

CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



tionul Government. That wo believe; that I 

 believe. 



"The nation has tasted and drunk to the 

 iln-irs the sway of tho Democratic party, or- 

 g mi/.od and dominated by the same mfluonOM 

 wliirli dominate it ngain and still. You want 

 t . iv-itore tliut dominion. We mean to resist 

 y.'ii at every step and by every lawful means 

 that opportunity places in our hands. We be- 

 lu-ve that it is good for the country, good for 

 every man North and South who loves tho 

 country now, that the Government should re- 

 main in the hands of those who were never 

 against it. We believe that it is not wise or 

 safe to give over our nationality to the domin- 

 ion of the forces which formerly and now again 

 rule tho Democratic party. We do not mean 

 to connive at further conquests, and we tell 

 you that, if you gain further political power, 

 yon must gain it by fair means, and not by 

 foul. Wo believe that these laws are whole- 

 some. We believe that they are necessary bar- 

 riers against wrongs, necessary defenses for 

 rights ; and, so believing, we will keep and de- 

 fend them even to the uttermost of lawful 

 honest effort. 



" The other day, it was Tuesday, I think, it 

 pleased the honorable Senator from Illinois 

 [Mr. Davis] to deliver to the Senate an address, 

 I had rather said an opinion, able and care- 

 fully prepared. That honorable Senator knows 

 well the regard not only, but the sincere re- 

 spect in which I hold him, and he will not mis- 

 understand the freedom with which I shall refer 

 to some of his utterances. Whatever else his 

 sayings fail to prove, they did, I think, prove 

 their author, after Mrs. Winslow, the most co- 

 pious and inexhaustible fountain of soothing 

 sirup. The honorable Senator seemed like one 

 slumbering in a storm and dreaming of a calm. 

 He said there was no uproar anywhere one 

 would infer you could hear a pin drop from 

 center to circumference. Eights, he said, were 

 secure. I have his language here. If I do not 

 seem to give the substance aright I will stop 

 and read it. Rights secure North and South ; 

 peace and tranquillity everywhere. The law 

 obeyed, and no need of special provisions or 

 anxiety. It was in this strain that the Senator 

 discoursed. 



" Are rights secure, when fresh-done bar- 

 barities show that local government in one 

 portion of our land is no better than despot- 

 ism tempered by assassination ! Rights secure, 

 when such things can be as stand proved and 

 recorded by committees of the Senate ! Rights 

 secure, when the old and the young fly in ter- 

 ror from their homes and from the graves of 

 their murdered dead! Rights secure, when 

 thousands brave cold, hunger, death, seeking 

 among strangers in a far country a humanity 

 which will remember that 



" ' Before man made them citizens. 

 Great Nature made them men ! ' 



" Read the memorial signed by Judge Dillon, 

 by the Democratic mayor of Saint Louis, by 



Mr. Ilendorson, once a member of the Senate, 

 and by other men known to the nation, detail- 

 ing what has been done in recent weeks on the 

 southern Mississippi. Head the affidavits ac- 

 companying this memorial, lias any one a 

 copy of the memorial here ? I have seen the 

 memorial. I have seen the signatures. I hope 

 the honorable Senator from Illinois will read 

 it, and read the affidavits which accompany it. 

 When he does, he will read one of the most 

 sickening recitals of modern times. He will 

 look upon one of the bloodiest and black- 

 est pictures in the book of recent years. Yet 

 the Senator says all is quiet. 'There is not 

 such faith, no, not in Israel.' Verily ' order 

 reigns in Warsaw.' Solitudinem faciunt, pacem 

 appellant. 



" Mr. President, the Republican party every- 

 where wants peace and prosperity peace and 

 prosperity in the South as much and as sin- 

 cerely as elsewhere. Disguising the truth will 

 not bring peace and prosperity. Soft phrases 

 will not bring peace. ' Fair words butter no 

 parsnips.' We hear a great deal of loose flabby 

 talk about ' fanning dying embers,' ' rekindling 

 smoldering fires,' and so on. Whenever the 

 plain truth is spoken, these unctuous moni- 

 tions, with a Peter Parley benevolence, fall 

 copiously upon us. This lullaby and hush has 

 been in my belief a mistake from the begin- 

 ning. It has misled the South and misled the 

 North. In Andrew Johnson's time a conven- 

 tion was worked up at Philadelphia, and men 

 were brought from the North and South for 

 ecstacy and gush. A man from Massachusetts 

 and a man from South Carolina locked arms and 

 walked into the convention arm in arm, and 

 sensation and credulity palpitated and clapped 

 their hands, and thought a universal solvent 

 had been found. Serenades were held at which 

 ' Dixie ' was played. Later on, anniversaries of 

 battles fought in the war of Independence were 

 made occasions by men from the North and 

 men from the South for emotional, dramatic, 

 hugging ceremonies. General Sherman, I re- 

 member, attended one of them ; and I remem- 

 ber also that, with the bluntness of a soldier, 

 and the wisdom and hard sense of a statesman, 

 he plainly cautioned all concerned not to be 

 carried away, and not to bo fooled. But many 

 have been fooled, and, being fooled, have helped 

 to swell the Democratic majorities which now 

 display themselves before the public eye. Of 

 all such effusive demonstrations I have this to 

 say: Honest, serious convictions are not ec- 

 static or emotional. Grave affairs and lasting 

 purposes do not express or vent themselves in 

 honeyed phrase or sickly sentimentality, rhap- 

 sody, or profuse professions. This is as true 

 of political as of religious duties. The Divine 

 Master tells us, ' Not every ope that saith unto 

 me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 

 of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my 

 Father which is in heaven.' Facts are stub- 

 born things, but the better way to deal with, 

 them is to look them squarely in the face. 



