Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1876-01-22
A Fight in Congress over the Am-
=, <nesty BILL

The defeat Of the Amnesty bill has
been announced. During the debate
upon the occasion, Mr.. Blaine having
made a speech denouncing The conduct
of Mr.. Jefferson Davis.
Mr.. Cox obtained the floor, and said:
The gentleman from Maine, who, under
some dispensation Of Providence or the
people, is no longer Speaker Of this
House, has seen fit TO tear away the
mask of prudence. He justifes his con-
duct in the light Of history; but there is
no precedent in history and no canon in
the moral law which the present mi
nority has not outraged. The gentle
man Mr.. Blaine7 had alluded to the
Duke Of Alva. His friends were doubt
less familiar with Alva, for his murder,
/ rapine and robbery in the Netherlands
has been repeated by the Republican
party in the South since 1865. The
history of the Republican party is the
history of rapine. The gentleman from
Maine flies in the face of all history,
and in this year of grace and jubilee he
issues another manifesto for some pecu.
liar purpose, which will probably soon
appear 1t is not true that tbe gentle
mans party is the party of amnesty.
When they passed an amnesty bill they
did it in paltry way of peddling poll
tics He Mr.. Cox] was in Congress
before the war, and he had the honor
to bring forward the first bill for the
exchange of prisoners. He did it as
matter of humanity, conciliation and
peace. The party of the gentleman re-
pudiated it. And yet the gentleman
from Maine says they have always ad-
vocated peace and reconciliation. He
had il on the authority of sixty gentle
men on this floor who were in the Con-
federacy that no order was ever issued
as to prisoners rations and clothes that
was not issued as to Confederate sol
diers. The gentleman further defends
all the acts OF the republican party be-
cause it was so magnanimous and grand.
Why, gentlemen, addressing the Dem
ocrats, they allowed you to come back.
Why, God bless US all, laughter the
Republican party, by the grace of the
gentleman from Maine, allowed you to
come here! Down on your knees to
his majesty from Maine. [aenewed
laughter, AS to leniency, he Mr.
Cox remembered that when the ques-
ton of con6scation was mp, gentle
man on the other side of the House,
now dead. said that all south of a GER
tain line should be in the penitentiary
of hrll 1t was not confirmed to men,
but women and children were also 10
be confined there lie Mr.. Cox bad
always labored to mitigate the severity
of civil war, and all through the war
the Republicans strove to perpetuate
rebellion. When Lincoln issued his
proclamation of amnesty he said, "Mal-
ice toward none; charity to ALL" No
outrages, no odious test oaths, which
make Us the laughing stock of the civil
lied world. He could not tell what
Church the gentleman from Maine was
raised in, but if he had ever read the
Sermon on the Mount he mover would
have made the red and fiery speech he
made to-day. c aa' 80 .-'5D '''
Mr. Cox then said he would show
the history of amnesty from his stand
point Was the first bill passed in the
present of Christian lovei No; but it
was done to letin Republican voters
who could represent the South. The
party wanted to recruit its waning
ranks, in Congress by this means. ."
ii Mr.. Blaine. How did that side get
in! .H.. .-
Mr.. Cox. Because the South wanted
honest men, and the men you brought
up from the South were not honest. APP
plause. ~. p. .t,'......
Mr.. Blaine. But how did they get
amnesty! The Republicans were in the
majority. ..... '"i q
Mr.. Cox. Because of an increse of
healthy public sentiment, and some SEN
sibie men on your side voted with this
side. Renewed laughter 10 q.
Mr., Cox then related the history of
the amesty bills, and argued that that
OF the Forty-fr Congress was permit
ted to sleep in the Reconstruction Com
mittee. In the Forty second Congress
General Butler reported bill, which
was declared to be bill of amnesty
and oblivion for past offenses, and when
you came to examine it the oblivion
was all alive with horrid memories. 1t
was only tn amnesty the Federal agents
of reconstruction. What had your
sweet-sceuted agents of reconstruction
been doing, Had they been stealing :
The bill finally passed with an amend
ment to Mr.. Poland's, but that was OBJ
jectionable, and excepted Of officers of
the army and navy. Afterwards the
Committee on Rules agreed to report a
bill for amnesty. What right that cotr-
mittee had to do it he (Mr. Oox) could
never understand. But the gentleman
from Maine, the ex-officio chairman of
the committee, proposed bill for gen
eral amnesty, and also proposed that
Mr.. Maynard should draw it up. The
gentleman was present at all the CON- /
mittee meetings and did not object
once. The gentleman has appealed to
God. 81, said Mr. Cox, "appeal to my
committee, colleague, [Mr Randall,] to
God and the Record" 4,ry ,ss-.,
Mr.. Blaine Like ,Dogbery, you ap-
peal to your colleague before God.
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