Year: 1876

reason why tney snOulu Hafc peen noLf
fed of fthis speech, and important tha
the record OF Committees proceeding:
should show that there had been only two
meetings ofthe Committee up to the time
oil this Investigation. Reverting tothe dis
chargeef the witness Marsh, he Bass


disserited distinctly and unequivocally tc
the statement of Mr.. Blackburn that the
witness had been discharged with the
knowledge of the entire Committee. One
of the Republican members of the Com
mittee, meaning himself, bad strenuous.
ly opposed the discharge of the witness,
and had stated some reasons why; but
the witness had been discharged at l
o'clock that day. Objections had been
made IN the presence of the Committee
alone after ] ! clock that day. When
the resignation of Secretary Belknap had
been notified to the Committee, the two
subjects had been matter of discussion.
The reasons which he Bass had stated
against the discharge of Marsh were that
Marsh was the sole witness in the case,
and that his testimony was uncorrobor-
ated; that if the Secretary of War should
be witness before the committee and
should contradict Msrsh's testimony, it
would be necessary to recall Marsh; and
further, that the safety of the committee
regarding its own reputation) would not
allow the discharge of the witness
pending the proceedings.


The discussion on these two ques-
tions, the jurisdiction after the resig
nation of the Secretary. and the
discharge of the witness, had
lasted several minutes, when a single
question had been put to the witness by
Mr.. Blair, counsel for Belknap, the wit.
ness having been called in for
that purpose, and thereupon, with
out any question having been asked
of any member OF tho Committee,
and on the sole request Of the witness he
was discharged by the chairman. The
witness had then stated that he desired
to leave for New York on the one o'clock
train, as he expressed it, and the chair
man offered to go with him and get his
fees, and said that il he had not time to
get them before the train left he would
send them to him by mail Marsh was
then inquired of as to the contract be-
tween himself and Evans, and the
chairman stated that he would send
them to him by mail in a few days
Witness then LETT the room and he Bass
had not seen him since. These were
facts in the case and this
man Marsh had testified to
most grave and serious charges against
a high officer of the government and
those charges had been sufficiently prov
ed to justify demand for
immediate impeachment but, the
charges were wholly and utterly
uncorroborated. Evidence had been given
by witness as TO certain certificates OF
deposit that were sent to the Secretary of
War. Would it not have been judicious
at least, to have detained the witness un-
til the bank had been applied to for cor
roborating the evidence? As to Knots
proposition that the detention of the
witness would have been an assault,
he Bass regarded that as
a prepOsterous absurdity. 1t
had been charged by the gentlemen on
the other side that other people were re
sponsible for the escape of the witness,
and it had been asked how they could de
tain him. The answer was that he could
have been detained, as he had been
brought By subpoena. What evil
dence was there that the SUBJ
poena had lost its virtue. At
ll:30 o'clock on Thursday the wit,
ness would have been re-examined in
obedience to the subpoena, or if he had
escaped while under it, An attachment
could have been immediately issued
against HIM, and An officer sent in pur-
suit of him on the next train, who would
have returned with him to the custody
of the House for incarceration.


Mr.. CIymeriRepIics.


Mr.. Clymer, chairman of the commit
tee, replied to Mr.. Bass, pretacing his re-
marks with the statement that he would
not have said word on the subject, were
it not that the recollection of his coll
league Mr. Bass differed essentially
and thoroughly from the recollection OF
every other gentleman on the committee,
so that his colleague stood in
the attitude of one witness against
four. He proceeded TO read extracts
from the statements of Messrs. Danford,
Blackburn and himself, and from records
from the Committee, in order to refute
Mr. Bass statements, but he was inter
rapted by Mr.. Dantord, who asserted that
there was not the slightest discrepancy
he believed in his Danford's] and Bass
statement.


Mr.. Clymer SAID he would
leave the House and Country to judge
o. that Ii the statement of the gentle
man from Now York was correct, then 1t
was impossible for the statements made
by the other four members of the COM
mittee 10 be correct He wished 10 state
once Tor all that il any member of the
committee when witness Marsh left the
room bad made the slightest sug-
geston that he should be re-
tained. neither himself nor any
other members would have made the
slightest objection. To state that he
TClymer was responsible for,Marsh's dis
charge more than any other member OF
the Committee WAS TO state what was


Neither JusI Nor Fair.


He was willing TO have the full response
blity for it with any other members OF
the Committee. lie repeated his belief
that there was no legal power IN the
Committee to have detsin ed Marsh and
that his detention by the Committee
would have been an outrage and 8
wrong.


Mr. Blackburn says Something Also


Mr.. Blackburn said he hsd no doubt
that the House was as sick of personal
explanations growing out Of the trans.
actien as the country and the Republican
party was As sick of the transaction it
self. He had no doubt the gentleman
from New York meant TO tell the truth
ana be was only sorry that the gentle
mans statements were not corroborsted
bv either the committee or the record


Mr.. Blackburn then proceeded to dis
prove. from the record otthe Committee
Mr. Bass statement, that the COMMITTEE
had on IL two meetings before Marsh VA
telegrapaed for. and he repeated, thA;
from the day that Congress convened