Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1872-01-27
CONGRESS.
MONDAY

In the Senate i number OF bills were intro
duced with a petition presented by Senator
/ Lewis, of Virginia, from the widow ofGeneral
| r. E. Lee, in regard to the estate of Arlington,
sold for taxes by the government during the
war. A resolution was introduced by Mr..
/ Blair for the acquisition Of Cuba. The am
nesty bills Of the Senate and House, Mr..
Summers civil rights amendment, and Mr..
| DaviS's resolutions charging the President
with receiving presents were debated with no
final action on either of the measures.
In the House, Till was passed extending
the time for making applications for bounty.
A memorial charging the District Of Columbia
board of public works with incompetency AID
extravaganza, led to the appointment Of a
committee Of investigation. A bill was pass
ed appropriating $4,000 forthe entertainment
Of the Japanese embassy.
TUESDAY
In the Senate the general amnesty bill was
warmly debated Mr.. Morton said that the
l4th amendment, as it stood, deprived no man
Of the right to vote lie believed with the
Senator from New Jersey lMr. Frelinghuysenl
that it was violation of the spirit of that
amendment for Congress to pass general am
nesty bill. The disability to hold Office under
which the leaders of the rebellion now rest are
the only marks of disfayor which TEST upon
them, the only evidence that they have COM
mitted any crime, and if these disabilities are
removed, twenty years from now the children
Of those men will not know that they ever
committed any crime. Suppose universal
amnesty was granted, and Davis and Breckin-
ridge aud Toombs returned to their places in
this Senate, what spectacle of qualification
would we present before the world.
He then went on to argue that the logical re-
suits that would flow from amnesty would be
the penSioning Of the rebel soldiers, the pay
ment of the rebel debt, payment for all proper
ty taken by our armies during the war, and
finally payment for the slaves. The demo-
cratic party is already committed for the pay
ment for property taken.
Mr. Thurman asked Mr. Morton If he re-
garded the fourteenth amendment as part Of
the constitution, and if SO, how did he expect
these things were to be done, which that
amendment expressly prohibited.
Mr. Morton replied that he did acknOsl-
edge the fourteenth amendment as valid, but
the democratic party does not and never has.
If ever any concession that either the four
tcenth or fifteenth amendments are a part of
the constitution has been made by the demo
cratic party of the South, be had never heard
of it.
Mr.. Thurman said the Senator Of course as
sumes that if the democratic party gets into
power it will repeal these amendments. he
would ask the Senator when he expected that
event to happen. [Laughter.1
Mr. Morton. Ihope never in this generation.
Tau; hter.) He believed that the supremacy
Of this nation was involved in the continuance
Of the republican party in power. The late
Mr.. Vallandigham esSayed to lead his party
into new departure ON these amendments,
but he did not succeed, aud his new depart
ure was buried in the same grave with him.
The democratic party was kangaroo party
its great strength was in the South. 1t was
great blunder that Jefferson Davis was not
punished, but of course it is too late to repair
that now. He had recently come across a
school history in use in Kentucky, and proba-
bly, in other States of the South, which
teaches in an elementary form the right of Sc
ceSSion. 1t says that the Union soldiers were
told how handsome were the women Of the
South, and that they wore diamonds, and
these defenders of the Uuion rallied under the
cry Of beauty and booty.
In conclusion, he stated that he intended to
support the civil rights amendment. If the
general amnesty bill which was now pending
was adhered to, with his amendment to ex-
clude Mr.. Vance and if Mr. Summers amend
ment was agreed to- he should be inclined to
vote for it but he would not call it an act Of
mercy, because mercy 20 rebels was cruelty to
the coming generations.
Mr.. Thurman expressed his great surprise
that after all this impassioned rhetoric about
this immoral aud iuhuman act of amnesty,
that the Senator should indicate his willing
ness to vote for it if certain amendments were
made which would not make it less immoral
or inhuman. 1t has got to be the custom for
the Senator of Indiana to sound the keynote
at the beginning of each political campaign,
and it is then taken up by the lesser lights
aud the journals of his party. This is the be-
ginning Of the great campaign Of 1872, and he
has sounded his note, but it is no new tune, no
new note; it is the same old horror of the re-
belliou, the same old wickedneSs of the leaders,
the same old terrible suffering, the same old
frightful array of imaginary consequences
Mr. Blair interrupted to ask if it was the
same note which the Senator struck when he
made lis speech in 1865 in favor of Andrew
johnson.
Mr. Thurman said he would leave the two
Senators to decide that point between them
He then went on to say.tbat the Senator from
Indiana had conjured up in his fertile brain
aud lively Imagination an array of horrors
! which M bnnon lein0 in his senses wonld he