Speech #500010123

White. and Mr. Jenkinson. if I remember. appeared before the court and were sworn. and lie htieves that the contestee. Captain White. was then duly naturalized. Now. in the face of this testimony. standing tinimpeached and uncontradicted. I inquire f there can be any doubt that Captain White did appear in 1865 in the proper court in Allen County and then aInd there produce the required witnesses. make the required proof. and take the required oath. receiving his certificate of naturalization. and go forth from that court invested with American citizenship? But it is objected that this testimony is weakened. first because it is alleged that Mr. White. when challenged in regard to this fact of his naturalization. made mistaken statements as to date. claiming that it took place in 1856 or 1857. that le voted for Fr6mont. Now. th witnesses differ in their recollection as to what was actually said. and we will do well to follow the rule laid down by an eminent judge. that when a witness give. a conversation which he alleges occurred with another party at a time prior. his testimony must be received with the greatest caution. because the addition or omission of a word or even a syllable might make the greatest difference in the meaning. But let us see by what circumstances Captain White was environed when he made this alleged statement and make the allowance the circunstances require. Now these Allen County records. of which we hear so much. were. as is proven and conceded. but a wretched burlesque on the name record. they were full of faults of omission and faults of commission. In nuncrous cases I here was no mark of pen or pencil on these socalled records of decisions and judgments which had been in fact rendered. and that in numerous instances the clerk or somebody had gone into the courthouse aneC put into the records what purported to be decisions in cases which ncvcr had been there. never had been tried or even pending in the court. in regard to which there was no mark on any docket that they ever had been therein other words. mere forgeries. Especially were these records defective in cases of naturalization. Te contestant knew all about this. He had been keeping track of it. It isin evidence that on another occasion when Hon. John D. Sardinghausen. a prominent Demoerrt and editor of a Democratic newspaper at Fort Wayne. had been elected to the State senate. having been naturalized prior to that time befre the contestant himself. as he was then judge of the court. a difference arising between them as to the propriety of the contestant being elected to Congress. the contestant went to Sardinghausen and hissed in his ear. "You had better be still. for I cal put you out of the senate quicker than you got in. "How so?" said Sardinghausen. "Are you an American citizen?II inquires Mr. Lowry. Sardinghausen replies. "You know you administered the oath to ine yourself. and I have my certificate of naturalization at home." "That may be so. but it is not on the record. and the record has got to show it." replies Lowry. This wretched record of Allen County seems tohave been the armory of this contestant. When pressed to the wall or in dire necessity. he rushes into the courthouse. seizes the socalled record. and brandishes it as his sword of offense and defense. The contestant knew just what the condition of the records was. tie ascertained at an early date that there was no record of Mr. Whites naturalization. and knew quite well that there were many instances just like Mr. Whites where parties were naturalized and were unable to find any record of the fact. It is in testimony and undisputed that there were 150 cases of naturalization in that court of which there was no record of naturalization. We have here the testimony of the present clerk of that court that among other cases there were nunerous instances where naturalized citizens who had gone West and were desirous to prove citizenship in order to avail themselves of the privilege of the homestead and preemption acts wrote back. and some came back. to get the record of naturalization. and not a mark of any kind could be found to show that they had been naturalized. The contestant. knowing the state of these records and suspecting that there might be an omission in the case of Mr. White. went to them and found there was no record. but he waited artfully until the Thursday night before election. when Captain White. who had been out through the district marshaling his forces for the grand battle on the coming Tuesday. preparing b) advance upon the demoralized cohorts of the enemy. receives a telegram calling him home. where a couple of sleek emissaries of the contestant sought an interview with him. Now. sir. (ln that night Mr. Whites whole heart and soul were absorbed absolutely and completely in the great approaching battle at the polls. and when they pressed upon him the question. "Are you naturalized? " lie was bewildered and astounded. but he answered promptly. " I have been naturalized." They asked him where. He replied in Allen County. They artfully asted him if it was not in Kosciusko County. stating that it appeared there was a James B. White who had been naturalized there. Whethe:: this was suggested for the purpose of getting the contestee into a trap I know not. But I do know that like an honest man he repudiated the invitation to make that claim and said. "I know nothing of that omission. I was naturalized here." He was asked if he could find his naturalization papers. He said he did not know. but that he would look for them. Of course this was to frighten him. to distract and divert the attention of his friends from the election and.permit his defeat. and what if. with all these things resting upon him to divert his attention and the attention of his friends from preparing for the election and to set them about hunting up records and preparing affidavits of loss of papers. ctc.-I say what if. with all this conspiracy and confusion pressed upon him. he did. in his bewildernent. make mistaken statements as to the date of his naturalization? I submit that no fairminded man can draw from that any inference against his honesty or against the truth of his statement as to the fact of his naturalization. But it is said that he did not go into an explanation afterwards. that lie simply said. "I -mn a citizen. elect me and I will show you that I am. Well. what better thing could he say under the circumstances ? It was on the very eve of the elecion. and I appeal to each one of the three hundred experienced campaigners in this House to say whether he would have done otherwise than Captain White did under the circumstances. It was no time then to tell his friends that he had been naturalized but could not find his papers. or that the record was lost. If he had done that he would have been at once niet by his opponent going around denying the fact of his naturalization. and saying. as he did to Sardinghausen. "The record does not show it. you must prove it by the record." and the result would have been to disorganize and dishearten his forces. and he would haye been defeated at the polls and his case ruined. But it is insisted here that the records do not show Captain Whites naturalizatio.and that it must be proven by tie record. I have already called attention to the character of those records. To hold. as seems to be implied in this West Virginia case. that the record is conclusive. or rather the absence of record conclusive -now. sir. whatever might be the justice of applying that rule to a court in which perfect and complete records were kept. a court whose records were unchallenged as to correctness and completeness. would it not be a monstrous outrage to apply such a rule against any man. divesting him of valuable rights or property. simply because of the absence of records in such as are kept in Allen County. records that are but a pretense and a fraud. records that are but a delusion and a snare. records that are simply a pitfall to the unwary suitors? But it is said further that Captain White did take out his second or his third papers on the eve of the election. and from that the inference is drawn that he had not been naturalized before. I know he did that. It was certainly an unnecessary thingand it may have been a foolish one. but I ask this House to remember the circumstances under which it was done.