Year: 1879

|
laws of society, we suffer in public
esteem if we violate the laws of
man, we are subject to its pains
and penalties if we violate the
laws of God, we will suffer the
penalties of sin +; if we violate the
laws of nature, we can reap none
OF the benefits which our knowl-
edge of them now enables us to
derive therefrom. So it is in poll
tics. You outraged all of our sem
sibillties in your treatment of us,
and we naturally became your po.
li:ical enemies. There is no i'm :
punity of transgression.


You now affect to treat the pres
ence of representative Southern
men in these halls as both an in.
trusion and calamity, and the
tone Of your speeches will induce
an intelligent stranger sitting in
these galleries for the last three
months to believe that you were
sorry you spent 50 much blood and
treasure TO force the South back
into the Union. Is it really true :?
Do you regret that the proper SEN
timent of society in the South is
represented here? And rather
than this should be, would you
prefer that the South had staiG
where she tried to go? l hope
not. For the sake of your patri-
otism, [ hope not. Had you rather
| that the Union had been lost than
that yon should lose power Was
it the Union you fought for, or was
it political supremacy Notwith-
standing the wild blasts of alarm
which you are sounding throughout
the length and breadth of this vast
country, you well know that the
only danger which our presence
here indicates is the danger Of your
being ousted from political power.
In what way can the Democracy
injurc this country What mo
tive have we to injTc it ? Having
surrendered the doctrine of secess-
ion and abandoned any intention
whatsoever to divide this Union,
how could we expect that the De-
mocracy to which we belong could
obtain and hold the control Of the
government except by showing the
people by our acts that we are pat
riotically desirous of promoting its
welfare and its glory Bnt you
say you distrust these expressions.
My friends, in your hearts You do
not. On the contrary, a man who
has offered his blood once for his
plightcd faith you believe when he
plights his faith again. There is
not Southern rebel, no matter
how bitter and rampant he may
have been,. that you haye not re-
ccivcd with arms wide spread, and
rewarded with offices of honor and
trust, who came to you with craven
Repentance on his tongue, ready to
vote the Republican ticket and eats
ing dirt with the same gluttonous
appetite with which he once ate fire.
You profess to believe him, but
you despise him in your hearts,
You are not alarmed to receive
him, and you cast no suspicious
upon his professions of sincerity,
though, ae has more than once hap
pcned, he asks you to believe he
tells the truth to-day because he
told lie yesterday.


Mr.. President, it seemed to me
not a little hard and inhospitable
that Southern Senators whose States
were forced back into the Union
should be so often twitted with theil
presence on this floor. We arc
here in obedience to the constitution
r and the Union, and if | recollect
Alright some OF the Senators on this
floor came to the South to invite MS
back into these halls. And ] have
distinct recollection that the Sen
ator from Illinois Mr.. Loganl anc
the Senator from Rhode lslarC
Mr.. Burnside came all the way
, down 20 North Carolina TO invite


that State to send Senators here
: and they came attended with sucl
: a numerous retinue and were Sc
urgent in their solicitation that ]
; for one, found it impossible to re-
> sist 50 weighty an invitation
!, Laughter.


:, Mr.. Logan. When l got here
= did not find You. Laughter.


Mr.. Vance. But came as soo1
as l could. Laughter The honor
q able Senator found me, and h
e wonld not open the door for m
: after he had invited me. Laughter.
u Now that we are here the Sena-
} tor from Illinois complains of on
. presence, and the Senator fror
i New York accuses lis of wishing t
e "dominate" at the feast to wlIic
? we have beer invited, and says tha
h we are like McGregor. wfo elaine
q that the head of the table wa
II wherever he sat. For one | dis