A CONS'J'JTUENT TO A REPRESENTATIVE. 
 
 Hon. Heniiy J. Raymond, M. C. 
 
 SirAs a public man your acts are subject to criticism. You admit this by 
 publishing- in the paper of which you are the responsible editor, numerous 
 praises of your Congressional acts. I propose a criticism of censure, and ask 
 that my censure m-iy have as wide a dissemination as did the praise of your 
 admirers. 1 disapprove of your Congressional career. J do not mean that all 
 you have done in Congress merits my condemnation, but J do mean that you 
 have done more to call for my censure than for praise. Hence 1 use the term 
 “ career.” 
 
 My first charge against you is, that you have not attended to the business 
 that you were sent to do. 
 
 You undertook to be our agent in Congress, and do for us the work we, as a 
 mass, could not do for ourselves. You have neglected a very largo part of 
 this work, thus showing yourself an unfaithful representative. 
 
 Specifications:— 
 
 Between the fourth day of December and the seventh of April, the roll was 
 called one hundred and twenty-eight times. On thirty-five of these calls , or 
 more than one quarter of the whole , you failed to vote, notwithstanding the 
 fac+ f hat seme of the .:n< tions on which you neglected to -vote involved ques¬ 
 tions and principles of the most paramount importance to the nation, and to 
 the perpetuity of our institutions. 
 
 Shall 1 remind you of some of these propositions on which you neglected 
 to attend to your duty P 
 
 December thirteenth, you did not vote on referring Mr. Farnsworth’s reso¬ 
 lution in regard to the equality of Civil Rights. 
 
 T ou should have voted on an important matter like this. I do not like to 
 have an agent neglect any duty. 
 
 The next day you did not vote on a resolution declaring treason to be a 
 crime. Was not this matter worth your attention ? On the same day you 
 neglected to vote on a motion to table Mr. Wilson’s resolution, referring all 
 papers relative to representation in the late rebellious States to the Joint 
 Committee. 
 
 I will presently remind you how-you did vote on the main question in regard 
 to this resolution, and what company you were in when voting. 
 
 On the eighteenth of December you did not vote on a motion tabling Mr. 
 Baker’s resolution in regard to Class Rule, &c., &c. 
 
 On the next day you did not vote on motion ordering the engrossment and 
 third reading of the bill relating to Inter-State communication. Is not the 
 intercourse between, and commercial facilities of, the States worth vour 
 notice ? J 
 
 H seems to me that a Representative of the commercial metropolis of the 
 nation ought to take interest enough in such matters to be in his place and 
 vote. „ 
 
 January thirty-first, you did not vote on Mr. Schenck’s substitute for the 
 Joint Committee’s resolution amending the Constitution in regard to the basis 
 of Congressional representation. 
 
 . % anf l by I will remind you how you did vote on the Committee’s resolu¬ 
 tion, above referred to. 
 
 On the ninth of February, you failed to vote on three distinct motions, con¬ 
 cerning the A aval Appropriation Hill. Is the navy not worth your attention? 
 
 On the thirteenth of February you did not vote on motion to give Mr 
 Johnson, of Arkansas, a seat on the floor of the House. You should have 
 voted on that motion. 
 
 On the twenty-first of February, you did not vote on resolution in regard to 
 admitting Representatives from Rebel States before Congress shall have de¬ 
 clared said States entitled to such representation. 
 
 Was that great question unworthy of a vote of a member from the Empire 
 State P Did you suppose your constituents felt no interest in that question ? 
 
 On the twenty-third, you did not vote on the claim of Mr. Voorliecs to a 
 seat m the House. Did your expectations or desire that ho would vote with 
 you on great questions against your party, prompt your non-response at roll- 
 call. , I hope not, but as you did, on the same day, neglect to vote on Mr. Wash¬ 
 burn s right to the seat occupied by Voorhees, suspicious men might think that 
 you favored Voorhees, and hence did not then vote against him." 
 
 On tho twenty-sixth, you did not vote on Mr. McClurg’s resolution as to the 
 condihon of the people of the Rebel States, with a view to taxation, protec¬ 
 tion, &c. \\ as this matter too unimportant for your attention ? Don’t you 
 
 care about taxation or protection? Your constituents care for both. On the 
 same day you neglected to vote on a Constitutional amendment. 
 
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 Don’t you care for the provisions of the national charter ? Are you unin¬ 
 terested in its character ? Your constituents take great interest in that instru¬ 
 ment, and they desire their Representative to scan all proposed changes in it. 
 
 On the same day you did not vote on Mr. Banks’s motion in regard to the 
 Paris Exposition. Did you take no interest in that matter at that time ? The 
 great city from which you were sent was certainly entitled to your presence 
 and vote on a matter of that kind. You do not attend to business. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth, you failed to vote on motion in regaid to a Consti¬ 
 tutional amendment, giving Congress power to pass laws securing to the citi¬ 
 zens of each State all the rights and immunities of citizens of the several 
 States, including protection to life, liberty, and property. Are these matters 
 unworthy of your vote? Were you sent to Congress to neglect such things? 
 I did not vote for you with any such idea; in giving you my vote I did not 
 expect that you would in every particular vote to please me, but I did think 
 and hope that you would not neglect any important duty. I am disappointed 
 in this as in other parts of your Congressional course. 
 
 On the fifth of March, you did not vote on Mr. Miller’s proposition concern¬ 
 ing United States Bonds. Are the government securities too small a matter for 
 your vote ? On the same day you failed to vote on certain amendments to 
 the Military Academy bill. Don’t you care anything about West Point? 
 
 On the next day you repeated this neglect of duty on other amendments to 
 the same bill. On the twelfth, you did not vote with the great bulk of the 
 Union party to instruct the Library Committee to procure a portrait of Joshua 
 It. Gildings . 
 
 I could not expect your vote for any such “Radical” measure as that, but 
 I should have more respect for you if you had attended to your business, and, 
 if you could not say “ aye,” have said “nay.” 
 
 I admire an attentive agent. 
 
 On the same day you did not vote on referring to Committees of Ways and 
 Means a proposition to tax U. S. notes and securities. Have you no holders 
 of these securities among your constituents ? 
 
 Does the great city you in part represent, or rather that employs you as one 
 of its Representatives, have no interest in those securities ? More neglect of duty. 
 
 On the same day you neglected to vote on a bill to regulate trade with the 
 British North American provinces. 
 
 On the same day you did not vote on motion to print reports from the Re¬ 
 construction Committee. The people desired to hear from that Committee; 
 you should have been on hand and voted on such a motion. Just look at your¬ 
 self in this mirror. Here, on one day, are several questions of the most vital 
 importance to the whole country, and especially to the city you are from, 
 great questions of finance, trade, and other important matters, on none of 
 which did you vote. Am I not justified in telling you that you have not at¬ 
 tended to your business ? Perhaps others of your constituents may help to 
 answer my question. March thirteenth, you did not rote on the Civil Eights 
 Bill, a bill of more importance to this people and to mankind than any on 
 which you can ever again be permitted to vote. A measure demanded by 
 necessity on the one side, and good faith on the other; a measure that 
 the great State you are from desired, and which your own constituents 
 wanted. On the passage of this great bill you failed to vote, not because 
 you were not in Washington at the time. You were there, and voted on 
 the same day on Mr. Laflin’s motion to print extra copies of the report of the 
 Joint Committee. Why you neglected to vote on the Civil Rights Bill, I 
 do not know. 
 
 It is not my intention to question motives; I criticise actions, even actions 
 of neglect. In failing to vote on that bill, you showed yourself unfit for the 
 place you occupy; it would have been more manly to have voted against the 
 bill, than not to vote at all. Your constituents, like other Americans, admire 
 open, square work; they don’t like doubt, shrinking, or neglect of duty. 
 
 On the sixteenth of March, besides other neglects, you did not vote on either 
 of several amendments to the Loan Bill. 
 
 Your neglect to vote on measures of this kind seems to have by this time 
 become chronic. Financial questions do hot seem to interest you. 
 
 April second, you did not vote in regard to a Ship Canal in Wisconsin. The 
 commercial intercourse between the States seems to have no interest for a 
 Representative from a commercial city. ^ 
 
 April seventh, you did not vote on motion to give Dodge the seat occupied by 
 Brooks. You don’t attend to business. You ought to be more attentive. 
 
 These, my Dear Sir, are but a portion of your neglects, a part only of your 
 failures, only a partial list of your sins of omission, but quite enough to jus- 
 
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 tify me in saying 1 that you do not attend to business, that you aro an unfaithful 
 agent, that you have not, up to the date mentioned above, done what you 
 agreed to do when you took our votes. 
 
 I need not he told that your vote on any of the measures referred to above 
 would not have changed the result; I shall not admit any such plea. If any 
 of these measures were right, you should have helped pass them. If any 
 were wrong, your vote should have been against them. 
 
 I cannot excuse your inattention to business—your other constituents will 
 remember this against you. 
 
 I now leave y'our sins of omission, and come to more serious sins of com¬ 
 mission : your crimes. I speak plainly, I intend to say crimes, and the major¬ 
 ity of your constituents will agree with me. 
 
 The first of your votes that I shall censure was of but little importance, 
 only so far as it displays what I consider “meanness,” “ littleness,” on your 
 part. I refer to your vote refusing the Ilall of the House to the Freedman's 
 Aid Commission, a society whose efforts were laudable, and whose beneficiaries 
 are the wards of the nation. This vote was not on the general principle of 
 refusing the Hall for all “ outside” purposes, because within a week you did 
 vote its use to the Christian Commission. Your prejudice against the blacks 
 is stronger than your sympathy for them. I suppose you can’t help it. 
 
 On the eleventh of December, you voted to suspend the rules to allow Mr. 
 Niblack to introduce a resolution giving the privilege of the floor to persons 
 claiming to be members from the Hebei States, pending the action of Congress 
 in the matter. On this motion there were 39 yeas and 110 nays. Among the 
 yeas, thero were, besides yourself, such men as Ancona, Brooks, Le Blond, 
 Niblack, Rogers, Voorhees, and others whose course during the war was cal¬ 
 culated to aid the enemies of the government. 
 
 What is that adage about judging of a man by the company he keeps ? 
 
 On December fourteenth the following resolution came up, viz.:— 
 
 “That all papers which may be offered relative to the representation of the so-called Con¬ 
 federate States of America, or either of them, shall be referred to the Joint Committeo of 
 fifteen, without debate, and no member shall be admitted from either of said States until 
 Congress shall have declared 6uch States, or either of them, entitled to representation. 
 Yeas 107—Nays 50. 
 
 Among tho nays were the same class of men as I mentioned above. 
 
 On the eighth of January, the following resolution was up to be voted on, 
 viz :— 
 
 “ That in order to the maintenance of the national authority and the protection of tho 
 loyal citizens cf the seceding States, it is the sense of this House that the military forces of 
 the government should not be withdrawn from those States until the two Houses of Con¬ 
 gress shall have ascertained and declared their further presence there no longer necessary. 
 Yeas 94—Nays 37. 
 
 Among tho nays, including yourself, Mr. Raymond, were Brooks, Chanler, 
 Voorhees, and other opponents of the party that elected you. Have these men 
 changed their political views, or have your own been altered? 
 
 Just look at this resolution carefully. It declares it unsafe to withdraw tho 
 military from certain places, before Congress shall have ascertained' and declared 
 it safe to do so; now in order to ascertain tho condition of those localities, 
 Congress had, by your help, appointed a committeo with power to send for 
 persons and papers, and while this committee was, under the authority of Con¬ 
 gress, trying to ascertain so that that body might be ablo to declare it safe to 
 withdraw tho military; while the information that came from those localities 
 went to show tho imperative necessity of still keeping troops thero to protect 
 loyal whites and freed blacks (both classes having been our friends during tho 
 war, and both from that fact receiving 6uch treatment at tho hands of tho 
 lato Rebels as to demand the protection of the government), and beforo tho Ex¬ 
 ecutive had considered it safe to issue his Peace Proclamation, you, a Representa¬ 
 tive from a loyal State, sent by an honorable constituency, one that desires to 
 make just returns for services rendered, sent by a constituency whoso every 
 member was and is for the maintenance of the national faith to all, black as well 
 as white—a constituency that would not for an instant countenance a wrong 
 by their votes or neglecting to vote, place in jeopardy or danger tho humblest 
 person in the land—you, their Representative, dared to injuro them and insult 
 tho party that made you a Congressman, by voting against this resolution— 
 dared cast that wicked vote against justice! You dared to bo found voting 
 sido by sido with and using the same “nay” as tho worst enemies this nation 
 ever had. You, my dear sir, will livo to regret that vote. 
 
 January ninth, you voted against referring Mr. Bingham’s resolution of con¬ 
 fidence in tho President, to the Joint Committee. Yeas 107, Nays 32. You 
 were again with the old enemies of the government. 
 
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 I presume you may say in excuse for this ‘’nay)” that a resolution of this 
 kind did not require any reference whatever, and that the House should have 
 voted on it without referring. I admit the force of the excuse, hut it seems to 
 me that as it did not involve any saci'iuce of principle, or convey any condem¬ 
 nation of the President, you might have voted with your party, or rather with 
 the Representatives of the party that elected you, and not with the most bitter 
 opponents of that party, and some of the most implacable enemies (during the 
 war) of the country. Let that vote go. 
 
 January thirty-first, you voted against a resolution from the Joint Committee 
 proposing an amendment to the Constitution in regard to the basis of Congres¬ 
 sional Representation. Yeas 120—Nays 46. Again you arc found in company 
 with former political opponents; again voting against the party that elected 
 you; again voting with old-time sympathizers with the Rebellion, again by 
 your vote giving aid and comfort to the men who in times gone by would 
 have utterly crushed you and the party that elected you. And this too in the 
 absence of any evidence that they have changed their political opinion in face 
 of the fact that these men are to day doing, as they have been doing any timo 
 the last five years, all they possibly can to bring back to places of honor 
 and profit rebels whose unwashed hands are yet red with the blood of your 
 fellow citizens; aye, of your constituents. Mr. Raymond, you are making 
 great political mistakes, you are guilty of bigb political crimes; votes in Con¬ 
 gress in those days are acts; great acts, and a wrong vote is a criminal act. 
 Your are guilty of several such. 
 
 >On the ninteenth February, you voted against the following resolution : 
 
 “ That in the language of the Proclamation of the President of May 20th, 1SG5, the 
 rebellion which was waged by a portion of the peoplgjof the United States against the pro-, 
 perly constituted authorities of the government thereof, in the most violent and revolting' 
 form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has, 
 in its revolutionary progress, deprived the people of the States in which it was organized, of 
 all civil government.” Yeas 102—Nays 3G. 
 
 This resolution, Mr. Raymond, was in the avords of the President; it was not 
 framed by any of that class of Unionists whom you endeavor to stigmatize as*-" 
 il Radical.” It was the President’s own language, and yet you had the hardi¬ 
 hood to be found voting on it with Voorhecs, Brooks, and other apologists for 
 Rebellion. If these States had not, by the progress of tbc war, been deprived 
 of all civil, government, on what ground and by wbat right had the Presi¬ 
 dent sent them Provisional Governors, with military power to enforce their 
 acts F Martial Law had superseded the Civil. That was a foolish vote on 
 your part, and doubly criminal for being in such company. On tnc same day 
 you committed a greater crime by voting against the following resolution: 
 
 “ That whenever the people of any State are thus deprived of all civil government, it be¬ 
 comes the duty of Congress by appropriate legislation to enable them to organize a State 
 Government, and in the language of the Constitution to guaranty to such States a Republi¬ 
 can form of government.” Yeas 1G4—Nays 33. 
 
 Voorhces, Brooks & Co. in the negative. Once more you are found with 
 former enemies of the Government, men not yet converted to the right. Let 
 us analyze your vote. By voting “ No” with fivc-ycars-old copperheads, on 
 this Resolution, you say that when the people of a State arc by the progress of 
 a war deprived of civil government it is not the ditty of Congress to aid 
 them, in establishing such government , and requiring it to be Republican in form. 
 
 The logical sequence of your position on this question is simply the essence 
 of State Sovereignty, not State Rights merely, but State Sovereignty , pure and 
 simple, and this i3 and was the heart, soul, body, brains, and all of the spirit of 
 Rebellious Secession. If Congress can’t do this sort of work, it must be done, 
 if at all, by the People of the chaotic States, regardless of the approval or criti¬ 
 cism of Congress —and that is only another phase of State Supremacy , which is 
 nothing more or less than Secession , Rebellion, Treason ; and the men whom 
 you voted with on this Resolution are the consistent and persistent advocates 
 of and apologists for all three of these crimes. Arc you to be judged by tho 
 company you keep ? I shall not at this time, Mr. Raymond, refer to any other 
 vote of yours, though I do not forget the vote on sustaining the Veto of the 
 Civil Rights Bill. That matter is too important to como at the end of a long 
 letter like this. At another time your constituents will refer to that vote if I 
 do not. 
 
 I have thus, my Dear Sir, endeavored to show you wherein you have ne¬ 
 glected your duty, wherein you have done wrong; what crimes of negation 
 you have been guiitv of, and what greater crimes of positive wrong you liavo 
 committed. You will be tried by a jury of your constituents, convicted, sen¬ 
 tenced, executed; and may the future have merev on your memory! 
 
 Respectfully, &c., &c., 
 
 New Youk, April 30th, 1SG6. 
 
 SINCLAIR TOUSEY.