Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-12

Z
the way of argument and pressure upon
Senators. It was asserted in the news
papers as coming from responsible Sena-
tors that the change was made at the
Presidents instance. It was somewhat
remarkable that Senator Sumner should
be struck BY the men of his own party in
the same seat he occupied when assaulted
by Southern Tuffian, aud where he shed
his blood for the liberation of the slaves.
[Applause in the galleries promptly sup
pressed by the chair. i1 eeidf {
- Mr. Howe argued that no reason had
been given for postponing action upon the
resolution. He believed the public ser
vice would be best subserved by its i'm
mediate adoption, and did not propose to
be frightened from following out his con-
victions by mere clamor. He denied the
right of Mr.. Schurz to sit in judgment
upon his political associates and to de-
nounce their action as wrong and blum
der, and thought that more rhetoric than
argument had been made use of in the
debate. He desired to state one fact
bearing directly upon the question unde
consideration. That was, that he har
been told by the Secretary of State and
by Senator that the Senator from Mad
sachus cts had refused to reply to ques
ton addressed him by the former on pus-
lie business. @
Mr.. Sumner-It must have been in the
Tghtest possible whisper. Laughter.
Mr.. Howell am told the Senator him.
self told of the circumstance after its oc-
currenee. The Senator knows as much
about it as do, and think little more.
MIR. Sumner-And / know nothing,
nothing. Renewed laughter. @
Mr.. Howe proceeded to review, in de-
tail, the alleged personal disagreements
between Mr.. Sumner and others, which
has rendered the selection of a new
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations necessary. He denied the cor
rectness of Schurz's assertion, that the
San Domingo scheme was at the bottom
of the whole matter, and maintained that
the Senator's action had no significance
further than he had stated.
Mr.. Stewart said the simple question
was whether Senator'S might vote for
chairmen of committees without having
their motives impugned2 Can they not
vote for the chairman of Committee on
Foreign Relations without having i'm
proper motives ascribed to theml
Mr.. Wilson thought the true reason for
this action had'n yet been given. The
Senator from Wisconsin denied that the
San Domingo matter had anything to do
with it, but everybody knows the past
and it was useless to deny it, that this
effort has grown out of the San Domingo
] matter. We all know that if this San
Domingo annexation scheme had never
come up there never would have been
any effort to change the composition of
I the Committee on Foreign Relations. He
had always thought the San Domingo
matter very small affair, and regret
| ted that it had ever been brought in to
destroy the harmony of the Republican
party.
| He feared that 1t would be to that party
what Lecompton was to the Democracy.
| He believed that nineteen-tWentieths of
| the men who voted the Republican ticket
in 1868, were opposed to it. He did not
believe there were hundrad men in
| Massachusetts, of any party, who would
not Indignantly condemn this out
Il IdAO III uOMA oltAbCo-
man of twenty-five years standing, on
| question as to whether he replied TO an
inquiry put to him by the Secretary of
State. Great God was such farce ever
before played before the American people.
Much had been said about party discipline.
He was not disciplinsrian. The people
| of this country and the journals of this
country were too independent to be dis
ciphned. He wanted justice. This talk
about discipline was INDUCED in by the
gentlemen whose only exploits consisted
in taking the scalps of their political
friends. He invoked them to close up
their ranks, as they had no forces in re-
serve. He protested against it in the
name of the Republicans of the whole
country.
Mr.. Logan said he did not expect that
anything he could say would change the
result, as that was foregone conclusion.
He merely desired to give the reasons for
what he had done. He differed with the
msjority in the change of the chairman of
the committee, and he now differed with
that gentleman as to the reasons assigned,
| for he did not believe the change had
been made merely because the time had
| arrived for reforming the committees.
There should be a good reason for any
change, and the reasons given in the pres
ent instances he thought not sufficient.
| Mr.. Sumner had not been derelict in
ability, political principle, or energy.
What was the reasons Was it because
he failed to answer a private question, or
| declined to attend dinner party9 Must
the championship of a committee be
changed every time the chairman hap
pens to be personally distasteful to the
| Executive, or to member of his Cabi-
meta
This was not in accordance with the
\ idea of independence in the legislative
| branch of the government. That Henry
| Clay was Chairman of the Committee on
| Foreign Relations, when Jackson, to
| whom he did not speak, was President
and that Sumner, as Chairman of the
| Committee on Foreign Relations, when
A. johnson was President, made speech
in favor of ratifying the treaty for the
purchase of Alaska, which secured the
| appropriation.
Mr.. Logan also said that when Gen.
Sherman entered this city with his mag
nificent cohorts he refused to recognize
Secretary Stanton, with whom ne was not
on pleasant terms. Yet Gen. Sherman
was not deposed, but afterward promoted.
The speech of the Senator from Mas
| sachusetts on the Alabama claims, from
which the seals of seeresy were re-
moved, was accepted by the whole coun-
| try as the text upon which these claims
! were to be settled, and now, when the
High Commission is here, we we've to
back down from our position, and say to
those gentlemen: ''We have deposed
this gentleman from the head of the Com
mittee on Foreign Relations" He Go
GAM would ask if there was nothing in
this. Why was not the chairman of some
| other committee changed Why was it
only one chairman, that Of the Commit
tee on Foreign Relations that was chang
edo ---
At 4:25 Mr.. Upton moved to adjourn.
Not agreed to-yeas %, nays %.
Mr.. Upton then addressed the Senate.
He said he knew some time ago of an
intention to array the President against
the San Domingo indignity. When the
Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Ferry
had made motion to investigate the i'm
prlsonment of Davis and Hatch, it was