“Do the authorities at Washington realize the fact that there is very great danger of wide-spread anarchy and bloodshed? Do they realize that it is the supineness and imbecility, or worse, with which the Freedmen’s Bureau has been conducted at this point, that is the cause of danger, and, it may be, of much bloodshed? God knows we speak in all sincerity, and we believe we speak the sentiment of nine tenths of the loyal men of Memphis.
“When colored men have remonstrated against injustice,--against the very discriminations against freedmen that the War Department declared should not exist,--they have been told, ‘If you damned niggers think I am going to give you any rights that you had not under the old State laws, you are damnably mistaken.’ This may not be exactly literal, but it is very nearly so. When colored people have asked for wages hardly earned in the cotton-field, but not paid by rascally employers, they have been in very many cases told to go about their business, or left to get their claims as they could.”
Such is Tennessee, the most advanced of the States claiming recognition in the government of the country. Besides this testimony, there is other derived from its own statute-book. Tennessee refuses to the colored citizen his right at the ballot-box, and even his right of testimony in court. I quote from the ignoble statute.
“A negro, mulatto, _Indian_, or person of mixed blood descended from negro or Indian ancestors, to the third generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person, whether bond or free, is incapable of being a witness in any cause, civil or criminal, except for or against each other.”[34]
I say nothing of Florida and Arkansas, for the special testimony which has come to me with regard to these States is not at hand. But it is not needed. The same tragical report proceeds from these States also. But, even without any report, all this must be inferred. How could it be otherwise? Abandoned to themselves, with unchecked power, ancient slave-masters naturally continue the barbarism in which they have so long excelled.
Mr. President, I bring this plain story to a close. I regret that I have been constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise. But I should fail in duty, did I fail to speak. Not in anger, not in vengeance, not in harshness, have I spoken, but solemnly, carefully, for the sake of my country and humanity, that peace and reconciliation may again prevail. I have spoken especially for the loyal citizens now trodden down by Rebel power, and without representation on this floor. Would that my voice could help them to security and justice! I can only state the case. It is for you to decide. It is for you to determine how long these things shall continue to shock mankind. You have before you the actual condition of the Rebel region. You have heard the terrible testimony. The blood curdles at the thought of such enormities, and especially at the thought that the poor freedmen, to whom we owe protection, are left to the unrestrained will of such a people, smarting with defeat, and ready to wreak vengeance upon these representatives of a true loyalty. In the name of God, let us protect them. Insist upon guaranties. Pass the bill now under consideration,--pass any bill,--but do not let this crying injustice rage any longer. An avenging God cannot sleep while such things find countenance. If you are not ready to be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become its Pharaoh.