Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-02-27

| Is no evidence OF crimluailtY III tuo Pui-
chase or sale of Credit sMobilier stock by
Cakes Ames, Books, Dawes, Scoheld,
Bingham, Kelley and Garfield, yet the cir
cumstances call for emphatic condemnation
declaring as the sense of the body that the
transaction was corrupting in tendency, per
nicious in example and grossly improper;
and the members concerned deserve the Sc
verest censure.
Mr.. VOORHEES, declined to yield to have the
substitute offered. He also declined TO yield
to motion for the admission Of ladies, but
finally yielded for the latter.
Beck's Views. la
Mr.. Beck, of Kentucky, condemned the
whole Credit Mobiler scheme; declared the
members cognizant of it were grossly dere-
Iict, naming Messrs. Hooper and Bingham
who held that stock, but were not incnip2t-
ed in these proceedings; also naming Mr..
Butler, of Massachusetts, who was the
counsel who concerted the scheme. lie
could see no difference between the culpa-
bility of these men and that Of MIR. Brooks.
He dissented from the doctrine as to the
power of expulsion for past offences. With
such a doctrine Paul would never have
been an apostle. The House was making
history, and would vote to-day as if it was
no precedent, and as if it was establishing
rule. He quoted the case Of John Morris
seq, a gambler and prize fighter Yet he
took bis seat, and no man dared raise his
l voice against him. He remained during
his term and was as well behaved mem
bel as there was on the floor. The mo-
! ment that precedent was set to give two
thirds of the House the right to expel, the
death peal of liberty was struck.
AT the conclusion of Mr.. Beck's remarks,
Mr.. Plat moved to admit
The Ladies'
to the Hall. The vote was taken by tel
| lers and the molten lost.
Mr.. Hoar moved that the families of
members be admitted to the Diplomatic
Gallery.
The Speaker remarked that yesterday
/ fifteen or twenty of the Diplomatic Corps
were Gro Tded out.
Mr.. Hoar wanted the vacant place filled.
The Speaker said if the gentlemen were
entitled to seats there, they had the right
| to select their own time. Laughter
Voorhees, Plea for Brooks.
Mr.. VOORHEES, then made argument against
the resolution for the expulsion Of Mr..
| Brooks. Good character, he said stood for
! something in this world, and when man
had lived long in a community and won its
respect there should be no haste in convic-
| ing him when grave charges are brought
| against him. He argued that there was no
| evidence of corrupt influence being exercls-
| ed in his matter, and that certainly was
| circumstance which should have its weight.
| If charge were made that bargain 10
! assassinate a man was entered into, 1t
| would certainly be circumstance to show
| that no attempt at assassination had heen
1 CO inf W
cord, where was the act showing that Mr..
! Brooks had acted or voted Improperly?
| Not only had the committee submitted
no proof of it, but so far as Mr.. Brooks had
been allowed he had submitted negative
| proof. What wrong had the public suf-
| tered? What evil had Mr.. Brooks done, or |
attempted to do? If he had not done 1t, |
| then Mr.. Brooks must have sat in the |
|. House, bribed to do a certain thing and |
not doing it. That was the showing Of the |
committee. He intimated that the COM |
mittee had not been very liberal towards |
Mr. Brooks, or given him time to explain |
away certain matters which seemed to |
| bear heavily against him. He thought, if |
there was one case which appealed more
than another to every sentiment OF Gberall-
ty and kindness, it was the case Of Mr..
Brooks, a man sick and broken in health
since his voyage around the world, not
broken by a sense of guilt, as he knew, but
by an increase Of the maladY on him
under the nervous excitement naturally
produced by his surroundings. lie read
letter from Mr.. Brooks to the chairman OF
the committee, complaining OF the exciu-
sion Of testimony in bis favor.
Mr.. Niblack, a member of the commit
tee, made an explanatory statement. This
Brought Brooks to His Feet,
who, addressing Niblack, safe: You open
ed the doors to Colfax two days after you
closed them to me.
In conclusion VOORHEES, declared sol
EMMY that he never was upheld by firm
er faith in anything than that which he
now had that Brooks had told the truth on
this subject. He did not believe that he
had been corrupt government director.
There was not a word Of proof to show
that he had committed malfeasance in office.
He made a closing appeal to the House not
for mercy, but for justice. Applause on
floor and galleries.
Stevenson.
Mr.. Stevenson sustained the report of the
committee, which he said had been extort-
ed by UNREASONABLE facts from reluct-
ant committee; and well that committee
might have been reluctant, for what, who
were charged? 1t involved the Vice Presi-
dent elect, the Vice President sitting, the
chairmen of all the important committees
of the House, the House itself, its very ex-
istence and organization. He was not dis
posed to blame the committee when it
caught all these
Leviathans OF the Great Deep
in its net, that it was not quite able TO haul
them all into their little tubs. He quoted
testimony of the Wilson committee to show
the enormity of the fraud perpetrated on
the public, and said that even this was but
part of great system of fraud out crop
ping, and surface indications of the great
system of fraud by which there had been
turned into the pockets of private and off
cial citizens of this country the value of
two hundred millions acres of land and
over sixty million dollars, the cash value of
the land being stated in railroad circulars
to be not less than
Billion of Dollars.
It was the most mammouth fraud ever
practice on any government on the face of
the earth; and how had it been done?
Partly by legislation, Congressional and
State, and chiefly Congressional. A lobby
had been brought to bear; members had
been interested; ex-members and members
elect had been interested, until there seemed
to be a common apprehension among the
people that an auction room had been made
of this legislative hall;and certain it was that
more property had passed under yonder
(the Speaker's) hammer, than had ever !
passed under the hammer of an auctioneer
in all the world; and how had this bee
carried out? Mainly by the suppression of
inquiry by Congress. A
Gordon of Corruption
had been laid, sweeping from Maine to !,
California, and it had succeeded. Tell !
him not that it was failure. 1t was the :
grandest success ever achieved by such de- :
moniac2l means among men.
Stevenson referred to the Congressional
Globe to show the action of various lead
ing members of the House, on questions ;
affecting the Union Pacific Railroad Com ;
pany. The hammer fell before he had got :
out of the lsbyrinths of the Congressional .
Globe, and permission to print what he :
would have said was rejected, through the q
objection Of Conger. =
w. G. WhitthOrne n
got the floor for some minutes and express {