The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-04-12

foundry alarmed-toward the domination OF
the old Confederate element The gentleman
from New York (Cox) asks why the dead past
is not allowed to bury It's dead, aud the answer
y that 30 fast as he and his associates gain
power and have patronage to dispose of they
will not let the dead past rest, but whenever an
act can be dsne offensive to Northern sentiment
in the disposition OF patronage it is urged upon
us, and Is crystallized in action. Il was for
that that the last Congress took as Clerk of the
Committee OF Ways and Means. Hamilton, the
man who named his child after the assassin of
President Lincoln. II was because OF that that
the last Congress chose All ex-Sergeant-at-Arms
Of the Confederate House of Representatives as
Doorkeeper OF this House, aud had to get rid
OF him at last because he was incompetent. 1t
was because OF that-the tracks being in this
way-this winter Southern man was taken as
Doorkeeper, and when he failed, as his letter
in the Post to-day says, TO do the behests of
the leaders in his party he was turned out, and
when the party went into caucus again it was
confronted, for take the reports Of the news
papers as correct, with nominations both OF
Confederate soldiers and Union soldiers.
Gen. Shields, who Is now supported on this
side, was nominated in that caucus by
Southern gentleman, and he was Endorsed and
sustained by him, he who was equally good
Democrat with the gentleman whom that eau
Gus had nominated. He was equally South
ern mau, residing in Missouri, where the old
Doorkeeper came from. He was true in every
regard, In every respect, to the party principles
which he had always maintained and was as
good man as Gen. Field, but he was over
sloughed by a vote Of five to one, and the
Democracy chose to nominate a man whose
record Is that, educated at the expense
of the Government, an officer at West
Point when the rebellion broke OUT
at mature age, not urged by the excitement
and effervescence OF youth, but Captain in the
Union army, he broke the bond OF loyalty and
mt m n M ra6 aaa of in0 N
the cause Of rebellion the advantages which
he had gained in being educated at the expense
Of his country. He fought continuously dur
ing the war, and gained rank and recognition
on the side OF the Confederacy. At the end OF
it, failing in business, he expatriated himself,
went TO q foreign country, and transferred to
that foreign country whatever ability this coun-
try had given him. Finally, on the accession
of the Democratic party to power, he returns
here, and the only place Of patronage, control
ling subordinates, which the party have got in
its control is given to him, as against one Of
the Union soldiery who bears on his body
wounds received in defense of his flag, and
who is to-day before the country and is pre-
sented on this side of the house as q candidate
for Office. do not expect, and no man on this
side does expect, that if Gen. Shields should
be elected he would be ever anything but a
Democrat. There is no man on this side who
expects at his hands the pittapce of page, or a
messenger, or folder. Gen. Shields has moth
ing to recommend him to this side but his 10y
atty and ability aud his services in the war,
but, Mr.. Speaker, as sure as tides and sun
shine come, the party OH that side has got to
take this cup to their lips and has got TO decide
whether or not there are influences in 1t which
do not permit in free competition Union SOL
der who is a Democrat and lives in the South
TO gain place OF this kind as against a Con-
federate soldier who deserted the flag, who
went back upon his military alma mater, who
went into rebellion and whose only strength
with the Democratic party is because of that
That issue cannot be and will not be finched
That party has the responsibility for that issue
and must take it.
Mr.. Backburn-The very contest which the
gentleman from Maine describes was settled by
this House when Confederate from Alabama
was beaten for more important Office than the
Doorkeepers place by as gallant Union sol
der as ever wore the uniform of YOUR Govern
ment in the contest for the Clerkship. That
was decided not by the assistance of Republican
votes, but in Democratic caucus. ma ority
OF the Confederates on this floor were in SYM
pathy with the defeated candidate, and yet they
gave the place to a Union man.
Mr.. Hale-Let me suggest to the gentleman
from Kentucky that he ought to get over a
very bad habit he has of speaking of the Gov
eminent as "your Government" referring to
this side. That is matter which am free to
say is somewhat offensive to me. / wish the
gentleman would allow the I" dead past to bury
its dead 80 far as TO be willing now to cali this
tour Government as we do on our side
Mr.. Biackburn-If the gentleman from
Maine had listened to the sentence he would
have found that / was speaking of this Gov
eminent at the time when it was not my Gov
eminent. 1 said that the man who had sue
eded in the Democratic caucus in the nomi-
nation for Clerkship of the House was a gal
liant supporter OF his Government at the time
his competitor was a gallant supporter Of my
Government 1t was at that period, during
four years OF war, that drew the distinction,
aud not now. But even il were to indulge
in such an expression now it would hardly
create wonderment in the House, for, from tho
way in which the gentleman from Maine
is accustomed to dsport himself on
this floor, modesty might assume that the
Government was in hisindividual and exclusive
keeping. l deny that /, or any one of those
with whom l have been identified in times
past, can be proved by their record here to
have uttered a word on this floor that looked
toward the opening of issues which should
have been buried III the war. If one word has
ever come from this side of the house, OF
sectional character, it has been when. man
hood and patience exhausted spurred, driven,
and forced by that party to self-defense.
despise the man, here or elsewhere, who seeks
to make either personal profit or politi-
cal character out Of revamping Issues
which belong to the darkest period of
this country's history. 1t is the part of ghouls
and hyenas 10 delve into the trenches where
putrid carcasses are buried and drag them out
to fatten upon tho feast. 1t is not manhood.
They have been brought out again to-day. 1t
was left to the gentlemen from Massachusetts
and Maine to refuse to allow subordinate
officer Of the House to be elected without fight |
ing the war over again. False charges have
been hurled against us, and not for the first time
either. We have been told here to-day that |
the candidate who has been nominated in the |
Democratic caucus for the Doorkeeper of this |
House deserved, by every law human and |
divine, to have been hanged. We have been |
told (using him as an average speci- |
man of an element which embraces |
eight millions OF people of this Iand) |
that they were all breathing a |
existence at sufferance, and were in
debted for their poor, miserable lives to the
of the Republican party That
has been told to us year after year, and il is
told us to-day. 1t is false, and the falsehood
should wither and die on the lips that last ut
tered it. How was 1t possible, l ask for a man
who belonged to the army of the Confederacy
10 have been hung after the terms of surrender
and capitulation mad been agreed upon? Do
you mean to say that the well-earned reputa-
Jon for courage and gallantry and manhood,
which the soldiers of the Union army had illus
rated by overwhelming and conquering my
people, was to be blotted and blurred for the