The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-03-01
A"'her"hip Of the Reconstrac,,o. uu,
A fhkss.l
WASHINGTON. ID. O. Fob oa ,ao-

There Is good deal OF misapprebens;o,
exhibited in the press generally, as to the an.
thorship of the bill which on Thursday last
was sent TO the President. 1t is constantly
called the Stevens, the Blaine, or the Sher-
man Bill, when in truth neither one nor the
other of the gentlemen named can justly lay
claim to the credit of originating the meas
ure don't think Mr.. Stevens desires to do
so, whatever the other twain may, though he
sustained the original Military Bill, as report
ed by himself under instructions of the Re
construction Committee; and also the bill IL
nally adopted. In truth, the amendments
ADDED on Thursday morning, which alone
maze 1t acceptable to the majority, were won
IN great part only through the sagacious cour-
age OF Thaddeus Stevens. It is therefore
rather strange that SO careful Journalist as
Major Poore should have made such a mis-
take as the following, which / find ouoted
from his dispatches:
The passage of this bill by the House was /.
| great victory over MIR. Thad Stevens. who
has been laboring with untIring zeal TO defeat
| 1t ever since the Blaine amendment was at
tached to 1t in the Senate, and who only gave
in his adhesion to 1t at the last because fur
ther resistance seemed useless. l hg
1t would hardly be possible to writo SEN
tenee containing more Misrepresentation
than the above. The Senate amendment was
not Blaine's, though that gave it first s'local
habitation and a nane." 1t differs therefrom
not only in phraseology but in one most i'm
| portant provision at least venture to say
further that no man voted more heartily for
the bill, as amended, than did Mr.. SteyeDs-
he might well do so, for the Shellabarger pro-
viso Is terse epitome Of his own doctrines.
propose briefly to recount the history of
the bill. On the Saturday or Monday follow
ing the committal of Mr.. Stevenss own bill
to the Reconstruction Committee, result
gained by an alliance Of Conservative Repub-
lieans and Democrats, Senator Williams of
Oregon introduced the original Military Bill
1t was reteGe5d to the same committee. On
Wednes8F r. following, Mr. Stevens reported
it to the House, with changes in the preamble
and in the first and second sections. Five
districts instead of ten were authorized, and
tuC oCuCi al anu nOL buc ItSiQtlt WAS ullccI-
ed to detail the officers tocommand them.
Mr.. Bingham Of course opposed-for what
would he be nowadays without opposing Mr..
Stevens? The bill was discussed till the next
Monday, when the New Orleans Committee
reported Mr.. Shellabarger's scheme for the
restoration of civil government in Louisiana.
The House took that and passed it on the en-
suing Wednesday; tsen it recured to the
Military bill, In which the Committee had
made some alterations in phraseology to suit
Mr.. Bingham, and accepted one important
amendment offered by Mr.. Bingham, the
effect of which was not to suspend the great
writ In the United States courts and for
offences properly cognizable by them.
During the discussion of a week, about a
dozen amendments and substitutes were
offered. Mr.. Bingham. had too; one which
merely changed the Military bill in nearly the
same mode as finally accepted by and report
ed from the Committee of Fifteen. The other
was this bill, and an additional section pro-
viding that, when these States had ratified
the Constitutional amendment, and provided
for equal and impartial suffrage, they might
be allowed representation, the people and
Congress having ratified the amended Con-
tutions. An examination of this section of
Bingham's proposition and of Blaine's
amendment, will show that they are nearly
alike They are exactly so in scope If not in
language. A very vigorous effort was made
to get the Democrats to vote for this; it be-
ing found that the Republicans were fiirly d.
vlded At first the Democrats divided also,
but changed on ndng 1t would not alter the
result. l have not the Globe before me, but
think am not mistaken in asserting that the
Republicans in the House we're about equally
divided on Mr.. Blaines proposition. OF those
who voted for 1t, l know personally several
Western members who did so because of their
objections to the naked, bald proposition OF
military governments. The bill passed by
nearly the party vote on Thlirsd ay-eleven
| days since. ' "a ti'ii H'h
The Louisiana bin had been taken up in the
Senate and was laid asi de when the Military
bill came In. 1t was discussed uutii Saturday
evening. At the opening, Mr.. Williams o
Oregon moved to attach the Bingham. RIain,
section. He shortly afterwards withdrew hi
motion, when Reverdy Johnson renewed Ii
Then on Friday, either Senator Wilson OF
Williams, l forget which, introduced section
nearly word for word like that which prevail
ed MIR. Blaine's section began by assuming
that the Constitutional amendment had been
ratified and become Article 14th of the Con.
stitution. The last amendment did no such
thing 1t is stated "that when the people Of
any of the said States shall have framed con-
stitutiOn in accordance, &c" To this Mr.. Ere
linghuysen moved this important amendment
-"framed by convention of delegates elected
by the male citizens OF said State, twenty-one
| years old and upward, of whatever race, color
or previous condition, DC" Under the origi-
nal Bingham-Blaine proposition, there was no
provision allowing anybody to vote except
those now exercising the franchise.
On Friday right it being evident there was
no agreement among the Republicans, eau
Gus was determined upon. The most of the
New England and other Radical Senators pre-
fered the Louisiana Bill The caucus was
| hSAu on eoeeuuoy' n AotAuultct Oi seven
was appointed, of which Sherman was chair
man. In the afternoon an adjourned meet
ing was had at which the bill as it passed the
Senate was presented, the military portion
emasculated by directing the President to de-
tail the officers, and by the elimination of the
| power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus.
The 9th section was one offered ON the pre-
vious day, ,cithout Frelinshuysen's amend
ment Sherman's action was confined main
ly to stripping the measure OF its robustness.
| Thecaucus voted, IA forthe amended Louisiana
Rill - adapted for all the States offered by
Mr. Henderson, Mo-; Is voted for the commit
ties report. The Frelinghuysen amendment
| was then introduced, and in this shape it pass
ed the Senate. t1d lo
Here desire to correct a wrong impression
gave in my last letter. stated that Sena-
tor Fessenden endorsed the Blaine amend
ment. In this ] was misinformed. He Oh
posed it heartily, as totally insufficient and in.
volving recognition Of Johnsons bogus GOV
ernments, without means Of getting out of tn,
scrape In which We would be thus placed
Mr.. Fessenden actively encouraged member
to non-concur with the Senate, urging that
better measure could be obtained. /
The bill came back to the House, Mr.. Ste
Vens led In movement to non-concur and