Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-02-21
The Murkrille Guqnirer.
YORKVILLE, s. c.:
THURSDAY MORNING, FEB. 81, 1878.
PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS.

In the Senate on the 18th, the bill appro-
priating sz75,OOO to buy the Freedman s
Bank building in Washington was passed.
Mr.. Christiancy, of Michigan, in presenting
several petitions from the citizens of Mchi-
gan in favor of the Sixteenth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States, confer
ring the right of suffrage upon women, said
he hoped the committee on privileges and
elections would take up the subject and re-
port upon it. When he should become salts
fed that the majority of the women of the
country were in favor of female suffrage, he
would vote for it; but until then he would
not He did not think these petitions should
be presented to Congress the Legislatures of
the States we're the proper bodies to present
them to. The feature in the house was the
presentation, in joint convention of the Sen
ate and House, of Carpenters large painting
Of the reading of the Declaration of Eman-
cipation by President Lincoln to his Cabinet.
The presentation speech was made by Mr..
Garfield, of Ohio, and was followed by a
speech by Mr.. Stephens, of Georgia.
In the Senate on 18th, discussion of the
silver bill occupied the day. The tedious mo-
nctony and dullness of the discussion on the
Military Academy bill in the House was re-
lieved by a personal and political alterca-
ton, which brought in question the whole
of the management of the late Presidential
struggle, the alleged bargain for the with
drawal of troops from Louisiana and South
Carolina, the famous Wormley conference,
and the pending prosecutions of the members
of the Returning Board in New Orleans
The discussion grew out of some unpleasant
colloquy few days ago between Hewitt, of
New York, on the one side, and Aiken, of
South Carolina, and House, of Tennessee, on
the other. Aiken had, on that occasion, ex-
pressed the opinion that West Point should
be brought to the hammer and sold. Mr.
Hewitt had attributed that sentiment to
Southern hostility to the institution which
had turned out such gallant officers as West
Point had, and Mr.. House had stigmatized
Mr.. Hewitt as demagogue, who had SLAM
dered the whole Southern people. To-day,
Mr. Hewitt brought up the subject again and
explained away any offensive imputation
against the South, which explanation Mr..
House, of Tennessee, accepted on his side and
treated it as entirely satisfactory; but not so
as to Mr.. Aiken, as to whom (and his State)
Mr.. Hewitt had only added fresh sting to
hisremarks day. He reasserted Mr.. Houses
charge of demogogueism. He named Messrs.
Davis, Lee, Jackson, the two Johnstons and
other Southern Generals as rejecting honor
and glory on West Point, sulogized Union
officers, graduates of that institution, with
whom he had measured steel on the battle
field, while the gentleman (Hewitt) had on
ly served his country through a paid substi-
tute, and, finally, as Parthian shaft aimed
at Hewitt said that West Point had never
produced an Esau, Benedict Arnold, or a
man who had sold the Presidency. This
charge brought Hewitt to his feet again, and
he related the whole story, so far as he was
concerned, of the late Presidential election,
and said that if the Presidency had been sold,
no Northern man had done it.
In the Senate, on the 18th, Mr. Bayard
presented memorial from the New York
banks and banking institutions, demonstrating
against the passage of the silver bill. He
said the memorial was signed by persons, who,
perhaps, more than any other class of men
in the country, we're charged with the care of
property of others and knew about the matter
of which they spoke. The memorial was laid
on the table, the silver bill now being before
the Senate. The silver bill was resumed,
Jones, of Nevada, speaking in its favor. Sen
ator Coke, of Texas, made strong legal ar
gumeut in favor of the bill. He argued
against the constitutional power of Congress
to demonetize silver, and said it was consti-
tutional right of the people to have curren-
cy of both gold and silver. The constitution
itself established bi-metalic standard. At
ter brief discussion, the Senate passed the
House joint resolution declaring that the re-
duction of tax on distilled spirits is inexpe-
dient-yeas 40, nays 8. In the House, a let
ter was read from the Secretary of the Treas
ury showing nearly five millions decrease in
revenue as compared with last year. The ap-
preparation bill for West Point Military Acad-
emy was discussed until the hour of adjourn
ment.
In the Senate, on the 18th, a number of Pc
ttions were presented-.among them, one
from the Hartford County Maryland Medical
Society, favoring the removal of duties i'm
posed on crude Peruvian bark and quinine.
Several amendments were proposed to the sill
yer bill. Mr.. Lamar spoke at length against
the passage of the bill. In the House, bills
passed removing the political disabilities of
q number of citizens of Virginia, and one of
Arkansas A bill directing the payment of
s375,OOO appropriated last Congress for claims
of Southern mail contractors before the war,
was discussed all day. No conclusion was
reached Adjourned to Monday.
In the Senate, at o'clock on the morning
of the 10Th, the silver bill, as amended by the
Senate finance committee, was passed by a
vote of 4S to 81. 1t now goes to the House
for concurrence. Silver is remonetized and
made equal with gold, and free coinage is
stricken out. Senators Patterson and Butler,
of South Carolina, we're paired, and conse'
quently did not vote. The former would have
voted for, and the latter against the bill.
In the Senate on the 18th, among the bills
introduced, were one by Mr.. Chafee, of Colo