National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-01-14
CONGRESS YESTERDAY.

The galleries of the Senate were as we'll
! crowded yesterday as on any day of the ex-
citing debate on Louisiana affairs, and in them
as well as on the floor there seemed to be a
| feeling of expectation or unrest, intensified
| perhaps by the prevailing opinion that the ex-
pected message of the President, in response
to the resolution of Senator Thurman, would
be received. The morning hour passed lazily
by without interruption in fact, the proceed
ings were so devoid of interest that the specta-
tors began to grow sleepy, when at 1
O'Clock the presiding officer announced a
message from the President. Then all
awoke. Senators took their chairs, the au-
dience became as mute as possible. Gen.
eral Babcock handed in the docu-
ments, and a moment after the Clerk be-
gan to read the most pertinent and well-sus-
tanned exposition of the great question which
has been agitating the public mind since the
reassembling of Congress. 1t was the message
of the President, and as sentence after sen.
tence was delivered, in the slow and measured
/ words of the Reading Clerk, both the Senate
and the spectators regretted that they had
formed or expressed opinions before they
had heard the document read. 1t
is published in full in other
columns, and tells its own story to the evil
dent dismay of those who had formed hasty
opinions on the one-sided reports which had
reached them. The reading concluded, debate
was in order, and Senator Logan, of ILL.,, was
declared entitled to the floor. His speech was
on the all-prevailing topic, and wasiPlike worthy
of the orator and his subject. Starting from
the correct aud substantial basis of knowl-
ID OF ba fao+ In he he ohoJ
on with an unbroken array of truthful incl
dents which, when woven by his master mini
and proclaimed by his eloquent tongue, carried
certain conviction. Mr.. Logan was prepared
for the occasion, and as he progressed he cited
instance after instance of similar occurrences
in the history of the Republic, and, queerly
enough, all under Democratic rule, beginning
with Kansas and eliminating with the request
of Witt. Then going into detail on the sub
ject-matter OF the immediate debate he quoted
the Senator from Delaware, Mr.. Bayard, as
saying SHERIDAN is not fit to. breathe the free
air of Republic" AS he halted for breath
that gentleman reiterated the assertion, and
then the Illinois Senator, with all the fervor
of his nature and all the honesty
of his manhood, charged that the as
sertion was made from the floor of the Sem
ate by the representative from Delaware as al
intimation to the Ku-KIux of Louisiana TO
assassinate General Sheridan. There was no
response to the charge save the nervous play
ing with a watch-chain and a sickly SMILE
Again the speaker had occasion to refer to the
Senator from Georgia, (Mr. Gordon,) and in
order to do this he quoted from the testimony
of one John B. Gordon, of Georgia. taken be-
fore the special committee on Southern affairs.
The testimony as read was brief but pointed.
Mr.. Gordon testified that there was such an
order in existence; that it had been organized
for defensive purposes, and that he had been
requested to assume the Office of chief COM
mander. This honor he had declined, but he
had assured his comrades that If an emergency
arose he could be counted on. To this charge
Mr.. Gordon made no response, and probably
never will. Following the logical sequence of
events, Mr.. Logan continued in his impetuous
and telling manner to arraign the members of
the different State governments il the South,
each Of whom he had some specific charge
against, and finally sent to the Clerks
desk to be read a communication from
one of the defeated Republican candi-
dates for Congress during the recent campaign
in Georgia. He then gave way for a motion to
go into executive session. Taken all In all,
the speech of Mr.. Logan, as far as 1t progressed,
was one Of the most powerful yet delivered in
this prolonged debate. He called things by
! their right names, and instead of Disgusting his
views in the LANGUAGE of diplomacy he uttered
them in plain English, that the men he referred
to and the facts he cited could not be mistaken.
He is entitled to the floor after the morning
! hour to-day.