Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-01-21

the boorkeeper of the present House
twenty-six Union soldiers have been
appointed. AppIuse.
The SPEAKER. These demonstra.
tions are entirely out of order.
Mr.. JoSEs, of Kentucky. Mr..
Speaker, I rise tea point of order.
The SPEAKER The gentleman viii
state it, 81 ~
Mr.. JOKES, of Kentucky, My
point is this: Idonot know wheth
er it is a point of order or not, but i
do request that the Speaker viii n
the most determined maner suppress
any applause in this House. i regre;
this debate, and eSpecErlfy-tt these
details; but this applause is uii-
becoming the gravity of the question
however unfortunately it may have
come up here; and | do request that
on this side of the House there shall
be no applause of any member who
speaks for the South, or any demon
stratiOn against any one speaking on
that side of the House. / hope cour-
tesy ami decorum will be observed.
1t is unbecoming the House and un-
becoming the country, and | hope II
will be stopped.
The SPEAKER.-The suggestion
of the gentleman from Kentucky is
well made. These things are not In
order, and the Chair earnestly re-
quests the House will set an example
to those outside OF the bar and in the
galleries by stopping all such dem
onstrations. And the Chair takes
occasion to say to the galleries that
if these things are continued 1t viii
be his duty to have them cleared.
Mr.. GARFIELD.-I regret as much
any one the discussion of this ques-
tion. l did not intend to refer to it
at all. l hope what my colleague
has presented as a statistical table
will turn out to be correct. shall
be glad if it does. However, there
has been put into my hand a state
ment about a single office of the
House in which the old and new
rolls are given. speak of the post
Office of the House, in which it is
claimed that while nine Union SOL
diers were on the rolls during the
last year, nine Confederate soldiers
have replaced them on the rolls this
year; and that of the thirteen en-
ployes there, but two took the oath
that they had not borne arms
against the Government. If the
statement is correct which l have
put into my hands, it would seem
to throw some shadow of id0ubt on
what we have just heard. Bat let
both statements go in together.
Mr.. Speaker, | was about to refer
to another point made by the gen.
tleman from Georgia i'll his state.
ment of the number of prisoners
taken by US and taken by them and
the relative number of deaths. 1
have this morning received from the
Surgeon-General references to all
the pages of official reports on that
subject, but I have not been able, in
the hurried moments of the session
since l arrived here, to examine the
figures. The gentleman from Him
ois Mr.. Burchard] has made up a
part of the statement which / am
now able to present. That state
ment shows that during the war we
took 746, 100 prisoners, while on the
other side they took 18S, 145 prison
ers from us.
This is a statement to which the
Surgeon-General referred me in a
note received since L took my seat
in the House this morning, and is a
printed report on the treatment of
prisoners of war by the rebel author
tiles, third session Fortieth Con-
gress, page 228, which gentlemen
can examine at their leisure.
It ought to be added in this con-
nection that the conscription law of
the Confederate congress forced all
able-bodied citizens between the
ages Of seventeen and fifty into the
service, while our laws limited con-
scription to the usual military ages.
This, of course, put into their army
a large number of immature boys
and broken down old men, among
whom the mortality would naturally
be greater than In an army made up
of men of the ordinary ages.
l turn now to another point. The
gentleman makes another answer
concerning these atrocities.
The SPEAKER.-The gentleman's
hour has expired.
Mr.. HILL.-I hope the gentleman
from Ohio will be permitted to go
on.
There being no objection, Mr..
Garfeld's time was extended indef-
nitely.
Mr.. GARF1ELD.-I am very crate
full for this courtesy and viii not
abuse it.
The gentleman from Georgia
makes another answer, that whatev-
er was suffered by the prisoners for.
at least a considerable portion of
the time was in consequence of our
refusal to make an exchange of pris-
oners because we would not give
them their fresh men in our prisons
and take our shadows and skeletons
that came back from theirs.
This is part, and an important
part, of a great history, which must
not be omitted in this debate; and
1 will very briefly refer to its leading
points. There was much trouble
about the exchange of prisoners be-
tween the two belIigerents; first, be:
cause for long time we did rot ac-
knowledge the Confederates as bel
ligerents. We hoped under the
ninety-days theory of Mr.. Seward
to get through without their recog-
milton, but that hope failed. Our
enemies.w as gallant a people as
ever drew the sword, and the fulfill
of that hope wasdeIayed for months
and for years. But finally an ar
was made under which it
Continued aent lcesk.)
Shepard 8 Knapp,