he
doctrines they fought for were the doctrines of the constitution,
and there was, therefore, a spirit of generosity, of forbearance,
of kindness, to these people, and everything they could ask for in
reason would have been granted to them.

It was not then contemplated to arm the negroes with suffrage. A
few, and but a few, Senators made such a proposition, but it was
scouted and laid aside. It was at this time that the Ku-Klux crimes
and violence broke out, and the laws of the southern states were
so cruel, so unjust, so wrong in our view of the rights of the
colored people, and of white Republicans as well, that the people
of the north resented this injustice. These laws burned like coals
of fire in the northern breast. This led to the reconstruction
acts, and the adoption of the 15th amendment. The 14th amendment
was the act of the conservative Senators and Members, such as
Fessenden, Trumbull and Doolittle. The 15th amendment was the
natural result of cruelty and outrage in the south. This amendment
has been practically nullified by the conservatives of the north,
and now the people of the south have increased political power by
reason of the abolition of slavery, while, backed by public opinion
in the south, they deprive the colored people, by whom they gained
this power, of their political rights, and that by processes that
are denounced as criminal by every free state. Time, no doubt,
will correct this evil. If justice is done to the negroes they
will advance in intelligence with the improvement of their condition,
and with the benefit of their labor the south will become more
prosperous by the diversity of employments. There is reason to
believe that in a brief period the south will engage in manufactures
and become more prosperous than in the days of slavery.

On the 20th of May, the death of William D. Kelley was announced
in the Senate. He entered the House of Representatives as I left
it to take my seat in the Senate, but our frequent meetings in the
consideration of bills of a financial character led to a friendship
which was unbroken, and which imposed on me the duty of responding
to the usual resolutions presented on the death of a Member. When
Mr. Kelley entered the House as a Member from the city of Philadelphia,
he had arrived at the mature age of forty-six, and had an established
reputation for ability, industry, and fidelity to duty. He had
been trained in the school of poverty, mak