Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-01-23
Hills Speech.

y under consideration, the Amnesty
. Bill was addressed by Hill, ,of Georgia.
He disclaimed all desire on the part of
himself and his associate Democrats
of the South to reopen any i'll feeling
in sections of the country that had al
ready suffered enough from feuds.
He and his associates had COME here
with the patriotic idea, to remember
y nothing but the country and the whole
country, and turning their backs upon
all the horrors of the past, to look
with all earnestness to find glories for
the future. Mr.. Blaine, who was the
acknowledged leader of the Republic
can party in the House, and was the
aspiring leader of the Republican
party in the country, has, however,
willed otherwise. He seemed deter
mined that the wounds which were
healing should be re-opened, and that
the passions which were Thushed
y should be re-infiamed. He still wished
the House to understand that he and
his associates did not reciprOcate either
the purpose or the manifest desire.Of
the gentleman, and while they felt it
to be their imperative duty to vindi-
cate the truth of history, as regards
their section, they did not intend to
say anything calculated to aid that
gentleman i'm that work Of crimina-
tion and recrimination and of keeping
up the warby politicians after brave
men had said the war shall end. Dur
ing the three months of the Wirtz
trial the Federal Government, with
all the means at its disposal, had not
sproduced single witness TO connect
hA of
atrocity. On the day of his eXecu-
tion Wirtz was offered commuta-
tion of sentence If he would implicate
Davis. Wirtz's answer was, "You
know / have always told You don't
know anything about Jefferson Davis;
he had no connection with me, or with
what was done at Andersonville. l
would not become traitor to any
body. even to save my life." What
poor Writ, within two hours of his
execution, wouldn't say for his life,
the gentleman from Maine says to the
country, to keep his party in power.
Sir, Christianity is a falsehood, hui
manity a lie, civilization cheat, or
the man who would not make a false
charge for his life was never gnilty Of
murder. Hill argued that on the
logic of Blaine's speech holding Davis
responsible for the acts of Winder,
President Grant might be held respon-
sible for the acts of Mcdonald and
Joyce. He asked whether Blaine
meant to establish q rule of construc-
ton that would authorize the country
to arraign President Grant for COM
plicity in the whisky frauds. Was
Grant responsible for. the Credit
MObilier? for the Sanborn contract?
or for the frauds in the District of
Columbia? Yet Grant had absolutely
sent to the Senate of the United States
: for confirmation for a high Office the
name of Shepherd, of Washington,
who stood charged before the country
with the grossest speculatiOns and
frauds on this district, after the charges
had been made and while they were
pending. He (HilD was neither the
author nor a disciple of such political
logic. Butifthe gentleman's Blaine's)
proposition in regard to Davis Were
true, then by the same law General
Grant, instead of being entitled to a
third term, was entitled to terms in
twenty Penitentiaries. The argument
was false; it was a libel on American
rules and laws, and was without pre-
cedent No precedent could be found
in any civilized country. He (HilD
acquitted General Grant of completely
in whisky and revenue frauds, and
the facts acquitted DAVIS of compile
ity with any atroeity anywhere. Hill
proceeded to quote the law of the Com
federation on the subject of treatment
of prisoners, which provides that
ratiOns for prisoners of war shall be
the same in quantity and quality as
those furnished to enlisted men in the
Confederate army. That law was
passed by the Confederate Congress,
approved by Davis, and, so far as
Davis agency was concerned, was ex-
ecuted. The gentleman from Maine
has gone so far as to say that Davis
sent General Winder to Andersonville
for the purpose of organizing den of
horrors. The answer to that was an
order locating the prison, which Hill
proceeded to read, which provided that t
1t should be in healthy locality, with
plenty Of pure water, running
stream if possible, with shade trees,
and in the immediate neighborhood of
grist and saw mills. That, he said,
didn't look like organizing den of
horrors. Blaine had said that no Con-
federate in the hands or Federal au-
thorities had suffered, but had always
been allowed whatever he wanted.
The only answer he would give was,
that he himself had once the honor of
being in prison in the North, and the
first day the officer i'm charge of the
prison told him he would put him on
Andersonyille fare, and would not al
low him to buy anything. He only
got released from the prison after ten
days effort before General Dix, of
New York. He then proceeded to dis
cuss the causes of the horrors at An
dersonville. He said the first cause
was the want of medicine. They could
not get medicine; they did not have
medicine in the Confederacy; the Fed
eral Government held it as contra
band of war, which no other country
on earth ever did before; not even the
Duke Alva did such q thing. Federal
officers received instructions to ex-
anime women passing through the
lines, and search their pitticoats to
prevent them carrying medicine to
the Confederacy Who was respon-
sible for that? There was another
misfortune-that was, want of cloth
ing. Clothing, of course, had been
made contrabando of war. He declared
that whatever horrors had existed at
Andersonville, not one of them could
be attributed to a single order of the
Confederate Government. Every one
of them grew out of the necessities of
the occasion, which were fastened on
to the Confederacy 10y the conduct of
the other side. He challenged Blaine
= to meet him face to face, fact to fact,