SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 S.A.SMITH, OF TENNESSEE, 
 
 IN DEFENSE OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN THE ORGANIZATION 
 
 OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 9, 1S56. 
 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE, 
 
 1856. 
 

 . 
 
SPEECH 
 
 Mr. SMITH said: Mr. Clerk, I rise for the 
 purpose of making a personal explanation, and, 
 na this motion for a call of the House is evidently 
 for the purpose of allowing members time to come 
 in, this is the best time to make it. If the House, 
 therefore, will indulge me at this time, I promise 
 to be as brief as possible. [Cries of "Go on !" 
 " Consent !"] A few days ago, it will be remem- 
 bered — or, if it is not remembered, it is upon the 
 record — I voted against laying upon the table a 
 resolution introduced by the honorable gentle- 
 man from Alabama, [Mr. Walker,] nominating 
 for Speaker my friend from South Carolina, [Mr. 
 Botce.] In doing so, I, to some extent, separated 
 myself in that particular from a large majority of 
 the Democratic party in this House. Some cen- 
 sure was, for the moment, cast upon me for that 
 act, though I believe no Democrat who voted 
 against layin .lution on the table was 
 
 suspected even of an intention to waver from his 
 support of the regular nominee of the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 Nov/, sir, the reason why I gave that vote I 
 want to furnish; and I want to do it for this pur- 
 pose: there has been a shrewd, ingenious, but 
 deliberate attempt made to cast the responsibility 
 of the non-organization of this House upon the 
 Democratic party and upon tl 1 ■ ration — 
 
 upon the President. When tha gentleman from 
 Alabama [Mr. Walker] first made the remark 
 which he did here, in relation to the responsibil- 
 ity of the want of organization of this body, the 
 Democratic party had said nothing upon the sub- 
 ject. They had attempted to throw the respon- 
 sibility upon no one of the contending parties 
 in the House. They were willing — and they did 
 
 it — to sit here and vole, and to stand by their 
 platform, and to stand by their candidate, the 
 gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Richardson.] We 
 had struggled here for sometime; and though no 
 result had been accomplished, each party had 
 succeeded to some extent in defining its own po- 
 sition; But, sir, to my astonishment and regret, 
 I find that a party here, agreeing with us in senti- 
 ment, as tfrty say, in relation to the great question 
 that now agitates and divides the country, instead 
 of making war upon the Black Republicans, as 
 they are called, attempt most ingeniously to cast 
 the odium upon the Democratic party for the 
 failure that has occurred to organize the House 
 And that attempt having been promoted by two 
 of my colleagues from Tennessee — the honorable 
 gentleman [Mr. Zollic offer] who represents 
 the Nashville district, for whom I have the high- 
 est respect, and my honorable colleague, [Mr. 
 Etiieridce,] who proposed Mr. Millson the 
 other day — I say that the attempt to throw this 
 odium upon the Democrats having been promoted 
 by these two gentlemen, I desire to show the per- 
 fect and utter fallacy of any such charge against 
 the Idministration or the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. Clerk, if there is a Democrat in this House 
 who does not most earnestly desire an organiza- 
 tion, I know not who he is. I should, however, 
 not say a. word upon this point in relation to the 
 Administration, but for a charge that has been 
 organ of that once very re- 
 spi ctable but now defunct organization, known 
 as the Whig party — that the Administration is 
 responsible for our want of organization. But, 
 sir, as that charge has been made from so respect- 
 able a source, and as it has become a prominent 
 
charge against the Administration, I take this 
 occasion to. say, that, though I am not authorized 
 to speak for the President nor for the Administra- 
 tion, I speak what I knoio when I say that there 
 is no member of this body who more earnestly 
 desires the speech/ organization of the House than 
 the President of the United States. I speak what 
 I know when I make this statement, though I am 
 authorized to speak for no one but myself; but, 
 sir, I am anxious to see the House organize; and 
 why the attempt should be made by this Know 
 Nothing party, as it is called, to throw upon us 
 the responsibility of the failure thus far, I cannot 
 
 subject. The Know Nothings nearly rode me 
 down in my district; and how did they do it ? 
 They did it on the eighth section of the Philadel- 
 phia American platform. It was proclaimed in 
 every district of Tennessee that the proscription 
 of Catholics for their religious tenets, which, they 
 alleged, were inconsistent with their true allegiance 
 to this Government, was the great and moving 
 principle of the Know Nothing party. The con- 
 ference of the ministers of the church whose 
 principles I profess, but to which I do not belong, 
 (I belong to none,) met in my county, and the 
 influence of those men was almost irresistible in 
 
 favor of the principle of the eighth section of the 
 Sir, strange things have occurred here, which jj Philadelphia platform, and against the constitu 
 
 ought to go to the country. Here are two partus 
 opposed to the Democratic party of the House. 
 Of course I do not refer to every individual in 
 those parties; but I say that those who are called 
 Black Republicans in this House owe their elec- 
 tion here to Know Nbthingism. 
 
 Mr. TRAFTON. I should like to ask the 
 gentleman from Tennessee what he means by 
 that expression? 
 
 Mr. SMITH. Ey what expression? 
 Mr. TRAFTON. Black Republicans. 
 Mr. SMITH. I mean those gentlemen who 
 have been voting for Mr. Banks; they have been 
 called Black Republicans. I use tl 
 courtesy. 
 
 Mr. TRAFTON. Who calls them Black Re- 
 publicans? That is the question. 
 
 Mr. SMITH. I use the expression in all cour- 
 tesy. The reason why they are called so, I sup- 
 pose, is, because they want to put the negro upon 
 an equality with the white man. 
 
 Mr. HOUSTON. Above— they would put 
 them above naturalized foreigners. 
 Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. NICHOLS. I do not understand the 
 party to which the gentleman from Tennessee 
 alludes to occupy any such position as lie gives 
 for them. I am not in favor of putting the blacks 
 upon an equality with the whites, and I am not 
 aware that any such position is occupied by the 
 party with which I am acting. 
 
 Mr. SMITH. I do not believe that the gen- 
 tleman from Ohio would be willing to do Chat. I 
 am pursuing a line of argument, and not casting 
 reflections on anybody. I give the common 
 acceptation of the terms of the various parties in 
 this House. I say, sir, that the large majority of 
 the Black Republicans owe their election mainly 
 to the secret organization to which some gentle- 
 men from the South in main owe theirs. But what 
 do we sec now? I speak from experience on the 
 
 tional ideas of the Democratic party on the sub- 
 ject of religious toleration. If they had not done 
 so, I should never have had the least difficulty in 
 reference to my election. But such was the 
 fanaticism in my country on the subject of re- 
 ligion,— not on the question of the exclusion of 
 foreigners,— that, with a thousand majority of my 
 political friends, it was with the greatest difficulty 
 I was enabled to carry the district. 
 
 What, Mr. Clerk, did we see here day before 
 yesterday ? We saw the gentleman from Louisi- 
 ana [Mr. Eustis] rise in his place and assert 
 that the doctrine contained in the eighth section 
 term in all [| of the Philadelphia Know Nothing platform was 
 a monstrous doctrine. 
 
 The CLERK. The time allotted the gentleman 
 under the order of the House has expired. 
 
 Mr. SMITH. I am speaking by unanimous 
 consent. 
 
 The CLERK. If there is no objection, the 
 gentleman will proceed with his reirrarks. 
 There was no objection. 
 
 Mr. SMITH. I am obliged to the House. In 
 order that I may not be misunderstood, I will 
 read what the honorable gentleman from Louisi- 
 ana [Mr. Eustis] did say on the subject of the 
 religious test. In the Globe I find him using this 
 language: 
 
 •• What was the construction which the American can- 
 didate t'er Governoi of that State placed upon the eighth 
 article of the Philadelphia platform? We all know that, in 
 the early part of his canvass, that candidate published a 
 li ii, i hi which lie said be ni ver would vote for a Catholic. 
 Thank God, that gentleman was defeated, and, sir, he ought 
 in have been defeated. There was enough in that letter to 
 defeat ten thousand candidates for Governor; and I trust 
 thai e\ r\ man who holds such odious and monstrous doc- 
 trines will ever meet wi'.li as deep a political grave as the 
 honorable gentleman, the American candidate for Governor 
 of Virginia, has met with." 
 
 I was astonished to hear that doctrine from one 
 who was of the secret organization which so 
 bitterly denounced the religious opinions of the 
 Catholics in my own district. Here a member of 
 
the American party holds doctrines diametrically 
 opposite to those of that party, published and 
 advocated in the gubernatorial and congressional 
 canvass of Tennessee. But my astonishment 
 was increased when I found these dissimilar 
 doctrines wore indorsed by the honorable gentle- 
 man from Alabama, [Mr. Walker,] who is an 
 acknowledged leader of the Know Nothing or 
 American party. What do we sec? These gen- 
 tlemen hold, that if the eighth section of the 
 Philadelphia American platform means anything, 
 it declares a principle which is not only subvers- 
 ive of the Constitution of the United States, but 
 is, in the language of the gentleman from Louis- 
 iana, [Mr. EnsTis,] monstrous. And yet, what 
 did we hear in the next breath ? The Democrats 
 met here on the Saturday night before the com- 
 mencement of Congress, and passed a resolution 
 in which they said, in most respectful terms, that 
 they congratulated the country on the triumph 
 of the Democratic party, in many of the States, 
 on the principle of civil and religious liberty, 
 which was so fiercely assaulted by the Know 
 Nothing or American party. Two gentlemen 
 rise in their places, and tell the House that the 
 doctrine embodied in the eighth section of the 
 Know Nothing platform is subversive of the 
 Constitution, and that it is monstrous ! And yet 
 they say they cannot unite with us, because we 
 have congratulated the country on our triumph 
 over that very eighth section. That is the effect 
 of it. We have it disclosed, and authoritatively, 
 too, that the principle against which we fought, 
 and in the success of which triumph we congrat- 
 ulated the country, is not only subversive of the 
 Constitution, but is a monstrous principle ! 
 
 I want this matter to properly go before the 
 country. I do not want to be placed in a false 
 position. I must use what feeble means I have 
 to repel the ingenious assaults which are to be, 
 and now are, made against the Democratic party. 
 The Black Republicans, as they are called, make 
 war on the Constitution, in reference to slavery. 
 The Know Nothing or American party make 
 war on the Constitution, in regard to religious 
 toleration. That the latter, in their national 
 council, made war on civil and religious liberty, 
 is admitted by two gentlemen of the same party — 
 one from Louisiana and thef ther from Alabama. 
 I will say here, what I have often said at home, 
 that the violation of either the provision of the 
 Constitution in reference to religious toleration, 
 or that in regard to slavery, is equally vital. 1 
 will vote for a Elack Republican as soon as i 
 woyld for any man who did not in tolo repudiate 
 the odious eighth section of the Philadelphia 
 
 platform. I never fail to express an opinion 
 which I may honestly entertain. This opinion 
 is one that ought to be expressed, and clearly 
 and forcibly expressed. These two parties, I 
 repeat, are alike objectionable, so long as they 
 retain in their creeds these anti-constitutional 
 i doctrines. If the southern Americans abandon 
 the i ighth section of their national platform, and 
 their other objectionable doctrines, then I meet 
 them as political friends; for it is equally as im- 
 portant for us to maintain that provision of the 
 Constitution relating to religious toleration as the 
 one relating to slavery. Sir, I voted against lay- 
 ing that resolution on the table, for the purpose 
 of giving those gentlemen a fair chance. I did 
 not do it to get any advantage of them; for, sir, 
 I seek no advantage of any man, and more par- 
 ticularly would I seek no advantage from that 
 party which is so fast fading from existence as 
 the late Know Nothing party. I did it in good 
 faith, in order to give them a chance to show 
 their hand, and to remove the difficulties which 
 exist here. But, to the astonishment of this side ■ 
 of the House, enough of them voted against the 
 resolution to prevent its passage; and therefore 
 a large number of our friends changed their votes. 
 I cb^l not change mine, because I never change a 
 vote that has been given with an understanding 
 of all the facts of the case. I never have done 
 it, and I never expect to do it. I have changed 
 many votes, when I did not understand the ques- 
 tion, but that is the only reason which, in my 
 opinion, would justify me in changing my votes. 
 Now, sir, the intent of the American party, as 
 indicated by the gentlemen who have' spoken in 
 this debate, is to cast the odium of our non-or- 
 ganization upon the Democratic party and upon 
 the Administration. As I said before, I know 
 that the President of the United States desires 
 an organization, — not that he would interfere at 
 all, by any means, — but as the Executive of this 
 nation he desires to see the Government go on in 
 tin' regular way, and to let the popular will ha? ! 
 free expression through its only legitimate channel. 
 That is his desire, I apprehend, without even a 
 thought as to who shall preside over this body. 
 This is an inquiry he has no right to make, ex- 
 cepl in a spirit of solicitude for the interest of the 
 country. I say here, now, to this House, that 1 
 believe there ought to be a speedy organization, 
 more particularly in view of the critical state of 
 our foreign relations as disclosed in tie President's 
 message, which we have really, though not offi- 
 cially, read. While I believe that, I as firmly be- 
 lieve that the only party which can save the coun- 
 try is the Democratic party, and I believe that it 
 
6 
 
 is important to preserve it in its unity and its 
 strength. That was exhibited at the incoming of 
 the present Administration. I desire to say a 
 word or two upon that subject, and I shall then 
 have done. 
 
 Those gentlemen who are attempting here to 
 cast odium upon, the present Administration are 
 placing themselves in an unenviable attitude be- 
 fore the country, if not now, at least they will be 
 so placed in days to come. "When this Admin- 
 istration came into power, it found the Govern- 
 ment, to use a common expression, lying " loose 
 all abjout." It found every Department of it 
 disorganized or unorganized. It found thirty six 
 secret inspectors of the customs stalking the streets 
 of Washington upon a salary of $100,000 in the 
 aggregate, without anything to do; it struck them 
 off the list, and reorganized every branch of the 
 Government and of the public service. Now, sir, 
 you may come on with your committees — I care 
 not who appoints them, even if he be the worst 
 enemy of the Administration — and let them go 
 into their investigations. Those investigations 
 will only show what I have stated, that the Demo- 
 cratic party is the only party that has ever shown 
 capacity to administer properly the affairs of this 
 Government. I only wish the Opposition \^uld 
 examine the conduct and business of the various 
 Departments of this Government. 
 
 I, sir, have never asked anything at the hands 
 of this Administration. I have never had any- 
 thing. I do not want anything. But when I see 
 an Administration assailed in this indirect way, 
 which has been true to the country, true to the 
 Constitution, and true to the principles and opin- 
 ions of the very gentlemen who assail it upon the 
 great question of the day, I feel that silence would 
 do injustice not only to the Administration, but 
 to the country. While upon this subject I may 
 Say, that, when we ask these gentlemen what 
 objection they have to the Administration, or to 
 the President, they universally refer to some 
 appointment to office. I want to express this 
 opinion here, sir, that I think it unbecoming in a | 
 southern man to stickle about the appointment 
 of any officer of this Government. Why, sir, I 
 am willing that you shall have all the offices. 
 The North may have them all if she wants them. 
 Give us our constitutional rights, and that is all 
 that we ask of you. I, for one, stand here to say 
 that the President may reject every man for whose 
 appointment I ask, and I will never complain of 
 him so long as lie sustains those constitutional 
 rights which I believe to be dear to the people 
 of my section, and absolutely necessary to the 
 perpetuity of this Union. That is all I ask of I 
 
 the Administration; and I submit that it is not in 
 keeping with the dignity, the character, and the 
 chivalry, if I may so speak, of southern men, to 
 stickle about the appointment of officers by a man 
 who, amidst all the prejudices of his own section, 
 stands by the peculiar institution of the South, 
 as guarantied by the Constitution. When I am 
 told that the President of the United States has 
 expressed his opposition to slavery, I say that he 
 is only entitled to the more credit for the support 
 of the guarantees of the Constitution that protect 
 us in the enjoyment of that institution. The man 
 who owns a thousand or ten slaves is entitled to 
 no credit for the support of the institution. It is 
 his interest to do it. But the man who has been 
 raised at the North, in the midst of all the preju- 
 dices which have been excited there by dema- 
 gogues and politicians against this institution, 
 and yet has the boldness, the courage, and the 
 patriotism, to stand by the guarantees of the 
 Constitution for the protection of our rights and 
 our institutions, is entitled to high credit, and a 
 warm support from those who desire a perpetuity 
 of the Union. I have but little patience with 
 southern men who cavil about offices when such 
 great principles as these are at stake. 
 
 The position which the President has»taken 
 since his election, and in his late message, has 
 been the position that he has uniformly taken 
 during the course of a long public life— in the 
 Legislature of New Hampshire, in the two 
 branches of Congress, and in the executive chair; 
 and I challenge the proof of any inconsistency ou 
 his part in relation to this question. And yet 
 we see southern gentlemen here assailing him 
 most furiously for what they call his Abolition 
 tendencies. I feel, sir, that there is an error in 
 the minds of a portion of the people of the South 
 who belong to the American party in relation to 
 this, and I wish it to be corrected. I do not mean 
 to impute improper motives to any of those gen- 
 tlemen, but it is due to the history of the country 
 that this tiling shall go no further. I am willing 
 to meet all men who make war upon no provision 
 of the Constitution, as I understand it; and upon 
 the subject of this Catholic test, upon equal terms, 
 personally or politically, I beg leave simply to 
 state what I said in a few words during the last 
 Congress on this Catholic question, as I was one 
 of the first to discuss this subject in the Housa 
 of Representatives. I said it then, I say it now, 
 and I intend always to say it: 
 
 " I do not come as the advocate of the Catholic religion. 
 or the apologist of the Catholic faith, believing, as I alvvay» 
 have, in the religious doctrines of my ancestors. I. at an 
 early day, imbibed a prejudice against the tenets of tho 
 Catholic church, and these early impressions have never 
 
i)cen removed. I dissent from its doctrines, discard its 
 heresies, and denounce its persecution* 
 
 ■• l ai i a Protest. mt because I believe its teachings to be 
 the teachings of the Bible, and its religion the religion of 
 our Savior, lint while I am strong in my own faith, 1 
 scorn to proscribe others who differ from me in religious 
 sentiment. Idonoteeek to dive down into the hearts of 
 men to ferret out their religious dogmas, but would Becure 
 toeveryd i aination their constitutional ' right to wor- 
 ship God according to the dictates of their own con 
 science.' " 
 
 For this I was denounced at home aa b< ing 
 favorable to Catholicism, and many votes were 
 cast against me on accounl of a deluded 
 (hat 1 favored their religious dogmas. Vet, now 
 
 it is said upon this floor, by hi ntlemen 
 
 who are acknowledged leaders of the 
 American party, that any other doctrine than 
 this, which I asserted during the last Cot 
 and for which I was furiously denounced by 
 that party in Tennessee, is not only subversive 
 
 of the Constitution] but is monstrous. It is for 
 
 this reason that I have read it, because ■ very man 
 In my district and in my Stale will see at once 
 that the point made against me has now not only 
 been abandoned, but denounced, by some of the 
 leaders of that party on this floor; and yet 
 complain of us for objecting to that feature of 
 their national platform which the "sober second 
 thought" of the people has compelled them to 
 abandon. With all due deference to those gen- 
 tlemen, 1 think it is time now that they should 
 agree upon some common ground, and let us 
 know what it is, so that the country may not b« 
 longer misled. 
 
 .Now. I must return my most grateful thanks 
 to the House for the privilege they have ac- 
 corded me in order to make this explanation, and 
 for the attention with which they have listened to 
 the remarks I have had the honor to submit. 
 
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