The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-30
A HOT DEBATE.
The Lost Cause Was the Theme that
Caused It.

| The Lost Cause Was the Theme that
| Caused It.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24.-"When the
gentleman says I believed the Lost
Cause to be right he slandered me. I
know that cause was right. With
these words, uttered by Mr. Jones,
Democrat, of Virginia, on the floor of
the House one night last week, closed
another and almost riotous discussion,
growing out of the proposed pension
legislation.
The immediate cause OF the out
break was the blocking CT the bills
10 increase the pension Of the widow
of Gen. Abner Doubleday and to pen
sion another widow who had per-
formed services as voluntary nurse
during the war by the parliamentary
opposition of Mr.. Jones.
Mr.. Cooper, Democrat. of Indiana.
took the place of Mr.. Springer last
Friday night and with considerable
temper he charged Mr.. Jones with a
lack Of chivalry in thus opposing
measures for the benefit of the fair
sex. He said. with something like
sneer, that if Mr. Jackson, the great
! leader of the party to which they both
belonged, could be present he would
| be heartily ashamed of the Democracy
Of the gentleman from Virginia.
Mr. Jones responded with warmth
that he was not fighting women, and
asserted that there was no foundation
for the charge. What l am fighting
for" he said, is equality before the
law, and against the granting of large
pensions to the rich, powerful and IN
iluentlal.l'
T question the motives of the gen
tlemau from Virginia. shouted Mr..
Cooper. His opposition to these
pension bills, | believe, is actuated by
the sentiment expressed by him last
Friday night, when he said he was
proud of the cause he had fought for
in the trenches. Although he has
taken an oath now to support the flag
! that floats above your head, Mr..
Speaker, pointing to the Stars and
Stripes above the desk, he now dis
plays toward it the same spirit of OPP
position as when he fought against it
thirty years ago. say only what he
himself says
Mr.. Simpson, Populist, of Kansas:
Mr.. Cox, Democrat. of Tennesse, and
Mr.. Moses, Democrat, of Georgia,
took part in the colloquy. Epithets
We're banded about, and for a little
time it looked as if personal conflict
might insue. Mr.. Simpson said he
was not only surprised but ashamed
that man from the South should
come here and say, as Mr.. Jones had
said, that he stillsbeieved in the Lost
Cause--a cause founded on slavery.
Getting the floor ostensibly to ask
Mr.. Simpson question, Mr.. Talbert,
Democrat, of South Carolina, whose
controversies with Mr.. Picker on pen
sion nights earlier in this Congress
were the relieving features of these
sessions, made aSviolent speech despite
the utmost endeavers of the Chair
(Mr. Bretz, Democrat, of Indiana TO
rap him to order. He ranged up and
down the centre aisle, wildly gesticu-
lat;ng~and shouting loudly. He dep
recated, he said, the continual appeal
to sectional passions, but he noticed
that they usually came from those
who were invisiblein war and invincl-
BILE in peace. Gas to the Lost Cause, "
he said. 1T is the everlasting cause,
and cannot be lost because it is the
cause of liberty: under the same cir
cumstances, he continued shaking
his fist in defiant manner at the Re-
publican side, ';and for the same reason
the men who fought then would
fight again. You can like that or
YOU can lump it. ! love the cause
today as much as I did when a boy l
barred my bosom to the battlehelds OF
Virginia. .
Mr.. Jones was accorded the floor
for few minutes at the close of the
session, and denounced Mr.. Coopers S
language toward him as being un-
worthy of gentleman. Referring to
the Lost Cause he said he would
answer always ard everywhere as he
had then, that he was proud Of it.
and when the gentleman said [ be,
lieved it to be right he slandered me.
know it was right
This brought the House to the hour
of 1870, at which time the session
closed under the rules, and on motion
by Mr.. Martin, Democrat, of 1ndiona,
it was adjourned After the adjourn
ment knots of members gathered in
! the aisles and discussed the exciting
events of the session until literally
driven out by the janitors shutting off
: the light.