Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1880-04-06
CONGRESS YESTERDAY.

In the U. y. S6hato yebteruAy III
bill to amend the Revised Statutes Il
relation to pre-. emption and homestead
entries was passed. Pending oonsidera
tion Of the Ute Agreement bill, the Sen
ate went into executive session and Of
terwards ajourned.
In the House, "a bills and resolution
were introduced under the call o
States. Mr.. Townsend, Of Ill, moved
to suspend the rules, and discharge thu
Ways and Means Committee from con
sideration Of the bills placing salt
printing type and paper materials OF
the free list, 60 as to bring 1t before tn.
House for passage. Lost-yeas liz
nays 80--not two.thirds In the afrma-
tive.
At the conclusion Of the call Of Statei
Mr.. Manning, Of Mississippi, rose to !
question Of personal privilege, and
sent to the Clerks desk and had read
an article which appeared in the Wash
ington "POst" Of Saturday last, relative
to the action Of Mr.. Springer, Of ILL
nois, chairman Of the Election Commit
tee in the Donnelly- Washburne cleo.
tion case.
Mr.. Manning then proceeded to deny
the facts contained In the article, par.
ticularly the statement that he had
substantiated them.
Mr.. Springer, Of Illinois, then took
the Aoor, leaving the question as II
whether or not Mr.. Manning had sub
stantiated the facts as question Of
veracity between that gentleman and
the Post. He then stated that he had
received an anonymous letter, though
not signed "by q Republican" nor
was 1t written by Republican. He
wab convinced, and always had been,
that the letter was written BY Dopnsl-
ly or ono Of his friends for the purpose
Of Insulting and bull dosing him, be-
cause they had heard that he Mr..
sprinser) would not vote in favor Of
Donnelly. He sent TO the Clerks
desk and had read letters from H. H.
Finley urging him TO vote for Dennel-
ly, and stated that there was q great
similarity between them and the
handwriting Of the anonymous letter.
The letter published was not the one
or copy Of the one he received. That
letter is as follows:
"WAsHrKsroz, D. c., March 4, 1880,
Sir If You will keep Washburn in
his seat in spite Of the Democrats, We
will pay Mrs. s. $4,000. Get the thing
at once. Respectfully"
Accompanying this anonymous let
ter Mr.. Springer had another read
from Henry II. Finley, which reached
him at the same time, urging him 70
vote for the unseating Of Washburn
and to put Donnelly in the place.
Mr.. Springer went on 10 speak Of
call he had from Mr.. Donnelly, In
which the latter asked, "Whom do you
suspect of having written this lstter'"
Mr.. Springer said: ~ suspect nobody
but Mr.. Finley, yeur friend. no one else
could have written II but him. II you
examine the hand writing In the o
letter and compare It with
the writing In Mr.. Pinley's letter you
will see that It is very similar"
Mr.. Springer continued: Mr.. Dsn-
nelly stated TO me In the committee
room that he did not think his friend
could have done such . thing, and a.
tributed IL t. some Of Washburn's
said there was no founda-
ton for any suspicion that any Of Mr..
Wsshburn's friends could have sp-
preached me In this way, and that !
had received another letter which
that Mr.. Finley had prepared
the way for the anonymous letter by
stating in his letter that II did not
vote to sui. Donnelly l vould give q
color TO the charges which Mr.. Wash
burA's friends had set ahoat. said
that those charges could only be that
friends had unguardedly
dropped suggestions that they were no
yotiating then 70 buy my vote, and the
anony nous letter was thinly disguis-
Cd effort 10 conceal the motive behind
this movement, and also to divert my
from the facts of the case, l
said to Mr.. Donnslly: "This letter pur-
ports To speak in behalf Of Mr.. Tildsn,
and, by his authority, ask me TO vote
TO seat you. ! do not believe Mr.. Finley
has any authority to speak for Mr.. Til,'
den, but il he insists that he has su-
thoritY, | waut hin 10 vii Mr.. Tildsn
tbst l am mot his man, and that pro.
pose To decide this case on the law and
the facts, as understand them and will
not be dictated TO by anybody"
Applause on the Republican side.
That conversation took place on the
10th Of March, and on the next day l
received letter frsm Mr.. Finley, stat
Ing, that, II he had gone Lsyond bounds
In the former letter, he begged leave TO
recall 1t. l paid no attention 10 either
or these letters. This is The first time
I have mads them public. Any gentle
man who desires to compare the hand |
writing of the anonymous letter with
Mr.. Pinley's handwriting may do so.
After several members of the Com |
mittse on Elections, in reply to ques-
lions by Mr.. Springer, had stated what
they knew about his position in the
-Wasburn case, he said he
would not ask for o committee of inves- |
isation, but II anybody wished such q
he would not object, and he
would testify on oath 10 what he had
stated 10 day. He had acted all through |
the matter from conscientious motives. |
Mr.. Manning, of Mississippi, closed
The discussion. He would mot have
my controversy with the gentleman on |
the question Of duplicity, although he
might have q good deal TO say on that
subject. The gentleman, however,
has not denied that he had time and
asain assured that he (Springer) was
With the Democratic majority Of the
committee On both points involved.
He defended My. Donneltv fran the