Speech #460010363

I stand here today to defend the measures contained in the bill which has already passed this House. as well as the measures which are now under consideration by this House. I feelthat it is my duty to speak. not for the South. My interests are with the West. my interests are with the North. my interests are with the men who manned the ships. with the men who went forth and did battle. with the men who came from their workshops. from their fields. with the men who earn honest bread by their daily labor. with the men both nativeborn and foreign who claim the right to exercise the right of suffrage without being interfered with by national troops at the polls or by na"tional marshals. the representatives of the thug interest. to scare them away with threats that their papers of naturalization are irregular .or illegal and that they will be snatched up and carried off to foreign prisons if they see fit to exercise the franchises of the American citizen. It is for them that I speak and not for the South. When these gentlemen propose to make this a southernbattle they forget the communities in which they live.