Year: 1866

low the speech of the honorable Senate


from Massachusetts, (Mr. Sumner to q,


to the country without very brief reply


If that speech be true, and lift be cprrec


picture Of the South, then God help us


then this Republic, this Union is at al


end then the great war which we wage,


for the Union was folly then all the blooc


and treasure which We have expended il


that war in order to restore ourselves tC


companionship with the people of the Soutl


have been equally folies. But, Mr.. Pres


ldent, is it true? Or is not this series o


er parte statements made up by anonymou,


letter writer's, people who are down there


more than likely stealing cotton, people


who are down there in the enjoyment Of


place and power, people who are interested


that the disturbed condition Of things which


exist there now shall always continue, be-


cause they make profit by it? Is there any


man who has had any experience in the


trial of causes, any man who knows any.


thing about the nature of evidence. who
does not know that the honorable Senator
could have sent his emissaries into any one
county in the lately rebellious States. and
gather the expressions of knavcs and fools,
and discontented, singlc-idead people, far
more than he has given us in this speech ?


We are told here of the exceptional in
stances of bad conduct on the part of the
people of the South. Why, what large
volume it would take to hold all that Ifa
man were to GO about anywhere in the loyal
States and hunt up what he might suppose
to be reasonable expressions, heretical ex-
| presslons, how many could he find =? And
yet we are treated to all this here as if il
were the whole of the evidence i'm the case.
One man out of ten thousand is brutal to a
negro, and that is paradcd here as IA type
of the whole people of the South, whereas
nothing is said of the 9,999 men who treat
ed the negro well. One man expresses a
great deal of, dissatisfaction at the present
state of affairs, and that is paradcd here,
and nothing is said Of the other 10, 900 men
who are contented to accept it and make
| the most Of it.


What, then, are we to do? We are to
suppose that the people of the Southern
States lately in rebellion have common sense;
and when their utterances aic in accordance
with what is common sense and the dictate
Of their own interest, we have right to
presume it to be true. But according to
what we have just heard, everything that
has come from the people of these States
and from their public bodies, from the Rep
rcscntatives of these people, is to be taken
as false; and why? Because some cotton
agent, some mccorrespondent of IA radical news
paper in the North, some otfice-holdcr who
has been making profit of the state of things
there chooses to say it is false The heresy
Of State Rights is not destroyed there, the
honorable Senator says Have we not heard
from almost all the public men ofthe South
that the question was put to the arbitra-
ment Of the sword, that they have lost, and
that they submit? Have they not acoui-
esced in the abolition of fslavery-that thing
ofall others which was the last in the opin
ion of everybody, that they would submit
to? ia.


But still further guarantees are wanted
we are not told what they are what are
they? What is wanted? Everybody ad.
mits that the negro ought to have his natur-
al rights secured to him. believe all the
moderate conservative men of this chamber
are fully agreed that every man should have
his natural rights securcd-the right to life.
liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the
protection ofproperty, limbs and reputation;
that he should have the right to sue and be
sued, and to testify in courts of Justice
The negro has not hitherto been allowed in
the Southern States to testify in courts of
justice, and why? Because he was slave,
and if | had been a citizen of the Southern
States when slavery prevailed there, would
have resisted his right to testify in courts.
\ witness, like a voter, ought to be free
man; he should not belong to another man.
What chance would ltigant have against
the master of the slaves if the slaves could
testify? 1t seems to me that the slaves
ought not to testify for the same reason that
the wife ought not to testify either for or
against her husband Would you ask ne
gro to testify against his master, to 90 back
to that master and be subjected to his i'll
will because OF his testimony? Would you
allow him to testify for the master as against
a party on the other side? Certainly not.
But now this state of things has passed
away. Now the people of the Southern
States themselves, so far as understand
them, are in favor of opening the courts to
all these classes Of people. And, sir, they
must open them for their own security. !
am willing to leave that to themselves; their
own interests will compel them to let all
people testify, unless they are excluded by
those disabilities that have heretofore ex-
cuded witnesses from testifying If the
honorable Senator from Massachusetts, and
those who think with him. desire that these
people should have the right of suffrage,
why not say so broadly?


MIR. SUMNER do say so.


MT. COWan-N cry well, tnat Is so much
that is clear; make it broadly; we may differ
from him, but the people will decide
am perfectly willing to acquicsce in their
decision; | do not care which way it is; but
the people will decide that question, and
they will decide it promptly. Ifthe honor
able Senator from Massachusetts wants to
hold the doctrine that these States are not
States, and that they are not constituent
members ofthe Union let him say so; there
is tribunal to which that can be -eferred.
If he wishes to take issue with the Prcsi-
dent on these points, let the issue be made
fairly and squarely, and it will be met. II
Thank God, in this government, not like
that of Russia which he has euogized, there
is power above us all; there is a power to
whose arbitrament and award we can ap-
peal, and who will settle this thing conclu-
sively.


Now, Mr.. President, am for reconcilia-
ton. | want to have this Union restored
and union means union by consent, not
by force. / would like to make friends of
all the people with whom we have been at
enmity heretofore. | do not want the con-
test to go on any longer. But are we to
make friends with them, and are they to be |
reconciled to us, and are they to behave
better by such speeches as have been made
by the honorable Senator here to-day?
very much doubt it, do not think that |
he will improve the condition of the South
ern heart, or the condition of the Southern
mind by thus parading these exceptional