Mr. President,—I remember that good fortune last summer threw me in the path of a distinguished gentleman just returned from Louisiana. I think he had been present at the sittings of the Convention whose work finds such an advocate in my friend from Illinois; at any rate, he had been in New Orleans at the time, in the discharge of important public duties. In reply to an inquiry with regard to that Convention, he said compendiously, that it was “nothing but a stupendous hoax,”—yes, Sir, nothing but a stupendous hoax, and the product of that Convention——
Here Mr. Sumner was called to order by Mr. Sherman, for discussing the merits of the measure, when only the order of business was in question. He was also interrupted by Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, who said, that, if the Senate would give him a committee, he would show fraudulent voting.
Mr. Sumner. I doubt not that my friend from Iowa is right; but I am aware that it is not proper to discuss the merits of the question on this preliminary motion, and I shall not. I was simply characterizing it, and I was going on to say that in my opinion the resolution the Senator from Illinois so earnestly presses upon the Senate, when we consider its origin and character, is itself very little different from “a stupendous hoax.” I say nothing about the Convention, for I was not there, I did not see it. On that point I simply cite the testimony of another. But the resolution of the Senator is before us; we are familiar with its nature. Every moment gives new glimpses of the violence and fraud with which it is associated. Perhaps the expression I have quoted is hardly grave enough in speaking of such a matter, where, in forming the Constitution of a State, military power and injustice to a whole race have been enlisted in defiance of the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. The United States are bound by the Constitution to “guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government.” Being called to perform this guaranty, you are asked to recognize an oligarchy of the skin, and on this very question the Senate is now called to vote.
The pretended State Government in Louisiana is utterly indefensible, whether you look at its origin or its character. To describe it, I must use plain language. It is a mere seven-month’ abortion, begotten by the bayonet in criminal conjunction with the spirit of caste, and born before its time, rickety, unformed, unfinished,—whose continued existence will be a burden, a reproach, and a wrong. That is the whole case; and yet the Senator from Illinois now presses it upon the Senate, to the exclusion of the important public business of the country. For instance,——
Here Mr. Sherman insisted on confining the debate to the pending motion. The vote was then taken, and resulted,—Yeas 34, Nays 12; so the resolution for the admission of Louisiana was postponed, never to be resumed.
During the next Congress, Mr. Sumner urged a bill for the organization of Louisiana, with safeguards for Equal Rights, including suffrage without distinction of color; but the Senate was not inclined to consider it.
The failure of the Louisiana resolution attracted attention at the time. Some journals spoke of Mr. Sumner’s course with severity; others were rejoiced at the result. The New York Herald said:—
“The factious opposition of Mr. Sumner has probably defeated the recognition of the new government of Louisiana by the Senate at the present session, … although probably two thirds of the Senate are in favor of recognition.”
One journal said, in figurative language, that Mr. Sumner had “kicked the pet scheme of the President down the marble steps of the Senate Chamber,” and that, as a consequence, the intimate relations which he had sustained with the President must cease.