The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-08 00:00:00

THE RE-ADMISSION OF VIRGINIA

A striking instance of General Butler's influence
is furnished by the passage of the bill admitting
Virginia into the Union. In his temporary ab-
sence from Washington,while prolonging his Christ-
mas holiday, Mr. Bingham of Ohio took the op-
portunity of passing through the House a measure
to admit Virginia, freed from the obnoxious condi-
tions imposed by the Reconstruction Committee,
of which Butler is chairman. Mr. Farnsworth, a
lumber of the Committee, some state will not act
up to his professions, and Mr. Bingham, after a
resolute contest, succeeded, aided by the Democrats,
in passing his amendment by a large majority. No
sooner did General Butler learn what was going on
than he posted as fast as an express could carry
him to Washington, travelling on Sunday night, the
16th Jan. Thebill hadgot through the House, and it
reached the Senate, where the subject had also been
debated. At once General Butler set to work to
have Bingham's amendment defeated. Mr. Stewart
cal rigid the motion to lay the Senate Bill on the
table, and to take up the House Bill by 25 to 23,
all the Democrats voting with hiw,aud the debate at
once turned on an amendment submitted by Mr.
Edwards, toincorporate what was considered by the
Democrats and the Conservative Republicans ob-
jectionable in the measure of the Senate. General
Butler was as busy as a bee in the Chamber, ad-
vising Senators Drake, Morrill, and others as to their
conduct on the measure, nor did he confine hisatten-
Lion to the Senate, but worked so indefatigably in the
House that he changed its sentiment, and, notwith-
standing Mr. Biugham's opposition—notwithstand-
ing the support of the President and of the majo-
rity in the Cabinet notwithstanding the vote
which committed the House, the objectionable oath
was retained, and the bill finally passed Congress
with many of the features with which the Demo-
crats asserted they would prefer to see Virginia
remanded back to military rule than to see retained
as conditions of her readmission into the Union.
Such appears to have been the influence of one man,
and a most extraordinary man he must be. The
President congratulated Mr. Bingham on his suc-
cess ; the New York Tribune, the consistent and
powerful advocate of liberality and generosity in
Reconstruction, thought Mr. Bingha►n's,' triumph
foreclosed all successful effort to make the condi-
tions of restoration harsh or degrading ; the coun-
try appeared well satisfied to see the Old Dominion
back in its place unshackled, but Ben. Butler
thought otherwise ; and if he has not passed all the
conditions he desired to attach to the readmission,
it is clear that the main conditions have been
incorporated. The debate gave rise to a sharp
skirmish between Senators Trumbull and Sumner.
On the 21st Jan. Mr. Trumbull replied to various
innuendoes and assertions of a personal character.
He bad read in the Congressional Globe remarks by
Mr. Sumner, impugning his (Mr. Trumball's)

ayes in assuming his position. Sumner• also asserted
that Virginian loyalists had knocked at the door of the
judiciary committee to give their version of affairs
as existing in the State. Yet a messenger at the
door had denied that any such persons had ap-

proached,w bile the members of the committee had all
ieclared that no Virginians hal been refused access.
Still Mr. Sumner not only insisted that he was right,
but inquired whether he (Trumbull) had not ad-
mitted his error. Mr. Sumner had held consulta-
dons with one Charles H. Porter, as the representa-
. .

Live of Virginian loyalists, claiming for him the pri-
vileges of the floor, although he (Trumbull) had
shown, by a published report of Porter's trial by
court-martial for seditious language and other
offences, the character of the man. Ile had been
found guilty of being drunk and disorderly at Nor-
folk, and the language he had used was " that he
would rather live under the Government of Jeff. Davis
than of Abraham Lincoln, that the U.S. Government
was a humbug," and such expressions. Then the

Senator proceeded to apply the foregoing remarks to
Mr. Sumner. After alluding to the untruthfulness
and the injustice of these and other assertions, he
said he would strip from one who could descend to
Lhe use of such impudent assumptions all his self-

assumed infallibility. Defending the Judiciary
Committee ; vindicating from Sumner's aspersion
the loyalty and p itr:otisiu of G-iveruor Walker, ha
went en to prove that the recent eke don i❑ V irgi nisa
was not as alleged a huge fraud ; yet these were the
assertions of the Senator from Massachusetts, and
such was the effrontery to which from day to day the
Senate had been subjected. That Senator was the
single exception among Republicans in the Cham-
ber who had not voted to confer the right of suf-
frage on coloured men throughout the South, and
it is remarkable that the same omission occurred
when the bill was passed to submit the Fifteenth
Amendment. If the Senator's assurance and effron-
tery was such that he could not resist his inclination
CO assail others, he must gird his armour about him
lest it bestripped off, and expose him to the American
people as an impracticable obstacle in the way of
legislation. Here the Chair interfered, " effrontery"
personally applied not being in Parliamentary order.
While disclaiming all intention to violate any rule,
Mr. Trumbull would remind the Chair that his
remarks had been denounced as preposterous and
absurd. Mr. Sumner, who rose in an agitated
state, after several former ineffectual attempts
to reply, considered the Senator from Illinois
to have run into the region of personality. A bird
flew in the air, a fish swam in the sea, and he would
not be drawn from the point by questions raised
by that Senator. He had been absent on account
of illness and fatigue when the, great measure
passed securing the rights of the coloured people.
He did not absent himself purposely, but forget-
ting the purpose he had at first avowed, of
avoiding personalities, Mr. Sumner spoke of
Trumbull as pouring out his venom. Again the
Chair interfered; declaring such a remark to be a
violation of parliamentary decorum. Senator Ed-
munds' amendment imposing the oath on office-
holders and legislators was passed by 45 to 16, and
the bill began to assume the same shape as that
introduced by the House Reconstruction Commit-
tee. At Richmond the people awaited anxiously
the result of the debate, and the passage of Bing-
ham's measure through the House caused much re-
joicing. As they had no artillery to celebrate the
anticipated event they got a battery of small pieces
from Fortress Monroe, but whether the bill, which
eventually passed, was greeted with wild demon-
stration, of joy iu the whilom Confederate capital,
or received in solemn silence, remains to be heard.
One Senator and three Representatives took their
seats in Congress on the 27th of Jan., and we may
here add that the House of Representatives passed
a bill last Thursday to admit Mississippi to repre-
sentation in Congress on the same terms as Vir-
ginia.—Anylo-Anzerican limes.

The very extensive Distillery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufacture of
Irish whisky, by 31essis. DIINVILLE & Co., who have gained
a world-wide celebrity for their fine old Irish whisky, is to be
called The Royal Irish Distillery."