The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-12-22
Remarkable Debate In the United States
Senate; -.


Remarkable Debate In the United States
- ,s,, Senate.i -, -. II
- WAsHINGToN, December 13.
McCreery asked leave to introduce resolu.
ton, of which he gave notice yesterday, propo-
sing an investigations with view to the resto-
ration of the Arlington estate to the widow oi
General Robert E.c,LAe,. the removal Of the
graveYards on the premises, and general resti.
tuition for any ineumbranee placed therein in
the interest of the Government. ..
Edmunds hoped the leave would mot be
granted, as the proposition'to dig up the bones
Of our dead soldiers in order that certain prop.
| was TO his mind perfectly rlohstrous. While
entertaining the highest respect for his friend
McCreery, he, hoped. the Senate would, never
entertain the proposal. -. s-- i......a -
McCreery then occupied twenty minutes on
the subject He referred Il, the circumstances
attending the recent death. Of two OF the fore
most generals on either. side inathe late war,
Lee and Thomas. He spoke Of the friendly
Intimacy existing between these generals up to
the; commencement of the rebellion, when
Thomas followed the starry emblem of The
i Onion, and Lee resolved to stand Or fall by the
State that had given him birth of the general
sorrow and respect which manifested itself in
either section succeeding the moirnfnl intelli-
lgence Of their decease. Heproceeded to eulogize
the. .infexible virtue, military genius and yalor
| of General Lee, reparking that the American
people would never relinquish the property
which they hold in the name and fame of the
great Virginian. He then referred to the prin-
cipal historic. features of Lees campaigns, to
show that, with the means at his command,
possibly no other man could have accomplished
results SO great While possessing great abili-
ty, he was devoid of ostentation, and from the
testimony of, his most intimate acquaintance
he was singularly exempt from the faults and
follies of other men. His life was that, of q
might be those in the Senate who would derive
comfort from casting aspersions upon Gen. Lees
character, but all sections of the country would
eventually accord to his merits their just deserts
The loved partner Of his bosom still lived, and
in her behalf justice was now implored. She
belonged to race fond Of bestowing charity,
but poverty. could not force her to accept it,
Would the Senate now remove the barrier that
excludes her from Arlington? -
During his remarks McCreery reviewed, in
detail, the salient features of GeneraliL Lees
civil and military services, particularly his re-
cent efforts in connection with Jefferson COL
lepe. his revolutionary ancestry, and sincere
devotion to duty. Referring to the sword as
the. least capable of all tribunals to decide
cause upon its merits, the speaker went.on,t to
argue that the judgments of the sword had not
always commanded that universal respect which
would have been expected from court OF so
large q jurisdiGttonj and that history had en-
rolled the name of Hampden and Sydney
upon the List of, martyrs in the sacred cause OF
right. =, ~ ,,,,..I,a... -, ~, ;,
said that instead of being welded to the insti-
tutions of Virginia, General Lee was the ward
of the nations, nation which had fed, clothed
and educated him. That he lived at the capi-
tai. but when the capital called upon him to
defend the flag under which he had been born,
protected and hbnored he deliberately turned.
his back, upon it apd planted his cannon inside
the capital he had sworn to protect and defend.
He (Edmunds) would not dignity such pro-
position by discussing It. General Lee was
now, dead. The only regret he thought that
any right minded man, who believed in the
war. would have, was that General Lee had not
died either In his youth or in his patriotic man
hood. or even that he had not died earlier than
he did by theshand of the law; which would
have atoned in some measure for his crime:
Trufnbull, while disclaiming sympathy with
the apparent, object of the resolution, which
was to surrender and mutilate the last resting
place of thousands of Union dead, held that it
would Be, if not unprecedented, at least unpar-
liamentary to deny s;member simple request
for leave to introduce any legislation not IN IT
self insulting to the Senate. -
Carpenter inquired whether Trumbull, could
state proposition more fagrantly insulting to
the Senate than that to remove the slaughtered
IL. I-:1 , kplr fnr
the purpose of returning the farm to its rebel
posaessors t,..i. .. y, - = -. d. -
Trumbuil replied that while the resolution
was without doubt repugnant to the sense of
the nation, it was not in personal sense in
sultinp to the Senate. He WAS aFerse to the
adoption of any precedent, the effect of which
would be to prevent the free exercise of right
guaranteed to q member of the Senate.
Edmunds and Sumner cited two instances,
the former the case of the proposed anexatlon
of Texas the latter the bill for the repeal OF
the Fugitive Slave Act, when requests for leave
TO bring in bring in bills were refused. Five
additional instances were enumerated by the
Vice President.
Morton protested against the consideration
Of. the resolution. He had heard what he never
expected to hear, a eulogy upon the character
of: General Lee in the Senate of the United
States, and that, too, within sight OF graves.
of victims of his rebellion. Hampden and
Sydney died not for, human. slavery, but for
liberty. This maii, General Lee, was of all
Others the great sinner. He had sinned against
light and knowledge. His revolutionary ances-
try, his oath of fealty as an officer of the Uni
ted States, his finished education and high
abilities, all forbade him thus to sin, and the
enormity of his crime could not be concealed
by decorating his grave with flowers of rhetoric.
In word, it was now proposed that the Senate
should gravely consider proposition to de,
grade the memories of the patriotic dead of
Arlington, by removing their bones to less hal
lowed ground, in tender consideration Of the
rights Of the TldGw Of the h;+a arch rebel oil inc
Scott said, coupling together the names of
Thomas and Lee recalled the utterance Of
Stephen A. Douglas, made at the time those
two Generals resolved to tread in opposite