Class CL.fe_8-0_ 
 
/>fe 
 
 Can the Democratic Party bo Safely Intrusted 
 Administration of the Government? 
 
 with the 
 
 SPEECH OF 
 
 HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 ol^ OK OHIO. ^ ^^, 
 
 1^ 
 
 oS 
 
 111 tiic House o[ Representatives, Fridav, Aupst 4, 1876, 
 
 The Foubc bciriKtn Cominitloi' of the Whole 
 on I Hi bill (11. U. No. •250J) to tiunsfvr the con- 
 duct of liuli;in allUirs from the Interior Ue- 
 pavtiui'ui \o the Wiir Department — 
 
 Mr. (tARFIELI) said : 
 
 Mr. CuAiUMA.v : I regret that the speei^h of 
 the geutlemau from Mississippi [ Mr. Lamak] 
 has uot yet appeared in the Record, so that 
 I miglit have had its full aud authentic text 
 before olleriug ui.y own remarks in re))ly. 
 But hii propositions were so clearly and so 
 Tery ably stated, tbe doctrines that run 
 through it were so logically connected, it 
 will be my own fault if 1 fail to understand 
 ;)!id api")reciate the general scope and purpose 
 ' his speech. 
 
 In the out-et, I desire lor myself and for 
 a majority, at least, of those for whom I 
 speak, to express my gratitude to the gentle- 
 man lor all that ])ortion of his speech which 
 had iur its object the removal of the preju- 
 dices and iiukindl.v feelings that have arisen 
 among citizens of the Republic, in conse- 
 'iUeuce of the late war Whatever faults 
 the speech may have, its author expresses 
 an earnest desire to make progrees in the 
 direction of a better understanding between 
 the North aud the South ; and iir that it 
 meets my most hearty concurrence and ap- 
 proval. 
 
 1 will attempt to state briefly what I un- 
 derstand to l>e the logic of the gentleman's 
 -Speech, lie sets out svilh deploring the evils 
 of parly, and exjjressing the belief that the 
 great mass of the American people are tired 
 of much that belongs to party; and, looking 
 beyond aud above mere pai'ty prejudices aud 
 passions, tliey greatly desire to remove pub- 
 lic corruptions, and reform the manifold er- 
 lors and evils of administration and legisla- 
 fion ; that those errors and evils cons'sl 
 mainly of two thiugs : First, of a genernlly 
 corrupt .stale of puljlic adiuiuistration ; and 
 se«ond, of a deplorable stfite of the civil ser- 
 vice ; that this state of aflairs is buttressed 
 aud maintaine<l by an enormous army of 
 U)0,OiJli civi) ofli^-e-holders and 100,0. lO more j 
 expectants for office: aud that because of' 
 
 I this vast force the people have hitherto beeu 
 I unable to make the reforms they desirxy. 
 This is his major piemise. 
 1 The next point, his minor premise, is that 
 : the Republican party is incapable of effect- 
 ing the great reforms which the people de- 
 I sire; and his conclusion from these jiremises 
 is that the Democratic party ought to be 
 ! brought into power in the coming election. 
 I This wns the summary, and, 1 may say, 
 ! abrupt, conclusion of his reasoning. The 
 I gentleman seemed to be aware thai tliere 
 j might be some apprehensions in the minds 
 I of the people thaf it would not, quite yet, 
 I be safe to recall the Democratic party to 
 power; and he endeavored to quiet those ap- 
 I prehensions by stating in the first place that 
 i there need be no fear that the South, lately 
 I in rebellion, would again control the Gov- 
 ernment ; tliat they were prostrated ; that 
 their institutions had heen overthrown ; that 
 their industries liad been broken up; tliat in 
 their weak and brokeu. condition there need 
 be no fear that they would again be placed 
 at the head of public affairs; and, finally, 
 that the South has united with the Demo- 
 eratic party uot from choice, but forced to it 
 by inexorable necessity as tlieir only means 
 of protection 
 
 In the second place, there was apprelien 
 sion, he said, tliat the Democracy, if they 
 came into power, would not preserve the 
 beneficent results of the war. But lie as- 
 sures us that this fear is groundless ; that 
 the people of tlie South have no aspirations 
 which are uot bounded by the horizon ot 
 the Union ; that they, as well as the Deinoc 
 racy of the North, accept, honestly aud 
 sincerely, the great results of the war ; and 
 that they can be trusted to preserve all the 
 good that has been gained. 
 
 Again he says it is feared, on the i)art of 
 many, that the colored race, lately enslaved, 
 will not be safe in the full enjoyment of all 
 the 1 ights resulting from the war an'l guar- 
 anteed by the ameudmeiits to the Constitu- 
 tion. This he also assures us is a ground- 
 
E^^o 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFi >f>. 
 
 Z^ 
 
 le39 fear, because tbe people of the South ' 
 understaud the colored race, appreciate their i 
 qualities, and are on such a footing of friend- 
 ship and regard that they are in fact better 
 fitted to meet the wants of that people and 
 help them along in the way of civilization, 
 enlightenment, and peace, than those who 
 are further removed from such knowledge. , 
 
 lie emphasizes the statement that tlie 
 South cheerfully accepts the results of the 
 war ; and admits that that much good has | 
 been achieved by the Republican party, i 
 which ought to be preserved. 1 was grati- j 
 fiedtohear the gentleman speak of Lincoln ; 
 as "the illustrious author of the great act 
 of emancipation." That admission will be 
 welcomed everywhere by those who believe 
 in tlie justice and wisdom of that great act. 
 While speaking of the condition of the 
 South and its wants he deplores two evils 
 wliich afflict that portion of our country: 
 First, F»*deral supervision ; and second, ne- 
 gro ascendency in its political affairs. In 
 . that connection, it will be remembered, he 
 "i quoted from John Stuart Mill and from Gib- 
 bon ; the one, to show that the most deplor- 
 able form of government is where the slave 
 governs ; and from the other, to show the 
 evils of a government which is in alien hands. 
 Tlie gentleman represented the South as 
 sutfering the composite evils depicted by 
 both tliese great writers. That I may be 
 sure to do him justice I quote a paragraph 
 from the Associated Press report of his 
 speech : 
 
 The Inevitable effect of that reconstruction 
 policy li;i<l been to draw one race to its sup- 
 pori iuia ilrivo llie oilier race to its opposi- 
 tion. Uu quoted (jiibbou, the liistorian, as say- 
 iMji that tliu most absurd and oppressive sys- 
 tem ott^ovcniinent wiijch could be conceived 
 Of is lliaL which subjects the native of a 
 country to the domination of his slave. He 
 also (n'lotod trom JoMn Stuart Mill to the 
 ell'eol tliat when a government is afliniuis- 
 tore<l by rulers not responsible to the people 
 KOvenic'l, but to some other community, it 
 id one ot t'le worst of conceivable govern- 
 mcius, anil he said that the hideous system 
 eslabli-iln-d in the South i.s a composite of 
 tho-o two vicious systems. The people are 
 auDject <1 to the domination of their fo.mer I 
 slaves, and are ruled over by people whose 
 constituents were not the people tor whom 
 they should act, but the Federal Government. 
 
 Now, I have stated —of course very briefly, 
 but I hope with entire fairness — the scope 
 of the very able speech to which we listened. 
 In a word it is this : the Republican party is 
 oppressing the South; negro suflfrage is a 
 grievous evil ; there are serious corruptions 
 in pnblic affairs in the national legislation 
 and Administration ; the civil service of the 
 countiy especially needs great and radical 
 reform ; and therefore the Democratic party 
 ought to be placed in control of the Govern- 
 ment at this time by the election of Tilden 
 and Hendricks. 
 
 It has not been my habit, and it is not my 
 desire, to discuss mere party politics in this 
 great legislative forum. And 1 shall do so 
 
 now only in so far as a fair review of tho gen- 
 tleman's speech requires. My remarks shall 
 be responsive to his ; and I shall discuss 
 party history and party policy only as the 
 logic of his speech leads into that domain. 
 
 From most of the premises of the gentle- 
 man, as matters of fact and history, I dis- 
 sent : some of them are undoubtedly correct. 
 But, for the sake of argument only, admit- 
 ting that all bis premises are correct, I deny 
 that his conclusion is warranted by his 
 premises ; and, before I close I shall at- 
 tempt to show that the good he seeks can- 
 not be secured by the ascendency of the 
 Democratic party at this time. 
 
 Before entering upon that field, however, 
 I must notice this remarkable omission in the 
 logic of his speech. Although he did state 
 that the country might consider itself free 
 from some of the dangers which are appre- 
 hended as the result of Democratic ascen- 
 dency, he did not, as I remember, by any 
 word attempt to prove the fitness of the De- 
 mocracy as a political organization to accom- 
 plish the reforms which he so much desires ; 
 and without that affirmative proof of fitness 
 his argument is necessarily an absolute fail- 
 ure. 
 
 It is precisely that fear which has not 
 only made the ascendency of the Democratic 
 party so long impossible, but has made it 
 incompetent to render that service so neces- 
 sary to good government — the service of 
 maintaining the position of a wise and hon- 
 orable opposition to the dominant party. 
 Often the blunders and faults of the Repub- 
 lican party have been condoned by the peo- 
 ple because of the violent, reactionary, and 
 disloyal spirit of the Democracy. 
 
 He tells us that is one of the well-known 
 lessons of political history and philosophy ; 
 that the opposition party comes in to pre- 
 serve and crystalize the measures which their 
 antagonists inaugurated ; and that a conser- 
 vative opposition party is better fitted to ac- 
 complish such a work than an aggressive rad- 
 ical party who roughly pioneered the way 
 and brought in the changes. And to apply 
 this maxim to our own situation he tells us 
 that the ditferences between the Republican 
 and Democratic parties upon the issues 
 which led to the war and those which grew 
 out of it, were rather ditl'erences of time than 
 of substance ; that the Democracy followed 
 more slowly in the Republican path, but 
 have at last arrived by prudent and consti- 
 tutional method.i ai the same results ; and 
 hence they will be sure to guard securely 
 and cherish faithfully what the Republicans 
 gained by reckless and turbulent methods. 
 There is some truth in these "glittering 
 generalities," but^ as applied to our present 
 situation, they are entitled only to the con- 
 sideration which we give to the bright but 
 fantastic pictures of a Utopian dream. 
 
 I share all tJiat gentleman's aspirations 
 
BPEECn OF HON. JAMES A. O \RFIELD. 
 
 ^for ppaoH, for good government at the South ; i 
 ^ and I bf lieve I can safelj assure him that 
 pj the great luajoiity of tlie nation shares tlie [ 
 
 same aspirations. IJiil lie will allow me to 
 ^ /say that he has not fully state<i the elements 
 ^of tlie great problem to be solved by the ' 
 Vj statesmanship of to-day. The actual field 
 is much broader than the view he has taken. 
 And before we can agree that the remedy he 
 proposes is an adequate one, we must take 
 in the whole IJeld. tompreliend all the condi- 
 tions of the problem, and then see If his 
 remedy is sulBcient. The change he pro- 
 poses is not like the ordiniry change of a 
 mini-try in England when the Government 
 is defeated on a tax bill or some routine 1 
 measure of legislation, lie proposes to turn 
 over to the custody and management of the 
 Government to a party which baa persist- 
 ently and with the greatest bitterness re- 
 sisted all the great changes of the last fifteen 
 years, changes which were the necessary re- 
 sults if a vast revolusion — a revolution in 
 national polii'^', in social and political ideas 
 — a revolution whose causes were not the 
 work of a day ncr of a year, but of genera- 
 tions and centuries. The scope and charac- 
 ter of that mighty revolution must form the 
 basis of our judgment when we inquire 
 whether such a change as he proposes is safe 
 and wise. 
 
 In discnssing his proposition we must not 
 forget that as the result of this resolution 
 the South, after the great devastations of 
 war, the great loss of life and treasure, the 
 overthrow of its social and industrial sys- 
 tem, was called upon to confront the new 
 and difficult problem of two races ; one just 
 released from centuries of slavery, and the 
 other a cultivated, brave, proud, imperious 
 race, to be brought together on terms of 
 equality before the law. New, difficult, 
 delicate, o,nd dangerous questions bristle 
 out from every point of that problem. 
 
 But that is not all of the situation. On 
 the other hand, we see the North, after 
 leaving its 350,000 dead upon the field of 
 battle and bringi.ig home its 500,000 maimed 
 and wounded to be cared for, crippled in its 
 industries, staggering under the tremendous i 
 burden of public and private debt, and both 
 North and youth weighted with unparalleled 
 burlens and losses — the whole nation sutler- 
 iug from that loosening of the bonds of 
 social order which always follows a great 
 war and from the resulting corruption both | 
 in the public and the private life of the | 
 people. These, Mr. Chairman, con.Hitute 
 the vast field which we must survey in order 
 to find the path which will soonest lead our 
 beloved country to the highway of peace, of 
 liberty, and prosperity. Peace from the 
 shock of battle ; the higher peace of our 
 streets, of our homes, of our equal rights 
 we must make secure by making the con- 
 quering ideas of the war everywhere domi- 
 nant and permanent. 
 
 With all my heart I join with thfi gentle- 
 man in rejoicing that — 
 
 The wiir-drinns throb no longer and the l>at. 
 lle-rtagr "e furled, 
 
 and I look forw..d with joy and hope to th** 
 day when our brave people, one in heart, 
 one in their aspirations for freedom and 
 peace, shall see that the <larkness through 
 which we have tiaveleil was a part of that 
 stern but beneficent discipline by which the 
 Great Disposer of events has been leading 
 us on to a higher and nobler national life. 
 
 15ut such a result can be reaclieil only by 
 comprehending the whole meaning of the 
 revolution through which we have passed 
 and are still passing. I say still passing; 
 for I remember that after the battle of arms 
 comes the battle of history. The cause that 
 triumphs in the field does not always tri- 
 umph in history. And those who carried 
 the war for union and equal and universal 
 freedom to a victorious issii.e can never 
 safely relax their vigilance until the ideas 
 for which they fought have become em- 
 bodied in the enduring forms sf individual 
 and national life. 
 
 lias this been done f Not yet. 
 
 I ask the gentleman in all plainness of 
 speech, and yet in all kindness, is he cor- 
 rect in his statement that the conquered 
 party accept the results of the war? liven 
 if they do I remind the gentleman that 
 accept is not a very strong word. I go 
 further. I ask him if the Democratic party 
 have adopted the results of the war? Is 
 it not asking too much of human nature 
 to expect such unparalleled changes to be 
 not only accepted, but, in so short a time, 
 adopted by men of strong and independent 
 opinions ? 
 
 The antagonisms which gave rise to the 
 war and grew out of it were not born in a 
 day, nor can they vanish in a night. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, great iileas travel slowly, 
 and for a time, noiselessly as the gods whose 
 feet were shod with wool. Our war of inde- 
 pendence was a war of ideas, of ideas evolved 
 out of two hundred years of slow and silent 
 grpwth. When, one hundred years ago, 
 our fathers announced as self-evident truths 
 the declaration that all men are created 
 equal, and the only just i>ower o( govern- 
 ments is derived from the consent of the 
 governed, they uttered a tloctrine that no 
 nation had ever adopted, that not one king- 
 dom on the earth tlu-n believed. Vet to our 
 fathers it was so plain that they would not 
 debate it. They announced it as a truth 
 "i-elf-evident." 
 
 Whence came the immortal truths of the 
 Declaration ? To me, this w*as, for years, 
 the riddle of our history. I have searched 
 long and patiently through the books of the 
 doclriniiire.s to fiuil the germs from which the 
 Declarationof Independence sprang. 1 found 
 hints in Locke, in Uobbes, in Rousseau, and 
 
SPEECH OF UON= JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Funelon; but they were only the liiuts of 
 dreameis aud pliilosopherd. The great doc- 
 trines of the Declaration germinated in the 
 hearts of our fathers, and were developed 
 under the new iuliuences of this wilderness 
 world, by the same subtle mystery which 
 brings forth the rose from the germ of the 
 rose-tree. Unconsciously to themselves, the 
 great truths were growing under the new 
 conditions until, like the century plant, they 
 blossomed into Ihe matchless beauty of the 
 Declaration of Independence, whose fruitage, 
 increased aud increasing, we enjoy tc-day. 
 
 It will not do, Mr. Chairman, to speak of 
 the gigantic revolution through which we 
 have lately passed as a thing to be adjusted 
 and Settled by a change of administration. 
 It was ovclical, epochal, century-wide, and 
 to be studied in its broad and grand per- 
 spective — a revolution of even wider scope, 
 so far as time is i-oucerued, than tbe Revolu- 
 tion of 1776. We have been dealing with 
 elements aud forces which have been at 
 work on this continent more than two hun- 
 dred and lifty years. I trust I shall be 
 excused if I take a few moments to trace 
 Home of the leading phases of the great strug- 
 gle. And in doing so, I beg gentlemen to 
 tsee that the subject itself lifts us into a 
 region where the individual sinks out of 
 sight and is absorbed in the mighty current 
 of great events. It is not the occasion to 
 award praise or pronounce condemnation. 
 In such a revolution men are like insects, 
 that fret aud toss in the storm, but are 
 S'wept on ward by the resistless movements of 
 »;lemeuis beyond their control. I speak of 
 this revolution not to praise the men who 
 aided it, nor to censure the men who resisted 
 it, but as a force to be studied, as a mandate 
 to be obeyed. 
 
 In the year 1620 there were planted, upon 
 this continent, two ideas irreconcilably hos- 
 tile to each other. Ideas are the great war- 
 liors of the world; and a war that has no ideas 
 behind it is simply brutality. The two ideas 
 were lauded, one at Plymouth Rock from 
 the Mayllower, and the other from a Dutch 
 brig at Jamestown, Virginia. Cue was the 
 old doctrine of Luther, that private judg- 
 ment, in politics as well as religion, is the 
 right and duty of every man; and the other 
 taat capital should own labor, that the negro 
 had no rights of manhood, aud the white 
 man miglit justly buy, own, and sell him 
 and his oll'spring torever. Thus freedom 
 and equality ou the one hand, and on the 
 otliei' the slavery of one race aud the domi- 
 nation ot auother, were the two germs plant- 
 ed ou this contiui^nt. In our vast expanse 
 Mt wilderness, for a long lime, there was 
 room for botii, aud iheir advocates began 
 the race across the continent, each develop- 
 ing tiie social and political institutions of 
 their choice. IJoth had vast interests iu 
 common ; aud for a long time neither was 
 
 conscious of the fatal antagonisms that were 
 developing. 
 
 For nearly two centuries there was no 
 serious collision; but when the continent 
 began to till up, and the people began to 
 jostle against each other ; when the Round- 
 head aud the Cavalier came near enough to 
 measure opinions, the irreconcilable charac 
 ter of the two doctrines began lo appear. 
 Many conscientious men studied the subject, 
 andcametothebelief thatslavery was a crime, 
 a sin, or as Wesley said, "the sum of all 
 villainies." This belief dwelt iu small 
 minorities for a long time. It lived in the 
 churches aud vestries, but later found its 
 way into the civil and political orgaulzatioue 
 of the country, and finally found its way 
 into this Chamber. A few brave, clear- 
 sighted, far-seeing men announced it liere 
 a little more than a generation ago. A pre- 
 decessor of mine, Joshua R. Giddings, fol- 
 lowing the lead of John Quincy Adams of 
 Massachusetts, almost alone, held up the 
 banner ou this door, and, from year to year, 
 comrades came to his side. Through evil 
 and through good report he pressed the 
 question upon the conscience of the nation; 
 and bravely stood iu his place iu this House, 
 until his white locks, like the plume ot 
 Henry of Navarre, showed where the battle 
 for freedom raged most fiercely. 
 
 And so the contest continued; the support- 
 ers of slavery believing honestly and sin- 
 cerely that slavery was a divine institution; 
 that it louud its high sanctions in the living 
 oracles of God and iu a wise political philos- 
 ophy; that it was justified by the necessi- 
 ties of their situation; aud that slaveholders 
 were missionaries to the dark sous of Africa, 
 to elevate and bless them. We are so far 
 past the passions of that early time that we 
 can now study the progress of the struggle 
 as a great and inevitable development, with- 
 out sharing iu the crimination and recrimi- 
 nation that attended it. If both sides could 
 have seen that it was a contest beyond their 
 control; if both paitties could have realized 
 the truth that "unsettled questions have no 
 pity for the repose of nations," much less 
 for the fate of political parties, the bitter- 
 ness, the sorrow, the tears, and the blood 
 might have been avoided. But we walked 
 iji the darkness, our ])aths obscured by the 
 smoke of the coufiict, each following his own 
 convictions through ever-increasing fierce- 
 ness, until the debate culminated in "the 
 last argument to which kings resort." 
 
 This conflict of (opinion was not merely 
 one of sentimental feeling ; it involved our 
 whole political system ; it gave rise to two 
 radically diUerent theories of the nature of 
 oar Government: the JMorth believing aud 
 holding that we were a nation, the South in- 
 sisting that we were only a confederation of 
 sovereign States, and insisting that each 
 Stale had the right, at its own discretioii, to 
 
•^PKrCM. Of HON, JA.MKH A. GARFIELD. 
 
 break the Union, and constantly threatMning 
 seoessiou wli«re the lull rights of slavery 
 were not acknowledged. 
 
 ThuH the defense and Hggraudizenieut of 
 slavery and the hatred of abolitionism be- 
 came not only the central idea of the Demo- 
 cratic party, but Its master passion; a i)assiou 
 lutensilied and iutlamed by twenty-live years 
 of tierce political contest, which had not' only 
 driven from its ranks all those who preferred 
 freedom to slavery, but had absorbed all the 
 extreme pro-slavery elements of the fallen 
 Whig party. Over against this was arrayed 
 the Republican party, asserting the broad 
 doctrines of uatioualiiy and loyalty, insisting 
 that no State had a rigiit to secede, that 
 secession was treason, and demanding that 
 the institution of slavery should be restricted 
 lo the limits of the States where it already 
 existed, iiut here and there many bolder 
 and more radical thinkers declared, with 
 Wendell Phillips, that there never could be 
 anion and peace, freedom and prosperity, 
 until we were willing to see John Hancock 
 under a black skin. 
 
 That we may see more clearly the opinions 
 which were tt» be settled by war i will read 
 two passages from the Congressional Globe, 
 □ot lor the purpose of making a personal 
 point against any man, but simply to show 
 where honest men stood when that contest 
 was approaching its crisis. 1 read from a 
 speech made on the litth day of December, 
 iooy, by the distinguished gentleman irom 
 Mississippi, [Mr. Sinoleto>-,J then and now 
 a member of this iiou.>-e : 
 
 TJie Soutn will never suOmil tu that state of 
 tlijugs. It mutters not what evils come upon 
 us; iL inatLeis not iiow deep we liave lo wade 
 turougli oiood; we are bouuU to Keep our 
 slaves in their present position. And let me 
 asli you, wluLi good wouui you luiii>; to tUe 
 slaves uy tuis process of al)Oiition? You may 
 possibly have ilie oljjcct in view of beiieiitmg 
 lUe slave o*' beneflliug Die wUitc lace or bolU; 
 but suppose >ou couid carry out your inans 
 auUcoiitine us toourpre^cut aiea,audsiipi>ose 
 that ine iusiiiudou of slavery sliould abolish 
 Itself, wbat would you liavc done? You know 
 It is impossilne for us to live on terius of 
 equality witn lUein. It isnotto besupposed for 
 momentlUut wecandoso. The result would 
 be a .wuv between ine races, winch would pt;r- 
 haps luvoive the uuer annihilation of one or 
 the other; and rhus you see that instead of 
 beneii ting either you would have brought dis- 
 aster upon both. 
 
 Jjut i tcii you here, to-day, that the institu- 
 tion oi slavery must besusiainei.l. The&outh 
 has matle up its mind to keep the black race 
 in bouOage. If we are not permitted lo flo 
 this insiUe of the Linion, 1 tell you that it will 
 be done ouiside ol it. Yes, si)-, and we will 
 expand thi5 iiisuiution ; we do nut intend to 
 be confined withiu our present limits: and 
 there are not men enoUfi;h m ali your borders 
 t' coerce three million armed men in the 
 ci0Ui.n, and prevent their going into the sur- 
 rounding Territories. 
 
 in the course of that debate, the same 
 gentleman said : 
 
 1 am one ot those who have .said, and here 
 repeat it. If the black Kepublican party elect 
 a President i am lor dissolving ilie Union. 
 
 I have no doubt the gentleman fairly and 
 
 I faithfully repreHented the opinions of his 
 State. Not long before the date of this 
 speech, it will he remembered that two dis- 
 tinguished members of the Republican party 
 had uttered their opinions on this (jue.'^tion. 
 Mr. Lincoln had sai.l that it was impossihie 
 
 I for a country to remain partly slave and 
 partly free. And Mr. Seward had sai I that 
 there was an irrepressible conflict between 
 the systems of free and slave labor, which 
 could never cease until one or the other was 
 wholly overthrown. The Republican i)arty, 
 however, disclaimed all right or purpose to 
 interfere with slavery in the States; yet they 
 expressed the hope that the time would come 
 when there should he no slave under our Uag. 
 In response to that particular opinion, the 
 distinguished gentleman from Mississippi, 
 [Mr. 1..AM.A.K, ] then a member of this House, 
 on the 23d day of December, 1859, said this: 
 1 was upon the floor of the Senate when 
 your ureal loader, William II. Howard, an- 
 nounced that startling programme of anti- 
 slavery sentiment and action. « » » 
 And, sir, iu his exultation he exclaimed— for 
 1 heard hiui myself— that he hoped to see ihu 
 day when th. r**-wouid not be tho foot-piint of 
 a sintjie slave upon this continent. A\n\ when 
 he uttered this atrocious sentiment, his form 
 seemed to dilate, his pale, thin face, furrowed 
 by the lines of tliouf<ht and evil passions, 
 kindled with malignant triumph, ami lii.« eye 
 glowed and giaied uj)on .Southern .Senators as 
 though the fires of hell were burning in his 
 heart. 
 
 1 have read this passage to mark the height 
 to which the antagonism had risen in 18;)9. 
 And this passage enables us to m^aaure the 
 progress be has since made. 
 
 i mark it here as one of the notable signs 
 of the time, that the gulf which intervenes 
 between the position then occupied by the 
 gentleman from Mississippi and the position 
 he occupies to day is so deep, so vast, that 
 it indicates a progress worthy of all praise. 
 I congratulate him and the country that, 
 in so short a time, so great a change has 
 been possible. 
 
 Now 1 ask the gentleman if he is quite 
 sure, as a matter of fact, that tho Democratic 
 party, its Southern as well as its Northern 
 wing, have followed his own illustrious and 
 worthy example in the vast progress he has 
 made since 1859 ? He assures us that the 
 transformation has been so complete that 
 the nation can sately trust all the most pre- 
 cious fruits of the war in the hands of that 
 party who stood with him in ls59. If that 
 be true, 1 rejoice at it with all my heart; but 
 the gentleman must par<lon me if 1 ask him 
 to assist my wavering f.ajth by some evidence, 
 some consoling proofs. When did the great 
 transformation take place ? Certainly not 
 within two years after the delivery of the 
 speech I have quoted; for two years from that 
 time the contest had risen mtich higher; it 
 had risen to the jioiut of open, terrible, and 
 determined war. Did the change come dur- 
 ing the war ? 0, no; for in the four terrible 
 years ending iu 1SG5, every resource of 
 
SPEECH OP HON. JAMES A. GAEFIKLO. 
 
 courage and power that the Southern States 
 could muster was employed not only to save 
 slavery but to destroy the Uuion. So the 
 traust'oruiation had not occurred in 18(i5. 
 U'heu did it occur ? Aid our anxious in- 
 quiry, for the nation ought to be sure that 
 the great change has occurred before it can 
 safely trust its destinies to the Democratic 
 "arty. Did it occur in the first epoch of re- 
 «?oostruetion — the two years immediately 
 folJowiug the war? During in«,. period the 
 attempt was made to restore gi ^rnments in 
 the South on the basis of tjc white vote. 
 .Military control was held generally: but the 
 white population of the Southern Spates were 
 invited to elect their own Legislatuies and 
 establish provisional governments. 
 
 In the laws, covering a period of two and a 
 half years, 18155, 186G, and a portion of 1867, 
 enacted by those Legislatures, we ought to 
 find proof of the transformation if it had then 
 occurred. Wliat do we find? What we 
 should naturally «xpect: that a people, ac- 
 customed to the domiuatien of slavery, re- 
 enacted in almost all of the Southern States, 
 and notably in the States of Mississippi and 
 Louisiana, laws limiting and restricting the 
 liberty of the colored man: vagrant laws and 
 peonage laws, whereby negroes were sold at 
 auction for the payment of a paltry tax or 
 fine, and held in a slavery as real as the 
 slavery of other days. I believe that this 
 was true of nearly all »f the Southern States; 
 so that the experiment of allowing the white 
 population of the South to adjust that very 
 question proved a frightful failure; and then 
 it was that the National Congress intervened. 
 They proposed an act of reconstruction, an 
 act which became a law on the 2d of March, 
 1867. 
 
 And what was that act ? Gentlemen of 
 the South, you are too deeply schooled in 
 philosophy to take any umbrage at what I 
 shall now say, for I am dealing only with 
 history. You must know, and certainly do 
 know, that the great body of the nation 
 which had carried the war to triumph and 
 success knew that the eleven States that 
 had opposed the Union had plunged their 
 people into crime; a crime set down in the 
 law — a law signed by President Washing- 
 ton — at the very top of the catalogue of 
 crimes: the crime of treason and all that fol- 
 lows it. You certainly know that, under that 
 law, every man who voluntarily took up 
 arms against the Union could have been 
 tried, convicted, and hanged as a traitor to 
 his country. But I call your attention to the 
 fact that the conquering nation said, in this 
 great work of reconstruction, "We will do 
 nothiug for revenge, everything for perma- 
 nent peace;" and you know there never was 
 & trial for treason in this country during the 
 wV.ole of the struggle nor after it; no man 
 v^jJi executed for treason; no man was tried. 
 Hitr« wftB no oxpattiation, no exile, no con- 
 
 ■ fiscation after the war. The only revenge 
 I which the conquering nation gratified was 
 I this : In saying to the South "You may come 
 i back to your full place in the Union wben 
 j yott do these things: join with the other 
 States in putting into the Constitution a pro- 
 vision that the national debt shall never be 
 repudiated; that your rebel war debt s.hall 
 never be paid, and that all men, without re- 
 I gard to race or color, shall stand equal be- 
 fore the law; not in sullrage, but in civil 
 rights; that these great guarantees of liberty 
 and public faith shall be lifted above the 
 reach of political parties, above the legisla- 
 tion of States, above the legislation of Con- 
 gress, and shall be set in the serene firma- 
 ment of the Constitution, to shine as lights 
 forever and forever. And under tiiat equal 
 sky, under the light of that equal sun, all 
 men, of whatever race or color, shall stand 
 equal before the law." 
 
 That was the plan of reconstruction offered 
 to those who had been in rebellion, oflfered 
 by a generous and brave nation ; and I chal- 
 lenge the world to show an act of equal gen- 
 erosity to a conquered people. What answer 
 did it meet ? By the advice of Andrew John- 
 son, a bad adviser, backed by the advice of 
 the Northe'-n Democracy, a still worse advi- 
 ser, ten of the eleven States lately in rebel- 
 lion contemptuously rejected the plan of re- 
 construction embraced in the fourteenth 
 amendment of th<^ Constitution. They would 
 have none of it ; they had been invited by 
 their Northern allies to stand out, and were 
 told that when the Democracy came into 
 power they should be permitted to come 
 back to their places without guarantees or 
 conditions. 
 
 This brings us to 1868. Had the trans- 
 formation occurred then ? For remember, 
 gentlemen, I am searching for the date of 
 the great transformation similar to that 
 which has taken place in the gentleman 
 from Mississippi. We do not find it in 1868. 
 On the contrary, in that year, we find Frank 
 P. Blair, of Missouri, writing these words, 
 which a few days after they were written 
 gave him the nomination for the Vice Presi- 
 dency on the Democratic ticket — 
 
 There is but one way to restore government 
 and toe Constitu ion ; anil tluitls for the Pres- 
 ident elect to declare all these acts— 
 
 And the constitutional amendment with 
 them — 
 
 to declare all these acts null and void, compel 
 the army to undo its usurpai ions at the South, 
 and disperse the carpet-ljag State govern- 
 ments and allow the wliite people to reorgan- 
 ize their own governments and elect Senators 
 and Representatives. 
 
 I Because lie wrote that letter he was nom- 
 inated for Vice-President by the Democratic 
 party. Therefore, as late as July, 1868, the 
 transformation had not occurred. 
 
 Had it occurred in 1872 ? In 1871 and 
 1872 all the anieudments of the Constitution 
 had been adopted, against the stubborn ro- 
 
SPEECn OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 sistance of the Northern and Southern De- 
 mocracy. I call you to witness that, with 
 the exception of three or four Democratic 
 Representatives who voted for the abolition 
 of slavery, the three great amendments, the 
 thirteenth, the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, 
 met the determined and united opposition of 
 the Democracy of this country. Kach of the 
 amendments, now so praised by the gentle- 
 man, was adopted against the whole weight 
 of your resistance. And two years after the 
 adoption of the last amendment, in many of 
 your State platforms, they were declared to 
 be null and vo'id. 
 
 In 1S71 and 1872 occurred thronghout 
 the South those dreadful scenes enacted by 
 the Kuklux organizations, of which I will 
 say only this, that a man facile princeps 
 amoag the Democrats of the slave-liolding 
 States, Reverdy Johnson, who was sent down 
 to defend those wiio were indicted for their 
 crimes, held up his hands in horror at the 
 shocking barbarities that had been perpetra- 
 ted by his clients upon negro citizens. I re- 
 fer to the evidence of that eminent man as 
 a sufficient proof of the character of that 
 great conspiracy against the freedom of the 
 colored race. So the transformation had not 
 come iu the days of Kuklux of 1871 and 
 1872. 
 
 Had it come in 1S73 and the beginning of 
 1874 f Had it come in the State of Mississippi f 
 Had it come iu one quarter of tlie States lately 
 in rebellion .' Here is a report from an honor- 
 able committee of this House, signed by two 
 gentlemen who are still members, Mr. Conobr 
 and Mr. Hdrlbdt — a report made as late as 
 December, 1874, iu which there is disclosed, 
 by innumerable witnesses, the proof that the 
 White Line organization, an armed military 
 organization formed within the Democratic 
 party, had leagued themselves together to 
 prevent the enjoyment of suffrage and equal 
 rights by the colored men of the South. 
 Without detaining the House to read them 
 now, I will quote two or three paragraphs 
 from that report, dated December 14, 1874, 
 and printed House Document No. 265. 
 
 THK "WHITB LINE." 
 
 This Interior oaganization lias not yet as- 
 sumed (leflnilely in the SliUe of Mississippi 
 sucli precise form and so distinct an existence 
 as in llio Slate of Louisimni, but is unques- 
 tionably nil extension Into Mississippi of the 
 "White l^oatjue" organization, whose head- 
 quarters are In Now Orleans. In Warren 
 county It Is sometimes called the " « hite 
 Line," and by that name is familiarly spotten 
 Of hy the Icadiuf^ papers of Vicltshiirij, as well 
 as by some of the prominent witnesses before 
 tliis com mil ten. it Is also ktio>vn as " people's 
 clnljs,' but in all Instances the formation of Hie 
 clubs or civil oreanlzation Is accompanied by 
 establishing wiihln the clubs ihoinsei Ves a 
 military organization, officered, ejuippod, and 
 armed. 
 
 Tlius the clubs and the taxpayers' league 
 are opm associations, apparently directeil to- 
 ward objects In which all citizuna might law- 
 fully unite, but controlled from within by the 
 military and partisan organ izaiions whose 
 purposes are special and lawful. 
 
 The purposes of these chibsor While I.Ino 
 companies are I hose, as they are openly avow- 
 Oil or secretly cheriMlu^il : 
 
 1. They ai-e Vlrji^ to makea ceii'^ns and enroll- 
 ment of" a II tliti white men Iu the .*ila'.<'. 
 
 2. To Incorponiie Into the Intrrtor military 
 ', organlzaiionsall the whiles who will Join wilU 
 
 I thein. 
 
 I 3. To set aslrle. by whatever means may bo 
 
 1 necessary, the idfctloii of colorcil men lo of- 
 fice, and to niilliry In practice the en iblln^ 
 
 I and eiitorceui<-nt acts of Congress, graidluK 
 and enforcing tlie right of all cil Iz(mi-<, wlili- 
 out distinction of color, to hold oiUces, If 
 
 I properly elected to them. 
 
 j 4. To allow none but while men to be elected 
 to ofllce or to hold oJllce. 
 
 And how was it about the same time, and 
 even later, in other States? Here is a report 
 upon Louisiana, the report from whiih the 
 gentleman quoted, a report tliat exhibits llie 
 
 , same condition of affairs, signed by the geu- 
 tlem&n who sits in front of me, [Mr. Hoak.] 
 
 I Although by a minority of the committee, it 
 
 I is a report of great power and of indubitable 
 
 I truth. 1 quote from page 18: 
 
 The White Ijcague Is an organization which 
 exists in New Oneans. and contains at least 
 from twenty five hundred to three tlionsaiul 
 members, armed, drilled, ami ofTlcered as a 
 
 j military organization. Organizalions beating 
 
 ' the same name extend throughout many pariu 
 
 I of the Stale. 
 
 I •••••• * 
 
 I On the lUh of September, 1874, It arose upon 
 I and attacked the police of the city, the pro- 
 ! text of the attack being the sidzuie of arms 
 { which it had Imported fioin the North; and 
 having defeated them with considerable 
 j slaughter. It took possession of the State- 
 house, overthrew the Stale gov(!rnmenl, and 
 ! Installed a ne»v governor in oince, and kept 
 I him in power until the United States inlor- 
 ! fered. This rising was planned bcforehaiul. 
 j ••«•»* » 
 
 j The White League of New Orleans Itsol f was 
 j anti Is a constant menace to the Uepubllcumi 
 of the whole State. 
 
 i We cannot doubt that the elTect of all these 
 t things was to prevent a full, free., and fair 
 election, and to lntinii<lalo the colo^'cd votors 
 I and the white Republicans. 
 
 S« the transformation had not occurred in 
 August, 1874. I come down now to IS75, to 
 the late autumn of that year, and ask if the 
 transformation had then occurred. I will 
 not detain the House by reading the testi- 
 mony of the cloud of witnesses which gathers 
 around me, but will print a few specimens 
 of the proef, most of them relating to the 
 recent State election iu Mississippi. While 
 I say, to the honor of the gentleman from 
 Mississippi, that in his own Slate he spoke 
 against the organization of the White Line, 
 it is unquestionably true that he was not 
 supported by a like action on the part of the 
 great mass of his political associates. With 
 the permission of the House I will quote from 
 a number of papers in his State, which say, 
 with the utmost boldness, that though Col. 
 Lamar spoke against tiie Wliite Line, and 
 though the State convention ignored it, yet, 
 back of the convention and back of the gen- 
 tleman himself, the White Line was formed 
 and carried the election, and intends iu thf 
 same way to carry the next. 
 
SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 The following quotations need no comment: 
 [Fi'om tlie Colutnbns (Mississippi) index, 
 August, 187").] 
 
 Already clo we see si^ns in our State of the 
 good effects of the color line. Prior to its 
 orgiiniziitio.i there was no harmony' or unity 
 of action among tlie whites. The negroes had 
 perfected their race in organizations ami 
 -.vi-re able to control the politics of the State. 
 The whites', after liaving artempted every 
 jicheiiie to seeui'e an intelligent governniont 
 and a cooperation of the ncgroe^ In this be- 
 half, Misely gave it up and determined to 
 organlzt' themselves as a race and meet the 
 Issue that had jjresented llseU for ten years. 
 
 Now we r<!COguize the fact that ihe State is 
 most thorouglily aroused, more harmonious 
 In its actions, and more determined to suc- 
 ceed in the coming- election than it has been 
 since the days of secession. 
 
 So the gT and result of the color line has been 
 accomphnhed in organizing tin* v/bite people 
 of the State and pla ing them in a position to 
 •conlrol the coming election. No other policy 
 could have etTected the result. 
 
 [From the Shubuta Times.] 
 
 Call it what you please. Some call It the 
 color line. It looks to ns like the white line, 
 it shall be seen who in this emergency can 
 choose to stand with the negroes as against 
 the whites. Mark them. 
 
 [From the Uandsborough Democrat.] 
 
 Wo are in favor of the color line as a prin- 
 ciple, a necebsli;y, and a policy. 
 
 [From the Meridian Mercury.] 
 Rally *>n !,he color line, boys, beyond the 
 platlorm, every man to his color and colors, 
 ami make these negro pretentlers to govern 
 this great country to come down, else put 'em 
 down. What do the young men say to the old 
 men's batlle-ciy In tin* political campaign, 
 "Stop across the platform, boys, and go for 
 em.'' 
 
 [From the Forest Register.] 
 Thebody ofthe Democratic partv will carry 
 their colors of the White Line ove"r the State. 
 Some of the auxiliaries in a scout or ijush- 
 whacklng mancBuver may use a mild, con- 
 servaLlve face over the tiag, but still it will 
 rest on a white journal. To the Radicals we 
 say, ju^t superintentl your structure; we will 
 raise our own liag and colors. 
 
 The Vicksburg Herald, speaking of the 
 State Democratic convention of August 9, 
 1875, says : 
 
 The color line was by common consent Ig- 
 nored, it was only me.itioneil incidentally, 
 and it was not "killed off" either by the 
 speech of Colonel Lamar or by a vote of the 
 convention. The representatives of the peo- 
 ple expi'cssed Jio oiiinion on the subject. The 
 convention left each counti" to manage its 
 own affairs in its own way. 
 
 Speaking of the State Democratic platform 
 of August 9, ISVfi, the Columbus Index says: 
 
 We stand on the color line, because It is 
 taclily indorsed by the platform, and because 
 we believe it to be" the only means of redeem- 
 ing this and oilier counties from negro rule. 
 
 Again, from the same paper : 
 
 The necessities of the ."State of Mississippi 
 recall thii Injnncilon and give emi)hasis i,o 
 tlie paralicl— put none but Democi ais in office. 
 
 We have gaine.l a great victoi-y— Hull Ruiior 
 Chickamauga. Le^ us follow it up to the se- 
 curing of I'e.sults. 
 
 The wijiie people must be welded into one 
 compact organization. All differenecsorojiin- 
 ion, all personal aspirations, musi be settled 
 within our own organization, and from its de- 
 cision Uierc; must be no appeal. Otherwi.'^e 
 each recuirinjf election jiroduces its disor- 
 ders. 
 
 [From the Meridian INlercury.] 
 
 Our coi respondent at Running Water Mills 
 makes his points well, liis positicnis cannot 
 successlully be contradicted. The miserable 
 bunglers who have put the negro in the Con- 
 stitution have certainly wi'ltleii themselves 
 down asses all. W.hen we accept "results of 
 the war," we do )iot accept the notion of 
 statesmen, out the blunders of unreasoning 
 malice and stupidity, and of course we con' 
 tinue to accept It only so long as we are com- 
 pelled to. 
 
 [From the Jackson Clarion.] 
 
 Appeal after appeal has been made in vain 
 to the colored people. Mo more appeals will 
 be matle to them. 
 
 [From the Alabama Examiner.] 
 
 The present contest i-> rather a revolution 
 than a political campal^iu ; it is the rebellion. 
 if you see fit to apply that term. 
 
 [From the Forest Register.] 
 
 In this conuection we will stale that the 
 white me', who ally themselves with negroes 
 in this conflict n»ed not expect any better fate 
 than they; fact is, they will be the first tosuf- 
 fer, if the Caucasian can find them at alj 
 when trouble comes. 
 
 In July, 1875, the Raymond Gazette, whose 
 editor is now a member of the Legislature, 
 and which is published only eight miles froia 
 Clinton, where the bloody riot of last Sep- 
 tember occurred, made this startling de- 
 mand : 
 
 There are those who think that the leaders 
 of the Radical party have carried this system 
 of fraud and falsehoo<l just Tar enough in 
 Hinds coun-ty, and that the time lias come 
 when i*, should be stopped— peaceably if po.s- 
 sible. forcibly If necassary. And to this end it 
 is proposed that whenever a liauical pow-wow 
 is to be held, the nearest anti-liadica! club ap- 
 point a commiitee of ten iliscreet, uitelligent, 
 and reputable citir.ens, fully Identifled with 
 the interests of the neigh borlioo<l and well 
 known as men of veracity, to attend as rei)re- 
 sentativesof the tax-payers of the neighbor- 
 liooa andthe eountj , and true friends of the 
 negrous- assembled, and that whenever the 
 Itatlicai speakers proceed to mislead the ne- 
 gioe-, and oi)en with falsehoods and decep- 
 tions and misrcpiesentations, the committee 
 stop them right then and there, and compei 
 them to tell truth or guit the stand. 
 
 The Clinton riot was the d'rect outgrowth 
 of this demand. What follows ? The same 
 paper, of date July 26, 187(3, show.s that this 
 vicious policy has been renewed in Hinds 
 county, as follows : 
 
 DEMOCRATIC CENSORS. 
 
 The county executive committee of the 
 Democrats and couseivativesofiiiiids county 
 held a meeting at Raymond the other day, at 
 which, on motion. It was ordered that each 
 club in the county appoint a special commit- 
 tee whose business it shall be to attend anv 
 and every Radical meeting held in its vicin- 
 ity, and that each of .said committees s.iall re- 
 port to its own club and to this executive 
 committee the action, attendance, andgej>e- 
 ral tone and temjicr of said meeting. 
 
 A SYSTEM OP COBRCION. 
 
 A very general system of coercion was 
 adopted throughout the .Sunthby Uen.ocratlc 
 clubs and associations agreeing not to employ 
 negroes who voted the ilei)ublican tirkct, not 
 to iea.-e them laiui.s, nor to furnish them with 
 or allow them to obtain ibr tli-unselve? any 
 means of subsistence. 
 
 The proofs of this are overwhelming. 1 
 read from the Chickasaw Messenger a com- 
 munication from jBuena Vista, Mississippi ; 
 
SPEKCn OF DON. JAMES A. OAHFIKLl*. 
 
 KUKNA ViSTA, Miss., January 1, 187«. 
 Editor Mkssjckoeu: The I'ollim iii-<'ll.<t crim- 
 prises the nueduuMi tluit luivt> I)o<mi rciiori.Hl 
 by the iiiembfr.s of tin- JJiit-nii Vl.sln Dfiiio- 
 oialic conservative club as ilie one-i liinl ihui. 
 would be leiusea lo lecoiitnict for the year 
 1876. 'i ou are reqne.Hteil bv the club to publish 
 their names In the Messenger. 
 
 Uespectiullv. vours. 
 
 C. A." M". FULLIM.VN, 
 Secretary Buena Vista Deui. Con. Club. 
 
 "Fred Crow, Frank VViulains, Dury llolll- 
 uian, John Doss, Wade Pulliaui, Calvin Ulad- 
 uey, Joe Moore, Henrj Jolin.-.c>ii, Anderson 
 Williams, Kd. liramleii, John Pnlliani, \Uu 
 Valiiant, Uay J'.nind, Wash Cliandb r. Jake 
 \Valkei\ Ilenrv Woodaid, Lawson I'ulliani 
 W. Huucilestone, Martin Pulliuni. Kd. Iv\le, 
 Calvin Uray, John liuehanan, nan. I'uiids, 
 Albert Conor, h^U. Xaihan, Jiin Pulllam,.Mmon 
 Baskin, Bill Pulliam, Geo.f^e Liites, J. Feath 
 orslone^ -jhadi Love, Uilliard i lelds. 
 
 "Weare not familiar wiih the names of all the 
 leading darkies in Buena Vi.-.ia, but it oecnrs to 
 us that many of them do not appear upon i he 
 list sent to us. W, may not understand arijjht 
 the actiou of the Buena Vi'iita eluo, ■ ut our 
 impression wa.« that one-tblr<l of the laborers 
 were to be tliacharKeil, and tliat one-third 
 should includesueii turbulent, vu-ious rascals 
 as Fmdi Mcintosh, Prince llmldlesione, arul 
 others who once hehl hi-ili eai-nivul in that 
 section. Let MS have no 'whipijing the devil 
 around the stump,' friends, but let us carry 
 our ple«iges both in spirit and letter." 
 
 Houston, Janruiry, 1876. 
 
 Pursuant to a call of the president, the club 
 met at i lie court-house ateJeveu o'clock a. m., 
 VV. S. Bates presiding. 
 
 On motion of Captain Frank Burkitt, the 
 foiiowing resolutions were rea<l : 
 
 1. That we .solemnly declare our purpose to 
 rtand lo and abide by our pledges made ilur- 
 U\^ the canvass, and thai we will hold in utter 
 Jecestation any man Ciainiinif to be a Conser- 
 vative Democrat who by any equivocations 
 ^baU in ihc least violate "the sacied promises 
 made by us previous to the election, either as 
 a club or as indlviiluals. 
 
 ■2. That at no time and under no circum- 
 stances will we employ those who are regard- 
 ed as leaders in the Radical party. 
 
 i. That we will not employ :i.ny laborer who 
 uas been dischargeil byany mpml)er of our 
 club because of nis ,.iiSt"poli'tical course. 
 
 4. That thi; members of Ihisclubare request- 
 ed to senil into the secretary the names of all 
 per .ons turned oir by them" unde the above 
 resolutions, and that the executive commit tee 
 of tue county is requested to pu ii»h their 
 names. 
 
 ft. That every other club in the county is 
 reg[Ue>ted to take like action. 
 
 6. That our papers aj-e requested to publish 
 these resiOiuti ons and the names of p<'rsons 
 sent to them by the exe«utive committee. 
 
 V. That colored men ai-e invited to Join this 
 club. 
 
 a That this club meet the first Saturday In 
 each month 
 
 J.B. GLADXEY, Secretary. 
 
 [From the Okolona (Mississippi) ••^lates, .Vo- 
 vemljer 1>S 1875.] 
 
 The Radical pa.iy of Mississippi contend 
 rhai iniimidation won the White i-ine victory. 
 It isiiot the flrs: time, neiih.i- will it be the 
 lust time in whi'-h inlimirialion ha n been sue- 
 cessftdlu nxed. The white men have bei-n in- 
 timiualeu in times past, and we wonder which 
 has the i)e-'t of the i.argain. We are so situ- 
 ated that weare obliff d to IIkIu the devil wlih 
 lire. Lutthe white men nin ne afraid to in- 
 timidate evil-doers. Iniimidation is legitimate, 
 pcr/ec ly legdimate. 
 
 Ex-Governor Benjamin G. Humphries, of 
 Mississippi, made a sp^-ech at a reunion of 
 the Tliirteentli Mississippi Confederate In- 
 
 Ifantrv, at Moridian, on the 22d of Nov«»m- 
 
 ber, iSTf), in wliich he said : 
 ! We have Kurrendrred none of our convie- 
 
 tion.1 lint/ xiill claim (lie rinlit iif lindicalion. 
 
 In loouinjf buck at our p.isi ueilons and mo- 
 jtlves,aMd the wrongs we have suH'ercd and 
 
 are still sntlerin^c, weeonfe-.-, thutuc have no 
 j reiirets for the ch"ice we made netween Ihe 
 ] •' hixher-lnw" license of majoi Hies In the 
 \ Union and the sacred s(-eurlty of self-|«overn- 
 I ment In the Slates, betw.eii "the Federal and 
 I Confederate xovernnnnts. Weare n t con 
 i solous oi II soiliar.\ Ucrellctlon of duly, either 
 
 as citl/.. ns or soldiers, and feel tha"t iruili, 
 
 reason, and lellfiion exculpate us from wron;; 
 
 doing. We know we were rl«hl, and though 
 
 crushetl toi'urtliwe should evi-r remember. 
 i and teach our children to rememljcr, our 
 {cause wasju-t! sVe are still pioud of the 
 
 cause and glory in the fight we made. 
 
 i After the election, the Meridian Mercury, 
 I of November 2ii, IhTf), says : 
 
 We have to contend with the blunder of the 
 ! fifteenth amendment while it stands as best 
 I we can. Kidiculou.'j aijpeals to the leastm an.i 
 I judgment of tli negro haw been tlie cause of 
 ( incalculable injury in the infiaiion of his van- 
 ity and making liiin believe he wa-» of real 
 I consequence as a governing element in tlie 
 I body-politic. Now that the negro In this State 
 lis down ai.d his personal seli-conceit well 
 I knockeil out of him, it Is probaiily a fit titnc- 
 for the white i)eople to impress upon him that 
 the white people will in cuturo conirol the 
 politics of this Sratt,and that lieshorldkeep 
 himself in his proper sphere and leave to the 
 intelligent \\ iiite man the exclusive use ol 
 statecraft for the best interest of both races. 
 Impress him continually with the idea ol his 
 unfitness lor tlie ballot "an.i his pi-oper place 
 on election day away from the polls. 
 
 [Here the hammer fell.] 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gen- 
 tleman lias expired. 
 
 Mr. SAVAGE. I mov-i that his time be 
 extended. 
 
 Mr. HALE. 1 hope that another hour 
 may be given him. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. That will be the effect 
 of an indefinite extension, to which the Chair 
 hears no objection. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. 1 could Jill many col- 
 umns of our Record with evidences" like 
 those above quoted from the gentleman's 
 own State. In the light of this testimony, 
 is it possible for us to believe that the trans- 
 formation had occurred in the gentieman'8 
 own State in the election of that Legisla- 
 ture tliat made him a Senator ? 
 
 If the testimony of the Democratic press 
 of Mi.^sissippi is to be credited, tlie latf elec- 
 tion in tile State of Mississippi was tainted 
 with fraud and managed by intimidation 
 unparalled by anything in our recent politi- 
 cal history. Let the gentleman explain this 
 striking fact : Tliere are many thousand 
 more colored than white voters in the Stau? 
 of Mississippi, in the election of 1873 the 
 Republican party had 22,970' m.tjoritv: in 
 the election last autumn the Democratic 
 party had a majority of 30.922. How came 
 this change oi more than r>3,t'UUin the short 
 space o( two years, if there w.as a free and 
 uncoerced vote of tlie electors of that State ? 
 
 The President of the United States has sent 
 
n 
 
 sPEEcn OP nots. James a. qarfield. 
 
 to the St'nate a Iftter addressed by him to 
 Oovernor Chamberlain, under date of July 26, 
 IhTii, troin which I read a few words of high 
 official authority bearing upon the point I 
 am now discussing, lie says : 
 
 The scene at Hamburg, as cruel, bloocl- 
 tliir»ly, wiiiitoii, unprovoked, and as uncalled 
 for ud il was, is only a r<.;putilioii of tlie course 
 that lias hci-n iiuVsned In other Soulliern 
 SiuU's wiiliin the hut few years, notably in 
 Mississippi anil Louisiana. Mississippi is gov- 
 erned to-day by ofllcials chosen through fraud 
 anil violence such aswonkl scarcely be accreil- 
 ilcd to savagjs, much less to a civilized and 
 Christian people. How long these things are 
 to com luuo or \v hal is to be the linal remedy 
 thetireai Uiilerof the universe only knows; 
 but 1 h.ivean abiding faith that the remedy 
 will coMU', and come speeilily, and I earnestly 
 hope that it will come peacefully. There has 
 never ^)^^^•n a desire on the part of the North 
 to humiliate the Son li. Nothing is claimed 
 or one State that is not freely accorded to all 
 at hers, unless it may be therigbtto kill ne- 
 groes and Itepnblicans without fearof pun- 
 Uhmentand without loss of caste or reputa- 
 tion. This has seemed to bea urivilege claim- 
 eil by a few States. 
 
 But it is aside from my purpose to go into 
 the question of the validity of the late elec- 
 tiou iu Mississippi. That subject is being 
 investigated by a committee of the Senate, 
 dnd I shall be surprised if, from the evidence 
 they have takeu, they do not concur in the 
 opiuiou I have expressed. 1 desire gentle- 
 men to remember that the great question I 
 am discussiug is, had the great transforma- 
 tion taken place among the gentleman's 
 constituents in the late autumn of 1875 ? 
 
 The answer of his own people is over- 
 whelmingly in the negative. 
 
 I now ask, had the transformation oc- 
 curred in the winter and spring of the pres- 
 ent year ? 
 
 I hold in my hand the report of an ad- 
 dress of Rev. Taylor Martin, of Charlotte, 
 North Carolina, the town to which Congress 
 lately gave a mint building to be used for 
 school purposes. The address was made 
 on Decoration Day, May 5, 1876. 1 quote : 
 
 The South is to-day ruled over By the miser- 
 able thrall of Vankeei-lom ; but they cannot 
 muzzle our chivalry and patriotic devotion to 
 the "lost cause." We have fought for our 
 rights, but in God's dispensation we are van- 
 quislied, but not «owed. Slaverj- wasadivine 
 institution, and we must have that institu- 
 tion or the South will ever be bankrupt. 
 They speak of our cause as the "lost cause." 
 If so", shall it be lost forever? No ! a new gen- 
 eration has sprung up, and at a not far dis- 
 tant day there will be '-stars and bars" float- 
 ing proudly over oursunny South. In the next 
 political campaign we must,even if in the mi- 
 nority, support a Southern man who will build 
 U|) our interests and hurl the Yankee pick- 
 pockets from our midst. Weareto-ilay unitei.1 
 to the puritanical host by an artificial tie ; 
 but we are a distinct people, and (iod and the 
 ri'.<ht will enable us to show to the world the 
 truth and thee'inity of our claims. Our states- 
 men now In Congress are thr; cream of tiiat 
 budy, andare the only element that reflects 
 credit on the United States. Is it not better 
 to hang on lo the "lost cause" than to stay in 
 a government of corruption? 
 
 Mr. YE.\TES. With the consent of the 
 gentleman from Ohio, I want to state tha-t I 
 
 have seen under the signature of the gen- 
 tleman from whom he has just quoted a 
 statement denying in tola every word of 
 what has just been read ; a?-d a number of 
 gentlemen who heard the speech certify that 
 the quotation is false iu every particular. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. If that be the fact I will 
 cheerfully strike the extract from my speech. 
 I never before heard it authentically denied. 
 
 Mr. YEATES. There is no doubt of the 
 correctness of my statement. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. Let the extract and the 
 denial stand together. But, sir, I will quote 
 a recent utterance of public opinion, the 
 authenticity of which I am quite sure no 
 gentleman will deny. They will neither 
 deny the ability nor the prominence of 
 Robert Toombs, of Georgia, formerly a Sen- 
 ator and a Secretary of the Treasury. On 
 the 25th of .January, 1876, he addressed the 
 Legislature of Georgia by invitation ; and 
 the following extract from that speech will 
 show how far the transformation has taken 
 place in him and in his followers : 
 
 We got a good many honest fellows into the 
 first LiCgislatnre, but 1 will tell you how we 
 got them there. 1 will tell you the truth. 
 The newspapers won't tell it to you. We got 
 them there by currying the black vote by in- 
 timidation and bribery, and 1 helped to do it! 
 1 would have scorned the people if they had 
 not done it! And I will buy them as long as 
 they put beasts to go to the ballot-box ! No 
 man should be given the elective franchise 
 wlio has not the intelligence to use it prop- 
 erly. The rogue should not have it, for Gov 
 ernment is made to punish him ; the fool 
 should not have it, for Government is made 
 to take care of him ! Now, these miserabh- 
 wretches— the Yankees— have injected five 
 millions of savages into the stonnicli of our 
 body-politic, and the man who says he accepts 
 negro sutTrage. 1 say, accursed be hel I will 
 accept everything; 1 will accept Grant and 
 empire before 1 will accept such a Uemocrat ! 
 The poor, ignorant negro— talk of him govern- 
 ing you and me ! It takes the highest order 
 of intellect to govern the people, ami tliese 
 poor wretches talk of governing us I 'Why, 
 they can't perpetuate their own negro power. 
 In the countries where they were in the ma- 
 jority they dill not pi'eserve their power and 
 perpetuate their rule. My remeily helpeil us 
 to break that up. We carried theih with us by 
 bribery and intimidation. 1 advised it and 
 paid my money for it ! You all know it, but 
 won't say it. Itut 1 will say it, for 1 fear no 
 man, and am prepared to render an account 
 to none but the Great Judge, before whom I 
 must appear in a few years, l'«r my enemies 
 have thought my services to my country so 
 great that they have done me the honor to ex- 
 clude me from again serving my people. I 
 contest that honor with our cnief, Mr. Uavis. 
 1 am just as good as he is, and he is no better 
 than 1 am. 1 ilemaml that they shaUj|)lace me 
 beside him. 1 thank them for it. It is verj 
 few things that 1 nave to thank them for, but 
 1 do thank them for that. 
 
 In view of the testimony I have offered, 
 we must wait for an answer to the question, 
 when and where did the transformation oc- 
 cur ? It occurred long ago in the philosophi- 
 cal and patriotic heart and mind of the gen- 
 tleman from Mississippi ; but has it occurred 
 in the majority of the eleven millions who 
 joined with him to destroy the Union, to 
 
fiPEECn OP HON. JAMES A. OARFIEIJ>. 
 
 11 
 
 y^Tpetuate slavery, to defend the cause that 
 1^ now " lost f" 
 
 Had it occurred last week in the town of 
 Meridian, in me gentleman's own State? 1 
 quote from tL" Meridian Mercury of July 29, 
 lb7t): 
 
 We lieiird Lamar's Scooha speed), and while 
 Ills t rut li lo his hcloveil South, purhiips, tliinied 
 out a llllie uiol'e t hail cuinuKni, we rt-niurkcd 
 nothing iLieou.sisltMit with hU olhrr spet'clies 
 we hail lu-ai(l or reail of. Thi^ iiiorniug ot his 
 ariival hc'ro tlu! Mercury conlahicti a sliai'p 
 fling at hiui about the ^iuuMl^^ oration, and 
 that night, at I lie eoul■t-ll<m^s(•, ho venturcil lo 
 Chastise us sharply tor it in the house of our 
 frieutls, ami was hoisierously applauded. We 
 consoled ourself that i he applause might 
 have Ijcen moi-e in eoiiipliineiit to the e.xeel- 
 lence of thi^ Oiatory than in satisfaction at 
 our • asligatioii. Wehad our rcvcngi^ though, 
 111 taking which we iuauguratcd tiie policy ol 
 the canvass in spite of hiui which carried the 
 State like a i>iuirie on lire. He and others wlio 
 wanted to dross uii in a iiici^ starched and 
 Ironed white shirt that would shame the 
 bloody shirt, established a laundry at Jack- 
 son oil the 4th of August, and a great many 
 patronized it and came out in snowy white 
 fronts to present themselves creditably before 
 the Northern public sentiment. In their party 
 pow-wow of lliat tlay, disregarding the deirp 
 anUer-currenlof publlcoinnioii.thejMlcclared 
 by formal resolution against the White Line 
 policy. 
 
 The iMercnry h.ad sounded tlie depths of that 
 under-current, ami we ki.ew it wouid not do. 
 In heart we felt with the platfoi m, but our 
 judgment assured Us that the canvass niu.>t 
 be lost on ii,an<l that to inactice it weri- a latal 
 error. We denounced tin; platform upon the 
 instant, and took what care we could that 
 Lamau'S speeches upon his national reputa- 
 tion should not ruin our canvass. We calletl 
 upon the people to "step across the platform" 
 which denamed it, and form the W lilte Line 
 beyond it. The summons was music to their 
 ears, and the unconcjuered ami uucoiuiuer- 
 able Saxon race of Mississippi rallied to the 
 slogan. 
 w * * * * * * * * * * 
 
 We have got the Stat* ; we know how we 
 got it; we know to keep it; and we are going 
 to keep it without reganl torace or numerical 
 tnajority. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, after the facts I have cited, 
 am I not warranted in raising a grave doubt 
 whether the transformation occurred at all 
 except in a few patriotic and philosophic 
 minds ? The light gleams first on the moun- 
 tain peaks ; but shadows and darkness linger 
 in the valley. It is in the valley masses of 
 those lately in rebellion that the light of 
 this heautiful philosophy, which I honor, 
 has not penetrated. Is it safe* to with- 
 hold from them the custody aj-i2 supreme 
 control of the precious treasuiit of the Re- 
 public until the midday sun of i berty, jus- 
 tice, and equal laws shall shine upon them 
 with unclouded ray ? 
 
 In view of all the facts, considering the 
 centuries of influence that brought on the 
 great struggle, is it not reasonable to sup- 
 pose that it will require yet more time to 
 effect the great transformation. Did not 
 the distinguished gentleman from Massa- 
 chusetts [Mr. George V. Hoar] sum up the 
 case fairly and truthfully when he said of 
 the South, in his Louisiana report of 1874 : 
 
 They submitted to the national nnthorlty, 
 not because they would, but \)fciiuhC tlicy 
 unixt riiry abandoiifil the doct lino of Siaie 
 sovereignty, which ih' y had clulmeil made 
 tiiflr duly to lliidr Slates imiainount to that 
 • luelothc nation III case of conlllct, not bo 
 cause Ihoy would, but bie^inse I hoy must. 
 They subiiiltted to the conxl llir lonal mond- 
 iiieirts which rohdorod ihoir foriinr slaves 
 their cfiuals in all political right.-., not becuuse 
 they wcMild, bill bocau»e tlioy must. Tho pas 
 sioiis wnlcli led lo the war the passions which 
 the war excited, were left iinlamodHiid un- 
 checked, except to 'ar as iholr cthlbUiou was 
 restrained by the arm of power. 
 
 The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. La- 
 mar] says there is no possibility that the 
 South will again control national atJairs, if 
 the Democracy be placed again in power. 
 How is this ? We are told that the South 
 will vote a- a unit for Tilden and Hendricks. 
 Suppose those gentlt^meii also carry New 
 York and Indiana. Does the gentleman be- 
 lieve that a Northern minority of the De- 
 mocracy will control the Administration f 
 Impossible. But if they did, would it better 
 the case ? 
 
 Let me put the question in another form. 
 Suppose, gentlemen of the South, you had 
 won the victory in the war; that you had 
 captured Washington, and Gettysburg, and 
 Philadelphia, and New York ; and we of the 
 North, defeated and conquered, had lain 
 prostrate at your feet. Do you believe that 
 by this time you would be ready and will- 
 ing to intrust to us--our Garrisons, our Phil- 
 lipses, and our Wades, and the great array 
 of those who were the leaders of our thoughl 
 — to intrust to us the fruits of your victory, 
 the enforcement of your doctrines of State 
 sovereignty and the work of extending the 
 domain of slavery ? Do you think so ? And 
 if not, will you not pardon us when wf^ tell 
 you that we are not quite ready to trust the 
 precious results of the nation's vijtory in 
 your hands? Let it be constantly borne in 
 mind that I am not debating a question of 
 equal rights and privileges witliiu the Union, 
 but whether those who so lately sought to 
 destroy it ought to be chosen to control its 
 destiny for the next four years. 
 
 I hope my public life has given proof that 
 I do not cherish a spirit of malice or bitter- 
 ness toward the South. Perhaps they will 
 say I have no right to advise them ; but at 
 the risk of being considered impertinent I 
 will express my conviction that the bane of 
 the Southern people, for the last twenty five 
 years, has been that they have trusted the 
 advice of the Democratic party. The very 
 remedy which the geutleman from Missis- 
 sippi offers for the ills of his people has 
 been and still is their bane. The Demo- 
 cratic party has been the evil genius of the 
 South in all these years. They yielded their 
 own cousciences to you on the slavery ques- 
 tion, and led you to believe that the North 
 would always yield. They made you believe 
 we would not "tight to save the Uniou. They 
 made you believe that if we ever dared to 
 
12 
 
 8PKK0H OP HON. JAMKS A. 'JARlTIELl). 
 
 cross the Potomac or the Ohio to put down 
 your rebellion we could only do so across 
 the dead bodies of niauy hundred thousands 
 of Northern Democrats. Tliey made you 
 believe that the war would begin in the 
 i<treets of our Northern cities ; that we were 
 a community of shop-keepers, of sordid 
 money-getters, and would not stand against 
 your tiery chivalry. You thought us cold, 
 hIow, lethargic ; and in some respects we are. 
 There are some differences between us that 
 t>pring from origin and influences of climate; 
 dilferencea not unlike the description of the 
 poet, that — 
 
 Bria;ht and tierce aiirt fickle Is the South ; 
 And dark and true and tender Is the North; 
 
 differences that kept us from a good under- 
 stand ing. 
 
 You thought that our coldness, our slow- 
 ness, indicated a lack of spirit and of patriot- 
 ism, and you were encouraged in that belief by 
 most of the Northern Democracy; but not by 
 all. They warned you at Charleston in 1860. 
 
 And when the great hour struck, there 
 were many noble Democrats in the North 
 who lifted the flag of the Union far above 
 the flag of party ; but there was a residuum 
 of Democracy, called in the slang of the 
 time •' Copperheads," who were your evil 
 genius from the beginning of the war till its 
 close, and ever since. Some of them sat in 
 these seats, and never rejoiced when we won 
 a victory, and never grieved when we lost 
 one. They were the men who sent their Val- 
 landighams to give counsel and encourage- 
 ment to your rebellion and to buoy you up 
 with false hope, that at last you would con- 
 quer by the aid of their treachery. I honor 
 you, gentlemen of the South, ten thousand 
 times more than i honor such Democrats of 
 tlie North. 
 
 I said they were your evil genius. Why, in 
 ISij-t. when we were almost at the culminating 
 point of the war, their Vallandighams and 
 Tildens (and botii of these men were on the 
 committee of resolutions) uttered the dec- 
 laration, as the voice of the Democracy, that 
 the experiment of war to preserve the Union 
 wap a failure, and that hostilities should 
 oease. They asked us to sound the recall 
 on our bugles; to callour conquering armies 
 back from the contest, and trust to their 
 machinations to save their party at the ex- 
 pense of a broken and ruined country. Brave 
 soldiers of the lost cause, did you not, even 
 in that hoar of peril, in your heart of hearts, 
 loatlie them with supremest scorn ? But 
 for their treacliery at Chicago the war might 
 have ended and a hundred tliousand precious 
 lives been saved. But your evil genius pur- 
 sued you, and the war went on. And later, 
 when you would have accepted the constitu- 
 tional amendment and restoration without 
 universal sulFrage the same evil genius held 
 you back. In 1868 it still deceived you. In 
 1872 it led you into 
 
 A gulf profound as that f^&rbonian bog 
 Betwixt Diimiata and Mount Casius old. 
 Where armies whole liave sunk. 
 
 Let not the eloquence of th^t gentleman 
 from Mississippi [Mr. Lamar] lure yoi again 
 to its brink. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, it is now time to iuqcire a.r 
 to the fitness of this Democratic party to take 
 control of our great nation and its vast and 
 important interests for the next four years. 
 I put tlie question to the gentleman from 
 Mississippi [M'-. Lamar ] what has the Demo- 
 cratic party donw to merit that great trust ' 
 He tried to show in what respects it would 
 noi be dangerous. I ask him to show in 
 what it would be safe. I affirm, and I be- 
 lieve I do not misrepresent the great Demo- 
 cratic party, that in the last sixteen years 
 they have not advanced one great national 
 idea that is not to-day exploded and as dead 
 as Julius Casar. And if any Democrat here 
 will rise and name a great national doctrine 
 his party has advanced, within that timCj 
 that is now alive and believed in, 1 will yield 
 to hear him. [A pause.] In default of an 
 answer I will attempt to prove my negative. 
 
 What were the great central doctrines o.* 
 the Democratic party in the Presidential 
 struggle of 1860 ? The followers of Breck- 
 inridge said slavery had a right to go wher- 
 ever the Constitution goes. Do you believe 
 that to-day ? Is there a man on this conti 
 neut who holds that doctrine to-day ? Noi 
 one. That doctrine is dead and buried. The 
 other wing of the Democracy held that slav- 
 ery might be established in the Territories 
 if the people wanted it. Does anybody hold 
 that doctrine to-day ? Dead, absolutely dead. 
 
 Come down to 18G4. Your party, under 
 the lead of Tilden and Vallandigham, de- 
 clared the experiment of war to save the 
 Union was a failure. Do /ou believe tlial 
 doctrine to-day ';' Tiiat doctrine was shot to 
 death by the guns of Fairagut at Mobikv 
 and driven, in a tempest of fire, from the vat 
 ley of the Shenandoah, by Sheridan, less 
 than a mouth after its birth at Chicago. 
 
 Come down to 1868. You declared the 
 constitutional amendment revolutionary and 
 void. Does any man on this floor say so to- 
 day t If so, let him rise and declare it. 
 
 Do you believe in the doctrine ot the 
 Broadhead letter of 1868, that the so-called 
 constitutional amendments should be disre- 
 garded? No; the gentleman from Missis- 
 sippi accepts the results of the war 1 The 
 Democratic doctrine of 1868 is dead I 
 
 1 walk across that Democratic camping- 
 ground as in a grave-yard. Under my feet 
 resound the hollow echoes of the dead. 
 There lies slavery, a black marble column 
 at the head of its grave, on which I read : 
 Died in the flames of the civil war; loved in 
 its life; lamented in its death; followed to its 
 bier by its only mourner, the Democratic 
 party, but dead! And here is a double 
 grave • Sacred to the memory of squatter 
 
SPKECH OP HON. JAMES A. QARPIELD. 
 
 la 
 
 sovereignty. Died iu the campaign of 1860. 
 On the reverse side : Sacred to tbe memory 
 of Dred Sooltaud tlie Breckinridge doctrine. 
 Both dead at the liands ol" Abraham Lincoln. 
 And here a monument of brimstone : Sacred 
 to the memory of tlie rebellion; the war 
 against it is a failure; Tilden et Vallandif/ham 
 f'ecirmit, A. D. 1^64. Dead on the field of 
 battle; shot to death by the million guns of 
 the Republic. The doctrine of secession; of 
 State sovereignty. Dead. Expired in the 
 flames of civil war, amid the blazing rafters 
 of the Confederacy, except that the modern 
 ^neas, fleeing out of tlie flames of that ruin, 
 bears on his back another Auchises of State 
 sovereignty, and brims it here in the person 
 of the honorable gentleman fiom the Appo- 
 mattox: district of Virginia, [Mr. Tltckek.] 
 [Laughter.] All else is dead. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, are you sad, are you 
 sorry for these deaths ? Are you not glad 
 that secession is dead ? that slavery is dead? 
 that squatter sovereignty is dead ? that the 
 doctrine of the failure of the war is dead ? 
 Then you are glad that you were outvoted 
 in 1860, in 1864, in 1868, and in 1872. If 
 you have tears to shed over these losses, 
 slied them in the grave-yard, but not in this 
 House of living men. I know that many a 
 Southern man rejoices that these issues are 
 dead. The gentleman from Mississippi has 
 clothed his joy with eloquence. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, if you yourselves are 
 glad that you have suflered defeat during 
 the last sixteen years, will you not be 
 equally glad when you sutler defeat next 
 November? [Laughter.] But pardori that 
 remark; I regret it ; 1 would use no bravado. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, come with me for a mo- 
 ment into the camp of the ]\epublican party 
 and review its career. Our central doctrine 
 in 18C0 was that slavery should never ex- 
 tend itself over another foot of American 
 soil. Is that doctrine dead ? It is folded 
 away like a victorious banner; its truth ks 
 alive forevermore on this continent. In 1864 
 we declared that wo would put down die re- 
 bellion and secession. And that doctrine 
 lives and will live when the second Centen- 
 nial has arrived I Freedom, national, uni- 
 versal, and perpetual — our gn-at constitu- 
 tional aniendments, are they alive or dead ? 
 Alive, thank the God that shields both lib- 
 erty and Union. And our national credit, 
 saved from the assaults of IVndleton; saved 
 from the as-aults of those who struck it later, 
 rising higher and higher at home and abroad; 
 and only now in doubt lest its chief, its only 
 enemy, the Democracy, should triumph iu 
 November. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, ought tho Republican party 
 to surrender its truncheon of command to 
 the Democracy ? The gentleman from Missis- 
 sippi says, if this were England the Ministry 
 would go out in twenty-four hours with such 
 a state of things as we have here. Ah, yes! 
 that is an ordinary case of change of a^iminis- 
 
 tration. But if thin were England what would 
 she have done at thr end of the war ? Eng 
 land made one sui-h mistake as the gentleman 
 asks this fonnti'v to make when she threw 
 away thf achievements of tlie gramlest man 
 tliat ever troil lier highway of jtower. Oliver 
 Cromwell had dverturned the thronn of des 
 potie power and had lifted his country to a 
 plai'.e of masterful greatness among the na- 
 tions of the e.arth; and when, after his death, 
 his great si'epter was tran.-Nferred to a weak, 
 though not unlineal, hand, his country, in 
 a moment of reactionary blindness, brout^ht 
 back the Stuarts. Eui^land did not recover 
 from that folly until, in l(!8!t. the Prince of 
 Orange di-ove from her island the last of that 
 weak and wicked line. Did she afterward 
 repeat the blunder ? 
 
 For more than fifty years pretenders were 
 seeking the tiirone, and the wars on her 
 coast, in Scotland and in Ireland, threatened 
 the overthrow ot the new dynasty and the 
 disruption of the empire. But the solid 
 phlegm, the magniflcent pluck, the round- 
 about common sense of Englishmen steadied 
 the throne till the cause of tho Stuarts was 
 <lead. They did not change as soon as the 
 battle was over and let the Stuarts come 
 back to power. 
 
 And how was it in our own country when 
 our fathers had triumphed iu the war of tho 
 Revolution ? When the victory was won, 
 did they open their arms to the loyalists, as 
 they called themselves, or tories, as our 
 fathers called them ? Did they invite them 
 back ? Not one. They Cv^ntiscated their 
 lands. The States passed decrees that no 
 tory should live on our soil. And when 
 they were too poor to take themselves away, 
 our fathers, burdened as the young nation 
 was with debt, raised the money to trausport 
 the tories beyond seas or across the Canada 
 border. They went to England, to France, 
 to Nova Scotia, to New Brunswick, and es 
 pecially to Halifax; ;ind that town was such 
 a resort for tiiem that it became the swear- 
 word of our boyhood. 'Go to Halifax" was 
 a substitute for a more impious, but not 
 more opprobrious expression. The presence 
 of lories made it opprobrious. 
 
 Now I do not refer to this as an example 
 which we ought to follow. 0, no. We live 
 iu a milder era, in an age softened by the 
 more genial influence of Christian civiliza- 
 tion. Witness the sixty-one men who fought 
 against us in the late war. and who are 
 now sitting in this and the other Chamber 
 of Congress, Every one of them is here 
 because a magnanimous nation freely voted 
 that they might come; and they are welcome. 
 Only please do not say tlial you are just now 
 especially fitted to rule the Republic, and to 
 be the apostles of liberty and of bles.->iugs to 
 the colored race. 
 
 Gentlemen, the North has been asked, 
 these many years, to regard tlm sensibilities 
 of the South. We have beeu told that you 
 
u 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. JAMEC V. GARFIELD. 
 
 were brave and sensitive men, and that we 
 ought not to throw fire-brauds among you. 
 Most of our people have treated you with 
 judtice and maguauimity. In some things 
 we have giveu you just cause for complaint; 
 but 1 want to remind you that the North also 
 has sensibilities to be regarded. The ideas 
 which they cherish and for which tliey 
 fought triumphed in the highest court, the 
 court of last resort, the field of battle. Our 
 people intend to abide by that verdict and 
 to enforce the mandate. They rejoice at 
 every evidence of acquiescence. They look 
 forward to the day when the distinctions of 
 Nortii and South shall have melted away in 
 the grander sentiment of nationality. But 
 they do not think it is yet safe to place the 
 control of this great work in your hands. 
 In the hands of some of you they would be 
 safe, perfectly safe; but to tne hands of the 
 united South, joined with the most reaction- 
 ary elements of the Northern Democracy, our 
 people will not yet surrender theGovernment. 
 
 I am aware that there is a general dispo- 
 sition "to let by-gones be by-gones," and to 
 judge of parlies and of men, not by what 
 they have been, but by what they are and 
 what they propose. 
 
 That view is partly just and partly erron- 
 eous. It is just and wise to bury resent- 
 ments and animosities. It is erroneous in 
 ♦his, that parties have an organic life and 
 spirit of their own — an individuality and 
 .character which outlive the men who com- 
 pose them; and the spirit and traditions of 
 a party should be considered in determining 
 their fitness for managing the affairs of a 
 nation. For this purpose I have reviewed 
 the hi-tory of the Democratic party. 
 
 I have no disposition nor would it be just 
 to shield the Republican party from fair and 
 searching criticism. It has been called to 
 meet questions novel and most difficult. It 
 has made many mistakes. It has stumbled 
 and blundered ; has had some bad men in it; 
 has sullered from the corruptions incident to 
 the period following a grsat war ; and it has 
 suffered rebuke and partial defeat in conse- 
 quence. But has it been singular and alone 
 in these respects ? With all its faults, I 
 fearlessly challenge gentlemen to compare 
 ^it with any party known to our polities. 
 lias the gentleman shown that the Demo- 
 cratic party is iis superior either in virtue 
 or intelligence? Ooutlemen, the country 
 has been testing your qualities during the 
 last eight mouths. The people gave you a 
 probationary trial by putting you in con- 
 trol of this llouse. When you came here, 
 in December last, the same distinguished 
 gentleman to whom I am replying addressed 
 you on the evening of your first caucus in 
 these words : 
 
 Tin re has lieon for some time In the public 
 mliiti a convicilo i pre ound and all-porvadiug 
 that tuo civil s'Tv'se )f lUe country has not 
 been (liroclod I'ro a coiisi'Jcnittons of public 
 good, ijut from iLjse of party prortt, and for 
 
 currupt. selfish, and unpatriotic designs. Tno 
 pnoplo deuiiiiid at our hands a, sweeping and 
 thorodglj reform, wiiicU shall be conducted 
 In a spirit that will secure thea)ipointment to 
 places of trust and responsibi(ity of the hon- 
 est, the experienced, and tlie capable. 
 
 That is sound doctrine; and I have advo- 
 cated it here and elsewhere during the 
 last eight years. I remind him that the per- 
 nicious doctrine that " to the victors belong 
 the spoils," is of Desaocratic origin ; that 
 nearly half a century of Democratic tradition 
 and practice has fastened it upon the coun- 
 try. We found it, and have been cursed by 
 it ever since ; and though some efforts have 
 been made to reform it, the good work is 
 hardly begun. When, therefore, the gen- 
 tleman from Mississippi, [Mr. Lamar,] as 
 chairman of the Democratic caucus, at the 
 opening of the session, announced the doc- 
 trine I have quoted, we had reason to hope 
 that a new era of vil service had dawned 
 upon the Capitol. But what performance 
 has followed his high-sounding proclama- 
 tion ? No sooner did this reforming party 
 take possession of this House than it began 
 the most wholesale, sweeping changes of 
 officials, from the highest to the humblest 
 employees of the llouse, that has been 
 known in our history. Many of these offi- 
 cers had come to us from our Democratic 
 predecessors; but they were almost all dis- 
 missed to give place to hungry partisans. 
 Sixty-seven Union soldiers, who were faith- 
 fully doing their duties here, were turned 
 out, and among those who filled their places 
 were forty-seven rebel soldiers. 
 
 Mr. WILLIS. May I inquire how many 
 Union soldiers were put in office? 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. I do not know the pre- 
 cise number. 
 
 Mr. WILLIS. If the gentleman will in- 
 stitute a comparison he will find that it is 
 decidedly favorable to the Democratic party 
 so far as patriotism and favoritism to Union 
 soldiers is concerned. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. The facts do not bear 
 the gentleman out in his statement. This 
 is the practice which followed your profes- 
 sions of civil-servfce reform. 
 
 Mr. HOLM AN. As a matter of justice and 
 fair play the gentleman from Ohio certainly 
 knows and should admit that a large num- 
 ber of disabled soldiers who are Republicans 
 are still holding offices in this House. 
 
 Mr. CONGER. I object to the gentleman 
 from Indiana interrupting the gentleman 
 from Ohio. Let the gentlemen opposite give 
 our side an opportunity to be heard for once. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. 1 am almost through, 
 and will soon yield the lloor. 
 
 In answer to the gentleman from Indiana, 
 I understand that a considerable number of 
 Democratic Union soldiers were appointed ; 
 but I w.as discussiugcivil-service reform and 
 the declaration of the gentleman from Mis- 
 sissippi [Mr. Lamar] that appointments to 
 office should not be used as party rewards. 
 
SPEECH OF nON. JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 16 
 
 I desire to glance for a moment now at the 
 career of this Uouae and at what tliey have 
 done and omitted to do. Pasiiug by tlieir 
 treatment of contested-election cases, their 
 appointment of officers, employes, and com- 
 mittee-clerks who have reflected no credit 
 upon the House, I desire to ask what valua- 
 ble work of general legislation has this 
 House accomplished ? 
 
 We hail hardly been here a month, when, 
 among the first thiugs demanded was that 
 in disregard of the deep feelings of the 
 Northern people, it was proposed to crown 
 Jefferson Davis with fall and free amnesty, 
 notwithstanding he had contemptuously de- 
 clared he never would ask for it; and this was 
 to be done, or no amnesty was to be granted 
 to any one. And when we objected because 
 he was the author of the unutterable atro- 
 cities of Libby and Audersonville prisons, 
 the debate which followed disclosed the 
 spirit and temper of the dominant party. 
 
 W'e were hardly in our seats when the 
 gentlemen from Virginia [Mr. Tockkr] 
 brought in a bill to repeal a statute of 1866 
 which no Democrat had before that proposed 
 to disturb, so far as I know; a statute which 
 provided that no man who voluntarily went 
 into the rebellion against the Union should 
 ever hold a commission in our Army or 
 Navy. And a Democrat from my own State, 
 [Mr. Banni.n'o,] the chairman of the Com- 
 mitee on Military Aflfairs, became the cham- 
 pion of that bill; and this Uouse passed it. 
 
 Again, we had passed a law to protect the 
 sanctity and safety of the ballot in national 
 elections, so that the horrors of theKu-Klux 
 and the white-linisms should not run riot at 
 the polls, and among the earliest acts of this 
 House was a clause added to one of the ap- 
 propriation bills to repeal the election law; 
 and to effect that repeal they kept up the 
 struggle lately under the fierce rays of the 
 dog-star. They have been compelled by a 
 Republican Senate to abandon the attempt. 
 
 Again, what have they neglected ? Early 
 in the session, indeed in the first days of it, 
 a proposition was made, introduced by the 
 gentleman from Maine, [Mr. Blaine,] so to 
 amend the Constitution as to remove forever 
 from the party politics of the country the 
 vexed and dangerous question of church 
 and state by preventing the use of the school 
 funds for sectarian purposes. That amend- 
 ment was sent to the Committee on the Judi- 
 ciary to sleep, perhaps to die; for it is said to 
 have been three times voted down in that 
 committee. 
 
 Again, the Secretary of the Treasury of- 
 ficially informed us that his power was ex- 
 hausted further to refund the debt; and that 
 if we would give him the requisite authority 
 he could refund four or five hundred millions 
 more at so favorable a rate as to save to the 
 Treasury at least 1 per cent, per annum of 
 the whole amount. The Senate passed the 
 bill more than six mouths ago, but this 
 House has taken no action upon it. 
 
 Our revenues have been threatene<i with 
 a deficit and our industries have been shaken 
 with alarm by bills reported to the House 
 but never been brought to a vote; for ex- 
 ample, tlie tariff bill, floating lazily upon the 
 stagnant waters of the House, 
 
 As lcll« lis a i);ilnteil ship 
 
 Upon II piiiril<-<l ocean— 
 
 a promise to free-traders, a threat of danger 
 to manufacturers, but with no prospect or 
 purpose of acting upon it. 
 
 And the Government has been crippled by 
 the withholding of necessary appropria- 
 tions; witliheld, as I do not hesitate to say, 
 for the [lurpose of making political capital 
 at the coming election, in which the gentle- 
 man from Mississippi desires his party to 
 succeed in the name of honesty and reform. 
 His colleague was frank enough to declare 
 that ho wanted to reduce the general appro- 
 priations, so as to have money enough to 
 devote to some scheme for his section, such 
 as the cotton claims and the Southern Pacific 
 railroad. 
 
 But party necessity has held many waiting 
 schemes and claims in leash. They are 
 anchored in the lobbies and committee-rooms 
 of this Uouse, till the election is over. 
 There is the bill to refund the cotton tax to 
 the amount of $ !0,00(),0U0, waiting to be 
 launched, when the election is over. A 
 subsidy of a hundred millions upstairs 
 (Pacific railroad committee-room) is waiting 
 to come down upon us for the Southern 
 Pacific railroad, when the election is over. 
 There are $38,000,000 of private claims, 
 Southern claims, war claims, waiting to burst 
 up from the cemmittee-rooms belo,v stairs. 
 when the election is over. 
 
 While these things surround ns; while 
 the very earth shakes with the tramp of the 
 advancing army of schemers, who are com- 
 ing "with the Constitution and an appropri- 
 ation," the gentleman from Mississippi 
 thinks that'as a measure of reform the Demo- 
 cratic party ought at once to be brought 
 ! back into power I 
 
 Meanwhile what has been the chief em- 
 i ployment of this House ? It has divided 
 itself in a score of police courts, in the hope 
 of finding corruption. Like those insects 
 that feed upon sores, it has hoped to live 
 -and thrive upon the corruption of others. 
 Like that scavenger of the air, the carrion 
 bird that buries its beak in the rotton car- 
 cass, so the Democratic party seeks to fatten 
 on the refuse which is hero and there thrown 
 out of the public service. 
 
 This Uouse has adopted eighty-three re- 
 solutions of investigation, besides a It-gion of 
 resolutions of inquiry of the several Depart- 
 ments. Twenty-five standing committees, 
 and eight select committees, up to the 
 20th of June, in all thirty-three com- 
 mittees, have been raking all the slums 
 of the nation, to find, if possible, some 
 savory morsel with wliioh to impregnate the 
 air during the coming election. 
 
16 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Aud what have they found ? Has any 
 one of these committees found that a single 
 dollar lias been stolen from the Treasury of 
 
 the United States ? If so. let them declare 
 it. Why, sir, the Republican party for the 
 last three years has been investigating its 
 own Administration far more effectually 
 than you have investigated it. It has had 
 uot only the courage of its opinions, but the 
 courage to punish its own rascals 
 
 But, gentlemen, after all that may be said 
 of corruptions and wrong-doing, do you 
 show, on that grouiui, any good reason why 
 the Republican party should surrender the 
 Grovernmeut to the Democracy ? Would it 
 be belter ? It is a matter of official record 
 that the Treasury suffered a far greater per- 
 centage of loss, by mismanagement and de- 
 falcation, under your administration than it 
 has suffered under ours. 
 
 In an official letter to the Senate, under 
 date of June 10, 1876, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury copie- from his records the aggre- 
 gate losses by defalcations and the loss per 
 $1,0 )0 in each period of four, years sines 
 1834 in all tiie Departments and Bureaus of 
 the Government. Without quoti ug the table 
 at length, the grand aggre^ifte stands thus : 
 From January 1, 1834. to July 1. 1S()1, the 
 total disbursements of the Government were 
 $l,3o9,977,5 12.52; the total defalcations were 
 .$12, 3dl, 722.91; or a loss of $9. 02 to the $1,000. 
 From July 1, 1861, to July 1, 1875, the 
 total disbursements were §12,56 ;,892,56U.- 
 o3; the total defalcations were -$9,905,205.37; 
 or a loss of twenty-six cents to tlie §1,0110. 
 In the latter period the disbursements were 
 nearly ten times as great as i^ the former, 
 aud the defalcations one-third less. 
 
 Is this country so given over to corruption 
 as the gentleman from Mississippi suggests ? 
 I will answer by quoting two distinguished 
 witnesses. In his able speech on the im- 
 peachment trial, oue of the Demovratic man- 
 agers, the gentleman from New York, [Mr. 
 LoKU,] said : 
 
 Seuatufs, 1 am one of ttiose who believe in 
 progress. 1 believe that this age is 'lie b(!«t 
 age which the sun has ever slioue upon ; 1 bn- 
 likjve ihcre is more of religion, more of hu- 
 manity, moio of love, more of eh irity In this 
 age than ia any age that has preceded it. ♦ * 
 
 There is now a higher aud healthier senti- 
 ment than in any toriuer agi;. Men are held 
 roolUci t! responsibilities now, thank God, that 
 they never were before. Tin- timi^ has been 
 in t he recoUcciioii of many of you when a \3yr- 
 sou thought he \nvl the right to use his oUioial 
 nosili )u lor hi-4 0wna'lvauta'.ie ; but that time 
 basgoneby, andiifjood de 1' of what we see aud 
 hear which leads agreat m.iny so mournt'nlly 
 tosaylhatlbe agtiis s^omg baclvwar<l nid we 
 are reci;ding to b.irbaiiam". very much which 
 occasions Lhi- a |)i)a rent increajteofwronsiarises 
 from the higher d'imands ol a greater civili- 
 Ztttio , ironi the, higher plane of an enlight- 
 ened people. 
 
 Now, 1 ask the Cleric to read a paragraph 
 which I have marked from the centennial 
 address of Rev. Ur. Storrs, a mau lit to be 
 the teacher of his race. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows ; 
 
 I scout the thought Miat w- as a people aie worumy uoue. Ll^oad aud continued ap- 
 I'oi-ae thau our tuiherb. Jouu Ailums. afc the ' plauiie.] 
 
 head of the War Department In J776 wrote 
 bitter lamencs of the corruption wliich ex- 
 isted in even that infant age of th- Kcpublic, 
 and of the spirit of veuaiity, rHpacirms and 
 insatiable, which was then the most alarming 
 enemv of America. Me declared hlmKelf 
 ashamed of the af^e in which he liv d. In Jef- 
 ferson's day all Federalists expected the uni- 
 versal dominion of e'rench infidelity. In 
 Jackson's day all Whigs thought the country 
 gone to ruin already, as if Air." Biddle had had 
 the entire public hope locked up in the vaults 
 of his terminated bank, tn l'olk'-<day theei 
 citement of the Mexican war gave lifuan I ger 
 rainatiou 'O many seeds of rascality. There 
 has never been a timi^, not here alone, in auy 
 country, when the fierce light of incessant 
 inquiry blaziii r on men m public life would 
 no|. nave revealed foi-ces of evil like those we 
 have seen or when the condiiuuation which 
 followed the discov.u-y would hive been 
 sharper. And it is among my deepest convic- 
 tions that, with all which has happened to de- 
 base and debauch ir, the nation at large was 
 never before more mentally vigorous or mor- 
 ally sound. 
 
 Mr. GARFIELD. Now. Mr. Chairman, 
 after all the fearful corruption of his time 
 described by John Adams, our fathers never 
 tliough it tiecessary to call the tories back to 
 take charge of their newly gained liberties. 
 I will close by cialling your attention again 
 to the great problem before us. Over this 
 vast horizon of iuterwsts North aud South, 
 above all party prejudices and personal 
 wrong-doing, above our battle hosts and our 
 victorious cause, above all that we hoped for 
 and won, aud you hoped for and lost, is the 
 grand, ouward movement of the Republic to 
 perpetuate its glory, to save liberty alive, 
 to preserve exact and equal justice to all, to 
 protect and foster all these priceless princi- 
 ples, until they shall have chrystalized into 
 the form of enduring law aud become in- 
 wrought into the life aud the habits of our 
 people. 
 
 Aud, until these great results are accom 
 plished, it is not safe to take oue step back 
 ward. It is still more unsafe to trust inter- 
 ests of such measurele-^s value in the hands 
 of an organization whose members have 
 never comprehended their epoch, have never 
 been in t^ympalhy with its great movements, 
 who have resisted every step of its progress, 
 and whose principal function has been 
 
 To lie in cold obstruction 
 across the pathway of the nation. 
 
 It is most unsafe of all to trust that organ- 
 ization when, for the tir>t time since the war, 
 it puts forward for the first and second place 
 of honor aud command, men who, in our 
 days of greatest danger, esteemed party 
 above country, aud felt not one throb of 
 patriotic ardor for the triumph of the im- 
 periled Union, but from the beginning to the 
 end hated the war and hated those who car- 
 ried our eagles to victory. 
 
 No, no, gentlemen ; our eulighteued and 
 patriotic people will not follow such leaders 
 in the rearward march. Their myriad faces 
 are turned the other way ; and along their 
 serried lines still riugs the cheeriui^ cry, 
 "Forward ! till our great work is fully and 
 worthily done 
 
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