Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-01-07
gress, to demand that the wrong shall
IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

mouon OF senator COnkllng TO insert th
words, 'If not Incompatible with tn
public interests"
Senator West said it was sOmewhs
remarkable that those who thrust thi
fTesOlutiOn upon the senate declared the
were IN possession Of all the facts abou
Louisiana, yet they wanted the Presi
dent to send them information. 1t ha
been charged here that General Sheri
dan was ordered to New Orleans owe
the general of the army, and contrary t
all usage. He West ], before commenc
ing his speech, asked the secretary @
war if such had been the case, and tn
secretary replied in the negative, ant
banded evidence to him to contradic
the statement. Senator West then sen
to the clerks desk and had read the fol
lowing letter. received from the secreta
Ty OF war:
HEADQUARTERS CT THE ARMY,
ST. LOUIS, December 80, 1874.
General ". w. Belknap, Secretary of War:
| GENERAL-I have the honor to ac
knowledge the receipt Of your confiden
tial communication OF December 26th
With enclosures. Very respectfully
your obedient servant,
W. T. SHERMAN, General.
Senator Saulsbury-That is simply an
Acknowledgement Of the receipt of con.
| tideutial communications, and does not
state the character Of them.
Senator West-When this resolution
shall have been passed, and all the in.
formation comes out, the senate will see
that it was acknowledgment Of the re-
ceipt of all orders and communications
in reference to General Sheridan being
ordered to New Orleans. That is fact,
and know 1t to bs so. He then pro-
ceeded to review the circumstances at
tending the organization OF the legisla-
ture in New Orleans on Monday last,
and charged that, by the laws of
Louisiana, the acts of the cOnser-
vative members OF that legislature were
illegal, violent and revolutionary, and
in fact were acts of mob. The seating
of five members, whose seats were not
contested before any permanent organ
izattOn, was without parallel. The vote
by which Senator Wilt claimed to have
been elected speaker lacked five OF the
legal majority of that body. He next
read from q telegram stating that Con-
gresham Potter was present at the or
ganizatiOn, and disCountenanced the
action of Senator Wiz General D.
FrObiiand was first called upon to MAIN
tain order In the | bhy by a so-caIled
Conservative majority in the house. The
five men who contested seats had not as
much right upon the floor as those in
the lobby, and when those men were
elected by General DeTrsbriand he did
uot see how exception could be taken,
1t was all proper for the military to be
used in clearing the lobby, but all
wrong when used to que'l a mob and
eject from the floor five men who were
not entitled 10 be there. The charge
that the President had been guilty Of
malieasance was entirely c0ntradlcted
by facts before the senate, and
he spoke Of unkind treatment toward
northern people in Louisiana, and said
over three thousand lives in that State
had been yielded up for the sake of
their political opinions. Talk about
peace in Louisiana, there was no peace
there.
Senator Gordon said he did not pro-
pose to reply to the speech of Senator
West. He was quite willing it should
go to the country and make its own an
1wer; but when the people whom he
CGOrdOnl loved as his own life, whose
frrtunes were his through veal or woe,
through life or death, were held I'D as as
sassins and murderers, he could not and
would not rem ain silent; and if his voice
and gestures were tremulous now with
emotion, it was not emotion of anger,
but emotion OF the indignation perpe-
trated upon his people. He stood
aghast at the spectacle presented in this
senate yesterday-a spectacle Of one pOr.
ton of the members seeking to ruin the
fair name and honor Of the people OF one
section of this country before the ciViliz-
ed world. He was amazed-utterly
there should be found in
the hearts of men with whom he daily
Il associated on this floor so much hate.
He was totally unprepared for it, and if
be believed TO day that the expressions
which he heard from the senators Iips
yesterday reflected the sentiments Of
he northern people, he felt that
it was time for the southern
people to die. II he believed |
that those expressions fOreshadoWed the |
policy OF this government toward the !
south then he would say let Us have |
done with this farce of local self. gov |
ernment. He did not believe that such |
sentiments were entertained by the |
people. He did not Relieve |
that the brave men against whom the |
people of the south had lately contended |
bore any such sentiment. He believed |
that great majority of the American |
people both norLh and south, white and |
Oiack, abhOrrad any such spirit of ami
mostly. He believed the movement in
in 1872 by that large-headed
and large-heaTted mau of New York, to |
OriDg about good feeling and harmony,
would be successful. 1t was charged |
hat murders prevailed throughout the
'outh, and that these murders were by
he hands Of DEM crate, the white mau's
party. His reply to that was brief.
rhe charge was false. 1t was true
hat murders had occurred, Eu,
10 one deplOred them more than him
elf, nor more than the people ne
represented. His people had always
aid that the class of people committing
bose murders we're the worst enemies
# the south. If the murders were com.
nitred, was that any reason for brand
ng the whole southern people as a set
f assassins and barbarians. Wherever
q the southern States people of honesty
nd integrity have control of public al
airs, property, life and liberty are as
afe as they are in any northern State.
in the galleries Since the
var not solitary arm had been raised
n the southern States against the power
the Federal government. and yet
be southern people were charged Gay
fter day with being disloysl toward the I
OveTnment because there were riots at
lectiOns or riot, at crossroads. A band
misguided negroes who marched at
light with arms to murder and hearts to !
under could not be attacked by the {
7bites in self-defense. If they were at {
scked, and a conflict ensued in which
sw were killed, the south was then
harged with disloyalty and antagonism {
D the Federal gOvt rnment. The cOlOred
lilitia men might insult women, rob,
illage, and drag innocent men from ,
heir beds, and when the white men re-
sted them the southern people were !
eld up as murdeTers and assassins. I
len were sent down among them who
ad no common interest with them.
'hese men made the laws, collected the ,
axes, and governed the southern people,
nd then maligned the same people. Ii
ne south asked how New England
'Ould like that, or how the west would
ke that, and strove by every lawful ;
leans 10 overthrow these men, her peO-
le were charged with bsiDg murderers ,
nd assassins. The senator denied that
here had been any intimidation of vo-
srs, and said the senator from Indiana
Morton yesterday had spoken of lies
mt out by the southern Associated Press
gents. He [GordoD1 thought that Ii
eI on the Associated Press of the south, 1
nd he thought he knew as much about
as the senator from Indiana. He |
Jordonb as a senator and q man recog-
izing his responsibility to his country l
nd to his God, would say these things i,