South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1888-03-23

FRIDAY. MARCH Is. 1883.
BITTER EARTlZAN SPEECH
Of Senator Ingalls,. aud the Scath
ing Reply of Senator Blackburn,
Delivered tn the United States
Senate March 6, 1888.

Delivered in the United States
Senate March 6, 1888.
Mr.. IsoALLs, the presiding officer called
SIR Plat to the chair, and took the floor u
speak TO the bill granting pensions to depen-
dent soldiers Mr.. Ingalls, said that CO inside
rations Of decoruin and propriety, excessive.
perhaps, and eo,newhat ovcrstrain ed. had de.
TERED him from par ,icipstion 10 debate thus
tar at this session Of the Senate, his impr. g.
sion being that perhsps order could bs more
imparti lly maintnined, the rules better en-
forctd bv abstinence on the part Of the pre-.
siding officer from controversies on the floor
lie was surprised, therefore, one dsy las,
week, upon returning tn the ch amber after q
bre' absence. to leain that the Senator from
Missouri (Mr. vesi) had taken occasion W hen
he was not present. TO allude to him in terms
the reverse, to say the least, Of compliments
~ in discussion In which he had taken ,
part, and including not him alone, but Ia
his combined and concentrated aud coasula-
ted cynicism the inhabitants of the D;str let
Of Colu mba and all the comrades Of the
Grand Army CT the Republic, intima.ing tina
they were incapable OF d sinterested patriot.
ism. and that the surviving veterans of the
Union srmy were a mob CT sofoid mercena.
ries, organized for plumber. and for sale to
the highest political bidder The personal
allusion to himself he would pass by with
the single observation that the nomina ton
and election Of Grover Il velsnd had made
the pretensions Of any American citizen to
the presidency respectable. There was no
man in this Country who.e ignorance wss 90
profound, whose obscurity 90 impenetrabie,
whose artecedents so degraded, that he had
not the right to aspire 10 toe president lal
nomination by the democratic party. He
regretted that the Senator 'om Missouri was
not present TO-DAY. lie had waited for
his return. Iuasmuch as that Senator had
seei fit TO criiicise with indignity and to as
perse with personal illusions u colleague
upon this floor who was not PRESENT, be
should not initiate that bad example, bu,
should con6ne himself, as far as that Senator
was concerned, 10 what has been dsclcs
ed in his autobiography.
After abiding 10 the fact that Mr. Vest, OF
Missouri. and Mr. BIZ ckburn. of Kentucky,
represent States that had not seceded from
The Urion, Mr. ingalls, continued. mo phaa-
tom Of State sovereignty lured them as it did
go many others into that terrible catastrophe
They went because they wanted to go be
Cause they believed thst slayery WAS better
than liberty because they believed that &C.
cession WAS better than uuion because they
believed the stars and the bars were more
worthy Of a patriots allegiance than the stars
and stripes because they believed J Herson
Davis was more worthy of respect aud conf
dence than Abraham Lincoln The, went
South ; they allied th~ir fortunes with the
Confederscy because they preferred TO do So
and their nce.iiy could not be suspected !"
Sir. ingalls, quoted from the speech Of the
Senator from Missouri Tire Statement that
when Gen. Lee surrendered at Appomattox
there were but eight thousand muske,s ."if %
anEA Ia b..
Missouri had been there, there would hsve
been eight thousand and one, but eight thou
sand muskets Of that splendid army which
fought the world in arms and had been bat
tered nd tea.en back by overw helm:n2 nun
berB for four years that the Fede.al soldiers
were asking for pensions. but these gallant
survivors OF the Confederate armies had ask
ed for none, aud, God be thanked, would
take none" The computation OF the Sena
tor from Missouri must certainly have been
made with his fancy. u dizzied the erirh-
netic Of the imagination to understand upon
what system OF statistics he bad compo unded
the incredible statement. If the Senate.
would pluck lew Of the plumes from the
dazzling tail Of bis imagination and stick
them tito the wings OF his Judgment he
wou d ny holder and more correct and &C.
curst' Hight. The Off ial report sho we'd that
from the goth day OF March. 1865, to April
there were captured Of General Lee army
40 i95 men in arms. AID en- that fatal day
Tor the Couihderscy, when God failed TO bless
their cause, IS the Senator from Missouri said
be hoped, there were taken 81 ,4l6 men in
addition, making a total, instead Of 8, coo
men with muske,s, 1921 meu. There was
but one parallel 10 this extraordinary mac
curacy. and that was the senator's other
statement that OF 2 300, 900 Union soldiers
more ihsn half had applied for pensions
This statement would have been refuttd by
the simplest inspection of the latest retu.ns
Of the commissioner OF pensions.
He had no doubt that III, Senator from
Missouri ard the Senator from Kentucky
httngly and fully represented the convic .
tons, feelings, purposes and intsnlion of
their constituents
They knew what sentiments would ayak.
en- an answering response in the South, and
when the attempt o the republicans TO pen
sion wounded Union soldiers was alluded to
Ne being al attempt to Did for the soldier
vote, the Senators would pardon him for say
ing that they knew speeches like this were
INTENDED To bid Tor the Southern vote, And
they would get IL every time. The sen timenr
was a centre.sbot Appeals like that struck
ths buis-eye and rang tue bell. He had
never heard in any quarter OF the democratic
party, during the fifteen years he had been
IN the Senate, any Republication OF sentiments
like those avowed toy the Seuator from Mia
sour and the Senator from Kentucky. Why
was II that when an associate Justice Of the
Supreme Court of the United States " no by
ore OF tue strange caprices oil history now ga,
IN judgment npOn those great constitutions
amendments that were adopted against bis
protest aud efforts, arose 10 the Senate and
said be would resent as a personal afffont,
any imputalioD upon the honor or the integ-
rity or patriotism Of Jefferson Davis,when he
said be bad no doubt that Jefferson Davis
would occupy a niche in history by the side
Of John Hampden and George sshington,
that no Senator on the democratic side.
North or South, arose TO rtpudisie and dis
ayow it2
And yet the m 1ment any honora-
bio Senator on the republI2sn side, or
any edilor OF any Northern paper, OF
any organ Of the Grand Army. talk
cd about the linton armies. the gran
deur of their achievements, the obi.
cations OF the nation, they were 'aun-
ted with waving the onsanguined un.
dergarmenl rakiuG mp the astes OF
sectional s'rife. appealing TO partisan
hatred and malice. II was time that
the twenty.four Confederates on that
side If the chamber were informed
that tue Northern people were no.
I'LL advised about this matter.
Senator Morgan asked IL tho Sen.
afor Trn,n Kangos rer,uy,g,J ito G.,