Year: 1876

) ing personal point against any man, Du
e simply to show where honest men stoo(
/ when that contest was approaching it
t crisis. | read from Il speech made on tht
= 10Th day of December, 1859, by the dis
/ tinguished gentleman from Mississippi
2 Mr.. Singleton, then and now a member
r of this House
3 The South will never submit to tha
: state of things. 1t matters not what evilE
, come upon us; it matters not how deep VIZ
may have to wade through blood; we arc
l bound to keep our slaves in their present


position. And let me ask you, what good
T would you bring to the slaves by this pro
cess of abolition? You may possibly have
the object i'll view of benetitting the slaves
or beneftting the white race, or both; but
} suppose you could carry out your plans
, and Contine US to our present area and
suppose that the institution of slavery
should abolish itself, what would you have
, done? You know it is impossible for us
to liye on terms of equality with them. II
is not to be supposed for a moment that
we can do so. The result would be a
war between the races, which would
perhaps involve the utter annihilation OF
one or the other; and thus you see that in,
stead of benefitting either you would have
brought disaster upon both.


But tell you here to-day, that the insti-
tuition of slavery must be sustained. The
} South has made up its mind to keep the
black race in bondage. If we are not per-
mitted to do this inside of the Union, / tell
you that it will be done outside of it. Yes,
sir, and we will expand this institution;
we do not intend to be confined within our
present limits; and there are not men
enough in all your borders to coerce three
million armed men in the South, and pre-
vent their going into the surrounding Ter
ritories.


In the course of that debate, the same
gentleman said:


am one of those who have said, and
here repeat it, if the black Republican par
ty elect President am for dissolving the
Union.


| have no doubt the gentleman fairly
and faithfully represented the opinion Of
his State. Not long before the date Of
this speech it will bcremembered that two
distinguished members of the Republican
party had uttered their opinions on this
subject. MIR. Lincoln had said that it
was impossible for country to remain
partly slave and partly free And Mr..
Seward had said, that there was an ire
pressible conflict between the systems of
free and slave labor, which could never
cease until one or the other was wholly
overthrown. The Republican party, how
ever, disclaimed all right or purpose to in
terfere with slavery in the State yet
they expressed the hope that the time
would come when there should be no
slave under our flag. In response to that
particular opinion, the distinguished gen.
tleman from Mississippi, Mr.. Lamar,
then member Of this House, an the 23d
day of December, 1859, said this:


was upon the floor of the Senate when
your great leader, William II. Seward, an
nounced that startling programme of anti
slavery sentiment and action.


And, sir, in his exutation he exclaimed
for heard him myself-that he hoped to
see the day when there would not be the
footprint of a single slave upon this CONT
nent And when he uttered this atrocious
sentiment, his form seemed to dilate, his
pale, thin face, furrowed by the lines of
thought and evil passions, kindled with
malignant triumph, and his eye glOwed
upon Southern Senators as though the fires
of hell were burning in his heart


have read this passage to mark the
height to which the antagoniSm had risen
in 1859. And this passage enables us to
measure the progress he has since made


| marx it here as one of the notable
signs of the time that the gulf which in
tervenes between the position then occu-
pied by the gentleman from Mississippi
and the position he occupies to-day, is so
deep, SO vast, that it indicates progress
worthy of all praise. | congratulate him
and the country that, in so short time
so great a change has been possible


Now | ask the gentleman if he is
quite sure as Il matter of tact, that
the democratic party, its southern as
well as its northern wing, have fol
lowed his own iIlustrious and worthy
example in the vast progress he has
made since 1859? He assures us that
the transformation has been so COM
plete, that the nation can safely II ust
XII he most precious fruits of the
war in the hands of that party who
stood with him in 1859. If that be
true, rejoice at it with my heart ;
but the gentleman must pardon me
if | ask him to assist my wavering
faith by some evidence, some consol-
ing proofs. When did the great
transformation take place? Certainly
not within two years after the de-
livery of the speech have quoted ;
for two years from that time, the
contest had risen much higher; it
had risen to the point Of open, terri
bic and determined war. Did the
change come during the war? Oh, no;
for in the fou terrible years ending
in 1865, every resource of courage
and power that the Southern States
could muster was employed not only
to save slavery bnt to distroy the
Union. So the transformation had
not occurred in 1865. When did il
occur?- Aid our anxious inquiry, for
the nation ought to be sure that the
great change has occurred before it
can safely trust its destinies to the
democratic party. Did it occur in
the first epoch of reconstruction-the
two years Immediately following the
war! During that period the attempt
was made to restore the governments
in the South on the basis Of the white
vote. Military control was held gen.
orally; but the white population of
the Southern States were invited TO
elect their own Legislatures and es-
tabliah provisional governments.


In the laws, covering period OF
two and Il half years, 1865, and II
portion OF 1867, enacted by those
legislatures, we oa%ht to find proof
of the transformation if 1t had then
occurred. What DO we find? What
we should naturally eXpec'; that a
} people, accustomed 10 the domination
ut slavery, re-enacted in almost all
of The Southerm States, and notably
in The State Of Mississippi and Louis,
) lana, laws limiting and restricting
he liberty Of the colored man; va.
grant iawS and pconagc laws, where.
by negroes were sold ut auction for
the Payment Ola paltry tax or fine
and held in slavery as real rs the
slavery Of other days. I believe
that this was true of nearly all Of the
Southern States; SO that the expert.
mcnt of allowing the white popula,
, ton of the south to adjust that very
, question proved a frightlul failure
and then 1t was that the national
Congress interviewed. They proposed
an act Of reconstruction, ;ln act which
; became law on the Ind of March


1867


And what was that act? Gentlemen
Of the South, you are too deeply
, schooIcd in philosophy to take any
; umbrage at what | shall now say, fol
| am dealing only with history. Yo,
, must know, and certainly do know
that tho GREAT hodv Of ,bo not;o,