Year: 1869




SPEECH OF SENATOR PIPTOK
Inthe Us. Senate, the Question befnr,


ssNFl14 qAe Senate Advise and Consent


50 the con1xmati0H oe James Leng-


street. abr Surveyor OK Customs at flle


Port q New Orfeans,1


Mr.. TtPToN spoke az follows:


Mr.. ssioe1lt The constitutional
/ Question that appeals to me at This
hour is this-can 1'advise and con-
semitic this confirmation If cam
didates sent here disappointment have
ever held public trusts, it must be
shown, before / can vote for them
that In every public capacity, they
have proven themselves safe and true.


In all the business transactions of
life, every man desires to know that
the man who is employed, or the agent
that is appointed, has always been safe
and true.


If /, as q private individual, run the
risk by employing q former defaulter
or swindler, that is my own risk, and
/ must suffer the consequences. But
when my friend calls upon me to Sc
lect him an agent, and quotes the LAM
guage of a commission "confiding in
his honor and integrity,n then / dare
incur no risks, but must seek for un-
doubted honor and integrity. This is
my friends case: the former was my
own.


when I test the character of this
Rebel General Longstreet, by the
rule of ''safe and true,u Ifind that he
received military education from the
Government, and took a solemn oath
as a soldier, that he would defend the
interests of that Government, and pro-
tect her honor against the world. And
that during her prosperity he lived
upon her bounty, wore her uniform,
and shared her honOrs; but as soon
as treason assailed her, and traitors
thrust at her heart, he trailed her flag,
broke his allegiance, and offered bis
life freely, if thereby he might inherit
the honor Of being her destroyer.


In behalf of the Government whose
agent / am, dare giveno advice and
CONSENT that I would not give in my
own case or that of a friend, and there
fore must declare him unsafe and dam
gerous.


If / were a private citizen of Me-
braska to-day, and the President had
sent me in here for confirmation, you
would ask my Senators, is Mr.. Upton
''safe and true" in the light of his past
fidelity, and If informed that had
proven fiagrantly false within the past
few years, you Senators would never
confirm me. IF my Senators offered
as a plea in my favor, that / had sub
n2ittca to the laws since my treason TO
my neighbors, my country, and my
State, you might be willing that they
should give me Office in their own
good time, but would prefer to confirm
to a general Government Office, some
one who had never been compelled to
come back to legal submission, by le-
gal force.


For national crime, this man has
not shown national repentance. He
submitted when the confederate flag
went down. And though he may say
to intimate friends that he is sorry he
went into the rebellion, that is moth
ing more than every discounted rebel
feels who considers the price his State
and section has paid for their temerity.
By this act we are to make him a coz
operating Republican leader, while
those doctrines at the foundation of
our organization, and incorporated in
the party platforms on which Mr.. Lin
coin was twice elected, and which are
the foundation of all our recOnstruc-
ton labors, have never received the
assent of his will, or been an article Of
his political creed. Such man may
be taken on probation into a party,
and the time may come when he
might merit promotion. But i am
called upon to believe him little less
than paragon of discretion, and wis
dom, and political virtue, because he
demanded that his accomplices should
submit to the Republican party as the
proper organization for restoring the
Government. Why should he not
very naturally do that? The party
had conquered him, and extended its
held the Senate and House
by increased majorities-had control
of the State gOvefments-was enthu-
siastic over its victories-and stood
forth the only controlling organization
in the country. He had been blindly
devoted to self-destructiOn, had he
thought of any other policy than that
of submission to such a power.


In this submission there may be sa-
gacity and prudence, without one par
ticIe of true repentance and sorrow;
and in as much as perfdy and treach-
cry has been the rule, and decent fl
deity the exception on the part Of
these rebels, prudence demands full
probation. If more than half life
was lived to bring about q eulmina-
ton in treason, when the balance is
terminated, you can only come to a
conclusion, as to whether it would
have been safe to have been promoted
to office.


But in as much as this appointment
can only be made, "by and with the
advice and consent Of the Senate"
can not advise this appointment, be-
cause prefer all loyal men of the
South to him. I must advise the Sc
lection of some one of them-true
among the false-faithful among the
ithless-always ready to serve us
always ready tO-die if need be for the
old flag and constitution.


But also, prefer all loyal men from
the North to him. And if he is to be
sent from Alabama to LOuisiOna, why
not send some loyal soldier from the
North, to cooperate with these South
ern Senators, so many of whom were
so lately from the North themselves.
But if neithar of these classes can be
made available, then advise taking
for this place, some soldier who was
conscripted and forced to embrace the
stars and bars, as this course would
pay q slight compliment to those
whose hearts were not freely in the
cause of secession.


You can not say with any show Of
truth that this act of magnanimity Is
needed on the part of Longstreet. Al
ready we have removed all his disabil-
tiles by law, and in as much as Office
holding can be enjoyed by a few of
our citizens, we rob him of nothing,
when we say we restore your property,
right to vote, and to enjoy your once
forfeited life, but require you to look
to the votes of your rebel allies for
your first promotion to Office.


But it is not necessary as an exam
pie Of reimbursement to unrepented
rebels. Senators from the South tell