Year: 1866




The honorable gentleman from Penn
sylvana, Mr. Stephens boldly declares
h is motives and purposes. He says:


According to my judgment they ought
never to be recognized as capable Of acting
in the union, or being counted as valid
states until the constitution shall have
been SO amended as to secure perpetua
ascendency to the party of the union"


IF they should grant the right of suf
frage to persons OF color. | thiak there
would always be union white men enough
in the south aided by the blacks, to divide
the representation and thus continue the
republican ascendency.'


Here, then. is the motive and purpose
of the majority ofthis house The states
are to be held in the grasp of despotic
power the government is 10 be revolution
lied to secure the ascendency Of the re-
publican party Proclaim it to the coun>
try. let il go out through all the land, the
union, the republic, must be deferred aud
sacrificed, if need be, to preserve the as
tendency of party.


Oh, if the bitter and unreenting party
might relent, would appeal TO you Of this
house in the name of Washington, who
warned against the fell spirit of party
would appeal to you in the name of our
common country. now anxiously awaiting
fraternal reunion; | would appeal to you
in the name of the brave dead whose bodies
are scattered like the leaves Of the fores t
on all your mountains and in all your val
lcys, and whose spirits are now looking
down from the blue above, to tell you they
died tor country aud not party; | would
appeal to you in the name Of those fathers
and mothers who gase to the republic. and
not party, their first born and best loved
sons l would appeal to you in the name
Of the millions whose hearts bleed atresh
whenever memory recalls the departed, and
who find their only solace in the fact that
those they mourn fell in the service of the
union, the whole union, and not in the
blind service of party, to relent Give us
the full frution Of our hopes. the reward
Of our sacrifices, the fruits Of our victories.
the fraternal union Of our fathers, the
brotherhood Of states. Parties are chan
ging and evane>cent; they 90 up and
down on Che waves of ponnlar passion anu
prejudice guard and strengthen them as
you will they cannot live forever. The
scepter Of power will ere long fall from
your hands. Anothar patty as despotic
and grinding may Yet dictate-may yet
determine the terms and conditions upon
which your states shall exercise their rigl:ta
and functions in tue union.


I Party spirit kno rs no law it refuses t.
reason it has no attribute of justice, nc
sense of honor, no conscience, no toleratlon
The measure oi its demands and exactionS
is the strength and power to enforce them
lfyou, to-day. can dictate the conditions
upon which only the state CT Tennessee
may be permitted to perform her duties
and exercise her rights in the union, i,
may be only question of time when some
new elements, moved by popular caprice
may combine 20 dictate to New England
1t is tcrful thIng 20 trust the Liberties
OF great people to the capricious and
ever shifting power of party. | for one,
deny the right or power to dictate any
terms or attach any conditions outside OF
the constitution upon which any state may
have its place in the union. The only
/ rightlul con .ltions are obedience to the
constitution aud law. and that obedience
in itself consists in the full exercise Of all
its rights and the performance of all con-
stitutiOnal obligations as 4 state in the
union. / can well understand how difficult
thing it is to look or act upon these great
/ questions without prejudice or passlon.-
The same writer on international law
! from whom have already quoted says


The tumult of discord and the fame OF
civil war little agree with the proceedings
OF pure and exact justice. More quiet
times are to be awaited for"


VIC aid wait for more quiet times to
amend the constitution The statesman
and the legislator should never act fror,
hatred or passion toward those affected by
their acts. Bloody hands and malignant
hearts should never invade the sanctuary
of law or Justice. The man who from
preconeeived opinions prejudice would
be disqualified TO sit rs juror where the
PERSON toward whom he entertained such
feelings was party should look with dis
trust upon himself when he comes to leg.
islate where his most sacred rights are to
be affected.


SIR, the question has been repeatedly
asked whether We would consent that those
who had been engaged in the attempt to
break up and lie stroy the union should come
back and ENJOY The benefits of the consti
tuition they had endeavored to subvort |
answer, unhssitatingly, | would. There
has never been day or an hour since the
first scene in the bloody drama at Sumter
that my most ardent wish and prayer to
God has not been that they might not lay
\ down their arms and come back; come
back, not as conquered provinces, not to
be held as conquered subjects, as subju-
gated people, but as coequal. independent
sovereign states. To me the union Of our
fathers is worth just as much as it was at
the beginning of the war. It's restoration
is just as necessary to the prosperity and
happiness Of this country now as then
And 20 further; the crime of those who
would prevent its restoration is just as
black and damnablc as that Of these who
made restoration neces ary