Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-03-15

THURSDAY, March Is.
SENATE.-Mr Riddle, from the Printing
Committee, reported a resolution 10 print IN Oou
copies OF the report of the JOINT Com mittee on
Reconstruction. with the accompanying testi-
.lony, lol the use OF the Senate. The commit
tee recommended the printing Of 6,poO instead
of lU,OO
MIR. Wade hoped the amendment OF the COM
ml'tee would not be adopted. This was an
important document and ought TO be circu-
lated.
Mr.. Riddle inquired if MIR. Wade knew the
cost OF printing.
MIR. Wade SAID il would only be the differ
ence between 1900 and 1000.
Mr.. Dayis.-l would like to know upon what
principle of justice and impartiaIity the evil
dence Is taken. One gentleman OF North Caro-
Ilna one of the truest and most honorable in the
land gave me this information, IN relation 10
the State of North Carolina. He informed me
that the evidence of some men connected with
the Freedmen's Bureau had been taken He
addressed a lie ter to a member of the commit
tee, requesting that witnesses whose names
had been suggested by those who claimed seats
IN the Senate and House should be allo wed to
give their evidence before the Committee When
L tast cCnyersed with him he had recely ed no
such privilege as that. If a just. and intelli-
cont sud impartial Committee would seek for
.l' 20 b. the whole truth, and nothing else
but IS truth in relation TO this matter, the
inquiry would be subject Of deep interest TO
the country and the result of their labors
should be presented to the country But II
that committee proceeds upon the principle of
suppressing evidence-suppressing the truth
l.
dence in behalf Of the gentlemen who claim
seats in the two Houses from the eleven ex-
cluded States, forl one am opposed TO pub
fishing at the public expense the results of
their labors. L do not believe, at least L have
very little faith in the various letters and in
formation read to the Senate by the honorable
Senator from Massachusetts presented 70 this
body. / have no confidence whatever, or very
little, in the testimony which the men in the
employment of the Freedmen's Bureau give
in relation TO the state Of public sentiment IN
the southern States
Mr.. Davis then said that as a sample of the
KIND OF evidence furnished by those employed
by the Freedmen's Bureau, he would read
from speech made few weeks ago by Gen.
Clinton b. Fiske In Cincinnati, and published
In the Cincinnati Commercial. He character
lied the statement in il in relation to the treat
ment OF negroes in Kentucky as false and ca
luminous.
Mr.. Wilson said that since the Senator from
Kentucky had risen he had cut out of paper
a speech made by Colonel w. Z. Thomson.
now at the head of the Freedmen's Bureau in
Louisville, Kentucky, who was formerly a
member of the House of Representatives from
Kentucky. Col. Thomson says in his speech,
1T is said there Is no necessity for the bureau
IN Kentucky. Our Senators in Congress have
asserted that all the rights Of the freedmen are
protected by State laws. Now, my position
enables me to say that neither General Pal
mer's letters nor General Fiske's speech in
Cincinnati has told more than a fraction of
the ruth upon that subject. Our State laws
do not protect colored people"
L have simply TO say in regard TO General
Flske, that he is a gentleman of talent and
character, and a Christian man, whose word
will 60 further in this matter than the assertion
of every rebel sympathiZer in Kentucky. As
TO General Palmer, the country knows that he
is an eminent citizen of Illinois. He is q native
of kentucky; man of capacity and high char
acter. He knows what is going on in that
State.
Mr.. Wilson then referred TO the fact that
military tribunals had repeatedly convicted
men of cruel and inh um an treatment of negroes
in Kentucky, and the evidence taken before
these tribunals could not be controyerted.
After further discussion. the amendment to
insert 6,ut1 instead OF l0,OU0 was disagreed to-
and The original resolution was passed.
HoUSE.-Mr. Smith, of Kentucky, by unan-
lmous consent, made q personal explanation
in the course of which he caused TO be read by
the Clerk an extract from the Pittsburg Ga
zette, which he claimed reflected on himself
Such attacks, he said, arose from the infamous
untenable and damnable heresy uttered in this
House that certain States were out Of this
Union.
Mr.. Broomall, of Pa, called the gentleman
TO order The gentleman had no right to char.
nable heresy'
The Speaker sustained the point Of order.
The House then decided, by vote OF yeas
S., nays 20, not to allow the gentleman from
Mr.. Smith, of Ky, then obtained leave to ex-
plain that certain previous remark of hi.
was intended personally for Mr.. Stevens, OF
Pa, and not for the House generally.
Mr.. Stevens, Of Pennsylvania, rose and re-
marked, merely, that what no gentleman would
utter, no gentleman would answer. TSensa-
ticn.l
Mr.. Stevens, from the Committee on Appro-
priations, reported the Indian Appropriation
bill, which was referred to the Committee on
Appropriations.
Mr.. Mccullough, of Missouri, introduced a
bill to authorize the construction Of a lateral
branch to the Baltimore 4 Potomac Railroad:
which was referred to the Committee on the
District of Columbia.
The House then took mp the bill intended to
protect u. s. officers from civil suits and pros
ecutions for acts committed by them during
the rebellion, and providing for the transfer of
such cases from the State Courts TO the United
: ates Courts
MIR. Harding, Of KY, opposed the bill, de-
claring that il was an ez post fdcto law and un-
constitutional.
Mr.. Conkling, of N. Y, urged some legisla-
ton to protect the Secretary of War from re-
sponsibility for acts committed by him during
the rebellion, or TO indemnify him for the con-
sequences Of such responsibility.
The morning hour having expired, the House