The National tribune., 1886-02-25
Mr.. Fuller lIowal:

obediently. although unwisely, the stars and bars
| for this House to now place upon equality with
them one who failea IN the face of the enemy TO
obey the orders OF his commander 1t is insult
10 the court made mp of competent and soldiers
of the army, who gave this case \ careful hearing
for three months and decided that he was guilty of
the charges preferred against him: an insult to the
| President of the United states vino affirmed the
verdict In short, an insult to duty. obedience, to
all that marks the ti.ue man and patriot
Mr.. Steele (Ind.G 7f
! Now. TO my friends on the other side would
say, there should be politics this matter. If
we shall have war hereafter it will 70 in q common
cause: aud we shall msrch with you shoulder TO
shoulder. IT is the good of our common cause that
we are looking for. Ten days after you laid down
! your i'll 1865, if an invitation Lad been given
to you and TO the soldiers of our side march upon
foreign territory we would have marched shoulder
| 10 shoulder. We should do ii if war should come
| again. Let not say by action in disapprov-
ing the sentence of Porter that we want any
OF his Kind to command when our conntry,s safety
Is in danger Let us by our votes say TO sons and
to sons SONS, w hen you receive an order
military officer, obey it, though it cost you your
| life" Let say fu our sons sons, without
order, if you hear the sound of battle, move on to
! the succor Of your eountrymeu; move on 10 the
succor of your companions in arms whether
! directed to do 50 by your commanding officer or
| not.
Mr.. Kelley pa:
| But we need not go 20 the story of foreign wars
for brilliant illustrations of the truth that soidierly
| instinct and military training unite i'll leading a
soldier To participation on q field iii which his fell
! low-soldicrs are maintaining au unequal fight Re-
he learned, at or near Acquia Crees that Pope not
| Mcclellan. now to command iim until he
! assured that lie was again TO pass under McClel-
! land s command and imagine, # you can, Phil
| sheridan or Hancock, or any other soldier whom
you and and all others rendy 70 honor. living
safely as he did through the 9TH 18th and 29th of
August, 1862. Such conduct ihe part of such
soldier is incoRcevabie. And that Porter after
raignment and fair and protracted trial for his
misconduct, should at the end Of .early quarter
of century appeal 70 the country TO obliterac the
finding against him which Abraham Lincoln, de-
! spite his boundess humanity, was constrained to
approve, and to restore him TO tie army, will be
regarded by future historians Of the marvels
! of these times.
Mr.. Grout VIZ:
Gen. Porter does not ask mercy. He demands
justice But Justice cries out against him. The law
cries ont against him. The army and navy, both
officers and men, cry out against him. The millions
who upheld the flag in the late .'vil struggle cry
| out against hm. Three hundred thousand veteran
soldiers who fought for the preservation of the
| Union out against him. The disemboded
spirits of those who fell on the 29th of August 1862,
! cry out against him The marty -ed Lincoln and
/ the martyred Garfield both of wnon sat in judg
ment upon this man and one of whom said. -, the
case would have justified the sentence of DEATH"
cry out from the silent chambers o. the dead against
! him. In the name Of good government and for the
| sake of legislative dccency let hope that the
! law roay not he outraged and Justice mocked by
the passage of this bill, against which stands the
| solemn protest of both the living aud the dead.
| Mr.. Cutcheon (Mich.):
The fiat has gone forth that Porter must be vim
| dcated. You may pass this bill; you may afix the
stigma of imbeciiIty malignity To the court that
| tried him; you may restore him To the rolls of that
army made iiiusirouS by deeds of i'm mortal yaor
anu pn'ss' pauot you inay e'e'ale nam over
the heads of old, gray haired Federal officers who
never swerved from the line of patriotic devotion
and loyal obedience; you may the word
guilty where Garfield wrote IL. and iuscribe in its
place the words " not guilty where Lincoln wrote
approved " you may wipe out the word and
write over il disapproved but it is beyond your
power 10 vindicte Fitz- John Porter. This is not
the forum these the voices that have power
clitnr ltp of IL nnt nlp
| to Judge for others; it is not for to say how
others should cast their votes; but as for myself
when the roll shall be called to say whether the
word Approved which was written by the hand
of Lincoln, shall be sponged out, my answer snail
be-no.
Mr. Negley Pa, thought that every one
who had calmly and dcterminedly studied
| every line of the evidence, and considered for
a moment the nviablerepntation of the judges
who had sat on the jury, and the witnesses who
had given testimony would concur that If an
army officer had ever been guilty of cruel and
vicious iusubordination in the face of the enemy
it had been Porter. The advocates of the bill
appealed to the memory of Gen. Grant, and
placed before the House his judgment to hide
the record He bowed with reverence to what
ever might have been said by Grant for Porter.
He recognized the fact that it came from
Grants great and generous heart, and yet Gen.
Grant looked at the question from point of
sympathy.
The most bitter and pugnacious disputants
were Bragg (Wis.) and Curtin Pa for the
bill, and Cutchcon {Mich) and Steele und.)
against it. Many pungent passages, with bit
ing retOrts, occurred between these gentlemen.
6lr. Bragg was especially venomous He, rs
being in charge of the bill, closed the debate.
After lengthy speech in favor of its passage,
he said:
] have tormented my friends enough on The other
side. and say in conclusion that cannot
leave this debate without congratulating the coun-
try there are men who, acknowledging themselves
to be Republicans in good standing, yet do not feel
they politically disgraced if they have the hon
esty to declare their sentiments by their votes.
Would to God there WAS more freedom of con-
science allowed in that party-we should have
vastly more votes. Applause. As that party is to
run on the FtZJohn Porter bill 1t Will not do for
too many OF you to come over, or the Black Eagle
of the West may think lie is losing some of his sup
port. (Groans on the Republican side j am glad
to hear you groan for it is evidence there is little
bit of life left in you. Laughter and applause on
the Democratic side;l Groans always proceed from
some suffering body. Laughter and applause.
They are no evidence OF happy spirit, OF happy
frame of mind or of content but of crainp in the
bowels, either mental or physical, and the record
here proves it. Laughter and applause. l now
demant the previous question
The bill was passed by ayes III, noes 113-
absent or paired and not voting, 40. The mega
tive votes were all Republicans. The ayes were
155 Democrats and Is Republicans, viz: Messrs.
Baker. Burleigh, James. Swinburne and Weber
On. ", Bayne and Harmer Pa, Ely. Hayden
and Rockwell (Mass.) Haynes IN. H., Hahn
U.a.l Laird (Neb.), O'Hara IN. Co., Phelps IN.
j., Wadsworth (ky.)
On the last day there was much heat and ex
element in the House. The galleries were filled
with spectators, and applause for both sides
was frequent.
The bill provides for the reinstatement of
Gen. Porter to his former rank Colonel in
the Regular Army and his retirement. He is
to receive no compensation for all these years
since his dismissal, his pay only beginning at
the date of his reappontment under this act |
1t is considered probable that the bill will pass
the Senate by majority of from four to six,
and that it will be approved by the President
and the question be thus finally disposed of.
RELATING TO PENSIONS
Mr.. Conger (Iowal, from the Committee on
Invalid Pensions, reported a bill, III. Il. 5S71, |
granting an increase of the rate of pensions now
paid for deafness. 1t provides for $50 a |
month in cases of total Deafness and proper
tionate amounts for partial loss of hearing.
Mr. MatsOn und.) introduced bill for the
relief of pensioners in foreign countries This
is to save them the large cost, under the pres |
ent system, of commercial exchange" in get |
ting the money on their drafts This is in ac-
cordance with the recommendation of Commits |
sioncr Black.
A very large number of petitions were pre-
sented in both Houses from all parts of the |
North, asking the enactment OF pension legis- |
lation in accordance with the recommendation |
Of ti,a "a, nf ba A