The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-02-22

the South were could not say word
on bill of this character without
having their motives impugned.
There was not n State so much inter-
ested in keeping up the strength of the
army as the State of Texas.
| Mr.. Hewitt, from New York, want
ed to say to the gentleman from Maine,
(Mr. Hale) that the first move toward
a reduction of the army was made in
the Forty-third Congress, which was
Republican, when it was reduced from
sc, 900 to %, 900 men. He had suppos-
ed that the gentleman from Michigan's
explanation was joke, but he appear
ed to be in sober earnest. Mr.. Hewitt
wished to say that the Southern Dem
ocrats had not asked for a reduction of
the army. The request had come from
the Northern Democrats, and they in
tended to push it until some of the
| burdens of taxation We're rolled away
from the people; but he wanted to re-
fer to the affair that had occurred here
on Monday, and to the language used
toward him by Mr.. House, of Tennes-
see, at which he felt aggrieved. He
| rose at the moment and attempted to
get the floor to correct the gentleman's
misapprehension. He denied having
said anything that could be construed
as slander upon the South. His pur-
pose was to defend the South from the
Slander put upon her by the remark of
the gentleman from South Carolina,
| Mr.. Aiken.
| Mr.. House, of Tennessee, said il the
gentleman from New York intended
no reflection upon the South he regret
ted his language, but he understood
Mr.. Hewitt's remark to reflect upon
Mr. Aiken, and, through him, upon
the whole South. 1t was so under
stood because South Carolina was a
seeding State, and there was an inn
plication that as West Point officers
had whipped the seeded States back
into the Union the South wanted to
destroy West Point. He was glad to
know Mr.. Hewitt did not so intend it.
He (Mr. House) replied as he did be-
cause he believed the Southern Repre-
sentatives had equal rights on this floor
with those of the North. They were
here by law, and he thought they had
IA right to discuss proposition with
out haIing il thrust Extensively in their
faces that they had gone into rebellion.
He loved his section and his people,
and he would be unworthy the name
of man if he did not defend both.
l[Applause.l /
Mr.. Hewitt was glad to hear what
the gentleman had said. His own re-
marks of Monday referred only to Mr..
Aiken. He believed the Southern
! men were as loyal now as those of the
North. 1t was in that belief that he
had done all he could for the pacifica-
tion of the South, and had labored for
the withdrawal of the troops from Lou
: iSiana and South Carolina. In the
: supreme trial of last year he was un-
willing that the electoral count should
. go on, except on the assurance that il
Mr.. Hayes was inaugurated, military
Intervention in the South should cease.
That assurance was given, and the
! count went on. He confessed, there
fore, that when he heard himself ac-
cused as Il slanderer of the South that
his blood boiled, and it has taken him
forty eight hours to get it cooled to its
normal condition. GLaughter.]
Mr.. Conger and Mr.. Aiken both
rose, and after struggle and good
deal of disorder the. chair awarded the
floor to Mr.. Aiken, who said the gen
tleman, Mr.. Hewitt, had taken one eX-
tract from his speech and charged him
with a desire to sell West Point. The
gentleman could as well take any sim
gle verse from the Bible and frame a
doctrine on it. He made an; nrgUment
for economy, quoting from the last re-
port of the Board of Visitors to West
Point, and the gentleman had not met
him in that issue. He (Mr Hewitt)
could not refute what was said, but he
gets up here and makes a speech, prov
ing that he is what the gentleman from
Tennessee said he was-a demagogue-
[laughterl and takes one sentence from
a speech. He (Mr. Aiken) had not
said one word against West Point, but
had only called attention to facts. He
knew West Point had a record, and he
could name the gallant graduates from
that school who had fought on both
sides in the late war. He knew what
West Point officers were worth. He
had met them and measured steel with
them, but he never saw him (pointine
to Mr.. HewitD there. Laughter.
West Point had good record, and il
: never turned out an American Esau OF
: a Benedict Arnold, or man who hao
Z put up President and had sold hin
7 out. Applause and laughter.l HI