The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-03-24

"A RICH scene OccurreO III OOhgTtss
on the 10th. BUTLER tried to force
upon the House his Infamous and
outrageous Kuklux Bill, which pro-
poses to place every Democrat in the
South at the mercy ola few rascals,
and then with perfect impunity to
steal and murder; and succeeded in
getting the Radical caucus to accept
it. But Speaker BLAINE wrote out
another bill authorizing the appoint
ment of a committee of thirteen to
investigate the condition of the Sou
thern States, with power to travel
South, and report in December next.
1t was introduced by Mr.. PETERS, of
Maine, and the Democratic members
voted for it and carried il, in order
to prevent the passage of BUTLER's
bill. This aroused all the Beast in
BUTLER, and he wrote letter de-
nouncing the whole thing, and was
especially hard on Speaker BLAINE.
BLAINE left the chair and assailed the
Beast in n manner truly gratifying to
all patriots. The able and reliable
correspondent of the Louisville Ledg-
er says that BLAINE, in conclusion,
stated that he regarded the letter as
an insult to the Speaker, and he de-
nounced it as mean, insulting, and as
groundless and false. 1t would be
wholly impossible to give any idea of
the severity of BLAINE's manner, or
of the intense suspense and interest
with which the House listened. AS
for BUTLER, he wilted under this pit
Hess fire, and when he came to reply
seemed to be under the rack. He de-
clared that he had not wished to
bring this subjectinto the House to
the disgrace and obstruction of the
Republican party, and intimated that
Blain, was a candidate for the Presi-
dency, and reserted to his old trick
of raising laugh by saying,
'For ways that are dark,
And tricks that are vain,
will name Speaker =,
And that rise to explain"
There was a good deal of other
speaking, mostly by Republicans,
wrangling with each other, and only
serving to reveal their hopeless divi-
sions. Maynard took similar line
to Butler, and demanded Ku-Klux
legislation, as did also Mr.. Shellabar-
ger. of Ohio. Messsrs. Cox and
brooks put in a word or two to adj
vantage. Mr.. Dawes, of Massachus-
etts, made a strong speech in reply
to Mr.. Butler, defending himself for
voting for the resolution, and intim-
ating that there had been entirely too
much of this sort of Ku-Klux legisla-
ton. Mr.. Garfield also came back on
Butler with an affective reply. Mr..
Blair, of Michigan, also took issue
with Mr.. Butte. Messrs. Kelley,
Burdette, and Butler were then ex-
cused from serving ON the committee.
Mr.. Stevenson, of Ohio, made speech
which was good commentary on
the affair, declaring that the Republic
can party was in an enervated and
demoralizing condition, torn by the
factieus spite and hate which dis
grace it. This wrangle lasted several
hours.
Ii revealed that the Republicans are
hopelessly divided. The clan ofbrut-
al demagogues, like Butler, who
want to put the South under the screw
of torture, have probably majority
of their own party, but they are not
able TO carry matters their own way
except i'm caucus. In Buffers way
stand Blaine, Garfield, Dawes, Peters,
Blair, Farnsworth, and a number Of
influential Republicans, who fear the
consequences of any more passionate
and revolutionary legislation. An
other class opposed to Butler are the
PENNSYLVANIA Radicals, headed by
Scofieid and Kelley. These are be-
ing bitter and venomous toward the
South, as they know the result would
be radical change in the tariff.
Hence their influence is cast for adj
journment, and against all measures
calculated to prolong the session.