Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-04-25
CONGRESS.

| pration bill was relieved on Thursday bytwo
| vigorous and aggressive speeches by Messrs.
Mckinley of Ohio and Burrows of Michigan
Mr. Mckinley said the purpose of the Demo-
Gratis in attempting to repeal the Federal Elec-
ton laws was to destroy the security thrown
around the ballot-box, in order that elections
might be controlled by hired repoatcrs in the
North, and the inventors of tissue ballots in
the South. This assault on the ballot-box he
attributed to the desire of the Democrats, by
fraud and force-the great weapons of that
party-to secure the Presidential election in
1880. After denouncing the purpose which
animated the Democrats in moving to sweep
away all safeguards to free and fair elections,
Mr. Mckinley, with the view of showing the
purposes of the Democrats, quoted from Mr..
Blackburn's speech delivered in the House on
April 3, in which he said ave do not intend
to stop until We have stricken the last vestige
of your war measures from the statute
book" He was proceeding to comment on
this declaration when Mr.. Finley of Ohio
interrupted, and asked him to quote the en-
tire sentence uttered by Mr.. Blackburn and
not garbleit. Mr.. Mckinley didnoth avea copy
of the speech of Mr. Blackburn, and, pro-
ceeding with his remarks upon the purposes
of the Democrats referred to the effort made
in the last Congress to repeal the laws pro
hibitng the payment of pensions to persons
who were disoyal during the rebellion as an
illustration of what the Democrats intended
to do in the way of carrying out the pro
gramme indicated by Mr.. Blackburn in the
sentence quoted from his speech.
When Mr. Mckinley had finished, Mr..
Blackburn, who had been occupying the
Speakers chair as presiding officer of the
Committee of the Whole, took the floor, and
said that when one member quoted another,
he should show degree of fairness sufficient
to prevent the garbling Of official uttoranccs.
Then in his usual grandiloquent style, he de-
MED the accuracy Of the quotation made by
Mr.. Mckinley, because he failed to quote the
words which followed the sentence quoted.
Mr. Blackburn then read the entire sentence
as printed in the Record as follows: 1--WE do
not intend to stop until we have stricken the
last vestige of your war measures from the
statute book, which, like these, were born of
the passions incident to civil strife, and
looked to the abridgement of the liberty of
the citizen" Notwithstanding Mr. Black
burns emphatic disclaimer, Mr.. Mckinley
was right in his quotation of Blackburn's re-
marks, as the developments of the following
day established to everybodys satisfaction.
The speech of Mr.. Burrows was one of the
most effective and eloquent which has been
delivered since the debate began. He charged
that the chief desire of the Democrats in
seeking to repeal the election laws was to
elect Democratic President, for it was well
known that if an honest election could be had
i'll 1880 the Democratic party could 10 more
elect President of the United States than
that party fairly elected a majority Of tie
members of the last and present Congress.
Referring to the causes which made the extra
session necessary, he said that for four weeks
after Congress was convened adjournment
was held from day to day in order to give the
Democratic caucus time to determine, not how
to furnish the government with necessary
funds, but how to stop supplies, TO the end
that partisan purposes might be furthered.
He warned the Democrats that if they per
sisted in their threat to withhold from the
government necessary supplies, the people of
the North would unite against them, as they
did in the days Of the old rebellion. If this
point should be yielded in regard to the elec-
ton laws it would not be long before rider
would be put on the Post Office Appropria-
ton bill, forbidding the circulation of Re
publican newspapers in the mails which pass
into the Southern States or that an amend
ment would be made to another bill with
holding the salaries of the judiciary, unless
they decided the last amendments to the Con-
stituton null and void. He closed by quot
ing from Mr.. Blackburn's speech of April 3,
ex-Confederate soldierand his co-conspirators,
and said that the Republicans were prepared
to take up the gage so vauntingly thrown
down and make it good in the field This part
of Mr.. Burrows's speech was delivered with
great earnestness and was warmly applaud
ed by the Republicans.
Speeches were made on the Democratic
side by Messrs. House of Tennessee and
Coffroth of Pennsylvania.
Wbay he ION, Of Ia,
Appropriation bill was resumed in the House
on Friday there was sharp personal en-
counter between Messrs Frye and Blackburn,
growing out of the speech made by the latter
on April 3, and referred to above, Mr.. Frye,
in order to show how Mr.. Blackburns speech
was regarded at the South, read from the
Okolona States, Mississippi journal, al arti-
Gle in which portions of that gentleman's
speech were quoted with favorable editorial
comments. The sentence in which Mr.
Blackburn said, 1--WE do not intend to stop
until we have stricken the last vestige of your
war measures from the statute book" was
particularly commended by the States as ex-
pressive of the desires and purposes of the
entire Southern Democracy, and many COM
ments on this speech from Southern newspa-
pers were quoted by the States to show that
Mr.. Blackburn sentiments in regard to strik-
ing war measures from the statute book were
very BtueEuily hDDTONtu DJ Iut representa-
tive men of the South. In commenting on
the speech in question, the States called at
tention to the fact that it had never gone any
further in its demands than Mr. Blackburn
had in his speech of April 3, and pertnently
asked whether those Southern members who,
upon former occasion, had repudiated that
paper for its utterances would now repudiate
Mr.. Blackburn for uttering upon the floor of
the House the identical sentiments.
~
Mr.. Frye said he directed attention to this
matter because it showed that the same inter
probation was placed upon Mr.. Blackbuns
speech at the South as was placed upon it by
those Republican members who had criticised
it upon the floor. Mr.. Frye's speech caused
Mr.. Blackburn, who was presiding over the
Committee of the Whole, to leave the chair
TO reply. He repudiated the Okolona States
as a representative Southern newspaper de-
MED the Interpretation placed upon his re-
marks and again explained what he meant by
the phrase, awe do not intend TO stop until
we have stricken the last vestige of your war
measures from the statute-book." A sharp
personal colloquy occurred between him
and Mr.. Frye, which caused much excitement
in the House. Mr.. Mckinley, of Ohio,
whom Mr.. Blackburn charged with having ON
Thursday misquOted and garbled his speech
was drawn into the controversy, and lively
passage OF words occurred between these two
gentlemen, which added to the prevailing ex-
element During the colloquy between
Messrs. Blackburn and Mckinley, the former
was forced to admit that he had altered the
sentence which he said Mr.. Mckinley mis-
quoted before the manuscript of his speech
was sent to the printer. He was also forced
to admit that in the pamphlet copy of his
speech this same sentence differed from the
form in which it appeared in the Congresslon-
al Record. Mr.. Blackburn explained this by
saying that he had not revised the pamphlet
copy of his speech, but had assigned the work
of revision to clerk, with instructions to
correct any grammatical errors and errors of
punctuation which it might contain The
pamphlet copy shows that the sentence in
dispute was altered by the insertion of the
word ''alone, which had the effect to quail
fly materially his statement and modify the
force of the sentence. Mr.. Blackburn sim
ply followed the universal practice in correct