Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-12-18
The Presidents Message.

St0oot dhu IL IeCciFeu SGCu tcdtineHt do
no other message ever received. The in
dignation it excited at the Capitol was
something with which the people cannot
help sympathizing, and the condemnation
poured upon the head of the bad man
whose name it bears, will doubtless be
echoed from one end of the land to the
other.
The Senate received the message from
the Presidents Private Secretary at ex-
actly one o'clock. There were not many
persons in the galleries, for the populace
expected scene at the other end of the
Capitol. The clerk began the reading just
as the printed copies were distributed
among the Senator's. He had read about
ten minutes, not having reached the afro
cious paragraph in which the President
advocates Reputation through the nom
payment of interest on our bonds, when
Senator CONFESS arose and Indignantly
moved to dispense with the further read
ing of the document. The wrath and
contempt of Senators had been gradually
rising. One could see that easily enough
from the galleries. The proposition to quit
reading was, however, no less novel than
astounding, and at first decided major
ity Of the Senators seemed to be opposed
to such severe treatment of the document.
Garrett Davis caught at his breath, and
managed to say that the motion was most
extraordinary. YES" responded Con-
ness, and the message is most extraor-
binary, such one as no other President
ever sent to Congress p Warming to his
subject, he went on to say that it was a
TRADE Of abuse, an indecent attack upon
Congress, a tissS0. Of malignant false
hoods. This lad tage caused decided
sensation. Several Senators rose to speak.
Two or three appealed to Mr.. CONFESS to
withdraw his motion. Others urged him
to press it to a vote, and there was some
confusion. Vice President Wade called
for vote on the motion to stop the read
ing, and on the Uioa roce answer, declared
that it had carried. Mr.. Davis and others
wanted yea and Ray vote, and so that
was ordered. Meantime there had been
some private consultation, and, as its re-
suit, CONFESS said he was willing to with
draw the motion if it was thought best.
Mr.. Cameron replied that he would at
once renew it, and so it was not with
drawn. Mr.. Howe said the message was
indecent in its character. The constitu-
ton does not give the President any right
to send us such message, nor does it
impose upon us the duty of listening to
such message. Messrs. Morton and
Wilson concurred in pronouncing it full
of Misrepresentation, but thought the
Senate would better have it read through.
Mr.. Cameron characterized it as unfit to
60 on the Senate journal, and wanted it
thrown upon the table at once. Governor
Morton reminded the Senate that the
President had the right to communicate
his views in his own way, adding that he
himself thought the message as bad a one
ms it could be. Mr.. Wilson spoke of it as
the rawlings of bad, disappointed man.
Mr.. Drake characterized it as the last kick
of a defeated Executive, which it was not
worth while to mind A majority seemed
to think otherwise, for when, at this
point, Mr.. Edmunds moved an adjourn
ment, it was carried without DIVISION
Thus the Senate, outraged beyond re-
straint, refused for the first time to hear a
message from the White House. While
there was some division of opinion among
Republicans as to the propriety of allow.
ing it to be read, there was none in con-
domination of its doctrines, or in the pro-
test against its wicked plea for the late re-
bcllion.
The House took the reading Of the mes
sage very quietly. The mems gallery
was crowded, though evidently not so
much to hear the document read as to see
how it was received by the Representa-
tives. Clerk Mcpherson seemed impress
cd with the gravity of his mission, and
read the pages in loud and clear voice,
easily filling the chamber. Very few
members paid any attention to him, how
ever. Many of them left the floor, others
wrote letters, several read newspapers.
Little knots gathered for laughter and
conversation, and there was buzz of
small talk throughout the hall. As the
clerk neared the last lines several members
rose. Mr.. Washburne, of Illinois, got the
floor, and in few grave, measured words
denounced the message for its reputation
doctrines, speaking of the document as
disgraceful in the extreme. Fernando
Wood, that pink of propriety, called him
to order, holding that he had no right to
use the word disgraceful in connection
with any message from the President
The Speaker ruled, of course, that any
member had the right to speak of it as be
pleased, so long as he kept within the
bounds of decorum. Messrs. Wood, Ran
dali and Eldridge all tried to speak al
once, all evidently meaning to raise fur
Their points of order. Mr. Washburne re-
fused to yield the floor, and the Speaker
directed them to take their seats. Mr.