Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1884-01-20
NO. 20.

not need it.
Mr.. Slocum continuing said: am no
defender of General Grant.
Mr.. Calkins. know that.
MIR. Slocum said: For the FIRST time in
my life stand on the floor to hear Repub-
hcans attack the military reputation of
Gen. Grant. (Shouts of ''oh no" from the
Republican side.) The gentleman who has
Just taken his seat has done it and in the
most violent manner.
Mr.. Cutcheon-No man, living or dead,
in this world or any other, holds General
Grants military ability higher than DO.
Mr.. Slocum-If l understood the gentle
mans language correctly, it was an i'm
peachment, either of his integrity or his
military reputation. The point make is
his. In the Forty-third congress General
Garfield introduced resolution asking for
the appointment of board to investigate
this case, and the board was appointed.
Mr.. Reed asserted that the resolution
was never agreed to, and ridiculed the idea
that the court could have been appointed
in pursuance of it.
Mr.. Slocum- General Garfield intro
daoed the resolution asking that just such
board be organized by the president and
should make report to congress. What
/ say is, either the friends of Garfield
must accept that report or repudiate the
whole thing.
| Mr.. Oalkins-On the contrary, be hsd
such confidence in the court martial that
| he had no idea but the commission would
sustain it, as it would have done if proper
ly constituted.
Mr.. Cutcbeon said Garfield understood
that it would be perpetual claim, that
injustice had been done Porter, and from
that view of the case he wished it to be
fully investigated. lie was favorable to
the commission, but not as committing
himself to the report.
Mr.. Greenleaf spoke in support OF the
bill, claiming that the circumstances in
the case of Porter not only justified his
disregarding Pope's orders, but he would
have been liable to censure if ne obeyed
them. The old couplet, "You can and
you can't, you will and you wont; You'll
be damned if you do, you'll be damned if
you don't" pretty closely described Por-
ter's position on the 29th of August, bat
| like a true soldier he took the responsible
ity and saved men from unnecessary
slaughter. Congress should no longer de-
! lay in doing an act of
| justice to meritorious, but a
much abused soldier.
! Mr.. Brown, Of Indiana, in opposing The
! bill, said he knew the defense would find
il necessary to attack the living and de-
/ fame the dead, but he had not supposed g
! esn tleman SO deeergedly d distinguished
! soldier, as the gentleman from New York,
! Slooum, would assault the court martial, q
military tribunal which ha5 been sustained
| for centuries by the intelligent Judgment
of all civilized countries. The oogrt mar
| tisl was the strong right arm of the mill
| tary power, without them military disei-
! piine would be at en end. The court mar
| tial vas good enough for the poor soldier,
who slept at his post, but it seemed that q
gentleman who wore epaulets should be
Brought before justice Of the peace,
in order that he might be rescued
| from the clutches of tAe Law by the village
/ lawyer under Wrlt OF h2oeas corpus.
Here congress was called upon to oyer.urn
the solemn adjudication of the court, CEN
sure it's judgment, and go to the very verge
Of impunging its integrity, when it vas
safe to say that not one member il twenty
ever attempted to read the voluminous
record on which the Judgment was found
/ ed. He went into the history OF the case,
quoting evidence and deducing therefrom
the conclusion that the decision of the
court marshal was just, and that Porter
wilfuly disobeyed the orders of the COM
msnding officer. The excuses presented
for his disobedience we're shallow and
shadowless.
Mr.. McAdoo supported the bill.
Mr. Sloclm said there never was such an
absurdity perpetrated on any representa-
I l.. L. I'd
three hundred gentlemen, knowing moth
ing about military matters, to discuss
gravely a subject about which they knew
nothing whatever and never would know
| anything. Laughter. He moved that
the committee rise.
The last remark OF Mr.. Slocum was re-
ceived with Indignation by the Republi-
cans, and as they were in the majority
they voted down the motion to rise.
Mr. j. Wise asked Mr. Slocum wheth-
er his statement was in truth and fact his
view of the case? He, Wise, was here an
utter stranger to it, and he supposed the
house would be called to vote in
telligently on the matter, bat if
the gentleman was in earnest in saying
hat the members did not know anything
about it, and never would, he felt disposed
TO vote, so as TO leave the Judgment or the
court martial stand, because it was sup
posed they know something about it.
Laughter and applause on the Repub-
lican side.
Mr.. Siocum said, what he meant by mis-
statement was simply this, that the house
was composed of men who never made
study Of military matters, and were incom-
petent to understand the question; utterly
incompetent. The idea of man stand
ing here and talking about the effect OF
throwing a brigade to the left, or divi-
sion to the right, when ninety men out of
one hundred did not know whether brig
ade was larger or smaller than division.
[Contemptuous laughter on the Repub
lican side.
Mr.. Horr-Then why did you bring this
bill in?
Mr.. Slocum said: We did not bring the
bill here. james A. Garfield in the Forty
third congress introduced the resolution
that brought the bill here. He is the author
of this bill. It comes from his own recon-
mendation.
representative Go on. If you can't
kill this bill, we can't.
Mr.. Taylor, of Ohio, said he never
thought that anybody could say members
of the house were not competent individ-
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