Morning journal and courier., 1889-02-14
Fiftieth Congress-secend Session
WASHINGTON. Feb. 13.

SKNATE.-This morning MT. Hale present. ed the conference report on the diplomatic and consular appropriation bill, which was agreed to, after 8 statement that the appro- priation ot $500, 900 for the protection of American interest in Samoa was retained; and that the appropriation of $100, 1000 for a coaling station at Pago-Pago had been trans- ferred to the naval appropriation bill which had passed the Senate yesterday.
 The senators returned to their own cham Der st 2:25 and passed the House bill to pro vide for the organization of the militia of the District of Columbia. The Senate then re- sumed consideration of the resolution re- ported from the committee on privileges and elections, and Mir. Evarts proceeded with his argument in it's support He began by re- view of the canvass and election in Washing ton county, Texas, in 1886. He spoke of the scription of thirty active representative Re- publicsns who had taken distinctive and aggressive part on the one side as against 8 distinctive and aggressive part taken on the other side. A we'll conceived clearly ex- pressed petition from three of those thus pro- scribed (Hawksworth. Elmore and ScuIrze) had been presented to the Senate and he would introduce the situation by reading it. After reading the petition MT. Evarts said that the grievances which the petitioners had suffered had no other cause than the activity of the petitioners in that canvass in support of the ticket and of the principles of the Re- publican party. No greater encroachmont on the dearest rights of the common citizen could ever have been practiced than that practiced on them. The committee had found that those citizens could not be &C., eused of any misconduct, such as should place them and had placed them outside of the ordinary relations that belong to peace- ful and quiet citizens. In the testimony taken by the committee there had been no aspers1on of the character of those sufferers, except as such as belonged to the excite ments of the canvass. A large proportion of the white population of Washington county, Texas, was composed, he said, of Germans, who were good farmers and good citizens. One thousand and six hundred of these Germans were Republicans, and it was calculated that of the white voters alone there was Republican majority of from 300 to 500 The black and white popula- tion were about equal in number. The Re- publican party had been in possession of local power in the county from the close of the war up to 1884, when a more vigorous effort was made on the part of those opposed to that party to substitute new set of off cers and ta give supremacy to the opposite party.
 There had been grave interference with the suffrage at four precincts in the county at that election and the conflict had ended in the success of the opponents of the Republi- can party. He recited various details of the troubles at the polls in 1884 and 'S6 and read paragraphs from the committees report. In conclusion MT. Eyarts said the great ques- tion came at last to be whether was to be tolerated an authority and a persistent power that was to set aside the government of the constitution and of the laws. If there should prove to be an irrecopcilable conflict between public opinion in Texas or in New York and public opinion in the country at large his opinion was that the opinion of the whole country must finally prevail.
 MT. Coke obtained the floor. The Senate proceeded to executive business, and at 5:55 adjourned.