The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-03-05
FOUND WANTING.
The Administration Weighed in
the Balance,
A MIGHTY SPEECH BY CARR
SCHUkX.
the French Arms Job Eald Bare
TO the Bone.

The Senate Chamber Flooded by
the PeOple--The Leaders OF a
Corrupt Administration COwed
.-Avvay with Grants Military
Ring.
WASHINGTON, Feb, 20-The mightiest
speech Of the session or Of many pre-.
cedIng sessions of Congress was to day
made by Senator Gail Schurz before a
magnificent audience During the deliv-
cry of this speech the idea of trium-
phant charge with intellectual bayonets
and cannon was fully realized, and at its
conclusion every one of the. foremost
henchmen of the administration party
in the Senate seemed in the minds eye
to be laid sprawling under their respec.
tive seats on the Senate floor 1t was a
sunny day, and hundreds Of people at
tracted by the rising renown of the
young Senator's name thronged Penn
sylvania avenue in the forenoon on their
way to the capitol In the hour between
noon and l o'clock the galleries of the
Senate and all the approaches to the
chamber were filed,a and the pressure be-
came SO great that ladies were finally ad i.
mitted to the cloak room and the floor
As the hero of the day rose to commence
his address the chamber presented a
spectacle peculiarly American in its i'm.
pressiveness and splendor. With few
exceptions the Senators were in their
seats Many distinguished statesmen
and public men outside the Senate had
come in and occupied the sofas back of
the semi circle,a among these striking
figures was that of Frank Blair, the elder,
who sat with heavy overcoat wrapped
around him in the chair next to Senator
Summers, which Senator Nye had vaca-
ted for his use. Half the circumference
of the gallery above bioomed with the
beauty Of women and the eolors Of their
attire; the other half exhibited a dense,
dark array of men, representing almost
every great city of the Union. The di-
plomatic gallery was rowded, and there
were seen the faces OF several foreign
m nisters and their wives. Opposite the
diplomatic gallery the seats and desks of
the reporters gallery sustained a mass
OF representatives of the press dom!na-
ting the Vice Presidents chair. Who
ever of intellectual eminence. high pub
lie aud social station and womanly worth
and charm could mite to inspire an ora
tor and lend kind of .enchantment to
the scene of his endeavor was not lack.
ing on this memorable occasion. Sena-
tor SchnIz occupied seat in front OF
Senator Summers, next to the outer rim
OF the semi circle, on the left or Repub-
lican side of the chamber, surrounded
by his Republican adversaries, but there
fore all The more conspicuous as an indie
pendent champion Of reform. He stood
up to reply to Conkling on the question
OF Sanner resolution for the investiga-
ton of the sale of arms by the United
States government during the late Fran
co Prussian war to agents of France
The very attitude of the Senator pro-
claimed his intention to attack instead of
to defend himself ugainsl his adverse
ries 1t was the posture Of one of those
fiery Gefihan students that we read Of
with one foot forward and rapier in his
b; nd. '''
The opening of his speech was like
the legend-Aene, meme, tekel, upharsin
written of old on the wall a! Belshsz-
zar's feast, for it branded the motives
and prophesied with words. of fire the
issue of the attempt Of the Republican
Senators who are trying to ward off all
Investigation into the abuses of Gen.
Grants administration 1t sounded like
a'truinpet, and stung Morton, Conkling,
and their associates hike an adder. The
Senator from Indiana Morton, he said,
had set ott to prove yesterday that there
had been no illegal sales Of arms to
France because (alIuding to the course
of Senators Schurz and Sumner at this
crisis) there was no way out Of the ranks
of the regular administration party that
did not lead into the Democratic party.
The Senator from New York (Conkling)
had likewise essayed to show that such
sales by the government were not facts
to be Investigated, because there was q
Senatorial cabal opposed to the corrup-
ton which has thrived under the rule of
the administration. But Senator Sehurz
made it terv plain that it was this same
cabal which has npped the Santo Do
mingo job in the bud, which has forced
the investigation of the abuses under the
New York Custom House system, and
which was now about to compel the
adoption of the resolution before the
Senate despite everything that admins
tration Senators could do or say. Pas
sing then to consideration of the reso-
luton, Senator Schurz bases an argu.
ment of wonderful logical accuracy and
force upon three propositions: First, did
the United States government use the
requisite precaution according to its du.
ties as a neutral, to preve mt the sale of
arms to France during the late war P
Second, was the action of the govern
ment with respectto the sale of arms at
that period in accordance with the
known laws of this country? Third, was
chat action such as to afford reasonable
ground for the suspicion of corrupt prac-
tices on the part of the government Off.
cials? 1t is impossible to sketch within
the limits of this dispatch more than a
few Of the overwhelming answers which
the Senator gave to these three PROPOSE
TONS. From the letter Of Gen Dyer,
Chief of Ordinance, to Remington d
Sons (Which appeared in the World Of
the Goth ult.) indors ed by tic official sig
nature of the Secretary of War,and from
other official documents and authorities
He showed how easily the Remingtons
contrived through their go-betweens,eSer
after they had disclosed themselves as
French agents, to purchase 10000
Springfield muskets, which passed into
the possession of the French Consul a
New York within forty eight hours after
the sale. He showed how in this and
similar transactions the government
| hlindly shnt IFS ewes TO the fact which