Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-04


country that Porter is an innocent man.
Now, Mr.. President, this is enough. The
records of this country. unless corrected,
will send down to his children's chill
dren, and to their children
for all time, the deep damnation
of their fathers shame. It was his
country that struck the crue blow, and
congress alone can heal the wound. There
fore, believe it is the duty of the senate.
by passing this bill, to go as far as they
can towards correcting the wrong done
Gen. Porter,
Mr.. Hawiey said he intended to vote in
accordance with the views expressed by
tho senator from Illinois (Mr. Logan, and
had risen to deprecate any intimation
made by Mr.. Logan in the first part of his
speech that the Schofield board might pos
sibly have been Influenced by improper
motives, and that the questions then likely
to arise concerning promotion in the army
might have had something to do with their
Judgment If there be an honorable man m
the world, said Hawley, it is General, fer
ry.
Mr.. Hale moved that the I'LL be indeS-
nitely postponed.
Mr.. Sewell called Cor the ayes and noes.
and the motion vas lost ayes, 20s nays,
%.
The bill was then reported to the senate.
Mr.. Hoar moved to postpone its further
| consideration for one week, in order to
give the senators time to examine the evil
! deuce in the case, and if he were com
PEELED to vote now without having
| opportunity to examine the evidence upon
| this and other points, he should have
| to vote against the bill.
| Mr., Conger said that twenty eight sena-
| tors, oue-third OF the senate, were not
present to record their votes and take their
| share of the responsibility for this wonder
full proceeding, and he thought the senate
ought not to act finally upon the bill with
out their presence. No measure had been
/ introduced in congress since he had been a
member whose passing would so shock the
moral sense of the people of the North.
| If Fitz John Porter had shown 1.-THE of
| the diligence to get into the army
when it was struggling for
existence at Groveton that he and his
friends were exerting now to get him put
back into it, the result of that contest
might have been different from what it
was. He (Conger) would warn any North
ern man who voted for this bill, that no
matter how many pensions he obtained
for soldiers, or how many pension
arrears acts he voted for, he
| could not deceive the people.
But he had no fear that the bill would
| ever become a law. It might pass the
senate now, bat it would not pass the
house, either in this congress or the
| next, because, although the political
| friends of Porter would have large ma
| jority in the next house, the members
| would have heard from the people in the
| meantime, and members of congress are
sometimes afraid to meet their constit-
uents when they have done some unpopu-
| lar thing.
Mcpherson and Sewell appealed to Hoar
| to withdraw his motion to postpone the
| bill for week, but he declined.
Logan said he had supposed the senate
would not think of voting to reverse the
| action of the court without taking time to
examine the evidence. He did not ask any
body to readoswRat he had said, but he
thought senators ought to read the evil
| dence. He did not believe there were five
senators who had ever read the record in
this case. The contemptupus manner
| in which the facts of the case
were treated by those determined
| to force this man back into the army and
give him certificate of good conduct
during the war was very remarkable and
| would excitesmuch inquiry and comment
throughout thescountry. The unanimity
with which thedDemocratic party in the
senate was voting to retire this man was
suggestive of what was to come in the
future. What did it mean? How would
the country understand 1t?
| He had believed that the men who
| emerged from the smoke of battle waged
against the government of their country
| and came into the senate, had so far for
| gotten the passions of the past that they
would be ready to examine facts and weigh
| evidence before voting on question of
this kind, but that it appeared to be mis-
take. The vote on this bill showed they
were prepared to restore to the army men
who had been false to the government in
its struggle against the rebellion.
Mr.. Cockrill said, if any man who had
left the army and gone into the rebellion
ever applied for reinstatement he would
give him notice in advance that he could
not have his vote.
Mr. Logan said he had been speaking,
not o. men who haa gone into the rebel
lion, but of men who had been dismissed
from the Union army. There were lis
officers. who had been dismissed under
sentence, like that pronounced on Fitz
John Porter, and if he were restored there
was no reason why they should not be. Con-
tinuing his remarks about prejudice gov
erning the action of senators on the other
side, Logan asked Browne whether he had
ever read the testimony in the Porter case
Mr.. Browne expressed regret that Logan
should accuse senators who wavered on
this bill of acting from prejudice, and said
as he had been singled out by that senator
be would say few words about his own
action upon the question growing out of
the war. He then referred to his own con-
duct in voting to restore Gen. Grant to the
position of general of the army and to his
pride in the recent elevation
of Pope. AS to the case Of Gen. Porter he
regarded the trial by court-martial as in
the nature of criminal proceeding, and he
applied the rule usually applied in such
cases, and gave the accused the benefit of
the doubt. Bat it must be reasonable
doubt. Yes. it must be reasonable
doubt, and think there is a reasonable,
very reasonable doubt in this case, and
while the senator from Illinois (hogan)