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


McCreery asked leave to introduce rcsou-
ton, of which he gave notice yesterday, propo-
sing an investigation with view to the resto-
ration of the Arlington estate to the widow of
General Robert +. Lee, the removal Of the
graveyards on the premises, and general rest-
tuition for any incumbrance placed therein III
| the interest Of the Government.
Edmunds hoped the leave would not be
granted, as the proposition to dig up the bones
Of our dead soldiers in order that certain prop
erty might be given back to its rebel owners,
was to his mind perfectly monstrous. While
entertaining the highest respect for his friend
McCreery, he hoped the Senate would never
entertain the proposal.
McCrccry then occupied twenty minutes on
the subject lie referred to the circumstances
attending the recent death of two of the fore
most generals ON either side in the late war,
Lee and Thomas He spoke e: tie friendly
intimacy existing between these generals up to
the commencement of the rebellion, when
Thomas followed the starry emblem OF the
/ Union, and Lee resolved to stand or fall by tnc
State that had given him birth; of the general
sorrow and respect which manifested itself III
either section succeeding the mournful intclli-
gence of their decease He proceeded to eulogize
the infcxible virtue, military genius and yalor
of General Lee, rcmarking that the American
people would never relinquish the property
which thev 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 abli-
tv, he was devoid of ostentation, and from the
testimony of his most intimate acquaintance
he was singularly exempt from the faults and
folles of other men. His life was that of
hero, Christian and gentleman. There
might be those in the Senate who would derive
comfort from casting aspcrsions 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 impored She
belonged to race fond of bcstOwing 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 General Lees
civil and military services particularly his re-
cent efforts in connection with Jefferson Col
lcrc. 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 to
argue that the judgments of the sword had not
ALWAYS commanded that universal respect which
would have becn expected from court of so
large a jurisdiction, and that history had en-
rolled the nan: Hampdcn and Sydney
upon the list OF martyrs in the sacred cause OF
right. -,
In response to Senator McCreery Elmunds
said that instead of being welded to the insti-
tutions of Virginia, General Lee was the ward
of the naton-a 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 honored he deliberately turned
his back upon it and planted his cannon inside
the capital he had sworn to protect and defend.
He fdmunds) 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 the hand of the law, which would
have atoned in some measure for his crime.
Trumbull, 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 member simple request
for leave to introduce any legislation not i'll 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
dead of the Union army from Arlington for
the purpose of returning the fnrm to its rebel
possessors.
Trumbull replied that while the resolution
| was without doubt repugnant to the sense OF
the nation, it was not in personal sense IN
sultiny TO the Senate. He was aversc to the
a,lontion of any precedent the effect of which
would he to prevent the free exercise OF right
Guaranteed to Il member of the Senate.
Edmuntls and Sumner cited two instances,
the former the case of the proposed annexation
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
ortbe resolution. lie had heard what he never
expected to hear, a culogy 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. llampden and
Sydney died not for human slavery, but for
liberty. This man, General Lee, was of all
others the great sinner. He had sinned against
! light and knowledge. Ills revolutionary alcts-
trv, his oath of lcalty as an officer of the Uni
ted States, his finished education and high
abilities, all forbade him thus to sin, and thr
rnormity 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 gravcly consider proposition to de,
grade tic memories of the patriotic dead of
Arlington, by removing their bones to less hal
lowed ground, in tender consideration Of the
rirhts OF the widow of the arch rebel of the
most wicked rebellion in history.
Scott said, coupling together the names OF
stephen A. Douglas, made ut the time those
two Generals resolved TO tread in opposite
paths, that at that time there were but tw"
classes in the nalon--patriots and traitors
The patience with which the Senate of the
United States had to-day listened to a culogy
upon the chief conspirat"r in the attempt to