Year: 1870

ing one single Interest OF Ileir white


fellow citizens. They ask but the
- rights which are thei,s by Gods uni


versal law, and which are the natural


OutgrOwth, the logical sequence of the


condition in which tile legislative en-


actments of this nation have placed


them. They appeal to you and to me


to see that they receive that prOtec-


ton which alone will enable them to


pursue their daily avOcations with


success and enjoy the liberties of citi-


ZenshiD on thesame footing with their


white neighbOrs and friends. | do


not desire simply TO defend my own


race from unjust and unmerited


charges, but | also desire to place upon


record an expression OF my full and
entire confidence in the integrity of
purpose with which ] believe the


President, Congress, and the Republi-


can party will meet these questions SO


prolific of veal or woe, not only to


my own people, but to the whole


South. They have been, so far as /


can read the history of the times, in


1uenced by no spirit of petty tyranny.
. The poet has well said that


at is excellent


To have a giants strength; but tits tyrannOus


To use ii like a giant.


And how have they used that pow


or lodged in them 10y the people? In


acts of cruelty and oppression toward
those who sought to rend in twain


this gOOdly fabric of our fathers, the
priceless heritage OF so much hard


ship and endurance in revolutionary
times? Let the reconstruction enact


ments answer the interrogation. No


poor words of mine are needed to de-


fend the wise and beneficent legisla-


tion which has been extended alike to


white and cOlOred citizens. The Re


publican party is not inflamed, as


some would fain have the country


believe, against the white population


of the South. Its borders are wide
lenough for all truly loyal men to find


within them peace and TepOse from


the din and dIscord of an angry fac


tiOn. And be that loyal man white


or black, that great party of our Re


public will, if consistent with the reg


ord it has already made for pOsterity,
throw around him the same impartial
security in his pursuit of liberty and


happiness. If a certain class at the


South had accepted in good faith the
benevolent OveTtures which were
offered to them with no niggard hand
to-day would not find our land still
harassed with feHds and contentious.
I ] remarked, Mr.. President, that |


rose to plead for protection for the de-
/ fenseless race who now senG theirdele-
( CATION to the seat of Government to I.
sue for that which this Congress alone 7
I can secure to them. And here let me .
I say further, that the people of the |
4 North owe 10 the colOred race a deep
obligation which il is no easy matter I
/ to fulfill. When the Federal armies /
were thined by death and disaster, and 4
sOmber clouds Overhung the length |
and breadth of the Republic, and the I
/ very air was pregnant with the I
rumorS of foreign interference-in 1
/ those dark days of defeat, whose men, /
ories even yet haunt us as an. ugly ,
dream, from what source did our na-
ton in its seeming death thrOes gain /
additional and new-found power? 1t I
was the SaOle sons of the South that I
valiantly rushed TO the rescue, and .
but for their intrepidity and ardent .
daring many n northern fireside would |
miss to-day parental cOunsels or a
brothers love.


Sir, repeat the fact that the color
ed race saved to the noble women of
New England and the Middle States
men on whom they lean to day for
security and safety. Many of my
race, the representatives of men on
the field of battle, sleep in the count
less graves of the south. If those
quiet resting places of Our hOnored
dead could speak to-day what a NIGH
ty voice, like to the rushing Ofa NIGH
ty wind, would come up fiom those
sepulchral homes! Could we resist the
eloquent pledgings of their appeal ?
All, sir, think that this question of
immediate and ample protection for
the loyal people of Georgia would lose
its legal technicalities, and we would
cease to hesitate in our provisions for
their instant relief. Again, [ regret {
this delay on other grounds. The
tauDt is frequently flung at us that I
Nemesis more terrible than the Greek
perSOnation of the anger of the gods ;
awaits her hour of direful retribution.
We are told that at no distant day !
great uprising of the American people
will demand that the reconstruction
acts of Congress be undone and blotted !
forever from the annals of legislative
enactment. / inquire, sir, if this dD-
lay in affording protection to The 10y {
alists of the State of Georgia does not |
lend an uncomfortable significancy 1
to this bOasting siieer with which we |
so often meet? Delay is perilOus at I
best; for it is IS true in legislation as G
in physic, that the longer we procras- t
tinate to apply the proper remedies c
the more chronic becomes the mala- s
dy that we seek to heal. II


THE land wants such I
AS dare with rigor execute the laws. Z
Her festered members must be lanced and o


tented.
He's a bad surgeon that for pity spares v
The part corrupted till the gangrene spread
And all the body perish. He that's merciful q
Unto the bad is cruel to the good"


Mr.. President, 1 favor the motion r.
to strike out so much of the bill un-
der debate as tends to abridge the =
term of the existing Legislature of a
Georgia. Let me, then, as briefly as =
possible, review the history of the case =
which so urgently claims our prompt :
action. In the month of November, -
1867, an election was held by the au- :,
.hOrity OF the reconstruction policy :,
Of this Congress in the State of Geor- -
yia. Its object was to settle by the T,
ballot of her whole people, white and !,
sOloIGuf NuGluGI IL WIS tN peuieUG 10
q convention which should -,
'rame constitution for civil govern -
nent in that State. A certain class -,
,f the population declined to take any 8
lart i'm the election. The vote cast at -
hat election represented thirty thous- ~ ~
md white and eighty thousand color
ID citizens OF the State. 1t was q ma
Ority, too, of the registered vote, and g
n consequence a convention was call IT
ID. = number of the delegates who W
ormed that convention were eolored. III
By its authority a constitution was SO
ramed just and equitable in all its al
,rovisions. Race, color, or former Ct
of seTvitude found no bar 50
ier in any of its ample enactments, IN
nd it extended to those lately in IN
rmed rebellion all the privileges of
IS impartial requirements. The con-
titutiOn was submitted to the people
f the State for ratification. Every 20
fort that human ingenuity could ~ ~
all into requisition to defeat its adOp- p,
ion was resOrted TO. The loyal pOpu- Il,
alton of the State was victorious; and r,
the determination of W,
Ome to defeat the constitution, that We
anne class sought under its provisions -