The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-01-27
xLvIITth CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON. January 20, 1884.
SENATE.
The Senate was not in session to-day.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.

W ASHlN0TON, Janths 20, 1907
SENATE.
The Senate was not in session to-day.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
The Speaker LAID before the House the
credentials Of +. W. Rockwell rs member
elect from the Twelfth district OF Massa'
cbusetts. and the gentleman appeared al
tho har of the House and took the oath ol
Office.
Mr.. Hatch. OF Missouri, from the Com
mittee on Agriculture, reported bill fol
the establishment OF a Bureau OF Animal
Industry, 10 prevent the expectation oil
diseased cattle, and TO provide means FOL
the suppression and extirpation OF pleuro'
pneumonia aud other contagious diseases
among domestic cattle. Printed and re-
committed.
The House then, at 1910. went into Com
mittee OF the Whole-Mr Springer. OF tlli'
nois. in the clarion the Fitz-John-POr
ter bill.
Mr.. Raw, OF New York. continued his
speech in support Of the bill, declaring bis
belief that il President Lincoln had sur
yived the assaSsn's pistol, before the SHOWS
of another winter had come he would have
done Justice to Porter, and he would have
been restored 10 the Union army.
In opposing the bill. Mr.. Thomas, Of
Illinois, denied the right OF Congress to
pass upon this case, aud declared that the
attempt 10 override the decision Of one OF
the constitutional tribunals OF the country
was an absolute violation OF the Constitu-
ton Of the United states.
Mr.. Bedford, OF Colorado, wanted to know
"whether the gentleman's (ir. Thomas's
Judgment in the FitZ-John-POrter case Is
better than the judgment of the greatest
soldier this world has ever seen from the
time Of julius Caesar down to this time.
mean Ulysses $. Grant" Applause on
Democratic side.l The debate was further
continued by Messrs. Follett, OF Ohio, and
Milliken. OF Name.
Mr.. Bedford. OF Colorado, said that he
had the courage and boldness TO do what
was Just without regard to any popular
prejudice which might exist. He proposed
to bury the preiudices of the past and do
Justice to a man whom the greatest general
on the face OF the earth declared to be
wronged and outraged. He would follow
Grants judgment against that OF captains
and colonies of militia. Laughter and ap-
plause.]
Mr.. Horr, of Michigan, concluded 4
long, humorous, and sarcastic speech
against the bill by criticising the action of
the men who fought on the Confederate
side 10 come here now and rip up old diff
culties which had existed on the Union
side, and then yielded 4 few minutes of his
time to Mr.. j. :. Wise. OF Virginia, who
said that he wished to place himself on
record in regard to this controversy. He
spoke for himself. and himself alonc-not
as Confederate general, but as boy who
at seventeen years of age loved the Con-
federatc cause, and saw no faint Oh her
banner, and followed il and shed his blood
for il. and thought that he was right. He
spoke to-day. so help him God, without
one faint OF treason, and loving the flag
that was over the Speakers chair as
truly as ever Daniel Webster loved it.
(Applause.1 He spoke, however, as one
who, as he heard this discussion, had felt
that his mind wandered off from the dis
cussion of the question and was back with
the graves of the Confederate dead. He
appealed to Confederate soldiers here 10
know whether. as the discussion had pro-
gressed, instead OF following the triumphs
of Grant and the troubles OF Porter their
minus were not tuOlt property bdCh WIN
the graves OF their brethren and thousands
Of friends, and whether they did not real
iZe that this was the most anomalous scene
ever witnessed in the history OF any
land where the vanquished were call
ed upon to cast the decisive weight in
the contested balance Of the ylctOrs.
For himself he accepted the issue pre-
sented. He turned from this scene. He
saw the perilS OF the past once more come
before him. He felt once more as II he
were back in bloody angle Of the Wilder
ness, and when the Union men were de-
Gliding who was their Ajax Teleman. who
their Achilles, and who their Diomede, he
stepped aside. and his mind would wander
off to where the soldier sentries kept watch
across the river and Confederate dead were
sleeping among the trees.
Mr.. Hoar then continued his speech,
saving that it was time that the people
should understand that eX-Confederates
were ready to bury the past. but gentle
men could not give them so TO understand
by taking every opportunity they found TO
reverse the decisions of cOurts-martial and
to rake up these questions which had been
fairly and honestly settled in the past.
Mr.. Wolford, OF Kentucky, took the
floor in support OF the bill, but yielded to
a motion that the committee rise, and the
House adjourned.