Mr. Johnson. I have no objection, if the Senate think they have time to listen to it; but I did not expect to hear any assault, direct or indirect, upon the President at this time.
Mr. Sumner. No assault at all.
Mr. Johnson then said: “I have seen nothing in the message which would warrant a reflection that any improper purpose had actuated the President in sending it here. He does not mean, as I suppose, to whitewash anybody who has offended.”
The Secretary proceeded to read the introductory paragraphs of General Schurz’s report, in which he states through what portion of the South he travelled, the points at which he stopped, his facilities for obtaining information, and the order in which the results of his observation would be detailed.
Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, “would much prefer to read this document in print,” and he moved to dispense with its further reading.
Mr. Sumner replied:—
I shall not object, if the Senator from Ohio thinks it proper, on this important occasion, to dispense with the reading. In my judgment the Senate cannot listen to anything of more consequence than this accurate, authentic, most authoritative report with regard to the actual condition of things in the States lately in rebellion. Here is an eminent citizen, lately a major-general in the army of the United States, sent by the President on a special mission to visit those States and to report upon their condition. The visit has been made,—not a hasty one, like that of General Grant, for instance, or of other officers or citizens, but a sojourn occupying time, extending through different States,—and the results are recorded in a careful document. Now, Sir, if the question were trivial, if it were transitory, I should think the Senator was right; but, if he persists in his motion, I shall not oppose it.
Mr. Sherman insisted upon his motion, and said: “It is unusual to read documents in this way.” Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, called attention to a remark of Mr. Sumner, which he thought he ought “to qualify at least, if not altogether retract.” The objectionable remark was then stated. “Speaking of the message just received from the President of the United States, he said that it was like the whitewashing message of Franklin Pierce, to cover up the transactions in Kansas.… Now, Mr. President, I think the Senator from Massachusetts must have let fall that expression without due consideration”; and he concluded by saying: “I believe, Sir, certainly I think I ought to believe, that the honorable Senator from Massachusetts will at least modify or qualify, if he does not wholly retract, this strong expression.”
Mr. Sumner followed:—
Mr. President,—I have nothing to retract, nothing to modify, nothing to qualify. In former days there was one Kansas suffering under illegal power; there are now eleven Kansases suffering as that one; therefore, as eleven is more than one, so is the enormity of the present time more than the enormity in the day of Franklin Pierce.
Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, said: “A charge has been directly made here by the Senator that the President has sent in a whitewashing report.… When such a charge as that is brought in the Senate, I think it calls for some notice, and I take the liberty, with all my respect for the Senator from Massachusetts, to deny that there is anything in that report of a whitewashing character.” Mr. Doolittle spoke again: “I was not pained because the honorable Senator differed from the President; I knew he differed from the President on this question; but I was pained, and I confess very much disappointed, to hear that Senator, as I should be to hear any other Senator on the floor of the Senate, question the truth, the integrity, or the patriotism of the President, however much he might disagree with me in opinion.”
Mr. Sumner spoke again:—
Mr. President,—I am sorry that I have given pain to honorable friends. I certainly did not intend it. They suggest that a question has been raised as to the policy of the President. I have raised no such question, and have expressed no opinion in regard to it. The Senator from Wisconsin dwells on that point, and reminds the Senate that the policy of the President was not in question. I knew it was not in question, and therefore I expressed no opinion upon it; for, when I speak here, I try to speak directly to the question. There was then no question on the policy of the President. Had there been, I should have been ready to meet it. At the proper time I shall meet it fully, plainly, unequivocally, I trust, as becomes a member of this body.
The only question, then, was on the character of the document just read; and that I exhibited, compendiously, as whitewashing; and then my honorable friends rise, one after the other, and, like two lexicographers, proceed with a definition of “whitewash.” I do not accept their definition. I intended no such thing as either the Senator from Connecticut or the Senator from Wisconsin attempted to impute. I have no reflection to make on the patriotism or the truth of the President. Never, in public or in private, have I made any such reflection, and I do not begin now. When I spoke, it was of the document read at the desk. I characterized it as I thought I ought.
My memory goes back in this Chamber further than that of many about me. I remember that other scene, when a whitewashing message came from Franklin Pierce. We all at that time called it whitewashing; and I am not aware that any one, even on the other side, undertook to play the part that my honorable friends from Wisconsin and Connecticut undertake to perform. The message was so called because we all felt that it was whitewashing; and I undertook at once, to-day, on listening to the document read at the desk, to characterize it precisely as the patriotic party of 1856 characterized the message of Franklin Pierce.
Mr. Dixon added, that, if Mr. Sumner had said that he did not intend his remarks in an offensive tone, but considered “whitewashing” a polite and proper word to apply to the message of the President, he should have accepted his explanation. Mr. Trumbull expressed a hope “that this unprofitable debate might cease.” Mr. Fessenden remarked: “This is a mere matter of definitions, and it ought to be referred to some maker of dictionaries.”
The motion of Mr. Sherman prevailed without a division, and the message and accompanying documents were ordered to be printed.
The report of General Schurz was a remarkable document, founded on an official visit, at the appointment of President Johnson, and with its accompanying papers occupied more than a hundred pages.[20] It bristled with testimony, not only from his own observation, but from that of generals and other officers on the spot. “An utter absence of national feeling”; “an entire absence of that national spirit which forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism”; “although the freedman is no longer considered the property of the individual master, he is considered the slave of society,” with the notion “that the elevation of the blacks will be the degradation of the whites”; “the practice of corporal punishment is still continued to a great extent”; “the habit is so inveterate with a great many persons as to render, on the least provocation, the impulse to whip a negro almost irresistible”; “the maiming and killing of colored men seems to be looked upon by many as one of those venial offences which must be forgiven to the outraged feelings of a wronged and robbed people”; “the number of murders and assaults perpetrated upon negroes is very great”: these are words of General Schurz. The accompanying testimony supplies fearful details. All this was painfully inconsistent with the message of the President and the report of General Grant.
The marked effect of this incident shows the sensitive condition of the public mind. The word “whitewashing” became a text for the press on opposite sides. The interest also found expression in letters.
Wendell Phillips, the orator, always sympathizing with every earnest word for Human Rights, wrote from Boston:—
“Glorious! just the truth, and just the time and place to speak it, was your graphic and most effective description of the President’s message. I say this, not that you need confirmation, but because, hearing the clamor against you, it seems right you should have the ‘cheers’ as well as the ‘hisses.’”
Rev. Justin D. Fulton, a successful Baptist preacher, wrote from Boston:—
“Before I can begin my sermon, I want to send you my thanks for your noble stand in the Senate of the United States against the President and for the country. Last Sabbath, in the great congregation, I publicly thanked God that you used the word ‘whitewashing.’ The same thing I did in Albany; the same thing I do now.”
Hon. Thomas Russell, Judge of the Superior Court, and afterwards Collector of the port of Boston, wrote from Boston:—
“I only write to thank you heartily for your courage and fidelity. I would say, ‘Go on,’ but that is needless.”
Edward W. Kinsley, a merchant, who never forgot the claims of Human Rights or of personal friendship, wrote from Boston:—
“I know you are too busy to read any letter from me; but I cannot let the day pass without thanking you for the course you are taking in the Senate this session. Thank God, we have one man on the watch-tower who will not slumber or sleep.”
Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, the able lawyer and Abolitionist, wrote from Boston:—
“I do not know any man who is doing so much for the country, in the present crisis, as you are by your speeches and writings. We are all here watching the course of Congress with the deepest anxiety.”
Nathaniel Moody, always on the side of Humanity, wrote from Chelsea, Massachusetts:—
“Permit me, as one of your constituents, to thank you for the noble stand you have taken in regard to Reconstruction, which I regard of quite as much importance as was the persistent prosecution of the war just brought to a successful conclusion. I did expect no less from you, considering your former great efforts in the true cause of Humanity.”
Mrs. John Davis, widow of Mr. Sumner’s first colleague in the Senate, wrote from Worcester, Massachusetts:—
“We hope the whitewashing is over, and that common sense, to say nothing of justice, will resume the sway.”
Rev. George N. Richardson wrote from Westborough, Massachusetts:—
“You are bearing yourself so bravely and faithfully in behalf of a cause very dear to me, that it is the impulse of my heart to thank and bless you.”
Rev. Richard S. Storrs, the eminent Congregational clergyman, wrote from Braintree, Massachusetts:—
“It must be a great satisfaction to you to know that you have the unlimited confidence and sympathy of your constituents; and I am sure you have the approval of all loyal men and angels, while struggling against the devices of the arch enemy of God and man.”
Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, a pastor of the Presbyterian Church, wrote from New York:—
“To yourself and Thaddeus Stevens the nation is now looking as the defenders of Truth and Justice. Thanks for your just rebuke of the President’s ‘whitewashing’ message. The statements of this paper are directly in the face of what I know to be the state of things in the South. I rejoice that it did not pass unrebuked.”
E. Burt wrote earnestly from Cleveland, Ohio:—
“Thanks be to our Heavenly Father, dear Sir, that there are no Brookses in Congress this year, to raise their canes over any man’s head. Now, Sir, my prayer is, that God may give you strength to do your duty this year, as no other man in or out of Congress can do it; for no other man has shown up the barbarism of Slavery like yourself. Sir, when but a few days ago you asked the reading of Carl Schurz’s report, and it was not granted, my blood started with such a rush in my veins that I could hardly contain myself. ‘What!’ said I, ‘has it come to this, after the loss of so many of the most valuable lives of our dear countrymen, so much of blood and treasure?’”
Thomas D. Hoxsey wrote from Paterson, New Jersey:—
“You have to fight your old battle over again, and I only hope and trust that you may have the physical health to stand firm where your late speeches place you.”
Colonel Wentworth Higginson, who served so well at the head of colored troops, and does such honor to American literature, in a letter from Newport, Rhode Island, thanking Mr. Sumner for speeches, added, “especially that one word whitewashing, which was the best speech of all.”
These brief utterances illustrate the sentiment beginning to prevail. The issue with the President, already foreseen, had come.
Speech in the Senate, on a Bill to maintain Freedom in those States, December 20, 1865.
On the day after the “whitewashing” incident, Mr. Sumner seized an opportunity of setting forth the actual condition of the States lately in rebellion, and the duty of Congress with regard to them. He took the floor on a bill, introduced by his colleague, Mr. Wilson, “to maintain the freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection and rebellion by the Proclamation of the President of the first of July, 1862,” and spoke as follows.
MR. PRESIDENT,—When I think of what occurred yesterday in this Chamber, when I call to mind the attempt to whitewash the unhappy condition of the Rebel States, and to throw the mantle of official oblivion over sickening and heartrending outrages, where Human Rights are sacrificed and Rebel Barbarism receives a new letter of license, I feel that I ought to speak of nothing else. Years ago, in the days of Kansas, I stood here when one small community was surrendered to the machinations of slave-masters. I stand here again, when, alas! an immense region, with millions of people, is surrendered to the machinations of slave-masters. Sir, it is the duty of Congress to arrest this fatal fury. Congress must dare to be brave; it must dare to be just. I shall not be diverted from the question before the Senate, although, in unfolding the necessity of present legislation for the protection of freedmen, I shall be led necessarily and logically to speak of the condition of the Rebel States.
All must admit that the bill of my colleague is excellent in purpose. It proposes nothing less than to establish Equality before the Law, at least so far as civil rights are concerned, in the Rebel States. This is done simply to carry out and maintain the Proclamation of Emancipation, by which the Republic is solemnly pledged to “maintain” the emancipated slave in freedom. Here is our pledge: “The Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.” The pledge is without limitation in space or time. It is as extended and as immortal as the Republic itself. Does anybody call it vain words? I trust not. To that pledge we are solemnly bound. Wherever our flag floats, as long as time endures, we must see that it is sacredly observed.
The performance of this pledge cannot be intrusted to another; least of all can it be intrusted to ancient slave-masters, embittered against the slave. It must be performed by the National Government. The power that gave freedom must see that freedom is maintained. This is according to reason. It is also according to examples of history. In the British West Indies we find this teaching. Three of England’s greatest orators and statesmen, Burke, Canning, and Brougham, at successive periods united in declaring, from experience in the British West Indies, that whatever the slave-masters undertook to do for their slaves was always “arrant trifling,” and that, whatever might be its plausible form, it always wanted “an executory principle.”[21] More recently the Emperor of Russia, when ordering Emancipation, declared that all efforts of his predecessors in this direction had failed, because left to “the spontaneous initiative of the proprietors.” I might say much more on this head, but this is enough. I assume that no such blunder will be made by us,—that we shall not leave to the old proprietors the maintenance of that freedom to which we are pledged, and thus break our own promises and sacrifice a race.
Elsewhere I have alluded to Emancipation in Russia.[22] But the example is worthy our deepest study, unless we purposely reject history. All know that in 1861 the Emperor by solemn proclamation gave freedom to upward of twenty-three million serfs; but it is not generally known by what supplementary provisions this freedom was assured.
I have in my hands an official copy of this great act, published at St. Petersburg, by which it is declared that the serfs, after an interval of two years, are “entirely enfranchised.”[23] Under this Proclamation, a new set of local magistrates is constituted, with “special court” and “justices of the peace” in each district, to superintend the working of the Proclamation, and to examine on the spot all questions arising from Emancipation. The provision is not unlike our Bureau of Freedmen, which is vindicated by this example.
The good work did not stop here. The Emperor did not leave the freedmen without protection, handed over to the tender mercies of former owners. By a careful series of “Regulations” accompanying the Proclamation, prepared with minutest care, and divided into chapters and sections, their rights are secured beyond question. A copy of this remarkable document shows it to be a model for generous imitation.
These “Regulations” begin with a formal declaration, that the freedmen by the act of Emancipation “acquire the rights belonging to free farmers.” The language is general. It is “the rights of free farmers,” not in certain particulars, but in all particulars,—not merely in exemption from the authority of their masters, but in complete enfranchisement. Surely this is an example for us.
The “Regulations” then proceed in formal words to fix and assure these rights, civil and political. They are not left to inference or to future discussion, but positively declared with all possible detail.
By one section the freedman is secured in all his rights of family and rights of contract, as follows:—
“The articles of the Civil Code on the rights and obligations of the family are extended to the freedmen; consequently they acquire the right, without the authorization of the proprietor, to contract marriage, and to make any arrangement whatever concerning their family affairs; they can equally enter into all agreements and obligations authorized by the laws, as well with the state as with individuals, on the conditions established for free farmers; they can inscribe themselves in the guilds, and exercise their trades in the villages; and they can found and conduct factories and establishments of commerce.”
Here is a beautiful example for us.
By another section the freedman is secured in rights of property. He may acquire and alienate property of all kinds, according to the general law; and, besides, “the possession of the homestead” on which he has lived is guarantied to him on certain conditions. Here is another example for us.
By further provision the freedman is secured complete Equality in the courts:—
“He shall have the right of action, whether civilly or criminally, to commence process, and to answer personally or by attorney, to make complaint, and to defend his rights by all the means known to the law, and to appear as witness and as bail conformably to the common law.”
Mark these words. He may appear “as witness and as bail.” It is an example for us.
By other provisions the freedman is secured Equality in political rights, according to the measure of such rights in Russia, thus:—
“On the organization of the towns, he shall be entitled to take part in the meetings and elections for the towns, and to vote on town affairs, and to exercise divers functions; and he shall also take part in assemblies for the district, and shall vote on district affairs, and choose the chairman.”
From all the provisions on this head it appears that the freedman enjoys rights to choose local officers, and to be chosen in turn. Here also is an example for us.
By still another section the freedman is secured Equality at school and in education, thus:—
“He may place his children in the establishments for public education, to embrace the career of instruction or the scientific career, or to take service in the corps of surveyors.”
Here again is an example for us.
Then, still further, for the general protection of the freedman, it is provided that he “cannot lose his rights, or be restrained in their exercise, except after the judgment of the town according to fixed rules”; and still further, that he “cannot be subjected to any punishment, otherwise than by notice of a judgment, or according to the legal decision of the town to which he belongs.” Here, too, is an example for us.
Thus does Russia, by careful provisions, supplementary to the act of Emancipation, assure her freedmen in all their rights: first, the right of family and the right of contract; secondly, the right of property, including a homestead; thirdly, complete Equality in the courts; fourthly, Equality in political rights; fifthly, Equality at school and in education; and, finally, all these precious safeguards are crowned by declaring that they cannot lose their rights, or be punished, except after judgment according to fixed rules: thus completely fulfilling that requirement of our fathers, that government should be “a government of laws, and not of men.”[24]
I trust that this grand example is none the less worthy of imitation because from an empire which is not supposed to sympathize with liberal ideas. The Republic cannot in this respect lag behind the Empire. Besides, all that we hear shows that the experiment has been successful. An experiment inspired so completely by the spirit of justice cannot fail.
My colleague is right in introducing his bill and pressing it to a vote. The argument for it is irresistible. It is essential to complete Emancipation. Without it Emancipation will be only half done. It is our duty to see that it is wholly done. Slavery must be abolished not in form only, but in substance, so that there shall be no Black Code, but all shall be Equal before the Law.
As to the power of Congress over this question, I cannot doubt it. My colleague assumes the power, without tracing it to any particular source. It may be a military power, precisely as the Proclamation of Emancipation,—and here the authority is as clear and absolute as in the District of Columbia; or it may be in pursuance of the Constitutional Amendment, which provides that Congress may “enforce this Article by appropriate legislation”; or it may be to carry out the guaranty of a republican form of government.
There are measures of my own, already introduced by me, now on your table, looking to the same result as the pending bill, which proceed specifically on the two latter grounds.
One of these is entitled “A bill supplying appropriate legislation to enforce the Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting Slavery,” from which I read two sections.
Here Mr. Sumner read sections 3 and 4, as given on a previous page.[25]
This bill proceeds on the idea that the Amendment is now part of the Constitution to all intents and purposes. And who can doubt this? Already it is adopted by three fourths of the States having Legislatures,—in other words, by “the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States.” The States having no Legislatures at the time of its proposition by Congress cannot be counted. Of what value is the enforced consent of disloyal and barbarous bodies pretending to act for certain States at the dictation of military power? Military power may govern during the war; but it is impotent to make a republican State, or to adopt an Amendment of the Constitution.
Another bill introduced by me, and now on the table, is founded on the guaranty clause. I give its title: “A bill in part execution of the guaranty of a Republican form of Government in the Constitution of the United States.”[26]
Both these bills are broader even than that of my colleague; for they point to the absolute obliteration of all legal discriminations founded on color, whether in the court-room or at the ballot-box; and to this conclusion we must come at last. But I confess that I feel the dignity, the grandeur, and the substantial value which would be found in a declaration of Congress, that an oligarchical government, denying rights to a whole race, undertaking to tax without representation, and discarding “the consent of the governed” as its just foundation, cannot be “republican.”
The most explicit, the most positive, the most mandatory words in the Constitution are, “The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government.” This great duty is thrown not upon any individual branch of the Government, but upon the United States. It is a duty to “guaranty”—which in itself is a strong term—what? A republican form of government. Now, by the lapse of State governments in the Rebel States, this duty is cast upon the United States. But the United States are represented in Congress, or rather by Act of Congress, which in itself is the embodied will of both Houses and of the President. Congress must, therefore, determine what is a republican form of government. Into this question I do not now enter. At the proper time I hope to consider it.[27] For the present I content myself with the remark, that it is absurd to say that a community founded on oligarchical pretensions, excluding from all participation in the government any considerable proportion of its tax-paying citizens, and ignoring the consent of the governed, can be considered a republican form of government. On this proposition I hope to be heard at an early day. Here is one of the greatest questions of our history.
After this brief review of the object to be accomplished, I am brought to consider the practical necessity of such legislation; and here it is my duty to expose the actual condition of the Rebel States, especially as regards loyalty and the treatment of the freedmen. On this head I shall adduce evidence in my possession. In the endeavor to bring what I say within reasonable proportions, I shall adduce only a small part of what has passed under my eye; but it will be more than enough. In bringing it forward, the difficulty is of selection and abridgment.
I begin with something relating to the condition of the Rebel States generally, and shall then consider the different States successively.
And now, first, as to the Rebel States generally. I know no testimony that has found its way to the public, with regard to the general condition of the South, which will compare in value with a series of letters by A. Warren Kelsey, a business agent of character and intelligence above question, who has travelled through the Rebel States. His communications with his employers show singular powers of observation, and are expressed with great clearness. Of course I can give only a few extracts.
“In travelling about, as I have, from one section of the country to the other, I have been able to compare opinions, and, as you know, I have had peculiar and favorable opportunities for ascertaining the views they have in common. I have endeavored to trace the motives from which they have acted and which now animate them, and their real purpose for the future, if they have one. In giving you my opinion now, it is proper to say that I have taken no one individual as a criterion of the whole, and have judged them only by the opinions I find they are generally agreed upon; neither have I any one’s statement for their thoughts and actions. My opinions, deductions, and conclusions are derived from my own experience and observation among them, and, whether they shall be confirmed or denied by others, are, notwithstanding, my honest and sincere convictions.
…
“While I am able to say that they have made up their minds that Emancipation is a fact, and not to be avoided, I am obliged to state my earnest opinion, that, so far as secession is concerned,—that is, the doctrine of State Rights,—it is more deeply rooted than ever among them. They are perfectly united in the belief that the division of this country is both right from a moral stand-point and politic as a measure of expediency. They have simply changed their base from the battle-field to the ballot-box, believing, as they very frankly admit, that greater triumphs await them there than they could ever hope for in the field. In almost every house hangs the old, worn Confederate uniform, which is displayed with pride and satisfaction to all comers. So far from repenting of the stand they took, they glory in it. They regret the result, and their non-success, it is true, but not one in a thousand will admit they were in the wrong.
…
“They argue that at least ninety-five in every two hundred votes at the North are sure to be thrown in their favor, and they can now rule the Union by giving up, which is cheaper than to persist in their idea of a separate government. That idea, however, is only laid aside for a time. Every boy at the South is being educated in the belief that the relations the South to-day sustains toward the North are the same as those of Hungary or Venetia toward Austria, or of Poland to Russia. They bide their time. They have adopted for their motto, ‘Patience, and shuffle the cards.’ The snake, so far from being killed, is barely ‘scotched.’ Meantime they deem it better to rule in the Union than to serve in the Confederate army.
…
“As to their affection for their military leaders, you will find proof in the elections at Richmond and South Carolina. No man has a better claim to their sympathy, and none stand a better chance of election, than those who were the last to give up. Motives of policy may induce them to nominate others, but the fact remains as I have stated. I repeat, that General Lee and Wade Hampton are the two most popular and best loved men in the South to-day. I have heard but one disparaging remark made of General Lee since I was at the South, and that was in this connection. I was riding one night in a hack across the gap in a railway, made by Wilson, and, as usual, the conversation turned on political affairs and the condition and prospects of the Southern people. One man said that General Lee stood the best chance for the next Presidency,—by the way, that is a very prevalent idea here at the South,—when another remarked that he would rather have Andrew Johnson. I was curious to know why, and inquired. He replied, that ‘he had but little confidence in Lee since he favored negro soldiers, and in his opinion he was not much better than a Black Republican.’
…
“At present every one at the South is occupied in his personal and family interests. There are no political parties,—very little coherence of opinion as to the policy best to be pursued. But I find among the knowing ones, particularly those who have been on to the North, and remained some time in New York or Washington, a sanguine belief that they can easily resume the reins of office; and these men are the only Unionists in the South to-day. You can depend upon it, that the Southern States in the future will present one solid, unanimous front; their leaders have them well in hand. And this is precisely what ninety-nine in every hundred of the men, women, and children believe sincerely as to the situation to-day: first, that the South of right possesses, and always possessed, the right of secession; secondly, that the war only proved that the North was the strongest; thirdly, that Negro Slavery was and is right, but has been abolished by the war. The Southerners are too smart not to see that Slavery is dead, but many of them hope as long as the black race exists here to be able to hold it in a condition of practical serfdom. All expect the negro will be killed in one way or another by Emancipation. The policy of those who will eventually become the leaders here at the South is, for the present, to accept the best they can get, to acquiesce in anything and everything, but to strain every nerve to regain the political power and ascendency they held under Buchanan. This they believe cannot be postponed longer than up to the next Presidential election. They will do all in their power to resist Negro Suffrage, to reduce taxation and expenditures, and would attack the national debt, if they saw any reason to believe repudiation possible. They will continue to assert the inferiority of the African; and they would to-day, if possible, precipitate the United States into a foreign war, believing they could then reassert and obtain their independence. They will, most of them, take any oaths you may cause to be adopted, and break them immediately, and without scruple. In one word, this people have placed themselves in resolute antagonism to the North, and this generation, at least, will always hate the Northern people, while the boys are being educated to the same idea.
…
“On the whole, looking at the affair from all sides, it amounts to just this: if the Northern people are content to be ruled over by the Southerners, they will continue in the Union; if not, the first chance they get, they will rise again.”[28]
Other testimony is in harmony. For instance, a trustworthy traveller, who has recently traversed the Gulf States, thus writes in a private letter to myself:—
“The former masters exhibit a most cruel, remorseless, and vindictive spirit toward the colored people. In parts where there are no Union soldiers I saw colored women treated in the most outrageous manner. They have no rights that are respected. They are killed, and their bodies thrown into ponds or mud-holes. They are mutilated by having ears and noses cut off.”
Such a people already talk of repudiating the national debt. To the question, “Would it be safe to trust white men at the South with the power to repudiate the national debt?” a person in gray uniform at once replied: “Repudiate? I should hope they would. I’m whipped, and I’ll own it; but I’m not so fond of a whipping that I’m going to pay a man’s expenses while he gives it to me. Of course there are not ten men in the whole South that wouldn’t repudiate.” Such is the spirit of these States. But a candidate for Congress in Virginia undertook to speak for the Rebel States.
“I am opposed to the Southern States being taxed at all for the redemption of this debt, either directly or indirectly; and, if elected to Congress, I will oppose all such measures, and I will vote to repeal all laws that have heretofore been passed for that purpose; and, in doing so, I do not consider that I violate any obligations to which the South was a party. We have never plighted our faith for the redemption of the war debt. The people will be borne down with taxes for years to come, even if the war debt is repudiated. It will be the duty of the Government to support the maimed and disabled soldiers, and this will be a great expense; and if the United States Government requires the South to be taxed for the support of Union soldiers, we should insist that all disabled soldiers should be maintained by the United States Government, without regard to the side they had taken in the war.”
A late writer, who within a few days has returned from an extensive tour in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and who now enjoys a seat in your Reporters’ Gallery, thus testifies with regard to the national debt:—
“The national debt doubtless seems to you beyond the reach of any hand. Yet I regard it as very probable that one or two or all of three things will be attempted within three years after the Southern members of Congress are admitted to seats,—the repudiation of the National debt, the assumption of the Confederate debt, or the payment of several hundred million dollars to the South for property destroyed and slaves emancipated. I met several shrewd and intelligent men who expressed the belief that Confederate bonds will be worth something in two or three years. One told me that large amounts were held in New York and England, and he expected steps would be taken within five years toward paying them from the National Treasury. I heard no man openly advocate the repudiation of the National debt, but scores argued to me that it would not be fair to make the South pay any part of it; and one man said he believed, if the case were only carried up, that the Supreme Court would so decide. The idea that the nation will pay the South for her slaves extensively prevails both in Georgia and South Carolina. It is incorporated into the new Constitution of Georgia, and is openly advocated by many influential men in South Carolina. Wherefore, I say, the national debt needs watching.”
Let the Secretary of the Treasury[29] take notice, and not expose the national finances to the peril which menaces them.
Passing from this testimony, which is general, I come to the neighbor State of Virginia. I read from a private letter received by myself from a Government officer there:—
“We who are here have a much better opportunity of knowing the feeling of the people than you at a distance, for they will not speak as freely before you as they will before us here and among themselves. The feeling of disloyalty is as strong here now as it was during the war, but they cannot show it as they did then; and with regard to the freedmen there is every disposition on their part to make them odious. They constantly talk of insurrection, insubordination, thieving, idleness, and every species of crime and vice; all of which I assure you is entirely false. They are perfectly subordinate to every law, and, so far as thieving is concerned, such an assertion is gratuitous or false; for all cases of thieving, certainly, I am sorry to say, are done by the whites.”
I also read from another private letter:—
“The clash of arms has subsided, the serried hosts of Rebels have been disbanded, and the huge paraphernalia of war have been scattered; but, notwithstanding these facts, the low mutterings of sullen discontent are yet heard, and the desire to persecute and break down all truly loyal men is exhibited on every hand with even more sly ferocity than while the war of sections raged.
“We are residents of this city, each engaged in public business, and consequently thrown into contact with all classes of citizens. Hourly we hear denunciations of the Government, and prayers for the removal of the military. And why these denunciations and these prayers, if the oath of allegiance had been honestly taken, to be sacredly observed? No, Gentlemen, the spirit of rebellion is not dead, and will never die while Democratic leaders in the South are relieved of their treachery and turned loose to stir up sedition and to incite rebellion. The men make loud professions of loyalty, and their press reverberates the echo from hill and valley; but you have only to read their fanfaronades on loyalty to satisfy yourselves of the bitter hatred that fills their breasts against the Union, and the burning hate with which they will proceed to pour out the vials of their wrath upon all Union men, when once they can secure seats in Congress and get possession of the reins of State government. In their hearts they cling as ardently to State sovereignty as ever, and once give them the power and they will tax the loyal people to the full value of the slave property destroyed by the war. Mark this prediction.”
Another private letter, from a person so situated as to be singularly well informed, thus foreshadows a system of Peonage:—
“The necessity of the courts is beyond all question. Even with these courts it requires watchfulness to protect the blacks. If they were left without these courts, the whites would keep them forever in bondage, by keeping them in debt; and I am afraid that the legislation of the States will be to the effect to establish here the Mexican system of Peonage, by using some very extraordinary terms to coerce ‘hatched-up’ accounts against the blacks.”
To this I might add indefinitely, exhibiting the bad temper and disloyal spirit which prevail throughout Virginia. Bayonets are no longer flashing there; bullets are no longer whizzing there; but the traitorous soul that inspired the Rebellion still fills the State with its malignant breath. Give it not, I entreat you, the power to rule.
From Virginia pass to North Carolina. Here the testimony is the same. During this week I have seen Government officers who have been in service, one since 1863, who report that it is not safe to speak one’s sentiments there; that liberty of speech does not exist; that the freedmen, so far from being lazy or remiss, are willing to work, but that they are exposed to unutterable hardship and cruelty. On these points the testimony is explicit. A loyal resident of North Carolina writes me:—