132 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



tage. But I put it upon a higher ground : that 

 the truth ought to be known, and, if these sto- 

 ries are false, the world should know it. If 

 they are true, the whole country should know 

 it. 



"Mr. President, I understood that this reso- 

 lution of investigation was accepted by our 

 Democratic friends as a substitute for legisla- 

 tion ; that, to prevent legislation with a view 

 of putting down these outrages, they were will- 

 ing, especially in the House of Representatives, 

 to grant this investigation. That was my un- 

 derstanding ; but the Senator from Ohio wants 

 the results of the investigation locked up until 

 next winter. Whatever may be the proof of 

 murder and of outrage, however insecure the 

 lives of Republicans throughout the South may 

 be, the facts must be locked up and concealed 

 until next winter! Now, I want to know 

 what the object of that is. This committee is 

 not to legislate, but is to diffuse information, to 

 give us the true condition of the South ; and I 

 insist that as fast as that is obtained, as it goes 

 from State to State, it should be published. 



" If the investigation shows that there is 

 peace and security in any one State of the 

 South, let us know it as soon as the committee 

 leaves there. If, on the other hand, it shows 

 that there is no security for life and property, 

 but that murder and crime are rampant, let the 

 world know it at once. "Why does the Senator 

 want it locked up until next winter ? " 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said: "Mr. President, 

 the Senator from Indiana says that, if the South 

 is guiltless of the enormities that are charged, 

 in the interest of the South the result of this 

 investigation should be published as soon as 

 possible, because the reports that are made are 

 prejudicial to the South, prevent immigration, 

 and delay the achievement of the prosperity 

 for which she seeks. I believe, too, that a per- 

 fectly fair and complete investigation, made 

 under no bias to State results for partisan pur- 

 poses, will be a benefit to the South, and that 

 the sooner the true state of facts shall be known 

 the better it will be, not only for the South, 

 but for the whole United States. I believe 

 that as firmly as anybody, not that I suppose 

 it possible that this committee will not bring 

 forth a mass of testimony showing that out- 

 rages have been committed here and there. 

 Appoint a roving commission to go over the 

 Northern States, with power to find and inquire 

 whether person and property are safe, whether 

 outrages are committed or not, and what a 

 body of testimony could such a committee ac- 

 cumulate ! 



" But, if we are to have an investigation, let 

 us have it. And when we do go into this inves- 

 tigation, and when it comes to be considered 

 by the Senate, I beg Senators to look once more 

 at history, and to find that by no armed tyran- 

 ny, by no treading of people under the heel, has 

 order ever been restored, unless it was the or- 

 der of despotism, the silence of its reign. No, 

 sir ; if you want the people of the South to be 



orderly, give them good government; let them 

 govern themselves according to the nature and 

 spirit of our free institutions ; let the intelli- 

 gence of the country have fair play ; let the 

 honesty and economy that everybody will ad- 

 mit existed in those States before the civil wa 

 whatever faults they may have had, once more 

 take place. Let mere adventurers retire to the 

 background, or hide themselves in the holes 

 from which they came ; let once more the peo- 

 ple feel that they have a Constitution that will 

 be enforced, laws that they respect ; and once 

 more you will have peace and order there as 

 well as you have anywhere." 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "Mr. 

 President, it seems to me that, after the speech 

 to which we have just listened, we might as 

 well lay this resolution for a committee upon 

 the table, and have the Committee on the Judi- 

 ciary report a bill to carry out the fourteenth 

 amendment, to go within the line of constitu- 

 tional authority, and walk up to the extreme 

 verge of constitutional power to protect the 

 people of the country. Sir, I think we have 

 made a mistake in proposing this committee 

 of investigation. I see nothing to be gained 

 by it, and I see that needed legislation is to bo 

 postponed by its adoption. We should legis- 

 late now. 



" Talk about the facts, Mr. President ! Men 

 whose eyes are open, who have ordinary intel- 

 ligence, who do not deny truths when truths 

 are presented to them, know that .we have facts 

 enough upon which to base our legislation. 

 The eyes and the ears of the world have been 

 open for the last six years. If the Senator 

 from Ohio has closed his eyes, if other Sena- 

 tors have closed theirs, there are some persons 

 in the country that have some little knowledge 

 of the history of the last six years. 



" Now, Mr. President, open, read, and ex- 

 amine the reports made by the officers of the 

 Freedmen's Bureau, and what do they disclose? 

 They disclose scenes of violence, wrongs, out 

 rages, murders, that dishonor and disgrace tl 

 whole country. Open the reports of your Arm] 

 officers ; take the reports of General Thorn* 

 the grandest hero of the war. They are on 

 file; they have been published. We can fur- 

 nish copies to gentlemen who doubt. Read 

 the reports of your officers in all the depart- 

 ments into which the South was divided after 

 the war, and the evidence disclosed " 



Mr. Blair, of Missouri, said: "I hope the 

 Senator from Massachusetts will not emit the 

 report made by General Grant when he went 

 down there." 



Mr. Wilson: "I do not propose to omit the 

 report of General Grant. It was a preliminary 

 and rapid survey, and did not give a great deal 

 of information. But, Mr. President, you will 

 find that Sickles, and Meade, and Thomas, and 

 Sheridan, and the officers under them who 

 were stationed there, who had opportunities 

 to know, reported the facts, and the facts are 

 upon record, and they cannot be sneered at, 



