The Leavenworth weekly times., 1876-08-17

I reference 10 lnc cuTG6t- cOmHiittu III lil
South a. inimical TO reconciliation an
harmony between the sections. They al
exces dinghy anxious that In this centennIa
year past differences shall be forgotten, an
The people, North and South, forgetting an
iorgiving, and mindful only of our gres
national future, shall meet and embrace a
nation of brothers. II is consumma
ton devoutlv TO be wished; but / mus
remind such well-meaning people that an
formal reconciliation, while the deares
rights of millions are systematically VIC
lated, and the greatest wrongs pass unno
ticed and unpunished, will be the rankes
hypocrisy, revolving alike 10 divine and hu
man Justice. 1t is only the knayish qCaci
who puts plaster over the mouth Of tn
wound and says it is healed,
THE HEALING PROCESS
must begin at the bottom and be thorough
| 10 be permanent and healthy. All tn,
gushing and Misunderstanding which precede
the concession OF equal rights and justice
10 men Of all colors and opinions III th.
and deceive nobody. Such foul wrong,
cannot be ignored and concealed. They
will forever obtrude themselves upon the
NOill
Let me say 10 this class Of people, and
the men OF the South, there is but One
highway 10 reconciliation, aid this open
straight and free; and over its portals are
inscribed these words: Equal rights Ia
all 10 all equal protection of the laws =
and il the Southern people will walk in
that highway they will arrive at the temple
of peace and find unbroken rest.
The Democratic party cannot be safely
trusted with the control OF our government
for many reasons, few OF which | will
briefly stale:
l. Because TO vital element of the party,
the men who control its action and destiny,
were 1. .aiiors, and did everything in their
power 10 destroy their country. No man
who ever deliberately BETRAYED his country
should be entrusted with lis government.
TO FORGIVE KEBEIs
is one thing; to put them in power is an
other thing. To place this government in
the hands Of men who sought ITS destruc-
ton by armed rebellion, would be insanity.
These men accept the government only as
a military necessity. They do not love ii,
are not proud ol II, care nothing about lis
credit, and its very existence Is a rebuke 10
them. But this does not diminish their de-
sire TO get control of the government, 10 re-
cuperale and repair their shattered fortunes.
The condition OF the Democracy of the
North Is somewhat different, thoug h scarce
ly better. Sympathizing fully with the
South, and entirely subservient, il asks
nothing hut office, and leaves measures and
poiicie- to the South. Upon economic
questions that pertain alike 10 all parts of
the country, while opposing whatever is,
and all that has been done, 1t has not even
a suggestion to make, and it Is utterly bank
rupt in ideas With individual members
OF talent and Intelligence, as an organiZa-
tion it has the confusion of ideas and the
feebleness OF grasp which belongs 10 the SEN
ility Of age that has uuliiyed everything
bnt its passions and the memory Of evil
deeds. 1t cannot escape from the past, and
all its traditions are evil. 1t cannot point
to one OF Its leading measures in thirty
years that has not been condemded by the
voice of mankind. The other day iD the
Senate / asked the question, What good
thing the Democratic party had done, or
propo-ed TO do, in the last twenty-ii, e
years? and said | would yield the floor TO
any Democratic Senator who would ansuer |
L Ut lIDlu MI. v,
,ccedted the challenge, and named the ap-
Dointment of investigating committees by |
he present Democratic House OF Represen-
atives. The answer was
AN AWFUL CONFESS On, |
which was painfully felt by every Democrat
present. The distinguished Senator felt the |
lecessity of saying something, and could |
hink OF nothing but the appointment OF |
melling committees TO enable the rebels to |
ind out whether We could not have put |
lown their rebellion more cheaply than We |
lid The fugitive slave law in 1850; the !
epeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854
he border-rutian Outrases in lS55-6; the
ecompton constitution and the bred Scott
lecisiOn in 1891 its denial OF power TO
uppress the rebellion OF lSG0-l; its re-
possibility for rebellion by sympathy and
its resistance to every war
measure; its efforts in 1864 to b ing about
he abandonment OF the war its protection
o treason and conspiracy in the Northern
'tates; Its opposition TO the constitutional
amendments Its encouragement to the peo-
lie Of the South to resist reconstruction, and
is defense of the Ku-Klux, White leagues,
nd every form of organized violence in the
'outh, present an unbroken series of infa-
nous measures which will grow darker and
srker by the lapse of time.
The House of Representatives during the
ate session instituted % Investigations into
he accounts and conduct of government of
Gers. A majority of the committees
harged with these investigations were off
cred and managed by confederate soldiers,
nd the sole purpose OF all seems to have
cen the manufacture Of reports to damage
he Republican party in the approaching
lection. For this purpose the rules Of evil
ence were ignored, hearsay statements and
Unsupported rumors received in testimony,
he telegraph violated, private books and
apers seized, the rights of citizens tram
led under foot, and lunatic asylums and
ransacked for witnesses. In
nd the most incredible stories received
18th avidity, although contradic,ed and
catered to the winds the next day. ANY
titus Oates, who would by Munchausen
Iatement impiicate the President in whisky
rauds, or other crimes against the govern
lent, was welcomed as benefac-
Or, and treated with the most delicate and
ssiduous attentions.
The most of these investigations were con-
ucted with closed doors, so that the VIC
inns, whose names were to be blackened,
'ould know nothing of what was going on
ntii they got it through the newspapers, or
,her indirect channels; and when some of
lem demanded to be heard and confronted
-ith their accusers, it was refused until the
anders had been sent over the country, and
len granted in such manner as to make
leir defense impossibl, or imperfect. The
tempt to drag down the Secretary Of the
,avy and to cover him with scandal with
ut his knowledge, the reluctance with which
iey yielded TO
BIS STERN DEMANDS
, be heard. and their refusal to consider
vidence which was offered IN his last vim
ication, constitute one of the darkest
ages in parliamentary history.
These committees deported themselves as
Iwless bodies, recognizing no private or pub
C rights which they were bound to respect,
nd were distinguished from the secret tri-
unals of the iBquisition only by the alb
nee of the thumb-screw, the rack and the
AXE.
The single case of Secretary Belknap gave
he democracy more joy than the birth of
avior, and they managed to keep it before
he people continuously for nearly six
lonihs. This man had always been a dem
crat, and entered the cabinet by the per
NAL preference and confidence Of the Presi- I
ent, without ever having been connected
ith the Republican party. |,
1t is impossible now to fix the costs of
,ese investigations. have heard no esti-
late putting it at less than half a million
dollars. Investigations set on foot for
ne purpose of truth, justice, and the pun
hment of crime are prsiseworthy and use
IL but when they are used as methods OF
TO gratify malice, blacken