Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-01-14
NO. l2.

ask the United States for citizenship. Very we'll,
we can stand it about as well as Mr.. Robert
Toombs can. And if Mr.. Robert Toombs Is not
prepared to 60 into a court of the United States
| and swear that he means 10 be good citizen, let
him stay out. l do not think that the two Houses
of Congress should convert themselves into Joint
convention for the purpose ofembracing Mr.. Rob-
ert Toombs and gushingly request him to favor US
by coming back to accept Of all the honors Of cit
zenshp. That is the whole. All l ask Is that
each Of these gentlemen shall show his good faith
| by coming forward and taking the oath which you
on that side OF the House and we on this side of
the House and all of us take and gladly take. 1t
is very small exaction to make az . preliminary
TO full restoration to all the rights of citizenship.
In my amendment, Mr.. Speaker, l have excepted
Jefferson Davis from its operation. Now do not
place it ON the ground that Mr.. Davis was, ~ he
has been commonly called the head and front Of the
| exception would be tenable. Mr.. Davis was Just
guilty, no more so, no less so than thousands Of
others who have already received the benefit and
grace of amnesty. Probably he was far less Ell.
cient as an enemy Of the United States; probably
he was far more useful as disturber Of the coun-
ellis Of the confederaey than many who have a.
ready received amnesty. 1t Is not because Of any
particular and special damage that he above others
did to the Union, or because he was personally or
especially of consequence, that except him. But
l except him'on this ground: that he was the au.
thor knowingly, deliberately, guilty. and will
fully. of the gigantic murders and crimes 1t
Andersonville.
A member. And Libby.
Mr.. BLAINE. Libby pales into insignifcance
before Andersonville. place it on that ground
and l believe to-day that so rapidly does
one event follow on the heels Of another
in the rapid age in which we live. that
even those Of us who were contemporaneous
with what was transpiring there. and still
less those who have grown up since, fail to re-
member the gigantic crime then committed.
Sir, since the gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr..
RANDALL introduced this bill, last month, haye
taken occasion to re-read some Of the historic
cruelties of the world. have read over the de-
tails of those atrocous murders of the Duke Of
Alva in the Low Countries which are always men.
toned with thrill of horror throughout Christen-
dom. have read the details of the massacre Of
Saint Bartholomew, that stand out in history ~
one Of those atrocities beyond Imagination.
have read anew the horrors untold and unimagin-
able of the Spanish Inquistion. And here before
God, measuring my words, knowing their full ex-
tent and import declare that neither the deeds ofthe
Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, nor the
massacre Of Saint bartholomew, nor the thumb
screws and engines of torture OF the Spanish In
QUESTION begin to compare in atrocity with the
hideous crimes Of Andersonville. [Applause on
the floor and in the galleries
Mr.. ROBBINS Of North Carolina. That Is an
Infamous SANDER.
The SPEAKER If such demonstrations are re.
peated in the galleries the Chair will order them
TO be cleared.
Mr.. BLAINE. Thank God, Mr.. Speaker, that
while this Congress was under different control
from that which exists here to-day, with com
mittee composed of both sides and of both
branches, that tale of horror was placed where
it cannot be denied or gainsaid.
hold in my hand the story written out by .
committee of Congress. state that Winder, who 10
dead, was sent to Andersonvle with a full krowl.
edge of his previous atrocities that those atrocities
in Richmond were so fearful, so terrible, that con-
federate papers, the Richmond Examiner for one
stated when he was gone that. Thank God, Rich
mond is rid of his presence We in the North
knew from returning skeletons what he had &C.
compshed at Belle Isle and Libby. And fresh
from those Accomplishments he was sent by Mr..
Davis, against the protests of others in the confed
eracv to construct this den of horrors at Ander.
sonville.
Now. of course it would be utterly beyond the
scope of the occasion and beyond the limits of nv
hour for me to go into details. But in arraigniug
Mr.. Davis undertake here to say that will not
ask any gentleman to take the testimony of sim
gle Union soldier. l ask them to take only the
testimony of men who themselves were engaged
and enlisted in the confederate canse. And if
that testimony does not entirely carry out and jus.
tfy the declaration have made then will state
that have been entirely in error in my reading.
After detailing the preparation of that prison,
the arrangements made with hideous cruelty for
the victims, the report which hold in my hand,
and which was concurred in by democratic mem.
bers well as republican members of Congress
states this-and beg members to hear it, for it is
far more impressive than anything l can say.
After say, giving full details, the report states
"The subsequent history Of Andersonville has
startled and shocked the world with tale of hor.
ror, of woe, and death, before unheard and un.
known to civilization. No pen can describe, no
painter sketch, no imagination comprehend its
fearful and unutterable iniquity. 1t would seem
as if the concentrated madness Of earth and hell
had found its final lodgment in the breasts of
those who inaugurated the rebellion and controlled
the policy OF the confederate government, and that
the prison at Andersonville had been selected for
the most terrible human sacrifice which the world
had ever seen. Into Its narrow walls were crowd
ed thirty-five thousand enlisted men, many Of
them the bravest and best, the most devoted and
heroic of those grand armies which carried the
flag of their country to final victory. For long
and weary months here they suffered maddened.
were murdered and died. Here they fingered un-
sheltered from the burning rays of tropical sun
by day and drenching and deadly dews BY night,
in every stage of mental and physical disease
huugered, emaciated, starving, maddened; fester-
ing with unhealed wounds: gnawed by the raw
ages Of scurvy and gangrene with swollen limb and
distorted visage; covered with vermin which they
had no power to extirpate; exposed to the flooding
iains which drove them drowning from the misers-
BILE holes in which, like swine, they burrowed;
parched with thirst and mad with hunger; racked
with pain prostrated with the weakness of
dissolution; with naked limbs and matted hair;
filthy with smoke and mud; soiled with the
very eXc4ement from which their weakness would
| not permit them to escape; eaten by the gnawing
| worms which their own wounds had epgendered;
with no bed but the earth; no covering save the
cloud the sky; these men, these heroes, born in
the image of God thus crouching and writhing in
their terrible torture and calculating barbarity,
stand forth in history Jas monument of the sur
passing horrors Of Andersonvile as it shall be
seen and read in all future time, realizing in the
studied torments of their prison-house the ideal of
Dantes Inferno and Millions hell"
| | undertake to say, from reading the testimony,
that that is moderate description. will read
but single paragraph from the testimony of Rev
| William John Hamilton, man | believe who
| was never in the North, a Catholic priest at Ma
con. He is Southern man and democrat and
Catholic priest. And when you unite those three
qualities in one man you will not find much testi.
mony that would be strained in favor of the repub.
lican party. Laughter.
| This man had gone to Andersonve on mis-
sion of mercy to the men of his own faith, to sd-
minister to them the rites of his church in their
J last moments. That is why he happened to be .
witness. will read his answer under oath to .
question addressed to him in regard to the bodily
condition of the prisoners. He said:
"Well, as said before, when went there was
kept so busily engaged in giving the sacrament to
the dying men that could not observe much; but
of course could net keep my eyes closed as to
what saw there. saw a great many men per.