Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-01-24
CONGRESSIONAL.
Our Janus-Faced Administration
Morton VS.. Universal Amnesty.
As 'Gnhuman and Immoral! /!
The KeynOte Of the Campaign
Crushing ReJOinder Of Thurman
SENATE.

DTGSCuICu pCLlllO1lo llOlL OlIlLCllo VI lllLlOlo
Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin for reduc-
ton of the tariff and repeal of the duties
on coal, salt and pig iron.
Amended AppOrttOnmenf.
Mr.. Trumbull reported an amended ap.
portionment bill and hoped the bill would
receive early consideration.
The American Geysers.
Mr.. Pomeroy from the Committee on
Public Lands, reported bill setting apart
certain lands near the head of Yellow Stone
river as Public Park.
Mr.. Jno. Sherman from the Committee
on Finance, reported bill to allow impor-
tation free of duty of certain machinery de-
signed for experiments in mining in Lou
isiana. Passed.
Amnesty.
The expiration of the morning hour
brought up as unfinished business the Am
nesty bill. 1t was laid aside to take
up the bill for the relief of the Chicago suf-
ferers.
Mr.. Chandler proposed an amendment,
extending the provisions of the bill to GER
tain towns in Michigan.
The MOuthpiece Of the Administration
This threatening to give rise to debate, Mr..
Morton called for the regular order, the
amnesty bill, and addreS sed the Senate on
it. He declared himself opposed TO univer-
sal suffrage, [amnesty?I and characterized
the arguments in favor of it as based on
sickly sentimentalism. 1t was, perhaps,
not generally known tn at JEFF Davis and all
his followers had as much right to vote as
any nan who served i'll the Union army.
He reviewed the history of the fourteenth
amendment, and argued that the provision
in it authorizing Cong ress to remove disa-
bilities by a two-third vote was not design
ed to authorize the removal of disabilities
from classes, but only from individuals. 1t
seemed, therefore, to be a strain of the 14th
amendment to pass amnesty as it came
from the House. He was willing, however,
to vote for that bill, but he never would
vote for it with the exceptions
stricken out. The disability proposed by
that amendment upon Southern leaders
was the last remaining legal mark of dis
appreciation of the rebellion, and I've could
never cOnsent-to its removal, because to do
so would be to acknowledge that the rebel
lion was not wrong, that it was merely a
difference of opinion and that the eaders Of
the rebellion have the same right rs loyal
men to hold the highest offices of the Gov
eminent. The question of amnesty had
generally been argued heretofore on the
grounds of inexpedIency and experience,
but he wished to consider it upon d higher
plane. He thought there was great prin-
ciple involved, a principle Of consistency
with duty to the Government and especially
principle of the greatest import ance to
posterity. 1t was argued that amnesty
would cOnciliate the people of the South,
but he believed that the leaders could
no more be cOnciliated in that way
than rattie-snakes could be- con-
ciliated by restoring their extracted
fangs. They would die as they had lived,
rebels. Whatever dignity history might
give to their characters must deIe END on
their consistency in maintaining that atti-
tude. Therefore they could not be concilia-
ted by this measure, and if it would con-
Ciiate the masses of the Southern people,
it woul be by their taking it as ar admis-
sion that they were always in the right, and
that the people of the North were in the
wrong. If universal amnesty were TO be
granted now, it would be impossible to con-
vince the next generation that there was
anything wrong in rebellion, and the Re
publican party could not cOncede the guilt
lessness of rebellion without falsifying its
whole record, and disgracing itself before
the world. The consequences Of rebellion
were far greater than the consequences Of
all the other crimes committed in the Uni
ted States upto this time.
Mr.. Morton predicted that If general am
nesty was granted, the next step would be
to pension the Rebel soldiers, next to pay
the rebels for their property taken by the
Union armies in the war, including slaves,
and next to pay the Confederate debt. In
conclusion Mr.. Morton said he would vote
for Mr.. Summers amendment, the supple
mentary civil rights bill. He agreed with
Mr.. Sumner in putting justice before gener-
Osity, or spurious magnanimity. What
might be mercy to the individuals amnes-
tied would, in his opinion, be cruelty to
future generations, and while he was will
ling to vote for general amnesty, he believed
universal amnesty to be inhuman and i'm
moral. because it would be an admission of
the innocence of rebellion whose conse-
quences will linger in the country for cen
turieS.
Thurman.
Mr.. Thurman said he was at loss to
comprehend the Senator from Indiana
(Morton.) That Senator asserted that
universal amnesty would be inhuman and
immoral, and he was prepared to vote for
this bill of universal amnesty provided Mr..
Summers amendment should be adopted.
Mr.. Morton explained that what he had
denounced was universal amnesty. He
would vote for this House bill because it |
made exceptions of persons who might be
regarded as among the authors Of the re-
belliOn.
co3l f1,oF ff t1,o ITyr7ca hill
was SO satisfactory to the Senator, lie was
at loss to account for his dendnclatlon OF
universal amnesty on this occasion, as no
one had proposed to amend this bill so as to
make it apply universally. He thought
there was only one way to account 1Or IT,
The Senator from Indiana had seized this
opportunity to make speech which would
strike the keynote Of the coming campaign.
That function had so often devolyed upon
him, or had been assumed by him, that it
had passed into the common law of the
Radical party that he should do this at the
beginning of every campaign, and the only
regret he CThurman) had on the subject
was that, in all the years during which
the Senator had been studying that
music he had not discovered a new tone or
even a single new note OaughteT.) 1t was
JlG SAINT Olu OJOl9 chbbNlG IAS "lShCNAAASoo VI
the rebellion and of the Democratic party,
and the same old array Of the terrible re-
suits which would follow if the Democrats
should get into power, and which were to
be found no where else but in that Senator's
imagination.
Mr.. Blair suggested that it was not the
same note that Morton struck in 1865,
when he made speech in favor Of Presid-
ent johnson.
Mr. Thurman-Ileaveth that tobe settled be-
tween the Senator from Missouri (Blair) and
the Senator from Indiana Morton. The Sen
ator from Indiana makes some odd charges
against the Democratic party, the dangers
Of which he believes, of course, or he would
not make them, but which venture to say
that no human being in his senses, and in |
telligent enought to form an opinion believes
or can believe. For one single instance,
the payment of the rebel debt; hsw is 1t to be
said in the face of the Fourteenth Amend |
mcnt, which prohibits even a State from
making any payment of it. The payment !
of pensions to rebel soldiers is also positive
" prohibited by the Fourteenth Amend |
ment. The payment of the national debt !
is guaranteed by the constitution, The ~
institution of slavery is positively p",bib-
tied by the Constitution Ct th,e ITnitnd