332 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DECEMBER 21, 

Mr. HOLMAN. It is very clear that, if $35,000 will be required to 

meet the current expenses of four committees on the part of the Senate, it will require at least as much to meet the expenses of the com- mittees on the part of the Hoose; for, as the gentleman is aware, the Roo~ committees are larger in number. The Honse sends to States 

of the Sooth thirty members to inveetigate concerning the recent 

elections in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina. The Senate, on the other hand, sends but nine members. The gentleman must see that, if it was proper for the Honse to concede an appropriation of 

$35,000 for Senate committees, it waa proper that at least as large a sum should be appropriated on the part of the Honse ; for, if $35,000 

will be required for the Senate committees, it is very clear that at 

least the same amount, if not more, will be required for the Honse 

committees. · Mr. CONGER. I understood that the committee on the part of the 

Honse thought $30,000 enough for this body. 

Mr. HOLMAN. My belief still is that $30,000 is all that can be properly expended for either Hoose. The Honse conferees, contrary to 

their wishes, compromised this question. 

Mr. O'BRIEN. I desire to ask the gentleman a question almost 

equivalent to the question put by the gentleman from Michigan, [Mr. 

CoNGER.] I wish to ask the gentleman how in his conscience he 

oould find any authority whatever on the part of this committee to 

raise the appropriation for the Honse from 30,000 to $35lOOO, when in 

his solemn judgment as expressed upon this floor $30,u00 was more than sufficient. . Mr. HOLMAN. I greatly admire the tender conscience of my friend. 

Mr. O'BRIEN. I call the ~entleman's attention to this consideration: what right bad he to 11eld to the judgment of the Senate in this 

matter, and wnat influence has been brought to bear upon him by 

the Senate in order to control his judgment t 

Mr. HOLMAN. I supposedmyfriend wished to ask some pertinent 

question. I yield to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. WooD.] 

Mr. O'BRIEN. .AB the gentleman cannot answer my question, I pre- sume he has no conscience in this matter. 

Mr. WOOD, of New York. I am not sure whether I correctly un- derstood this report as it was read, but if I did, the expenditures on the part of the House are to be anclited and passed upon by the Committee of Accounts upon actual vouchers. 

Mr. HOLMAN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. WOOD, of New York. But I do not understand that in the con- ference report any such rnle is made applicable to expenditures on tho part of the Senate. Now I wonld like to know how this confer- ence committee on the part of the House can reconcile it to their sense of justice and propriety that the Senate shonld be permitted in 

this way to legislate as to how we shall expend the money for our own purposes when the rnle ls not made appliqable to the Senate committees. 

Mr. HOLMAN. The rnle as to the House fixed by this report is substantially the same for both bodies. The gentleman from New York 

is aware that the practice of the two bodies in referencetothedrawing and expenditure of money out of the contingent fund is different. 

Unless we provide in this way for the auditing of the expenditure of 

this money on the part of the Sergeant-at-Arms by the Committee of 

Accounts, it could not be audited at all. In the Senate the auditing 

of accounts occorsbetweentheSergeant-at-Armsand theClerk of the 

Senate, while here it occurs between the Sergeant-at-Arms and the 

Committee of Accounts of the Honse. There is by this conference 

report provision for the auditing in both bodies, here by the Committee of Accounts and in the Senate by the Clerk of the Senate. The 

gentleman from New York, therefore, wUl perceive that the rule is 

substantially the same in both bodies. 

Mr. WOOD, of New York. If that be the rnle then why put it in 

this conference report 7 

Mr. HOLMAN. I wish it to be the law. I am not aware of any 

well-established rnle in the Hoose on this subject. I hope never to see a dollar of the public money placed in the hands of any officer of 

the Honse, under any circumstances, in reference to which provision 

is not made for the auditing of its expenditure. I want all accounts 

to be audited by some recognized committee of the Honse or by some recognized officer. 

Mr. BUCKNER. Is not the expenditure confined to the actual and 

necessary expenses 7 

Mr. HOLMAN. The Committee of Accounts here determines what 

is actual and necessary, and in the Senate provision is made for auditing what are actual and necessary expenses. The result is the same, as the gentleman from New York will perceive. I now demand the 

previous question on the adoption of the report. 

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered; 

and under the operation thereof the conference report was adopted. 

Mr. HOLMAN moved to reconsider the vote by which the report of 

tbe conference committee was adopted; and also moved that the 

motion to reconsider be laid on the table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. · 

ADDITIONAL LAND DISTRICT, IDAHO. 

Mr. FENN, by unanimous consent, moved to take from the Speaker's 

t.able a bill (S. No. 538) to create an additional land district in the 

Territory of Iuaho; which motion was a.!tt'eed to. 

The bill was then taken up, read a first and second ti.Qle, referred ~o the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed. 

CITADEL, CHARLESTON, SOUTII CAROLINA. 

The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the Hoose a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting, in answer to a resolution 

of the Honse, the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Gillmore, of the United 

States Army, relative to the building and grounds known as the 

Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina; which was referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 

TROOPS A.T FORT SILL1 ETC. 

The SPEAKER also, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a lettei' from the Secretary of War, transmitting a statement of t.he 

number of troops now at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and Forts Griffin 

and Richardson, Texas; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

COLIDffiiA BOSPITA.L FOR WOMEN. 

The SPEAKER announced that he had appointed Mr. MACKEY as a member of the board of directors for the Columbia Hospita.l for 

Women, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Speaker. 

. LEAVE OF ABSENCE. 

. By unanimous consent leave of absence was granted in the followmg cases: 

To Mr. PoWELL, for one week from the 22d instant on account of 

important business. 

To Mr. MONEY, from Thursday next until January 3. 

To Mr. ODELL, until January 2 on account of important business. 

To Mr. O'NEIL, for three days from the 26th instant. • . To~- BAKER, of Indiana, from the 27th to the 30th of December, 

mclns1ve. 

To Mr. ""WILLIAMS, of Alabama, from the 26th instant to the 5th of 

January. 

To Mr. VANCE, of North Carolina, from tho 21st instant until January 2. • To Mr. STEVENSO~, for t en days from Friday next on account of 

important business. 

To Mr. OLIVER, for two weeks from Thursday next. 

To Mr. SEELYE, for ten days from the 22d instant. 

To Mr.liARRis, of Massachusetts, from Friday the 23d instant, until 

January3. 

To Mr. WILLIA?.IS, of New York, for ten days ..from the 22d instant. 

To Mr. AsHE, for ten days from the 23d instant. 

To Mr. HAmLTON, of Indiana, from the 27th instant to January 10. 

To Mr. ROBBINS, of North Carolina, from the 23d instant to January 3. 

To Mr. W ARREN1 for three days from the 26th instant. 

And then, on motion of Mr. PAGE, (at four o'clock and ten minutes· p. m.,) the Honse adjourned. 

PETITIONS. 

'l'he following petitions were presented at the Clerk's desk under 

the rule, and referred a.s stated : By Mr. DURAND: The petition of disabled soldiers of Michigan 

fo: a~ appropriation for artificial limbs, to the Committee on Appro~ pr1at10ns. 

... By Mr. HEWITT, of Alabama: Petition of citizens of Blount and 

Winston Counties, Alabama, for the passage of the bill introduced by 

Mr. G. W. HEWI'IT for the relief of settlers on lands claimed by the 

South and North Railroad, to the Committee on Public Lands. 

By Mr. WALKER, of Virginia: The petition of R. A. Brock, corre- sponding secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society · ~ames McDonald1 ~tate lib:arian o! V:ir~inia; W. H. Ruffner, soper~ mtendent of public mstruction of V rrgl.Illa; J; C. Southall; P. C. Nicholas, librarian of the Virginia State Law Library; J. William Jones 

secretary Southern Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, and of th~ officers of libraries in different sections of the country, for the purchase by Congress of the papers of the General Count de Roohambean 

the commander of the French forces sent to aid Washington in on; 

revolutionary struggle for national Independence, to the joint Committee on the Library. 

IN SENATE. 

THURSDAY, December 21, 1876. 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. 

The J onrnal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate a Jetter from 

the Secretary of the Treaanry, transmitting a report made to that Department by Carlisle P. Patterson, Superintendent of the United 

States Coast Survey, stating the progress of that work during the year 

ending J nne 30, 1876; which was ordered to lie on the table and be 

printed. 

PETITIONS .AND MEMORIALS. 

Mr. MITCHELL. I present a memorial of the Legislative Assembly 

of the State of Oregon, in which they represent "that there are ex- tensive tracts of the public lands in Eastern Oregon which may be 

properly termed 'desert lands,' bein~ such on ~~oqnt of the l;wk of 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 333 

water to furnish the necessary irrigation for the production of crops; 

that there are also other extensive tracts of land in Eastern Oregon 

producing grass, but which are unavailable for grazing purposes, on account of the absence of streams of water or springs sufficient to 

furnish water for herds or flocks grazing upon the same. These lands 

cannot be disposed of by the United States under existing laws, for 

the reason that they are not available for the purposes of settlement on account of want of water as aforesaid." They therefore pray "that an act of· Congress be pa.ssed authorizing the sale of these tracts, in 

quantities greater than one hundred and sixty acres to a single purchaser and at ra~s less than the minimum price of $1.25 per acre, 

upon condition that the same be irrigated by the purcha-ser, by means of artesian wells or artificial canals, so 38 to render the same productive and available for grazing and agricultural purposes." I move that the memorial be referred to the Committee on Public Lands. 

l The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN presented a petition of citizens of the United 

Statest soldiers in the late war, praying the passage of a law for the 

equalization of bounties; which waa referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

He also presented a petition of the New Jersey State Temperance 

Alliance, praying for prohibitory legislation for the District of Columbia and the Territories ; the prohibition of the foreign importation of alcoholic liquors; that total abstinence be made a condition 

of the civil, military, and naval service; and for a constitutional 

amendment to prohibit the traffic in alcoholic beverages throughout 

the national domain; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. 

REPORT OF A CO~TTEE. 

Mr. ALLISON, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was re- ferred the bill (H. R. No. 3497) granting a pension to James B. Treadwell, major of the Eighty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 

submitted an adverse report thereon; which was ordered to be printed, 

and the bill was postponed.indefinitely. 

Mr. MORRILL, from the Committee on Finance, to whom was re- committed the bill (S. No. 1040) to allow the late collector of internal revenue for the fourth district of Georgia his salary hitherto withheld, reported it with an amendment, and submitted a report thereon; 

which was ordered to be printed. 

BILLS INTRODUCED. 

Mr. CLAYTON asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 

introduce a bill (S. No. 1096) to remove the political disabilities of R. 

C. Gatlin, of ArkaD.SM; which was read twice by it8 title, and, with 

the accompanying petition and a 1etter·from Judge Parker, of the 

United States district court of Arkansas, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Mr. BOOTH (by request) asked and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (s. No. 1097) to provide for the appointment of an official short-hand reporter for the United States 

courts in and for- the district of California; which WM read twice by 

its title, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to 

be printed. 

Mr. SPENCER (by request) asked, and by unanimous· consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 1098) granting a pension to S. 

M. B. Johnson ; which· was read twice by its title, referred to the 

Committee on Pensions, and ordered to b~ printed. 

He also (by request) asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, le~ve to ii?-troduce a bill (S. No .. 109_9) granting a pension to Amy 

Kmg; which was read twice by Its title, referred to the Committee on Pensions, and ordered to be printed. ~· MITCHELL asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave 

to mtroduce a bill (S. No. 1100) making appropriations for the improvement of Lower Willamette and Columbia Rivers from Portland, 

Oregon, to the sea; which was read twice by its title, referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 

COMMITTEE SERVICE. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I ask to be excused from further service on the 

Committee on Patents. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempo1·e. Is there objection f The Chair 

hears none1 and the Senator from Virginia is excused. 

By nnanunoua consent, the President p1·o tempo'l"e was authorized to 

fill the vacancy. 

Mr. BARNUM, on his own motion, was excused from further service 

upon the Committee on Manufactures ; and the President Jn'O ttJmpore 

by unanimous consent, was authorized to fill the vacancy. ' ~r. JoHNSTON was appointed to fill the vacancy. 

The. PRESIDENT p-ro tempore also appointed Mr. BAR..."'roM to fill the 

vac;mcy upon the Committee on Patents occasioned by the resignation of Mr .. JOHNSTON. 

MANNER OF COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES. 

Mr. ANTHONY. There lies on the table a resolution from the Committee on Printing to print some addjtional copies of a document prepared by the Chief Clerk of the Senate on the action of the two 

Houses in ~gard to the manner of counting the electoral vote. It 

has been lymg over for some time, I believe, at the suggestion of some Senator who desired something else to be added to it. The com- mittee wish to have the resolution acted upon before the recess in 

order that the type may not be kept standing. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempot·e. The Senator from Rhode Island moves that the resolution be taken from the table. 

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to consider 

the following resolution, reported from the Oommittee on Printing 

December 13: 

.ResolTJed, That 5,000 copies of the statement prepared by the Chief Clerk of the 

Senate in regard to the manner of counting the elecooral votes for President and ~ice-President from 1789 to 1873 be printed for the use of the Senate. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

MESSAGB FROM THE HOUSE. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. GEoRGE M. 

ADAMS, its Clerk, announced that th~ Honse had agreed to the report 

of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two 

Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. No. 4124) 

to provide for the expenses of certain special committees. 

The message also announced that the House had passed the following bills; in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate: 

A bill (H. R. No. 1688) for the relief of Robert H. Flavell, sergeant 

Company F, Seventh Missouri; and 

A bill (H. R. No. 4258) to provide for t.he payment for certain improvements on lands now embraced in the military reservation of Fort 

Cameron in the Territory of Utah. . 

PROPOSED HOLIDAY REOESS. 

Mr. ANTHONY. There is a resolution upon the table introduced by 

the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. CAMERON] who is not in his 

seat-I am not sure that he is in the city to-day-providing for are- cess. I suppose there is no parliamentary objection to stating what 

the other House baa done in this respect. We all know that the Honse 

of Representatives has agreed ~o adjourn over for the constitutional 

period, to meet each day of adjournment and adjourn again, and ao on until Wednesday, the 3d of January. If the Senate is disposed to 

take a recess, as I suppose it is, inaamuch aa it is manifest there will 

be no quorum here, we might either pass the resolution that is now npon the table, with the concurrence of the Honse, confining the re- cess to the Senate but asking the concurrence of the House, or there 

might be a general understanding like that which has been adopted 

in the Honse; there, I believe, by a forma] resolution. I think some Senators object to a formal resolution to this effect here on the ground 

that it would not be valid; and it certainly would not be valid against . any subsequent vote of the Senate. If no other Senator has a suggestion to offer, I suggest that the Senate adjourn from to-morrow until 

Tuesday and from Tuesday until the next Friday ; that is as long as we can adjourn; and then from that Friday until Tuesday, the 2d of 

January. Let that be the general understanding. t 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Ancl from Tuesday the 2d of January to 

Wednesday the 3d T -· ,; 1 

Mr. ANTHONY. And from Tuesday to Wednesday the 3d of January. That would make our recess the same length as the recess of 

the Honse, and leaves it in the power of the Senate, if any exigency 

should occur, to take any action that might be d4!lemed necessary. I 

make that suggestion if no Senator has any other suggestion to make or any formal resolution to offer. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. What is the suggestion f 

Mr. ANTHONY. I suggest that by general consent the Senate 

shall adjourn from to-morrow nntil Tuesday; that on Tuesday it adjourn until Friday, and on Friday that it adjourn until Tuesday following, and from that Tuesday until Wednesday the 3d of January. 

Mr. RANDOLPH. Without the transaction of business in the mean ~ef 1 

Mr. ANTHONY. Without the transaction of any business in the mean time. . Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Unless by special call. \ 

Mr. ANTHONY. Of course it is possible that something may oc- cur, though I anticipate nothing, which would make it necessary for 

the Senate to transact business, in which case there should be a special 

call and notice given. I do not suppose the Senat-e would pledge 

themselves or that they could pledge themselves not to transact busi- ness if any great emergency should arise, which no one anticipates, 

however. This is the way it has been done on several holidays. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I ask that the resolution be read. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I do not propose a resolution. The resolution of 

the Senator from Pennsylvania to take a regular holiday recess is the 

basis of my suggestion. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Is the Honse resolution pendingf 

Mr. ANTHONY. The House passed a resolution that does not re- quire the concurrence of the Senate, referring only to its own action. 

Mr. SHERMAN. What is the prop9sition pending before us now f 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The suggestion of the Senator from 

Rhode Islan.d. No formal proposition is before the Senate. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I read the resolution of the House, and I supposed 

it would be- communicated to the Senate, but probably it will not be as it is a mere resolution of the House. I think that resolution em- bodies about what the Senate ought to do. If the Honse for any purpose have some fear that there may be a necessity, on account of public buainess to aid fu the investigations pending, to call the Honse 

together, (because it leaves the body in a state of organization so that 

it may be organized,) I do not see why the Senate may not do the same by a vote of the Senate. We have the power to do it, I think. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN.. I would suggest tQ the Senator from Ohio 
334 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DECEM13ER 21, 

that I suppose the reason why this is put in the shape of a suggestion 

rather than as a resolution, is the doubt as to the right of the Senate to 

pass such a resolution as has been passed by the House. We can only 

adjourn over for three days, and it is avoiding that rule for us to pass a resolution in advance that at the end of the third day we will adjourn for three days more, and so on, while we can have this general 

understanding. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I have no doubt at all that if at the end of the• 

three days' adjournment any Senator should demand a division and 

the division should show the absence of a quorum, those who were present would have to adjourn only until the next day. That is per- fectly clear. You cannot make an adjournment by the action of the 

Senate alone for a longer period than three days; but it seems to me it is better to have that understanding in the form of an open resolution. Of course no one would violate an obligation of that kind; but 

all assenting to it that would be the end of it. I do not care about the mode in which it is arrived at. As a matter of course, 

any Senator may prevent the adjournment, whether it be agreed upon 

in the form o'f a suggestion or in the form of a resolution. If any one demands a division so as to show the absence of a quorum, the num- ber present less than a quorum cannot do anything except to adjourn 

until the next day, and then the next day, and so on, the Sen a tors in 

that way coming and going. 

Mr. INGALLS. The constitutional provision which declares that 

neither House during the session of Congress shall without the con- sent of the other adjourn for more than three days, evidently does not 

require a joint adjournment of both Houses at the same time. As I un- derstand that provision, either House with the consent of the other can adjourn for a period.of more than three days, and the House consenting may still remain in session. It occurs to me that if the Senate desires an adjournment for a period lon~er than three days, by passing a resolution to that effect and transmitting it to the House of Representatives and asking their consent, as the Constitution provides, 

there would be no objection; and it appears to me that inasmuch as an adjournment from day to day, or for a period of three days only, 

would leave those Senators who live at a distance from the seat of 

Government unable to visit their constituents without the liability 

of business being transacted, that would be the proper course to pur- sue. I merely make that suggestion for the further action of the Senate. 

Mr. HAMLIN. I suppose the suggestion made by the Senator from 

Rhode Island was for the purpose of avoiding an objection which I 

remember to have been made in this body at one time. I think a proposition very similar to that of the House was once made here and 

objected to, and according to my recollection the whole Senate con- curred in the doctrine that we could not fix a day of adjournment beyond the three days to which we might adjourn under the Constitution, for another and an additional adjom11ment. The Senate may ad:.. 

journ to-day for three days ; such is the Constitution ; but until that 

time comes-such was the objection of the Senate then, I recollectit is not competent for the Senate to fix an additional adjournment; 

but when that time comes it may do it. By adopting the suggestion 

of the Senator from Rhode Island we avoid that trouble. That is all 

there is of it. 

Mr: CONKLING. Mr. President, we do avoid that trouble, I beg to 

suggest to my honorable friend, provided there be a quorum present, 

that quorum which alone the Constitution says may transact lmsiness, any business, this business among others. The Constitution provides: 

Each Honse shall. be the judge * * * and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do bosmess; but a smaller nUDlber may adjourn from day to day, and 

may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each Honse may provide. 

I suggest to the Senator from Rhode Island who has thi~ matter in 

charge that if by an understanding, or in any other way, it should be 

proposed that the Senate adjourning on Friday should stand over till 

Monday, and on Monday should a<Ijourn further until Thursday, then 

if on Monday there were no quorum here, less than a quorum could 

do nothing but adjourn from day to day. Very likely that might in 

another way really answer the Senator's purpose. An understanding no doubt would be observed, indeed necessarily must be observed, as to doing business, because only a quorum could proceed to transact 

business. Less than a quorum could not adjourn for over three da.ys but could simply adjourn from day to day. The Senator from Maine 

referred to a matter in the Senate, which in my recollection arose as 

to the power of both Houses. It was suggested that inasmuch as both Houses could adjourn together sine die or for a period, it was com- petent for the two Houses acting together to instruct the presiding 

officers on a certain day to adjourn their respective Houses to another 

day, and on that day, unless otherwise ordered, w adjourn their re- spective Houses to another day, the purpose being to enable a quorum 

to assemble on either of those days and otherwise order, so that the 

two Houses would be left in session. I think that was the instance 

to which the honorable Senator from Maine referred. However, that 

is not very important for this purpo~e. I see no difficulty in having a three days' adjournment, and then in the absence of a quorum proceeding to adjourn from day to day. I should see great difficulty in 

any understanding, or mther in any attempt to execute any understanding under which a number of Senators less than a quorum were to do any business whatever, except to adjourn from day to day. 

· Mr. ANTHONY. I made not a motion, but a suggestion. We might 

have an informal understanding on this subject, precisely as we often 

have, that we will take a certain vote at four o'clock. That understanding we frequently make; it is binding upon nobody except as a matter of honor; it is parliamentarily binding upon no one. I suppose the 

objection which the Senator from New York suggests would not arise 

because if there was no quorum for the purpose of business, the ab- sence of a quorum would not be brought to the attention of the Chair, as we frequently transact business when there is no quorum. I suppose a motion would be made to adjourn for three days, and it would 

be put and carried; but certainly if the attention of the Chair was brought to the absence of a quorum, if that test were applied by any 

division being called for, there being an absence of a quorum disclosed, I suppose the Senate could adjourn only from day to day. 

Therefore I suggested that there be an informal understanding that 

to-morrow we shall adjourn for three days, and then for three days, 

and then for three days a~in, which has been frequently done here, 

and it is done now by the .House. It is done in the House by a formal 

resolution. I propose that we shall do it informally because it does 

not seem to us to be in our constitutional power to make such a form of adjournment formally. 

Mr. BAYARD. Mr. President, I am unable to concur in any agreement or even tacitly t.o consent to any agreement that shall indicate 

the power of either House of Congress to adjourn for more than three 

days unless under the joint consent of the two Houses. I do not con- strue the Constitution as the honorable Senator from Kansaa [Mr. 

INGALLS] has done. Idonothold that the Senate may give the House 

the power to adjourn for thirty days, the Senate itself remainin~ in 

session, or vice versa the House permit the Senate to adjourn for thrrty or sixty days, the House remaining in session. I consider that it was contemplated by the Constitution that the sessions of Congress should 

be continuous and not broken by the variant action of one Honse by 

adjourning for more than three days. 

Such being my view, it aing the intention that the legislative 

operations of the country represented by the Congress should not be 

broken in upon by the sole action of one House by· adjourning for more than three days at a time: it would seem tomehighlyobjectionable that we should by this open proclamation adopt the indirect ma- chinery of the power of adjourning for nine days under the pretext that we simplv were agreeing to adjourn for three. 

I am perfectly aware that the practical result will be that stated 

by the honorable Senator from New York. We adjourn under our right 

and power for three days; at the end of that time it is in the power 

of any Senator present to disclose by a call for a vote by yeas and 

nays the absence of a quorum. Then nothing is in order but a. mo- tion to adjourn, which may be carried by less than a quorum ; so that, 

in substance, the same thing would be reached; but I cannot assent 

that there shall be a proposition made as made by the honorable Senator from Rhode Island, that we should here now, practically, to-day 

settle three consecutive adjournments of three days each, a~~k 

gating nine days, nuder the power to adjourn for three. I do not t · that is regular, nor am I willing by my silence to consent to it. I do 

not know whether the House resolution of adjournment is before the 

Senate or not. 

Mr. CONKLING. It has not been sent here at all. It waa simply a resolution of their own. Mr. BAYARD. I had beard indirectly that there was a proposition 

to adjourn from to-morrow until Wednesday, which is a day longer, 

that we can probably concur in, and on next Wednesday whether 

there be or not a quorum present the fact will be easily ascertained, 

and then if there be rrot a quorum undoubtedly it will be in the 

power of the Senate to transact no business except to adjourn, which can be done by less than a quorum. 

Mr. ANTHONY. There is a resolution drawn by my friend from 

Vermont, [Mr. EDMUNDS,] which I think covers the case and relieves us from all difficulty. I offer it. 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tempm·e. The resolution will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns on Friday the 22d instant it be to meet on Tuesday the 26th instant; and that, unless otherwise then orderell, when it adjourns on the 26th instant it be to meet on the 29th instant; and that, unless otherwise then ordered, when it adjourns on the 29th instant it be to meet on Tuesday, Ja.nuary 2, 1877 . • 

The PRESIDENT pro temp01'e. The question is on agreeing to the 

resolution. · 

1\fr . .ANTHONY. I offer that in lieu of the pending motion. 

Mr . .MORTON. I think that resolution is proper. The Senate can meet and sit on its own adjournment without consulting the House, so that it is not over three days. We can agree to meet every other 

day, instead of every day, ifwechoose, or we can agree to meet on a series of days named in a resolution like this without consulting the 

Hou.se, provided the adjournment in each case does not extend over a period of three days. T.he Senate can fix its own periods of adjournment, so that they do not extend over three days, or we can fix a se- ries of days on which we may meet, aa this resolution does, without 

the consent of the House. We can pass the resolution without at all 

violating the Constitution. 

Mr. CONKLING. Mr. President, I venture to say one word about 

this resolution. I cannot vote for it, although I should be very willing to see its object accomplished in another way. The Cons~itution 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL .RECORD-SENATE. 335 

declares that neither Honse sha.ll adjourn for more than three days 

without the consent of the other. That means something, and !supposed I knew what it meant. If the meaning generally ascribed to 

it is the true meaning, how can it be that by an indirection so slight as that now proposed we can circumvent the whole thing f Obviously, the same power which permits an adjournment in that mode 

for nine days, in the same mode would permit an adjournment for 

ninety days. Can that be, that by making a stepping stone once in 

three days in a resolution passed in the beginning, once for all, either 

Honse can adjourn for the entire session f Yon have only to extend 

it and to say that when they meet on the last day named they shall 

adjourn three days, and on that day three days more, and so continue 

that till the 4th of March. Can that be the meaning of the Constitution f I differ, with deference of course, with the Senator from 

Rhode Island who offers this resolution and one of the Senators from 

Vermont who is referred to as having approved it. But having attended somewhat to a discussion on one occasion especially which I 

think was the one referred to a few moments ago by the Senator from 

Maine, I have a very fixed opinion that this is beyond any suggestion 

of power heretofore made. 

I remember very well that when a resolution was offered a few years 

ago in the Senat.e, a discussion arose upon this form of the question. 

AB I before suggested, it was proposed, both Houses concurring, not 

to adjourn sine die, but to direct the presiding officers in the usual 

form to adjourn their respect.ive Houses on a certain day; nobody 

doubted that power ; but the resolution went on to provide that on that day, unless a quorum assembled and ordered otherwi e, the re- specti ve presiding officers should adjourn the Houses until another 

day; and that when that day arrived unless a quorum met and ordered 

otherwise, the presidingofficerssho:;Jd adjourn their respective Houses 

to a further day. Many Senators doubted the power even to do that, 

but of course it did not touch this question. There was the concurrent 

action of both Houses. Confessedly, they could adjourn for any time 

within constitutional limits. They could not adjourn beyond the 

first Monday of the succeeding December, because the Constitution 

said they should meet pn that day, or if not the ConstitJ,ltion in terms, an act of Congress passed to execute the Constitution, and without 

repealing that they could not pass that period. But within that period 

the two Houses could adjourn to any time they saw fit. The question was whether, having exerted that power and fixed a day of meeting, 

they could in advance direct that on that day a·further adjournment 

should occur, and so on. The power which in that case was invoked at the hands of the two 

Houses and questioned somewhat, (although I confess I had no doubt 

about it myself then and I have never seen anyreason to donbtitsince,) 

it is proposed now to exercise by dint of the resolution of one House. 

I confess my understanding has been otherwise; and although I 

have no objection to the purpose being accomplished in this way if 

the Constitution permits it, I think that an understanding by which 

the Senate is to adjourn from day to day for a certain time unless some paramount necessity for being here arises would be the more convenient way of getting at it, and, except m the light of some instruction which I have not, I must think this resolution goes beyond 

the permission of the Constitution. . Mr. EDMUNDS. It does not appear to me that this proposition of 

the Senator from Rhode Island is open to any constitutional objection. The Constitution declares that neitper Honse shall adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. Now, this 

resolution provides for an adjournment for three days, beginning to- morrow. I suppose nobody would probably question our capacity to 

pass to-day au order as to what hour the Senate should adjourn or for "\vhat length of time within the constitutional limit of three days. 

That brings us then-as I am sure my friend from New York will 

agree-lawfully and constitutionally to Tuesday next. The Senate 

then meets. It has the capacity by this order of its own, framed for 

that purpose, either to go on with its business or to adjourn as it likes; 

but it is taken for granted that the present wish of the Senate, not 

to do any business on that day, will continue unless the Senators then 

present shall think it advisable to proceed. If they do think it advisable to proceed, then this resolution provides that on that occa- sion, without anything lying over for a day for consideration, but by • an order made then, they may provide for any other adjournment or for no adjournment at all, according to their convenience; and so on upon the next occasion. 

So it is not a mandate to the presiding officer of this bouy that on To.esday next he shall execute the present order of the Senate to adjourn this body for three days more; but it is only a provisional man- date that, everybody consenting-that is the substance of it-the Senate consenting, a majority consenting, he shall proceed to declare a 

further adjournment. If a majority does not wish to assent then, it 

has .the complete constitutional power to stay. In the other point of . view there would be great force in what the Senator from New York 

suggests, because on Tuesday next, if we had an absolute and peremptory order, it would be the duty of the presiding officer to execute 

it; and he could receive no motion, because it would be his business 

to execute the order, and, the order being executed, there would be no Senate to receive any motion or to act upon it. But in this case the Senate on next Tuesday meets with entire control of the subject, 

only, if it should happen that there should be no quorum present, the 

Senate would not be competent to prevent the adjournment that had 

been provided for. ' 

/ 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I would ask my friend whether the adjournment on next Tuesday would not be by virtue of the action of 

to-dayf 

Mr. EDMUNDS. Yes. 

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. And, if so, are we not, in fact, adjourning 

for more than three days f 

Mr. EDMUNDS. No, Mr. President. It is by virtue undoubtedly 

of the original action of this day, but it is also by virtue of an action 

which is submitted to the will of the Senate a~ain to change on the 

day when it does meet and adjourn. That is the difference which makes 

to my mind a broad difference between the case argued by the Senator 

from New York and what isimplied in my friend's question. I think 

I quite agree with the Senator from New York that what is said to 

have taken place in the House of Representatives is outside of the 

Constitution, and clearly so if it provides as the newspapers seem to 

say for an adjournment for four days instead of three days, which 

apparently from the newspapers was the case. But it is not my purpose, and it is not my right, to comment, except as upon a public 

question of law, on any action the House of Representatives sees fit 

to take. 

So then I do not think there is any difficulty in the way of this reso- lution if the Senate wish to get over these holidays without obliging 

the presiding officer to come here every day, and with a unanimous 

understanding that we are to do nothing, which morally is just as un- constitutional as anything else, for aught I know. When it comes to 

the effect of £lie thing, I am quite willing to work the whole time ex- cept on Christmas and New Year's days, and am still more willing to 

play if the rest desire to do that. I have no affirmative disposition to 

adjourn at all, except for these two holy days; butatthesame time, as I have found after great resistance for many years, that it is impossible to have it otherwise, I am quite willingthateverybodyelseshall 

gohomeforChristmasandNewYear's,ifhe wishes to do so. We have 

found as a fact that it is practically impossible to do any business during the period named; and when we have undertaken to do it the 

effort has always proved a disastrous failure, as wen in what little we did do generally as in what we omitted to do. Solhaveconcluded to 

make a virtue of what is inevitable and give as little trouble to other 

people, including the presiding officer, as possible. 

lrfr. CONKLING. Mr. President, the Senator from Vermont [Mr. 

EDMm.'1>S] made, as I felt sure he would if he took that view of the 

question, the best statement which can be made in vindication of the 

power asserted by the resolution. After hearing him, I suggest this 

to the Senator from Vermont and to the Senate: When this interval 

has passed by, how will this resolution and the action occurring under 

it stand on the J onrnal and stanJ} in history f To-day the Senate 

makes an order which adjourns the Senate three days hence. On that 

day, no Senator appears, no quorum appears, no adion is taken, and 

another three days elapse in the absenc~ of the Senate. At the end 

of those three days no quorum appears ; no action is taken. Three 

days more elapse in the absence of the Senate. In the absence of the 

Senate why and how f Because alone of the order passed to-day. 

The Senate has been vacant, has been absent, has been in the language of the Constitution in adjournment for nine days by virtue of 

what action t Not the action of both Houses, which the Constitution 

suggests as an appropriate action, but by the action of the Senate 

alone, not saying in terms "we adjourn for nine days in bulk," but 

saying " we adjourn nine days, three days at a time, and we do it all 

at once; we do it by one single act which speaks but once, upon 

which action is taken but once, and which covers the whole nine 

days." If it does not, it would be a lawless qisregard of duty for Senators not coming here. The only excuse for their not appearing three 

days hence is that the order of the Senate dispenses with that appear- ance and does not intend to require them to be here until the lapse 

of six days after that. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. May I be allowed to put a question to the Senator? 

Mr. CONKLING. Certainly. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. I ask whether we do not now have a standing or- der, which is imporative until it is changed, that we shall adjourn over from Saturday to Monday on every occasion. Now, suppose saying that Sunday is a dies non, we had a standing order that we should 

adjourn every week from Friday to Monday, does the Senator think 

that would infringe upon the Constitution f 

Mr. CONKLING. Well, I should think in that case it would not, 

for several reasons, one of which will probably suffice. It is that. intermediately of eanh two of these Fridays, happening between 

each two of these recesses, is a meeting and presence of the Senate, 

thus totally separating and isolating from each other each of those 

adjournments. But if we were to pass an order that we shall adjourn 

from Friday to Monday each week, and that on Monday we shall adjourn tmtil Thursday and on Thursday shall adjourn to Friday of each 

week, my honorable friend would have a case parallel to this; and 

in either case, I submit to him, that he ascribes to the House--l choose 

to say the House for illustration-the power to say this week or next 

week that there shall not be another day during the present session 

of Congress which will not be dies non. Mr. EDMUNDS. No, I do not maintain that position. 

Mr. CONKLING. IdidnotsupposetheSenatormaintainedit; but 

I say he concedes it as a matter of argument, as I understand the law. 

I do not mean to put any words into his mouth. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. I do not concede that. I think I agree with the 

Senator about that. 
336 OONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DECEMBER 21, 

Mr. C01TKLING. Let me state in other words what I mean; and I 

do not intend to detain the Senate on this matter. If it be true that 

the House of Representatives by adjourning three days at a time, by at 

once, by a. single order, putting it in that form, could carry itself over for 

nine days, it is true it could carry itself over for ninety days, and the 

only difference is the trouble it would give to the scrivener to continue 

this repetition and expansion of the resolution. .AB matter of power, 

if the Constitution does not nominate three days and only three as the time and the whole of it during which either House may absent 

itBelf without the consent of the other, then ninety days is not the 

limit, nor is there a limit until you find a constitutional or statutory 

proVision which fixes a day on which the two Houses must meet. It 

is said in the act of 1792 that on the second Wednesday of February in 

every fourth year the Congress shall be in session, the purpose being 

that the presidential vote shall then be counted. Whether in view 

of that statute such a resolution as this which should make the sec- ond Wednesday in February one of the days when the Honse is not 

to be in session, would or would not be effectual is a question to be 

determined by the force of that statute, perhaps; but saving a case where a statute requires the presence of the House, I submit to the 

Senate that, if this resolution be within the purview of the Constitution, either House may adjourn, simply saying in the resolution they 

do it three days at a time, for ninety days, or for any other period 

within the life of that House. 

Mr. President, I do not desire, particularly with so small an inducement of convenience as there seems to be here, to try a pioneer ex- periment of this sort. I speak with some confidence when I say that 

such a thing was never done in the history of either House. I would 

not venture to assert that upon general recollection ; but having had a few years ago considerable to do with a resolution af!serting the 

power of both Houses to go from day to day, and having looked with some care at that time at the precedents, and having heard disquisitions by much more learned men which I remember, I venture to state 

with some confidence that there is not in the parliamentary history 

of this country a resolution like this or resembling it sufficient.ly to 

suggest any such power. If it be the pleasure of a majority of the 

Senate to take a vacation over the holidays, the mode of doing it is so very simple,-by adjourning for three days with a general understanding among Senators that they are not to expect each other to 

attend at the next meeting and that at that time, there will be doubtless somebody here to move an adjournment from day to day-it is so simple to adjust it by an understanding of that sort, that I repeat 

the inducement of convenience even seems to me very small ; but even if it were a great inducement, I should hesitate to affirm the 

judgment of the Senate in favor of a power which I can see, exerted 

by one House or the other, might be inconvenient and hurtful, I am sure, to say the least. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, I will only occupy a single moment 

of the time in reply to my friend from New York. I think the essen- tial difference between the case that he discusses, and which he has 

discussed in such a way as to very strongly incline me to agree with 

him on that case, and this is manifest. When the Senate meets here on next Tuesday, the first period of the adjournment, it meets for busi- ness. This order, if adopted, would not prevent the Senate sitting con- tinuously if it liked to do so for a week or for any other length of time 

that the public interest should require. It only says that when it adjourns on that day, unless otherwise ordered at that meeting, the adjournment shall be for a certain period within the letter of the Constitution. Now, if on next Tuesday only two Senators come, and they 

wish to otherwise order, they are not bound to adjourn, they have a right to direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to request the attendance of all 

the others, and to stay here until they are brought in, and to go on ~hen with the business of the country as long as they like. 

Mr. MORTON. Allow me to ask the Senator a question. By the 

rule now the Senate meets every day, Sundays excepted, unless otherwise ordered . . We may change that general ru1e and agree to meet 

every other day unless otherwise ordered. May we not, then, fix the 

days, name them, instead of mea.suring the time the other way, so that we do not put it over the three days f What is the difference in principle f 

• Mr. ·EDMUNDS. I do not see the difference if yon always keep 

within the control of the Senate the power, on the day at which the 

fresh order or the old order operating anew is to operate, to prevent 

its operation and to go on with business. I think this is an entirely 

different propo ition from what one would be directing the presiding 

officer of the Senate on Tuesday next peremptorily to adjourn this 

body for one day, or for two, or for three, because it is no worse con- stitutionally to adjourn for three days than it is for one, and so on from day to day. That would be one thing that would fall within 

the very forcible observations of the Senator from New York. But if 

on the day when you meet you have all the power that the Constitution gives yon to stay and do business as long as you like, and simply 

provicle that when you do adjourn that day, unless you choose to fix some other time, it shall be to the next day or to the next day but 

one, or to the third day, I fail to see any in fractionof the Constitution 

in it. 

Mr. HlliLIN. Mr. President, I think it was the wise man who 

said that there was nothing new under the Run. If he had lived today I do not think he would have uttered that exclamation. I think we have got something new here. - Certainly in my judgment it is 

entirely new. If we can adjourn over three days at a time without 

the concurrence of the other branch of the Legislature, we can come here and adjourn during the whole session, sitting only every third 

day. If that is not in contravention of the plain meaning and intent 

of the Constitution, then I do not understand the force of language. 

Now I want to put this case; I want to show the force of this resolution if it be adopted. It is adopted, I will assume, and I will aesume that on Tuesday next this body meets, and having met, some Senator in the body may come to the conclusion that it is appropriate, 

that the public exigencies demand that there shall be some public 

business transacted; but the body finds itself without a quorum. 

The Constitution says that this body may transact all legislative 

business, but it provides that it shall require a quorum of members to 

do it. The Senate finds itself without a quorum. What then are ita 

powers f The Constitution says that the body consisting of less than a quorum may adjourn from day to day. What could the body do on Tuesday next with a less number than a quorum f They could ad· 

journ only from day to day while under this order they would adjourn over three days. We are therefore .fixing an order to-day that con- travenes the express grant of power in that particular, if I can nn· derstand it. 

I do not want to take up time in discussing this resolution. I have 

my own ideas. I am very sorry that it is offered here. I do think 

that it is a very bad precedent to set. I think it is in contravention 

of the Constitution as clearly as anything can be. I will not express 

any opinion in relation to the propriety of an adjournment over, 

whether it be by agreement or in any other way; but if we are going 

to do it I do hope we shall do it in that way which will leave no doubt upon the mind of any one. The discussion which took place in this body to which I referred, 

and which the Senator from New York has more distinctly called the 

attention of the Senate to, was on a proposition far less broad in its 

scope, and if that proposition were an objectionable one, this it does seem to me is in a ve1·y much greater degree. I regret that it has been 

offered. 

Mr. MORRILL. Mr. President, I move to strike out all after the 

words "26th instant." It seems to me that we are spending time upon a matter that we do not practically differ at all about. If we adjourn 

from to-morrow until the 26th instant with a general nnderstandiBg 

that we shall then adjourn to the 29th ihst~~!k and that on the 29th 

instant we shall adjourn to Jan nary 2, I t · it will be obeyed by 

what members of the Senate are present as one of the laws of the 

Medea and Persians. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. But suppose there is no quorum f 

Mr. MORRILL. I have no idea that t.here will be a. quorum, but 

I have also the same faith that the point of the absence of a quorum 

will not be raised after a general understanding has been had that 

the Senate proposes to adjourn from time to time and to transact no business here between this and the 2d .of January. I am very sure 

from what I have heard from different members that there will not 

be a quorum here for the next ten or twelve days. Quite a number 

of Senators are away on committees, and it has been even difficult for 

the last week to obtain a quorum in the last hours of the day's ses- sion. I know of a considerable number that are proposing to visit 

their homes during the holidays at Christmas and New Year's, so that 

I have not the slightest idea that there is going to be a quorum here 

during the next weeki but I think that the object of the resolution 

of the Senator from Rnode Island can be accomplished and the purpose of all Senators can be realized by just adopting the first branch 

of this resolution and then by a general understanding we shall reach 

the same conclusion on each of the days mentioned in that part of the 

resolution which I propose to have stricken out. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The morning hour has expired. 

Mr. MORRILL. I hope this matter will be continued until d~ 

~~~ 1 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If there be no objection, the question is on agreeing to the amendment offered by the Senator from 

Vermont [Mr. MORRILL] to the resolution. 

EXPENSES OF COMMITTEES. 

:Mr. DAVIS. I ask that the report of the committee of conferen~ 

which has been received from the House be concurred in. I send the e 

report to the desk and ask that the Senate concur. The Chief Clerk read the report, as follows : 

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Hot18e8 on the 

amendments of the Senate to the bill of the Honse No. 4124, to provide for the ex· penses of certain special committees, having met, after full and free conference, 

have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Honsee aa follows: 

That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Honee to 

the amendment numbered I and n$1"6e to the same, with an amendment a.s follows: 

In lien of "30 " insert '' 35 " ana add at the end of the eootion amended the fol· 

lowing: · ".A.ri.d the Clerk of the Honse shall pay such :parts of the sum above al'proprfated as the chairmen of the said committees respectively shall, in writing, direct for the 

pnrposes aforesaid to the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Honse, who s~ as soon thereafter as practicable, make report, in writing, to the Honse of the manner in which 

the sums thns paid to him have been expended, accompanied with vouchers in detail; which report and vouchers, when examined and approved by the Committee 

of Accounts of the Honse, shall be deemed a sufficient settlement of hie account- ability for the money thus paid to him; and any unexpended balance remaining in 

the bands of the Sergeant-at-Arms after such settlement shall be paid by him int~ 

the Treas~ of the United States, to the credit of the fund for which it was ap. propria.ted.' . • And the House agree to the same. 
I 

1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 337 

That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Honse to the amendment numbere:12 and a~rtle to the samo, with an amendment as follows: 

In lieu of " 30 " inswt " 35 ·" and tne House a!lree to tho same. ' '"' ·wM. WINDOM. 

H. G. DAVIS, 

Man«gers on the part of the Se:nate. 

WM. S. HOLMAN, J . D. C. ATKINS, EU E~ HA.LE, Manager~ on the part of the Hotute. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I understood tha.t. the difference between the two 

Houses was in the amount of money w hicb the Senate thought proper 

to appropriate for the use of its own committees. Is that soY 

Mr. DA. VIS. I was one of the conference committee, and the chair- man of the committee is absent this morning, and at his request I ask 

tllat the report be concurred in. The difference betwe{'ln the two 

Houses was that the House originally asked 21,000 and the Senate 

$50,000. In conference it was agreed to n:ake them equal: $35,000 

each. . Mr. ANTHONY. I understand that the House of Representatives 

and the Senate are both engaged in certain investigations, investiga,-

tions which are of the highest importance and which exercise the 

hj(J'hest powers of the two Houses, powers which, I think, have some- . ti~es been abused in both Houses. The House of Representatives 

required a certain stun of money, in the judgment of the House, to 

carry on its investigation. I hope that all that the House requires 

will be voted, even if we think it is too much. They are responsible 

to their constituents and responsible to themselves. I also hope that 

the Senate will _insist on having all that its committee thinks proper .. I think it is almost necessary to the independency of the two Houses 

that, if they are to exercise these great powers, they shoulu have 

whatever means each House may think proper to carry these powers 

into effect. I would never vote to restrict the House of Representatives in any amount which it requires to carry on its own inve~:~t igations, nor will I vote to submit to any suchrestriction on the part of 

the Senate. If the House t.hinks it is not fair that the Senate should 

a k for a greater amount than it asks itself, then let it raise it.s amount 

if it sees fit, but not cut ours down. 

I hope that the report will not be agreed to, but that, giving t.he 

House of Representatives all the money that it requires tp carry on its investigations, we shall -demand the same for ourselves. 

:Mr. DAVIS. Mr. President, it is true, as the Senator from Rhode 

Island has stated, that the Senate originally aske1l more than the 

House, and after a full conference there wa.s no special disagreement, 

but it was concluded that the amount the House had asked was too 

small, and it was agreed unanimously on the part of the Senate that 

$35,000, probably, would be a proper amount, and that was, as I un- derstand, after a consultation on the part of the chairman of the Senate conferees, who is now- ab ent., with the chairman of our investigating committee. I heard no particular claim that the Senate had 

not aright to ask for what they wanted. That question did not arise 

in the committee. I hope no obstacle wi11 now be put in the way of adop~ing the report, because both sets of committees, the committees 

of tbe Senate and of the House, are out, anu as I understand the only 

money they have with which to pay their expenses bas been advanced 

by the Sergeants-at-Arms of the respective Houses, and both are in 

need at once, as I understand, of the appropriation. One of the Sergeants-at-Arms ha-s said to me that there is no money to answer the 

wants of the committees. It was said in conference that if there 

should be a further sum necessary on the part of the Senate it could 

be easily asked for by resolution. 

Mr. ANTHONY. 1 suppose the reason why the Senate committee 

agreed to advance the sum from $21,000 to 35,000 for the House was because the conference committee representing the House asked for 

it, and if it asked for one hundred thousand dollars I think our com- mittee should have given it. I think each House can be trusted to 

manage its own expenses, the cost of its own committees, and its own investigations, and since the Senate asked for the sum of $50,000, I 

shall not vote to take anything less. 

Mr. LOGAN. I should like to ask the Senator from West Virginia a question. I was notified that I was appointed on the conference, 

but I presume I was not from the fact that I never rec~ived .any 

notice from the committee to meet with them. I should like to ask 

the S~nat.or if they had any information from the Committee on Privileges and Elections as to the amount reqnired. 

Mr. DAVIS. It is true, as the Sena.tor from Illinois bas said, that 

he was one of the conference committee appointed, but he was not pre~ent. 

Mr. LOGAN. I was not present from the fact that I was not no- tified. 

Mr. DAVIS. But the Senator wa-s unwell, we understood. 

Mr. LOGAN. I was unwell, but the committee perhaps might 

have met at my room as conveniently as at some other room. I make no point on that, however. I only say I know nothing about it. 

Mr. DAVIS. I will answer the Senator's further question. I am not able to speak for the chairman of that committee, with whom I 

agreed; but when we agreed he spoke for himself, as I understood, 

and for the Senator from lllinois. That is to say, in committee we thought the Senu.tor from Illinois would agree with us; but that is a matter of speculation only, What information the chairman had ~om the ,Committee on Privileges anu Elections I have no knowlV-2~ 

edge. I only know that as be was obliged to be absent to-day, and 

t hought it important that t.he report should be agreed to, he a-sked me when it came over from t.he Hous~ to move concurrence. Mr. LOGAN. I make no point aM far as I myself am concerned. I 

have nothing to say on that account. I do not know that I could 

have met with the committee. I only said that I had received no notice of its meeting. That, of course, will have no effect on thereport, but I desire to say that I appeared before the Committee on Appropriations. Whether the Senator from West Virginia. was present 

then or not, I will no~ now state, but my impression is that he was. I was (lelegated by the Committee on Privileges :~.nd Elections to 

appear before the Committee on Appropriations. I did so appear, ·and made the statement of that committee as to the amount required. 

I was asked the question wheth~r the committee had considered the 

question, and I replied thev had, and that they had asked for the 

smallest amount they thought they could get along with, and this was the unanimous statement of the Committee on Privileges and 

Elections. I made ths.t report to the Committee on Appropriations. 

This subsequent action I know nothing about. I only state the 

bets. , Mr. MORTON. Perhaps I ought to state that I was conllulted by 

the Senator from Minnesota not now in his seat [Mr. WIND0:\1] on this matter, and told him that I was satisfied that the amount of 

$35,000 was not sufficient, but that there was an immediate demand 

for money, and perhaps it would be a-s well to take this appropriation 

now, but with the understanding that more would probably be asked 

for. We cannot well afford to delay this appropriation bill any longer, 

and a-s a disagreement in regard to this conference report would prob- . ably result in such delay, I suppose we bad better take it. I clo not 

believe it will be sufficient, and I concur entirely in the remarks of 

the Senator from Rhode Island that either House should have such an amount appropriated as in the judgment of that House may be neces- sary. I tllink tills is due to tlle courtesy between the two Honses and 

due to the full exercise of the powers with which each House is invested. 

Mr. DAVIS. ·As the Senator from Indiana has said, be had a con- versation with the chairman of the conference committee, and as the Senator is chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections 

I supposed that the report met with his concurrence. Therefore I 

hope that the report will be agreed to ; ancl as was said in committee, or at least in the Committee on Appropriations, if there should be any 

further sum necessary it can be asked for and there will be no particular object.ion . .Mr. LOGAN. I (lesire to say that I bad no knowledge of the chair- man of the committee having any conference on this subject. 

Mr. MORTON. That was within a day or two. 

Mr. LOGAN. I only repeated what I was delegated to state to the 

Committee ou Appropriations. I did convey to them the unanimous 

request of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. 

Mr. ANTHONY. The committee of conference might well have an understanding that if any further sums were wanted they shoul1l be 

asked for; and 1 suppose they could be asked for without any such 

unuerstancling. I do not suppose that the committee of conference 

could have any understanding that the sums asked for should be 

granted. 

Mr. DAVIS. I hope the Senator did not misunderstand me. I said 

that there was something said of that, not that there was an understanding on the subject in the Committee on Appropriations; I uo not know that it was in the conference committee. I hope the Senator did not understand me a-s saying that the committee agreed that 

it should be done. I uid not mean to intimate such a thing. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I can only say that while I am ready to grant to 

the House of Representatives all the money it wants for such purposes, I shall not vote for an appropriation less than what the Senate 

in its judgment has thought proper to ask. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on concurrence in 

the report of the committee of conference. ' 

The report was concurred in. 

}\ROPOSED HOLIDAY RECESS. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempo're. The question recurs on the amendment to the resolution of the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. ANTHONY] respecting the adjournment proposed by the Senator from Vermont,[~. MORRILL.] The amendment will be read. 

The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed to strike out all after the words 

"26th instant;" so that, if amended, the resolution will read: · 

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns on Friday the 22d instant it be to meet on Tuesday the 26th instant. 

The amendment was agreed to. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the resolution as 

amended. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Let it be read as it stands now. The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That when the Senate 4\djot:rrn on Friday the 22d instant, it be to meet on Tuesday the 26th instant. · · · 

Mr. MORRILL. And with the general understanding, which s~~ms 

to be manifest on all sides of the Chamber, that when we meet aga.i'u on the 26th we shall adjourn over until the 29th, and on the 29th t~ 

the 2d of January. 

I 
338 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DEOEl\IBER 21' 

Mr. EDMUNDS. We cannot do that withouta quorum,foritwould 

violate the Constitution worse than the other would. 

:hh'. MORRILL. Of course it will not be ascertained that there is no quorum, when we have this general understanding. 

Mr. ED~lUNDS. It will be if I am here. 

Mr. SHERMAN. It all comes to this, that any Senator can on the 

26th demand a session the next day. 

Mr. MORRILL. Of course. Mr. SHERMAN. Of course; it must depend on the unanimous consent of evm·y. Senator. 

Mr. E.DMUNDS. Certainly; and I hope there is not any understanding about it now, Mr. President. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempm·e. The question is on the resolution as 

a.monded. 

The resolution, as amended, was agreed to. 

HAYDEN'S REPORT. 

Mr. ANTHONY submitted the following resolution ; which was re- ~erred to the Committee on Printing: 

Resolved by the Senate (the H01tae of Representatives CO'ncurring,) That there be 

printed 4,500 copies of Professor Hayden's annual report of the geological and 

geographical survey of the Tenit~l'ies for 1875 and 1876; 3,000 copies of which shall 

be for tba use of the House of Representatives, 1,000 for the ut~e of tlle Senate, and 

500 coj)ies for the use of the office of the survey. 

LEGAL TENDER OF SILVER COL~. 

Mr. MITCHELL. I call for the regular order. 

Mr. MAXEY. Mr. President--

. M.r. LOGAN. ! desire to say that I obtainecl the :floor when this 

·question was l>efore the Senate and was lJeinO' discussed some da;vs 

ago, aJ1d intended to submit some remarks, I~ve been very .unwell 

since, and therefore am willing that the Senatorfrom Texas shall oc- cupy the :floor in my stead this morning; out I desire to call the attentionoftheSenateandofthechairmanof the Committeeon Finance to 

the bill (S. No. 1026) for the issue of silver coin and to make the silver 

dollar a legal tender, now before the committee, and also to a bill of 

a similar character passed by the House of Representatives within a few days. Senate bill N~. 1026 was introduced by myself at the last 

session. I think it is very important t.hat the Senate should take 

early action on the question and settle it one way or the other; and 

without submitting any views on the qnest1on, more than a general 

statement, my views concur with tl.Je action of the House to a certain 

extent; that is that the old silver dollar should be made a legal tender 

and be recoined. 

I desire now to ask the chairman of the Finance Committee at what 

time be thinks it will be likely the committee can report this bill or some bill to the Senate of the United States for their action f I was 

not with the committee at the last meeting for the reason that I was not well enough to be there. .At the meeting before I was present, 

and without saying anything about what transpired I suggested this 

matter myself, and somet~g was said in reference to a report of a " committee or commissiOn appointed. on the subject. But inal:lmuch as I feel a great interest in this measure and desire to urge it at all 

times that I can before ,the Senate, I wish to kno~ prior to the adjournment if there is any probability of early actioll by the committee in presenting the question to the Senate of the United States. 

Mr. ::;HERMAN. I can only state to the Senatoc that the committee have not yet had an opportunity to consider the question and have 

been delayed somewhat by the fact that the silver commission, as it 

is called, has made no report on the subject. I am informed in a general way that th~y will be able to make a report soon. As a matter 

of courae the subject is pending before the Committee on l!'ina.nce and 

will be promptly acted upon after the ailjournment; but how soon I 

do not know, certainly at an early period of the session. · I am i11 fa- vor of very speedy action. Whether my views agree wit.h those of 

the Senator or not will be developed hereafter; but I can asFiure hlm, 

I think, that immediately after the adjotunment, so far as the CommittP-e on Finance are concerned, they will be ready to act on this question, especially if in the mean time the silver commission should make 

their report. It seems to me they ought to make their report before we take any final action. • Mr. LdG.AN. I feel myself that that is very proper, but I do not see the chairman of that commission present, nor do I propose to find 

any fault wit.h their action-! have no right to do so-but I do desii·e 

to say that I think it very important that that commission should re- port, and report at a very early day; if the Committee on Finance is 

wa,iting for the report of the silver commission, so called, mlless they 

intend to make a report so voluminous that it will never be read, and 

if they do, action might as well be had without it. If they intend to 

ma,ke a report that can be read during this session, I hope they will 

make it as soon as possible, for the reason that if the report is not made 

until late in the session in all probability there will be no action on the question. I deem it a question of as much importance as any that 

is before the co11ntry now, and the action of the Senate on it is very 

important to tq~ P!llJ.R-t~y ~ y}e'Y 9~ tp.e action of the Honse of Rep-: resentatives. ' · 

I do not desire tQ be UJ:tderstond a& l}~tiqg a~y reflection whatever 

upon the commission, but I merely Sfl.Y wli(l>t I dQ iq. order-tha.t they 

may be urged to make their report as speeqil:y a~ JlflSiji~l$3, P.ecause 

that certain I y was contemplated by the action of the ~en.~~ w ~H- tJ:}.ey were appointed and required tO report at this session. · 

ELECTORAL VOTE OF OREGON. 

The Senate resumed the consideration of the resolution directing an inquiry as to the •eligibility of J. W. Watts as an elector for the 

State of Oregon and the circumstances attending the appointment of. electors in that Stat.e. 

.Mr. MAXEY. l\fr. President, yesterchiy evening-, in the discussion 

of the resolution presented by the Senator from Oregon, the Senator 

from Ohio, [Mr. SHER~IA..~,] among ot.her thing , said: 

I am very certain that, if Governor Hayes should become satisfied, or if I should 

booome sa.til:!fied, so far as my action may bear on this question-I<lo not lrnow that 

it will-that Governor Hayes did not rer.eive the honest vote of a State or that he 

di<l not have a. fair majority of the votes legall_v cast, be would not desire the electoral vote of any of the disputed States. If it should be clear that in South Carolina, or Florida, or Louisiana Governor Hayes did not receive a majority of tl!e 

legal votes cast at theelectioninoitber of those States. I would not ha.'le bim-Gocl 

forbid that be should-accept the office of PreRident of tlle United States with sm·h a conviction noon his conscience.· Any man who would do it would be dishonored 

before men and before God. 

I was very greatly rejoiced to hear that utterance from the Senat-or 

from Ohio, ann I will state that if it should be clear that in South 

Carolina, or Florida, or Louisiana, Governor Tilden did not receive a majority of the legal votes cast at the election in either of tho e States, I would not have him-God forbid that he should-accept the 

office of Prel:lident of the United States with such a conviction upon 

his conscience. Any man who would do it would be dishonored before men and before God. 

In a very grave question like this, of the very deepest concern to 

the whole .American people, it is a matter of infinitely more concern that the vote should be fairly and legally counted than the re ult of 

that count. What is now of the utmost consequence to the peace, 

prosperity, and well-being of the country is thatsuchacourse should 

be taken by the two Houses of Congress ln counting the electoral 

vote as to convince the .American people that the count has been fair, 

honest, honorable, and lawful. If there is anything for which the 

American people are specially noted, it is for fair play. What the 

people now want is a fair ·aml honest count of the vote. Whatever 

the result of such a count may be is a matter of secondary importance. "Fair play and no cheating around the' board" is what is demanded. · 

Mr. President, I hope that every Senator in this body and every 

member of the House will come up in the spirit of the utterance I 

have quoted from the Senator from Ohio, determined to do his part 

toward seeming a fair and honest count of the legal votes; and if 

we will all act with that earnest pnrpo e to do justice, to do the very 

right bet weep the contending candidates, and carry out that purpose, 

the .America~ people will be satisfied with the result; but if the people of the United States come to- the conclusion that, by indirect 

means, by trick, by chicanery, by fraud, by cunning, or by any unlawful means, a man ~s been declared to be President of the United 

States who was not fairly and honestly elected, there will be mntterings loud and deep, and it will be the severest shock to American institutions that they have ever yet receh·ed. I say, then, that we here, 

the trusted em bassadors of the States of this Union, have in our charge a matter of t.he gravest concern which may have a direct bearing 

upon the futnre prosperity and well-being of this country. I trust in 

God that reason, love of country, and an honest desire to do right 

unswerved by party bias will pervade the Senate and House and the 

whole country until this question is settled, and if we so act, I have no doubt of a solution tha,t will satisfy the country, and that business 

will instantly resume its wonted channel with ever-increasing prosperity . . l\Ir. President, at the opening of this debate, in the first speech in 

"the series of speeches made by the Senator from Ohio on pre enting 

the labors of the committee sent to the State of Louisiana and the city 

of New Orleans at the request of the President of the United States, be 

took occasion to send forth to the world his conviction, under his imp1·imatur of the personal integrity of the members of the returning 

board of Louisiana and of the legality of their work, Sir, we all know 

that when tile work of t,hat IJoanl and the 11ersonal character of the 

members of that board are vouched for by a citizen of the distinguished reputation of the Senator from Ohio, necessarily that indor~­

ment will have ihi weight and its influence. That the Senat or was sincere in the statement that they were entitled to and enjoyed as much 

respect for their persoL1al character and standing as any Senators on 

this floor, I do not gainsay; but it is a question of judgment, and upon a question of judgment honest men may differ. 

~o far as I am personally concerned, I do not propose to pa s ~ny 

judgment based on personal knowledge upon the honesty or di honesty of those men who constituted the returning board of the St.at.e 

of Louisiana, but it is a part of the history of the country, and as soch 

I ha.vo a right to refer to it, that during the days of recon truction 

Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan was sent by the Government 

to the city of New Orleans as the military comma.nuer of t.he depart- men t composed of the States of Louisiana an<l Texas for tile purpose 

of. carrying out and executing the reconstruction ads. .At t hat time, 

1867, the present chairman of the returning board of the State of 

Louisiana, J . .Madison Wells, was governor of that Sta,te. It js part 

of the history of this country, published to the world by· Lieu tenantGeneral Sheridan, that J. Ma:dison Wells, then governor of the State 

of Louisiana, was by him removed fi·om that high po itiou bccaut~e 

p.~ was an impediment to reconstruction; and in support of that charge, 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. - 339 

for which he removed him, General Sheridan said be was a. diBhonest man and surrounded him elf by political tricksters, and that. he, General Sheridan, could not discharge the unties which. he was sent to 

the State of Louisiana to discharge with such a man m,office. 

That I say is the opinion of General Sheridan. Now, General Sheridan is' a rna~ of distinguisbe<l reputation in _th!s co~mtry. The ~en­ at.or fl'om Ohio is in like manner a man of d1stwgmshed reputatiOn. 

Here we have two men of the same party, bot.h occupying honorable 

positions, directly differing as to the character for i~f":egrity of t~e 

chairman of the returning board of the State of Loms1ana. And It was not a mere idle-utterance of General Sheridan; it was not simply 

something to"pnt in a newspaper for f?(>.neml p~l>licaHon, bn~ it wa-s au offi(".ial act. That utterance was given by him to the President aa 

the reason for the removal of Mr. Wells, and he was removed from 

the governorship of Louisiana for the rea-sons assigned by LieutenantGeneral Sberitlan. 

So far so good. There I have the Senator from Ohi_o o~ one side and 

the Lieutenant-General of the Army on the other side m respect to 

the character of Mr. Wells. But the Senatm· goes further and states 

in respect to this same returning board: -

• A committee of the House of Representatives. havin"' pow~r ~ d? it in_the.investigation of the election of a member of t-he House amY als~ m tne mvest1gation of the Lonisiana election generally, held that thf'.J maue a mlStake of law. They construed it that they had power "to act in exclmlmg Yote.q when there was no formal complaint or protest made by the officers who held the election. The co~ mit. 

tee set aside the action of the board to that extent for ~he purpose of foundmg a compromise in Louisiana, but at the same time they certifie? to the honor~ble ({har- acter and general good conduc~ of the board, anflll?e only difference w.as m rega~d 

to a. legal opinion, and the chaiTIDan of that comm1tt~ the other day m debate m the other House to which we may refer as part of the h1story of the hmes, repeated 

again, and I am ~orry I have not now his language b~fore me, that t-h~t co_n~mittee nev · did arraign the returnin,g board for personal misconduct or arraign 1ts legality. They acknowledge its legality. It was a conceded fact. 

Mr. President, the committee to which the Senator re~ers· was a special committee appointed by the Honse of Representatives of the 

Forty-third Congress, of which Hon. GEORGE F. HoAR, of Massachusetts, was the chairman. 

Mr. SHERMAN. If my friend from Texas will allow me there, (be- cause it may perhaps save me from fn~t~er remarks at an?tber stage,) 

I will now stat.e to him the exact conditiOn of that committee. I was substantially correct in my statement last evening, and I will now state it more preci ely, because I have it from Mr. Ho~R himself. That 

committee I believe, was organized upon the motwn of .Mr. RoAn, 

a.nd was c~mposed of seven members. Instead of going in a hody, 

the whole seven, to New Orleans to witness the-inauguration of the ·State government, they sent three gentlemen, Mr. }~OST~ .Mr. Phelps, 

and Mr. Potter, a-s a subcommittee. That subcommittee returnetl w1~h 

their report, and it is probably from that report that the S~nator 1s 

about to read. At any rate that waa !he report of the subcommittee, n~t 

of the majority of the wbol~ committee. :r'hat report w~a commum- cated by the committee, not mdorsed, but simply commnmcated to the 

House as the report of the subcommittee. Tba_t is tl~o information 

given to me by Mr. HoAR. Afterward the committee, ill pursuance of 

the powers conferred upon it, did undertake to go and did go down 

to New Orleans, Mr. HOAR, Mr. WHEELEit, Mr. FRYE,· and perhaps some one else-Mr. Marshall, I believe. At any rate, t.he other mem- bers of the committee who had not participated with the subcommittee went down. 

Mr. BAYARD. To settle the accuracy of the Senator, I will state 

that the committee was composed of seven members and was represented by a subcommittee consisting of Messrs. Phelps, FosTER, and 

Potter. When they came back their report was joined in and signed 

by Mr. Marshall, making fom of the seven who signed their report. 

That will appear on reference to the record. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I do not know bow that may be; but at a-ny rate 

the rest of the committee, four in number, went to New Orleans and 

there made what I always speak of, and spoke of yesterday, as thereport of the committee, the repo:t signed by HoAR, W_HEELE~~ and 

l<'RYE which led to the compromtse arrangement made m Lomsut.na. 

Whed I speak of the report of the committee, I hope my friend will 

not quote the :first document on me. He may comment on it; but 

that wa-s not what I meant by" the report of the committee." I meant 

the paper signe(l by Mr. HoAR, Mr. WHEELER, ancl Mr. FRYE. · Mr. BOGY. The report of the minority. The other was the majority report. 

Mr. MAXEY. I am very glad to hear the statement of the Senator 

from Ohio, and I think I know something of the transaction myself. 

The report from which I propose to read is Report No. 101, made to the 

Forty-third Congress, seconu session, by "Mr. GEORGE },. HOAU, from 

the select committee on the con clition of the South," as follows: 

Mr GEORGE F. HOAR, on behaU of the special committee on that portion of the 

President's mcssa.(l'e relating to the condition of the South, reports as follows: 

In pur.-uance of'the order of the full committee, of pecem_het 22\ a special com- mittee of three visited New Orleans, and proceeded With an mvestigation, the re- sult of which they report to thfl general committee as follows: 

Mr. SHERMAN. Yes. 

Mr. MAXEY. Now comes in their report. Then I will go on to show 

that this report, from which I propose to read, is not limited totbe re- port of the subcommittee Hon. CHARLES FOSTER, William Walte1· 

Phelps, and Clarkson N. Potter, but it is the report of the whole COillmittee, as yon will see by this. Going on ancl embodying in tqe re- port made by Mr. HoAR to the House the report of the snbcQIDmittee 

made by the subcommittee to the general committee, Mr. HoAR adds 

this : 

The evi<lence on which the subcommittee base their conclusiona not yet being 

written out will be Rubmitted hereafter, if it shall be deemetl desira.blt~. The com- mittee ther~upon votetl to adopt the report, an!l also to report tb~ same to the House 

with thereoommendatiou that the same be prrnted and recomiDitted. 

For the committee : GEO. F. HOAR, Ohairman. 

It appear~ here that the testimony was not at that tim~ written out, 

and for the reason, I take it, that the repor~ and the eVIdE)nce ~hould 

go hand in band this report w_as recommttted, and the testunony 

having subsequently been published, (three hundred and forty-one 

pages,) that was put out as apart of the}eport of the comm~t~ee,and, 

this document being marked Report No. 101, that contamm_g the 

evidence was marked Report No.lOl, part 2. Therefore the evidence 

referred to by Mr. HOAR aa not a.~ that time hayi.ng been written out was after this recommittal, pubhshed along Witn the report as part. ·of the report, and the two were together. 

Mr. DAWES. Let me make an inquiry of the Senator. 

Mr. MAXEY. If the Senator will permit me, I am trying to make a connected argument on this sn~ject. 

Mr. DAWES. I rose in reference to the report of Mr. HOAR. Perhaps there is a point upon which the Senator will give me a little light. 

Mr. MAXEY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. DAWES. I should like to inquire of the Senator whether after 

this subcommittee's report was taken by the whole c_ommittee, and 

laid before the Honse and printed, and then recommitted, the com- mittee with Mr. HoAR at its bead, did not visit Louisiana, and make a fn1l ;eport to the Honse of Representatives of a very different character f I make inquiry as to the fact. · Mr. MAXEY. I think there was another report made. 

Mr. DAWES. Upon that subject. . . Mr. SHERMAN. If my friend will allow me, I I?ro~i~ no~ to m- terrupthim aga,in. It is very common, as the practiCe IS m this }Jody 

and the other body, for committ~e~ to report a: d~cument to be prmte_d 

and recommitted. The recommittmg and prmtmg does not commit 

the committee to what is.report.ed a.nd printed. 

Mr. DAWES. The only word upon which the Senator from Texas 

bases his remark that the Representative from Massachusetts, the 

chairman of the committee, and his colleagues spoke through thap re- port, is the woril "adopted." T)ley took the word ."adopted". as a way to express the fact ~hat they ~eceived f~om the1~ sul>co_mDllttee 

this report and ordered 1t to be prmted for mformatwn an~ recom- mitted that the whole committee might still have control of It. .A:fter 

that the whole committee, as a committee, went to New Orleans and 

reviewed the whole subject a.nd came back and made a re~ort as a committee not as a subcommittee, but a report as a committee. I 

think the Senator from Texas, if he desires to do exact justice to the 

committee as a committee, should turn to the leaves of that report, 

which is the report of the comt?ittee, and there h~ will find what the 

committee meant to be respons1 ble for aa a commttte'3. 

Mr. MAXEY. The report which I read is report No. 101 of the 

Forty-third Congress, second session, and is signed "GEo. F. HoAR, 

chairman." 

The report to which I presuine the Senator from Massachusetts re- fers was subsequent to t.he one I am referring to, and after, as I Illl~lerstand it, the return of Messrs. HoAR, FRYE, WHEELER, and I believe 

Mr. Marshall. • Mr. Marshall united in the report of the majority with Messrs. FosTER Phelps and Putter and the report to which the Senator refers 

was' a mino;ity report, 'but, a-s I insist, d?es not do a'Yay with t~e "adoption" of the report I rt1fer to. This report w_biCh I re_ad 1s 

reported a-s having been adopted by the general committee a~d ts re- porte•l "For tht1 committee;" and signed "GEO. F. Ho~, chairman;" 

and it embodies within it the report of the subcommittee, HonorablesCHARLES FOSTER William Walter Phelps, and ClarksonN. Potter. 

Following that, the n~xt report is a report from th~ ~njority of the 

committee on the state of the South, marked "maJonty t:eport No. 

261." That is signed by CHARLES FosTER, William WalterF~elps, 

Clarkson N. Potter and Bamuel S. Marshall. The next report IS the 

report of a portion' of the special commit.tee, which is a minority re- port as will be seen by the names signed by "GEo. F. HOAR, .'Vl\f. A. W~ELER, WM. P. FRYE," a minority of the collllDittee. Th1s I pre- sume is the report the Senator refm;s to. 

Mr. DAWES. Mr. President- . 1\Ir. MAXEY. I desire further to say in that -connection t.hat the 

majority report distinctly states, signed, aa I have stated, by }'OSTER, 

Phelps, Potter, and Marshall, thatThe undersigned, a majority of the Committee on the state of th~ South, respect. 

fully report that they canpot agree to the report made to the comm1ttoo by Messrs. 

HoAR, WHEELER, and FRYE. 

Mr. DAWES. Now; if I do not trouble the ~nator too m~c~, I 

desire to ask him if he does not do my colleague m the Ho~se IDJUStice when he nndertakes to make him responaible for those VIews submitted to tbe other branch by those other gentl£'men ';Vho say that 

they do not agree ~ith th~ opiui<?ns to whi?h Mr. H~AJ:t ~1m self p~aced 

41s signature, and for whwh be 1s responsible. !his 1s all I des1re to 

say. I simply desire to have my_ colleague set right·. . . . Mr. MAXEY. I do not iutentwnnlly uo Mr. HoAR IDJnstt~e. The 

character and stand~ng of .Mr. GEORGE F. HoA~, as I am adv1sed aud 
340 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DECEMBER 21, 

believe, is that of nn bonomble gentleman, but I take the reports as I find them, and I beg t.o say tb:J,t·, high ns the character of Mr. lloAR 

is, it is in no respect Wgher, ho is no more a trusted republican than 

Mr. CnARLES FOSTER or than Mr. \Villiam 'Valter Phelps, nor is it 

higher than that of the democrats, .Mr. Potter and Mr. Marshall; and 

I have read from the 1·eport of .Messrs. FOSTER, Phelps, Potter, and 

Marshall from the report of the subcommittee incorporated in a report 

ma.de by Mr. HoAR, as chairman, and which he states in his report was adopted by the full committee. Certainly the testimony of these gentle- men is as goodasthetefftimonyofthechnirman of that committee. Certainly the testimony of the majority of that committee is as reliable 

before the country as the testimony of the minority. As I said before, 

I have simply stated the fact-s that this report which I hold in my 

hand was reported by Mr. HoAR, signed by him as chairman of that 

committee, and in it be st,ates that the committee "thereupon votecl 

to adopt the report and also to report the same to the House1 with the 

recommendation tliat the same be printed and recommitted.' I think 

the words mean what they, ay. The reason why it should be recom- mitted I have stated; that he bad said in the report that the testimony 

had not been written out, and therefore it '\Vas recommitted; and as an evidence of that fact, when the testimony was written out, it was printed as part of this document which is signed by the chairman of 

that committee. That is part 2 of Report No.lOl. 

Now, the Senator from Ohio says further that this committee "acknowledged the legality of that board." The committee say: 

Tho law pro-rides that this board shall consist of five persons "from all p~litical parties." It con~isted at tho opening of their last session of five republicans ; upon 

tho resignation of ono of whom (General Longst.reet) Mr. Arroyo, a conservative, was taken to fill tho vacancy. After protesting arrainst tho action of tho boarcl in secret ession he resigned about the conclusion o1 their 1:-U:>ors, and his place was not filled, so that, as your committee think, the law as to the constitution: of tho 

board was not complied with. 

When tLis report was subsequently made by the majority of the 

committee they report the same thing, that the law was not complie<l 

with. So far, then, I think the Senator from OLio was iu error when 

be said that this committee said nothing in regard to the illegali+-y of 

that transaction. But I want to ·go further. He said thattheHouse 

committee when it came to the personal character of that boardsaid 

nothing against it. He used thislanguagealso, "bntatthesametime 

they certified to the honorable character and general conduct of the 

board." Now let us see whether or not t.he report carries out that. On 

page 2 of the report the committee say: 

Tho public sittings of tho returning board wore attended by tho counsel of tho 

republican and conservative State committees. Objection!! were received from tllo 

counsel of tho r espective parties to 1.ho returns from different polls. The ob. 

jecting party was generally allowed to produce affidavits to support tho objection, 

and tho other party to reply by affidavits. A day was fixed when these proofs wore to be closed. After these public sessions tho board went into private or, as they were called. executive sessions, whore tho proofs and matters in dispute wore discnsseu and a decision arrived at. 

I call tbe attention of the Senate to this: 

The minutes of tho l>oard are very meager; they. contain little more than a record 

of its meeting, _going into executive session, and its adjourning, and some' formal 

public orders. 'l'hey.(lontain no minutes whatever of tho procoedin!!s in executive 

sossjon, and furnish,. therefore, little light upon tho findings of tho board. 

Now I read what refers especially to the chairman of that board, 

Mr. J. Madison Wells, and let ns see whether or not the ideas of this 

committee who visited the city of New Orleans for the very purpose of 

ascertaining the truth in regard to the official action of these gentle- men correspond with• the ideas of the Senator worn Ohio. 

The parish of Rapidos chose three members of tho Le.gislature. The returns elected all three conservatives. When tho proofs closed. tho only paper filed with 

the returning board was tho affidavit of tho Unired States supor'Vlsor that the election was in ill respects full, fair, and free. 

Mark you, thr.ee conservatives were returned, and it was sworn to 

by the supervisor that the election was fair, full, and free in the parish of Rapides. 

It was not known in tho parish that an:v contest existed against the ~members. 

They left their homes.and proceeded to 'ew Orleans to be present at tbA opening of tho Legi laturo, no intimation of contesting their seats or objection to thelreleetion havin ..... been ~"'en by their opponents. At one of their last sessions thereturning board declared :tll tho republican members elected from that parish. . 

The 'supervisor reported the three conservatives elected. There was. no contest ; no paper w:hatever was filed except t.he proper paper 

of the supervisors; thus i~ went np; and it is only at the last session 

of the 1·etnrning board that they declared all the republican members 

elected from that parish. Now let ns see bow that was accomplished, 

by what strange means, by what legerdemain it was that the three 

conservative members from the parish of Rapi~es were thrown out 

during one of the last days of their session and one of their last ses- sions and three republican members counted in in their place. And 

it will be remembered that the same four men, with the same chairman, who constituted the board to which the committee refers constitute the board now. The committee say: 

When tho papers of tho returning board were P'oduced before your committee, t.hero was found among them an affidavit by !JF. Wells, tho president of tho board, 

declaring that intimidation bad existed at certain poJ..ht ~ t11.at parisll, and that tho rotnrns D'Om those polls .should therefore be rejected. 'J.:'}Jo cq~eJ for the democratic commit.tee t tified that they had had no opportun~ty tq ~ntr,a.t:liq; f.~o state- ments of this paper; that. they never bad seen or known of tt before, ~~d tliatppoq. a.~! 

examination of tho f:tper before tho board, when the proofs closed, ItW.afi n.otllm.onu 

tbem. The coonse for the republican committee reserved tho right to ~k,e eJt~ 

planation upon this _point, but offered none. Tho affidavit was dat-ed tbe ~ day Of n, e m ber, 1871. It a,ppeared that Governor W oils was not himself in tb..e parisq. ou tho day of the elootiou. 

I ask honorab]e Senators bow it was possible for an honest man to fi.Je an affidavit stating that int.imi<lation occurred in that pari h on election day when he was not in that parish on the day of the election¥ 

And though at the opening of their first session your committee declare<l their 

intention to examine into the action of the returning board, Governor Wells never came forward as a witness. 

That is one time he declined. · 

At tho close of our procee~gsleavo was a-sked thu.t his depo ition might be given 

in. This was declined, and Mr. Wells was himself invited to appear before tho com- mittee, but he never came. Leave waa also given for taking his testimony by com· mis ion if be desired, but Wll!ll ~ot availM of. 

Thus we have opportunity after opportunity offered to the witness 

'fhere the opposite party would have the pow~r of cross-examination 

au<l the searching out of the very truth, aucl yet on every occasion he 

declined to come forward and subject Wmself to the rigidity of a cross- examination. 

Your committee are therefore constrained to declareUsing the word "constrained." It is the report of honest men against t..he interest of their own partyYour committee are therefore constrained to declare tbattbo action of the return· ing board, in rejecting these returns in tho parish of Rapides and givintr tho seats for· that parish to the republican candidates, was arbitrary, unfair, and without war- rant of law. 

I ask honorable Senators if an honorable man can knowingly do an unfa.ii· thing, and, when the subject of the act is brought directly in 

que tion, when he is invited in all the modes known to the law to come forward and give his testimony, decline to give it in any shape or manner either by personal appearance or by deposition or by com- mi sion and interrogatories. · · 

If tho committee were to go behind tho papers before the board and consider tho 

alleged ~barge of intimiuation upon tho proofs before tho committee, their finding 

woriltlnecossa.rily be tho same. 

How! Here Mr. J. Madison Wells swears that there was intimidation, and a committee with a majority of his own party, or a subcommittee, in that clause upon examination, state that if they were re- quired to go behind the papers before the board that their report would 

be the same. 

It was asserted in Governor Wells's affidavit that tho McEnery officials bad 

usm-ped tho offices of tho parish, and thereby intimidated voters. Immediately 

after U1e 14th of September, when tho Kellogg authorities in Now Orlea .~ were put out by tho Penn authorities, certain changes took place in some of tho parishes. 

When the news from Now Orleans rea{lhed these parishes tho McEnery nilicia.ls 

demanded their places of tho Kellogg officials, and they were at once ~iven up. 

W'ben the Fe-al Gonrnment intervened and unseated tho McEnery authorities, 

tho Kellogg ofimnls demanded and received blWk their places; bnt in Rapides some time seems t{) have elap~d before tho Kellogg officials took their places back ; in· 

deed, tho McEnery reg.ster of deeds was still acting as such whou your coUllDittee were in New Orleans, tho KelloJ?g register never having como to reclaim the place. 

which was said to be worth notb.lilg. 

That is a good reason why they did not want to remove him. 

Naw. in Rapides tho Kello~g clerk was Mr. Wells's son. llaving yielded his pJaco to tho McEnery competitor m September, be does not appear to have reclaimed it, 

ancl he was accol'dingl:v sent for, aher tho election, to come from his residence, some miles distJnt. to stgn tho returns of tho election, which he ilid. Your committee are at a loss to ee, in this action, any intimidation of lli. Wells, still less of the 

electors of tho parish. 

Aud yet the affidavit of J. Madison Wells did state, although be was not there to know the truth whereof he testified, that the electors in 

that parish were intimidated. This is not a democratic paper that I am reatling. I am perfectly willing to take the testimony of CHARLES 

FosTER, \Villiam Walter Phelps, and Clarkson N. Potter in a case of 

this kind, or any kind-men whose reputation is known. The first 

two are t.msted members of the republican party, and the last I kno.w 

stands high in the ranks of the democratic party, and is one of the 

ablest lawyers that practices in the country. As to their integrity no oue bas brought it in question, and cannot. Then it does not make 

any difference to me whether it be that this is Mr. HOAR's report or whether it is not Mr. Ho...m's report. It is the report of men .aa good as 1\Ir. HoAR, and of the same political faith and order, whose busi- ness it was to go <lown there to investigate facts and make a report 

after full investigation. 

I will read what they say in regard to this parish of Rapides, which 

they have discussed: 

It so happens that that parish was taken as a asmplo parish of intimidation. 

If they could not establish intimidation in Rapides, and that was the ample they bad ta.ken, the case failed. 

.Many witnesses from botb parties were examined in reference to it.; they show 

beyoud question that there was a froo. full, fair. and peaeeable election and regis· tration there. 

Autl yet tbe president of this board, Mr. Wells, swears that tber~ 

was intimidation there. 

There was no en deuce of any intimidation of ~oters practiced on tho day of cleo. 

tion, althon!!h it was asserted that intimidation of colored men bofure election had 

been efl'ootea by thx·eats of refusal to employ them, or discharge th11m, if they Yoted 

tho r epublican ticket. No evidence, either of discharge or of r efusal to cmployJ was produced. Certain witnesses, themselves every ouo oflico-holder , te. tifieu 

IJ:encrally to such action; bot hardly any one was abto to specify a single in tan co in which be heard of any employer so threatenintr or discharging any voter. or knew of any employe being so threatened or discllil.rged. Not one single colored man throughout the entire parish was produced to testify, either to '?-ch a threat 

pr to the execution of such a purposo, whether before or after tho clec11on. 

Tbo action of tho returning board in tho parish of Ra.pides alone cbp.nged the JlO· 

litje l,complexiou of tho lower house, but their action in other parishes was equally 

opje,ct~o~blo. 
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 

They then go on and give the facts in regard to other parishes; 

bnt I wnl pass on, io save time, to DeSoto: 

So in the parish of DeSoto, in which the returns showed a conservative elected 

b y over l,OOOmajority, it was all ~ed thatthesup~rvisorof registration hall brought 

tho returns to New Orleans, and nad left them w1th a woman of bad character, who 

offered to produce them on payment of 1,000. 

That is a place for them! 

The conseiTative committee took lerral proceedings to compel their production ; but the court held that it had no jurisdiction to that end. They then ca.nsecl to be produced before the board the duplicate of those retnrns from the office of the secretary of state, together with the tally-sheets, poll-lists, &c .. filed there accordi.ng to law. These duplicates corresponded exactly with the allegetlresult of the 

compiled returns which the said woman bad produced; and of these alleged facta 

undisputed proof was also submitted to the board. N evertheleas, the board refused to count the vote for that parish. 

Here is a parish which gives an unquestioned and undisputed ma- jority of 1,000 votes. The return from that parish is placed in the 

bands of the supervisor anfl he brings those returns down to t.he seat 

of government at New Orleans, and instead of filing them where the 

law required them to be filed, they are turned over tC} a woman of 

bad repute who asks $1,000 for them. These facts are bronght to the 

attention of that board, and nevertheless t.he board refused to make a demand for them and refused to count the vote for that parish; and 

yet this is a board which the Senator has seen fit here to say was com- po ed of men as honorable as any Senators on this floor. In the con- clusion upon that part of the case they say: 

Without now referring to other instances, we are constrained to declare that the 

action of the returning board, on the whole, waa arbitrary, lmjust, and, in our opinion, illegal; and that this arbitrary, unjust, and ille~al action alonq prevented the return oy the board of a majority of conservative members of the lower bouse. 

We are told that the act.ion of this board is as binding upon the 

country, and is entitled to as much respect, as the court of Jast re- sort, the Supreme Court of the United States. I ask when it was that any man in all this land has ever accused the Supreme Court of 

the United States of arbitrary and unjust decisions f They may· have 

deciued questions about which lawyers may differ as to the true con- struction of the law, but so far as their action is concerned tbe charge. of arbitrary and unjust conduct has never yet IJeen made against that 

august court. An honorable man, wHh a knowJetlge of the facts, 

cannot act unjustly. Governor Wells when he made his affidavit i]lregarcl to the parish of Rapides should have known the truth whereof he 

testified. The te timony before this board shows that Governor Wells 

himself was not in the parish of Rapilles on tbe day of election, . and therefore that he testified in regard to a subject about which it was impossible for him to know, and which, npon investigation, the 

committee report turned out to be untrue. The law of evidence characterizes this kind of testimonv. 

I should not have troubled' the Senate with making these statements and with quoting from the testimony of General Sheridan in 

regard to the personal character of the chai];man of tha~ board, or the 

testimony of these gentlemen, Messrs. FosTER, Phelps, and Potter, in 

regard to the arbitrary, unjust, antl illegal condnct of this board and 

their sharp criticism in regard to J . .Madison Wells but for the fact 

that the Senator from Ohw [Mr. SHERl\IA...~] saw proper in his opening remarks upnn the Louisiana matter to send forth to the world as honest men this t·eturning board, and to further say that their action 

is entitled to as much credit as the decision of the Supreme Court of 

the United States. It is, therefore, but just and proper that the testimony of men of his own party with equal facilities for knowing 

the character and integrity and the work of these men should go before the country also. They might possibly be mistaken. I cannot 

well see how .they could upon the facts be mistaken, but at all events 

the Senator from Ohio has indorsed the personal integrity and official 

action of this board, and the committee do not. 

In respect to the report of the President's committee, we know by 

experience that party influences and party biases sometimes warp our judgment. If the President designed to secure a. perfectly r~li:1ble 

report from the State of Louisiana, it seems to me that it would have 

been more prudent and more politic and wiser to have selected representative men from both of the great political parties so that the bias or prejudice which each party might have in respect to the evidence or the facts before the board might be corrected by the otber party. 

In this manner the truth could have been deduced and then n. joint 

report signed by both sides would have been entirely acceptable to 

the American people, but it is a matter of fact that every one of those 

who were sent down there at the President's inst:1nce are of the same political faith as the President. 

There is another point I desire to refer to. So far as my information of affairs in the State of Louisiana goes, I do not remember to 

have seen a single publication chargingintimidation, threats, or violence toward voters on aceount of political sentiments during the entire canvass. So far as the publications went that fell under my obser,·ation the canvass waa fairly and peaceably conducted. The tirst news that came up from Louisi:ina, undisputed so far ps I know, was that the election had been absolutely fair and peaceful in every precinct in the State, yet we have now charges of intimidation whereby we have a democratic majority of nearly 9,000 wiped out and a ma- jority of some 4,000 counted in on the ot.her side, ·making a difference 

of about 13,000 votes. This startling fact must be fully and satisfactorily explained before the American people will believe it just. If 

the testimony when it comes to be examined shows it to be right and 

in accordance with the votes legally cast that the State of Louisiana 

should. be counted for the Hayes electors, if it is just, ii the wHl of the 

people of that State, fairly expressed through the ballot-box: was for 

him, then it shonltl be so counted; and if it was for the electors for 

Governor Tilden then it should be counted for Tilden .. Whatever may 

be the truth of the case the decision should be in accordai:we with the 

law and with the facts. The democratic party court the most search- in~ investigation of the disputed returns. . The Senator from Ohio agre~ to that sentiment, but his tronble 

seemed to be a~ to who had authority to make this investigation. 

Can any one believe for an instant that when our system of laws on the subject of elections is so jealous of the rights of the people that 

there are tribunals for establishing by contest the right to the sml).llest 

office in a. Stat-e, from constable up to governor, it is so fatally defective that there is no constitutional and legal tribunal to determine 

who has received a majority of the electoral votes cast for President 

and Vice-President f The power to open all the c~rtificates is, by the 

Constitution, in the President of the Senate, and the power to ex- amine the votes and determine questions raised as to their validity or invalidity, and of counting what are thus ascert:1ined to be valid 

legal votes, is, in my judgment, vested by the Constitution in the two 

Houses. My opinions about this, expressed in the debate at the last 

session, have undergone no change. I will say in respect to thh• matter in Oregon that I have no objection to the investigation. There 

is a difference of statement on a 'point of great concern between the 

Senator from Oregon [Mr. MITCHELL] and the governor of that State; 

that is to say, as to the publicity, and its extent, of the alleged ineligibility of one of the Hayes electors .. The governor says: 

[By telegraph to the Herald.l 

SALEM, OREGON, December 7, 1876. 

To the Editor of the Herald: 

·At your request I give you some of the grounds of my action in granting certifi- cates to electors in Oregon. . The laws of 0l1'gon require tlte gov~>rnor to grant certificates to electors du1y 

electerl. In taking his oath of office tho governor is sworn to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State. In the election of Presiclertt. and VicePresident the Constitution of the United States is the paramount law. That instru- ment declares that no person holding an office of trust or profit under the United 

States shall be appointed an elector. John W. Watts. one of the electors voted for 

in Oregon, was on the 7th day of November bol<ling an office of profit and trust un- der the United States, to wit, poatmaster at Fayette, the county seat of Yam Hill 

County, and hatl so held that office for more than three years. Many moru than 

the number of voters constituting ~s majority had actually passed in andoutof his 

office on official business. His official character was generally known, and was mentioned during the political discu ion of the canvass. The law waa known and 

the fact was known rendering him disqualified to be an elector. , .A. protest was filed in tho executive office, by prominent citizens, objecting to the 

hsuance of a certificate to Watts, as a person disqualified, accompanied b.v proof 

of his disqualification, ancl demanding that the same issue to the eligible person 

having the next highest number of votes. A reply was filed, objecting to anything 

but a cotmt of the votes, and a certificate on the count. aml making no denial of the 

disqualifying facts. It was ruled, in the case, that where the objection to an applicant's ri~ht to receive a certificate rests upon the ground that a constitutional 

prohibition IS interposed, the rrovernor, acting under oath to support the Constitution, is bound to entertain ancf determine the question ; not only that., but is to determine in such a way as to enforce the constitutional mandate to the extent of his 

executive power. It was ah!O held that, the law and the fact being well known, 

the >otes cast for the in li~ble candidate cannot be count~d for any ptu'Pose, and t.ho eli ible candidate having the next highest number of votes was duly elected. 

This ruling was basecl upon standard authorities, such a.~ Cn~hin$ an(l Grant; tJ:ie 

decisions of many courts, likothe supremo court and the court or appeals of NO\v 

York: the later uniform practice in the United States .Ilouse of Representatives, 

anrl the great weight of En~lish authorities, both parliamentary and judicial. 

The law of Ore:ron providinl! for filling vacancies in the electoral colle~e reco~­

nizes a vacancy only in cases whero there hasl>een an incumbent and sucn incnmbent h:ts died, "refused to a<'t, ne~lected to attend, or is otherwise absent. In this case there was no incumbent, unless the next. highest candidate shoultl take the position, and there was no vacancy which conld be filled by theoth~>r members of the 

electoral collc~re. The next hi;:!;hest candiuato eligible under the Constitution of the 

United States was, therefore, certified to be duly elected . L. F. GROVER. 

Governor of Orego1f. 

The Seuator from Oregon states that he made twenty-five speeches 

in the interest of the republican party in that State and did not hear 

the ineligibility of Watts mentioned. Then there is a question which, 

it seems to me, is proper for investigation ; and, however this may re- sult, whoever is fairly, honestly, and lawfully entitled to the disputed 

vote of Oregon should hav it, and the same course should be pursued in South Carolina, F1orida, and Louisiana. I do n<\_t believe that 

philippics, that denunciations clo. any good here and <lo much harm 

elsewhere. We all ought to look at this from a temperate standpoint; every man ought to be controlled by reason, juclgment, and common honesty; and if we come up to the work with that spirit, 

with the earnest purpose and desire of declarincr the very truth as to 

who is lawfully entitled to he inaugurated my judgment about it is 

that everything will pass off peacefully and harmoniously, and the 

people will be satisfied wi~h whomever the truth may declare as Jawfully entitled by fair election, conducted by the methods of tho Constitution and laws to the exalted positions of Presi<lent and Vice-President of the United States. 

Mr. MORTON Mr. President, the Senator from Texas started ont 

with expressing the opinion that the will of the people should be car- ried ont, in which I fully concur. He said that the election returns 

shoulcl be counted fairly and squarely, and that there should be no cheating around the board; that the result should not be determined 

by fraud an<l chicanery. In all that I agr~e; but I should have been 

glad if the Senator from Texas had gone one step further and said that 

violence and bloodshed and intimidation before the election shoulcl 

not be· allowed to control the result, and that returns of elections obt.ained by bloodshed and all manner of violence should be rejected. 

I think my friend from Texa~ ought to have said that, and he and I 

. ... 
:142 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SEN.ltTE~ DECEl\IDER 21, 

would then fully agree. The vote should be fairly counted, the will 

of the people should be expressed, and if there ha been frand in the 

count it ought to be cbrrect.ed. If the results have been obtained by 

violence and murder and crimes of the darkest hue, theu the fruits 

of the e crimes should not be enjoyed. If the result in a particular 

parish or county bas been obtained by murders, by the commission 

of high crimes, the party who commjttecl those murdeTI:J or countenanced them should not have the fruits. Those results should be ca-st 

out. Yon cannot stop to count the drops of blood. You cannot stop 

to count bow many have been killed or bow many men have been terrified or driven from the polls; but wherever it is shown t.bat murder 

and these crimes have entered largely into the resnlt of the election 

tho e results ongh t to be cast on t. Murder is the highest crime known 

to the law, and neither- individuals nor parties should be allowed to 

profit by it. I will @ay so long ~s murder is profitable so long it will 

be continued; so long as murder is defended and excused so long mur- der will be committed. 

The question is not as to the character of the returning board in 

Louisiana. With all due respect to my friend from Texas, that is 

simply avoiding the isl3ne. T.hey may be good men orbadmen; that 

is not the question. The question is what were the facts before them, 

what was the character of th11t election. The Senator cannot answer what bas been said and what has been proven by saying that Wells 

is not a good man 9r that Anderson is not a good man. That is simply begging the question. That is not t,o the purpose at all. 

The question is, wh~t waiS the evidence before that board and what was the character of that election~ [Holding up a book.] Here is a volume of test,imony that has been printed. It is before t,he whole 

country. It is ignored; treated as if it bad never taken place, and 

by an attack upon the character of the me-mbers of the returning 

board the whole thing is sought to be avoided. "\Ve have bad in: 

stances of that before, where the defenua.nt's counsel was instructed 

to attack the plaintiff's attorney. Instead of meeting this case by 

responding to these terrible charges that cannot be ignored, (:.tnd the 

time has gone by when they can be ignored, and Senators ought to 

understand that,) we are told that the members of the returning board were not men of good character. I am not now called to pass upon 

this question. I do not know what the Louisiana matter bas to do 

with the discussion of this resolution; but it is brought here. 

It is said by my friend from Texas that effect should be given to the 

V()ice of the people, and so say J. We should not· let things turn on technicalities upon the great question of electing a President for the 

government of this nation. We should give effect to the voice of the 

people ; we should put by small technicalities, little things that do 

not go to the substance. 

In regard to Oregon there are iu the first place two or three things 

which are not disputed by anybody. The first is that there is no charge of fraud in the election in Oregon. I have not heard that 

charge ou either side. The election was admitted to be fair and honest, and it was admitted that the republicans carried that State by 

nearly twelve hundred majority. Now when an attempt is made to 

defeat the vote in that State and the voice of that people by sa.ying 

that one elector was ineligible, the governor assuming to commission 

another mun who was not elected and that man assuming to commission two electors who were not elected and thus to cast the vote of 

the State of Oregon, I want to apply to that State the doctrines laid 

down by my friend from Texas. I say we have got to trample under our feet these technicalities and tricks, to use a word I have used before, by which an attempt was made to take the electoral vote of 

Oregon from tb.e republican :party. Nobody 1·espects what was done 

there. Even my friend from Missouri, [Mr. BoGY,] with all his abil 

ity and all his eloquence, cannot make the Oregon transaction respectable. It will always stand out on the page of history solitary, bald, 

and hideous. 

To come down to the State of Louisiana, .my friend referred to the 

report and to attacks made upon the members of the returning board. 

As I said before, I shall not stop now to defend those men; that is all· foreign to the question. The question is not how old they are, what 

their occupation ia, what their character bas been; but the question 

is as to the chp.racter of the case before them, and as to the chara-cter 

of the election. And here we have a vast volume of testimonv. 

Mr. MAXEY. w·w the Senator permit me to interrupt hi.rp .. f 

Mr. MORTON. Yes, sir. . 

Mr. MAXEY. The remarks which I made in introducing the testimony of General Sheridan and the report of Mr. Foster, Mr. Phelps, 

and Mr. Potter was in answer to what had been said in regard to the 

personal integrity of the board by the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. SHER1\IAN.] If it was legitimate for him to indorse their personal integrity, it is unquestionably legitimate for us to show the ·other side of 

this qnestion. 

Mr. MORTON. Suppose that what General Sheridan said was true, 

how does that affect this question f Suppose he was mistaken, still 

how does it affect this question f If my friend is going to take the 

testimony of General Sheridan, I will read to him a passage from 

what General Sheridan has said, in whi9h he states: 

N urn ber of political murders in the State of Louisiana. from 1866 to 1875 were: 

Killed ................. ·--··--··-····-········-····-·-·-·····------·-··---·· 2,141 Wounded _____ ............................ ·--·-····· ....................... 2,115 

~rotal .................. ··~- ...................... -·-· .............. --· 4. 2J6 

Mr. MAXEY. The Senator from Indiana is referring tothat as the 

report of the committee. I think be will find open an examina,tion 

that it is a minority report signed alone by three republicans, whereas 

the majority report is signed by both republicans and democrats. 

Mr. MORTON. So far as those facts are concerned which were re- ported upon by Judge HOAR, I believe there is but very little dispute. 

I simply want to say that if we are to talk about fairness of elections, we cannot ignore great crimes by which political result~:~ aro brought about. If it can be shown, or if it bas been shown, that 't,he 

election in Louisiana was controlled by murder and violence in every 

form, I have to say that every such return should be cast out, ancl 

that is the great question. It is not to be dodged by attacking tlle 

,Plaintiff's attorney. Here is a mass of evidence laid before tbe board 

upon which it acted. There is the evidence running back through 

ten years, showing more than two thousand murders and more' than 

two thousand men wounded before the year 1876 for political purposes. Louisiana has been a great slaughter-house of republicans for 

political purposes; and the fact cannot be dodged by talking about 

the plaintiff's attorney, by attacking the private character of the 

members of the returning board. 

Here is a terrible state of facts alleged by General Sheridan; and if 

my friend places so much reliance upon what be has said of him let 

him take that statement along with the rest. 

No, Mr. President, what the Senator refers to is trivial; it is not 

part of the 1·es gesta:. What has been the character of the election in 

Louisiana f There is a volume of testimony placed on our table by 

the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. SHE~'IAN.] At least it bas been brought 

here and prillted by the or<ler of this body. I might ta,ke a single 

parish. I find the testimony of the coroner; I find copies of reports 

of coroner's juries in the single parish of Baton Rouge, eleven cases of murder in the l~st year, of men shot and of men hong by armed 

bodies of regulators; and taking this evidence altogether, it is proof 

of a vast mass of crime which controlled that election. 

Referring to the report made by Judge HOAR in regard to Louisiana, we find that in that report be refers to tlie slaughter of the conven- tion in the city of New Orleans in 1866 where nearly two hundred men were killed and wounded, unarmed and without having com- mitted any offense. He then refers to the evidence w hicb shows that over two thousand persons were killed and wounded in that State 

just prior to the presidential election of 1868. He then refers to the 

Colfax massacre, where nearly or quite one hundred men were mur- dered in cold blood in 1873. He gives the circumstances, an<l the 

whole ma~er is summed up by General Sheridan in the sta,tement of 

between four and five thousand being killed and wounded in that 

State since 1866. 

Whenever murder shall be condemned in the South and denounced 

by all parties then it will ceaSI\, but so long as· it is profitable it will 

be continued. If elections can be carried by violence we shall have 

violence. Then we shall have this country Mexicanized. 'Vhat we want is fair elections. If the State of Oregon has been carried fairly 

by the republican party it should have the vote of Oregon. If the 

State of Lousiana has been carried fairly by the democratic party it 

should have the vote of Louisiana, but if on the othbr hand Louisi- ana has been carried by violence and murder and by a repetition of 

the crimes that have been going on there for ten years, then it should 

not have the vote of Louisiana, it should not have the benefit of these 

crimes. · 

Mr. BOGY. Then does the Senator think the vote should go to 

Hayes without him having any vot.es at all f 

Mr. MORTON. If the votes fairly cast were for Hayes he should. have it, and those votes which were cast by fraud :.tnd violence should 

be thrown out. · 

Mr. SHERMAN. That is the law of Louisiana. 

Mr. MOR'i'ON. It is the law of Louisiana, and it is the law of 

justice. It is the law everywhere. There is a notorious republican 

State, republican by a large majority, and if it can or bas been shown 

that that majority was overcome by violence, those who committed 

that violence should not have the benefit of it. To give them the 

benefit of their crime is equally against the law of God and against 

the law of man. There is no use now in saying that tbel'e was no crime; we do not know anything about it. It has been going on too 

long and the whole world knows it. Only the other day a committee 

of gentlemen sent down there on the part of the democratic party to 

watch this count were driven to admit the existence of these terrible 

crimes. They could not conceal them although they tried to divert 

the issue and place it upon immaterial matters. 

.Mr. BOGY. Mr. President, if it be true that the election in Louisiana 

has been carried by fraud, by murder, by the shedding of blood, by anything which would prevent a fair election from having been held~ of course the vote of Louisiana should not be counted by the party that 

carried the electio.n in that way; the vote ~f Louisiana should not be 

counted at all ; but I have put a question to _my friend from Indiana. 

before, and I have put it to my friend from Ohio before, and they 

have never answered it. They cannot answer it. I say that there is no evidence of that fact besides what is found upon II!Y friend's table, 

which evidence was not taken in accordance with the law of Loui i- ana.. The law of Louisiana requires that any evidence of murder, of 

intimidation, of the shedding of blood, to atl'ect the election, shall be 

returned within ·a given time, say twenty-four hours, with the return 

of the votes of the different pat:ishes. That law has not been com-
1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 343 

pUed with, ann why was it noi' complied with f Because the. fact 

stands before the world that tbne was no intimidation aml no mnr- der antl no bloodshed. The fact is beyopd all controversy ir.. tho city 

of New Orleans among republic:JDs and democrats that the election 

throughout the State of Louisiana was peaceful, and qui et, and or- derly, and that these affidavits that are found in that report on t he Senator's desk were of men picked up iu the stews and gutters and 

purlieus a,nd faubourgs of the city of New Orleans, men not known, 

many of them, and all of them, no doubt, perjured themselves. The 

law of Louisiana requires that any evi~lence of fmud shall be returned 

with the vote. That law ha~ not been complied with. When you 

speak of the returning board, there is another fact, which these gentlemen cannot or dare not deny. That board after haying got the 

evidence, after receiving the testimony before the committees that were there present, retired privately and thr~ w out what they pleased; 

and to this day neither the committee of the democratic party nor my friend's commitpee know the vote of any parish in the State of 

Loui iana. They then made an aggregate return sweeping a,way at one dash a majority of 8,000 votes given to the democmtic party a,nd 

giving a majority of nearly 4,000 votes to the republican party; and 

that was done in secret session, no one but themselves being pre ent. 

After my friend from Ohio spoke as he <lid yesterday, you would 

suppose that the committees were present during all thoso investigations. I say that the two committees were present as a matter of 

form, a mere deception, at the opening of the proceedings; but what 

votes were returned, what were thrown out, and what were received 

beyond that no body knows. Everything was done in secret; and that 

by the report of the committee that went there two years ago, com- posed of a majority of republicans, has been declared to be an improper way of transacting the business .. The report of Mr.HOARandbis 

colleagues st.igmatized that as being illegal and improper. The report 

says that the receiving of affidavits not h~ving been retnrned wit.h 

the votes is not allowed by the laws of Louisiana; and yet I do sa.y as a fact which never has been contradicted, and which never can be 

contradicted, that when the returns of the votes of the different 

parishes were made there was no evidence of intimidation with 

them; and who can cloubt for a moment if intimidation existed, if men had been shot, if rnmder bad been committed, if aU those b.orrid thi~g embraced in that document had taken place, that that fact 

would have been returned! All these officers in the parishes of Louisi- ana were republicans; aU the commissioners of registration and supervisors of election were republicans and the appointees of Governor 

Kellogg. These men, aU belonging tr0 one party, made no return of such things at the time, and made none for weeks afterward; and yet 

both of my friends admit that if there is evidence of fraud the vote 

shonld not be counted. The evidence is that. there was fraud com- mitted by the board; what appears in that book is not authorized by 

the laws of Louisiana. Neither of my friends can say that that thing was authorized by the laws of Louisiana. The law is positive that 

the evidence must be retmned with the votes by the supervisors of 

registration and the commissioner of the parish. It was not done; and 

not beiug done, that board had no right to take jurisdiction; it had no right to fabricate and to create t.est.imony which is upheld by my 

friend from Ohio in that able and, I will not say cunning, but most 

successful way that he has employed more than once on this floor. 

The te timony in the report upon ruy friend's table was not taken in 

accordance with t.he laws of Louisiana. If there bas been intimidation ; if there has bet'n fraud, I am not myself hi favor of receiving 

votes cast in tba~ way. I have no doubt if we bad a proper appreciation of)ihe high office of President the vote of Louisiana ought to 

be thrown out altogether. Let it-be so, and let those men, having ex- perience, know bet.ter hereafter. Those men admit themselves that 

the vote was actually given for Mr. Tilden, but charge that that result was brought about by fraud, by the shedding of blood, and murder. I 

do not admit it; but does that prove that the vote of Louisianashonld 

be given to the other party f Parishes were thrown out by the action 

of a board sitting in secret, and they dare not now appear before the 

committee that is in New Orleans and show what they did. They are resisting the investigation to-day, if what we see in the papers be true. 

Let the character of the boa.rd. be what it may, good or bad, we say 

its action is not sustained by tiie law of Louisiana, a.ncl tLe report of a House committee composed of a majority of the republican party 

shows that its action is not in accordance with the law of Louisiana 

in declaring the result of the vote given at the last election. 

Mr. DAVIS. Mr. PresidentTHE POSTAL SERVICE. 

Mr. HAMLIN. Before the Senator from West Virginia proceeds, I 

desire to present the evidence which the commission to examine into 

the mail service have taken, and I ask that it be printed. We shall 

soon have the various subjects to which it relates before us and all 

Senators want the information which it contains. I move that the 

usual number be printed. 

The motion was. agreed to. 

CO~fiTTEE ON COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTES. 

The PRESIDENT 1n·o tempore appointed as the special committee 

respecting the counting of the electoral votes authorized by the reso- lution of the 18th instant, Messrs. ED~IUNDS, MORTON, FRELINGHUYSEN, LOGAN, THURMAN, BA: ARD1 and RANSOM. 

DEATH OF SE)lATO.R CAPERTON. 

Mr. DAVIS. Mr. President, according to notice heretofore given I nuw submit two resolu~ions having for their object the furnishing of an opportunity for the Senate and House of Representatives t.o bear testimony to the character and public services of ALLEN T. CAPERTON, 

and a~k their present consideration. 

The PRESIDENT p1·o tempore. The resolutions proposed by the Senator from West Virginia wi II be read. · The Chief Qlerk rea4 as follows: 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of ALLE..."{ T. CA· PERTON, late a Senator from the State of West Virgjnia, busineSI.! be now suspended ~hat the frienrls and associates of the deceased may pay fitting tribute to his pri· vat.o and public virtues. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate this resolution to the 

House of Representatives. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

Mr. DAVIS. Mr. President, the Senate is again called upon to 

suspend its ordinary proceedings, that itmayina proper manner mark 

its respect for one of its former members whose fleat.b it laments; to 

testify to his private worth and public virtnes and give expression to 

its sorrow. 

Scarcely a session of this body passes but it is invaded by death 

and some familiar face, some as89Ciate, is summoned hence·and called 

to rest for~ver from all earthly care. :- In my single term of service here, yet incomplete, the painful duty now upon us has been, alas! too frequently performed. 

We have followed to the grave and shed the tear of affection over some of the ablest and most distinguished men of our day and time. 

Our late President of the Senate, Vice-President Wilson, the na- . tion's and people's friend j the learned and gifted Sumner; Ex-President Johnson, self-taught and self-educated, who by force of energy 

and native abilities hewed his way from t.he humblest walks of life 

up to the executive chair of the nation; the patriot governor, Buckingham; the amiable and affectionate Ferry; and the earnest, able, 

and fearless Davis, all have passed away. 

In this instance it has fallen to the lot of West Virginia to mourn and tender up one of her ablest, best, and truest sons. Toward the close of the last session of the Senate, prolonged as it was into the late summer, when the heat was most oppressive and 

fatigue and exhaustion restP.d upon all, after but a brief illness of 

organic disease of the heart, on the 26th day of last July, death found 

Mr. CAPERTON at his post of duty . . It is not my pmpose on this solemn occaaion to pronounce any 

studied words of praise and commendation over my friend and dead 

colleague, believing that the best eulo~y upon so noble a character 

will be the plain and simple story of hlS life. 

ALLEN T. CAPERTON was descended from an old Virginia family, 

and wa~ born at Union, Monroe County, Virginia, (now West Virginia,) November 21, 1810. His ancestors on the paternal side were English and on the maternal Scotch, a commingling of nationalities 

that bas produced some of the greatest men of our country. His 

great-grandparents on both sides were among the earliest settlers on the head waters of the Kanawha, then overrun by hostile Indians; 

and the fact that his grandmother wa.s captured by sava.ges, her infant 

child butchered before her eyes, and she detained in captivity for four 

years, will give some idea of the courage it took and the dangers that 

had to be encountered in opening to civilization that fertile and beautiful mountain region. 

Hugh Caperton, the fatbe~ of the late Senator, waa a man of great 

ability, high character, and commanding influence in the section of 

Virginia where he resided. He represented his district in the Thirteenth Congress and wa~ the intimate friend and admirer of t.be great 

statesmen Clay and Webster, and other leaders of the whig party, to 

which he belonged. . 1fr. CAPERTON passed the earlier years of his life at the home of his 

f;l.ther, near Union, and at that village received the rudiments of his 

education. At the age of fourteen he went to Huutsnlle, Alabama, 

to attend school, making the long journey on horseback in company 

with an elder brother. He afterward attended t.he University 'Of Vir- ~inia, and c~mpleled his ed,ucation at Yale College in 1832, graduatrng seventh ID a · class of fifty-three at the age of twenty-two. In 

college be was noted, as in after-life, for his studiouf? habits, industry, 

and good deportment; though modest and reserved, be was popular 

with his fellow-students and beloved and. esteemed by his profes- sors. 

After leaving college be studied faw nuder the late. Judge Briscoe 

Baldwin, at Staunton, Virginia; was admitted to the bar in 1834, and 

commenced the practice of his profession at his native town. His 

natural ability, eloquence, and clo e attention to business soon secured for him a prominent position as a lawyl}r, and his practice rapidly extended throughout the southwestern portion of the State. 

He was not, however, long permitte!l to confine himself solely to his 

professional duties, but~ 1841, at the solicitation of his friends and 

neighbors, he took part in politics and was elected to the house of 

delegates of Virginia, and in-1844 to the senate, after which, until 

1R60, he was at various times a member of both houses of the State 

Legislature. In 1848 he was a member of the national convention 

that nominated President Taylor. Although elected to the Legi8lature at an early age and at a time when some of the ablest and most 

brilliant men of the State we1·e members, he soon advanced to the 
344 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENltTE. DECEl\fBER 21' 

front rank and gained an enviable reputation throughout the State as a useful legislator and a rea-dy and forcible debater. 

His service in the Legislature was marked by his untiring efforts 

and best exertions in favor of every measure looking to the progress 

and pro perity of the State generally, but more particularly to the 

opening up and development of the vast resources of the portion he 

represented. All proposit.ions for internal improvements and public 

works fonnd in him a zealpus ann energetic supporter, and he was held in the highest esteem by all parties. 

A newspaper correspondent, speaking of him in 1858, says: 

A. T. CAPERTOY, of Monroe, is a whig and has long en.ioyed the confidence of the 

whole people of his section. He has never been defeated for office. Yr·. CAPER· 

•roN is one of the handsomest men intbeLej!islature, the ablest member of his party on the floor, and would make a valuable and useful member of Congress. 

During all this time, notwithstanding his service in the Legislature and th~ interest be took in politics, he not only continued the 

practice of }lis profession with success, being engaged in almost every 

important suit in his section of the State1 but found time to devote 

to agriculture and stock-growing, of which be was very fond, and was reputed among the most successful in the State. 

He was also the active friend and supporter of nearly a.ll important 

enterprises projected and put in operation in the southwestern portion of Virginia. · He was one of the most influential directors in the James River and 

Kanawha Canal, looked upon in that day and time, as now, a work of 

nat.ional 'importance, its object being to connect the waters of the 

East and \Vest, and furnish means of transportation between the distant sections of the country. 

In 1850 :mdl861 h~ was elected a member of the constitutional con- vention of Virginia, and, like many prominent members of the whig 

party in the South, was a conservative-union m~n, and opposed secess- ion until the commencement of actual hostilities, when he felt., as many 

others did, that his duty was to link his fortunes with those of his 

State. In 1862 he was elected by the Legislature of Virginia as a member of the Confederate States senate, which position he filled 

unt.il the close of. the war in 1865; after which be returned to his 

home, accepted the result of the war in good faith, ann resumed·t·he 

practice of his profession, devoting much of his time and energie8, as in the past, to the opening np and developing the resources of West 

Virginia, particularly adverting and bringing to the attention of foreign capitalists her fine coal, timber, and graziug lands: and in this 

direction he accomplished much and his efforts were crowned with 

reasonable success. On the 17th of February, 1875, after a spirited contest, he waR almost unanimously elected a member of this body to succeed Ron. 

A.rt.hur I. Boreman, and took his seat on the 4th of Maroh following. 

His election was received with general sat.isfaction throughout the 

State. He brought to the Senate great st.rength of character, ma- tured experience in public affairs, sound judgment, and an accurate 

knowledge of the history of the Government and the necessities of 

the conn try, and particularly the Son th. He had the liveliest appreciation of t.he responsibility resting upon a Senator and his duty to 

the General Government and his State. He recognized in the ample.st manner that old issues were dead and that a glorious and prosperous 

future awaited the whole country if good feeling could be restored 

between the sections. His greatest concern and deepest anxiety was over the unset.t.led condition of our political affair~:;, and had he lived 

I have no doubt his voice would have been raised and energies exerted 

in behalf of peace and harmony. 

Such is a brief outline of the early life and public services of my 

departed colleague. 

For thirty-five years, it may be said, be was constantly under the 

eye of the public, :filling many important positions of trust and con- fidence to which he had been elevated by the partiality of his nei15hbors and fellow-citizens. And during this long t.erm of public serviCe, 

q uit.e an ordinary life-time, embracing and covering as it does a period as important., stirring, and exciting as bas occurred in our history as a country, I have the pride and pleasure of recording that his conduct 

and character was so pure, so high, and so elevated that neither sus- picion nor taint ever rested on either; and in all of his official acts and 

doings, in his professional and business dealings, he did his duty well, 

wronged neither state or indivitlual, and was uniformly jnst and 

honorable. 

He was ~ man of scholarly attainments, positive character. :fixed 

principles, and strong convictions, a despiser of all tricks and nan·ow 

doh1gs, a sound lawyer, modest and reserved, thongh a ready debater, 

t.horoughly versed in the history of the country and politics, a lover 

of the Constitution and a close student of its wise provisions; all of 

which was supplemented by a large experience with men and affairs. 

'lhus thoroughly equipped by nature and cultivation he came up 

to our best ideas of au American Senator and' statesman. 

The term of service of Senator CAPERTO~ as a ml;}mber of tbls body, 

less than two years, was so short that there was scarcely sufficient 

time for his associates to know him well and understand his noble 

character; but I believe I am authorized in saying that, even brief as it was, he enjoyed the esteem and respect o.f all, and none was more dearly beloved. 

Of commanding presence and di~nified deportment he inspired t.be 

respect of all with whom be came m contact. He was eminently so- cial. Possessed of rare conversational powers and a cultivated mind, 

amiable disposition, and genial manner, warm-hearted and affectionate, "bo drew around and cementeu to him friends wherever he went. He muue but few speeches in the Senate, but when he did speak he 

brought to the subject careful and \ccurate thought, clo e research, 

and soundjudgruent. His highest ambition, best purpose, an·d most 

earnest wish were that the estrangement growing out of our late un- fortunate war should forever disappear and be repla.ced by harmony 

and good feeling between lhe people of the whole Union, believing 

when this happy end should be attained there waa a brilliant aud 

prosperQus future before the country. 

Tie was an earnest advocate of internal improvements on the pari. 

of the General Government, feeling that if Congress could inaugurate 

and carry out a proper system it would prove-of incalculable benefit 

to the country and help to bring about the harmony aud frientlly 

feeling between the people of the States which be so much desired 

and believed necessary to the perpetuit.y of our free institutions. 

His speeches on the Centennial and river and harbor bills, deli vere(l 

during the last session of Congress, breathe a spirit of progress and 

patriotism and hope for the future. · But it was at his own home, in the midst of his neighbors and 

friends of a lifetime and in the qniet . sacredness of the domestic circle, where be was best known, that he was loved most. 

A fond and affectionate husband, a generous and loving father, he 

enjoyed the devotion of his family. 

It was my Jot to be one of the number who accompanied his remains 

from this capital to their final resting-place at his home, and his popularity and the affection cherished for his memory were marked by the 

general grief and gloom that pervaqed all classes as we drew nearer to the end of our sad joumey. His death wa~ not only a great loss 

to his St.ate and t.be country, but particularly to his family and the 

community in which he lived. He was endeared to all clas es, a'nd 

in the l?ng pr~cession o! relative~, friends, and nei~hbo~s tha~ followed b1s remruns to thetr'laat restmg-pbce, among the gnef-stncken 

and those who stood nearest the grave, were some of his former slaves. 

Although cut off in the midst of his usefulness and at a time when 

he could apparently do the most good for his country and State, '' e bow with hetter submission to this dispensation of a divine Providenf'e, believing and knowing that society, the times, and the age were better for his having lived. 

Mr. \VRIGHT. Mt'. President, I should be unmindful oftbestrong 

promptings of friendship, indifferent to duty, and unjust to the mem- ory and many sterling qualities o.f head and heart of the late Senat-or CAPERTON, if 1 did not add: something to what bas just been so appropriately said by his surviving colleague. I ·first met the late 

Senator when he appeared to enter upon hisdutiesberein March, 1875. 

From that time until his death our relations, official and personal, for 

those theretoiore strangers to each other, were more than usually intimate. Among other duties, he was assigned to the committee of 

which I was then made chairman, a committee (Claims) where he 

found bard work, drudgery, need of patience, care, th<mghtfulness, 

watchfulness, and where, certainly equal to any other in ·this body, 

there i~ abundant opportunity to test the fidelity of its members to 

duty and their ability to dispose of the many perplexing and important questions arising. And I am sure that I but express the united 

judgment of his associates there when I say that no man could have 

been more faithful, painstaking, or attentive to every question arising, nor more solicitous to do even and exa.ct justice to the claimant 

and the Go'\rernment, than our late colleague. 

In the committee-room, as in the Senate, be was the same affable, 

courteous, polite, and courtly gentleman, and in both, as in private 

and social life, never in an unseemly or untimely manner pressing his 

views, never seeming to obtrude his opinions in the spirit of the determined and obstinate antagonist, but mildly, pleaaantly, and yet 

with a firmness which satisfied yon that be knew his ground, had 

studied it well, and that his convictions or conclusions were the re- sult of thought and care, and not of passion, prejudice, or other than 

what was to him the very right of the case. He could listen to and 

take part in fair and just argument; to aught else than this and the 

very law and justice of the matter presented, he ever turned a deaf ear. S~nator CAPERTON was educated at ·Yale, and bad as his classmates and fellow-students, among others, John aDd Wellington Gordon, of Virginia; Rhett and Rutledge, of South Carolina; Shorter, of 

Georgia, as well as others who were afterward of distinguished prominence in their several States and in the nation. One of these (Ron. 

Henry Sherman, now of this city) says of him as a student that "He 

wa.s of fine personal appearance, courteous in his address, of high 

moral character, and very popular among his fellow-students." And 

following him through after-life this friend adds that "He was eminent in his profession, prominent in his State; in his busmess he was a man of large conscientiousness and high-toned honor and integrity. 

I frequently founu him, after be ent.ered upon his duties in the Senate, very late at night, pouring over voluminous recortls and laboring 

with the utmost care and industry. His laborious and persistent attention to business, in my judgment, shortened his days." 

In private Jife, as we have already hearn, the goodness and great- ness of the late Senator appeared in the most conspicuous manner. The man who-as another friend, who was for years brought into the 

closest and most intimate relations to him, in a letter now before me 
. ./ 

, 

1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 345 

sa.ys-I say the man who, "tender and guileless as an infant himself, 

could anrl. did attach to him the affections of the young a11d the poor, 

enter int.o their plans and pleasures, identify himself with their. interests, who had the almost sublime adoration of wife and chil<lren, 

and who re.turued this wHh a devotion attracting the attention of aU 

who knew him, who despised a little thing beyond expression, who 

with that vigor of language of which on such occasions he was com- plete master denounced all things little and mean and wicked, who ever took an interest unequaled in the struggles and trials of those 

in distress and trouble, who a.s a ma11 was exemplary in all the relations of life"-such a man, I repeat, could not be otherwise than good; 

and greatness most logically and certainly followed, for goodness leads 

to greatn~; goodness is greatness. 

Senator CAPERTO~ belonged to that school of politics which taught 

the power and constitutionality of the General Government to engage 

in a general system of internal improvement. 

Entertaining these convictions, he was, as his public life will show, ever tlle most active supporter in his own State and in the nation of 

all tho e measures which tended to the material development, by a system of internal improvement or otherwise, of the old State which 

he loved so well, and of any and almost all schemes under the patronage and fostering care of the General Government which in his opinion 

might contribute in any manner to its growth, greatness, and material 

prosperity. On this subject or on these matters he never, as far as I can learn, and as his public record will attest, had any the least con- stitutional scruples. And yet. it is perha.ps not strange, in view of his 

aBSociations, education, and from his devotion to his State, that he 

could quite naturally incline to side with his State in the late un- pleasant and deprecated st.ruggle. Hence he took a prominent part 

in that contest .for what he thought w~re the rights of his State and 

his people. And yet the sincerity of the man and his convictions, his 

adherence t.o his principles as to the powers of the Government, and 

his, as I must believe, patriotic devotion to the Union and country in 

whose service he was engaged a.t the time of his death, is well shown 

by what he said to a near friend in almost his last hours as given to me when, referring to his public life, he said, "You know the influ- ences under which I have lived and been brought up and strengthened 

in the views of States' rights, consistent with which I could not do 

otherwi,se than I did. But, " he added, " I am clear of those views 

now, and I accepted my present position with a firm determination to 

support the Union and Government of the United States, and my first 

ambition is to enforce upon the people of the. State which I represent 

my conviction that our greatest good is to make the State of West 

Virginia as great a State in the Union as the Old Dominion of Virginia waa in her palmy days." 

Such, Mr. President and Senators, were some of the characteristir.s 

and virtues, a.s they impressed me, of our late colleague; such alnlost 

his last words. Standing by his tomb and admonished by the occa- sion, our present surroundings, the scenes here enact-ed each day, how we should each be led to retlect upon the vanity and lil.tleness of all 

human ambitions and aspirations! How fitting that we should for 

the passing honr, and indeed for time, btii'y the asperities1 the bitterness, the criminations and recriminations of party and political strife, 

and upon their tomb build higher and still higher a love and devotion to that Union which is the only sure hope of our present and futm·e 

greatness; that Union which should know neither sections nor parties; that country which our deceased colleague was, a-s I believe, in 

his service here, seeking to make stronger and better and purer; that 

country and that Union bequeathed t.o us by the noblest ancestry of 

the ages and saved to us by the best blood of their equally noble 

children. 

Mr. WITHERS. Mr. President, amid the many 'appropriate and 

graceful tributes to the memory of our departed associate, I ask the 

privilege of depositing a modest chaplet on the same sacrecl shrine. 

To the interesting biographical sketch, the acute analysis of character, the warm expressions of appreciation and esteem to which the 

Senate has listened, little need be added. Yet I feel in this connec- tion that something is duo from the State which gave him birth, the 

State toward which hii true and loyal heart was ever wont to turn 

with fi1iallove and never-failing reverence. Though by the exigencies of the times he appeared on this floor as one of the faithful representatives of that fair daughter which had been so rudely carved 

from the mutilated form of that dismembered State, ALLEN T. CAPERTON was intus et in cnte a Virginian of Virginians. His interest and 

his afThctions, refusing to be restrained within the narrow confines of 

West Virginia, included in their loving embrace all Virginia, whether 

old or new. Nay, si.J:, I may ~o farther and say that while Virginia 

held the first place in his affections, no portion of his country, whether 

East or West, North or South, was excluded. His expansive patriotism, disdaining the restricted limits of State boundaries, embraced the 

interests of the whole people. · Reared amid those grand old mountains which, lika heaven's sentinels, keep watch and ward around that loved ancestral home where 

bis progenitors for generations had "lived and moved and bad their 

being," it is not surprising that his mind was early imbued with that 

undying devotion to the principles of liberty and free government 

which in all ages has been deemed a. characteristic of "the dweller 

among the hills." 

Blessed with a fine person, a strong ud vigorous intellect improved 

by culture; of refined literary ta-ste, with an exquisite andquiothnmor; 

of temperate habits and genial disposition, it is not remarkable that 

he should have been early called to assume the duties and r~ponsibi1ities of public life. Of that public career, long and honorable as it was, I shall speak very briefly. 

By inheritance, as well ail by the convictions of his maturer judgment, he was an earnest but not a blind arlherent of tllat gtand oltl 

party which under the leadership of the" gn~at commoner" attained 

such enviable distinction for its problty, its.purity, and its patriotism as will in all time provoke the emulation of all political organizations; a. party which, if not always fortunate in the inaoguratiou of its 

schemes of statecraft and the election of its candidates, ever maintained as its cardinal doctrine that the interests of the whole country were to be held superior to the gratification of inclividnal ambition, a,nd the prosperity of the people more to be valued tllan the triumph 

of the polit!cian. 

These principles found in Mr. CAPERTON a steadfast and uncompromising adherent. His intellect, naturally acute, was expanded by 

culture and disciplined b.y stu~ in 'both northern and southern schools 

until it attained a breadth and comprehensive scope whicll was fata,} 

alike to the narrow do~matism of the sectionalist and· the destruct! ve frenzy of the fanatic. He was no one-idea man. In politics he knew no higher law than the Constitution qf hiscount:ry, was ambitious of nodisti.nction except that incident to the faithful discharge of representative trust. He sought no selfish end, labored not for personal aggrandizement. His devotion to duty was so absolute and unquestioning, 

his abnegation of self so utter and complete, that they overshadowed 

that prudence which ordinarily prompts us to regard personal com-· fort and personal safety superior to all other considerations, and thns 

doubtless accelerated the final catastrophe by which au honorable ancl 

useful career was so suddenly and sadly closed. Enervated by the 

excessive h~at and exhausted by the unusually arduous and protracted 

labors of the last session, with vital powers perceptibly waning day 

by day, he yet, with brave hea'rt and unblenchin,; spirit, refused to 

seek amid otHer and more congeuial surroundingi that repose npon 

which his very existence depended. In his opinion the interests of 

his constituents required his personal attention and demanded his 

continued presence here. The members of the Senate will not, I am snre, soon forget the earnest and ahpost impMSioncd tones of his voice as they fell for the last time upon our ears pleading for the inauguration and consummation of such enlarged and comprehensive policy 

of internal improvements as would develop and enrich not only his own immediat.e constituency, but would redound to the advantage of 

the whole country. 

In his stern <levotion to duty, in his delicate sense of .honor, in his 

contempt for all that was little and mean, and in the fearless bravery 

of his loyal heart he seemed better suited to the chivalric than to 

the present utilitarian age. But it was in the domestic circle, amid 

the sweet enrlearments of home, that the most lovable and lovely 

traits of my friend's character found their fullest development. His 

appreciation of home joys and domestic pleasure was unusually acute, 

and however appreciated and honored might be his public service, he ever turned with unfailing zest and keen enjoyment to the delights 

of that mountain home whose elegant hospitalities he so mucll delighted to dispense, and to that family in whose affectionate ministrations he found his highest happiness. In t.he sacred penetralia of 

that borne there is "an aching void the world can never fill." I will 

not with rude hand attempt to draw back the veil which shrouds sor- rows which it cannot wholly conceal. To "time, the comforter," and 

"to Him who doeth all things we11," they can look alone for the healing of their yet green wonnds, assured that when that time shall come, 

they will feel a. jnst appreciation of his reputation as a public serv- ant, and will forever cherish ~ their dearest heritage the memory 

of his sweet domestic virtues. 

Mr. President, to arrest the sweeping current of heated political 

discussion which has since the commencement of the present session 

borne down everything before it, to still for a time the tones of mu- tual denunciation which have so persistently vexed the ear of the 

Senate; to withdraw our minds for a brief space from the consideration of tlte exciting questions which press upon us with such engrossing interest, and to turn with saddened hearts and subdued utter- ances tJO the performa.nce of the toucl:ting duty of paying this tribute 

of respect and affection to the memory of our departed associate, is 

eminently judicious and must be productive of good. 

These ceremonies bring us face to face with the last great enemy, 

before whom the struggles of political parties are dwarfed into insignificance, and compel you to remember that ''there is no work nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thon goest." 

The dreams of ambition, the mad quest for power and place, the 

aspirations of purest patr~otism, alike pass away with the fleeting 

breath, and thus we "bring our years to an end as a tale that is told :" 

For the living know that"they shall die: but the dead know not anything. Also 

their love, and their hatred, aml their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. 

Such is the conclusion of Him to whom was given wisdom beyond 

that which has ever fallen to man, and it becomes us well to ponder His words and so apply our hearts to the true wisdom that when onr star sets at life's close "it may set as sets the morning star, which 

goes not down behind the darkened west, but melts away into the 

brightness of the coming day." 
346 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. DECE:rtiBEU 21, 

Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, Mr. CAPERTO~ took hi seat in thi~ 

body as one of the repre.·ent.atives of We t Virginia for the term of 

six years ·ou the 4th of .March, 1875. He died on the 26th of Jnly, l tl7u. 

A law big her than consl itntions and a power greater than that of 

states terminated the high trust his State had committed to him 

before oue-fonrth of its period of usefulness and honor had elap ·ed. The daily lesson of mortality, repeated in every age and every clime 

in the only language common to all the inhabitants of the earth, 

speaks as cle&rly to those in the· most exalted as to those in the humblest stations. The cabinet's and audience-chambers of kings and the 

halls of senates are as obedient to its inexorable voice as the lonely 

tent or wigwam of the poore~ dweller in the desert. Misery and 

happiness, want and affiuence, are equal before it; and so uay by day 

there disappear from the scene of human endeavor as well the actors 

of the great parts as the simple figures w bo only pass unnoticed aero s the shadows of the most distant parts of the stage. · In the brief career of Mr. CAPERTON among us, he had endeared 

himself to the whole body of his senatorial associates. Political 

frienrls and political opponents alilm fouud in him those qualities of 

personal. uprightness and independeuce that do so much always to 

mitigate the overzeal and soften the asperities of party st.rife. A man of much sensitiveness of temper and of ~trong opinions, tlleself- reverenceJwd self~control flowing from a gentle spirit, a cultivate<l 

intellect, and long intercourse with his fellow-men in man~-r stations 

of trust made him always courteous in manner and conciliatory in 

advancing his own opinions and in opposing those of others. He bas 

been suddenly taken from the sphere of lal>or for his State and his 

country, upon which he had but ju t commenced. As we join in the sorrows of the young Commonwealth he represented, we naturally 

look backward to his predecessors and to her singular history. Mr. 

CAPERTON was only the third Senator of his claas from that State. 

Mr. Boreman immediately preceded him, and Mr. Van Winkle preceued l\1r. Boreman, and was one of the first two Senators from West 

Virginia, Mr. Willey being his collea-gue. Out of the convulsions of 

the rebellion there was born a new and welcome sister in our great 

family of States. 

The substantiPl power of the old Commonwealth of Virginia, 

glorious in all her previous history-east of the mountains having 

carried her in 1861 into the rebellion-although during a short periou 

afterward she bad representatives in the Senate-the people of the 

forty-eight counties of the western part of the State, lying among the 

beautiful and fertile valleys of the Alleghanies, in 1862 fra.rued a cQilstitution and government fora separate and independent State. The 

great majority of this people were loyal to the national unity of the 

Republic, and.naturally felt deeply anxious that their fortunes sboultl 

not be linked with those of Eastern Virginia in its sad attempt to 

break up the Government of the Union. Aft.er much consideration 

and many doubt. , on the 31st of December, 1862, an act of Congress · was passed providing for the creation of the new State of West Virginia, and on the 19th of June, 1863, she became the thirty-fifth State 

of the Union, and the twenty-second of the new States. The character of the political body that, as the Legislature of Virginia, as- sented to the dismemberment of the State was not the clearest, as being the constitutional Legislature of the oltl State ; but Congress 

exercised its undoubted political power to recognize it as such, and 

the State of West Vilginia became an accomplished and unchangeable fact. It is not one of the least evils flowing from powerful as- saults upon lawful government that the government itself is often 

forced to extreme measures and to the verge of its authority to pre- serve and protect itself; and thus it sometimes transmits to later 

times unsatisfactory precedents and examples that many in less 

emergencies are too apt to resort to aa the justification or excuse for 

other steps dangerous to the common weal. As we reflect upon the 

characters and careers of departed statesmen and bring up to view 

the events with which they were connected in times of trouble and 

distress, can we not repeat with fervent emphasis f 

Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, I 

Live till to· morrow, will have passed away. 

Neither the purest motives nor the most exalted patriotism can prove an antidote to the poison of measures of any government beyond its constituted power, however apt they may be fQr the exigencies of an existing occasion, or for an appeal to any other force than 

that of the law for the redress of grievances arising in a government 

constituted upon principles of justice and equal rights, and wherein, 

from period to period, recourse must be had to fresh expre ions of 

the popular will. The men of the time and the excitement of the 

hour pass away, but the institutions and the body of the people, old 

and yet ever new, remain to rectify, in the sober light of truth and 

reason, the evils that ignorance or passion, prejudice or corruption, 

may have inflicted upon society. 

'l'o-day we make memorial to a prominent figure in the government 

of a great nation. One of that very small body of men, to whom, as "the sheet-anchor of the Government," the security and happiness of more than forty millions of people are chiefly cotnmitted, has been 

called, suddenly and forever, from hi place. Such an event, although 

certain to occur very often, cannot fail to be solemn and)rupressive, 

not only-indeed not chiefly-from our awe of death, or from our friendship and re pect for the man who has gone, but from consideratioUB that relate to the connection of particular individuals, or indeed elected bodies of men, with affairs of state, and the little con- tribution the most fortunate are actually able to make to the sum of 

human events. 

In this body itself, the most permanei)t in its personality of any 

under the Constitution except the judiciary, a very few year& suffice 

to change almo t entirely the elemen~ of its compo ition. There now remain to us only three Senators who occupied their places at the beginning of Mr. Lincoln's administration, or who participated officially 

in the long tragedy of the. rebellion ; and there are o~ly eleven who 

in 1868 were members of the high court that t.ried and acquitted the 

President. The accn ed and the greater part of his judge have long 

since left the forum-some for the simple duties and plea ores of citizenship, and some, with the chief per on age in that great drama, have· gone to their long repose, and to whose constantly increa. ing numl>er 

has now been added one of the most recently appointetl of the mem- bers of t.bis body. . Surely the works we personally do for our country must be few and . small in the aggregate of historyJ and their permanent value mn t 

depend, not upon the glamor of oratory, the polish of scholarship, or skill in discussion, but rat.her on that deep spirit of truth and justice, 

and the courage t~ follow them always, that make up the chat:acter 

of himWho, whetber praise of him must walk the earth 

Forever, and to noble deeds give birth, 

Or must go to dust withouth1s fame, 

.And leave a dead, unprofitable name, Finds comfort in himself amlin his cause, .And, while the mortal mi~t is g::itherin~. flraws 

His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause. 

Mr. BAYARD. Mr. President, on the 4th of March, 1875, our lamented a sociate ALLEN TAYLOR CAPERTON took his seat in this l>ody, 

having been elected to serve untill\Iarch, 1 1. Death clo ed his ca- reer when but little more than a single year of hi senatorial ervice 

had been performed. During this short periorl there wa little to signalize his service here, and in the quiet, steady, undemonstrative 

performance of his duty mnat be found the basis of any commentary• we may now make. 

I have said his period of service here was short, yet it was long enou~b to cause all who carne to be acquain1ecl with him to mourn t.hat It should not have been longer. It was long enough to impre 

those whose acquaintance he then first made with respect and confidence. 

He came into this body with a high and unblemi bed personal 

repute, not built upon noisy profes ions and sn tained by en ational 

advertisement, but firmly founded in the appreciati1m of his pemonal qua~ ties by his friends, his neighbors, and Lhat wid&-spread circle of men of all shades of political opinion in Virginia and \Vest Virginia 

amid whom his modest and virtuous life had been spent and where a worthy ancestry had preceded him from the fir~St fountlations of 

civil government in that country. . The term declared by t,be psalmist to be the years of a. man bad 

been nearly passed by him, for he bad reached his sixty- ·eventh year 

when the "dread arrest" was felt. But he had so lived that lJe tlid 

not fearto die, and although wrungwith pain hemet it a the immediate and recognized precursor of death, with that fortitude which 

had characterized his- whole life. He had lived remote from cities, and in the comparative t!eclusion of a count.ry life had fountl his theater of usefulness, duty, and quiet happiness. Fl~m the most venerable and one of the most highly respected institutions of learning ih our country be bad receh·ed, in 1832, his 

diploma of scholarship, and as a graduate of Yale College entel'ed 

upon the stu(ly and soon the practice of the law. He attained bigh 

standing in the ranks of his profession, and gained and l\ept the con- fideuce and affection of those around him, as was attested l>y the 

many important public trusts he was called upon to execute. 

When Virginia, his native home, felt in 1861, in common with all 

other members of onr Federal Union, the terrible convulsions of political strife, it was almost inevitable that a citizen so eminent andesteemed by men of all parties as Mr. CAPERTON should be called upon 

in that critical hour to represent his people in the public counsels. 

While he sought not distinc ion for bimself, be shrank not from re- sponsibility, nor kept in the background when danger showed itself 

at the front, fur no man in a land where courage is the rule was more · constant in that quality, morally and pbysicaJJy, than he. 

He was in politics a whig-a co:pservative Union man-and.with 

such views became a member of the State convention of Virginia of 

18tH. This is not the occasion to relate nor I the fit hi torian of the 

longing, lingering look, cast back upon that Union, in o great degree 

the work of her sons in field and council, of her ti·easure and her territcOry, by the great State of Virginia. as she reluctantly withdrew 

from its political association. 

The conscience and' training of ALLEN CAPERTON bade him follow 

the political fortunes of his f$tate, and in obedience to the call of ber 

Legislature he became a member of the Confederate States senate in 

1862, and served there throughout its stormy existence and until the 

end of that short-lived government. Ten years after that go\ei·n- ment had pas ed away, to be known no more except in history, Mr. 

CAPERTON was in the vicissitude of human affairs chosen t,o represent 

the State of West Virginia in the Senate of the United States. 

Mr. President, I have never felt more penetrated with a s<mse of 
. 1876. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE . 347 

the wisdom of prompt and thorough reconciliation of our fellow-countrymen, so lately and violently at strife, than when I recognized in 

the course of my confiuential relations of private friendship with 

A.LLE:N CAPERTON bow truly and wholly his heart beat for tho happine sand prosperity of our whole country, and for the perpetuation 

of its constitutional government. Would that now the power could 

be given to me to picture in all its glowin(J' and truthful reality the 

fiuelity of his honest soul, that has so lat~iy taken its flight, to the 

integrity and welfare of our Government and the happines~:~ of an its people. 

Sure am I that distrust and suspicion toward men such as he, and 

from the section of country with which be was politically identified, 

would vanish, and forever, from the breasts of their fellow-country- men of the more northern section of the Union. 

Honor and truth are rwt mere idle abstractions. They are the liv- • ing and practical realities upon which men and women found their 

best reliance for per&onal happiness, and which constitute the real 

bulwarks of a nation's welfa,re aJid safety, without which written 

constitutions are mockeries and laws mere pitfalls. 

In the life of the modest gentleman whose death we mourn these 

qualities were constantly exemplified, and from our contemplation of 

them and their exercise may we not take new resolve to pay them 

due respect in our momory of the dead, and call for their recognition 

a!ld practice in our intercourse with the living. 

-

He lived, where his ancestors had for several generations, in are- gion of great beauty of land cape-a high plateau with monutaiupea,ks in the distance, with intervales and opening vistas of surpassing loveliness-off the great lines of travel, and where the stream of 

life seemed to eddy into a quiet circle. It was a spot where old ens- toms survive, old fashions prevail, and old faiths are cherished. From 

his beautiful home, through the broad Engli~h lawn-almo t a. park- we bore his remains to the village church, where his old friends and 

neighbors had gathered from all the country round. The solemn serv- ice for the dead was spoken. We followed him to the grave-yard on the hill and left him with his fathers. 

His task is finished. He has no part or lot in all that is done beneath the sun. No more ~or him the voice of love, the song of gladness, the load of care, the cup of sorrow. Not for him the beauty of 

spring, the splendor of summer, the glory of autumn, the uncrowned 

majesty of winter. Flowers will spring from his grave; storms will 

beat upon it; morning will greet it with her earliest light, night crown it with her stars, and the earth, rolJing in her great orb in infinite space, will bear his dust with hers, till time shall be no more: .Ah, mystery of death, and greater· mystery of life; both are in the 

hand of Him without whose knowledge not a sparrow falls; obeclient to whosa will the tides of human destiny ebb and flow, and unto 

whom a . thousand years are but as yesterday when it is gone, or a watch in the night. 

:Mr. BOOTH. Mr. President, we have paused in our daily labor, 1\Ir. PRICE. Mr. President, I was no doubt better aequainted with 

tarned aside from the routine of business and from the consideration the deceased than was any other Senator here. We lived in adjoinof those grave questions- which disturb the public mind with v~gue ing counties, practiced law in the same courts, were members of the 

alarm, to pay tribute of respect to one who in his brief service in same Legislatures and the same conventions, and generally bad the 

this body, by his kindness, courtesy, and frankness, made each of us same interests to represent. Our acquaintance extended back to his 

his friend, and who discharged his public duties with industry, ill- early manhood, when he first commenced his professional and entered 

telligence, fidelity, and honor. . upon his public career. . This Chamber is the arena of intellectual combat, and when the He was the son of Hugh Caperton, esq., a gQntlema.n of fascinating 

great monarch drops his baton the conflict of opinion is su8pendecl. address and popular manners, of great COIRpaM alld en~rgy of mii1d, 

In all stations, in every allotment of life, it is wsll that we should and who, by his energy and sound judgment, ha.d amaseed ft. la.r~e forsometimes be brought to the absolute contemplation of death, and tnne, which he left unimpaired ann unembarrassed to his children. 

the realization that to each of us it is inevitable and near. The days He was repeatedJy called on by the citizens of his county to represent 

of our life are numbered; at each sunset there is one le s. The sands them in the popular branch of the State Legislature; and he always 

of OUl' life are measured. While I speak they are wasting. served them to their entire satisfaction. He was also elected to ConThough death is as "common as any, the most vulgar thing to gress from his district at a critical period in our history and rendered sem~e," though it hath been "cried from the first corse till be that. service satisfactory to his district. 

died to-day' this nw.st b~ so,"' it still remains the great mystery whose ALLEN TAYLOR CAPER10N, the subject of our remarks to-day, was over hadowing presence awes us into a sense ·Of our insignificance, born on the '21st day of November, 1810, in the town of Union, Mooand shows us the objects of our pursuit and passionate desire in their roe County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and departed this life on colU, naked reality. And this is its office to the living. Not lips the 26th day of July, 11376. He inherited his father's popularity and 

touched with the tire of genius can so solemnize us to a sense of duty, a large estate. He received the mdiments of au English education at so plead for the right, so admonish us of the vanity of human expec- the village school of his native town. At that time there being no tation as the dumb, cold lips of the dead. Beneath these forms and schools of a high grade in that immediate neighborhood, he was sent 

trappings, beneath this covering.of flesh, our skeletons are marching to the academy at Huntsville, Alabama, where he remained two and 

to the grave. And everything on earth that we long for,seek, strive a half years. He was t.hen sent to the Lewisburgk Academy, which 

for,·is but a covered skeleton. Adorn it as we may, cheat ourselves was pr~sided over by that historic character Rev. Dr. John McEl- as we will, "to this complexion it must come at la~t ;" and then dust benny, the pioneer preacher in the Presbyterian Chlll'ch, a veneration 

and ashes. for whose person and character .Mr. CAPERTON cherished during the 

Six. months ago- if ALLEN TAYLOR CAPERTON had entered this remainder of his life. 

Chamber and passed to his seat, it would have been a commonplace In early manhood, (thedateihavenotobtained,)l\fr. CAPERTON beincident, as little noted as your or my coming to-day. If he should came a student atYaleCollege, where he remained four years and until 

enter that door now, what an awe would fall upon us all .. If he shonld he was graduated. Upon his return to Virginia he went.totheuuiverrise at his desk to speak, with what rapt suspense we should listen. sity of that State, where he was also graduated. He finally finished his 

Not the most eloquent words that e>er fell from mortal lips could so edncatiouatGeneral(afterwardJudge)Baldwin'slawschool in Staunenchain attention as the lightest syllable from his. ton, Virginia, and immediately thereafter commenced the practice of 

Yet if he could come back from the" undiscovered country" and his profession. 

spea.k to us as in the flesh, do ~e uot know whitt his message would He was married in the twenty-second year of his age to Miss Harbe ·would he not counsel peace an<l good-will f Could he inculcate riet Echols, a lady of great intellectual, social, and moral worth, whose a higher lesson than that taught of old, that" righteousness exalteth acquaintance he made while a student at Yale College, and whore- a nation;" that ," error shall pass away like a shallow, the truth shall , mains his survivor. 

endure forever f" Could he not tell us that self-seeking is not the Mr. CAPERTON filled many offices of trust and importance. 

highest wisdom, that safe guidance is not found in passion; and that The first office that he filled was a State directorship in the James 

institutions can neither be built nor preserved by hatred or violence f River and Kanawha Company as successor to his father, who had 

Could he reveal a diviner precept than'' love," a more sacred duty held that office and resigned. This, though not a lucrative office, 

than "charity¥" If it has been permitted him to pass in review the having neither salary nor perquisites, was deemed one of great 

procession -of events in the unnumbered ages since man appeared on State importance, as it was then expected that by this improve.ment 

the earth and to realize that history has but begun, that in the cur- the waters of the Che8apeake would he connect-ed with the waters of ·tained future there are count.Iess ages to be, could he not tell us that the Mississippi through the State of Virginia. . in the grand sweep of destiny mere personal success, the pride of In April, 1841, he became a candida~ for the State LegiRlature, and 

place; the lust of power, are of as little worth as tlill foam on the river! was elected to represent his native county in the house of delegates. 

This is the message from the dead past to the living present; this is In April, 1844, he was elected to the St.ate senate from the counties 

the lesson of the silent centuries; this is the voice from the grave of of Monroe, Giles, Montgomery, Floyd, Greenbrier, and Mercer. ·Durall who have gone before. ing this term, which was one of four years, he bad the misfortune to 

Those who knew Senator CAPERTON better than I have already lose hisvenerated·father. Hefillednopoliticalor civilofficefromthat 

spoken of the traits of his character and the incidents of his life. In time nntil1850. · He was the executor of his father's will, which deour brief acquaintance he impressed me as a. man of culture andre- volved upon him a large mass of business which, with a large and 

fineruent; of strong practical sense, impatient with what he regarded increasing professional business, gave him full employment without as abstractions, zealous for the promotion of every material interest, being involved in the mazes of politics. and devoted to a rennion of hearts and hands through all the land. In August, 1850, a conventiQn being called to amend the State conHis neighbors- told me he was a. man of active habits, interested in stitution, his fellow-citizens of Monroe, Giles, Tazewell, and Mercer 

every enterprise for the advancement and improvement of the conn- Counties called on him to become one of their representatives, to which 

try where he lived, strong in his convictions, outspoken in his opin- call be responded affirmatively and wu.s elected. In this convention 

ions, steadfast in his friendship, and of bountiful hospitality. be took a prominent part, the great question before that body being 

He had this true test of genuine worth-his character and temper the basis of represtmtation in the two houses of the Legislature, one softeued and mellowed with years and experience. Cl.Jildren loved party assuming that white population should be the basis, the other 

him, and the dumb beast regarded him as a nat~ual protector. that population and taxation combined should be the bMis. Ho, in 
348 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. DEOEl\1BER 21, 

common with his western friends, auvoca.ted the white basis. The j and serono time, refe~red to the Committee of Ways and Means, and 

question was finally settled by a committee of compromise of which ordered to be printed. 

he was a member. R. D. SAL'MANS A~D OTHERS. 

He waa twice npon the whig electoral ticket as electQr~ but failed Mr. MILLIKEN, also, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. 

to ecure his election because his party was in the minority in the R. No. 4263) for the relief of R. D. Salmans and other ; which was State at both elections. 

In 1859 he was induced. to become again a candidate for the house read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on War Claims, and ordered to be printed. of dele~ates, with a view of pushing on the great central improvement which 18 now known as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. He was BUSL~ESS ON THE SPEAKER'S TABLE. 

elected and served two sessions. It would scarcely be necessary for Mr. KASSON. I ask that the bills from the Senate now ou the m~ to say that be was one of the leading members of that body, if not Speaker's table may be taken therefrom, simply for reference, that 

the very leader. they may be put in possession of the committees before the holidays. 

While be was thus serving in the house of delegates, he, in 1861, The SPEAKER. The motion would be iu order after the morning was elected a delegate to the State convention known a3 the secession hour; but the gent.leman from Iowa may ask unanimous consent that 

convention. He entered that convention with a det-ermination to save the mot.ion may be entertained at this time. 

the Union if he could; but when President Lincoln called for money Mr. HOLl\iAN. I trust that after the morning hour all the busines.<J 

and troo_ps to su·bjugate t.he South, he did not think the Union could on the Speaker's table may be disposed of, so as to be properly refened 

be preserved, and voted for the separation. before the holiday recess. In 18G2, Hon. William Ballard Preston, one of the senators in the Mr. KASSON. If it is prefen-ed, I will postpone the motion for the 

confederate congress having departed this life, Mr. CAPERTON was present. 

elected to fill the vacancy. The SPEAKER. The Chair will recognize the gentleman aftorthe 

In 1875 he was elected by the Legislature of West Virginia a Sena.- morning hour. 

tor in this body, which he remained to the time Of his death. ORGANIZATION OF THE NAVY DURIXG pftACE. 

This is his public history, the principal part of which is known to Mr. WILLIS, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. No·. your humble speaker. I said in the outset that he inherited his father's popularity and a 4264) providing for the organization of the N'avy during peac ; wllich 

large estate. which assertion 1 again repeat with the addition that he was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on NavaJ. 

added greatly to both. By the rehearsal which I have given of the Affan:s, and ordered to be printed. 

chronology of his public life, it will be seen that his popularity grew CUST0:\1-HOUSE AND POST-OF.l<,ICE AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. 

with his growth and strengthened with his strAngth; that his last Mr. LANDERS, of Connecticut, by unanimous eon ent, introdnced 

days were his most popular days; and he added to his fortune as well a bill (H. R. No. 4265) making appropriations for continuing the con- as to his popularity, and died possessed of a large estate. struction of the custom-bouse a.ud post-office at Hartford, ConnectiAs a lawyer·he was always ingenious and persuasive. Heunde stood cut; which was read a first an(l second time, referred to the Commitlaw as a science, and practiced with great success. He was generally tee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. 

enga.ged in all the important cases that aro e within the rauge of his 

practice. He generally argued his cases with marked ability, though 

ke was not always equal to himself. He required to be aroused; without that his utterance was a little hesitating, and his mind seemed 

timid in taking bold of the subject; but when thoroughly aroused his 

language flowed copiously and his mind worked smoothly and vigorously. He could not only follow up his snbject in argument, but 

could add beauty to st-rength ; he could cull flowers for the jury and 

carry on a playful dalliance with everything he met wit.h on the wn.ysi<le. He was probably the best lawyer I ever knew who did not com- mence the practice of law from necessity, poverty being as a general 

thinlY necessary, as I think, to professional success. I can unite with anot~er friend of his who said just before the senatorial election in • 1875, "Mr. CAPERTO~ is an accomplished man in every respect." His 

disposition was genial and his fund of information copious, which 

made him attractive as a social companion. 

His last illness was short. No one thought the symptoms. of his case were alarming. Some of his family were with him, not as watch- men at the bed of death, but as nurses around the bed of sickness. 

He was bolstered up in bed with pillows and said to his children who were present, "Hoist the window; hoist it quickly," and swooned 

away and died. 'fhe winged messenger wa.s sped with too fatal an aim. Death bad struck ita victim, and he is no more. "He is gone 

from us and will not come to us; but we may go to him." 

"The ways of Providence 31e inscrutable and past finding out." 

But this we know, that" it is appointed unto men once to die." He 

bas gone before us. ·we must soon follow. 

To say that he was an affectionate husband and a kind father would 

be commonpla.ce and almost a mockery in terms, for his family not 

only reverenced him but almost adoreft him. They have sustained 

the '' irrepm·able loss," and no one can realize the deep meaning of this 

expression who has never experienced it. 'Ve need not go into the 

sanctuary of the family to find mourners; they. are found in the 

streets, ·in the by-ways and the hedges, and everywhere wllere Mr. 

CAPERTON was known. 

Deeply sympathizing with his family and other friends in humble sorrow we submit to the fiat of an all-wise and inscrutable Providence. 

Mr. President, as a further testimonial of respect to the memory of 

the deceased, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to m;tanimonsly; and (at four o'clock and 

eleven minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

THURSDAY, December 21, 1876. 

The House met at twelve o'clock m. ·Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. 

I. L. TOWNSE.i.~D. 

The J ourual of yesterday was read and approved. 

W. N. HALDEl\IAN. 

Mr. MILLIKEN, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 

No. 4262) for the relief of W. N. Haldeman; which was read a first 

DEVELOPME~T OF 1\!L~ING RESOURCES. 

Mr. O'NEILL, by unanimou.<J consent, introduced a bill (H. R. No. 

4266) to amend ection 2325 of the Revised Statutes relating to the development of the mining resources of tlle United States; which was read a first and Recond time, referred to the Committee on .Mines and 

Mining, and orde1·ed to be printed. 

MRS. ELIZABETH B. C. HARE. 

Mr. O'NEILL also by. unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 

No. 4267) for the relief of Mrs. Elizabeth Binney Cadwallader Hare, 

widow of George H. Hare,late a lieutenant in the Unitetl State Navy; 

which was read a. first and second time, referred to tho Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered t-o be print-ed. 

OSCAR B. K~OTr. 

Mr. VAN VORHES, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 

No. 4268) b'Tanting a pension to Oscar B. Knott, late a priYate in Company K, One hundred and sixty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions., and ordered to be prin~. 

OSAGE ~IAI.~S. 

Mr. SCALES. I ask unanimous consent to report from the Committee ou Indian· Affairs a bill authorizing the issue of certain funu now in the Trea.sury belonging to the O.sage Indians, for the bone fit of ujd 

Indians, and am instructed by the committee to move that the bill he now put upon ibi passage. If the House will allow me I <lesire brieUy 

to explain the object,of the bill. 

The SPEAKER. The Chair will hear the gentleman from North 

Carolina, [l\IR. SCALES,] reserving the right of gentlemen to object. 

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. Let the bill be rea<l. 

The bill was read, as follows : 

Be it enacted. &c., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, authorized to issue a sum not exceeding $:>0,000 from funds now in the Tz·eMnry belnn.?-

ing to the Osage Indians under an net of July 15, l870, to be e..~pended for tlleU" 

benefit, to aid them in agriculture, for their care aod support, and in ex:t.endin"' improvements already begun OQ. their reservation, and in any other manner to pro- mote their civilization and improvement. 

Mr. SCALES. I desire to make a brief statement. The bill is based 

upon a report made by the agent who baa charge of tho e Indians. 

It comes from Superintendent Nicholson, who, I think, is one of the 

best and most faithful superintendents we have in the whole service. 

It is recommended by the Commissioner of ..Indian Affairs anti the 

Secretary of· the Interior, and reported favorably by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 

The bill only provides that the Osa.ge Indians, who ;ne perhaps the 

richest tribe of Indians we have in this country, shall be permitted to 

use ~1)0 000 of their own funds now in the Treasury. According to a. 

report made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs they have now in 

the hands of the Treasurer nearly one and a half millions of dollars. 

They are in a destitute condition. They need this money badly. 

These are the representations made to ns; and this simply provides 

that the e Indians be allowed the use of 50,000 of the fund which IJe- lon~s to them, and which is now in the Treasury. 

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the reception (}f the bilH 

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. Does it come from the Committee on Indian Affairs.