Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-02-27
The Credit rrobIIier Debate.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 25. 1873.

WAsHIN GToN, Feb. 25, 1873.
This being judgment dayln the House
the galleries were filled half an hour be-
fore the time of meeting. Every seat
was occupied and every standing place
was filled. The corridors were impas-
siblc, being crammed with late corners
pressing for q chance to get admission.
The cloak rooms and all the spaces at
the rear of the members seats were jam
med with people. There never was be-
fore such a crowd of curious sight-seers
in the capital 1t was more than half
past eleven when the reading of the
journal was ended and when other pre-
liminary business of the days session
was disposed of. In the meantime the
crowd became denser and the scene
noisier. Ladies had been admitted with
in the body of the hall and stood group
ed at the mouths of all the aisles, massed
around at the back of the circle, and
many of them had achieved prominence
by gaining possession of the chairs Of
members. They did not seem at all
abashed or conscious of being out of
place on the contrary, they wore for
the most part an air of keen, anxious,
determined persistence and eagerness in
the pursuit of their object, such as char
acterizes them when they flock to a
fashionable auction.
Mr.. Haldeman of Pennsylvania, APP
parently impressed with the incongruity
of the surroundings, made motion that
the floor be cleared of all but members,
but the Speaker informed him that the
doors had been opened by unanimous
consent and that it was too late to OBJ
ject now. Mr.. Haldeman subsidized, and
his rebuff was hailed with laughter on
all sides
At 11.45 the speaker announced that
the special order was the report of the
/ Credit Mobilier committee.
| Mr.. Butler moved that the House go
/ into committee of the whole on the leg
/ islative appropriation bill.
Mr.. Garfield intimated to Mr.. Butler
that it would be just as well for him to
attend to his own business, and leave
the committee on appropriations TO man
are is own affairs
The House then proceeded with
/ special order
Mr.. Ames addressed the House at
length, closing as follows: These are
my offenses, that l have risked reputa-
ton, fortune, everything in an enter
! prise of incalculable benefit TO the gov
j eminent, and from which the capital of
! the world shrank; that | have sought to
strengthen the work, thus rashly under
taken, by invoking the charitable judg-
ment of the people upon its obstacles
1 and embarrassments that | have had
! friends, some of them in official life,
with whom have been willing to share
/ advantageous opportunities of invest
ment that have kept the truth through
/ good and evil report, denying nothing,
! concealing nothing. Who will say that
| /, alone, am TO be offered up a sacrifice
/ to appease public clamor and expiate
| the sins of others Not until such an
offering is made will | believe it posi-
/ bic. But if this body shall so order it,
that it can be purified by the choice of a
single victim, shall accept its mandate,
appealing with unfaltering confidence to
the impartial verdict of history for that
vindication which ii is proposed to deny
me here.
The peroration was splendidly read, So
/ that even the sensibilities of Mr.. Ames
! himself could not be restrained suffici-
emily to keep the tears from suffusing
1 his eyes, and it was received with half
suppressed murmurs of applause all over
the House. The reading closed at half
/ past two o'clock.
Mr. Potter, of New York, referring to
the two precedents, cited by Mr.. Poland,
remarked that though persons, who were
referred to, were expelled for acts com
mitted before their election, vet they
had been indicted for them during the
sitting of Parliament
Mr.. Farnsworth, of Illinois, rose and
proceeded to argue in favor of the &C
cused and against the conclusions of the
committee. What he objected to was
the statement of the committee against
Cakes Ames; first, they say that he
bribed his friends; second, that they did
not know they were bribed; third, that
they were not affected by the bribery
and further, that neither Ames or the
/ persons bribed knew what they were to
do or abstain from doing; and yet this
/ committee had concluded its report by
charging that Ames was guilty of brib-
cry, because he made these sales of stock.
He (Farnsworth) could not understand
this law of bribery. In the first place
one man could not commit bribery, any
more than one man could commit con-
/ spiracy, or any more than one person
could commit matrimony. daughter
1t referred to two parties. Again there
could not be bribery unless the person
bribed was to do or to abstain from do
ing something. Besides man did not
bride his friends. A man never went to
his friends, already committed to his
side of the case and in favor of his inter
est, to bride him. Brides were offered
TO men to convert them; they were of
fered to those who were disinclined. to
prevail upon them to do what the briber
4 desired them to do. Passing to the case
of Mr.. Brooks, MIR. Farnsworth called
attention to the fact that the matter,
charged against him, took place during
a time when Mr.. Brooks was not mem
Der OF Congress, and when he was under
no greater obligation of duty In regard
to the matter than were Messrs. Durant,
Dillon or any of these gentlemen, who