Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-03-21
The Change In the Senate.

On the twenty-frst Of January, 1861, in
the Senate OF the United States, Jefferson
Davis, of Mississippi, announced the seces-
sion Of the State which he had
been chosen to represent, and formally
declared his intention Of yacating his
seat. lie said "If my State decided
to leave the Union | should 20 with
her, whether in my judgment she had just
cause or not. We but stand in the path Of
our fathers when we proclaim our independ-
ence and take the hazard. | may say,
however, that think she has had justifa-
bic cause, and that approve OF her act.
1t was on the same occasion that Alfred
lyersou, until then United States Senator
from Georgia, addressing the Northern mem
bers, said Though your Government
may conquer the South. we will rise again
and again to vindicate our right to liberty
and to throw off your oppressive and cursed
yoke. We will never cease the mortal
strife until we are extlnguished. With
these and many similar words OF treason
against the nation which had honored them,
the Southern Senators left their seats in the
Capitol. OF the long and terrible civil war
which followed, of the suffering, thedeath,
the suspense, the agony. the expenditure Of
blood and OF money which was the direct
result of their action on that fateful
tweuty-frst of January. but a passing men
ton need now be made
The Union arms conquered, the nation
was preserved, 100000 chattel slaves were
made free men, and there was great reloc-
ing in the land. What is the sequel which
the American people-the people of the
world-are now called upon to contemplate
On Tuesday, the eighteenth day of March, in
this year Of 1879, just eighteen years and
two months after jefferson Davis and his
colleagues in the Capitol of the | MON pro-
claimed their treason to the Government of
the | nlted States, the Senate Of the United
States passes into the control Of the political
party, OF the section, of the spirit which
Jefferson Davis then typifed-which Jetier-
son Davis, who owes his life to the clemency
Of 200 magnanmous people, still typlties
and embodIes. Ii is doubtful II The history
OF any nation furnishes a more striking
contrast.
On the 18th Of this month from the
eleven States which followed Jefferson
Davis into treason and rebellion there will
appear in the Senate Of the United
States but one man, a negro, who does
not now, as then, proclaim the doctrine
Of State rights, and vaunt with bare
faced impudence hi, devotion to the cause
which the Southern Confederacy represent
Oh H. flnlttu m tho Tho If
which would have brought ruin upon this
nation. Two weeks ago, as if to prepare
the people Of the country for what was to
come, a Senator from Mississippi, who was
a rebel and who proclaimed that he had no
excuses to offer for his treason, audct
jefferson Davis, the chief traitor, az 1.-THE
nublc-t man of his sectiOn-a section OF
noble men, and declared that history would
accord to that fgurehead Of an accurscd
cause the same place and the same praise
which belonged to Hampton and Washing
ton 1t was in the same hour that another
man, who had been rebel and who is
now United States Senator from Ar
kansas, declared that jefferson Davis
would scorn to be a penslOner Of
the United States, would spurn any PROPOSE
ton which might be made to place him upon
what Senator from Massachusetts, had previ-
Ously called the honor-roll of the nation. y
And in all tho United States Senate on that
forgotten night there was only
one mantle fearless and out-spOken
Senator dared in fitting terms
to reply to the men who applauded treason
and culogized traitors. lie it was who de-
carcd Jefferson Davis with treason in his
heart and perjury upon his lips took the
oath to sustain the Government which he
meant to overthrow, and he it was who Of