Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-22
CoNGREssIONAL.
Debate in the Senate-Aleern Replies
to Ames and Shows Him Up
Bayard and Morton.
Spicy Passage-at-Arms in the House
Randall, Of Pennsylvania, Pre-
pared to Rise and
Explain.
SENATE.

I lAAt- ANEh lblh AneAAAAbCL u ARalAAA4NAIN
demonstrating against the abolishmen
of bonded warehouses. Referred to th'
! Committee on Finance.
Senator Sherman obtained leave fOl
/ the Committee on Finance to sit during
I the sessions Of the Senate.
/ Senator Edmunds called up the Houst
Supplemental appor6onment bill grant
! ing an additional representative each ID
New Hampshire, Vermont, New York,
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, IsOui-
siana, Alabama and Florida.
Senator Morton offered an amend
ment leaving it optional with each State
| to elect an additional representative Civ
en- by this BILL either at large OF as the
representative of district
Senator Casserly opposed the amend
ment and argued against the system OF
electing representatives at large.
Senator Morton said that he thought
il was very desirable that the large
States especially should have represen-
tatives at large.
At the expiration Of the morning
hour the bill went over, and Senator
Patterson called up a bill for adjusting
the claims of New Hampshire for mon
ey advanced TO volunteers Senators
Patterson and Cragin explained the bill,
and il was passed.
The Senate then resumed the cOnsid-
Grafton of the habeas corpus suspension
bill
Senator AIcorn made a general denial
of the charge made against him by SEN
ator Ames, who had charged him with
attempting to ride two horses. II he
was, he was attempting to guide them
TO the common goal Of harmony and
peace, while Senator Ames was content
to ride the black horse alone. He feared
Ames would soon lose his seat, howev-
er. As to the charge that ne Aleorn I,
when Governor, had misused the secret
service fund Of the State, it ought to be
some consolation to Ames that even if
the funds Of Mississippi were misused,
it was no loss to him personally,
as he had never paid any taxes in that
State, and had not any interest of even
q residence there. Laughter. The
fact was, however, there had not been a
single dedication by the public officers
of Mississippi appointed by him, and
the people Of the several counties in the
State would be glad if the same could
be said by Senator Ames.- He fAlcOrnl
had expended some of the secret service
fund in attempting to watch Ames' ap-
pointees, who had ran away with the
public money, but, like the kuklux,
they were expert enough to keep ont Of
the way. Laughter.
Senator Bayard said he had long ago
come to the conclusion that the party in
power was making a sytematie attempt
to put the institutions throughout the
country under control of the Federal
government, and each successive step
confirmed him in that view. A few
days ago the Senate had passed the
Louisiana election bill for that purpose,
and now it was demanded that the pow
er to suspend the hG6eds corpus act
should be continued in the President,
the object being the same. Legislation
seemed TO be ASSUMING more and more
every day the form of mere military or
ders, and the gOveTnWent was becoming
a government of the viii instead of the
law, But there was some hope that
these extreme measures would produce a
good result 10y awakening the people to
the dangers surrounding them, and so
produce a salutary reaction in favor of a
respect for the laws and safeguards of the
In conclusion, Senator Bayard asked
the Senate and the whole country
in view of the history of the
past three years at the South, il was not
time to abolish reconstruction, and sub
stitute for il reeoneilliation2
Senator Carpenter, from the Commit
tee on judiciary, reported, without
a bill to amend the bank
ruptcy act BY substituting 1871 for 1864
in the first prOvisO of the fourteenth see
ton, also with amendments Senator
TTumbulPs bill amendatOry to the
thirty-third section of the bankruptcy
act. s..
Senator Morton said that the Senators
who opposed this bill had spoken at
great length, but he did not complain of
that, because they had a very difficult
task. They had charged the President
with exercising despOtic powers for ma
Egnant purposes, and had Gssailed the
conduct and motives of the officers act
ing under him, and of the party support
ing him. This attack was made for
political purposes. These speeches had
been prepared as campaign documents.
He felt, therefore, that in discussing this
question he owed it to the administra-
ton, and to the Republican members of
the Senate, to speak plainly and tell the
whole truth. He said that when the
war closed there was a general good
feeling throughout the country;
in the North a feeling of forgive
ness toward the South, and in
favor Of general amnesty, prevailed
that feeling lasted several months, and
the Democratic party was responsible
for its passing away. The party at the
North advised the Southern people that
they had forfeited nothing by the rebel
lion, and that imposing any conditions
with reconstruction was tyranny and
The Southern people ac-
cepted this advice, and the result Has
that when Congress was compelled to
embark IN the work of reconstruction
the governments at the South We're
BY the action of Northern
Democrats and Southern leaders, into
the hands Of the eOlored people and of
Northern men, who had gone there. 4
This was a necessity. If the Southern
people had rejected the advice of the
Democrats, and had continued uniform
Of mind in which they were after the
war, they would have had the matter In |
their own hands. Again in 1868 the
Democratic party in convention re-
solved that the reconstruction acts We're 7
null and void, and a prominent Demo /
cratic leader SENATOR Blairl declared /
that Il would be the duty OF a Demo- |
cratic President, when elected, to over
turn the carpet-bag governments by
force. Senator Morton here defended
carpetbaggers, sO-eaiied. Most Of them,
be said, were Union officers.