The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-28

ever he did any man the country had produced.
Laughter. The gentlemen on the other side
have been ~vilifying and slandering Grant, and
calling him all kinds of hard names, for years.
They had called him a butcher; had called him
but as there were ladies in the galleries, he
would not repeat the names that had been APP
piled to him. Laughter. Now these same gen
tlemen CANT in and asked, what are you going
to do with General Grant," He would tell them.
The grand old man had made IA mistake; and as
long as it was the only mistake of his life, he
Horn was going to stand by him longer than
the gentlemen on the other side would. They
had not agreed with Grant for a minute except
in this one case, when Grant happened to agree
with them. Laughter. Mr.. Horn stated that
when it was expected this bill would come up in
a prior Congress, General Garfield was preparing
a speech against it.
MIR. acknowledgements Grant, Rosecrans and
Slocum favor it.
Mr.. Horr-And there are thousands of other
officers Just as good who oppose it.
Mr.. Slocum stated that he had in his posses
sion original letters of General Garfield saying
he was in favor of this commission-this SchO-
field board. If he did not intend to abide by its
decision why was he in favor of ordering it!
Mr.. HoTT replied that it was because the men
on the other side were clamoring and insisting
that Garfield had been unjust and partial, and
then Garfield had said; Select good men and
they will decide just as 1 did, and he had the
fled its petifogging report Garfield stood back,
washed his hands of it, and declared he would
show it to be the outrage of the era.
Mr.. Slocum-Oh! That will not do, my friend.
Mr.. Horr-That will do, because 1 heard him
say it myself.
Mr.. Slocum said that in pursuance of Garfeld's
recommendation a distinguished board was APP
pointed, every member being a Republican, and
it brought out a unanimous report.
Mr.. Horn expressed pleasure at learning the
politics of the board, but the first court-martial
was composed of men just as able. They heard
the testimony when it was fresh, when the facts
were known, and before death had sealed the
lips of witnesses.
Mr.. Bedford inquired whether it was not a fact
that in nine cases out of ten the President had
not time to make an examination into the find
ings of a court-martial. He called attention to
the fact that when Grant had ample time to
make an examination into the Porter case he had
certified to the country that the judgment was
unjust.
"Oh! oh! oh!' replied Mr.. Horn, 81 thought I
had General Grant on the brain, but l surrender
to the gentleman from Colorado"
General Grant never surrendered, y retorted
Mr.. Bedford.
Because" continued Mr.. Horn, General
Grant had subordinates who obeyed his orders,
and because they understood that if they did
not obey it meant business" Applause on the
Republican side.
Mr.. Horn then went on to criticise the actions
of men who had fought on the confederate side
to come here now and rip up old difficulties which
had existed on the Union side.
He then yielded a few minutes of his time to
Mr.. j. S. Wise, of Virginia, who said he wished
to place himself on record in regard to this CON
troversy. He spoke for himself and for himself
alone, not as a confederate general. but as a boy
who at seventeen years Of age loved the confed-
crate cause. He saw no faint on her banner,
followed it, shed his blood for it, and thought he
was doing right. He spoke to-day, so help him
God, without one faint of treason, and loving the
flag over the. Speakers chair as truly as ever
Daniel Webster loved it. Applause. He spoke,
however, as one who, as he heard this discussion,
had felt that his mind had wandered from the
discussion of the question and was back with the
graves of the confederate dead. He appealed
to the confederate soldiers here to know whether,
as this discussion had progressed, instead of fol
owing the triumphs of Grant and the troubles
of Porter, their minds We're not more properly
back with the graves of their brethren and thou
sands of friends. Whether they did not realize
that this was the most anomalous scene ever
witnessed in the history of any land, where the
vanquished were called upon to cast a decisive
weight in the contested balance of the victors.
For himself he accepted the issue presented.
He turned from this scene. He saw the
perils of the past once more come before him.
He felt once more as if he were back
in the bloody Wilderness, or amid the sulphur
Gus smoke of the ''crater, and when the Union
men were deciding who was their Ajax Tele-
mon, who their Achilles and who their Doomed.
he stepped aside, and his mind would wander off
to where soldiers and ~sentries kept watch across
the river and the confederate dead were sleeping
among the trees.
Mr.. Horr then concluded as follows: 'In the
name of God and discipline in the army, in the
name of the loyal men Of the North, in the name
of thousands of men whose spirits have called
upon Congress to do its duty to their memory, L
protest against the passage of this bill" Zap
plause on the Republican side.
Mr.. Wolford took the floor in support of the
bill, but yielded to a motion that the committee
rise. The House then adjourned.