Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1876-01-19
The Great Debate.


Of late wears that has 50 stirred the countr,
a. that which Mr.. Blaine inaugurated OF
the Amnesty bill. His object was to maxi
party capital, and while his first move wa
one that gave his opponents M advanta@"
had they been wise enough to seize it, tn,
result of it all ha, been Il political victory
for him and the republicans in Congress
What Mr.. Blaine asked for from til,
commencement was Il direct vote on the
question of excluding jeff Davis from the
provision, of the bill. Many Of his OWL
party did not favor the exclusion. but near
" all insisted that Mr.. Blane'> proposition.
to have a record made on the question, was
"a fair one, and 20 he held the republican
minority well in hand during the contest.
Mr. Hill of Georgia fell n,o The pit
diggrd for him by the cX->pcakcr, and
took many of the hopes Of his party with
him. Goadcd by the sharp attack OF
Blaine, he blurtrl ont, Just us his a>sailant
expected would he done, the true notions
Of a certain class of the reconstructed. He
defended Davis. excused Andr,onvillc.
and ch,rgrd upon the Nor,h a'ro cities #
like Kind with those enacted in southern
prisons.
Neither Hill nol Cox were willing that
their reu -p'cchc, should 20 before
the country, and 80 it was only after
days of tinkerng that their remarks ap-
pcarcl in greatly modified form in the
foHgres>ioHH Hccord. While they c.,nnot
deceive the country in this WAY Il, to what
they really said. their solcitude is Il con-
scious tribute to the calm Judgment Of the
country which Il years 20 by. with more
of sorrow and les of anger, condemn, the
rebellion and all Of its unholy incidents.
The result of the debate, while it show,
that the passions of the war may be- again
famed to life for a time, happily does not
show that there are more fhln the cmbcr-
Of Il past conilagration Sunset Cos in
dul@cd in such remarks to Blaine Is these:
o, BaiIr. dry up, and Well. below
away: You are Il hvcna." But after the war
of words was done. the b-llgcrcnt down
easter AMI HE wa>pi>h New Yorker were
good friends again. notwithstanding Cox
say- he meant to have called Blaine n
dynamite liend," but forgot to do it. The
excitement through the country dies too.
rs rapidly rs in the halls of Congress.
The fear that such debate would stir
up on both sides long continued hate has
proved unfnunded, and it may be well that
tie country has been shown that, even in
Il presidential year Il storm upon old wa
ISSUES displays nothing but sheet Hrhi-
ming
The result show, another thing which i
a little curious taken in connection will,
tie thundcrous talk on the subjects. and
this is that nobody is in any great strait
about amnesty after all. The rebels on
whom disability rests are not SUFFERING. for
all they have to DO is to ask individually.
and they are relieved. Gen Bcaureoar,I
wants to accept some local Office which
his friends think he would fill acceptable.
and has since the year began written TO
Senator Gordon, asking him to have hi>
disabilities removed The Senate immedi-
atcly referred the matter to the judiciary
committee, and there is no doubt that Gen
Beaure@ard, who was at one time, to tie
northern mind, typical rebel. will soon be-
good " citizen" again. Then the vot
Of Friday in the House shows that Demo
Gratis are in no more haste to confer am
nc>ty than are republicans
Mr.. Blaine has won very brillian, par
Ilamcntary victory, and bias given the dem
ocrats several times chance to pass Il full
amnesty bill, with the condition Of an oath
only attached. This chance the demo-
Gratis have pcrsistcntly refused They re-
fused it on Friday. when Blaine made the
oler two or three times. and it was only
when they had refused to vote for amnesty
under his lead. that he, to their great a.,
t0ni>hment, suddenly Withdrew the Who'll,
subject from the consideration of the
House
Monday Il majority of the democrats |
again refused to pass an amnesty bill when
Mr.. " hltc made motion to suspend ttc
rules. Had Mr. Whites motion nrev.,;1.d /
the jeff Davis exclusion would have been
voted off the bill at once. and fine Lil |
would then have gone through in the Same
form that the democrats voted for it Fri
day. But Morrison and some other, wor.
Diet trimmed to keep off the record on the
Davis question and showed how little they |
cared about amnesty by Defeating the mo-
ton to suspend the rules. Il was notice. !
able that MIR. Whites proposition was so
far that neHrly half the democrats voted |
Tor 1t. HE responsibility for the present
failure of amnesty in the house is thrown
upon the democrats, and they have ne
G pied it rather than to allow Blaine to
lead to the point they want to reach. Tbi,
seems foolish in them after they have h,l
to follow him to SO many points they didn't
want to reach.