The daily gazette., 1876-01-13
The Bloody Chasm
MIR. HiIl's speech In the House of Re
preventative OH Tuesday.

MIR. HIS speech I'm the House of Re
| presentattves OH Tuesday.
The House resumed the considcra-
tion of the unfinished business, the
amnesty bill and Mr.. Hill, of Georgia
took the floor. After expressing regret
that Mr.. Blaine had plunged the House
in this discussion, reopening wounds
that were being healed and reinfaming
passions which were being hushed, he
declared that the South did not recipro
cate such purpose, or manifest such
desire. Mr.. Hill then proceeded to
defend Mr.. Davis from the charges
made against him by Mr.. Blaine. He
was not here to pass a eulogy upon
Mr.. Davis. His record had been made
up and gone before an impartial Judge
and no eulogy from him, no words of
the gentleman could damage him, and
no resolution of the House could af-
feet him. He had supposed when the
gentleman uttered his charges that he
had discovered some new evidence but
to his surprise, he discovered that they
were "nothing on carth"but partisan
report of IA committee of Congress,
made when passions were at their
height and the testimony taken er parte
when the accused was a prisoner and
in Jail, with no opportunity to be heard
the testimony taken by enemies in
the midst of fury and rage. If there
was anything in the Anglo Saxon law,
it was the high prerogative of the ac-
cuscd to confront his accusers. The
testimony was not only taken while
he was in prison, aud by his enemies,
and in hatred, but even this testimony
had been mutilated. And this testl-
mony, he said, with these mutilations,
had been filed away in the document
rooms as history.
He next referred to the Wirz trial,
and said that there was trial that
lasted three months, and over a hum
dred and fifty witnesses were exanin.
ed, with the whole country under mil
itary despotism, and every one seeking
/. favor with the government; yet with
all these there was not word elected
to connect the name of Jefferson Davis
with the scenes at Andersonvile
Even the day of his execution Wirz
} had been offered Communication of his
sentence if he would implicate Mr..
. Davis, but WirZ's answer to his coun.
sci was "Bir. Schade you know that !
0 have always told you that. l do not
know anything about Jefferson Davis.
He bad no connection with me as to
what was done at Andersonville.
: would not become traitor against
!. him or anybody else even to save my
lite."
Mr.. Hill argued that on the logic oi
Mr. Blane's speech, holding MI. Davis
responsible for the acts of General
Winder, President Grant might be
hold responsible for the acts of McDon
aid aud Joyce. Was Grant responsible
for the frauds in the District of Colum
bia? And yet he hod absolutely sent
to the Senate for confirmation for q
high Office the name of man (alladiag
to A. II. Shepherd, of Washington,
who stood charged with the crosses,
peculations and frauds on this District
Such an argument was false, and j.
bel on American law. He declared
, that whatever horrors had existed at
Andersonville not one of them could
be attributed to single order of the
Confederate government, and that
every one Of them grew out of the
necessity of the occasion, which ne.
lcessity was fastened on the Confeder.
ates by the conduct of the other side.
He challenged Mr. Blaine to meet him
face to face, fact to fact, in the dis
cusslon of the question. declaring that
the time was past when the country
cOnld accept the impudence of asscr.
ION for the force of argument, or the
recklcssness of statement for the truth
of history. He then road from the
l ,t Nf
War, showing that the mortality
amongst Confederate soldiers in North
ern prisons was greater then that OF
Federal soldiers in Southern prisons,
the ratio being twelve per cent OF
Confederates and nine per cent. of
Federal prisoners.
Mr.. Hill went into detailed state.
mcnt of the effort made by the Confed.
crate authorities for prompt exchange
of prisoners whenever taken, which
efforts were foiled by refusal of the
federal authorities to make and live up
to exchange cartels, quoting largely
from federal authorities to support his
position, At this point Mr.. HilrshouI
expired, but, by unanimous consent,
: he was allowed toproceed without any
limit as to time.
A colloquy then ensued between
Messrs. Blaine and Hill, in which the
former tried to fix the responsibility
of resolution presented in the Con,
federate Senate in 1862, providing for
the trial and punishment by court
martial of any person claiming to be q
federal soldier and caught in the Con-
federate States after a certain date.
Dir. Hill contending that he had no
recollection of such q resolution.
though he may have been its author.
Quoting from Mr.. Blaine's description
of the outrages and cruelties practiced
at Andersonville. Mr.. Hill said let
him add: "But the atrocities of An
dersonville do not begin to compare
with the atrocities of Elmira, Camp
Douglas or Fort Delaware, and of all
the atrocities, both at Andersonville
and Eimira, the Confederate govern
ment stands acquitted from all rcspon-
sibility.'
But" sail BEr. Hill, ''why bring
e,f1.