Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-03-21

He affirmed what he said the other day about
Hayes being fraud, and declared he for one
would never cease to remind the country of
the fact that man occupied the Presidential
chair who had never been elected. The
House adjourned at 450 P. M.
In the Senate on the 18th, a number of
bills were introduced, among them one for
the relief of the city of Macon, Ga. for the re-,
lief of the Masonic Hall Association of At
lanta, Ca, and bill to aid the New Orleans
and Pacific Railroad Company. Mr.. Mat
thews called up resolution to refer, and read
the communication of Secretary Schurz in re-
lation to timber seizures in Montana. A
lengthy and acrimonious debate ensued, in
which Sargent, Blaine and Teller attacked the
report, charging want of business capacity
and oppression and outrage, on Secretary
Schurz in his treatment of the people OF
Montana. Mr.. Merrimon, of North Caro-
lima, introduced bill to provide for and reg
ulate the counting of votes for President
and Vice President, and discussion of the
questions arising thereon, it was referred to
a special committee appointed to consider the
question of counting the vote, and Mr. Merrl-
mon expressed the hope that the report would
soon be made, as four months of the session
had passed, and action should be had on the
matter at the present session of Congress.
Mr.. Gordon introduced a bill to provide for
deposits on savings and funding of national
debt. Referred to committee on finance. The
bill directs the issue of new series of bonds,
bearing per cent. interest; twenty years
coupons, renewable for twenty years, payable
in coin, of interest payable in any legal ten
der, exchangeable with treasury notes !; the
replacing of old notes with new issue of
greenbacks and 3 per cent. bonds receivable
for all dues. Pending the appreciation of
these new notes to par with coin, the pur-
chase of that needed for interest with bonds
The bill also repeals the tax on deposits; ;
permits the holding of these 3 per cent
bonds for reserves and the usual repeating
clause. Mr.. Morgan, from the committee on
claims, reported bill for the relief of the
book agent of the Methodist Church South.
Placed on the calendar. The Military Acad-
emy bill was taken up and passed. An
amendment, proposed by Mr.. Sargent, limit
ing the appointment of cadets. at-large to ten,
was adopted. This, if agreed to by the House,
prevents the President from making any ap-
pointments during the remainder of his term,
as the number is now forty. The House
went into committee on the consular and
diplomatic appropriation bill, the discussion
of which occupied the day. The question of
paying ante-bellum Southern mail contractors
was, in an irregular sort of way, drawn into
the discussion, which gave rise to the follow
ing proceedings:
Mr.. Reagan, of Texas, referring to the debate
of a day or two ago about the payment Of mail
contractors in the South, said that when the bill
was up he had asserted that the Confederate Gov
ernment had not paid for them. He made the
statement in good faith. He had not seen the
laws of the Confederate Government for fifteen
or sixteen wears, and the reading of extracts
from the archives the other day by Mr.. Conger
and Mr.. Willetts, showed that he was mistaken
in his assertions. He did not complain of the
gentleman from Michigan, who had these ex-
tracts read it was right that the facts should be
disclosed, but he did complain that these records
were accessible to one side of the House, and
were withheld from the other
Mr.. Reagan then sent up and had read proc
lamation issued by him In 1850, IN which he took
the ground that the contracts of the United States
in the South must be fulfilled until the Conteder-
ate Government took full charge of the postal
service there. This circular showed that he was
l. Ton fhnr low %
membered the circumstance and the proclama.
ton, and had forgotten the subsequent legsla
tive acts by which these claims were paid. TO
show that he was earnest in his belief and that
he had forgotten the legislation thereon, he said
to his political friends that there no necessity
of engraftng legislation on the bill to prohibit the
payment OF claims that had been paid by the Con-
because that government had never
paid them. His failure to remember this legis-
iation, was what led him into the error, and he
knew now that he had been mistaken.
Mr.. Conger, of Michigan, in reply, said the fact
remained that the Confederacy had paid these
claims, and he was free to say that he much
doubted whether the members on the floor from
the South were not aware of the fact.
Mr. Douglass, ofFirginia, wanted to get into
controversy with Conger, but as he was not in
condition to cary on discussion, an exciting but
disgraceful scene resulted. The chairman raped
with his gavel but Douglass refused to be put
down, and it was only after an earnest effort on
bers that he was induced to leave the hall.
The diplomatic bill finally passed almost
in the exact form in which it came from the
on appropriations. Mr.. Wood, Of
New York, moved to take up and pass the
Senate bill in aid of the Polar expedition,
proposed by Mr.. James Gordon Bennett. Mr..
Scales, of North Carolina, gave notice that
on Tuesday, 18th instant, he would call up the
bill to transfer the Indian Bureau to the War
In the Senate on the 18th, number of
bills granting pensions to various persons we're
considered and passed during the morning
hour. Among them was one granting pen
sion of $50 per month to Mrs. Mary Wilkes,
widow of the late Rear Admiral Wilkes,
of the U. S. Navy. Mr.. VOORHEES, intro.
duced bill providing for the payments of
all customs duties and other debts due the
United States in legal tender notes at par,
except in cases where it is otherwise stpu-
lated on the face of the obligation or con-
tract. Referred to the committee Oh finance
The Pacific Railroad funding bill occupied
the day. The House passed, by majority
of two, the extending for three years from the
date of entry, the payment of taxes on whis-
ky in bonded warehouses, interest at per
cent. to be added to the tax after the first
year. The Massachusetts, contested election
case of Dean against Field was discussed, but
no result was reached.
In the House on the 18th, Mr.. Robbins, of
North Carolina, from the committee on ways
and means, reported substitute for the bill