Year: 1866

cases to the people of this country, and sim


ulating ind exciting their angry passions


more than they are now, against ihisunfort


unate pcoplc-uniortunat in every respect


unfortunate on account ofthe penalty which


has followed those errors, and which they


have suffered.


Mr.. President, let us look at this tcsti


mony. The honorable Senator, said be-


fore, reads from anonymous letter. writers


from cotton agents, and people of that kind


Now, it docs SO happen that we have some
testimony upon this subject; we have the
testimony of the President of the United
States, not summer soldier or sunshine
patriot.


Mr. Sumner have not read anonymous
letters.


Mr. Cowan-Thcy are anonymous so far
as we are concerned; and / commend the
Senator s prudence in keeping the names OF
their writers from the public because have
no doubt that if their names are known
they would not be considered of much i'm
portance. livery much doubt whether there
isa single man among them who has ever
welded anything more than pen during
this rebellion. But / say that we have the
testimony Of men OF ofunexceptionable veraci-
ty; we have the testimony Of the President
of the United States, who was Union man,
and who was in favor of the Union at a time
and in place where there was some merit
in it, | do not suppose there was any great
merit in being Union man in Massachu-
sets. i suspect man would have been
very likely to have got lamp post if he had
been anything else there; but the President
of the United States was Union man in
the very thick and storm of the battle. He
was waylaid hither in order to attend to his
official duties in this body. He has stood
by the Constitution, by the Union, all the
way through, steadily and firmly; and as a
compliment to him, the g,reat, party to which
L belong, and to which he did not belong,
and never pretended to belong, conferred
upon him the office which, in the providence
of God, has made him President of the
United States


Now, sir, you are told here that this man
in his official communication to the Senate
of the United States whitewashes the condi.
ton of things down below. Yes, sir,
''whitewash" is the word The honorable
Senator says that he will not accept the
definition of "whitewash" given by the
Senator from Connecticut or the Senator
from Wisconsin, but he has told us what he
means by the word ''whitewash. - 1t is
not necessary that he should say what he
means by that word. Everybody under
stands it. | suppose even his colored friends,
in whom he takes so much interest, would
know what the meaning Of the word white
wash" was Laughter. He says that
this man who stood firm when everybody
else taltered, this man who stood almost
alone in the midst ofan enraged population,
and in the very storm and strife of the
worst civil war perhaps the world has ever



does he mean except that the President of
the United States in an official conmunica-
ton to this body comes here to lie; that is
the plain English of it, comes here either to
suppress the truth or to suggest a false
hood.


What does the President say? | will read
what he says as sufficient answer to what
all these people down South report of the
state Of affairs there, and do not find it nee
essary to deny thousands of instances of ex-
ceedingy hcrctical talk that may heve taken
place, and of REASONABLE talk if you please;
and | have no doubt in a state of things un-
PARALLEL in the history of the world hereto
fore, wrongs and outrages innumerable hap
pen there; but that is not the question. The
question is what is the condition of the
mass Of the people in the South? what is
their disposition and tendency? not to love
the North, not to love the honorable Scna-
tor from MassachuSetts-bec | very
much fear that that will not be brought
about soon unless there is a change in the
temper Of both parties-not to have hearts
overhowlng with love and gratitude to those
who they think pcrSecute and hunt them in
their submission, who kick and strike at
them after they are down, after they have
cried enough but the question is, what
is their disposition to obey the laws? What
do we care about their hearts or their dis
positions if they are obodient to the laws.
and submit to the laws? Now they have
submitted to laws which impose the heaviest
penalty, for if they are traitors the law i'm
poses the penalty of death and confscaton
of estates by means of fine. will read
what the President says now of the condi- |
ton Of that people from the information he
has received in that portion of the union
lately in rebellion, the aspect of affairs is
more promising than in view of all the cir
cumstanccs could well have been expected. "
| think there is no candid man who will not
indorso that sentiment. THE people
throughout the entire south evince laud
able desire to renew their allegiance to the
government and to repair the devastations
Of war by a prompt and cheerful return to
peaceful pursuits. "


Why should they not? To suppose any
thing else is to suppose that they are de-
mcntcd, that they have no kind of common
sense left, that four years of the most terri |
bic war and the most terrible punishment
ever inflicted upon people have been with
out their lessons. 1t cannot be, Mr.. Pres |
ident it is not in the nature of things that
it should be.


AN abiding faith on the part of this
man who suffered from these people, who
suffered from this war and the doctrine of
secession and the attempt to break the
Union; he says: ''An abiding faith is en-
tertained that their actions will conform to
their professions, and that, in acknowledge
ing the supremacy of the constitution and
thelaws of the United Sntes their loyalty
will be unrcscrvedy given to the govern
ment, whose leniency they cannot fail to ap-
preciate, and whose fostering care will soon
restore them to condition of prosperity"


And here, Mr.. President, allow me to ask
whom in tho history nf thiS world nr of tha