Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1872-01-26
Debate in the Senate.
SENATOR MORTON on UNIVERSAL AM.
SEsTY.

; EEsTY.
: There was debate in the Senate o
Tuesday on universal amnesty, in whic
Senator Morton of Indiana, made tn
leading speech. brief points of which W
give below as follows;
Mr.. Morton declared himself opposed
10 universal amnesty, and characterized
the arguments in its favor as based up
on siekIy sentimentalism and spurious
generosity. He thought there was q
good deal of misrepresentation through
out the country in regard to the disabili'
ty now resting upon those who engaged
in the rebellion. 1t was perhaps not
generally known that Jefferson Davis
and all his followers had as much right
TO vote as any man who served IN the
Union Army. He reviewed the history
of the Fourteenth amendment and argu-
ed that the provision in it authorizing
Congress to remove disabilities by two
thirds vote was not designed TO authori-
re the removal of disabilities from class
es, but only from individuals. 1t seem
ed therefore straining the Fourteenth
Amendment to pass the amnesty bill as
it came from the House. He was will
ing, however, 10 vote for that bill, but
he never, would vote for i. with the ex-
ceptions stricken out The disability pro.
posed by that amendment upon South
ern leaders was the last remaining mark
of disa pprobation of the rebellion, and
he could never consent to its removal be-
cause that would be to acknowledge that
the rebel ion was not wrong, that
it was merely a difference of opinion,
and that the leaders have the same right
as loyal men to hold the highest offices
of the government. 1t was argued that
amnesty would conciliate the people OF
the South, but he believed that the lead
ers could no more be conciliated in that
way than rattlesnakes could be conciliat-
ed by restoring their extracted fangs. -
They would die as they have lived-reb
els. If universal amnesty were to be
granted now, it would be impossible to
convince the next generation that there
was anything wrong in the rebellion,
and the republican party could concede
outlines of the rebellion, without falsi-
flying its whole record and disgracing it.
self before the world. Mr.. Morton fur
ther said that he would vote for Sumner s
supplementary civil rights bill as an
amendment to the amnesty bill.
Mr.. Thurman replied. He said that
Mr.. Morton's fears and predictions were
too preposterous to be shared or believ-
ep by any intelligent man in his senses,
and expressed surprise that Mr.. Morton,
as leader Of the republican party,
should denounce amnesty so fiercely
when the President had recommended it
in his message.
Mr.. Morton replied that the Senate
had just said that he could not under
stand this administration. That was
true, the whole democratic party were
unable to understand this administration
Laughter) or the lives in which they
live. They were like man riding in a
car backwards, who never sees anything
until he is clear past it. daughter. y
AS to the dangers that would result from
their coming into power, he would ask
whether the democrats were not commit
ted to pay for the rebelslaves. To show
that they were, he sent Frank Blair S
Broadhead letter TO the desk to be read
and said it was because of the sentiments
expressed in that letter that Blair was
given the second place on the democrat
ic ticket.