Witt claimed to have been elected Speaker
lacked five of a legal majority Of that body.
He next read from q telegram stating that
Congressman Potter was present at the or
ranization and discOuntenanced the action
of Wilt. Gen. Beforehand was first
called upon to maintain order in the lobby
by the so-called Conservative majority in
the House. The five men who contested
seats had not as much right on
the floor as those in the lobby,
and when those men were elected by Col.
beforehand. be did not see how exception
couId be taken. Il was all proper for the
military 10 be used in clearing the lobby,
but an wrong when used to qUell a mob
and eject from the floor FIVE men who were
not entitled TO be there. The charge that
the President had been guilty Of malfeas-
anee was entirely contradicted by the facts
before the Senate. He spoke Of the unkind
treatment toward Northern people in Louis
lana and said over three thousand lives in
that State had been yielded up for the
sake of their political opinion. Talk about
peace in Louisiana; there was no peace
there.
M. Gordon, Of Georgia, said he did not
propose to reply to the speech Of Senator
West. He was quite willing it should go
to the country and make its own answer.
But. when the people whom he (Mr. Cor
dom loved as his own life; whose fortunes
were his, through veal or woe, through
life or death, were held up as assasslns and
murderers, be could not and would not re-
main silent. and IF his voice and gestures
were tremulous now with emotion, 1t was
not the emotion Of anger, but OF lndlgna-
ton at the wrong peTpetrated on bus peo-
pie. He stood aghast at the spectacle pre-
scented in this Senate yesterday; a spec
tacle Of one portion Ofthe members seeking
10 ruin the fair name and honor Of the
peOple Of one section Of this country be-
fore the civilized world. He was amazed,
utterly amazed, that there should be
found in the hearts Of men with whom he
daily associated on this floor so much ha-
tired. He was unprepared for it, and If be
believed to-day that the expressions which
be heard from Senators lips yesterday, re-
fected the sentiments Of the Northern peO-
pie, he would feel it was time for the South
ern people to die. If be believed those ex-
pressions foreshadowed the policy OF this
Government towards the South, then he
would say. let US have done with this farce
Of local self-gOvernment. BE did not be-
lieye that such sentiments were entertained
by the Northern people. BE did not believe
that th5 brave men against whom the peo-
pie ofthe South had lately cOntended en-
tertained such sentiments. He believed
the majority Of the people North andSouth,
white and black, abhOrred any such spirit
of animOsitv. He believed the movement
inaugurated in 1872 by that large headed
and large hearted man Of New YORK (Mr'
Greeley) to bring about good feeling
and harmony would be successful. 1t was
charged that murders prevailed throughout
the South, and that these murders were by
the hands Of Democrats, the white mans
party. His reply to that was brief. The
charge was false. 1t was true, murders
had occurred. but no one deplOred them
more than himself, Hor more than the peo-
pie he represented. His people had al
ways said that the class Of people commit
ting these murders were the worst enemies
of the South. Was that any reason for
branding the Southern people as
set Of assassins and barbarians?
Wherever in the Southern States the
people Of honesty and integrity have
control Of public affairs, property, life and
liberty, are as safe as they are in any North
ern State. GApplauSe in the gallery.I
Since the war not a solitary arm had been
raised in a Southern State against the
mower of the Federal Government, and yet
the Southern people were charged day after
day With being disloyal toward the Gov
ernment, because there were riots at cleo
tious or riots at cross-roads. A band of
misguided negroes, who marched at night
-, ,w,d HEARTS IN mimi
der, could not be repealed by the whites in
self-defense if they were attacked. ii
conflict ensuei in which a few negroes
were killed, the Southern people were then
charged with dislOyalty aud antago-
nism to the Federal Government.
Colored militiamen might insult
women, rob, pillage and drag innocent men
from their beds, and when white men re-
sisted them Southern men were held up as
murdereTs. Men we're sent among them
who had no common iutGrest With them.
These men made laws, collected taxes ana
governed the Southern people, and then
mahgned the same people. IL the South
asked how New England would like that,
how the West you'd like that, and strive
by every lawful means u overthrow these
men, her people were charged with being
muTdereTs and aSSassins. The Senator de-
MED that there had been intimidation OF
voters, and said the Senator from Indiana,
(NIr. MouOn) yesterday, had spoken Of lies
sent Thy the Southern associated press
agents. He lGordon) thought that libel
on the associated press Of the South, and
he thought he EneW as much about il a. the
Senator from Indiana. He (GOrdon) as a
Senator and man, recognizing his respon-
sibility to his country and to his God, would
say these things were true. Applause in
the galleTy.] Continuing his argument, he
said: Liars are they? What does the Sen