Congressional Record. 567
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1874. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 567 anima.tes theirs. In the name of the dead soldiers of our race, whoso I shall watch the yeas ai:J.d na.ys on this question, not ·with tmlici bodies lie at Peters burgh and on other battlc-fiolds of the South; in tude-for tha.t it will pass by a large majority wonld seem scarcely to the nu.me of the widows and 0111hans they have left uehind; in 1lbe admit of doubt-uut to see whethe1· the division on the voto mn.y uot name of the widows of the confederate soldiers who fell upon tho represent the division of }larti.es. Thit:> is a proper sequel to tJJC strug same field!:;, I conjure you let this righteous act be done. I appeal to gle of the democratic party in behalf of slavery. you in the name of God and humanity to givens our rights, for we Aml now, in the few brief moments I have at command, I shall con ask nothing more. [Lond apylanse.] iine myself to that feature of the question which has beeu made so [l\Ir. CROSSLAND addres8ml tho House. His remarks will appear prominent by the opposition. I refer to its aspect as a party ques in the Appendix.] tion. ·we kuow that men are apt to be guided in their action by their Mr. MELLISH. l\h. Speaker, grave apprehensions seem to be gratitude or their apprehension, anu their apprehension is sometimes entertained by gentlemen on the other side of the House from the the safer guide of tho two. By the course of the debate here the ques passage of a bill guaraJ,Jtce~~ equal dvil rights to all American tion is pressed upon the colon~d man, to what party shall he len(l tlw citizens. They appear to thinli: that it will unuonnino tho founda ai<l of his vote and influence 7 Let him ask himself the questions, tions necessary for the support of the social system. I do not share in What ]Jart.y maintained African slavery in the United States for one the o apprehensions. I know that where prejuLlice, passion, and fear hundred years' \Vhat partyiu the United States sought to extenu aro excited that arn-uments and a:ppoals to reason have little effect. slavery into the entire Union' What party succeeded in their efforts in Besides, the subject has been already ably and eloquently presented. I that direction to exact from the highest tribunal in the land a formal will therefore mereq refer to a fact that came ·within my own obser judicial decision that the colored man had no rigl).ts that a white man vation whore the ;.;.ranting of equal rights in public conveyances was bound to respect? What party, failing in the arts of ]lOlitics to that are often oveJ:crowded was quietly brought about-indeed, so succee<.l in their efforts for the ext~nsion of slavery, resortcu to tho far as I am aware, without any protest-anll this in a great city issues of war-that marshaled armies, and fought battles, au(l sacri where prejudice against color was perhaps as intense as in any part ficed human life, and destroyed property, created widows anu orphans of t.ho world, and was kept constantly excited by appeals of demo anu brought upon the nation such woes as no enlightened people ever cratic stump-speaker. and by the democratic press, and which feel before suffered-for tho single but infamous object of extending and ing, thus encouraged and stimulated, finally culminated in the most perpetuating the slavery of the coloreurace f What party established dh<gracefnl riot known to history. tho black laws of the slave States, by which marriage was made a It is well known that for many years, while some of the lines of nullity, the domestic relations a farce, by which the mother was de street-cars in the city of Now York did not allow auy colorecl passen prived of her rights of maternity and r9bbed of an opportunity of gers to ride in their carsz other lines placed upon their routes cars exercising natural affection toward her offspring; that scparatcu conspicuously labeled with these words : " Colored people a.Uowecl in husban(l and wife and sold both and all like cattle in the market; this car." A person of color was not allowetl to ride upon any other that contemned tho laws of modesty and virtue between the sexes, car; allll t,hereby much inconvenience was occasioned to our colored and made a traffic of female charms for the rewards of money? 'Vhat fellow-citizens, to say no thin~ of tb.e do[I"ada.tion implied by the prac party, in violation of the articles of war, assassinated and burnt and tice. On one occasion the wife of an om.cer-a.n(l her husband was at murdered the surrendered prisoners of Fort Pillow f Coming near 'r the time fighting in the Union .Army-got into an empty car near the my own home, in the city of New York, what party hung the coloretl Astor House to 1)roceecl up town. The conductor of the car, by per man to the lamp-post, burned him over with kerosene, naileu to his haps a somewhat close scrutiny-for I observed n.t the trial that the breast-bone derisive placards, drove him from the streets into the pro la.c.ly ha<l nearly straight hair and might easjJy have passed for simply tection of the police, and denied him in aU forms the right to li vc a native of the tropics-discovered that she was partly of the Afri which was at the same time accorded to the brute creation? If they cau race. Thereupon, in a.ccordance with the rules of the company, know such a party, they will recognize in it the great enemy of their lw onleretl her out of the car. The.lacly declineu to go. Then the con race; and they will not need to be advised not to give it ilieir coun- ductor called a policeman, who, on hearing a statement of the case, tenance and supp01·t. c~ected herfromthecar. The ladymacleacompla.int against the patrol On tho other ha.nd, if they know a pa.rty whose doctrines and whoso man which was hearLl before the commissioners of the mett'Ol)Olitan measm·es have been uniformly for five and twenty years hostile to police drpartment. It was not claimed that any unnecessary violence slavery and friendly to emancipation, if they know a party which was used on the part of the policeman, or that he was guilty, in tho during the fearful war of the rebellion, supported the Government, teelmical sense of the phrase, of conduct tmuecomi.ng an officer, the gave of their means, risked an<.l sacrificed their lives in the field of whole matter turning on the question whether the officer had any l>at-tle by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and finally tri umphecl right ·to eject the hwy at all. After hearing the evidence the Ron. in the war which achieveu the emancipation of their race, follov;ing Thomas C. Acton, then president of the board of police-n.nd who, of political action by constitutional enactments intcnued and caJcul.atetl all men I ever knew, detests a mean act and will go as far as the far to secure that freedom and equality forever; if they know such a party, thest to secure equa.l and exact justice to the oppressed-told the officer whose gt·eat leader now was theu· great leader then, whose sword cut in substance, that, if he ever saw a conductor attempting to put out the rivet of their shackles, whose cannon blew away those shackles a passenger from a street-car on account of color, or was called upon utterly and forever, they will not need to be advised to what party to l1y a conductor to eject a passenger on that account, to immediately accord their influence and theu· votes. arrest such conductor and take him to the station-bouse, and sec to it that the rights of the citizen were protected. The policeman was fined CHEAP TRANSPORT.A.TION. ten days' pay for the offense. Mr. LOUGHRIDGE obtained leave to have printed in the CoN What was the consequence 7 GRESSIONAL RECORD remarks on cheap transportation. Why, as soon as the change could possibly be made, t.he managers Anu then, on motion of 1-h. PARKER, of Missouri, (at four o'clock of the street railroads of the city of New York caused to be erased and twenty minutes p. m.,) the House adjourned. from over their car-windows tho inscl'iption, "Colored people allowed in this car." Anu from that dn.y to this colored citizens have rode PETITIONS. indiscriminately and without molestation in all the street-cars of fu~~~ . The following petitions were presented under the rule, and referred I venture to predict tha.t the operation of this statute will be only to the appropriate committees: · beneficial-that it will1)roduco none of tho terrible results that have lly Mr. MYERS : The petition of Margaret Young, willow of J ohu boen conjured up by the affrighted imaginations of the opposition. Young, la.to of tho United States Marine Corps, for commutation 1-fr. Speaker, the bill before the Honse is treated as a party ques money which was due her sn,id husband under the arti:fi.cia1-limu act.