Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-04-06
Hits and COunterhits.

and in our Washington correspondents leu
ter. Mr.. Jonas, the carpet bag democratic
senator from Louisiana, having reproached
Senator Hampton for voting in favor OF Mr.
Kellogg's right to his seat, maintained that
Louisiana had but one representative in the
senate, meaning himself. This reference to
his case gave Mr.. Kellogg the opportunity
for which he had waited through four years
of contumely and all manner Of abuse and
Misrepresentation. He took the floor in
reply to his colleague and commanded the
undivided attention Of the senate by dis
play Of power as unexpected as 1t was Ell
fective in crushing his colleague. He dis
PLAYED an accurate knowledge of the whole
history of reconstruction in his state, the
rival governments, the debt before and since
the war, showed by facts and figures that
the state is republican on fair vote, and
that but for the bulldozlng of the blacks In
the three largest republican parishes in
1878, Jonas himself would not have been
elected to the senate. He showed how the
Louisiana lottery had supplied the funds for
overthrowing the Packard government, and
in return for its services its charter had been
made perpetual by constitutional enactment.
Touching the financial condition Of Louis
lana under republican and democratic ad-
ministration, Mr.. Kellogg showed that the
former always paid the interest upon the
state bonds punctualy and maintained the
state credit, leaving the democrats two hun
bred thousand dollars in the sinking fund,
but the latter ceased to pay the interest
upon the debt and destroyed the credit OF
the state within short time after they as
sumed control of affairs. Jonas returned
to tho attack, but Mr.. Kellogg in a series Of
direct interrogatories brought so much ridi-
cule upon him from all sides of the chamber
that Jonas finally became as dumb as an
oyster, and by his silence admitted that he
had made assertions that he could not sup
port. Senator Kellogg received the hearty
congratulations of the republicans, Senator
Hoar remarking "Nobody has SO success
fully struck the Hebrew Tyre since the time
Of King David" The fact that Jonas is Of
Jewish descent and had been shown by Kel-
logg not to be over veracious will explain
the point of Mr.. Hoars remark and &C.
count for the laughter with which it was
followed.
Mr. Dawes prodded Ben Hill with quota
tions from the latter's letter to Mr.. Chitten-
den after the election of Garfield, saying, 81
remember letter written by him after Gar
fields election, advising everybody to join
Garfeld's party, and invoking the public to
come up and join the party which had sue
ceeded. That seems to be the first notion
in the mind of the senator in all his political
sailing about the country in his ship of state,
to find out what party has succeeded, and
then to announce his desire to go with that
party. l think he said nobody could tell
how much he loved Garfield. Passing the
love of woman" Laughter followed this
sally, and little Tommy involuntarily came
to the recollections of the spectators. Mr..
Hill professed his regard for the Massachu-
sets Observation-Disclosures some defects
in his course che loved him STILL" To which
MIR. Dawes replied that che liked the senator
better when he was not STILL After the
election democrat had asked how the de-
feat of his party had occurred, and had been
answered, Because the senator from Georgia
(Mr. HilD was not born dumb It was
qualification to the republican party that the |
senator had not been born dumb"
Mr.. Hill in the course of speech char |
acterized by its violence and reckless state
70 oY,I 4 10 hal
noticed in nearly all the republican papers,
and in the different speeches made on this
floor, the attempt to justify this coalition
with the senator from Virginia and his
party by charge that they led off in favor
of equal rights. of free ballot and of q fair
count in the southern states. No man had
had the face to say that the southern people
were opposed to free ballot and fair
count. They sought to imply that. Whether
stated or implied, he stood here to say it
was gratuitous, false and untrue, and that
the charge that the democratic party in the
south desired by force, by fraud, by intimi-
dation, or by any other means to obstruct
the amendments to the constitution and to
prevent the enforcement of the laws which
guaranteed equal rights to all men, without
regard to race, color or previous condition,
| was utterly untrue. /" Any move
ment that came from the south in favor of
burying the issues of the war, in favor Of
forgetting the passions of the war, in favor
Of hiding from view the wrongs of the war,
was met by the republican party with q
slap in the face"
To these astounding statements Mr.. Hoar
pertinently replied: 81 deny the statements
made by the gentleman that the negro in the
south is allowed free ballot and an hon.
est count. The testimony of the books and
documents in possession of the senate can
not be pushed away by the mere assertion Of
the senator, however confidently made. Had
there ever been massacre at Caddo? Had
the streets of New Orleans ever run with the
blood of republican Legislators Had there
ever been massacre at Coushatta ? Had
man ever been murdered at Colfax2 Were
Twitchell's arms on his body now2 Were
Chisholm's murderers convicted When the
senator from Georgia rises to answer the
charges made on the republican side of the
chamber, that there was no free ballot in
the south, let him give his opinion in regard
to the evidence which had been reported to
the senate and to the house of representa-
tives. The speech of the gentleman was in
substance most emphatic confession of the
wisdom of the republican party for the last
fifteen years. Every one of the great meas
ures which had separated the two parties
during that period had been alluded to by
the gentleman, and only to confess how ut
terly and how thoroughly those who acted
with him had been mistaken. The same
6erceness of attack which the gentleman TO-
day made upon the methods of the republi-
can party had been heard ever since the
birth of that party, only to be followed by a
confession from the same lips that the re-
publican party had been right, and that
what it had done would be accepted, not
only as necessity but as benefit. Gen
tlemen had attacked the coalition. If the
men who had planted themselves in resist
ance to every step taken for the purpose of