Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-04-08
THE STATE PRESS ON SENATOR KEY

THE STATE PRESS ON SENATOR KEY.
Nearly all the papers Of this State,
with one or two notable exceptions, dis
approve Senator Keys vote on the Mis-
sissippi resolutions. We have seer some
very severe censure, beside which the
remarks Of the LEDGER appear mild.
The Nashville American, Of the 4th, has
an article Of force and c~learness, from
which we select some extracts:
AS Senator Key enjoys the awkward
prominence of having cast the only
Democratic vote for this resolution, we
have taken occasion to read over care
fully his remarks on that occasion, as
revised and printed in the Congressional
Record, but fail to find any satisfactory
explanation for his isolated vote. On
the contrary, be proves most pointedly
that no such resolution or investigation
is called for, when he says:
IF there have been violations OF the
law, if colored voters have been pre-.
vented from voting by fraud, intimida.
ton, or violence, let the violaters of the
law be punished. The Judiciary of the
State Of Mississippi, State and Federal,
belongs to the party defeated in the late
election in that State. Ii the laws have
been SO Aagrantly broken, why sit these
judges idle2'
Here was an argument unanswerable,
on which, it seems to us, any Democrat
might rest his opposition to an unneees
sary and vexatious political investiga.
tion into State elections, with which The
Federal Senate as a body has no concern
whatever. In a similar strain Mr.. KEY
proceeds:
II do not vote because | believe tht
investigation is deserved by the people
of that State. | am free to say that if
represented o State which had not beef
in the rebellion, perhaps if | had takel
no part in that rebellion myself, | shout
vote against it. Before heaven | asser
that in my judgment there is no necei
sity or just occasion for this inVestigs
ton. On the contrary, | believe it vii
be productive of no good"
WY luNu NObt lOI ~ Nv oil WI
visit an undeserved inhiction on the pee
pie of another State2 If Senator Ke,
represented the State of Mississippi, b.
might perhaps have some excuse 70
assuming for her the role of a Christian
martyr, inviting Affections. Not repre-
s%enting that State, be seems rather Il
side with her torturers. II recollection
of his participation in the rebellion
induce Mr.. Key to vote against his bet
ter judgment, it is his duty to the coun
try at large, and Mississippians in par
t%icular, as well as his constituents, I
forget all about the rebellion" as 500
as convenient.
Mr.. Key said further on:
Still, for one, / am willing to waiv
their incompetency. and let them try III
find US guilty if they want to, and han
Us if they will, and then | trust that th
country and women and children Of Ii
South will have peace. Let every ma
whose misfortune it wal to own a slav
be punished with death, and that ma
end the cry Of slave ari%stocracy."
Is this designed for q mere fight
rhetoric, or for sober logic? If the formt
it is out of keeping with the tote an
temper of the Senator and his speed
suggesting rather the ironic exagger,
tons 10 which the witty Cox sometime
INDUCES. II meant for logic, we mul
question its manliness. Only on the da
previous had Senator Key heard Bou
well below in the same chamber:
The North will do we'll to take bee
that it tr1sts no man who was brough
up under the influence Of slavery, COT
trclled by it's spirit and dominated by Il
power, which is not yet extinct"
When will tbs influence Of slavery