The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1878-04-18
blackburn and butler.


In the House. the other day, old
Beast Butler said hat Gen. Field, re-
Gently elected Door-keeper Of the
House. should have been hanged for
treason. Sam Cox spoke in quite a
different spirit, and Mr.. Blackburne, of
Kentucky, raped old Butler across the
face as follows:
We have been told here to dry shat
the candidate who has been nominated
IN the Democratic caucus for the Door.
keepership of this House deserved. by
every law, hrman and divine, to have
been hanged. We have been told
using HIM as an average specimen OF
the element which embraces 5000. 900
OF the people of the laud-that they
were all breathing a miserable exist
ence Mt su7erance. and were indebted
for their poor, miserable lives to the
~magnanimity of the Republican party.
That has been told to us wear after
wear, and it is told to MS today. 1t is
false. and the falsehood should wither
and die on the lips that last uttered it.
TOW was it possible, [ ask, for q man
who belonged to the army of the Con-
federacv to have been hung after the
terms of surrender and capitnlation had
been agreed upon? Did you mean to
Say that the well-earned reputation for
courage and g~allantry and manhood
winch the soldiers of the Union army
had illustrated by overwhelming and
c%onquering nv people was to be blot
ted and blurred for the first time in the
history of civilized warfare by this
Government ignoring the conditions of
surrender and hanging unarmed men
whom it had agreed to protect in
order to indrce them to lay down their
arms?
Mr.. Butler -Have I uttered any such
sentiment.
Mr.. Blackburn Il submit to the
mind of every candid man on this floor
whether he SITS on this side or the 9th
er side OF this chamber) whether l have
quoted Won correctly.
Mr.. Butler-Have I stated OF limited
that after the Confederates laid down
their arms they ought to have been
hanged? The time was before.
Mr.. Blackburn-Aye, but the difficult
ty was to hang them SO long as they
bore arms. I would like to know how
many mon could have been hanged in
the Confederate service while thew
were standing in line of battle with glis-
tening bayonets on their country's bat
tlefields? When a member of the
House asserts that this nominated cam
didate of the Democratic party for the
Door-keepership deserved, by every
law, human and divine, to have been
hanged. and when that utterance is ac>
companied with the boast that he alone
stood by that law and executed it, /
would like to know what Interpretation
of construction can possibly be given
to this language except that Confeder-
ates were to be hanged when the power
to hang them was conferred.
Mr.. Butler-Not after we had agreed
not to.
MIR. Blackburn-I nm sorry that it
was necessary for a member of the
House to remind us of the exercise of
what he chooses to term clemency. but
whiclrimpartial history will denomirate
but common fairness, and in lllustra>
ting tins ~magnanimitv, for which he
claims such credit to his party, it was
necessary for him to parade before us
boastfully the exeuction of an unarmed
and helpless prisoner, the only mar, l
believe, whom the history of that war
shows to have. been killed or injured on
the Confederate side by the warrior
from Massachusetts,. cloud laughter
and applause on the Democratic side.)