The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-12-13
Speech of Hon. John J. Patterson, of
South Carolina, Delivered in the U. s
Senate, Nov. 80, 1877.

Mr.. Patterson said have already an
nounced my intention of voting to seat
Mr. NJ. G. Butler as Senator from South
Carolina. | will vote as cheerfully to
seat Mr.. VIM. Pitt Kellogg as Senator
from Louisiana / have resisted every
motion to give Mr.. Kellogg's case pre-
cedence because by a vote OF the Senate
the case of Mr.. Butler was brought be-
fore the Senate first. Had the case Of
Mr.. Kellogg been brought before the
Senate first should have acted as stead
lily against displaciug it. In maintaining
the title of Mr.. Butler to a seat in this
body, but recognize in the logic of po-
litical events that those events were not
the result OF any act of.mine; they were
nodded by the hand Of another 1t is
unnecessary for me to review in detail
the causes that lead TO assure the triumph
of the Democratic party in South Caro-
lima at the last general election Ii was,
in my judgment, the triumph Of might
over right 1t was not won by any Just
and lawful methods known to any cleo
tive system Of government. To achieve
it free ballot was crushed in the iron
grasp Of an armed force. This was my
judgment in February and March last,
based upon the testimony set forth in
memorials to Congress, signed by Repub-
lican State officers and Senators and Rep
resentatives in the General Assembly
That memorial was laid before the Pres
ident Immediately after his Inauguration.
Governor Chamberlain filed at the Ex-
ecutive Department an elaborate aTgu-
ment in support of the legal propositions
that it contained, and voluminous testi-
mony to sustain its allegations as to mat
ters OF fact. When it became known
that the President contemplated the re-
moval Of the troops from the State House
a thrill of horror went through the hearts
of the Republicans of South Carolina, and
they crowded to the National Capital to
make a solemn protest and earnest ap
peals against an act which they were
bound to hold as the foulest treachery
and most undeserved and untimely
wrong Of which the history of political
parties furnishes any record. Rude, ig
norant and unlettered as the great mass
of South Carolina Republicans may be-
they were yet loyal and true to the great
principles of the Republican party, and
in war and in peace they had gathered
around the flag of this Union with all the
devotion with which the devout Chris.
tian clings to the cross Of his Redeemer
As Republicans they never betrayed
their trust, and they did not expect them
selves to be betrayed. Through eight
long years they had been hunted for
their opinions sake, but they held their
faith unchanged, and asserted it by their
ballots with inhexible fidelity to their
party.
They knew enough TO love their Gov
ernment and trust its defenders in the
face of violence. Over the dead bodies
Of their murdered brethren they went to
the polls, and gave clear majority for
National Republican candidates, and
having done SO they expected justice and
protection. In spite of their Temon-
strauces the President, who had secured
his election through their votes, relegated
them to the Democratic State govern
ment, and turned them over to the ten
der mercies of their excited and embit-
tered enemies.
We are all familiar with the incidents
Of the last memorable Presidential cam
paign We all know that had the Elec-
toral vote Of South Carolina been cast
against the Republican nominee a Demo
cratic President would now be occupying
| the White House and Democrat would
now be presiding over this body. The
/ Republicans of South Carolina then car
| ried Caesar and his fortunes. The Repub-
/ llcan OFFICIALS VINO CONSTITUTED the bOdEQ
OF State Canvassers guarded the integrity
| of that Electoral vote with a fidelity
which neither threats Of personal vio-
/ lence nor the mandate of judicial author
/ ity could swerye from the path Of duty.
! They attested that fidelity even in the
dungeons of the common Jail of the coun-
/ ty to which they were consigned for re-
fusing to obey an order which in their
Judgment was designed to overthrow the
/ Electoral vote of the State. There was
not hint given that upon the accession
Of Mr. Hayes to the Presidency he would
remove the troops whose presence alone
enabled these officers to exercise the
function Of the offices to which they had
been fairly elected. No such coming
event cast its dark shadows through the
iron bars of their prison in December,
1876. Verify may the Republicans oil
South Carolina and Of the entire South
cxclaim. IL have been wounded in the
house OF my friends The arm that
struck the fatal blow was nourished by
their devoted and unsuspecting service