Year: 1867

uO GlllS WOulIt, luUS0u, D6 q heavenly
ty; not as humiliatiug gilt, not as an
unsolicited donation, not as an Indifferent
aims by the wayside; but in the spirit of
that higher and broader charity which per-
| tains to masses of men rather than to indi-
| viduals, and which recognizes the princi-
| pies of Justice and ignores all sense of
wrong and oppression. A policy like this
would do more, to heal the great wounds of
the country, more to inaugurate peace aud
| harmony and mutual respect among the
distracted sections, than if you were to
pour out the entire treasure of the nation
as an aims to proud and high-spirited
people.


But reinstated Union, such as our
fathers established, is not desired by our
| political opponents. 1t is manifest thatthe
dominant party do. not intend, and are de-
| terInined not to have, restoration of the
7 Union under the Constitution. During the
war they talked much and vehemently
about the life of the nation, when the only
thing they cared about, outside of their
party schemes, was the preservation OF the
geographical limits of the country. A sort
of political materialism took possession of
the public mind. The Republican leaders,
| in the frenzy of the period, succeeded i'm
instilling iuto the minds of the masses of
their party a belief that the great object of
| the founders of this Government was
mere geographical entity rather than the
establishment of a civil polity, with consti


tutional liberty as its pole-star, and the
security of human rights as its highest aim.
the nation, the Republicans sought to pre-
serve. 1t was the body, not the soul, they
desired to live. Such a proposition is
about as orthodox in political philosophy
as it would be in theology for a synod
of Westminster divines to announce as
that the body should be cared for
than that the soul should be immor-
tai. The true patriot, Mr.. Chairman, does
| not look at this great question in this gross
and materialistic point OF view. To him
this great panorama of physical grandeur.
this wonderful exhibition of mountain and
river and plain, is nothing, unless


The sovereign law. the States collected eOiz."


vitalized through the spirit, and deriving
its existence alone from the creative power
of the Constitution, shall add its beauty to
| the landscape, and the spirit OF liberty and
order shall also breathe through the atmOs-
phere in harmony with the scene. The sum
shine upon its mountains and the gliding
shadows upon its beautiful valleys, will
have but little beauty for him, unless the
| light of the Constitution, the sunshine of
Just and equal laws, shall also shed their
radiance upon mountain-tOp and valley.
Its babbIing brooks and laundering water
i falls will have but little music for him, I'M
less there is blended with it the symphony





peaceful States revolving around the con-
Ftrolling center of a common Constitution.
/ / am at loss, Mr.. Chairman, to under
stand the motive and the spring of action
| which impels the other side of the House,
although they are somewhat divided in
their position as to the bill now before us, to
i propose to vote 81 100000 to a people whom
they have oppressed by a studied system OF
hostile legislation unparalleled in modern
| times. Is it intended as some reparatiOn
for the wrongs thus inflicted upon them
Is it, at last, compensation rather than
charity? Is reaction in the Republican
mind, like reaction in all other over-excite-
Emehts, whether moral or physical, about to
take place, and thus restore the popular
fteeling to that normal condition of quiet
and .repoSe so well calculated to bring
Fabout good understanding between par
ties now hostile and belligefent? If there
is any feeling OF this sort connected with
this measure on the part of those who ad-
Vocate this bill as members of the party on
the other side of the House, why not frank
tly apply the real remedy at once, with
straightforward directness and earnestness
| Several gentlemen on the Republican side
put the merits of this bill upon the ground
that it would tend to bring about recon
fstruction and reconciliation. If that is a
thing desired by our friends on the other
side of the Hail, or by portion of them,
there is a much more effectual mode of ac-
comprising Lne oDJect. Repeal your
Freedmen's Bureau bills, your Civil Rights
bills, your Negro Suffrage bills, and your
Military Reconstruction bills, and you will
do more to reunite a divided people, more
to put the country on the hig1l-road to pros
perity and greatness, more to reinYigorate
all the channels of trade, of commerce, and
of the Industrial arts, than you can
/ by all the money you can create by paper
mills and steam printingrpresses, when ap-
IpIed in the way of loose and indefinite
charity to people who are too proud to
acknowledge or even accept the favor as
an aims, and who are too much broken
down by political oppression to be perma-
nently benefited by its reception.


For these reasons, sir, and for many
more which might be enumerated, / shall
earnestly and conscientiously record my
Il vote aUainst the MASSAGE of the hill IT.