Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-02-10
L . o VI Il ;.
The Bitter Words Of an Cnsuc-
cessfuI ard UnrepentaHt Rebel,


members of the Georgia Legislature. at the
State capital, on the question of Constitu-
tional Convention. The following extract
from his speech are taken from the report
printed in the Atlanta CGa) Constitution.
Mr.. Toombs Said
Shall We change our organic law? That is
the question which is before us. How shall we
change It? When shall we change it -? These
are the questions to be considered. l answer
that you should change it! Why should you
change the organic law of this State: Because
ii is not your law. because it does not repre-
sent the will of the people. Because you, who
are the people of Georgia, never made it.
might speak here a month and only darken
counsel with words. Governments are made
for the benefit of the governed, and they can
change and abolish the form Of government at
their pleasure. And now, the Legislature,
just eight years from the moment this Jonstl-
tuition was made-who made it !-it was
made by your enemies; by poor, ignorant saw
ages led by rogues, and 10 perpetuate the
power of rogues-tO- day, say, the toling
millions are demanding of you if you will
keep them under the burdens thus placed upon
them. They would not hear TO it heretofore
ed nerer ~as ue'y greatly reconstructed,
y0u kRO1c-2Ot euen enough TO be like the .ttl-
LOoc IN the play last night qch0 acas 't0r the old
tGg dnd-dn appropriation.
In 1865, when, as a punishment for our
sins, the great cause fell, they came down
upon us-you saw tie soldiers when they
overrun us down here-the PrISsian, the low
Dutchman, the lriShman, and, worse than all,
the Yankee thief They said We have ruined,
devastated, robbed and ruined this country,
but there is plenty of good stealing here vet /.
They said we will reconstruct them and make
new constitution for the people. They did
make it, ard it was made at that time to facil-
itate robbery. They attempted to make it as
party. 1t was not the moral, or the relig-
ious, or the industrious men-they were not
the men who weEe called. They shut them
out. They said no man of you, not even a
road commissioner, shall have anything to do
with the Government. AS for these big rebels,
we have run them all off. For myself, pre-
ferred Paris to Fort Warren, and so | ran
away. People who have been whipped once
are not very brave afterward. / have known
it down in my neighborhood that when bull
ly got whipped once be was not much account
for anything afterwardl But in saying this |
do not reflect hpan my people | never saw
my old brigade turn its back upon any men;
they knew how to die but never to surrender :
Our cause was not lost by the soldiers on the
battle-ields, not by the brave people at home,
but by bad management. The men who lost
il didn't know any better, and have forgiven
them long ago.
This is not our Constitution. Ii violates
the fundamental principles of society. Good
government dispenses peace and rest to the
good and innocent, and protects industry, not
by stealing from one man to give to another
that is Yankee perfection They never caught
a mackerel without bounty, and never made
a button without another bounty. They were
always after a tariff, and that's the reason
why, when | went into Congress thirty years
ago, I was not willing to see you robbed.
You stand here with all that is worth pre-
serving, inherited from the grand old Saxon
race, ever more diShonored by that instru-
ment. You ought to abolish it, because you
didn't make it. Accursed be the people that
will accept fundamental law from another
people. God Almighty curses such people,
and my poor, weak curses follow His Some
such vagabonds went with those fellows
They said they were confederates, but they
bowed their knees and accepted the situation.
Some OF them stayed at home to make pow
der, and some to make-poiash.
This Constitution was made by these thieves
to perpetuate themselves in power. What did
they do? They extended the term of the
Governor. Now you permit this to remain so
You have departed from every principle of a
free people on earth. After having distn-
guished yourselves upon every fielu of battle
from Gettysburg to the Gulf, you men of the
South have become another people. 1t is sad
it makes my heart sck-bpt it is the truth ,
You have become another people. You suffer
indignites to-day that, two years before it
was put upon you, you thought you would
have died first. You have gone on IN sullen
silence You have let the alien and the Tor
eigner come here and gather with the niger,
the carpet-hagger, and, the worst thing of all
things the world ever saw, the scallawag-the
consummatiOn of all villainy. | can respect
the poor negro. He has many good qualities,
and like him. | can have some respect for
the carpet-bagger. He comes down with his
| carpet-sack, and says he is here TO make all he
can in whatever way he can. He has loose
morality, but there is some manhood in it
But when | come to the scallawag- they'll
| have to dig deeper in hell to get place for
him.
! We got a good many honest fellows into
the first Legislature, but | will tell you how
We got them there. | will tell you the truth.
The newspapers won't tell it to you. We got
them there By carrying tie hack rOte By intin-
idatiOn and 6ri5 ry, and helped TO do ii. /
! ,oouLd hare scorned tie people hod they done it.
Ind riH buythem as long as they PIT beasts
] tb go to the ballot bar. No man should be given
/ the elective franchise who has not the intelli-
gence to use it properly. The rogue should
not have it, for government is made to punish
him; the fool should not have il, for govern
ment is made to take care of him. Now,
these miserable wretches-the Yankees-havt
injected five millions of savages into the
/ eto of bod, 81,
who says he accepts negro suffrage, | say, &C
cursed be he. | will accept everything;
will accept Grant and empire before | will ac
cept such Democrat. The poor, ignorant ne
grO-talk of him governing you and me. Il
takes the highest order of intellect to govern
the people, and these poor wretches talk O
governing us Why, they can't perpetuat'
their own negro power. In the countie.
where they were in the majority they did no
preserve their power and perpetuate their rule
My remedy helped us to break that up. w,
carried them with us by bribery and intimida
ton advised it and paid my money for it
You all know it, but won't say it. But Will
say it, for fear no man. and am prepared t,
> render an account to none but the Great Judge
before whom | must appear in a few years
for my enemies have thought my services L
my country so great that they have done m
to exclude me from again serving my people
/ contest the honor with our chief, Mr. Davis
| am us good as he is, and ne is no better thai
| am. demand that they shall place me be
side him. | thank them for it! 1t is yer,
few things that have to thank them for, bu
| do thank them for that. | am entitled t,
the honor they thus dispensed, and shall asl
our Representatives to demand it for me, TO
fought for it, and to bring it about.