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represent that people as you to represent the people of Georgia, won
on fields where I have vied with Georgians whom I commanded and
others in the cause of my people and of their section in the late
unhappy contest; but thank God for the peace and the good of the
country that contest is over, and as one of those who engaged in it,
and who has neither here nor elsewhere any apology to make for the
part taken, I am here by my humble efforts to bring peace to this
whole country, peace and good will between the sections, not here as
a partisan, not here to represent that Bourbonism which has done so
much injury to my section of the country. [Applause in the galleries.]
Now, sir, the gentleman undertakes to say what constitutes a
democrat. A democrat! I hold, sir, that to-day I am a better democrat
than he, infinitely better—he who stands nominally committed to a
full vote, a free ballot, and an honest count. I should like to know
how he stands for these things where tissue ballots are fashionable.
[Laughter, and applause in the galleries.]
Now, sir, I serve notice on you that I intend to be here the
custodian of my own democracy. I do not intend to be run by your
caucus. I am in every sense a free man here. I trust I am able to
protect my own rights and to defend those of the people whom I
represent, and certainly to take care of my own. I do not intend that
any Senator on this floor shall undertake to criticise my conduct by
innuendoes, a method not becoming this body or a straightforward
legitimate line of pursuit in argument.
I wish the Senator from Georgia to understand just here that we
may get along in the future harmoniously, that the way to deal with
me is to deal directly. We want no bills of discovery. Now, sir, you
will find out how I am going to vote in a little while. [Applause.]
Mr. Davis, of West Virginia. Mr. President, during this temporary
suspension——
Mr. Mahone. I have not yielded the floor. I am waiting for a little
order.
Mr. Davis, of West Virginia. I wish to call the attention of the Chair
to the disorder in the Senate both when my friend from Georgia was
speaking and now. I believe it has been some time since we have had
as much disorder as we have had to-day in the galleries. I hope the
Chair will enforce order.
Mr. Teller. I should like to say that much of the disorder
originated in the first place from the cheering on the democratic side
of the Chamber.
The Vice-President. The Chair announces that order must be
maintained in the galleries; otherwise the Sergeant-at-Arms will be
directed to clear the galleries.
Mr. Mahone. I promised not to detain the Senate, and I regret that
so early after my appearance here I should find it necessary to
intrude any remarks whatsoever upon the attention of this body. I
would prefer to be a little modest; I would prefer to listen and to
learn; but I cannot feel content after what has passed in this
presence, when the gentleman by all manner of methods, all manner
of insinuations, direct and indirect, has sought to do that which
would have been better done and more bravely pursued if he had
gone directly to the question itself. He has sought to discover where
the democrat was who should here choose to exercise his right to cast
his vote as he pleased, who should here exercise the liberty of
manhood to differ with his caucus. Why, sir, the gentleman seems to
have forgotten that I refused positively to attend his little lovefeast;
not only that, I refused to take part in a caucus which represents a
party that has not only waged war upon me but upon those whom I
represent on this floor. They have not only intruded within the
boundaries of my own State, without provocation, to teach honesty
and true democracy, but they would now pursue my people further
by intruding their unsolicited advice and admonition to their
representative in this Chamber. Yes, sir, you have been notified, duly
notified that I would take no part or lot in any political machinery.
Further than that, you have been notified that I was supremely
indifferent to what you did; that I had no wish to prefer, and was
indifferent to your performances; that I should stand on this floor
representing in part the people of the State of Virginia, for whom I
have the right to speak (and not the Senator from Georgia) even of
their democracy. The gentleman may not be advised that the
Legislature which elected me did not require that I should state
either that I was a democrat or anything else. I suppose he could not
get here from Georgia unless he was to say that he was a democrat,
anyhow. [Laughter.] I come here without being required to state to
my people what I am. They were willing to trust me, sir, and I was
elected by the people, and not by a legislature, for it was an issue in
the canvass. There was no man elected by the party with which I am
identified that did not go to the Legislature instructed by the
sovereigns to vote for me for the position I occupy on this floor. It
required no oath of allegiance blindly given to stand by your
democracy, such as is, [laughter,] that makes a platform and
practices another thing. That is the democracy they have in some of
the Southern States.
Now, I hope the gentleman will be relieved. He has been
chassezing all around this Chamber to see if he could not find a
partner somewhere; he has been looking around in every direction;
occasionally he would refer to some other Senator to know exactly
where the Senator was who stood here as a democrat that had the
manhood and the boldness to assert his opinions in this Chamber
free from the dictation of a mere caucus. Now, I want the gentleman
to know henceforth and forever here is a man, sir, that dares stand
up [applause] and speak for himself without regard to caucus in all
matters. [Applause, long continued, in the galleries and on the floor.]
Mr. President, pardon me; I have done.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Mr. President—
The Vice-President. The Senate will be in order. Gentlemen on
the floor not members of the Senate will take seats.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Mr. President, I hope nobody imagines that I
rise to make any particular reply to the remarkable exhibition we
have just seen. I rise to say a few things in justification of myself. I
certainly did not say one word to justify the gentleman in the
statement that I made an assault upon him, unless he was the one
man who had been elected as a democrat and was not going to vote
with his party. I never saw that gentleman before the other day. I
have not the slightest unkind feeling for him. I never alluded to him
by name; I never alluded to his State; and I cannot understand how
the gentleman says that I alluded to him except upon the rule laid
down by the distinguished Senator from New York, that a guilty
conscience needs no accuser. [Applause and hisses in the galleries.] I
did not mention the Senator. It had been stated here by the Senator
from New York over and over that the other side would have a
majority when that side was full. I showed it was impossible that they
should have a majority unless they could get one democratic vote,
with the vote of the Vice-President. I did not know who it was; I
asked who it was; I begged to know who it was; and to my utter
astonishment the gentleman from Virginia comes out and says he is
the man.
The Senator from Virginia makes a very strange announcement.
He charged me not only with attacking him, but with attacking the
people of Virginia? Did I say a word of the people of Virginia? I said
that the people of no portion of this country would tolerate treachery.
Was that attacking the people of Virginia? I said that thirty-eight
men had been elected to this body as democrats. Does the Senator
deny that? Does he say he was elected here not as a democrat? He
says he was not required to declare that he was a democrat, and in
the next breath he says he is a truer, better democrat than I am. Then
I commend him to you. Take good care of him, my friends. Nurse
him well. How do you like to have a worse democrat than I am?
Mr. Conkling and others. A better democrat.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Oh, a better! Then my friend from New York
is a better democrat than I am. You have all turned democrats; and
we have in the United States Senate such an exhibition as that of a
gentleman showing his democracy by going over to the Republicans!
Sir, I will not defend Virginia. She needs no defense. Virginia has
given this country and the world and humanity some of the brightest
names of history. She holds in her bosom to-day the ashes of some of
the noblest and greatest men that ever illustrated the glories of any
country. I say to the Senator from Virginia that neither Jefferson, nor
Madison, nor Henry, nor Washington, nor Leigh, nor Tucker, nor
any of the long list of great men that Virginia has produced ever
accepted a commission to represent one party and came here and
represented another. [Applause on the floor and in the galleries.]
Mr. Cockrell. I trust that those at least who are enjoying the
privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber will be prohibited from
cheering.
The Vice-President. The Chair will state that the violation of the
rules does not appear to be in the galleries, but by persons who have
been admitted to the privilege of the floor. The Chair regrets to clear
the floor, but if the manifestation is continued he will be obliged to
do so. It is a violation of the rules of the Senate.
Mr. Mahone rose.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Does the Senator from Virginia wish to
interrupt me?
Mr. Mahone. I do wish to interrupt you.
The Vice-President. Does the Senator from Georgia yield?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly.
Mr. Mahone. I understand you to say that I accepted a
commission from one party and came here to represent another. Do I
understand you correctly?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I understood that you were elected as a
democrat.
Mr. Mahone. Never mind; answer the question.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Yes, I say you accepted a commission, having
been elected as a democrat. That is my information.
Mr. Mahone. I ask you the question: Did you say that I had
accepted a commission from one party and came here to represent
another? That is the question.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Oh, I said that will be the case if you vote
with the republicans. You have not done it yet, and I say you will not
do it.
Mr. Mahone. If not out of order in this place, I say to the
gentleman that if he undertakes to make that statement it is
unwarranted and untrue.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I should like to ask the gentleman a
question: Was he not acting with the democratic party, and was he
not elected as a democrat to this body? Answer that question.
Mr. Mahone. Quickly, sir. I was elected as a readjuster. Do you
know what they are? [Laughter and applause.]
The Vice-President rapped with his gavel.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I understand there are in Virginia what are
called readjuster democrats and debt-paying democrats, or
something of that kind, but as I understand they are all democrats.
We have nothing to do with that issue. We are not to settle the debt
of Virginia in the Senate Chamber; but I ask the Senator again, was
he not elected to this body as a member of the national democratic
party?
Mr. Mahone. I will answer you, sir. No. You have got the answer
now.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Then I conceive that the gentleman spoke
truly when he said that I do not know what he is. What is he?
Everybody has understood that he voted with the democrats. Did he
not support Hancock for the Presidency? Did not the Senator
support Hancock for the Presidency, I ask him? [A pause] Dumb!
Did he not act with the democratic party in the national election, and
was not the Senator from Virginia himself a democrat? That is the
question. Why attempt to evade? Gentlemen, I commend him to you.
Is there a man on that side of the Chamber who doubts that the
Senator was sent to this body as a democrat? Is there a man in this
whole body who doubts it? Is there a man in Virginia who doubts it?
The gentleman will not deny it. Up to this very hour it was not known
on this side of the Chamber or in the country how he would vote in
this case, or whether he was still a democrat or not. I maintain that
he is. The Senator from New York seemed to have information that
somebody who was elected as a democrat was not, and I went to
work to find out who it was. It seems I have uncovered him. For
months the papers of the country have been discussing and debating
how the Senator would vote. Nobody could know, nobody could tell,
nobody could guess. I have been a truer friend to the Senator than he
has been to himself. I have maintained always that when it came to
the test the Senator would be true to his commission; that the
Senator would be true to the democratic professions he made when
he was elected. He will not rise in this presence and say he could
have been elected to the Senate as a republican. He will not rise in
the Senate and say he could have been elected to the Senate if he had
given notice that on the organization of this body he would vote with
the republicans. He will not say it.
The gentleman makes some remarks about the caucus. I have no
objection to a gentleman remaining out of a caucus. That is not the
question. I have no objection to a gentleman being independent.
That is not the question. I have no objection to a gentleman being a
readjuster in local politics. That is not the question. I have no
objection to a man dodging from one side to another on such a
question. With that I have nothing to do. That is a matter of taste
with him; but I do object to any man coming into this high council,
sent here by one sentiment, commissioned by one party, professing
to be a democrat, and after he gets here acting with the other party. If
the gentleman wants to be what he so proudly said, a man, when he
changes opinions, as he had a right to do, when he changes party
affiliations as he had a right to do, he should have gone to the people
of Virginia and said, “You believed me to be a democrat when you
gave me this commission; while I differed with many of you on the
local question of the debt, I was with you cordially in national
politics; I belonged to the national democratic party; but I feel that it
is my duty now to co-operate with the republican party, and I return
you the commission which you gave to me.” If the gentleman had
done that and then gone before the people of Virginia and asked
them to renew his commission upon his change of opinion, he would
have been entitled to the eulogy of manhood he pronounced upon
himself here in such theatrical style. I like manhood.
I say once more, it is very far from me to desire to do the Senator
injury. I have nothing but the kindest feelings for him. He is very
much mistaken if he supposes I had any personal enmity against
him. I have not the slightest. As I said before, I never spoke to the
gentleman in my life until I met him a few days ago; but I have done
what the newspapers could not do, both sides having been engaged
in the effort for months; I have done what both parties could not do,
what the whole country could not do—I have brought out the Senator
from Virginia.
But now, in the kindest spirit, knowing the country from which the
honorable Senator comes, identified as I am with its fame and its
character, loving as I do every line in its history, revering as I do its
long list of great names, I perform the friendly office unasked of
making a last appeal to the honorable Senator, whatever other fates
befall him, to be true to the trust which the proud people of Virginia
gave him, and whoever else may be disappointed, whoever else may
be deceived, whoever else may be offended at the organization of the
Senate, I appeal to the gentleman to be true to the people, to the
sentiment, to the party which he knows commissioned him to a seat
in this body.
Mr. Logan. Mr. President, I have but a word to say. I have listened
to a very extraordinary speech. The Senate of the United States is a
body where each Senator has a right to have a free voice. I have never
known before a Senator, especially a new Senator, to be arraigned in
the manner in which the Senator from Virginia has been, and his
conduct criticised before he had performed any official act, save one,
so far as voting is concerned. He needs no defense at my hands; he is
able to take care of himself; but I tell the Senator from Georgia when
he says to this country that no man has a right to come here unless
he fulfills that office which was dictated to him by a party, he says
that which does not belong to American independence. Sir, it takes
more nerve, more manhood, to strike the party shackles from your
limbs and give free thought its scope than any other act that man can
perform. The Senator from Georgia himself, in times gone by, has
changed his opinions. If the records of this country are true (and he
knows whether they are or not) he, when elected to a convention as a
Union man, voted for secession. [Applause in the galleries.]
The Vice-President rapped with his gavel.
Mr. Hoar. If my friend will pardon me a moment, I desire to call
the attention of the Chair to the fact that there has been more
disorder in this Chamber during this brief session of the Senate than
in all the aggregate of many years before. I take occasion when a
gentleman with whose opinions I perfectly agree myself in speaking
to say that I shall move the Chair to clear any portion of the gallery
from which expressions of applause or dissent shall come if they
occur again.
Mr. Logan. What I have said in reference to this record I do not
say by way of casting at the Senator, but merely to call attention to
the fact that men are not always criticised so severely for changing
their opinions. The Senator from Georgia spoke well of my colleague.
Well he may. He is an honorable man and a man deserving well of all
the people of this country. He was elected not as a democrat but by
democratic votes. He votes with you. He never was a democrat in his
life; he is not to-day. You applaud him and why? Because he votes
with you. You want his vote; that is all. You criticise another man
who was elected by republican votes and democratic votes,
readjusters as they are called, and say that he has no right to his
opinions in this Chamber. The criticism is not well. Do you say that a
man shall not change his political opinions?
The Senator from Georgia in days gone by, in my boyhood days, I
heard of, not as a democrat. To-day he sits here as a democrat. No
one wishes to criticise him because he has changed his political
opinions. He had a right to do so. I was a democrat once, too, and I
had a right to change my opinions and I did change them. The man
who will not change his opinions when he is honestly convinced that
he was in error is a man who is not entitled to the respect of men. I
say this to the Senator from Georgia. The Senator says to us, “take
him,” referring to the Senator from Virginia. Yes, sir, we will take
him if he will come with us, and we will take every other honest man
who will come. We will take every honest man in the South who
wants to come and join the republican party, and give him the right
hand of fellowship, be he black or white. Will you do as much?
Mr. Hill of Georgia. We have got them already.
Mr. Logan. Yes, and if a man happens to differ with you the
tyranny of political opinion in your section of country is such that
you undertake to lash him upon the world and try to expose him to
the gaze of the public as a man unfaithful to his trust. We have no
such tyranny of opinion in the country where I live; and it will be
better for your section when such notions are driven to the shades
and retired from the action of your people.
I do not know that the gentleman from Virginia intends to vote as
a republican. I have never heard him say so. I know only what he has
said here to-day; but I respect him for stating to the Senate and the
country that he is tired of the Bourbon democracy; and if more men
were tired of it the country would be better off. The people are
getting tired of it even down in your country, every where. The
sooner we have a division down there the better it will be for both
sides, for the people of the whole country.
I did not rise to make any defense of the Senator from Virginia, for
he is able, as I said, to defend himself, but merely to say to the
Senator from Georgia that the criticism made upon that Senator
without any just cause is something I never witnessed before in this
Chamber or in any other deliberative body, and in my judgment it
was not justified in any way whatever.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I desire to say once more, what everybody in
the audience knows is true, that I did not arraign the Senator from
Virginia. In the first speech I never alluded to Virginia or to the
Senator from Virginia.
Mr. Logan. Every one in the Chamber knew to whom the Senator
alluded.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I alluded to somebody who was elected as a
democrat, and who was going to vote as a republican.
Mr. Teller. He was not elected as a democrat.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Then I did not allude to the Senator from
Virginia.
Mr. Teller. The Senator said that thirty-eight members of the
Senate were elected as democrats.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly they were.
Mr. Teller. That is a mistake.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly they were, and the record shows it.
Mr. Conkling. May I ask the Senator a question?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Let me go on and then you can follow me. I
again say it is strange that the Senator from Virginia should say I
arraigned him, and his valiant defender, the Senator from Illinois,
comes to defend him from an arraignment that was never made.
Mr. Logan. Did not the Senator from Georgia ask the Senator from
Virginia in his seat if he was not elected as a Democrat? Did not the
Senator charge that a man was acting treacherously to his
constituents? Did the Senator not make the most severe arraignment
of him that he could possibly make?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. If the Senator will allow me, I did that only
after the Senator from Virginia had arraigned himself. The Senator
from Virginia insisted that I alluded to him when I had not called his
name, and I had not alluded to his State and when I had arraigned
nobody.
Mr. Logan. Will the Senator allow me to ask him this question:
Did he not have in his mind distinctly the Senator from Virginia
when he made his insinuations?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I will answer the gentleman’s question fairly.
I did believe that the gentlemen on the other side who were counting
upon a democratic vote were counting upon the Senator from
Virginia, but I equally believed that they would be disappointed. I did
not believe that the Senator from Virginia was guilty, and I in perfect
sincerity and good faith, so far from arraigning him, intended to
defend him from the foul suspicion, and my honest repulsion of the
insinuation, which was necessary in consequence of what they
expected, was regarded by the Senator himself as an arraignment.
There is an anecdote told in the life of the great minister, Whitefield.
When he was speaking one day in the country to an audience, he
described the enormity of sin and the characteristics of sin; he did it
with wonderful power. When he came out he was assailed by a
gentleman for having made a personal assault on him. “Why,” said
Whitefield, “I never heard of you before; I did not intend any assault
upon you.” He replied, “Well, sir, you told me everything I have been
doing all my life.” I frankly confess I am not a man to dodge. The
papers have justified me in believing, Senators have justified me in
believing, that you are calculating to get the democratic vote of the
Senator from Virginia, whom the whole country has treated as
having been elected as a democrat. I believed you would be
disappointed; I believed that because you would be disappointed it
was wholly unnecessary to delay this organization. I did not believe
the Senator would vote with you, and in vindication of that Senator I
will not believe it yet. He has not said so. He has made the mistake,
because of what the papers say, of assuming that I alluded to him;
but I vindicate him yet. He said if I asserted that he was elected as a
democrat and would be false to his commission, I said what was not
warranted and what was untrue. I am glad he said so. I did not say he
would; but I say you expected it, I say your papers expected it, and I
say it has been calculated on. I vindicate the Senator from Virginia,
and I hope he will vindicate himself by not doing what you expect
him to do. The Senator from Illinois charges me again with criticising
a man for changing his opinion. I distinctly said that every man in
this country has a right to change his opinion. The distinguished
Senator from Illinois has changed his opinion. He says the country is
tired of Bourbon democracy. He ought to know, for he used to be one
of the worst Bourbon democrats this country ever saw.
Mr. Logan. That was when you belonged to the other side.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. The first time I ever heard of that Senator
was when I was battling in the South for the good old whig principles
and he was an outrageous Bourbon democrat. That amounts to
nothing. You had a right to change, if you have changed; I do not say
you have.
Mr. Logan. I will only say, if the Senator will allow me, that when I
saw the light I changed for the right. The Senator saw the darkness
and changed for the wrong.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Ah, that is not argument.
Mr. Logan. It is true, however, just the same.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I hope the Senator will see more light and
change again.
Mr. Logan. I do not think I shall.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. He needs a great deal of light.
Mr. Logan. No doubt of that. I do not expect to get it, however,
from that side.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I object to this style of interruption; it is
unworthy of the Senate. I am not here to indulge in such remarks.
The Senator has a right to change; I have arraigned nobody for
changing his opinion. If the Senator from Virginia has changed his
opinions he has a right to change them; I have not said he has not. I
do not deny his right. I admit that a man has a right also to change
his party affiliations if he is convinced he has been wrong; but a man
has no right to hold a commission which was given him while he was
a democrat and because he was a democrat and given to him as a
democrat, and change his opinions and act with the adversary party.
It is his duty to return that commission to the people who gave it and
ask them to renew it upon his change of opinion. That is all I ask.
Mr. Logan. Will the Senator allow me to ask him what right has he
as a Senator to undertake to dictate to the Senator from Virginia as
to what shall be required in his State?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. That is incorrect again. I have not
undertaken to dictate to the Senator from Virginia. The Senator from
Virginia can do just as he pleases; but when the Senator from
Virginia acts as a public man I have a right to my opinion of his
public acts, and I have a right to speak of all public acts and their
character. I will not deny his right; I am not dictating to him—far
from it. There is not in my heart now an unkind feeling for the
Senator from Virginia. I would if I could rescue him from the infamy
into which others are trying to precipitate him. That is what I want to
do. I am not assailing him; I am not arraigning him; I am not
dictating to him. I know the proud nature of the Senator from New
York. I know if that Senator was elected to this body as a republican,
although he might have been a readjuster at the time, and if he
should come to this body and the democrats should begin to intimate
in this Hall and the democratic papers should intimate over the
country that he was going to vote with the democrats on the
organization, he would feel insulted just as my friend from
Tennessee (Mr. Harris) justly felt by the allusions to him in the
newspapers. So with any other man on that side. If the Senator from
Virginia was elected as a democrat I am right; but if as a republican I
have nothing more to say.
Mr. Logan. Will the Senator allow me right there? Is it not true
that the democracy of the Virginia Legislature that elected the
Senator now in his seat from Virginia did nominate Mr. Withers as
their candidate and supported him, and was not this senator elected
by the opponents of the democrats of that Legislature? Is not that
true? I ask the Senator from Virginia.
Mr. Mahone. Substantially so.
Mr. Logan. Then if that be true, why say that he came here as the
representative of the democracy of Virginia?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. My understanding is that the democracy of
Virginia is very much like the democracy of other States, as
Tennessee. We are divided down there in several States on local
questions that have nothing to do with national politics. In Virginia
the democracy was divided between what are called readjuster
democrats and debt-paying democrats, but all democrats.
What was called the republican party it was said, although I must
vindicate many of the republicans in the State from the charge,
coalesced with what are called the readjuster democrats. The late
Senator from Virginia was nominated by what are called the debt-
paying democrats, and the present Senator from Virginia, as I
understand it, was run against him as a readjuster democrat.
Mr. Logan. And the republicans all supported him.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly, because they always support a
candidate who is running against the regular nominee. I suppose the
republicans always go for men who are not in favor of paying debts! I
had thought that republicans professed to affiliate with those who
would pay debts. But I have nothing to do with that question; it does
not come in here. What I say and what will not be denied, and I am
ashamed that there is an attempt to deny it, is, and it is the worst
feature of this whole thing, that anybody should get up here and
attempt to deny that the Senator from Virginia was elected to the
Senate as a democrat; should attempt to evade the fact that he was a
Hancock democrat last year; that he has acted with the national
democracy all the time; and that whatever might have been the local
differences in Virginia, he has been a national democrat every hour,
held out to the country as such. I say I am ashamed that anybody
should attempt to make a question of that fact. He was not only a
democrat, a national democrat, and voted for Hancock, but I
remember the historical fact that he had what he called his own
ticket in the field for Hancock and voted for it. He is just as much a
democrat, sent here as a readjuster democrat, as the other candidate,
the debt-paying democrat, would have been if he had been elected.
Mr. Logan. The difference is, if the Senator will allow me, if the
other had been elected, he would have been in full accord with the
democracy here. This gentleman does not happen to be, and
therefore the criticism of the Senator from Georgia.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I do not wish to do the republicans of
Virginia injustice; I do not wish to do any body injustice. There are
some republicans of Virginia for whom I confess, if reports be true, I
have a profound respect. When a portion of the democrats, under the
cry of readjusterism, sought to get the support of the republicans of
Virginia, there were manly republicans who refused to go into a
coalition that would compromise the character of the State on the
question of its debt. I am told there are republicans now in Virginia
who say that if republicanism here means the Senator from Virginia,
and you accept him as a republican, you must give them up as
republicans. I do not know how true it is. But this is unworthy of the
Senate.
I repeat, the worst feature of this whole transaction is that anybody
should get up here and attempt to make an impression that there was
a doubt as to the democracy of the Senator from Virginia heretofore.
That is an evasion unworthy of the issue, unworthy of the place,
unworthy of the occasion, unworthy of Virginia, unworthy of the
Senator, unworthy of his defenders. Admit the fact that he was a
democrat, and then claim that he exercised the inalienable right of
changing his opinions and his party affiliations, but do not claim that
he had a right to do it in the manner you say he has done it.
Once more let me say, the Senator from Virginia ought to know
that by all the memories of the past there is not a man in this body
whose whole soul goes out more in earnest to protect his honor than
my own. I would rather lose the organization of the Senate by the
democratic party and never again have a democratic committee in
this body than have Virginia soiled with dishonor. I do not say that
the Senator is going to do it, but I see the precipice yawning before
him. I see whither potential influences are leading him. I know the
danger just ahead. I would rescue him if I could. He may say it is
enmity; he may say it is an unfriendly spirit; he will live to know the
force of the words I am uttering. Men in this country have a right to
be democrats; men in this country have a right to be republicans;
men in this country have a right to divide on national issues and local
issues; but no man has a right to be false to a trust, I repeat it, and
whether the Senator from Virginia shall be guilty or not is not for me
to judge and I will not judge. I say if he votes as you want him to vote
God save him or he is gone. If he comes here to illustrate his
democracy by going over to that side of the House and voting with
that side of the House, he will be beyond my rescue. No, gentlemen, I
honor you. I like a proud republican as well as I do a proud
democrat. I am conscious of the fact that some of the best personal
friends I have in this body sit on that side of the Chamber, men
whose high character I would trust anywhere and everywhere.
Gentlemen, you know your hearts respond to every word I am
uttering when I say you despise treachery, and you honor me to-day
for making an effort to rescue a gentleman, not from treachery, but
from the charge of it. If the Senator shall vote as you desire him to
vote, he cannot escape the charge.
Mr. Mahone. Mr. President, I want to interrupt the Senator from
Georgia.
The Vice-President. Does the Senator from Georgia yield?
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly.
Mr. Mahone. I cannot allow you to make any such insinuation.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I make no insinuation.
Mr. Mahone. You did emphatically, and it was unmanly. Now it
must stop. Let us understand that.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. I repeat, I do not know how the Senator is
going to vote. I believe he is not going to vote as you expect. I believe
he is not going to be guilty of being false to his commission. I will not
charge that he will; I will not insinuate that he will. I have not
insinuated it. The gentleman must be his own keeper; the gentleman
must solve his own questions; but I repeat, I repeat as a friend, I
repeat as a friend whose friendship will be appreciated some day,
that the Senator is in danger of bringing upon himself a charge which
he will never have the power to explain.
Mr. Mahone. I cannot allow you or any other man to make that
charge without a proper answer.
Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Oh, well.
Senator Mahone’s Reply to Senator Hill
Believing fully not only that we in Virginia could not prosper, but that our
continued exclusion from the Union interfered with the business of the whole
country, I have been anxious for an early compliance with the reconstruction laws,
and that the State should itself inaugurate some movement similar to that which
resulted in your election for the purpose, and not wait, like Micawber, “for
something to turn up.”
The fifteenth amendment, which I trust will soon be adopted by States enough to
make it a part of the Constitution of the United States, will end a question which
has agitated the country for half a century. I entirely approve of the principles of
that amendment, and as we have invested the freedman with the right to vote, let
us give him a fair opportunity to vote understandingly. He has civil rights, and it is
our interest he should know their value.