Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1876-08-24
Vol. xxi. Whale No. ll%. No. "a.

pealed."
BY Mr.. House. OF Tennessee: A bill to pay
James NJ. Hinton, Of Davidson County, Ten
nessee, 81 sos for board. and SO forth" Of cor
tain colored men who were taken from his Gus
tody when sheriff and employed on the fortifi-
cations of the Fedora, Army near Nashville, in
| 1862.
BY Mr.. Atkins, of Tennessee: A bill to psy
$4,000 to Bethel College, Tennessee, for oocu-
| patton of and injury done to the college build
| ings and property by Federal troops.
1t is noticeable that In only two out Of the
| twenty-five cases Is IL even claimed that the
parties interested were loyal citizens during the
war.
Next comes an exceedingly important class
| OF bills-those relating to cotton claims--of
which five have been introduced. First is the
old bill to refund the taxes on raw cotton, in
vOying an appropriation Of $6S 0T2 3SS, 10.
-Four bills have been introduced-one by Sen
ator Merrimon. of North Carolina, two by Mr..
Vance. of North Carolina, and one by Mr.. Han
| cock, of Texas-restoring to the pension rolls
| all persons whose names were stricken there
from for disloysty, under the act of February
I, 1862. One OF Mr.. Vance's bills goes much
ffy4:f fo8pd ,repeals not only the act of Febru-
ment of claims of disloysl persons section 34SU
Revised Statutes land all Other ldtrs Of SfDii-
lar character and purpOrt." In the same bills
occurs the remarkable phrase, ''the war be-
tween the States, generally called the rebellion"
| If it was simply war between the States"
by what rule OF law or logic can the United
States be held liable to paw such claims as
Nance's bill proposes 10 sdmit; TO repeal the
statue prohibiting certain payments to dsloysl
persons: to restore to the lS12 pension roll the
names OF persons stricken of for disloyatty
and for the relief of owners and purchasers OF
| lands sold for direct taxes in insurrectonsry
| States, The most important among the more
recent measures proposed is bill introduced
| by John Randolph Tucker TO repeal the section
| of the Revised Statutes which prohibits the sp
| point ment to any position in the Army OF per-
|
military, naval, or civil service of the coBfeder
ate government or Of any of the States in nsur-
! rection.
| / select these as my eyes runs hurriediy down
the long list. 1t is \ fearful account that these
| gentlemen mean that we shall settle some day.
In looking over the record of this session,
discover many things in which the party in
| power here has departed from its old traditions
and principles. II stood for years as tne adyo-
cate o. the rights Of the citizen. as the defender
! Of the powers Of the courts, the sanctity OF the
| writ OF hdbeua corpus But this winter, with
! power unbrded and uncontrolled, the writ of
! hdbedS corpus has been cast into contempt and
| the iadJudcation Of Il high court has been de-
! sputrd and sought to be nuIlifed.
Mr. Haliet kilbourn, Of whom | know moth
| nI except that he is an American citizen came
into conflict with one of the investigating COM
miters upon some question ~ to dlsclosing
names and producing private books anu papers.
/ Tie was committed for contempt by the ortHr
! OF this House, and rrsorted, Is any citizen may
/ do. TO tn" intervention of the courts. Ehr
! House disputed every step and employed coun-
\ sci to represent it. Both upon the return and
\ upon the final questions OF discharge under the
wrlt of hdbedS corpus which had been invoked
1 the petitioner was sustained and released. 1t
had been far trial and the House had been
| beaten. But Mr.. kilbourn having established
/ the strength of the process and having no de-
sire to withhold proper testimony, then com
| municnted Ia the House his Willingness TO test
/ lfy. and the gentleman from Mississippi Ar,
/ Well, sought 10 bring him before the proper
committee with the result shown by the report
/ Of proceeding. in the House of Representatives,
| May ,, 1876.
| Mr. Speaker l might cite instance Atler in
stance where the dominant party here has
| sought to override rights heretofore respected
and unque>tioned. 1t has conducted its iuVe~-
LEGATIONS IN secret. aud has ordered the head ~
/ a Department 10 communicate al. facts known
/ 10 him. wthou, regard 10 the importance Of
secrecy in detective operations against knaNe~
and thieves. II has demanded tie custody "t
| departmental papers, sometimes II gwen up 10
\ be- put in charge of discharged Incompetent en-
4 ploNes who had been adopted by the comnlt-
! tees a. clerks or messengers. In It's demands
/ upon Cabinet ministers and their subordinstCs
/ it has been cXacting, imperious, and not lnfre-
quenty rude and insoleDt. ! commend TO It's
consideration the letter OF President Jackson to
| Henry 5. FoOt., formerly chairman OF the COM
mlttee to investigate general charges OF abuse
against the executive department A. applinbls
To the present methods OF democratic inquiries.
The following sentences will indicate It's char
acter:
! The heads OF Departments may answer such
/ requests n they please, provided they DO not
withhold their own time and that of the officers
under their direction from public business 70
the injury thereof to that business. | shzi dl-
rect them to devote themselves ~ their duties
! in preference to any Illegal and unoonstltuuoHsl
call for information, no mSteF from what
] trpa mo Ter 4n
may be to meet it, For myself, | shall repsl al
snch attempts as an invasion Of tue principles
| of justice as well as OF the Constitution, and !
| shall esteem it my sacred duty TO the people OF
| the United States to resist them a. | would me
establishment Of Spanish inquisitton. after
| all the severe accusations contained in various
speeches of yourself aud your associates, you
are unwilling Of your own accord to bring spc-
citic charges, then | rcques i your committee 10
call Yourself and YOUR associates and every 9TH
er mrmber of Congress, who made general
charge Of corruption to testify before God and
/ the country whether You or they knew OF any
| specific corruption or abuse OF trust In the TX
ecutivc Departments, and, il 50, what II was
II vou are able to point to any case where there
j. the slightest reason to suspect corruption and
! abuse of trust. no obstacle which | can lcmoNe
shu DE interposed to prevent the fullest scrn-
tiny BY all legal means. The offices OF all the
/ Departments will be opened 10 YOU, and every
facility furnished for this purpose. | shall, on
the ono hand, cause every possible facility con
| sistent with law and justice 10 be given to the
investigation of specific, tangible charges; and,
on the other, shall repudiate all attempts TO in
| wade the just rights OF the Executive Depart
ments and of the individuals composing the
| same. If, after all your clamor, you Will make
| no specific charges, or bring no proof OF such AS
| are made, you and your associates must oe re-
| garded by the good people of the United States
as the authors of unfounded cslumnles. and the
| public sery ants you have assailed Will. IN the
| estimation of all honorable mea, stand fully ac-
| quilted.
If had more time. Mr.. Speaker, | should be
| glad to go into the account of the repeated as
| saults made upon the national credit in the
seven different attempts, under the lead OF
prominent Democrats upon this floor, TO repeal
or nullity the policy OF an early resumption OF
| specie payments, to which this Administration
| is committed. They eliminated on Saturday
| last in bill which repeals the date fixed for re-
sumption by the act of January, 1875; ard so
much time had already been consumed in doing
nothing .for eight long months that TO this i'm
portsnt measure but two hours OF debate was
allowed, and it was then pushed through under
| the lash of the previous question,
In the mean time all the material interests of
the country are left neglected. A tariff bill re-
ducing taxation has been reported. but the
chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means
| lets il sleep in the Committee of the Whole.
Mr.. Bristow's recomme ndation for refundng
the national debt, by which at least SIT 7DOn,O00
yearly in interest paid can be saved, Is passed
! Dy uhnetutu' An luulah WAL vi auGh hashi
| tude As has not heen seen for a generation
| breaks out at the time when the House of Rep
resentatives is reducing the Army and Grip
| plng the whole Indian service. The amend
ment to the Constitution offered by my former
colleague, (Nr Blaine,l relating to sectarian
| schools, remained until IL the last week 1t was
| brought up and passed without debate, no ill.,
| terchange OF views heing allowed, because it
had been determined that no expression of hos
tility should be permitted from the democratic
side of the House.
| The last days of this session. Mr. Speaker, are
upon us. Yonr party has had its day in court.
For nearly nine months the American people
have looked upon this body az it has drified
and hopeles,ly ST uggled on with elements in
it which, while useless for any present good,
have sounded constant alarm Of future dam
gers.
A vrry DARING Kentucky Ujrl lately