The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-04-30
ton shall never again occupy and rob those

ton shall never again occupy and rob those
"unfOrtunate States.p
find that some extracts from speeches Of
Senators upon the opposite side that I had
collected have in some way been disturbed
and mislaid. ! shall ash PERM sion to in
corporate them in my remarks unless | can
get them here before | conclude what say
upon this subject.
Among these is the description of the
government of Louisiana under Republi-
can rule by the present Governor of Ohio,
Hon. Charles Foster, and also Il gentleman
| from New Jersey, who has recently been
nominated by the President for distin-
guished foreign mission, and who by his
high and shining qualities will adorn any
position to which this Government can as
sign him. They both describe that govern
ment in language stronger and more ear
nest than that which have just quoted.
Gen. Grant alsO, in one Of his messages
depicting the PROSTATE condition of the
Southern people, said he sypathiZed with
them in their PROSTATE condition, subject
as they had been to burdens of taxation
without any adequate return.
You sent your committees of inyestiga-
ton down there, and while they would
hunt up everything that could assail the
character and stab the sensibilitics of our
Southern people and pour it out here, they
could not help stumbling over the corrup-
ton, and the atrOcity, and the abhorrent
iniames of the State governments which
they were unfolding. recollect that there
| was Senator from Indiana, now dead,
who was upon one of these committees.
His heart was full of prejudice against our
people, but even he could not be blinded to
the cruel oppression under which the
Southern people were writing In agony.
Referring to the condition Of the people
under those governments, referring to the
IN. of IN inn and
dcvouring taxation, he says:
That is true of some Of these states, | have no
doubt. Had the Ku Klux Outragcs been directed at
these faithless public servants, the world would
have been well rid OF them and nobody com
planned.
Mr.. COckrell: Who was hes
Mr.. Lamar: Mr.. Pratt, of Indiana.
These State governments have gone and |
the influences have gone with them. The
people of those States have recovered their
right of self-government. l need not speak
of the prosperity of that people, black and
white, under the present governments.
The census returns have given result
which has astOnished the world and which
Is wholly incompatible with the theory of
down-troddcn and oppressed people
which the Senator from Massachusetts, rep
resented the cOl0red people of the South to
be. ! will say one thing, and that is, that
If you were to compare the condition of
the State of Mississippi, or Alabama, or
Georgia, or Virginia, or anv Southern
State, in 1880, with the statistics and his
tory of its condition Ms prepared in 1870,
you will be forced TO admit that there is not
a nation on the face of the earth which in
any two periods of its history exhibits
such contrast in all that constitutes the
strength of people and their prosperity.
have here Il description Of the South as
it now Is. Here is what Il reverend bishop
of the Methodist Church, Bishop Simp-
son. closely allied with the republican
party, who had made a trip to the South as
II part of his episcopal work, said. After
trayersing that country he returns to the
North and reports his impressions, but he
says nothing of Il kind that sustains the
Of the Senator from Massa-
he confirms no statement that
there are men down there with their feet
upon the down-tr0dden and oppressed
and nobody says so except prejudiced par
tisans and witnesses brought before COM
mittees to make false impressions. En-
lightened travellers from Europe and
reverend clergymen from the North all
contribute their testimony to the peace,
the plenty, the order, the quiet, the pros
perty of both races, and the security of
the personal property of both races, black
and white. Here Is what that reverend
bishop says:
I'M satisfied that the south Is gradually but
surely improving financially; business is .eviv-
ns, and every indication points to period OF
inarcial ease and comfort. . Anti-sla-
very ~ always was from my early youth, had
ny friend asked me twenty years ago to express
ny utmost wish for the coloed people, | should
not have dared 10 ask for such ad yanceent as has
,cen made.
Here Is the declaration of an anti-slavery /
Preacher, utopian, benevolent mission
Try, whose every fiber was imbued with III
zeal for the cause of negro emancipation III
md advancement. Upon his visit to the II
southern States, so much denounced, after L
he solid South has gotten possession OF
hat country. he prOclaims to the world
hat If he had been allowed TO tell what he
loped in his brightest vision for that peo-
lie, it would have been transcribed by
What has been actually realized in their
advancement. Now, withhold your de-
from the statements of SOUTH '
,rn men, and let them fall aud strike the
ALLOWED associations that cluster around
hat man. A.,
Mr.. President, | am too much exhausted !
o detain the Senate longer. | have said h
Iothing to-day that was intended to stir up y
my feeling of luminosity between indiyid- q
tails or sections. | belong to that class of 9
'ublic men who were secessi0nists. Every .
hrob of my heart was for the disunion of :
hese States. If that deducts from the Ia
Orce of the statements have made to-day o
Is due to candor and TO you to admit it. OF
confess that | believed in the right Of =.
cccssion and that | believed in the pro- "
riety of its exercise. will say further NJ
hat II was cherished conception Of my
hind, that Of two great, free republics on v
his continent, each pursuing its own des- pi
my and the destiny of its people and
heir happiness according to its own will.
But, sir, that conception is gone it is
unk forever out of sight. Another one l
as come in its place, and by the way it is
ny first love. The elements of il were
lanted in my heart by my father; they r.
fere taught by my mother, and they were tn
ourished and developed by my own sub he
equent reflection. May tell you what 1t
}, siri Ii stands before me now, simple in %,
IS majesty and sublime in its beauty. IL Gu
that Of one grand, mighty, indivisible N
epublc upon this continent, throwing its a. a.
wing arms around all sections; omnipO- "e
INT for protection, powerless for Oppres- "
on, cursing none, blessing all! Jap ne
lause In the galleries.) i
in