Wilmington journal., 1876-01-21
VOL. 3
THE AMNESTY DEBATE.

| When Mr.. Randall introduced hi
amnesty measure, says the Bostol
Post, of which he gave notice prio
to the holidays. he stated that it wa.
an exact copy, word for word, of th'
bill reported last year by the commit
tee of which Mr.. Speaker Blaine was
member, and which was passed by
Republican House without amend
n.ent but defeated in the Senate. Mr.
Blaine is no longer Speaker, and he ii
conspicuously and persistently a can
| didate for the Presidential nomination
That will amply account for his pres
ent solicitude to exclude this yea
| from the grace of the act the one in
dividual against whom last year ht
raised no objection. His excuse now
that he could not as Speaker introduce
his amendment last year does not GOV
er the privilege he enjoyed in the com
mlttee-room. 1t was on this point thai
Mr.. Cox riddled him merciessly with
fact, logic and contemptuous irony
leaving him limp and lifeless as 6
champion. This kind of personal bun
combe is exceedingly cheap and worth
less. The temper that would del1ber
ately reopen the wound, of civil war
Il the Republics Centenniel year fo,
he sake of parading personal ambi.
ton is of too vindictive quality to de.
serve any of the credit of stateman-
ship which it might claim on other
grounds. This was very thoroughly
exposed by Mr.. Cox. who while abat-
ing no title of the merits of the Union
soldiery, appealed in the same strain
which the Union veterans would
themselves employ for the burial of
the passions of the past, the mutual
forgiveness of wrongs and the restora
tion of the fraternal spirit of common
patriotism.
The particular reason given by Mr..
Blaine in excepting the President of
amendment, is that it would only res.
open questions of veracity and revive
scenes of horror, as well as bring up
disputes again between the War De-
partment equally with the head of the
late Confederacy. There is nothing to
be gained by prolonging passionate
discussion over inhumauities whose
results have been long ago compre
hended and suffered
On the contl ary, it cannot but prove
q needless obstruction to the process
of knitting together the fbres of fra
ternal sentiment which is now going
on.
The handling of the whole subject,
(Mr. Blaine includedD by Mr.. Cox, was
a skillful and effective piece of work,
whether considered as parlliamen-
tary or corrective one. His strain of
wit and irony, ceaselessly let in upon
the discussion, relieved it of that hard
tone of viudictiveness, which was the
main characteristic of Mr.. Biaine's
speech, while his conviction of the
latter of gross inconsistency of cons
duct from one year to the next, COM
pletely overthrow and destroyed the
effect of his (BIaine) present passion
ate diatribe, and gave to the final pa
triotic appeal of NJ. Cox himself
loftiness and breadth and fervor which
must command an instant response in
the hearts of his countrymen.
When, moreover, Mr.. Blaine pro-
tests against the waste of the time of
the session IN consequence of such de-
bates, ne utterly fails to see that the
debate in this case was precipitated by
none but himself, from purely personal
motives, the mere allusion to which,
on the floor of the House, provoked
universal laughter.
This should be the end Of buncombe
for the present session. The commit
tee reports should supply business
enough for all.