: Library of the 
 University of North Carolina 
 
 Endowed by the Dialectic and Philan- 
 thropic Societies. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 wii it Ii il i il 
 S708R Wile, 000327 
 
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 THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1 
 
 
 
 
 , WASHINGTON: 
 
 : F, & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, 
 REPORTERS AND PRINTERS OF THE DEBATES OF CON¢ 
 | 1871. ; ae 
 
 
 
 
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‘Enforcement of Fourteenth Amendment, 
 
 The House having under consideration the bill 
 (Hl. R. No. 320) to enforce the provisions of the four- 
 teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United 
 States, and for other purposes— 
 
 Mr. WADDELL said: 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I rise to the performance of 
 a sacred filial duty to my mother State. And 
 it is fortunate for me that [am called upon 
 to do so to-day, because very recently, in 
 another place, another of her children in- 
 trusted with her honor and her dearest inter- 
 ests, a sentinel upon her highest watch tower, 
 has betrayed his trust. Sir, in the criminal 
 code of the Romans there. was no provision 
 made for the punishment of parricide, be- 
 cause it was considered an impossible crime. 
 The unnatural being who could slay father 
 or mother was considered as outside of the 
 range of possibilities in creation. What shall 
 be said of the American citizen who, when 
 his mother State lies prostrate and helpless 
 under accumulated calamities, unparalleled in 
 ihe history of this country, when she stretches 
 her bleeding arms and utters her pleading voice 
 to him to aid and defend her, not only turns 
 a deaf ear to hercry, but can become the will- 
 ing tool of her defamers and despoilers; can, 
 not only stand by consenting unto her death, 
 but can himself give the last, final stab to her 
 honor and her life? Sir, such a character as 
 that and occupying his position was fitly de- 
 seribed in the burning language of the poet- 
 patriot of Ireland: 
 ‘‘Unovrized are her sons till they’ve learned to be- 
 
 ray, 
 
 Und'stinguished they live, ifthey shame not their 
 sires; 
 
 Ana thetoreh that would light them thro’ dignity’s 
 
 way 
 Must be caught from the pile where their country 
 expires.” 
 
 ay 
 O~ 
 2 
 
 
 
 + 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it ought not to operate to the 
 prejudice of the State most. deeply interested 
 in the legislation contemplated here that her 
 Representatives have deferred to others and 
 have yielded to them all the earlier hours of 
 this debate. Such a course was consonant with 
 our feelings, and I think somewhat character- 
 istic. It isimpossible, evenin the hour allowed 
 by the rule, for any opponent of this bill to do 
 justice either to the subject or to himself. I 
 shall not discuss it in its constitutional aspects, 
 but [ ask the indulgence of the House for a 
 few moments while comment upon the alleged 
 causes which are supposed to justify it, partic- 
 ularly as touching my own State. In its effects 
 the bill is ostensibly to be of universal appli- 
 cation, but the debate has developed the fact, 
 if it was not already known, that it is merely 
 a party scheme, the operation of which is in- 
 tended to be confined to that portion of the 
 country which gentlemen take particular pleas- 
 ure in designating as ‘‘the insurrectionary 
 States.’’ It is an indictment against them, 
 founded upon voluminous hearsay testimony, 
 and the prosecutors have, unfortunately, I 
 think, for the peace of the country, presented 
 their arguments to the House, not in the calm 
 spirit which should characterize the discussion 
 of asubject so vast and far-reaching, but rather 
 in the temper of the heated partisan. 
 
 Now, sir, I shall not follow this example. 
 I am not of that political temperament and 
 never was, and it is gratifying to me to feel- 
 that there are gentleman on the other side who 
 know the fact. My friend, the honorable gen- 
 tleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Keer, | to 
 whose manly and generous conduct [ am 
 chiefly indebted for my prompt admission to 
 the seat I oceupy, a friendly service fer which 
 
4. 
 
 
 
 I wish to make this public acknowledgment, 
 knows that ever since the termination of the 
 late war my efforts have been directed to the 
 promotion of peace, justice, and good order in 
 my native State; he knows that as early as 
 the summer of 1865, before the Government 
 had taken any step toward the enfranchisement 
 of that race of which he is the eloquent cham- 
 pion, and when the majority of those who are 
 
 ‘now his political associates were afraid to 
 
 |-advocate that measure J, alone and in the face 
 
 jof a public opinion of which even he had 
 iscarcely a just appreciation, made a. public 
 fspeech in its favor. For this reason I have 
 hoped that what I may say in regard to the 
 
 “condition of affairs in North Carolina would 
 be accepted by him and others as at least free 
 from misrepresentation and undue prejudice. 
 
 Mr. KELLEY. Will the gentleman allow 
 me a moment? 
 
 Mr. WADDELL. Certainly. 
 
 Mr. KELLEY. I wish to testify to the truth 
 of what the gentleman has stated. 
 
 Mr. WADDELL. I hope this will not be 
 taken out of my time. . 
 
 Mr. KELLEY. I do it out of the gratitude 
 I have borne him from those early days for an 
 argument in behalf of that oppressed race, 
 that would have done credit to any, the most 
 enthusiastic, northern man. 
 
 Mr. WADDELL.  Itis grateful to my feel- 
 ings to hear those things, but 1 have not time 
 to yield further. h 
 
 Thave voted, Mr. Speaker, on every occasion 
 for an investigation into these alleged outrages 
 in my State, not because I believed ‘in the 
 necessity or in the power of Congress to send 
 out such an itinerant grand jury, but because 
 { was unwilling to give the slightest ground for 
 the suspicion that either I or my constituents 
 were averse to the most rigid investigation 
 which could be instituted into the terrible 
 crimes which are laid at our doors; and after 
 I was appointed on the committee of thirteen, 
 I tried, on three different occasions, to get the 
 floor in order that I might ask to be excused 
 from serving, because I desired to see that 
 committee composed exclusively of gentlemen 
 from the northern States. I was willing for 
 an investigation, because I am satisfied that, 
 when the whole truth is known, the people of 
 the North will begin to understand some of 
 the grievous burdens which the people of North 
 Carolina have been compelled to bear, and 
 which they have borne in a manner that justi- 
 fies me in saying thatif inexhaustible patience 
 be an attribute of God, they have exhibited at 
 least one Divine quality. 
 
 Ido not deny that crimes have been com- 
 mitted in North Carolina. I donotdeny that 
 in a small portion of the State bands of dis- 
 guised men have violated the criminal laws of 
 the State. Although without personal knowl- 
 edge on the subject, the published testimony 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 satifies me that such has been the case, just as 
 
 Iam satisfied that similar outrages have oc- 
 curred, and are daily occurring, in the States 
 of the North and Northwest—the only differ- 
 erence being that the Ku Klux of the South 
 wore disguises, which prevented recognition 
 and consequent punishment, while those of 
 the North commit their crimes undisguised 
 and in open day. ‘. 
 
 Mr. ELDRIDGE. I wish to call the gen- 
 tleman’s attention to the fact that in Iowa the 
 other day men disguised went into a post office 
 there, took out the postmaster and lashed him, 
 
 Mr. WADDELL. Yes, sir; men disguised 
 with masks. 
 
 Mr. ELDRIDGE. According to the alleged 
 Ku Klux plan. 
 
 Mr. WADDELL. I do not excuse or palliate 
 these offenses, nor do my constituents; and I 
 do not intend to be forced into any such posi- 
 tion by gentlemen, who appear to be unable 
 or unwilling to distinguish between opposition 
 to unjust and unconstitutional legislation and 
 sympathy with the crimes to the suppression 
 of which that legislation is directed. But while 
 I admit that crimes have been committed and » 
 that from various causes the perpetrators of 
 them have escaped punishment, I do most 
 emphatically deny that the people, or any con- 
 siderable portion of them, countenance or en- 
 courage the wrong-doers. I deny that there 
 has been or is now any resistance to the exe- 
 cution of the laws, State or Federal. I deny 
 that the property or lives of loyal men (which 
 too often means licensed thieves) are not safe 
 down there; and I assert that the humblest 
 officer in the State, even though he be a negro 
 constable, so black that charcoal would make 
 a white mark on him, can go in safety, alone, 
 and at midnight, and arrest the best citizen of 
 the State. 
 
 Admitting all that can justly and truthfully 
 be said against her people, I assert that in no 
 State of this Union is there now or has there 
 been less crime of any kind than in the State 
 of North Carolina. I assert that amore quiet, © 
 peaceable, and law-abiding people than her 
 citizens do not live on earth, not even except- 
 ing that favored land which was blessed by the 
 nativity and now rejoices in the existence of 
 the gentleman from Massachusetts. Still they 
 have been pilloried before the world as a 
 decivilized community, in which social chaos 
 prevailed; the State has been represented as 
 one in which the genius of murder held high 
 carnival, as an accursed land of outlaws and 
 assassins, in which there was no protection for 
 life, liberty, or property, and upon which the 
 iron hand of military power must be laid to 
 reduce it to order and peace! 
 
 We, her Representatives on this floor, have 
 sat quietly and listened to the denunciations 
 of our people by gentlemen who have no other 
 acquaintance with them than such as they have 
 
») 
 
 
 
 
 
 gathered from their slanderers and traducers, 
 until we would have been lost in amazement 
 except for the fact that no style of argument 
 other than that of generosity can surprise us. 
 We have no bitter words to say to gentlemen 
 on the other side while defending our State 
 and our people. They have worn the collar 
 six long, weary years in silence and sorrow, 
 and if they had not been sustained by the 
 deathless spirit of true heroism and love of 
 liberty they would have utterly succumbed to 
 their fate. They must still submit to whatever 
 legislation is provided for them; but, although 
 reduced to a condition of political degradation 
 heretofore unknown in this country, although 
 smitten by poverty, plundered and oppressed, 
 they still struggle manfully on, clinging to the 
 hope that their countrymen will yet do them 
 justice, and restore to them their rights. 
 
 I will describe to youina few words the true 
 condition of the people of North Carolina 
 after the war, and their experience during the 
 past five years of Republican rule, while under 
 the absolute control of ‘‘the party of progress 
 and great moral ideas,’’ and I will say at the 
 outset that no party in the history of this 
 country ever had such an opportunity to per- 
 petuate its power by intrenching itself behind 
 impregnable lines, and no party ever so ut- 
 terly wasted its opportunities and so covered 
 itself with disgrace. Coming out of the great 
 struggle like a strong man exhausted by fever, 
 the State lay prostrate and helpless. I shall 
 not insult the intelligence of the House by 
 dwelling on the evils attending the annihila- 
 tion of the entire labor system of a country at 
 a single blow, nor shall I harrow my own feel- 
 ings by a recital of the sufferings and humili- 
 ations to which our people were subjected. 
 Suffice it to say that they presented a con- 
 dition which demanded, if not the experiment 
 of active charity, at least the privilege of 
 exemption from further molestation. They 
 had complied with all that was required of 
 them by the Government, and only desired to 
 rebuild, as best they might, their waste places. 
 The, public debt of the State, principal and 
 interest, was about seventeen million dollars, 
 an immense sum to people so impoverished 
 as they were. 
 
 Well, sir, without going further into details, 
 this was our condition when ‘‘the party of 
 great moral ideas’’ took possession. ‘hey 
 proclaimed their intention to be, while elevat- 
 ing the colored race, to inaugurate a new era 
 of reform in all other respects—an enterprise; 
 for his participation in which, one of the new 
 legislators declared that his name would 
 descend to ‘‘de arkives of grabity,’’ a region 
 which the plummet of philology has, I believe, 
 never yet explored. 
 
 They took charge of all the departments of 
 the State government, and after multiplying 
 
 | 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 officers ad tnfinitwm under a constitution en- 
 tirely new to the people; after wiping out the 
 judicial system which had become venerable, 
 and to which the people were attached, even 
 descending in a spirit of petty revenge to the 
 business of changing the names of localities 
 offensively ; after destroying the State Univer- 
 sity without substituting anything in its stead, 
 and after many similar preliminaries, they 
 increased the State debt at a single bound to 
 the comfortable figure of $35,000,000 for the 
 purpose of building railroads and developing 
 resources generally—a legislative feat which 
 was accomplished by the judicious expendi- 
 ture of $200,000 by a loyal gentleman in the 
 establishment of a free bar-room in the capitol, 
 with peanuts thrown in. ‘Ten millions of this 
 debt having been declared unconstitutional by 
 the supreme court, there was still left and now 
 stands a debt of $25,000,000. No railroad has 
 been built, and the money was used by a loyal 
 gentleman named Littlefield, from Pennsyl- 
 vania, and an enterprising native named Swep- 
 son, partly I believe in buying out the State of 
 Florida from a gentleman from Wisconsin. 
 Loyal Leagues had been organized through- 
 out the State, in which the colored population 
 were welded together in solid mass under oath 
 in opposition to the native whites, and the 
 practical teaching of these organizations was 
 that the latter must be kept down. ‘The crop 
 thus sowed began to come up in crimes, the 
 perpetrators of which sometimes escaped de- 
 tection, and sometimes were convicted only to 
 be pardoned and turned loose on society again. 
 I said a few moments ago that I had no per- 
 sonal knowledge of any of these outrages, but 
 I will qualify that expression. In the practice 
 of my profession I was present in court once 
 when a very bad case was testified to. The 
 prosecuting witness, who was the victim, was a 
 poor colored man, who exhibited his scars and 
 told the pitiful story of how, while sitting by 
 his humble hearth, in the twilight of an autumn 
 evening, he had been seized, conducted from 
 his house to the bushes, and there cruelly 
 flogged by three of his neighbors. They were 
 colored neighbors, and in answer to his demand 
 why he was so outraged, they told him that he 
 had stayed at home on the day of election, 
 instead of going and voting the Republican 
 ticket. They admitted, as [ was informed, 
 before the committing magistrate that they had 
 done the deed under instructions from the chief 
 
 of the Loyal League for that county. Those 
 
 men were tried by a white jury, sentenced by a 
 Democratic judge to the penitentiary, and duly 
 pardoned out by the Republican Governor, 
 Mr. Holden. 
 
 Similar occurrences took place in other parts) 
 of the State, except that generally it was a 
 white man’s property burned up or his wife 
 
 | or daughter insulted ; and, as might have been 
 

 
 ——— —- — 
 
 texpected, retaliation sometimes occurred, and 
 then it was that these deplorable crimes 
 were committed, crimes which I denounce as 
 severely as any man in the United States; 
 crimes which | am happy to know no longer 
 take place in North Carolina, and which have 
 never been countenanced, so far as I know, 
 by any decent man in the State.) 
 
 I have not told the hundredth part of the 
 story. J have said nothing about the imbecile, 
 drunken, and (in at least one case) corrupt 
 judges who have been foisted on those people, 
 and who now grease the bench, and soil the 
 
 ermine once worn by a pure and learned judi-. 
 
 ciary. I have not even mentioned the acts of 
 Governor Holden in importing a band of cut- 
 throats, under Kirk and Bergen, into the State, 
 and the tortures inflicted upon aged, distin- 
 guished, and unoffending citizens, for which he 
 has been impeached, convicted, and removed 
 from office. I will not dwell on these things, 
 for I wish to avoid the utterance of any intem- 
 perate language, or to give expression even to 
 the righteous indignation which their remem- 
 brance excites. 
 
 I will allude to one matter, and in doing so 
 Lhope I shall carefully regard the proprieties 
 of this occasion. It has been asserted that 
 the perpetrators of these cowardly crimes were 
 confederate soldiers, who might be tried by 
 drum-head court-martial for violation of their 
 parole and shot. Mr. Speaker, the only evi- 
 dence of that fact is the statement of a self- 
 confessed perjurer, that he ‘‘ supposed’? it was 
 so, because almost every man in the country 
 had been in the army. Sir, this is the most 
 cruel slander which has yet been hurled against 
 a gallant people. Whatever the opinion enter- 
 tained in regard to the criminality of the south- 
 ern people in waging war by those who received 
 ; a different political education, I spit upon and 
 the world will laugh to scorn the allegation 
 that the soldiers who fought four years against 
 overwhelming odds and so brilliantly illus- 
 trated the martial qualities of the American 
 people are a set of skulking and cowardly 
 assassins. No, sir, whatever else you may say 
 about them, you cannot utter that libel with- 
 out making yourself ridiculous, and no one 
 of the thousands of gallant Federal soldiers 
 who met them when this continent shook be- 
 neath the thunder of artillery and the tread 
 of armies will ever so disgrace himself and 
 dishonor his own comrades as to speak that 
 slanderous word. ‘They were crushed, sir, and 
 returned with bleeding hearts and tattered gar- 
 ments to desolated homes, but, thank God, sir, 
 they kept their plighted faith, and their honor 
 is unstained. 
 
 Now. Mr. Speaker, to return to the bill | 
 
 under consideration, I wish to utter my solemn 
 srotest against its passage, not merely because 
 it will affect the people whom I represent, but 
 
 
 
 
 
 — se 
 
 as an American citizen, who, regardless of 
 your incredulity, still loves his country and 
 earnestly desires to promote her glory and 
 prosperity. 
 
 If the people of the South were inspired by 
 a sentiment of revenge toward their country- 
 men, if, like Samson of old, they wished to 
 involve the whole American people with them- 
 selves in a common ruin, | know no way in 
 which that sentiment could be more swiftly 
 and surely gratified than by the passage of 
 this bill. Pass it and you tear down the last 
 column on which rests the still fair but dis- 
 figured temple of American liberty. Pass it, 
 and by congressional enactment you will have 
 
 Lestablished an absolute despotism, not over 
 
 the South alone, but over the whole country. 
 Pass it, and the whole power of this Govern- 
 ment will be in the hands of one, whose hands 
 never relax their grasp on anything that is put 
 intothem. And then you will see that of which 
 you have now buta glimpse; then you will 
 indeed see him ‘‘instruct his priuces after his 
 will and teach his Senators’’—not to oppose 
 his schemes of aggrandizement. 
 
 If gentlemen will not listen to the protest 
 of the people of the southern States against 
 this rank usurpation, because they are accus- 
 tomed to disregard appeals from that quarter, 
 let them at least, for their own sake and that 
 of their children, whose rights and liberties 
 are imperiled, cease this violent, unconstitu- 
 tional, and revolutionary legislation, which can 
 bring only evil upon the country, the whole 
 country; for the man must be a stark fool 
 who cannot see that, however strong the dis- 
 position to limit the operation of this bill to 
 the southern States, it will inevitably and in- ~ 
 exorably extend its deadly influence over the 
 whole land. 
 
 I feel, Mr. Speaker, the extraordinary cir- © 
 cumstances by which I and my southern col- 
 leagues find ourselves surrounded on this oc- 
 casion. I feel that I stand here to-day a mes- 
 senger, sent back by those who have passed 
 through the bitter waters of a Dead sea, to 
 warn their more fortunate brethren who have 
 not yet reached its shores of what awaits them’ 
 in its passage, and to arrest their footsteps. It 
 will be well with them if they heed the warn- 
 ing. Bat if they do not,.if they will persist in 
 their blind march into the region of political 
 darkness and death, we will at least have the 
 satisfaction of knowing that the calamities 
 which surely await them are in no wise charge- 
 able to us. 
 
 Ido not doubt that some gentlemen on the 
 other side really believe all the horrible stories 
 which have been told them in regard to the 
 condition of affairs in North Carolina and 
 throughout the South, and are sincerely con- 
 cerned about it. It is, perhaps, natural for 
 
 ' those who have been taught from childhood 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to regard the people of that portion of the 
 country as semi-barbarians, if not absolutely 
 hostes humani generis, to lend a willing ear to 
 any discreditable report concerning them. It 
 is not, perhaps, extravagant to say that, un- 
 consciously it. may be, they are just the least 
 bit prejudiced on this subject. But I accord 
 to them, notwithstanding this, a willingness, 
 if not a desire, to do justice even to us. 
 
 Do those gentlemen ever study the situation 
 of our people by the light of history and the 
 experience of other nations? With their esti- 
 mate of southern character, ought they not to 
 have expected even worse things during the past 
 six years than their own credality has been 
 able to realize? When general demoralization 
 accompanied victory and unlimited prosperity 
 for them, did they expect defeat, humiliation, 
 and bankruptcy to bring an elysium of peace, 
 order, and contentment to us? With capital 
 all gone, labor completely disorganized, and the 
 whole land in tears, did they expect unbroken 
 quiet to reign and the shattered wheels of local 
 government to turn smoothly, though in the 
 hands of ignorance and vice? 
 
 And yet, sir, has not the recuperative energy 
 of those people been the wonder of our day? 
 Is not the rapidity of their progress toward 
 prosperity, in spite of the paralyzing legisla- 
 tion to which they have been subjected, and 
 the numberless evils with which they have been 
 afflicted, unparalleled in the history of the 
 world? Js not the single fact that the cotton 
 crop of this past year is the largest but one 
 _ which was ever raised, and the additional fact 
 
 _that there has been an equal development of 
 the other industries of the country, an over- 
 whelming argument to disprove the existence 
 of such a state of things as has been repre- 
 sented here? Ay, sir; no amount of hearsay 
 testimony given by interested witnesses as to 
 
 
 
 for this measure. 
 
 
 
 the prevalence of general disorder thronghout 
 the South can stand a moment against such 
 facts as these. They are the most unerring 
 witnesses that can be found, and they are unim- 
 peached. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, I shall bring my remarks 
 to a close, and in doing so I desire to address 
 myself to gentlemen who contemplate voting 
 The people of those States 
 which gentlemen seem to take pleasure in 
 designating as ‘‘the States lately in rebel- 
 lion,’’ people whom gentlemen still continue 
 to denominate ‘‘rebels’’ in this sixth year of . 
 peace, are quite accustomed to military rule, 
 the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, 
 and the Jike. It is no new thing to them. 
 Bad and disgrace@l as it is to American civil- 
 ization, itis better than some of the so-called 
 civil governments which have existed in those 
 States. If your eagerness to secure the bless- 
 ings of that kind of government is so great that 
 you cannot be happy until it is established 
 everywhere throuhout the country, perhaps, 
 those of us who have experienced those bless- 
 ings ought not to be so selfish as to oppose 
 -your equal participation in them. It is barely 
 possible, after all, that under the influence 
 of a catholic spirit the southern people may 
 rejoice with you in the accomplishment of 
 your purpose. But I serve notice on you now 
 and. here, before the American people, that 
 when your purpose is accomplished, when b 
 a reckless violation of the Constitution of 
 your country, in order to carry elections and | 
 to maintain a party in power, you shall have 
 delivered over your constituents, bound hand 
 and foot, to the mercy of a military despot, 
 you cannot turn your frightened gaze toward 
 those upon whom you have so long been accus- 
 tomed to lay your burdens, and pile upon their 
 bowed heads this last load of crime and folly. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Pnoromoun 
 Pamphlet 
 Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. 
 Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y 
 PAT. JAN 21, 1908