Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-05-01
senator Blaine FIooreI.
Especial to n. Y. world.l

/ WASHINGTON, April ga sfarp
/ discussion followed Mr.. Jonas speech
in the senate to-day in favor of un-
seating kellogg. AS usual, when
ever sharp discussions occur, Mr..
Blaine started ii, and he was com
pletely hoored. Mr.. Jonas had re-
viewed Kellogg's record in scathing
terms, and as he finished, Mr..
Blaine, evidently designing to break
the force Of strong argument, tried
to avert attention from it by up
braiding those who had brought
the case up. He called their action
shameless assertion of sectionaIism
in defiance of an honorable agree
ment that the case should not be
unearthed' There was not a sena-
tor on the floor, he said, who did
not know that Mr.. Butler, of South
Carolina, could never have been
seated on a prima facie claim had
not kellogg been admitted on the
merits of his case. Mr.. Blaine quo
ted as his authority for this state
ment an editorial in a southern pa
per, which he did not name. Mr..
Butler asked if Mr. Blaine had
meant to intimate that he (Mr. But
ler) had been party to any agree
ment by which he was seated. Mr..
Blaine replied that Mr.. Butler
could not have been, since the agrees
ment had been made before he was
admitted.
Then Mr.. Bailey took the floor
and demanded that Mr. Blainesl ec-
ify when, where and between whom
any agreement of the kind named
had been made. For himself, he
denied all knowledge of anything
of the kind, and he did not believe
any senators had ever been so lost
to a sense of honor or to a sense of
duty to their constituents as to make
such an agreement.
Mr.. Bayard followed in an earn
est speech. He said it seemed re-
markable that so gross a charge
should have been made by one who
had been a member of the senate at
the time of the alleged transaction
and who yet professed no better au-
thority for his charge than the an
onymous columns of a newspaper
not named. ToMr Bayard's knowl-
edge there had been no arrangement
bargain or understanding on the
part of any member of the senate,
and certainly not on the part of the
democrats. He denied scOrnfully
the.suggestion that a seat in the SEN
ate had ever been obtained by bar
gain of which the democrats were
cogniZant, and for his part he could
not conceive how any understand
ing could be honorable that put in
the scale the rights of one state
against those of another,
After Mr.. Blaine had named the
Charleston News and Courier as the
authority for his charge, Mr.. Hill,
who had been listening rather inn
patiently to the proceedings, rose
and in sweeping speech declared !
that the charge was a calumny and
should be retracted or else investi- |
gated. In the course of his review
of the case, Mr.. Hill showed and |
it was not disputed-that at the first |
inquiry into Kellogg's case, the re-
view of the case, the republican com.
mittee on privileges and elections,
having been ordered to investi- |
gate and to send for persons and pa
pVISs ISuOIcd tilSoC li1ctI uCtIOIS anu
refused to let Spofford have sim
gle witness. He had asked for only |
three, and one Of them would have
shown Kellogg's direct completely
in the returning board fraud. Mr..
Blaine had no reply to make to this,
and the scene ended in a farcical
fashion when Mr.. Butler read the
editorial on which Blaine had based
his charge and found that it was
but running record of the day, by
even Kellogg's admission.