Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-12-29
SHARP WORDS IN CONGRESS-.
A Tilt Between Bingham and Butler.

A Tilt Between Bingham and Butler.
On last Tuesday, when the Georgia
reconstruction bill was before the
House, Mr.. Bingham, of Ohio, OPP
posed its immediate passage, giving
his reasons therefor. Butler, of Mass,
who was in favor of rushing the bill
through, waded in, in his usual caus-
tic style. The debate ran as follows:
Mr.. Bingham said, the bill sent to
US by the Senate is in conflict with
every letter of the past legislation of
Congress on the subject of reconstruc-
ton; it is in conflict with the express
order of the President when he was
General of the army, acting under
the law of reconstruction, in 1868, in
relation to Georgia; it is in conflict
with the utterances of the Attorney
General of the United States in refer
ence to Virginia, under the operation
Of all reconstruction acts, and in con-
flict with all past legislation and of
the Constitution. For these reasons
ask that the bill may be postponed
till the third Wednesday in January.
If there be truth in what l have said,
the majority in this House should
postpone it. Here we are limited TO
twenty minutes discussion, shut off
from reference to the record, and asked
to decide a question by passion which
ought to be decided in the light of
calm reason, and under the obliga-
tions of oath. The honorable gentle
man from Massachusetts (AIr. Butler)
said yesterday that the frequent muir
ders in Georgia were owing TO the
Il n1 IF haS rfsrlat &c m q nf
Georgia, and that there ought to be a
remedy in Congress. ! agree with
him; but this is not in the bill before
US; it affords no additional protection
to any man, white or black, and it is
simply gratuitOus to make an appeal
of that kind to the House; and it is
equally gratuitOus to attempt to bring
to the support of this measure the
recommendation of the President of
the United States. happen to know,
and therefore say it, that if there is a
single line in the Presidents message
which he never intended to be there,
and which he does not stand by to-
day, that is the line which refers to
the imposition of the oath enjoined by
the reconstruction act on the members
of the legislature. The whole con-
text of the message shows that what
he meant was the imposition of the
oath required by the third section of
the Fourteenth amendment / wish
to say further, that the reconstruction
act of the I'd of March, 1867, which
underlies this entire legislation, en-
Joins also the oath of qualification re-
quired by the third section of the
Fourteenth amendment. Comment
ing on the section which allows the
army and navy to be placed in the
control ofthe Governor, Mr.. Bingham
said the law is not worthy moments
consideration in the House of Repre-
sentatives. For one, no matter with
what party it originated, stand here
to say that l shall record my vote
against it. 1t does not become the
representatives of the people to be
dragoOned in any such manner into
legislation touching not merely the
rights of the people of Georgia, but the
rights of all the people of the republic.
L deny the right of Congress to lay
the executive power of a national law
at the feet of the state executive, to be
exercised at his discretion. Congress
is bound to execute its own laws,
through its own officials. No matter
what pressure of party there may be,
L cannot consent to stultify myself
AS to the ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment, Mr.. Bingham declared
that nothing which human ingenuity
could cOntrive was so likely as this
bill to defeat that great and just and
righteous measure. In conclusion, he
moved the further pOstponement of
the bill to the third Wednesday in
January.
Mr.. Butler, of Massachusetts,, closed
the debate. He deplored the objection
of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Bingham), and intimated that he
the neighborhood he occupied, allud-
ing to the fact that Bingham sits on
the Democratic side of the House. He
replied briefly to the arguments made
against the bill to-day, and in reply to
Mr.. Cox's speech, said he regarded
that gentleman as rather encroaching
on that old proverb that dog should
not eat dog, so carpet-bagger should
not attack carpet-bagger. Laughter.
He was also surprised that man with
name so liable TO be punned on,
should have made such bad joke on
the Governor of Georgia. Laughter.
AS to the statement that this bill found
its origin in the commentator of
present contradiction of that, lay in
the fact that the bill which he (Butler)
brought before the House was substan-
TALLY the same as this. The effect of
the postponement of the bill would be,
when the governor and those who had
been recommending this legislation
returned to Georgia, they would be
sent to join the ranks of the murdered
legislators. AS to Mr.. Bingham's ar
gument for postponement, he thought
il suicidal. If the bill were so bad, so
utterly vile as to be unworthy a place
in the House of Representatives, why
keep it alive until the third Wednes-
day in January? Why not vote it
down at once? He expressed himself
much panied at hearing the gentleman
from Ohio say there was line in the
message of the President which the
President never intended should be
there, and he (Bingham) knew it
Mr.. Butler said, if he means that he
knows it by the context, that is one
thing but if he means he knows from
what the President told him, 1 think
he should make known to the House
that he was authorized TO make that
statement. Is he authorized to state
that the President of the United States
had made him a special messenger to
inform the House that in a solemn
message sent by the Executive to both
HOUSES, there was line which he new
er intended to be there, and that the
President had LET it there for our
guidance, and never let anybody know
about it except the gentleman from
Ohio? Are we to understand from
him that the Executive thus deals
with Congress? l think there can be
no'more severe criticism on the course
which 1 have over and over again dep
recated, of undertaking to control the
action of the House by pretended pri-
vate communications from the Presi-
dent of the United States. Inever did
give them to the House, and have
no respect, in that regard, for any gen.
tleman who does. When the Presi- /
dent of the United States communi-
Gates with a member of Congress, as
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