New-York tribune., 1902-05-08

into emblem of tyranny and subjugation
after having bought these people. against their
Spain for their liberties before went to war
with Spain to release Cuba from its thraldOm-
those old people Of both sides who fought the
cruel wars were better type OF men than we
are. Poverty has demorahzed the South, and
wealth has made you Of the North rotten.
do not want to get into the question too
much; but what / want to ask you is, what
has become Of your love for the ColOred people?
Where is your consistency about your father
hood Of God and brotherhood of man doctrine Of
forty years ago and Of thirty years ago and of
Uenty years ago?
1t is only about ten years. something like
that, when the Force bill was endeavored to be
PASSED through this body. 1t was PASSED
through the other ed of Congress and came in
here and was only defeated by two or three
votes. The purpose of that bill was to forever
put the Southern whites under the heels Of the
negro majority protected by national legislation
and army if need be-
HOW THEY TREAT THE NEGROES.
In dealing with Porto Rico. in order that a
man should vote you require him to be able 70
read and write; and in dealing with Hawaii
what did you demand? That a man should he
able to read and write before he could vote
Now, in the Philippines you want to eclipse us
of the South: you want to show your hands in
dealing with those yellow people or negro. You
want to try your hands to see if YOU cannot
eclipse us. We have not had any waterCures in
the South on the negroes. but one Senator said
the other day something about the sand cure.
I say. from my knowledge of the situation.
that when we get ready to put a neGrO's
head in the sand, we put his body there, too.
There is 20 need for any of this kind Of
cruelty, and do not indulge in 1t. We are
simply doing what you forced us to do. TO pre-
serve our civilization and maintain that control
Of our offices which is necessary to decent
government and government under which we
can afford to live. You have veeTed clear
around: you have boxed the compass. and gone
to the other side of it, aud you deal with the
COored races of the Orient differently from what
You deal with them here.
Mr.. Spooner-I want to ask If there is any
thing personal about the Senator's proposition?
O5ughterD
Mr.. Tillman-"You'' is a collective term, meant
to embrace every man who approves of this in
famous policy in the Philippines. GaughterD
But the point TO which ! wish to direct your
attention is. that while the institution of slav-
ery-thank God, l say. it IS gone. because 1t en-
slaved the whites more than the blacks. and
would not restore It if l could do so simply TO the
extent of signing my rame-but with the senti-
ment which prevailed all through the North in
regard to this matter through the reading of
Harriet ReeCher Stoves novel of Uncle Toms
Cabin and the oratory of Wendell Phillips and
other abolitionists, you were all taught and
educated to believe that the institution Of slav-
cry was one which involved a great deal Of
cruelty and iendishn ess and crimes which are
unspeakable.
look back to my childhood On a slave
plantation, where there were hundred slaves
and remeher nothing Of that. There was an
occasional whipping of some one because OF
ing but kindness in the main, and an effort 10
give them good clothes. plenty Of food and to
of thing.
AFTER THE FILIPINO COON"
But do not Jet US discuss these questions We
want you TO vindcate before the people your pol
icy toward the Philippines. TO eXonerate the
American army from the stigma resting
upon it, and we propose TO hold you to the issue.
We will discuss the South; viii discuss the
negro; will discuss carpetbag government;
we Will discuss anything you want. If you will
bring in a bill affecting those questions. But we
are not going to run off after foxes just now.
We are after this Filipino COON and we want his
hide
Now, I may some time marshal the evidence
more fully, though I do not want to do il. I
think that If Congress had the authority sus-
forbidd!ng any member Of either body ever in
Jecurg into debate any discussion Of the Civil
War or the revival OF another Of those bitter
feelings of the past. it would be a blessing 10
our country. We OF the South the sufferers
We are the men who were wronged as L be-
hcVe You think you were Justified. we are
ready to let you think But bring into a
debate, entirely different proposition. as
a vindication for the infamies being perpetrated
over there, the fact that something of the kind
was done forty years ago by white Americans
against white Americans. does not make IT right
1t is not patriotic. Two wrongs do not make a
right anywhere, and you cannot Justify wrong
doing in the Philippines now upon the general
proposition that war is hell"
PHILIPPINE GUERILLA WAR.
This is not war It is slaughter. There has
been no war in the Philippines since the first
was dispersed and his capital taken. 1t has
simply been guerilla warfare oOZing out from
the people themselves. 1t has been simply an
irresistible impulse on the part Of those people.
You expect to change human nature You ex-
pect 10 alter the currents Of the human heart.
You expect to have these people, in seTvile and
abject slavery, crawl around between the legs
of your autocratic commission or your military
officers and submit absolutely. when you do not
tell them what you propose TO do finally. We
have asked you to declare your ultimate pur-
pose, to say whether or not these people may
ever expect to have that modicum of self gov
ernment to which they are entitled, and which
your profession as the Republican party would
make you hasten to give them If you had not
changed and lost all recollection Of the glorious
past OF the Republican party.
THE BURNING OF COLUMBIA
But the Senator from Massachusetts, (Mr
Hoar), aiding the Senator from Maryland (dr
McComas) on a matter Of history 10 which
refer with sorrow, undertook TO show that Co
lumbfa burned itself practically or words to that
effect; that it accident. 1 have only one
witness present AS said, I may bring others
l know this. After Sherman's army crossed the
Savannah River into South Carolina, from the
column there marched either side for fifteen
or twenty miles, foraging parties scouts. and
there was very little left, after the army had
passed, except the wells and the chimneys
They did not burn themselves. That was not
accidental. l know that there are living in Co
IumDia to-day scores of people who saw Union
soldiers running from house to house applying
the torch, and who will swear to II. It does me
good TO bring this up, but will produce this
one witness. nave IN my Hanu the Memoirs or
General William T. Sherman" written by him
self, and from page 2S1 of Volume II l read
this:
Many of the people thought that this fire was
deliberately planned and executed. This is not
true 1t was accidental. and in my judgment, be
gan with the cotton which General Hampton 3
had set nre to on leaving the city whether by
his orders or not is not materiap. which fire was
partially subdued early in the day by
but when night came the high wind famed il again
into full blaze carried II against the frame houses
which caught like tinder. and soon spread beyond
control.
Now, the city of Columbia is a city of homes.
IT was at that time a city of homes. In recent