The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-14
LATEST FROM WASHINGTON,
Congressional.

Congressional.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 10. - House. - The
morning hour was spent IN The discussion
OF uuimportant matters. The postal laws
were resumed.
The Committee of Ways and Means heard
the delegates from the Virginia National
Tobacco Convention this morning. The
impression exists that no material change
will be made in the tobacco tax. .-..
The franking privilege was abolished, but
newspapers allowed free exchanges, and
weekly and semi-weekly papers go free
within the, counties where they are pub
| lished. The vote was 103 to 60.
A resolution was adopted directing the
Ways and Means Committee to inquire into
the propriety of taxing manufactured to-
bacco uniformly sixteen cents.
| Mr.. Butler presented the petition of 1000
New Englanders asking non-intercourse
with Canada for alleged fishery outrages..
Two NirginianS were relieved OF their
disabilities, and the House adjourned.
Senate.-Senator McCreery, in support
| Ing his Arlington resolution, delivered q
| touching eulogy upon General Lee. 1t was
listened to with solemn quiet by the Senate,
and occasionally al audible sign OF emotion
was shown in the galleries. ,
A bill was introduced reviving the land
grants to the Selma, Rome and Dalton rail-
road.
Mr.. McCreery, Of Kentucky, asked leave
| to introduce the resolution of which he
gave notice yesterday, proposing an inves-
| tigation with view Of restoring the Airing
| ton estate to the widow Of General R. +.
| Lee, the removal Of graveyard on the
premises. and the general restitution for
any membranes placed there in the in
terest of the Government. He then occu-
MED twenty minutes upon the subject. He
| referred to the circumstances attending the
recent death Of two Of the foremost Gen.
erals on either side in the late war-Lee
and Thomas. He spoke of the friend
ily intimacy between these Generals up
Ito the commencement of the rebel
| lion, when Thomas followed the starry
emblem Ct the Union, and Lee resol wed to
stand or fall by the State that had given
him birth, and of the general sorrow and
respect that manifested itself in either Sec
ton succeeding the m0urnlul intelligence
| Of their deceasc. He proceeded to eulogZe
the infiexibie virtue, military genius, and
valor of General Lee, remarklng that the
American people would never rellnqulsh
the property which they held in the name
and fame of the great Virginian. He then
referred to the principal historic features OF
Lees campaigns to show that with the
means ut his command possibly no other
man could have accomplished results 80
vast, While possessing great ability he was
| devoid of ostentation, and from the testl-
mony of his most intimate acquaintance he
| was singularlv exempt from the follies OF
other men. His life was that Of hero, a
| Christian. ard a gentleman. There might
| be those III the Senate who would derive
comfort from casting aspersions upon Cen
eral Lees character, but all sections OF the
country would eventually accord to his me.
rits their just deserts.
The loved partner of his bosom still lives,
and in her behalf justice was now implored.
She belonged to race fond OF bestowlng
charity, but poverty could not force her to
accept it. Would the Senate now remove
the barrier that excluded her from Airing
ton?
| During bis remarks Mr.. McCreery re-
| viewed in detail the salient features OF Gen.
Lees civil and military services, particu-
| larry his recent efforts in connection with
Washington College, his revolutionary an
cestry, and sincere devotion to duty. Re
| ferring to the sword as the least capable OF
oil tribunals to decide cause upon its
| merits. the speaker went on to argue that
| the judgments of the sword had not always
commanded that universal respect which
would have been expected from a court OF
so large jurisdiction, and that history had
enrolled the names Of Hamden and Sidney
upon the list Of martyrs in the sacred cause
Of right. ...~
Mr. Edmunds hoped that leave might not
be granted. The proposition to dig up the
bones of our dead soldiers in order that
certain property might be given back to its
rebel owners was to his mind perfectly
monstrous, and while entertaining the high
est respect for his friend McCreery, he
hoped the Senate would never entertain
the proposition.
The Senate finally refused leave to intro
duce the resolution.
The Discussion ON the Lee RcsOlu'
ton i'm the Senate.
| WASHINGTON, Dec. 13.-In the discussion
lto-day on Mr.. McCreery's resolution in the
Senate relative to General Lee the following
took place
Mr.. Edmunds said that instead of being
welded to the Constitution Of Virginia,
General Lee was ward of the nation. The
nation had fed, clothed, and educated him
that he lived at the capital, but when the
capital called upon him to defend the flag
under which he had been born, pro-
back upon it, and planted his can
non in sight of the capital he bad
sworn to protect and defend. But Mr.. Ed
muuds would not dignity such PROPOSE
ton by discussing it. General Lee wa:
now dead, and the only regret he thought
that any right-minded man who believed in
the war would have was that General Lee
had not died in his youth, or in bis pa.
triotic manhood, or even that he had not
died earlier than he did by the hand Of the
law, which would have atoned in some
measure for his crime.
MIR. Trumbull, while disclaining sympa.
thy with the apparent object Of the re- olu.