1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1667
Mr. P .AD DOCK. Tho Senator from A1knnsas is not a member of it. [Mr. MORRILL] on tho particular amendment relating to the Brazil- 1 :Mr. KIRKWOOD. lli. President, I have a word to say about this ian line. I did not understand the pair to extend to the whole bill. matter. I have the honor of being upon the Committee on Post If he were here 1 do not know how he would vote, but supposing he Offices and Post-Roads. Wben this measure was :first brought before might possibly vote "nay," I withhold my vote. that committee the chairman of the committee assigned it to me as Mr. BAILEY. The Senator from Tennessee, my colleague, (Mr. a uucommittee. I was pressed a goou deal with other busineE~s, ILuuus,] is paired with the Senator from Maine, [Mr. BLAD."E.] The and :fin 1879. CONGRESSIONAL . RECORD-HOUSE. 1669 Boyd, Errett, Lindsey. Sampson. recognize. The Chair will cause the alleged agreement to be read Brent:rno, Evans, I. Newton Loring, Sapp, from the RECORD. Brewer, E\ans, J:imes L. Majprs, Sexton, Briggs, Foster, Marsh, Shallenberger, Mr. GARFIELD. If my understanding of the order is correct, then Browne, Frye, McCook, Sinnickson, it will require·unan..imous consent. of the House to set it aside. Bundy, Garfield, McGowan, Smalls, The SPEAKER. If there was an agreement which goes to binding McKinley, Smith, .A.. Herr Burchard, Hale, the action of the House, it.should be on the Jo~-al. Burilick, Harmer, llonroe, Starin, Butler, Harris, Benj. W. Neal, Stewart, Mr. GARFIELD. Whether on the Journal or not, the agreement Cain, Haskell, Norcross, Stone, John W. was certainly made, and is in the RECORD. Calkins, Hayes, Oliver, Strait, The SPEAKER. The gentleman will be kind enough to forward Camp, Hazelu;m, O'Neill, Thompson, Campbell, Hendee, Overton, Thornburgh, the RECORD containing the agreem nt. Cannon, Henderson, Page, Tipton. Mr. GARFIELD. I will do so as soon as I can find it. Caswell, Hubbell, Patterson, G-. W. Townsend, Amos Mr. CLYMER. At the time unanimous consent was given for the Chittenden, Humphrey, Peddie, Turney, order referred to by the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. GARFIELD,] it Claflin Hungerford, Phillips, VanVorhes, Cole, ' Hunter, Pollard, Wait, was upon the assertion of the Speaker that by Tuesday of this week Conger, James, Pound, Ward, the legislative appropriation bill would be disposed of. Cox, Jacob D. Jones, .JohnS. Powers, Watson, The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks that he used the words " that Cummings, Jorgensen, Price, White, Harry he thought by that time the bill would be disposed of." Danford, Joyce, Pugh, White, Michael D. Davis, Horace Keifer, Rainey, \Villiams, :Andrew Mr. GARFIELD. I will ask the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Deering, Koightley, Randolph, Williams, C. G. HARRIS,] who is on the Committee of Electians, what his recollection Denison, Kelley, Reed, Williams, Richard of the agreement is f Dunnell, Ketcham, Rice, William W. Willits. The SPEAKER. Better go to the RECORD. Dwight, Killinger, Robinson, G. D. Eames, Lapham, Robinson, M. S. Mr. GARFIELD. Very well. Ellsworth, Lathrop, Ryan, The SPEAKER. The Chair was misinformed. The Chair finds that NOT VOTING-34. there is in the Journal a record on the subject, and it will be read. Atkins, .. Crapo, Hunton, Slemons, Mr. GARFIELD. And I have just found the entry in the REcoRD. Baker, William H. Dickey, Ittner, Stephens, 'fhe Clerk read from the Journal as follows: Ballou, Fort, Manning, Swne, Joseph C. On motion of Mr. Conn, by unanimous consent, Beebe, Freeman, Martin. Townsend, M. I. Ordered, That the report of the Committee of Elections on the contested-elec Bisbee, Gardner, Metcalfe, Walsh, tion case of Finley vs. Bisbee, from the first congressional district of the State of Bland, Gibson, Mitchell, Wren, Florida, be postponed until Wednesday next after the reading of the Journal. Brogden, Hanna, Riddle, Wright. Clark, Rush Hewitt, Abram S. Robertson, The SPEAKER. Now let the REcoRD be read. . Covert, Hiscock, Sayler, Mr. GARFIELD. It is on page 9 of the RECORD published on Feb During tbe roll-call the following announcements were made: ruary 14. Mr. DICKEY. My colleague, Mr. GARDNER, has been called home The SPEAKER. The gentleman will point ont the portion he de by the sudden death of his law partner, and is absent by leave of the sili'CS to have read, and it will be read by the Clerk. House. I am paired with him on all political questions. The Clerk read as follows: Mr. WILLIS, of New York. My colleague, Mr. COVERT, is paired Mr. GARFIELD. I desire to say that there is no purpose on this side of the Honse to make a factious opposition to the will of the majonty of the Honse in cal lin~ up on all political questions with my colleague, Mr. TOWNSE~. . this case; but the member of the committee upon this side of tho House who had Mr. HISCOCK. On this question I am paired with :Mr. HIDITON, charge of this case in the committee, and who is familiar with the facts of the case, of Virginia. If he were present, he would vote " ay" and I would i§ sick and absent from the city, a.nd I think it only reasonable that some day should be fixed for the consideration of the case hereafter, so that some other mem vote" no." ber of the committee may examine into the facts of the case and prepare himself Mr. BAKER, of New York. I am paired with my colleague, Mr. to discuss it. BEEBE. If he were present, I would vote ''no." llr. COBB. I think it would be agreeable to this side of the Hqnso and I under Mr. CRAPO. - I am paired with Mr. GIBSON, of Louisiana. stand it would be agreeable to the other side of the House if we postpone tbe case until Tuesday next, or as soon thereafter as the present appropriation bill is dis Mr. SAPP. My colleague, Mr. CLARK, of Iowa, is absent and paired posed of. with Mr. MANNING, of Mississippi. If my colleague were present, he The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks th(' appropriation bill now pending will be out would vote "no'' and Mr. M.u.~TING would vote '' ay." of the way by next Tuesday. Mr. STONE, of Iowa. I am paired with Mr. MARTL.~, of West Vir Mr. Conn. Then I,_gi>e notice that immediately after the reading of the J onrnal on Tuesday next I will call up the case. ginia. If he were present, I would vote " no." Mr. HALE. Let the arrangement be made as to the time that is to be allowed :for Mr. METCALFE. I am paired with my colleague, Mr. BI.lli"'D. If debate, so that everything shall be fixed now. he were present, I would vote "no." l\!r. Conn. While I regard this case as one of some importance, I am very anxious Mr. EAMES. My colleague, Mr. BALLOU, is absent by leave of the to dispose of it as rapidly as possible. Mr. HALE. I should say about three hours of time are wanted upon this side. House, and is paired with Mr. RIDDLE, of Tennessee. If my colleague Mr. HiscocK. Let there be two hours upon each side. were present, he would vote "no." Mr. GARFIELD. Then at the end of the four hours let the previous question be Mr. BLOUNT. My colleague, Mr. STEPHENS, is unable to be at the considered as ordered. Mr. COBB. Suppose we agree that two hours should be allowed to ea{lh side 1 Honse to-day on account of sickness. Mr. GARFffiLD. Verv well. Mr. GARFIELD. Before the result of the vote is announced I de The SPEAKER. The· Chair then understands that unanimous consent is asked sire to make a parliamentarY. inquiry. As I understand it, this elec that on Tuesday next, immediately after the reading of the Journal, this election tion case, by unanimous consent of the House, was postponed until case is to be considered, and that four hours are to be allowed for debate, two hours on each side, after which the previous question shall be ordered. after the legislative appropriation bill bad been disposed of. I in Mr. HllE. Suppose anythinJl; should happen which would prevent the appropri quire now whether it is competent for the House to set aside a unan ation bill being out of the way ~ imous order 0f the Houso f Mr. GATIFIELD. That limitation is in the motion now. This is not to interfere The $PEAKER. That does not appear on the Journal, as the Chair with the appropriation bill. · · The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the proposed order 1 The Chair hears none, is informed by the journal clerk. and the order is made. Mr. GARFIELD. The RECORD will show it. Mr. COBB moved to reconsider tho vote by which the order was made ; and also The SPEAKER. The REcoRD may. moved.that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. Mr. CLYMER. A certain day was fixed for the consideration of The latter motion was agreed to. this election case. Mr. HOOKER. I desire, l\Ir. Speaker, to say it strikes me that Mr. GARFIELD. It was set for a day named, provided the consid Tuesday had been fixed by the order of the House and by the unani eration of the legislative appropriation bill was then concluded. mous consent of the Ho01se, and the time which was to be used on The SPEAKER. The Chair, however, desires to say that he must either side was agreed upon, and I think it was suggested by the proceed in accordance with the rules, which compel him to recognize gentleman from Ohio himself, in order that this case might be cer the gentleman from Indiana [1\!r. CoBB] upon a question of the high tain to come up, that Wednesday should be fixed instead of Tuesday, est privilege, one touching the right of a member to a seat on this and the RECORD ought to have gone on and shown that fact. I pre :Boor. sume possibly it does show it. Mr. GARFIELD. At the same time we can hardly set aside an Mr. GARFIELD. It does show it. order made by unanimous consent touching that very question of Mr. HOOKER. And by unanimous consent by order of the House privilege. yesterday was fixed for the consideration of the election question. The SPEAKER. That is a matter for the members of the Honse The gentleman who is chairman of the Appropriation Committee, to pass upon. without objection on the part of any one, agreed to give way on yes Mr. GARFIELD. If that could be done, then the gentleman might terday and not to antagonize this election case, and the gentJeman have risen two minutes after the order was made and claimed the having charge of the election case consented to that on the under floor on that question of high privilege. standing this morning the Appropriation Committee was not to oppose The SPEAKER. And the Chair would have been bound to recog him, and, as I understand, the chairman of the committee does not nize him, unless the Chair was a party to such agreement. now antagonize the proposition of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Mr. GARFIELD. Is not the unanimous consent of the whole Honse, CoBB] of taking up the election case agreed to by unanimous order fixing the time for this business with specific conditions, a law unto of tb.e House. the Speaker J The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks there was a subsequent state- . The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks not to the extent of refusal to ment, which will be read. 1670 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20, Mr. HAYES. There is. Appropriations, who bas the legislative bill in charge, and he said to Mr. GARFIELD. It is in the RECORD. Later in the da;y-, a few me that he would not antagonize me. minutes after-Ward, it was discovered that day bad been ~ssign~d to I have been acting in good faith, and I insist now upon taking up the Committee of Ways and Mea:t;U!, and I called attention ~o It, as the case. did also the chairman of the committee, [Mr. WooD,] who said there The result of the vote was then announced as a'bove recorded. was a special order for Tuesday next for consid.eration of the reports So the motion was agreed to. from the Committee of Ways and Means. I will read: CO~ESTED ELECTIOX, FINLEY VS. BISBEE. Mr. WooD. There is a special order for Tuesday next, ?eing the consideration The House accordingly proceeded to the consideration of the report of reports from the Committee of Ways and Means. I des1re to say that that can of the Committee of Elections, in the contested-el~ction case from the not be set aside by our consen~. The SPEAKER. An arrangement has just been made by which ~twa-s set a~ide second congressional district of Florida, Finley -vs. Bisbee. by unanimous consent; but it seems to have b_een done under a ID1sapprehens10n. Mx. WHITE, of Pennsylvania. How long is the debate to last' The proposition now is whether the Rouse will change that order so as to name The SPEAKER. The Chair is informed that it will last four hours. another day. . Mr. HALE. Upon the question of time I desire to say that the Mr. GARFIELD. I think that by unammous consen~ anot!:ter day should be fixed; for instance Monday, tbat is a good day to use up m b~smes~. . sitting member desires very much that he may be allowed one hour Mr. CLAFLIN. Monday is fixed by the rules for the consideration of busmess after the four hours have expired which have been agreed to. from the Committee for the District of Columbia. Mr._COBB. I cannot agree to·that. ' The SPEAKER. The Committee for the District of Columbia is entitled t? the Mr. HALE. I hope gentlemen, after ird.king us by surprise in call door at two' o'clock. There will be three hours on Monday before the busmess from the District of Columbia would-eome up. ing up this case this morning, will not refuse that. Mr. HALE. Why would not the gentleman from New York [Mr. WooD] take 'l'he SPEAKER. The Chair suggests that there be -a half hour for Wednesday next for his committee~ the sitting member taken from the time allowed to each side. Mr. woon. By unanimous consent the House might give Wednesday next for Mr. COBB. I shall stand by the agreement as to time which has the election case. . . . Mr COBB. I will agree to that, with the understanding that It shall be With the been made. [Cries of" Regular order!"] · same ~i~thts and under the same linlitations as it now has on Tuesday next. Mr. HALE. Give the sitting member some time. The SPEAKER. The change can be made by unanimous consent. The SPEAKER. The Chair unp.erstands that the gentleman de There was no objection, and it was so ordered. · clines to change the period of time. Mr. COBB. I do, and call for the reading of the resolutions. · So that the repetition of the c8nsent chan~ng ~be day was J?ade in the language of the gentleman who offered It, w1th the same ngbts The Clerk read the resolutions reported by the majority of the com mittee, as follows : and the same limitations that had been a~reed to in the former order; .and among the limitatio~s agreed to in tne. for~er o~der w3:s that it Resolved, That Horatio Bisbee, jr., is not entitled to a seat in this House as a Rep resentative in the Forty-fifth Congress from the second congre sional district of was subject to the contingency of the legiSlative bill havmg been Florida. :finished. · Resolved, That .Jesse .r. Finley is entitled to a seat in this Rouse as aRepresenta... The SPEAKER. It seems to the Chair that would have been in tive in the Forty-fifth Congress from the second congressional district of Florida the nature of an aruument addressed to the House before this vote The Clerk then read the resolutions reported by the minority of th~ which has just bee; taken on the subject. committee, as follows : Mr. GARFIELD. I only make it now not to say the House cannot Resolved, That .Jesse .r. Finley was not elected and is not entitled to a seat in the vote, but to insist that it must take a two-third vote of the House to Forty-fifth Congress from the second congressional district of Florida. suspend the rules or orders. · Resolved, That Horatio Bisbee, jr., was elected and is entitled to a. seat in the The SPEAKER. A suspension of the rules cannot be moved to-day Forty-fifth Congress from the second congressional district of Florida. by a two-third vote. l\Ir. COBB. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. CJU.'"DLER.] Mr. .GARFIELD. Then that stren~tbens my position. Mr. CANDLER. I yield to my colleague of the committee, the gen The SPEAKER. It does, if the original position of the gentleman tleman 'from Alabama, [Mr. WILLWIS,] twenty minutes. from Ohio is a. correct one. l\Ir. WILLIAMS, of Alabama. l\Ir.Speaker, this case is to be argued M.r. BURCHARD. There is a rule that no order of business shall and decided mainly upon matters of fact which are very voluminous. be. changed except by a two-third vote. Now, here is an order of I cau but glance at them in twenty minutes, and indeed I am very business made which was that 1he legislative appropriation bill little disposed to undertake it in that length of time. Nor do Tbe sbo11ld hn.ve priority to this report of the Committee of Elections. lieve that any argument or facts, or law in this case, will change a That order having been made, here is a proposition to change t.hat, single vote in the House. It would take hours to discuss the ques and that requires a two-third vote. tions of fact alone which are involved and to inform gentlemen who The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks it is hardly fair to hold him to have not already informed themselves by close and special examina· .an interpretation of an agreement made upon the floor among mem tion of the turning-points in the case. The decision of the case bers themselves. If they themselves assent without dispute to the must depend largely upon the judgment of the House in reference gentleman who rises and under the rule has a right to be recognized to the vote at Archer No.2, in Alachua County. by the Chair upon a question of the highest privilege known to the There is a very wide difference of assertion of opinion with refer rule, to wit, the question of the right of a member to a seat on this ence to the vote cast at that precinct, and in view of that fact it is ftoor it is not for the Chair to refuse such recognition. well to understand precisely, so far as we can, the manner in whicli M~. HALE. I think the Chair has that right, that it is not the the election was conducted there and the political status of the officials responsibility of the Chair where the subject-matter bas come up; who managed it. The election atArcherprecinctNo. 2was managed by but is it not a fair appeal to gentlemen in voting on this question to four officials. Three of them were republicans and one wa..s a dem .see to it that the agreement which was made the other day shall be ocrat. One of those republicans who seems to have ~iven direction carried out. to the result was not a resident of that precinct. He lived in another Mr. EDEN. No appeal was made until after the vote was taken. part of the county, and it is to be supposed from all the fa-cts in the 1\lr. HALE. Is it not a fair appeal to that side of the House by ca..se that he was sent there for t.he especial purpose 6f working up this side of the House that acting in good faith the election question the result which he afterward in part declared. shall not be brought up until the legislative appropriation bill is out It is a fact, l\Ir. . Speaker, that both the contestant and the con oftbe way' testee agree that the election was so managed that the returns can Mr. HOOKER. No, that was not the understanding on this side not be relied upon; that there is no credit to be given to the statement <>f the -House. made of the election at that point, but the contestant and the con Mr. HALE. Is it fair to override that agreement ? testee differ as to what was the specific fraud, and as to how far it Mr. GARFIELD. Before the vote is announced I desire to ask the may ha\e gone in any certain direction. chairman of the Committee of Elections, who has charge of this case, Now, sir, how many votes were cast at Archer No.2¥ One of the in view of the understanding and the further fact stated to me by witnesses, who held the position of clerk at that poll, says that there the contestant, that.relying upon this case going over until after the were 535 votes polled, that he kept the tally, and that the announce disposal of the legislative, &c., appropriation bill, he has not pre ment wa..s made by a colleague of his in the management of the elec pared himself to address the House, whether the gentlemen on the tion, and that he knows definitely that 535 votes were cast upon thMi other side ought not so far change their votes so as not to break into day at that special box. Other witnesseea, republican witnesses, de the order which was made by unanimous consent '? clare that the vote as cast and as announced was less than 320. Yon Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. Are these interruptions in order during have thus a difference of over 200 votes in the statement given by the roll-call' managers of t he election themselves as to what was the vote there. The SPEAKER. The C!JaU- thinks that technically they are not; Now, how will you arrive at the correct result t The contestee say!! but the Chair thinks it desirable that there should be perfect har throw it all aside; that there was fraud and be admits it. He says, mony, if it can be reached; however, that the fraud wa8 in the stuffing by democrats of the box Mr. RICE, of Ohio. That is impossible. .. to increase the •ote of the contestant. The majority of the commit Mr. COBB. I will state that I have no desire to interfere with any tee say that, while denying that a-ssertion, there was such fraud as to aureement I have made. It has always been a matter of duty to my discredit and vitiate the whole vote. But they admit that whil~;~ re s;lf to abide by any agreement, but I will say that I have never en turns may be cast aside as not to be credited, and while official state tered into any agreement in the RECORD <>r elsewhere, by which I ments may be denied as not to he trusted, if there is any other way 9'£ should let this case go over as far as it has gone, and I will say fur ascertaining what was the vote actually cast, they will look to that ther that I have consulted with the chairman of the Committee on way of ascertainment. · _ ~- - 1879. - O(}NGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1671 . - Upon that proposition the contestee, ignoring papers, ignoring same man Black swears that he went to the house of l'tir. Dennisy c'ounts, ignoring returns, proposes to prove, and did prove, I believe, whose name has becom·e somewhat historic in recent election contro that :{08 votes were cast for him, and claims that that number of versies, and that as late as the hour of nirie o'clock the next day he votes should be allowed for hlm. Remember that this proof is out beard Dennis tell Black to take that box a.w:ay from his house, be side of auy statement, any returns, or any official count. If ~t is cause one poll had already been thrown out on account· of a ballot correct, it is to be allowed. But when you travel outside of the offi box being left at his house. It is developed in the history of this cial reports of those whose duty it is to conduct an election and un case that that ballot-box was not returned to the clerk of the county dertake to prove what the actual vote was you must do it accurately until noon of the next day, although it arrived at the town of Gaines and specifically or that outside count will not be allowed. ville at four o'clock in the morning. One witness says that it had Now, if you take seriatim the evidence of the managers of the elec been at the house of Dennis, and another witness (and this is V a.nce) tion you will see not only that you cannot allow the statement that says it went to the house of Vance himself, and that one of them .took 535 votes were cast, but that you cannot allow that 308 votes were care of it by putting it under his bed. actually· cast at that place for the contestee by the witnesses that be I a-sk memlters of the House whether they will give credit to a bal mustered. Who were they 7 They were 308 colored men, many of lot-box that bas been bandied about in this way-a box to which there whom could neither read nor write, and all ignorant, as they gen were eight keys T Mr. Speaker, I :would not affront the intelligence of erally are down there. There is no proof, as I understand it, that gentlemen by und~rtaking to persuade them that the count as re their names appear upon any aecurately-certified poll-list, because turned from that box should be allowed to'staud. it is a fact in this case that the poll-list of .Archer No.2 has disap If you do not receive the return from that box, how do you get at peared. The returns are all gone. As the clerk of the county, a re the election T The contestee claims that he should be allowed his 308 pnulican official, says, they were taken from his safe while be had colored republican voters who swear that they voted. at that place. the key in his pocket. He, their custodian, never knew that they But do they swear for whom their ballots were (}ast f Not at all. were gone until a committee sent by Congress was going down into They can neither read nor write, as the southern gentlemen upon this that country to investigate elections in reference to another question. floor well understand. But they say they voted the republican ticket. Then it was ascertained that the poll was lost, with the returns and How do they know that they voted the republican ti~ket f Why, it everything else in connection with this election at .Archer No.2; all had a. flag on it. But it seems that the democratic ticket also had a bad disappeared except Z'/7 a{ltual ballots that were found in the flag on it; and the only way by which they satisfied themselves that box. the ticket they voted was the republican ticket was in noticing the I have to say again that if you will take up sm'iatim the evidence peculiar position of the flag; but that position is not so clearly specified of those who conducted this election, and who, it is to be supposed, as to enable an ignorant and unread colored man not accustomed te were in the best position to know the truth of what they testified, examining print to determine his vote positively. you cannot allow .any votes as cast at that box because of the uncer But, Mr. Speaker, if you take the statement that there were 535 tainty if not a{ltnal fraud in connection therewith. The :first wit votes cast at that poll and then allow these 308 votes for the con-· ness was one of the managers by the name of Moore ; he is a repub- testee, you are met by another proposition which cannot be answered. 1ican. The other officials testified that he was a man of character in Take 535 votes as the nq,mber cast, give to this contestant his 136 o.:r fue republican party, and th'at his assertions deserve as well as de 141 votes about which there is no disput{>, and add these to the 308 mand credit. Now, what does he say? That there were 5:35 votes votes claimed by the contestee, and the whole number will fall short cast f Not at all. He says the vote as counted and announced from of the 535 votes by nearly 100. the window of the house where the count was had, and by another Mr. HOUSE. Will the gentleman aY.ow me to ask him a questionf official of the election whose name was Black, and who was a repub Mr. WILLIAMS, of Alabama. Certainly. lican, was for the republican candidate for governor 180, and for the Mr. HOUSE. By what evidence are the 136 votes claimed by the democratic candidate for governor 136. He says there was no need contestant supported f Who concur in the statement that he received to make an annol.Klcement with reference to the votes for Congress that number of votes f or electors for President and Vice-President, because they differed Mr. WILLIAMS, of .Alabama. Not only several offici:lls who man- . only to the extent of three or four from the other vote. This wit aged the election, but several gentlemen who were by;standers and ness is sustained by others of his own party who heard the announce who heard the announcement made from the window that the con ment made, and were within the room and saw such count as was testant had received 136 or 141 votes. bad then, who know what transpired, and could hear everything that Mr. BISBEE. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him a question f took place. Mr. WILLIAMS, of Alabama. Certainly. The witness then goes on to testify what became of that ballot Mr. BISBEE. If there was evidence that the contestant received box. The voting in this precinct was conducted in a. room adjoining 136 votes, why did not the majority of the committee count them for that where the voting of Archer No. 1 was held. There was but a ~~ . thin partition between; the doorway was open; and some of the Mr. WILLIAMS, of Alabama. Ah! you must ask the committee as planking was off the partition. We have corroborative proof from to their reason. When the contestee proved his 308 votes he did not one official who helped to conduct the election in the other room undertake to prove the whole vote that was cast at that ballot-box. which is not denied. He was in the room at box No.2 and heard the He stopped with showing what he recei-ved himself, not seemi.Rg to statement that one of the candidates for governor received 180 votes be aware of the fact that he would cut down the aggregate vote of and the other received 136. that box nearly a hundred-leaving a hundred votes up.accounted for. ·' N.t>w Moore goes on to tell what became of the ballot-box:. Who [Here the hammer fell.] was its cn.stodian f This man Black, who was a manager of the elec I regret, Mr. Speaker, that I have not time to discuss further the tion. He did not allow it to remain at the place of voting, but he facts of this case. took it to his own house. What was its condition 1 It was locked Mr. COBB. I yi"~d for twenty minutes to the gentleman from or pretended to be locked, but was not a close box at all. Georgia, [Mr. CANDLER.) • The aperture into which the ballots were thrust was sealed over Mr. CANDLER. Mr. Speaker, there are a great many questions in but the box was sealed nowhere else; and this same witness swears this case. There is one, however, the decision of which determines that while the key was left with him there were eight keys that :fitted the caae no matter how the others may be decided. If the Honse the box. Where did it goT Not only into the possession of this other can understand that question they will be able intelligently and republican, Black, but to his house. Who went with it 1 These re fairly to determine who was elected of these parties. According to publican gentlemen who manufactured that election to suit them the precinct returns of all the votes cast in the district unmanipu selves. It went there at night, as I remember the evidence, about lated by anybody, either by the managers of the elections or State eleven o'clock. The county-seat where this other witness, Mr. Vance, canva-ssing board, or without inquiring into the legality of any votes, lived was some fifteen miles away. Vance was in company with Black the contestant in this case upon the face of the returns is elected by at Black's house. Democrats went to Black's house where the ballot a majority of 5 votes. The State canvassing board passing upon box was and asked him to let it go into the same keeping with the these returns excluded votes from precincts in the county of Hamil box of the other poll, but that he should be a joint watchman himself ton, whereby they gave a majority of 141 to the sitting. member, Mr. in its custody, which he refused. They asked him to allow them to Bisbee. The Committee of Elections, passing upon those questions, carry tbe box of poll No. 1 down to his house and put it with the box unanimously agreed there should have been no exclusion of any of No. 21 aid to let one of the officials from poll No.1 watch in com return. pany Wlth him so that these boxes might be preserved untouched. A MEMBER. That is Hamilton County. • He refused this; and in the dead hours of the night, between three Mr. CANDLER. That the votes ought to have been counted as and four o'clock, he takes this ballot-box and goes off to the county returned by the managers from these precincts. seat upon an extra or spe~ial train which happened along about that A MEMBER. In Hamilton County¥ time. He undertakes to show that he used due diligence in trying Mr. CANDLER. Yes, in Hamilton County, so that so far the Com to surrender the box to the county clerk. How' By going to the mittee of Elections unanimously agree that l\11·. Finley is elected. clerk's office about four o'clock in the morning, before daybreak, when A se~ond canvass was made by the State canvassing board of all the he knew the clerk would not be there; and when he found the office returns, under a mandate of the supreme court of that State. In of the cler}r closed he carried the box to the house of Mr. Vance, one of that canvass the votes of certain precincts in the county of Bak61: the election managers, who swears that G35 votes were cast at Archer and the vote entirely of the county of Clay we1·e rejected, thereby No.2. electing Mr. Bisbee by something more than 200 majority. The Com ·Now, there is a difference between two witnesses as to what was mittee of Elections, passing on this action by the State canvassing done with the box after it reached the town of Gainesville. This board, unanimously say they were wrong; that there should have been. • ...... CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20, no exclusion of the county of Clay and no exclusion of votes from Mr. HOUSE. I desire to ask the gentleman a question. How manv the county of Baker. So far this committee unanimously agree that votes were cast at Archer precinct No.1. at the election preceding' Mr. Finley is elected. this f ' We then ptoceed to the county of Alachua. One precinct, Archer Mr. CANDLER. About 300. Therehad.neverbeen until this elec No.2, of the county of Alachua, was returned as giving 399 votes for tion at this precinct but one polling-place and they never cast more Mr. Bisbee, the sitting member, and 141 for Mr. l!"inley, the contest than 350 balloLs. ant. This return was counted by the State canvassing board. Mr. Mr. HOUSE. At ihe first or the second f Finley attacks the return and says it was fraudulent in this, that 219 Mr. CAl\TDLER. At both these polls at this election there were votes' were added to the vote of Mr. Bisbee, giving him 399, when he over 600 ; between six. and seven hundred. ought to have had only 180 from Archer No.2. This committee are Mr. WILLIAMS, of Alabama. Let me call my colleague's attention unanimous that this was a fraudulent return from Archer No.2 and to the fact that the ballots in the box afterward counted amounted that Mr. Bisbee did not get 399 votes. So that we have the unani to only zn. mous report of this committee that' that return was fraudulent, that Mr. CANDLER. That of course goes to show that this was a fraud nothing could be taken from it because it was a false and fraudulent ulent return, and I ask members to understand that the counting of return-not that it was an irregular return, not that there were irreg this vote is necessary to the election of Mr. Bisbee. If he does not ularities by the managers of the election, but that the return itself get 30 at this precinct and Finley 9 votes, thou Mr. FinJey was was a false and fraudulent and f~rged return. I believe the w.ord elected. If, then, this vote is necessary to his election, and beyond "forged" is not used in the report of the minority, but they call it a question it is, then he was elected upon what the evidence shows was: false return. I will read from the report of the minority. The ma not the truth. He was elected upon a falsehood and a fraud. jority say that the return was forged. The minority say : Not a single witness in this case, except the witnesses who testified A. large volume of testimony in regard to the frauds, foraery of the names of part to their individual votes, but what testified that Finley received at of the officers to the returns, and gross irregularities and' disregard of the law, is this procinct at least 136 votes, and the returns gave him 141 to be found in the record of this case. In fact, both contestant and contestee agree that gross fraud was committed, disagreeing only as to who profited thereby. votes. *" * • * * * ... No one says that there was anything false in the making of that The conclusion the committee have come to is that the officers of the election, or return of 141 votes. There is no evidence to show that this 141 votes some of them, were ~ty of gross fraud, and a reckless disregard of the law, in conducting the election, the canvassing of the votes, and making the returns. were not in fact given for the contestant, Finley. There is no evi * * * * * . * * dence showing that the election at this poll was not fairly held and Under those circumstances we feel compelled to reject the returns from this poll the count honestly made. It was held by the persons appointed tc. as wholly unreliable and worthless to establish the true vote cast at that poll. hold elections. They met and conducted it strictly according to law, So that so far excluding the return a.s made at Archer No.2, the At the hour of noon they left the ballot-box in the charge of Mr. Wash· unanimous report of your committee is that Finley is elected by 263 ington and Mr. Edge. These men were witnesses in this ca e. Then; votes. is only a suggestion by way of possibility that they tampered with The reply by the contestee to this is thaJi he proved by voters at the vote ; there is no evidence that they were not respectable meL Arsher No. 2, 308 votes for him. He agrees the return is false in re and that they tampered with the ballots. One was a republican, thto turning 399 for him and 141 for Finley, and resorts to the evidence of other a democrat. There is not a particle of eviuence that the man the voters to show that he received 308 votes. He agrees that the agers tampered with the vote until after the election, and the count return being false goes for nothing. He then proposes to substitute ing of the votes and the announcement of the result. secondary evidence for that. We say when he resorts to the substi When the votes were being counted by the managers, they were tUtion of secondary evidence he can only substitute what appears taken by one of the managers from the box and llanded to auother~ from the evidence to be the truth. If you exclude the primary evi the clerk who counted them keeping the tally-sheet, and afterward dence because it is established and admitted to be false, then when they were strung upon a string, as seems to be the custom down you come to substitute for it secondary evidence we maintain you there. Standing near these managers during the count wn.s Samuel cannot substitute anything for it except what appears to be the truth. C. Tucker, a man of respectability in the State .of Florida autl the The reason that would compel the rejection of the primary evidence present sheriff of t.he county of Alachua., a man about whom there is the return, that it was false-would disallow any secondary evidence no suggestion of wrong. He saw the count and took from the tally shown to be untrue. sheet as kept by the clerk the result of the vote. Tucker says the Then t-o the claim that the contestee received 308 votes aud con vote was 1:36 for Finley and 180 for Bisbee. testant none at this precinct, the witnesses, the voters, say they voted Now, there is the proof; ill the witnesses agree. It is not contended at Archer No.2; that they voted a t.icket furnished to them by cer that this count thus witnessed was fraudulent. It is a witness who tain men who were actively canvassing in the interests of the repub testified to seeing tbe count made, taking the count as made, Reeing lican party; th'at they voted the identical ticket.given to them by these that it was right so far as he could, standing by and looking over, aud operators. A large majority of them, I do not know how many, but a who states that there were 136 votes for Finley and 180 for Bisbee. large majority were persons who could neither read nor write; Nearly He is a competent witness, proving the actual vote at this precinct, all of them, there may be one or two exceptions, are colorecl men; and what should have been the return by the managers. Now, the and a number of persons giving out the tickets could neither read nor return is destroyed, or set aside because it is fraudulent, and you want write. The voters testified that they received the tickets the even to substitute for it the truth, as that return should have been. Yon ing before at certain places where a republican club met. One wit want to find out what was the state of tP.e vote, and not how any ness testified that at one of these places there were about eighty particular person voted. present, and he gave out the tickets, giving them out and reading The destroyed thing, the impeached thing, is the return. That hllB them to the voters until two o'clock the next morning. He instructed been manipulated, and is made 399 instead of 180 for Bisbee.' The them to vote in that. way. He read them over so that there should witness to whom I have referred is not contradicted. He is the only be no mistake. one outside of those men whose character is proven bad by their acts There is one circumstance in the case, and I think it is significant, who testifies as to the true vote cast and counted at this precinct. showing the uncertainty about this mat.t-er--and secondary evidence Why not substitute his statement for the return T Is not that the certainly must be the truth -and that is, these electioneerers and ma truth ac6'ording to the evidence Y Is not that what the return ought nipulators of the canva-ss at this precinct, being such persons as I have to have been'? Is not that exactly the count that was made What described, testified that they got the ballots from one R. H. Black, reply is there to this claim 'i who was a colored manager at the polls on the day of the election, a He proves that there were 136 votes shown for Finley. Two of the man who does not live in Florida, and who afterward made an affi election managers testified that upon the poll-list there were only 318 davit in this case in Pennsylvania, and one of the parties who all votes. All the witnesses around there, respectable men, testify that agree made the fraudulent return of the votes of this precinct. the announcement waa made, immediately upon counting the votes, Mr. BISBEE. I would like to ask the gentleman if there is any that the vote was 180 for Bisbee and 136 for Finley. That announce evidence at all contradicting the evidence of voters that they had ment was understood. There were hundreds there, and no one testi voted Y fies that such announcement was not made. Mr. CANDLER. That is the point of my argument now. One of t.he inspectors from Archer No. 1, at the other end o£ the Mr. BISBEE. Let me correct the gentleman. R. H. Black did not hous~, after the count at his poll was made, went across and asked disttibute the tickets. Allen M. Jones distributed the tickets the the state of the poll at Archer No.2. It was stated to him by the night before, for the reason that be was inspector at Archer precinct managers that it was 180 for Bisoee and 141 for Finley. No. 1 and would not have time the next morning. I say it is beyond question, by evidence dehors the returns; out Mr. CANDLER. This was the manager of the poll No. 1 who dis side of any acts of any managers, thatthe308 votesclaimedfor Bisbee tributed 'the tickets. Allen M. Jones did distribute the tickets at one cannot be correct. 'fhe votes testified to cannot be counted until the place, but Frank Brown and "Toby" Adams swear that they each return made, the primary evidence of the vote actually bad, is ex got 300 ba1lots from R. H. Black. cluded. You have no right to resort to secondary evidence until then. It is a significant fact that these men, who were all ignor::mt men, If you resort to secondary evidence, then you must resort to the best testified that they received their tickets from the same person at dif attainable. ferent times-the same number of tickets, describing them in almost A recorded paper is lost. You will first go to the certified copy from identical language which they could not read, and the person from the record. lf there is none, then you go to a copy made up by some whom received, R. H. Black I say it is difficult to believe from this person who examined the original. If you cannot find a copy, then evidence that 308 ballots were cast at this precinct upon which was you prove the contents of the paper. the name of Mr. Bisbee for Congress. .In this case the re!iable secondary evjdence of what this return ~ .·. ·::· ;"" --.. : 1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1673 was or ought to hav~ been is the vote as announced by all these man of tbe vote. The strongest case I now recollect (and it is a case ci tecl agers-the vote as made up and recorded in the presence of Tucker. by the minority) is the case of Washburn vs. Voorhees, from the The minority, in their printed views, referring to :McCrary's Law of State of India.na. In that case there were returned from Hamilton Elections, sections 202 and 203, say "when a return is rejected legal Township 498 votes for Voorhees and 143 votes for ·washburn. The votes are not lost; they may be proven by secondary evidence, ·and committee held, pecause of bad conduct of the election rna,nagers and when thus proven may be counted,'' and claim, the return having because o:f the evidence of voters as to the votes they had cast, that been rejected, that the 308 votes proven by the voters to have been the return did not speak the truth. Hence they excludecl the return. given to Bisbee shall be counted. But in this they mi8take the role That was the only question discussed and the only question decided. of law and fail even in stating it, as :McCrary pots it. The rule is, On account of the illegal conduct of the managers of the precinct if the return be reject-ed because false, secondary evidence-that of and because the return was shown by evidence not to speak the truth,. the voters-may be resorted to to show the true state of the vote, that return was rejected. what the return should have been. You may not substitute for this In that case it was necessary to the election of Mr. Washburn that return what the evidence in the case outside the return shows not to the 170 votes proven to have ueen cast for him should be counted; be the truth. and it was done by a. legislative comt, which is too often controlled McCrary's Law of Elections, section 302, says: by its desires and party prejudices.- But the counting of the proven While a mere irregularity which does not affect the result will not vitiate the votes was not the question discussed and decided. The attack was return, yet where the provisions of the election laws have been entirely disre upon the returns; and the evidence of witnesses was taken to show garded b:v' the officers and their conduct has been such as to render their returns that the returns were not the truth. For that reason alone the return entirely Unworthy of credit, then the entire poll must be rejected. In such a case the returns prove nothing. But it does not follow that legal vot.es cast at such was excluded. But iu this case there was no evidence without the poll must be lost. The:v may be proven by secondary evidence, (the return being, return showing that t.he proven votes were not all the votes cast. I until impeached, the primary evidence,) and when thus proven may be counted. read from the report on this case : In support of the role thus laid down is cited the case of Littlefield But the rejection of a return does not necessarily leave the votes actually cast. vs. Green, from the State of Illinois, and the cases of McKenzie '1:8-. at a precinct uncounted. It only declares that the return having been shown to be false shall not be taken as true, and the parties are thrown back on such other Braxton and Giddings t:s. Clark., election cases decided in the Forty evidence as is in their power, to show how many voted and for whom, so that the second Congress. entire vote, if sufficient pains be taken and the means are at hand, may be shown, The :first case is this: it was a contest over the removal of a county and not a single one be lost, notwithstanding the falsity of the return. (See Blair seat, where the return from one precinct was that 2,8'20 votes were vs. Barrett, Bartlett's Contested-Election Cases, pag_es 313, 321; Clark vs. Hall Ibid., 215.) It was proved, as has already been staten, that 170 votes were cast at;, cast for the removal of the county-seat and none against removal. this precinct for Mr. Washburn. There was also the testimony of four persons Now, in that precinct there were only 453 legal voters, and the ques that they voted for Mr. Voorhees. tion was whether you sh0old count the return of 2,820 voters when The difference between that case and this is that there was no evi it was established beyond all question that that return was fraudu dence in that case showing that this vote proven was not the actual lent, and, if rejected, what number of votes should be counted upon vote cast at the precinct. In taking evidence to show that the re evidence outside the return shown to have been actually caet. It was turn was false, 170 votes were proved for Washburn and 4 for Voor d'Iaimed 'to conn t the 453 votes that could have been legal. The reply hees, and nothing else wai proved ; so that as far as the evidence of the court was that it did not appear these votes had been actually went that result appeared to be the truth, and there was nothing con cast-only that they might have been. In that case they did count tradictory of it. In this ca.se the return is excluded because it does 50 votes actually proven to have been given for removal, the evidence not speak the truth, and Mr. Bisbee proposes to substitute 308 votes showing that there were no votes upon the other side against removal; proven uy the voters themselves; yet evidence in the case debars the so that the evidence showed, so far as it went, a legal state of the return, shows that not to have been the actual state of the vote. vote at that precinct, and therewasnothino-toshowthat the.GO votes Hence if he retains his seat here he retains it upon what the evidence were not all the legal vot-es actually cast. So the cases cited from the in this case shows is not the truth. No case can be found anywhere Forty-second Congress show the rule to be, the return rejected, sec to sustain such a. claim. . ondary evidence is admissible not to prove how any number of the In the short time allotted to me I have presented thi's question as votes were cast, but to prQve the ''actual state of the vote;" to show fully and as clearly as I am able to do, and I must conclude. I can which the return fails to establish. not go into an argument on the other questions. If yon take the re Here, more particularly, I desire to refer to the case of Giddings t:s. turn of the votes cast in Florida as returned by men appointeJ there Clark, in the Forty-second Congress, in which my friend from Texas to manage the election, appointed from the 8ame political party as [Mr. Giddings] was a party. I refer to this case because, in one re the contestee in this case, some ef them as has been already suggested ·spect, it is directly in point here. In that case the canvassing board sent to the precincts to manage the elections, and to precincts in which rejected the vote of the county of Bosque, where the contestant bad they did not reside, according to all these returns Mr. Finley has a received 457 votes and the sitting member 77. The vote was rejected majority of 5 votes. If you take the vote of the district without the because the election managers had ceased by law to be officers of elec manipulation made by the canvassing boarcl under the mandate ~f the tion at the date of the election. The unanimous report of the Com supreme court, or upon their own volition when it was necessary in mittee of Elections in this House, Mr. :McCrary being chairman, was order to determine the vote of the whole State, and this committ-ee is that the rejection was wrong, and say: unanimous that that manipulation was wrong, rejecting the return It seems probable that the only objection to the returns was that they were cer from Archer No.2, Finley is elected by 224 votes. He is elected in tified by Bitfie and not by Ford. If so the defect was not fatal, because t-he former both cases; in one case by 5 votes and in the other case by 224 votes. was certainly acting as registrar under color of authority, and was at least an offi cer de facto whose official acts affecting third persons ana the public must be held So we have upon the face l)f the returns and passing upon all the valid. But however this may be, the proof shows that the election was legally questions which were made iii the State of Florida, in the courts and held, and that contestant secured 457 votes and the sitting member 77 votes. H the before congressional committees, the broad nak~d fact, as shown by return was uncertifieq, it was competent to show by others what the vote was. the unanimous report from a committee composed of republicans and 'Opon this point w~ report what wa& said in the case of McKenzie democrats of the election in H376 in the State of .:Florida, that the vs. Braxton, decided in the early part of the present session: result as retmned wa.s not the true result. It was determined by unanimous report of this committee that the vote of the State of Of course the ~eturns of an election must be certified by the proper officers. If not so certified they prove nothing, and when offered in evidence, if objected to, Florida has been determined by counting votes never cast. If you they must be rejected. It was so held by the House in Barnes vs. Adams in the substitute 180 and 141 as being the true vote proved from Archer last Congress. It does not, however, necessarily follow that the vote cast at such No.2, in Alachua County, and not counting any illegal votes for non an election is lost or thrown away. An uncertified return does not prove what the vote was. That is all. The duly certified return is the best evidence; but if it be registration, or be<;~.nse they were foreigners and had not furnished shown that this does not exist, we doubt not secondary evidence would be admissi proof of their naturalization, Mr. Finley would be elected by 224. ble to prove the actual state of the vote. Taking into consideration the votes this minority say are illegal The failure of an officer, either by mistake or design, to certify a return iijhonld because of non-registration, which I do not believe and which will not be allowed to nullify an election, or to change a result, if other and sufficient be discussed by my colleague of the committee who follows me, and satisfactory evidence is forthcoming to show wha.t the vote actually was. who will show it is not the truth, and deducting these v6tes in pro In this case we exclude the return because we cannot ascertain the portion to the vote received by these two candidates in the ten coun maJority-not that we cannot ascertain for whom some votes were ties where it is claimed they were cast, deducting 252 from Mr. Finley cast. In that ca-se the return was excluded because it wa.s notlegally and 144 from Bisbee, I do not know the exa-et proportion, but de certified. Aud there having been other. evidence showing not how ducting that number, taking into consideration 396 illegal votes and one vote was cast or how a portion of the votes were cast, but what submitting to the roles laid down by the contestee in this case, de was the actual state of the vote, that secondary evidence was held ducting them in proportion to their votes in the ten counties where competent and the actual vote counted. So are the authorities every they were cast, and it leaves Mr. Finley elected by 162 votes. where. They say there are 74 votes illegally cast by fereignera who had In the cases quoted fr·om, evidence of the actual vote was held com not exhibited their naturalization papers w~en they came to vote. petent, the return being rejected. In this case there is like evidence These foreigners were all naturalized; they were naturalized ac as to the state of the vote-the evidence of Tucker. If that is sub cording to the law, and the only thing they failed to do was to pre stituted for the return rejected, the vote to be counted for Archer sent their naturalization papers where they votf>Ai, according to a pro No.2 is 180 for Bisbee and 141 for Finley, and not 308 votes for :1\ . :Mr. CANDLER. I thank the gentleman. The qualifications for ca-se I have already referred to, wherein the other side, by a strict · .. voters, Mr. Speaker, are prescribed in another seotion of the consti party vote, determined illegal votes were cast {or a republican candi tution, which declares that naturalized citizens of the United States date and unseated him upon less evidence than we have here as to shall be qualified to vote. The other section which I have referred the candidate voted for. to is a; section of the constitution which does not seek to determine But I desire to call attention to the fact that tb.e majority report the qpalifications of the voter, but regulu.tes the manner in which he rejects the vote of the precinct entirely because Mr. Finley did not shall establish his qualification before the election managers if chal attempt to prove the number of ballots cast there for him, but see lenged. Taking that rule of exclusion, and yet Finley is elected. ing the weakness of that position, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. But exclude these 74 votes, which we say are clearly legal votes, but CANDLER] who has just addressed the Honse has made an argument. concede because they did not present their papers they are not to be it was not proved, it was not established, that these men votecl for counted, and Finley is elected by a majority of 56 votes. Take the Mr. Bisbee. The gentleman from Alabama, [Mr. WILLIAMs,] in dis 308 votes that Mr. Bisbee alleges to have been cast for himself, and cussing the question, says that we have not proven that the men were of the 308, acccording to the testimony in this record, which he has registered. not sought to bring out, 153 of them are proved to be non-registered What have we proven f Fleming, a democrat, upon whose evidence. votes-153 of them, according to the testimony he himself furnished, the majority rely, swears that he stood at the polls and kept a list of are illegal and ought to be deducted from Bisbee's vote. Then tak all who voted, except for a period ot less than an hour at the meridian ing off 153 and giving him every one claimed by the minority, and of the day. A gentleman corrects me and says that he was absent Finley is elected. only twenty minutes. My recollection is that he was absent nearly Then I conclude, Mr. Speaker-and I would not have Finley seated an hour. He swears he kept the list correctly; .305 names are upon here unless he has established by this record his title to this place that list, and 283 thereon named testify they voted for Mr. Bisbee. The not counting illegal votes because of non-registration, deducting the majority report concedes, yes, it is predicated upon the truthfulness 74 votes because they did not show they were legal voters by exhibit of the witness Fleming, the men upon-his li.st are conceded to have ing their papers at the polls; indeed, to measure contestee's case by been qualified voters; count the 233 for the sitting member .and he i& the rules of law he invokes and the evidence he. has produced, he has entitled to hold his seat. The position taken by the minority report no-legal title to the seat he holds, and Finley has. is fortified on· all sides; and gentlemen upon the other side are com [Here the hammer fell.] pelled to take the position of the majority report, the position the gen 1\Ir. HISCOCK. This contested election, in the ordinary proceed tleman from Indiana [Mr. CoBB] was compelled to take; but discard ings in reference to it, was referred to a subcommittee of the Com altogether the election at Archer precinct No. 2, disfranchise the elec mittee of Elections consisting of one republican and two democrats. tors there-and for the absurd reason Mr. Finley neglected, willfully T.hese gentlemen undertook the examination of the case, and con neglected, for he knew the issue tendered, to prove in the manner. ducted it with :fidelity and with great faithfulness. The result of adopted by the contestee how many voted there for him-adopt this their deliberation was that two of the gentlemen upon that suo rule, and yon always put" it in the power of a party to a contest, w4en committee-a democrat, Mr. TURNEY, from Pennsylvania, and Mr. you have recourse to the electoro themselves, to detet"mine the result THORNBURGH, from Tennessee-united in a report that Mr. Bisbee is by his own negligence, by his wrong to have the entire vote thrown~ entitled to hold·his seat upon this floor. The case is not presented out. Isthathonest, isthatfairf Itwonldnothave beenagreatlabor; here by strictly partisan reports. On the contrary, one of the leading in the light of a previous election. 1{otto exceed 40 democrats could democrats upon the Committee of Elections, after the most careful have voted for Mr. Finley, a.nd give him that number, and Mr. Bisbee and faithful examination of the whole subject, the facts of the case, is elected by over 200 majority. , and of the law of the ca-se, has signed t.he minority report. When the gentleman who drafted the majority report in this case I believe in this case there is no law it needs a lawyer to under comes to make his argument, I ask him to state why Mr. Finley diu stand and comprehend. There is no law involved but ·that a layman not call those who voted for him. There is but one answer, there may understand and appreciate to its fullest extent and in all its can be but one, that is, if he had searched through the whole preciMt bearings upon the subject. I say further, the facts are hardly, cer and had called every man who had voted for him the number would tainly are not fairly, in dispute. not have exceeded 25, 40 at the outside, and Mr. Bisbee would be en I will now examine the :first· point upon which the two reports be titled to the seat. That is the only possible reason that can be given fore the Honse differ, the result of the·election at Archer precinct No. for Mr. Finley not having presented such evidence here. 2, Alachua County, Florirla. Both reports agree the returns which I have stated the extreme number of democratic votes cast in that were made by the election officers should be rejected. precinct ab previous elections. The full strength of the democratic •I do not believe it was necessary for that to have been conceded by party in that election precinct was within the limits of 25 and 40. the minority. On the one hand two election officers swear that these By the action of the State canvassing board on two occasions Mr. returns falsely indicate the vote; against that two of the election Bisbee was awarded the certificate of his election; on one occa.Sion officers testify the returns faithfully and honestly indicate the true by between 100 and 200 majority, and again by over 300 majority. vote. 'Vhat did Mr. Bisbee do under the circumstances to free the To get rid of this certificate it was not sufficient to introduce. evi question from any doubt! He sought to a-scertain the true vote cast dence that 25 or 30 or 40 democrats voted for Finley at the election at that precinct. AnC!l that it might be proved to the satisfaction of precinct Archer No. 2, against 300 for the contestee; that wolli.d not everyone he-went there and called thevotersthemselves. Replaced have been sufficient; therefore the gentleman shirked the issue, rely the republicans under the obligations of an oath and upon the stand, ing as I believe upon the strength of his party in this Honse to reject and the question was asked each, "For w h6m did you vote Y Did yon altogether the vote at Archer preeinct No.2, for the sole reason the vote the republican ticket T Did you vote the democratic ticket Y evidence would be as he believed, probably knew, conflicting upon Did yon vote on that occasion for Bisbee or Finley f" All this was the question whether the returns were tampered with; but I say, not done in a corner. Of the taking of that testimony the contestant sir, it is fair when a party can furnish the true vote for himself to had ample notice, and every voter called was, or might have been, require him to do it. Mr. Bisbee did not :find it a very difficult task, subjected to a cross-examination. and it is not claimed M:r. Finley had as large a vote as he, and in This issue was tendered by the pleadings. It had then been agreed default of the contestant having furnished available and competent to substantially by the parties the returns should be rejected, and proof of his true vote we can only count that pro;ven by the contes each party was called upon, challenged to present by other evidence tee. We have no right in ethics or law to disfranchise those we know as well as he could the true vote at Archer precinct No.2, and gen to have voted on account of the ignorance, the negligence, or depend tlemen stand here and criticise the evidence introduced. What bet ence on partisanship of the contestant. ter proof could be furnished than the testimony of the voters them I appeal to the majority in this Honse; I appeal to the judicial selves, taken in the manner I ·have described f minds of those I see before me, to say if they can stand upon any We had before the House a case in which it was proved the voter such record as the majority report asks of them, contends for, upon had a ticket given to him by a distributer of votes a few rods from this point. the polls, and the majority held that that vote should be counted for I pass now to other points in the case. There are two more which the candidate·favored by that distributer, on the presumption that I propose to discuss briefly. First, with reference to unregistered the ballot ~iven out by a republican that distance from the polls was voters. Before I get through I think I will demonstrate that Mr. deposited m the ballot-box, and by virtue of that decision of the Bisbee's title does not depend entirely upon Archer preeinct No 2. , majority a gentleman now holds his seat in this House. Here we have The majority report says there is not sufficient evidence that un three hundred men, many of whom I concede ~ould not read or write, registered men voted in any considerable number. That is sub but who swear they were republicans and intended to vote for Mr. stantially the language. I congratulate my friend from Georgia_ Bisbee, and received their ballots from the regular republican can [Mr. CANDLER] that he took no such position as that in his argu vassers or vote distribn.ters and voted them. We have the evidence ·ment. The proof in this case upon that point is ample. The original they belonged to the republican organization and had been active registration lists were introduced and compared with the poll lists., republicans previous 1to the election. We have in the record every Can there, then, be room for doubt. any fur speculation on this point' conceivable fact possible to be proved in any case forcing the con I repeat, the original registration lists were introduced and compared: clusion these men voted for Mr. Bisbee, and I must express snrp~ise with the poll lists, and in that way was determined the. !!umber of any; gentleman can doubt, can qpestion, what seems to me so clearly men who were unregistered and who voted. . proved. I ask my honorable friend from Georgia if these men were Under the laws of Florida there is no question that an unregistered not legal voters and Mr. Bisbee's title to his seat depemled upon a man cannot vote. This Honse, I believe, has passed upon that ques majority covered by their number if he would then have any diffi tion time and time again. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. CAN culty in deciding they v~ted for him! And I call attention to the DLER] appreciates the evidence in this case upon that point. Heap- . . ... ~' ~ ..:.. :. . 1879. : r, CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1675· preciates it in its full force, and therefore stands here upon this floor bee, 304 for :Mr. Finley and 92 for Mr. Bisbee, difference 212, and you seeking to seat Mr. Finley by the rejection of Archer precinct No. 2. increase the ma~ority to 232. · From Mr. Finley's aggregate vote de Now, lww do the ballots cast by unregistered voters affect there duct the 76 votes of unnaturalized citizens cast for him, and ,the sult f There is no question about the rule governing. The House majority is increased to 308. And if you reject t.hevote of Archer has laid it down; I believe, in a contested-election case in which 1t1r. precinct No.2 altogether, Mr. Finley's majority is 263, and then make Finley was a party. • the proper deductions for unregistered and uunaturalized voters, and T ou are to take the precincts in which the unregistered men voted Mr. Bisbee has a majority of 19. and deduct from the vote of the candidates respectively in the propor 1\Ir. Speaker, I have little more to say. We are very near to the tion which each one received of the aggregate vote. To illustrate close of the session, but a few days in which to perfect the necessary the n1le, if 120 illegal votes were cast in an election district or pre legislation, the country has ~he right to demand of us. And in the.5e cinct, upon a total vote of 1,200, it would be 10 per cent. gf that total last days this election case is forced for our consideration; 'the Com vote; if Finley received 1,000 thereof, 10 per cent. thereof, or 100; mittee on Appropriations is antagonized that it may be dispose . 1676 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20., .. in that way only, are they able to decide that the contestant was then decided in his favor, he now asks an adverse decision for the elected. , purpose of giving him the seat at this time. Now, what are the facts upon this branch of the caseY Mr. Bisbee Mr.-Speaker, I desire in conclusion once more to call the attention has proven by two hundred and ninety-eight electors that they voted of the members of this House to the importance of the duty we are in this. precinct and that they cast their votes for him, and he has a.bout to discharge. We are not politicians. We are judges. The proven that ten other electors who are dead or have removed from members of this Rouse are to be as one judge in this respect. "Each the district also cast their votes for him, making in all 308 votes. If Honse shall be the judge" is the language and injunction of the Con these are allowed to him, then beyond any question he was elected stitution. and is entitled to hiJ:; seat. In the ante bellum cases there was ll;) such conflict as is found in \Vhy ought they not to be allowed t9 him f The only reason as many of those which have been decided during the uncertain position signed by the majority report is that it was impossible to ascertain o! the rebe.llious States and upon t~e difficult and complicated ques the true vote at the polls in the precinct in question. I will examine twns growmg out of the late conflict between the two sections. presently that question or position and see whether it is tenable or In a recent case, when the chairman of the Committee of Elections not. was referring to one of such cases as a precedent in favor of the views The contestant offered no evidence whatever as to the votes in this be was advocating, he was interrupted by the gentleman from Massa, precinct. He leaves his case with the returns rejected and with no chusetts, [Mr. BUTLER,] who appealed to him to say if he believed the proof whatever to sustain the position that he had any votes in pre decision he was quoting was right. His silence was a most con cinct No. 2. Mr. Speaker, the burden was upon him, as it was upon vincing answer in the negative. I trust no such scene will be here Mr.- Bisbee, to prove what votes he actually received. He chose to after witnessed in these Halls based upon the decision we are soon to offer no evidence on the subject, and because of this omission on his make. part he asks the rejection of all the evidence which was offered by I trust this House will now rise to the dignity of the occasion and the sitting member and of all the votes proven to have been given for to the importance and gravity of the question, and so pronounce its :Mr. Bisbee. · judgment that the decision which shall here be made will form a Mr. Speaker, if there is any principle well settled by the laws which record to which just men will hereafter refer as a precedent worthy govern elections it is that, where a whole return is rejected for any to be followed in all coming time. cause, evidence may be given by the parties to the contest of the votes which were actually cast. This may be done by evidence of concur MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. rent declaration or by the testimony of the voters themselves. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Snri>soN, one of its clerks, in The testimony of the electors is pronounced by the authorities to formed the Honse that the Senate requested the return of a bill of be the highest evidence, higher even than the return itself, because the House of the following title: it comes from the very source of knowledge as to the accuracy of the A bill (H. R. No. 21151) for the relief of M. G. Harman, of Virginia. vote. There is no conflict on that question in the authorities which ELECTIO~ CO~TEST-FTh'LEY VS. BISBEE-. govern the case. Nor does the fact that only the sitting member chose to give such evidence, or that the contestant (}'ave no reliable or Mr. BISBEE, (contestee.) How much time have I left, Mr. Speakerf satisfactory evidence, vary or override the rule. This was distinctly The SPEAKER pro tempore, (Mr. FINLEY.) The gentleman has laid down in the case of Washburn vs. Voorhees, cited in the report thirteen minutes left. of the minority. The reason of the rule is so clear that it does not l\lr. HISCOCK. I yielded the remainder of my time to the gentle need the citation of authorities. man from Florida, [1\fr. BISBEE.] .Archer precinct No.2 in this congressional district it is conceded The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are thirteen minutes of the time was a republican precinct. of the gent.lernan from New York [Mr. HiscocK] stili remaining. If the contestant, who only had a minority of the votes cast at that Mr. BISBEE. That will be in audition to the ho.ur to which I am precinct, by omitting to give such evidence could defeat his adver entitled f sary, and throw out the actual votes as is done by the report of the 'l'be SPEAKER P)'O tempore. It will. majority, it would be a most signal triumph of a minority of voters Mr. BISBEE, (contestee.) l\lr. Speaker, I am aware how reluc over the majority, and a most signal triumph for the contestant in tant this Honse must be at this stage of t be session to listen to dis the case of a contested election in Congress. cussions upon a contested-election case. I promise those who favor In the report of the majority it is stated as the only reason for re me with their attention not to weary, at least not to exhaust their jecting the votes cast for Mr. Bisbee, as proven by him: patience. There are certain propositions upon which the members of the Com Your committee admits that if there was no evidence other than the returns, they being fraudulent and void, proving that the contestant received votes at said mittee of Elections are unanimous. First, they are unanimous that poll. then it would be unquestionably right to count the vote clearly proven to upon a table of the votes, including the legal and illegal votes, can have been cast for contestee. But when the proof shows that a large number of vassed and not canvassed, the contestant would have had 5 majority. votes were, in point of fact, cast for one candidate, as for the contestant in this They are also una,nimous that more than 5 illegal votes were cast for case, but the number not being sufficiently certain to enable them to be counted, it seems to your committee to be manifest injustice to count the votes of his oppo· the contestant. The report of the majority finds that after they leave' nent, thereby increasing his ma:jority to the full number of votes so counted. Archer precinct No. 2 11 illegal votes were cast for the contestant. There is no role of law or equity that will justify such action, but it would be a That would leave me entitled to my seat by 6 majority. clear case of uncertainty in the proof, and stands in the same position as to uncer But the report goes on to say that the return from .Archer precinct tainty as the other positions assumed, :md the entire vote must be rejected. No. 2should lJe 1·ejected, and thatnovotes there cast should be counted Mr. Bisbee has proved that there were 308 votes cast for him, but for either party. The committee are unanimous that after rejecting his opponent did not choose to make any satisfactory proof, therefore the returns from that precinct the evidence shows that I received 308 the majority of the committee say that Mr. Bisbee's 308 votes are to votes at that precinct. The repod of the minority of the committee, be rejected. A more monstrous proposition was never submitted to which is the report of the majority of the subcommittee, count;s those the judicial mind. A weak anversary could always defeat his oppo 308 votes for me. The report in favor of the contestant refus~s to nent in a court of justice upon such a theory. count those 308 votes for me solely and exclusively upon the ground In the case referred to, Mr. Voorhees had498votes, according t.othe that the contestant did not prove his vote at that poll. In my opin rejected returns. Yet by omitting to give evidence be lost the votes ion, with all respect to the gentleman who drew that report, a more of those 498, except 4 incidentally proven, while Mr. Washburn, his absurd proposition was never written or stated by lawyer or judge. adversary, proved and was allowed 27 more votes than the rejected I ~ay there is no decided case in the civilized world that recognizes returns gave him. The decision in that case has never to my knowl- any such doctrine. Wa-s it my duty to have proved the votes cast edge been called in question. • for the contestant Y Has he the right to fold his arms after I had Mr. Speaker, applying that rule to the present case, there remains closed my testimony with reference to a precinct upon which his no doubt whatever of the election of the sitting member. None of whole case rested and say to me, "You go on now and prove my vote; the other questions which arise in this case would affect the result, if you do not your seat will be awarded to me." and all that has been said in favor of the contestant about tho irreg The time was when the plaintiff failed to prove his case that judg ularities in the canvass, which have led the unanimous decision of ment went in favor of the defendant. It is here proposed to reverse the committee that the return from .Archer precinct No. 2 should be that rule; and because the plaintiff ha-s not proven his case judgment rejected, has no bearing upon the question now to be decided. is to be rendered against the defendant and for the plaintiff. The case then, stands upon two canvasses by the State officers I send to the Clerk's desk and ask to have read the conclusion of awarding the certificate to Mr. Bisbee. He bas proved that in .Archer the majority report upon this subject, to show that I have stated it precinct No.2 he received 308 votes instead of 399, as shown by the fairly. • rejected return. The contestant has not proven that he receiveu any The Clerk read as follows: votes, or that any votes were cast for him at that precinct. He bas Your committee admits tha~ if there was no evidence other than tbe retnrns, not, as he was bound by law to do, proven that Mr. Bisbee was not they being fraudulent and void, proving that the contestant receh·ed votes at said duly elected. For that reason the prima facie case of the sitting poll, then it would be unques:ionably right to count the vote clearly pro"r"en to have been cast for contestee. But when the proof- shows that a large number of member must prevail, and he is entitled to continue in his seat. votes were in point of fact cast for one candidate, as for the contestant. in this case, Mr. Speaker, the case of the contestant is placed by the report of but the number not being sufficiently certain to enable them to be counted, it the majority upon grounds to which I have no doubt allusion will be seems to your committee to be manifest injustice to count the votes of his oppo made before the debate closes. And be asks in this majority repoi't nent, thereby increasing his majority to the full number of vo!Jesso counted. There is no rule of law or equity that will justify such action, but it would be a clear case that this House shaU reverse the decision upon which he was seated of uncertainty in the proof, and stands in the same position as to uncertainty as in the Forty-fourth Congress. Upon these very questions which were the other positions a sumed, and the entire vote must be rejected. ., , ,. l£l9. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-~ HOUSE. 1677 1\Ir. BISBEE. Now, Mr. Speaker, the error and vice of that decis Cross.examination: ion is that a majority of the committee proceed upon the theory that Q. Can you read 1 after the return is rejected as evidence of the vote cast you cannot .A. Yes, sir; a little. Q. Who al~ was on your ticket ? . count any vot~s for either paJ:o/ unless the true vote .o~ each party A. !'reder~ck 9· Humphreys, Charles H. Pearce, William H. Holden, Thomas shall be. establiShed by other eVIdence. All the authont1es esta.blish Long, ~oratlo BISbee, Marcellus L. Stearns, David Montgomery, L. G. Dennis, and ~here is ~one. cited to the c~ntrary, that after the return is rejected: W. K. Cessna; that all I can remember. if there IS eVIdence that a smgle legal vote was cast for either party Q. Was Hayes and Wheeler on the ticket~ A. I did not see hi_s _name on it; but his electors, Frederick C. Humphreys, it must under the law be counted. This House has no power to re: Charles H. Pearce, William H. Holden, and Thamas W. Long. fuse to count a vote where the evidence is clear that it was cast. CHESTER MOSELY. '!'his House is the "judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members;" but when a vote is cast and the proof shows 1\lr. BISBEE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know by what reason that it was cast for a particular candidate, I deny the power of this or what logic the majority of the committee can refuse to count those House to refuse to count it. v_otes. The voters swear that they can read, that they did read their Now I send to the Clerk's desk and ask to have read the testimony tickets, and that they voted for myself. I have had this testimony of James M. Snowden, remarking that the contestant himself puts in read as an illustration of' other testimony in the case. Fifty-four of the 308 voters swear to the same effect as the testimony that has evid~Bce a list of 305 voters at this poll, so that he is estopped from de.nymg that they are legal voters; and of those 305 voters, his own been read. I appeal to the lawyers on this floor whether there is any witness, 1\Ir. Flemming, a representative of the democratic party, who reason for any decision against the counting of these votes. stood at the poll and took down the names of the men as they voted The next class of vot~rs consists of 12 who, while they swear that swears there were but fif,teen white men. The testimony is overwhelm: they caJ?-D:Ot read, testify that another person read their ticket to ing that the white men voted at poll No.1 at the other end of the them, glVmg the n~me of such persGn. I have in my hand, and building, while the colored men voted at poll No.2. I now ask the shall ask to have pnnted as a part of my remarks a list of the names attention of the House to the testimony of Mr. Snowden, who was of these 308 voters, with a reference to the pao-e ~f the record of the ·1678 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20~ 'IHlRD CLASS. List of t•oters a~ A1·cher who sweat· the1J 1:oted, ~,e.-C 1879. ·, CO;NGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1679 ing against fraud and keeping a list of voters, must have known that you cannot count the 308 votes for me at thek polLs because 1he whether any of them voted the democratic ticket. Yet he is not in alleged announcement of 180 to 141 contradicts it. Yon cannot count terrogated on this point. Mr. Flemming is a merchant in Archer, and he s~ys, the 180 for myself and the 141 for my opponent, because th~ I believe is an honest man, and he testifies that the 305 voters were testimony of the 308 voters contradicts that. That is his arrr ument all colored men but 15. The names of the 15 he gives in his testimony. that you cannot count the one because it is contradicted by the other: Does not every man know who knows anything about the elec When it is obvious that if the testimony is insufficient, as tho majo.r tions in the Southern States, that where there are two polls near it.y find, to justify counting the vote as 180 for me 11ud 141 for niy together the white men vote at one poll and the colored men vote at opponent, it is insufficient for any purpose, especially to contradict the other. the testimony of the voters. The testimony is this precinct gave ~68 republican majority in 1874. Having rejected the theory that the vote wa.s 180 to 141 there is The testimony by which I seek to establish my vote only gives me not one pa-rticle of evidence iu this case-the return beinO' r~jected 264 majority in 1876. Counting the 308 and counting also the votes to contradict the testimony of the voters and the officers gf the clubs cast at poll1 would give 264 majority in the entire precinct. who distributed the tickets to them. ,. Let me call the attention of the House to the decision of this com Now, I.re!ld from page 282,7 ~ansiug, New York Supreme Court mittee in the case of \Vigginton 'I: B. Pacheco. I refer to the testimony Reports, m JUSt such a ca-se as thts, where the retmn was assailed on in reference to the vote of Gilbert. The only testimony was that of the ground of fraud on the part of the officers. The opinion of the Mr. Retzkee, who testifies as follows: court in relation to this branch of the subject is as foll,ows: Mr. Gilbert always told me be was a republican. He asked me which were the The relator proceade · The testimony shows that none but straight.republican and straight 1868, when the registration system was established, down to the ~lec democratic tickets-were distributed there that day. . .. tion of 1876; and I have introduced the poll-lists to show who voted. Now I repeat if the republican voters there were deceived, the Now, I s:;.y that wheri yon finq the nl\me of a man on that poll:list political friends of my opponent deceived them. ·If in point· of fact it is conclusive evidence that he voted. If you find his name is not, the republican tickets were taken out of their hands and democratic on the grand registration books, a copy of which is in evidence, it is tickets given them instead, my opponent could have shown it. If it conclusive proof that he is an unregistered voter and that his vote was done by any one, it was done by his political friends. Do you sup is illegal. · . pose that if it had been true he would nothaveshown it by testimony, Mr. CANDLER. The gentleman will allow me to cull his attention when his whole case depended upon it f He folds his arms and ~ays to a single point. The minority report states tha.t there were 396 in legal effect : Having proven 30!:3 votes for yourself, now go on and votes of unregistered voters, and that these votes were cast in ten prove my votes or your seat will be awarded to me; that is to say, counties. In those ten counties the sitt~ng member received 4,887 upon the conclusion of the majority of the committee he is to be votes and Mr. Finley 6,675. Now, upon that vote the proportion to be awarded a seat in this House for his own neglirrence. deducted fro.m the sitting member would be 167 and from :M:r. Finley One thing or the other is true. Either he had no votes there, and 2~9. But the minority report gives the p~oportion as 92 for the sitting his political friends told him so, or if he did have any it is his own member and 304 for Mr. Finley. Is not that a mistakeT fault and negligence that they have not been proven. I say, there l\.Ir. BISBEE. The gentleman makes a deduction pro rata accord fore, that upon the evidence upon this branch of the case it is clearly ing to the counties, but that is not the rule. The illegal VC)tes must shown that I have 45 majority, without considering any part of my be deducted pro mta according to the vote polled at the particular answer or of the minority report. If -you count the 308 voteR for poll where they were cast. me as the gentleman from Georgia [:Mr. CA.t.~DLER] con~edes, then Mr. C~~LER. Bot that does not seem to be the rnle followed in the case of the contestant is destroyed, and he is not entitled to a the minority report; the deduction there appears to be by coU.nties. seat in this House. Mr. BISBEE. I will explain that. That is merely a summary I have read every ·report where this question has arisen in this statement. Deducting the unregistered voters, precinct by precinct, House from the foundation of this Government. I have read McCrary in each county, the result stated in the minority report is reached. on Elections repeatedly. I have read Brightley's Digest of Elections. For example, take Alachua County. I prove at four polls out of I have read the Pennsylvania Reports where these questions have twelve that a certain number of persons voted who were not regis arisen. I have been unable to find a single case that will warrant tered. Now the pro 1·ata doctrine must be applied at each poll where tho conclusion that where a return is rejected you cannot count the the illegal votes were cast, and you must not deduct the number of votes proven for one candidate because the other candidate does not illegal votes from the total vote at the twelve polls that each can prove his votes. _ didate received. That is the truern.le. The gentleman from Georgia There is one other fact that sustains the testimony of the voters as has been led into an error from a statement in the minority report of against this alleged statement. My opponent proved by his own the unregistered votes by counties. But that table js obtained by witnesses, Moore and Webster, that when the box was opened there adding all illegal votes at the different precincts in the several coun were but 277 ballots in the box, although the poll-list showed 318 ties. names. The testimony of Webster, the contestant's witness, is that Is there any reason, I ask lawyers upon the :floor of this Honse1 , he was the clerk of the court ; that when the box was opened to make whether they can give a.ny reason, why the votes thus proven to have the county canvass there were but 277 ballots in the box, a difference been cast of persons not registered should not be deducted f The -of 41 from the pnmber. on the poll-list; andMr.l\.Ioore, the inspector committee which tried this case tried it patiently and carefully, and whom the contestant makes his own witness, testifies that the alleged the majority of them came to the conclusion these votes should be !\nnouncement was made up, not from the ballots, but from the poll deducted. , list. ·I ask, how did they distribute those 41 votes when there were There are two or three counties where copies of the original regis no ballots to show for whom they had been cast'!' The names were tration books were not introduced, but the law provides that cor -on the poll-list but the ballots were not there. Yet it is said that rected lists of the voters should be sent to. the inspectors. I produced they made up this statement of 180 and 141 at the polls from the in evidence certified copies of those registration lists. I introduced names on the poll-list. There is testimony to the fact (and it is ad in evidence also poll-lists. I introduced in evidence also copies, mitted to be true) that during the adjournment for dinner this ballot under the seal llf the court, of lists of persons whose names had been box was out of the possession of the officers of election. stricken off, thus having in the record of the case all the testimony· The majority in their report use this language: which is known to the law to show that persons did vote and that This is another prominent feature in the evidence tending to prodnce uncer , they were not registered. tainty as to the true vote, and shows, if trne, that the ba.llots were tampered with Ir. is true that our law provides when any person who goes to the before they were connted. polls to vote on election day and his name is not found on the regis That is my claim, that they were tampered with, and that the tes try book he can vote by taking oath that he has been duly registered timony of the voters is the only evidence by which those votes can and his name has been improperly stricken off. Now, l\.Ir. Speaker, be determined. The difficulty with the contestant is this: he is un while that is trne, it is conceded he cannot vote unless he has been willing to confine himself to any theory. He started ont OJ?- the the once registered. I have introduced, as I have said, in six of the coun ory that the only error and the only fraud in this precinct was that ties certified copies of the registration book giving the name of every• 219 more votes were returned for me than were cast. After the testi man who was registered from 1868 down to the election. In other. mony was taken, I said before the committee: " For the sake of argu counties I have introduced certified copies Qf the registration lists ment, we will concede that; then there would be left 321 votes cast used by the inspectors on election day, and also certified copies of the in that precinct." The contestant put their names in evidence him lists of voters whose names were stricken off. Therefore, if the name self. I called up those witnesses and proved, according to the unan on the poll-list is found as having voted· and is not found on the reg imous verdict of the committee, that 308 of them voted for me. That istration book nor on the certified copy of the registration used by only left him 13, even assuming that all voted fpr him that I did not the inspector, nor on the list of names stricken off in that county, prove to have voted for me. That exploded his theory; and neither then I say that is conclusive that that man is an illegal voter. · he nor any of his friends have been able to construct any other theory There is a fatal error somewhere. Here is ':1 committee six to five; since. . the minority say I am entitled to my seat by 354 majority; the rna-· The majority report cannot be sust:tined without deciding that no jority say I am not entitled to it by 252 majority, and they arrive at matter how clearly a vote is proven for one candidate yon cannot that conclusion, as I have argued and stated, by refusing to count count it if the other candidate is negligent and fails to prove his votes. votes proven to have been cast for me by overwhelming testimony The two reports, Mr. Speaker, involve a very important question -of of the highest character known to judicial tribunals f:!imply because law. It is more important that this question should be settled right my opponent has not proven his vote at .the poll where the 1·eturn is than that a seat in this House should be vacated by one man and filled ~e~~ . by another. I say that.if the principle of the majority report is sus There is one other branch of this case. As argued by the gentle tained, the precedent thus established may ere long "return to plague man from New York, [Mr. HiscocK,]uuderthe constitution of Florida thAinventors." . a foreign-born person cannot vote unless he produces his naturaliza This majority reiJort goes on to iliscuss the unregistered voters. In tion papers or a copy thereof. The constitution says, in mandatory the case of Finley vs. Walls it was decided in the Forty-fourth Con negative words, that unless you do this you shall not be allowed to gress, :.tnd decided right, that where votes were ca-st at any poll by vote. It provides that he shall present, when he wishes to vote, to· persons who were not registered and where it was not shown for the persons lawfully authorized to conduct and supervise such elec whom they were cas.t, those votes were to be deducted pro rata from tions a duly sealed certified copy of his declaration of intention; the vote of each candidate at that poll. On that principle the con otherwise he shall not be allowed to vote ; and that any naturalized testant in that case-and he is the contestant here-obtained his seat. citizen offering to vote shall produce before such person lawfully In this case, following that authority, the minority of the committee authorized to conduct :tnd supervise the election the certificate of :find that 304 votes should be deducted from the vote of the contest naturalization, or a duly senled copy thereof; otherwise he shall not ant and 92 from my vote, making a net loss to the contestant of 212. be permitted to vote. Now, in that case of Finley vs. Walls there wa-s oral testimony of Now, it is not disputed, it is not controverted by the majority, that. the inspectors at the polls, who testified from memory that a certain the evidence is clear and conclusive that 74 voted for the contestant number of persons who were not on the registration list voted at a without producing those papers. . Under the laws of Pennsylvania-, particular poll. That oral testimony was deemed sufficient. In this if the name of a person offering to vote is not on the tax-list he can case I have introduced certified copies of the registration books from vote by making his affidavit .as to his age and residence. It has been 1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. repeatedly and uniformly decided by the courts of ..that State, and in The contestee shows by his own witness that the ballot-box. was contested ele9tions from that State in this Honse, that if a person not carried to the house of Black one of the republican officers of the on the tax-list caats a vote without producin~ that n.ffidavit his vote election, and that Dennis slept one night 'with the l:)allot-box in the is illegal, and; being illegal, no amount of 'testrmony can make it legal house. One of the republican witnesses testifies that when the polls aft-erward. were closed they counted the votes on the .tally-sheet and made an Mr. BRIDGES. In Pennsylvania a man who claims not to be on announcement of the result. There was a democratic examiner at the the tax-list can vote if he swears that he paid a county or State tax place upon the order of the United States commissioner as a watcher two years prior thereto. . or a sentinel to put down the result as announced by the republican Mr. BISBEE. Precisely; he has t.o make his affidavit. There is a clerk. And the re~ult as announced was 136 for F'mley and 180 for prerequisite act to be done. So in Wisconsin. In 21 Wisconsin, in Bisbee, and the republican ticket for President. a case that was reargued by distinguished counsel, Hon. Matt Car Now, in the face of that, my distinguished friend from Florida (Mr. penter being one, the court decided that the law provided imless a Bisbee) says that not more than twenty democratic votea had ever person was registered he could not vote unless he produced his own been polled at that precinct. Thesamewitnessswearson the follow affidavit and the affidavit of some other citizen who knew him,giving ing page that Finley had 136 votes, but he increases the republican his age ann residence; and the court were unanimous in their decis vote as announced, after the ballots had been in the possession of Den ion that a vote cast without those affidavits, no matter if the quali 'nis and Black, from 180 to 399. fications of the voter were otherwise absolutely perfect, was an illegal These facts were so apparent to the members of the committee and vote, and that proof at the trial that he could have furnished those to the contestant and contestee that they both came before the com affidavits would not make it a legal vote. mittee and said that the return could have no verity and most be I send to the Clerk's desk to have read so much of the opinion of disregarded. That being the conceded fact what next meets us I the court as I have included in brackets. a-dmit, and every sensible man must admit, that when the returns of The Clerk read as follows: an election furnish no evidence of the true result , it is competent for It is essentially an imperative statute and deprives the inspectors of all 'juris the party who has been injured by the failure of the election officers (liction to receive the votes of unregistered voters, unJess the conditions as to the to discharge their duty to ascertain the true result by calling the atti.f!1~tit1tht:r~~~~~~!l~;v~~~~e is a material difference between this voters themselves and showing by them for whom they voted. and fonner statutes. They were regnJations of the time and manner of conduct Now, Mr. Bisbee, recognizing in advance the fact that these re i,nfi elections, designed for the government of the officers having charge of the turns were corrupt and fraudulent, that they were no return at all, seeks to introduce other evidence to show how these parties voted. po J~ duty was imposed upon the voters except that of going to tho polls and de positing their vot-es. It was considered that the voters ought not to forfeit their The question is asked us why did not' Mr. Finley prove how the privileges or lose their votes by reason of the mistakes or misconduct of the officers, voters voted. He gives two reasons, each of which is perfectly good. which it was out of the power of the voters to remedy or prevent. He regards the declaration of the result made by the sworn officer By this ad;, however, every voter is made or may become an agent in the exe- and by au eye-witness as more reliable than any testimony of the cution of the J.aw. · individual voter. He is presumed to know the law a.nd must ~o t{) the polls prepared w comply with it.s conditions ; and if he does not, and his vote is lost it may, so far as it is Again, it is well known to gentlemen who live South that where the fault of any one, with justice be said to be his own faulti.1 a colored man has voted the democratic ticket he seeks to conceal it It is iu the nature of a penalty imposed by the law for his ne$lect to do what is for fear of assault rrom men of his own color and race. · There are ret).rired of him. The inspectOrs cannot receive his vote, ann if they cannot, it cannot afterward be received and counted by the courts. . exceptions to that, but as a general thing, in colored communit.ies And next it is to be observed that it is a negative statute. It has been said on where the colored people largely predominate, if any vote the demo very high authority, that negative words will make a statute imperative. Dwar cratic ticket they seek to keep that fact a secret for fear of injury being lis on Statutes (7 Law Lib., 55) and cases cited. The words of the act are: done them by their race. And to bring one of them up and ask bini •• No vote shall be received at any annual election in this State unJess," &c. It is difficult to conceive any language more strongly imperative than this. if he voted the democratic ticket or not is almost certain to lead him Mr. BISBEE. Now, Mr. Speaker, the point of that decision, sus to swear that he did not, rather than to run the risk of his life from tained as it is by the decisions everywhere, is that the voter himself those of his own race who voted the other way. is made the agent to execute the- law. He is presumed to know the Now look for a moment at the character of the testimony taken by law, and whether he is challenged or not, he must go to the polls the contestee, to the number of three hundl:ed and eight witnesses~ prepared with that prerequisite affidavit or paper, whateve1· it may of whom two hundred and sixty-five signed their names with a cross. be, which the law requires. So in this case the constitution pro There were two hundred and sixty-five of his witnesses who were hibits the reception of votes unless that paper is produced. called to prove how they voted who signed their names with a cross. It is conceded that 74 votes were cast for the contestant in that The depositions are perfectly stereotyped, as it were, merely' ch!mging ilJegal way. The majority report says that there was evidence that the name of the witness; the answers and the questions are alike.. they had been naturalized. But, sir, there was.no evidence producecl I will give some specimens of them: before the committee, and they did not claim that there was, except ALBERT BEA'ITY, being sworn, testifies as follows: on cross-examination they testified that they ha . j . '1682 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOU>SE. Now, that is the character of the testimony. If yon turn to Frank and you gentlemen, now in the closing hours of the Forty-fifth Con Brown's testimony yon will find that nowhere does he swear that he gress, ask us to sanction this sort of fraud. I hope it will not be- gave a ticket to this man. My friend from Tennessee [Mr. THORN done. · - BURGH] is shooting in the dark. He sees where the gap is. [Here the hammer fell.] These men, if they voted t-he democratic ticket, were afraid to say it. They could liave done so wit]10ut .their friends knowing any RETUR..~ OF A BILL TO THE SE...~A.TE. thing about it. _Mr. Bisbee prov.es by his own witnesses that Moor:e, The SPEAKER laid before the House the following message from one of his own officers of electiOn, was employed by democrats, m the Senate: the interest of democrats, to deceive the colored people by giving I~ SEXATE 01<' THE U.s-ITED STATES, February 20, 1B79. them democratic tickets. Now, how many tickets of that sort were Ordered, That the Secretary be directed to requf',st the House of Reprosenta-· tives to return to the Senate the bill of the House :No. 2161, for the relief of M.G. placed in the hands of colored people, who could not read or write, Harman, of Virginia. by Moore, a republican, whom Bisbee says has the confiden.ce of his There being no objection, the request was granted. partyf M,r. _qANDLER. Here is the testimony of Frank Brown, where he ELECTION CONTEST-~LEY VS. BISBEE. made hts mark. The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Commit Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. The man who gave him the ticket made tee of Elections on the contested-election case of Finley vs. Bisbee. his mark; Dennis made his mark when he changed the figures from Mr. COBB addressed the House. [His remarks will appear in the 280 to 399; they all made their marks in that precinct; and it made Appendix.] its mark upon the country. The SPEAKER. The time fixed for debate has expired. But, Mr. Speaker, I was going to state a circumstance in regard to Mr. COBB. I now move the previotl.S question on the resolutions. this colored vote. Where there are colored voters who cannot read The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered. or write it is customary to get out a ticket which they will recognize Mr. HISCOCK. What is the pending question Y Is the vote to be by its appearance. I heard of one town in which the republicans got taken on the amendments reported by the minority of the committee, out a ticket having npoo. it General Grant's likeness with an eagle. or simply on the resolutions of the majority, tha;t Mr. Finley is en It was not half an hour before the democrats had out a ticket ex- titled to the seat Y I would prefer that the vote be taken in that actly like it- . way. A MEMBER. To cheat the colored men. The SPEAKER. '£he minority of the committee reported resolu Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. No, not to cheat them, but to give tions in the nature of an amendment to those offered by the majority. honest colored men a chance to vote the democratic ticket if they Mr. HISCOCK. I understand that there js simply one resolution wished to. When they saw that style of ticket would not do the before the House, and that resolution is that 1\fr. Finley is entitled~ republicans got out a red ticket; and very speedily the democrats the seat. got out a red ticket also, just like the republican ticket. After The SPEAKER. The· Chair is quite willing to have the question a while the republicans issued a ticket with a black margin as if in submitted in that way, but cannot do so unless the resolutions re mourning. Very soon the democrats had issued a ticket just like it. ported by the minority are withdrawn. At last the republicans put'out a ticket havipg on it, the face of Mr. HISCOCK. Very well; that is the best way. My desire is to ; Foster Blodgett, who lived in that city. It was supposed that all have the vote taken on the 1·esolution reported by the majority._ the colored people would recognize Foster Blodgett. But within ten The SPEAKER. If the minority of the committee desire to have or fifteen minutes the democrats had issued a democratic ticket having a vote upon those resolutions, they may withdraw the amendment. a portrait of Foster Blodgett upon it. · The object was to give honest Mr. HISCOCK. Very well; then I withdraw the amendment. colored people an opportunity to vote the democratic ticket without The SPEAKER. Then the question js on the resolutions reported being subjected to terrorism. _ by the majority of the committee declaring ~Ir. Finley entitled t() Now, in Florida, bow did the poor colored men know for whom his seat. they were voting¥ Not one of those who could not read swore that Mr. JONES, of Ohio. Upon that question I call for the yeas and they voted for·Bisbee; they all say they voted the" straight repub nays. lican ticket." How did they know whether it was ''straight" or The yeas and nays were ordered. crooked 7 Why, sir, some shrewd republican might have erased the The question was taken; and there were-yeas 131, nays 122, not; names of more than half of the tickets of Mr. Bisbee, and these voters voting 37; as follows: would never have known it. . YE.A.S--131. Mr. THORNBURGH. But here in the evidence the "straight re .A.cklen, Culberson, Herbert, Roberts, publican ticket" is ·givep, and it has Bisbee's name on it. .Aiken, Cutler, Hewitt, .A.bra.m S . Robertaon. Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. That ticket is given in only one or ~o Atkins, Davidson, Hewitt, G. W. Ross, Banning, Davis, Joseph J. Hooker, Sayler, cases. But among the men who could not read you cannot find one Beale, Dean. House, Scales, who says he voted for Mr. BiBbee. They uniformily say they voted Bell, Dibrell, Jones, Frank Shelley, the" straight Republican ticket;" that Mr. A or Mr. B gave them Benedict, Durham, Jones, James T. Singleton, Bicknell, Eden, Kenna, Slemons, the ticket; and when we summon Mr. A or Mr. B as a witness he BlMkburn, Eickhoff, Kimmel, Smith, WilliAm E. d-oes not confirm the statement that he furnished the ticket. }"tank Bliss, Elam, Knapp, Spa.rb, 1 Brown in his evidence nowhere says that he gave tickets to these Blount, Ellis, Knott, Springer, voters. There is no evidence to connect the names of these voters Boone, Evins, John H. Landers, Steele,· ~· Bouck, Ewing, Ligon, Stenger, with the person for whom they voted. Bragg, Felton, LoCkwood, Swann, , This House when acting in a judicial capacity is called upon to say Bridges, Finley, Luttrell, Townshend, R. W. that the votes of these men who voted without knowing-for whom Bright, Fleming, Lynde, Tucker, they voted shall be counted in a precinct which was covered all over Buckner, Forney, :Mackey, Turner, Cabell, Franklin, Maish, Vance, with fraud and corruption, as is admitted by both the contestant and Caldwell, John W. Fuller, Mayham, Veeder, the contestee in this case, and as the history of the country has since Caldwell, W. P. . Garth, McKenzie, Waddell, shown. Never before has there been such corruption in connection Candler, Gause, McMahon. Walker, with the exercise of the elective franchise as is shown to have existed Carlisle, Giddings, Mills Warner, there. Yet we are asked to hold this election over again in this House Chalmers, Glover, Money, Whitthome, Clark, Alvah .A. Goode, Morgan, Wig~inton. and to say upon our oaths that these colored people who cannot tell Clarke of Kentucky, Gunter, Morrison, Wilham~~ Jere li. for whom they voted cast their votes for Mr. Bisbee, the contestee in Clark of Missouri, Hamilton, Muldrow, Willis, Albert S. this case. · Clymer, Hardenbergh, Muller, Wilson, Cobb, · Harris, Henry R. Phelps, Wood, Mr. EDEN. Did I understand the gentleman to say that an officer Collins, Harris, John T. Rea, Wright, of the election announced the result after the vote had been taken Y Cook, Hartzell, ~gan. Yeates, Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. Yes, sir; the clerk of the election al\ Cox, Samuel S. Hatcher, Reilly, Young, Casey ~- nomiced ,the result. Cra.-ens, Henkle, Rice, .Americus V. Young, JohnS. - Mr. EDEN. What was that result f Crittenden, Henry, Robbins, Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. One hundred and thirty-six: votes for N.A.YS-122. .Aldrich, Calkins, Evans, James L. Humphrey, Finley and 180 for Bisbee ; but after he and Dennis and Black had Baoon, Camp, Fort, Hungerford, had the· ballot-box at night, the votes next morning footed up 399 for Bafiley, Campbell, Foster, Hunter, Bisbee and 13G for Finley. Ba ey, Cannon, Fry~ Ittner, Mr. DUNNELL. I would like to ask the gentleman whether evi Baker, JohnH. Chittenden, Garfield, James, . Banks, Clafiin, Hale, Jones, JohnS. dence was not furnished by the investigating committee- Bayne, Cole, Hanna, Joyce, Yr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I was not on that committee. Boyd, Conger, · Harmer, Keifer, Mr. DUNNELL. 'l'hat the vote was declared to be 399 for Hayes Brentano, Cox, Jacob D. Harris, Benj. W. Keightley, and 184 for Tilden f And among all the witnesses who were ques Brewer, Harrison. Kelley, Brig~s, g~~~{le Hart, . Ketcham, tioned on that point not one sustained the democratic declaration. . Brog en, Deering, Haskell, Killinger, Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. I do not recollect the testimony on Browne, Denison, Hayes, Lapham • Bundy, Dunnell, Hazelton, Lathrop:· that point. ~·· Mr. COBB. Dennis himself swears that he and Black and Vance Burolia.rd, Eames, Hendee, Lindsey, Burdick, Ellsworth, Henderson, Loring, addep. 219 votes to the poll. Butler, Errett, Hiac.ock, Marsb, Mr. HARRIS, of Virginia. Yes, sir; he comes out and confesses it, Cain, Evans, I. Newton Hubbell, MGCeok,. ~ - 1879. ' I l • CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. M~ley, Pound, Sext&n, Turney, ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED. Mitchell, Powers, Shallenberger, Van Vorbes, Monroe, Price, Sinnickson, Ward, Mr. RAINEY, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that Neal, Pu~h. Smalls, Watso~ they had examined and found truly enrolled bills of the following Norcross, Rainey, Smith, A. He.JT White, Harry titles ; when the Speaker signed the same : · Oliver, Randolph, Starin, Wbite, Michael D. O'Neill, Reed, Stewart. Williams, Andrew An ?J.Gt (H. R. No. 4779) donating t.o the board of education of school Overt.on, Rice, William W. Stone. John W. Williams, C. G. district No. 1, Ara.pahoe County, Colorado, block numbered 143, in th& Page, · Robinson, G. D. Strait, Williams, Richard east Eli vision of the city of Denver, Colorado, for: common-school pur Patterson, G. W. Robinson, M. S. Thompson, Willits, poses; Peddie, Ryan, Thornburgh, Wren. Phillips, Sampson, Tipton, An act (H. R. No. n217) to :fix the pay of letter-carriers; and Pollard, Sapp, Townsend, Amos An a~t (H. R. No. 6464) for the relief of the Louise Home, in the ::YOT VVTING-37. city of Washington, District of Columbia. Baker, William H. Danferd, Martin Stone, Joseph C. BIDS FOR CARRYING :\IAILS. BaJlou, Dickey, Mo~~an, Throckmorton, Beebe, Dwight, :Metcalfe, Townsend, M. L Mr: WADDELL. I ask unanimous consent of the House that th& Bisbee, , • Frooman, Morse, w·t, letter from the Postmaster-General transmitting reports of offers re Blair, Gardner, Patterson, T.li. W~lsb, Blan,I; Gibson, Potter, Williams, James ceived under advertisement for carrying mails on the routes therein Caswell, Hunton, Pridemore, Willis, Benj. A. named, heretofore referred to the Committee on the Post-Office and · Clark, Rush Jo~ensen, Riddle, Post-Roads, be printed for the use of the House. · ' Covert, MaJors, Southard, There was no objection, and it was so ordered. Crapo, , Manning, Stephens, SQ the resolutions reported by the majority of the Committee of :MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. . Elections were adopted·. · A message from the Senate, by Mr. SYMPSON, one of its clerks, an .During the roll-call the following announcements were made: nounced that the Senate had passed a joint resolution (S. R. No. 66) Mr. T}IROC.KMORTON. On this question I am paired with the gen authorizing the sale of public property in Cincinnati; also a bill (S. tleman from Wisconsin, Mr. CASWELL. If he were here, I would vote No. 1638) to appoint Spruille Braden, an assistant ensign, an engineer "ay" and he would vote 11 no." in the United States Navy; in which he was directed to ask the con Mr. DICKEY.. On this question I am paired with my colleague, currence of the House. Mr~ _GARDNER. If he were present, he would vote "no" and I would The message fudher announced that the Senate had passed, without vote "ay." amendment, bills of the House of the following titles: ;Mr. PRIDEMORE. I am paired with my colleague, Mr. JORGE~ A bill (H. R. No. 2161) for the relief of :M. J. Harman, of Virginia ; SEN. If he were here, I would vote 11 ay." and Mr. CABE.LL. My colleague, Mr. HUNTON, is paired with Mr. W AJ.T, A bill (H. R. No. 4779) donating to the board of education of scbool of Connecti~nt. If he were present, Mr. HUNTON would vote "ay." district No.1, Arapahoe County, Colorado, lot numbered 143, in the Mr. COVERT. On this question I am paired with my colleague, east division of the city of Denver, Colorado; for common-school pur Mr. TOWNSEND. If he were present, I would vote "ay" and he would poses. vote "no." The message further announced that the Senate had p·assed, with Mr. SOUTHARD. I am paired with my colleague, Mr. DANFORD. amendments in which the concurrence of the House was requested, If he were here, he would vote "no" and I would vote '' ay." bills of the following titles: Mr. MANNING. Upon this question I am paired with Mr. CLARK, A bill (H. R. No. 3124) to amend section 8'.M of the Revised Statutes uf Iowa, who js detained from the Honse by illness. If he were here, M the U'nited States, relative to fees of district attorneys; and he would vote "no" and I would vote "ay."· A bill (H. R. No. 5065) to give circuit courts supervisory jurisdic- Mr. CANDLER. On this question I was paired with Mr. \VAJ.T, of tion in certain criminal cases. ; Connecticut, and Mr. HISCOCK was paired with General HuNToN, of SOUTH CAROLINA CO:STESTED-ELECTION CASE$. Virginia. By an arrangement made with the parties, Mr. W AJ.T is now paired with Mr. HUNTON, of Virginia. Mr. HUNTON is detained Mr. ELLIS. I give notioo that on Monday next I shall ask fon a.n from the House because of illness, and Mr. W AJ.T has been suddenly evening session for the consideration of the contested-election cases called from the city. If present, Mr. HUNTO~ would vote " ay" and from the State of South Carolina. Mr. WAIT would vote "no." On this question I vote '' ay." ORDER OF BUSINESS. Mr. POLLARD. On this question my colleagues, ~Ir. BLAND and Mr. METCALF'E, are paired. Mr. EDEN. I move that the House now take a recess until half • Mr. BAKER, of New York. I am paired with my colleague, Mr. past seven o'clock this evening. · . BEEBE. If he were present, he would vote "ay" and I would vote Mr. WILLIS, of Kentucky. I ask unanimous consent to take from . • ~tno." the Speaker's table House bill No. 2423, to restrict the immigration Mr. BLAIR. I am paired on this question with Mr. WILLis, of New of Chinese to the United States, which has been returned from the York. If he were present, he would 'Vote '' ay" and I would vote "no." Senate with amendments. I desire to have it taken up for the pur pose of concurring in the Senate amendments. ~·.CRAPO.' I am paired on this question with Mr. GmsoN, of Loms1ana. If he ·were present, I would vote "no." Mr. WHITE, of Pennsylvania, and others objected. Mr. MAJORS. I am paired on this question with Mr. WALSH, of Mr. ELLSWORTH. I call for the regular order. Maryland, who, if present, would vote "ay" and I would vote "no." The SPEAKER. The regular order is the motion of the gentleman Mr. STONE, of Iowa. On tbis question I am paired with Mr. MAR from Illinois, [Mr. EDEN,] that the House now take a recess untn half TIN, of West .Virginia. If he were present, I would vote "no." past seven o'clock. The Chair will state that the session this evening Mr. DWIGHT. I am paired on this question with Mr. STEPHENS, will be devoted to addresses in memorv of the late Mr. Williams of of Georgia. He would vote "ay" and I should vote ''no."- Michigan, and the lat.e Mr. Welch, of 'Nebraska; no other busin~. · Mr. EAMES. My colleague, Mr. BALLou, is absent by. leave of the Mr. RICE, of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent that to-morrow even Honse, and paired with Mr. RIDDLE, of Tennessee. ing he set apart from half past seven o'cock as of objection day for Mr. HUMPHREY. My colleague, Mr. CASWELL, is paired with the consideration of reports from th'e Committee on Invalid Pensions .Mr. THROCKMORTON, of Texas. If present, Mr. CASWELL would vote and the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. "no," llr. ELLSWORTH. I object. Mr. PATTERSON, of Colorado. On this question I am paired with MnTHOMPSON. Oh, do not object. Mr. McGowAN, of Michigan. If he were pre"'ent, he would vote ''no" Mr. ELLSWORTH. I asked unanimous consent the other day and and I would vote" ay." . it was refused. Mr. WIGGINTON. Call my name. Mr. MILLS. Can we not have a morning hour to-morrow f The Clerk· called the name of Mr. WIGGINTON, who voted "ay." The SPEAKER. The Chair will aid the gentleman so far as he can. Mr. DUNNELL. Was the gentleman within the bar when the last Mr. RICE. I understand that the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. name on the roll was called '1 ELLSWORTH] withdraws his objection to setting apart to-morrow Mr. WIGGINTON. I do not know whether I was or not. evening for the consideration of pension bills. The SPEAKER. · The Chair, then, will ask for consent. Is there Mr. McKENZIE. I object, and call for the regular order. objection to the gentleman from California. [Mr. WIGGL~TON] voting 7 The S~E~R. The regular order is the motion of the gentleman Mr: DUNNELL• . I do not object. from Illinois, [Mr. EDEN:] that the House now take a recess until The SPEAKER There is no objection. seven and a half o'clock. Mr. WIGGINTON. I vote "ay." The motion wasagreed to; andaccordingly(at four o'clock and fifty The result of the vote was then announced as above stated. minutes p. m.) the House took a recess until seven o'clock and thirty Mr. COBB moved to reconsider the vote just taken; and also moved minutes p. m. that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. The latter motion was agreed, to. EVENING SESSION. Mr. DAVIDSON. I now ask that the oath be administered to Mr. The House reassembled at half past seven o'clock p. m. :F'inley, of Florida. , . Mr. FINLEY, of Florida, then came forward a.nd took the modified DEATH OF HON. ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMB. oath. _· _ Mr. HUBBELL. I offer the resolutions which I send to ·tlle desk. 1684 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20; :fhe C!erk re~d :;ur fo.ll9ws: . attended with every n'lember of my staff in uniform. But thiB does not complet the debt I owe t~ General WILLIAMB as a soldier and as a patriot; and to you, biB .Resolved, That this House has heard with ~oop r~~t of the d6!'~ of Ron, AJ,· rimus S. W'ILLIAM.il, a member of this House from roe State of Michigan. son-in-law, I venture to do more, because you as a soldier appreciate the feelin~ appropriate to the occasion. I will have prepared, engrossed on parchment for his Reso1v(d. That as a testimony of respect to biB memory the officers and mem· family, the official .record of his service in the Mexican war and of that greater bars of this House will wear the -usual badge of mourning for the space of thirty war of national salvation in which General WILILUIS bore so conspicuous and days. · · . .Reso~ved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by the Clerk of this manly a part. This military .record may seem to you and to his fa,mily too formal, House to the familv of the deceased. . too short to comyass a life which spanned sixty-eight of the most eventful years Resolved That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these proceed· of the world's history, and may sound too much.. like Hamlet's moralizing on Alex ino-s to the'Senate, and that as a further mark of respect to the memory of the de ander: "Alexander died ; Alexander was buried ; Alexander returned unto dnst. \ ceased this House do now adjourn. And as I know full well that the feelings of those nearest him demand some. thing more personal, more specific, I must, at the risk of being otJ;icious, wni:e you Mr. HUBBELL. :Mr. Speaker, I rise to perform a solemn and pain more of my own pers.,nal thoughts and appreciation. . • General WILLIAMS eommanded a. division of the Twelfth Corp , which wa sent ful duty; to announce the death and pay a humble tribute of respect so rapidly from the East to Tennessee under General Hooker to re-enforce the Army to the memory of my late colleague, Hon. ALPHEus S. WILLIAMs, of the Cumberland after the battle of Chickamauga. I myself at that time was who died at his residence in this city on Saturday, the 20th d::ty of hurrying for the same object, from Memphis, with the Army of the Tennessee. December last. The great battle was fought at Chattanooga, and then wert! maO. a the combinations for the final critical campaign of our ci nl war. The Eleventh aml Twelfth Corp Time will not permit, nor am I competent to the task of pronounc were consolidated into the Twontieth Corps, commanded by Gene1-al Hooker, with ing a. fitting eulogy on the life and character of this most distin General A. S. WILLIA.l!S commanding the first division of that corps, and the senior guished citizen of my native State; and I shall therefore content division commander in that corps. In May, 1864, I succeeded General U.S. Grant myself. with a. very imperfect sketch of his life and public services, in command of t.he granll army designed to ail vance into the enemy's country from that quarter, and was most fortunate in my command in 'having such men as WIL with the hope that some one more ready in speech than I may fitly LIAMS in command of the fighting divisions. Up to that date we were absolute commemorate his character and virtues. · strangers, but my personal acquaintance then uegan and :ripened into a friendship A.LPHEUS S. WILLIAMS was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, Septem which was close and mutual to the day of his death. To recount his services ber 20 1810. On both father's and mother's side he came from the during the eventful years of 1864 and 1 65 would require a minute history of all the operations of that army, for General \VILLIAMs participated in e\ery movement good ~ld Puritan stock. The Starkeys, the Williamses, and the Pratts and every battle from Chattanooga till the close of the war, always in command of (among the earliest settlers of Saybrook) were men of note in the a division, and of his whole corps on the capture of Atlanta, a.nd up to Goldsboro, early days of the colonies. . . North Carolina, a period ~f eight months; always most aetive and eminently In 1827 he entered Yale College, and after graduatmg studied law qualified by nature and experience. He had the love and respect of his. command in an eminent degree, and like his prototype, General Thomas, ihe soldiers styled ooder the venerable Judge Daggett. Fond of travel, he visited every him "Pap WILLiaMS.'' , .. State in the Union, extending his journeys to the then Mexican prov Though eminently an ·officer of action. ho hall the patience and affability of ince-of Texas. In 1834 he traveled through Europe in company with manners which won the lo>e and veneration of his men. Frequently in our long, his early ·friend, the late tragedian, Edwin Forrest, until the summer weary marches I rode by his side, aml was often delighted with his cheerful diS position and love of wit. On one occasion he t~ld me that in a. certain Wisconsin ()f 1tl36, when he settled in Detroit, Michigan, of which State he con regiment of h1s were some Winnebago Imlians; that in passing the_reg4nent ~e tinueci a resident until his death. inquired of one of them what he thought of our march below Atlanro lilt{) Goorgm. As judge of probate for four years, as one of the city council, as "Ugb, a big hunt," was the reply. At a later day, after we had passed Richmond, Virginia, I found General WILLIAMS dismounted m a clover field. He had gathered -editor of the Detroit Advertiser, (now the Daily Post and Tribune,) in his hand a cluster of the white-clover blossoms of. early spring, (May, 1865,) and he was usefully and honorably connected with civic affairs untill847, holdincr it up to me, he said: "Thank God, we have got back to a land of civiliza when he went to Mexico with the First Michigan Volunteers as lieu tion." "'I lnquir!l(l wherefore, aml he saitl: "Yon can't have civilization without tenant-colonel of that regiment, and served with distinction from good milk, and you can't have good milk without. white clover." · I am sure that his staff officers and his soldiers will supply his falll.Hy with many Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. Returning home he was made testimonials of their lo>e for him ; and the 'J)urpose of this Jetter is to assure yon major-general of the State militia. · - and those who will treasure hia memory t~at, apart from the consideration and From 1849 to 1853 he was postmaster of the city of Detroit, and a respect we all feel for the general, he held a surer place in our hearts and affection. member of the State board of education from 1856 to 1857. During Our numbers are growino- less dally, and soon the names and fame of the act~rs in tho ~rreat drama. of our civil war mnst pass into the keeping of younger men like all this time his connection with the old Brady Guarcls, and after younelf · and I bid you to remember that your children are those of General ward the Li(l'ht Guards, of Detroit, not only evidenced his love of ALPHEuS S. WILLIAMSj who offered his precious life and his great abilities to and aptitudg for military affairs, but helped to educate many brave rescue from the greatest possible danger the precious le~cy of a. goverDil?ent d': men who in their turn, when the war of the rebellion broke out, signed for their honor and safety ; and I trust that yon will tell them of biB glon ous career and associations and make his example to them a shining light which aided to ~ducate and lead the Michigan regiments that went to the will lead them to imitate his virtues. :fi&ld. In 1861 he was commissioned as brigadier-general and took Kow that he is amonl?; the dead, the best of his surviving comrades will labo1· command in the Shenandoah campaign, succeeding General ;Banks as that biB kindly nature:coupled with his heroic action in battle, shall be known and appreciated. commander of the Twelfth .Aimy Corps. His masterly retreat dur Truly, your friend, ing that Virgini~ campaign takes 1·ank as one of the noteworthy inci W. T. SHERMAN, Gener(,l.l. dents of the war. History has cl,tronicled his achievements as com Major FRANCIS U. FARQUHAJt, mander of the Twelfth Corps in the bloody battles of South Mount United States Enginee1·s, Rock Island, IUinoi8. ain Antietam and Gettysburgh, and also when in command of a All who knew him as a soldier bear testimony to the truth of the divfsion of the'Twentieth Army Corps in that famous campaign which estimate thus pla·ced upon his character by the great general whose ended in the capture of Atlanta, that memorable campaign of "a (I'lory he shared. All his companions in arms, whether officers or sol hundred days under :fire." In this campaign his corps was the first diers, bear uniform testimony to the geniality and kindness of his to enter Atlanta and was pla.ced in charge of the city. nature 88 manifested by his uniform courtesy to his equals, and the In the famous march from Atlanta to the sea he was a trusted com loving'and fatherly care which he ever to 1879. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1685 All will bear swift witness to his unswerving fidelity to public trusts, distinction as lieutenant-colonel of the First Regime1;1t of Michigan Vol his zealous r~gard for the interests of his constituents, and above all unteers. In 1849 he was appointed postmaster of Detroit by President to his enlarged and statesmanlike views aud lofty patriotism, which Taylor, and continued to hold that office duling Mr. FiJJ.nlore's admin refused to be bound by the shackles of p·arty or circlllllScribed by geo istration. In 1856 he was appointed a member of the Detroit board araphicallines. As a member of the Military Committee during the of ~ducation. In all these positions General WILLIAMs acquitted him fust'term of his service he devoted -himself to the interests of the self ¢th credit and honor, winning the applause, esteem, and atfection soldier, and aided in framing wise statutes calculated to place the of his fellow-citizens. But, Mr. Speaker, however great and substan Army upon a just and honorable footing. tial were these achieveml3nts of our late colleague, they seem to have · As .chairman of the Committee for the District of Columbia he been but a training-school which was to :fit him for those imperish brought order out of confusion and' honesty out of corruption. No able deeds which won for him a national reputation that will live as man's gold stained his,hand. No rings shackled his feet. He brought long as the traditions of the great Republic which he helped· to ex- to the arduous duties of that position a simplicity of purpose that tend and to perpetuate. · was transparent, a fidelity to duty that was unswerving, an enlarged When the late civil war began General 'WILLIAMs was more than understanding that enabled him to comprehend the necessities of the fifty years of age, and might well have been spared the hardships and District; and a practical ability that enabled him to meet those neces vicissitudes of the field. The thought of shirking duty or danger sities by-wise legislation. never entered his mind. At the very outset he was appointed major As to his personal qualities as developed in his intercourse with his general of the Michigan militia and president of the State military .fellow-members, all will bear)oving testimony to the gentle amenities ·board, organizing the volunteers from that· State and preparing them which characterized his daily walk and conversation. for active service. In August, 1861, he was appointed brigadier Strong as were his convictions, and firm as he was of purpos~, he general of volunteers by President Lincoln and assigned to duty. on never gave offense to those with whom be differed. the Upper Potomac. · He was ambitious; but his ambition was not of the sort which Subsequently he joined the Army of the Potomac, in which he com prompted him to strive to attain other and higher positions than manded the Twelfth Army Corps at South Mountain, Antietam, and those allotted to him. It always made him strive to his utmost, and Gettysburgh. Transferred to the Southwest in 1863, he commanded with becoming modesty, w fill all the requirements of the different the Twentieth Corps at the siege of Atlanta and dirring the campaign positions which be occupied. His motto was to always and conscien in Georgia and the Carolinas, being musteredQutof service January, tiously do. his whole duty; and it made no difference whether he was 1866. occupying the editor's chair, drilling his old Light Guards in the city In August, 1866, he was appointed one of the commissioners to of his adoption, or commanding a company, a regiment, a division, adjust the military claims of the State of Missouri, and in the fall of or an army corps, or still later serving his constituents in these halls, the same year was the candidate of the democratic party for gov the man never did live and does not now live who bas said or who ernor of Michigan. From December, 1866, to the end of President will ever. dare to say that ALPHEus S. WILLIAl\iS failed to fearlessly Johnson's adnunistration he served as minister to the Republic of perform his whole duty as he saw it, and without hope of reward. It San Salvador. He was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress from is·1itting, then, that the virtues of such a man should be commemo thE\ Detroit district, and re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress. rated in this presence and with becoming ceremonies. Such in brief, Mr. Speaker, is the record of the public services of . As a gentleman of 1ine culture and presence, as a private citizen of General WILLIAi\IS, and throughout them all is seen the distinguish liberal views, imbued with that public spirit which always prompted ing characteristic of the man, a conscientious and unse1fi..sh devotion him t~ devote to the welfare of his adopted city and State and to the to duty. Upon this record rests not a single stain or blemish. · .well-being of his fellow-citizens a large share of his time and means; My personal acquaintance with General WILLIAMS began: in the as a journalist, adorning a noble calling with talent and genius and Rpring of 1862 in the Shenandoah Valley, where we ' served ·tog-e~ner with that native instinct for fair play which made him friends on for a brief period in the same command. We served together again every side, and ·disarmed his adversaries; as a legislator and states; during the Atlanta camllaign, when we separated to meet once more man always daring to advocate the right and to maintain it by his in this Hall when General WILLIAMS took his seat ln. the -Forty- -;vote, notwithstanding party ties, and without fear of the lash of fonrth Congress. '. ' party caucuses; and as a citizen soldier, cool in judgment n.mid the It was my good fortune, Mr. Speaker, to serve' with General WILL din and horrors of the deadly conflict, brave in battle, but generous JA)iS on the Committee on Military ·Affairs of that Congress, and our in the hour of victory, his was n. model character and worthy of acquaintance ripened rapidly into a friendship sundered -only-by .his imitation by tl!e young men tlf the land. death. He was a most valuable member of that committee. Endowed Mr. Speaker, I had the honor, by your appointment, to be a by nature with a strong intellect, carefully educated in youth, and member of the committee whose melancholy duty it was to bear the trained by long use in positions of high responsibility, and with a remains of our dead friend to the mourning city and State of his heart :filled with generous impulses, he was quick to grasp the real adoption, and to deposit his ashes in their final resting-place. We merits of every question presented for solution. While always care have performed the sad duty.· We found the great city clad in the ful to search ont the law of each case, he gave due weight to the equi habiliments of mourning and every preparation made to do honor to ties involved. And while anxious to do every justice to the individual, the illustrious dead. But how weak was the expression of these he was equally careful of the interest of the public. Hence his views outward symbols of woe compared with tears of heartfelt sorrow were of inestimable value and his inflo.ence in committee marked and =--which :flowed unrestrained down the cheeks of thousands who in wholesome. hfs death sustained a personal bereavement! It was a wild, bleak In him the friendless or unfortunate always found an advocate, December day when we laid him to rest. But neither the biting while fraud and corruption, however powerful, found in him a firm eold nor the howling tempest prevented that sorrowing people from foe. Although a man of impulses, be was never perceptibly swayed turning out en masse and paying the last tribute of respect to thoo by prejudice, and never pronounced a judgment but after careful dead friend. scrutiny had made him familiar with the merits of the case. Though Amid the quiet shades ·of the beautiful cemetery, surrounded slow to make up his mind on matters of importance, he was quick to by·the forms of the loved ones who had gone before, he sleeps his act and tenacious of purpose. Having once formed an opinion,, he fast sleep while the taJl pines which wave around him chant the sad was proof against the arts of persuasion, although ready to change requiem of the illustrious dead. Peace to his ashes, and fresh in the his mind upon new evidence;. memory of a grateful people remn.in his many virtues. General WILLIAMS was eminently practical in his views and direct in his purposes. He was upright and conscientious in every walk of :M:r. BANNING. Mr. Speaker, ALPHEUS STARKEY WI.LLLUIS, to life, public and private. Genial and kind in disposition, making ·. honor whose memory we are here assembled to-day, was one of the hosts of friends, and never losing the confidence of any who once relllarkable men of his time. Born at Saybrook, Connecticut, Sep became attached to him, so pure was his character and so elevated tember 20, 1810, he departed this life at his post of duty at the na were his motives that though passing through many hotly contested tional capital December 21, 1878, having n.ttained the advanced age political struggles, the most envenomed partisan never presumed to of sixty-eight years and three months- question his integrity. · . · Entering Yale College at the age of seventeen, he graduated with Mr. Speaker, our late friend passed through more than a third of a great credit in 1831, and pursued and completed the study of the law century of public and political life, and during that whole period at the school attached to his alma 'mater. . enjoyed the unwavering confidence of his friends and commanded Having thus laid at an early age broad and deep the foundation of the esteem and respect of his opponents. ·This simple fact, sir, alone culture and knowledge, be went abroad for two years, enriching his constitutes a eulogy eloquent beyond the most impassioned oratory. mind and enlarging his experience by travel in Europe. . In the Forty-fifth Congress General WILLIAMS was selected to 1ill ·On his return in 1836 he removed to the Territory of Michigan, the important and trying position of chairman of the Committee for . se~ng at the city of Detroit, where he resided until the day of his the District of Columbia. Bringing to this duty his experience-had -decease. in the government of Detroit, together with a known unswerving : · Qontinuing the practice of his profession until1840, he was in that integrity, he made himself a place in the hearts of the people of this year called to the bench, serving as judge of probate until1844. District which it would be difficult to illl. _The shock produced ·here - In 1843 he wa-s chosen to represent his ward in the board of alder by the announcement of his death was manifested by public meet men, and in 1844 was elected recorder of Detroit. Meanwhile in 1PA3 ings, while the universal grief of men of all parties in' the .city of -he had become proprietor of the Detroit Daily Advertiser, which he Detroit, who assembled to honor his funeral obsequies in that city, edited for :five years. When the .Mexican war broke out General WILL attest the love and esteem in which he was held by friends and IAMS t-endered his services to the Government and served with great neighbors. The public officials, the courts, the bar, tbe me~chant-s, , .· 1686 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE: FEBRUARY 2(), bankers, mechanics, in fact all classes of citizens of De~oit, joined in 1853, when PY a political vhange in the Federal executive adminis- marks of respect to his memory, and his olq comrades m arms gath tration he was superseded in that office. . .. ered from all sections of the country to mingle their tears over the . Aft~r retirin_g from the po~t-office Gen~ral WILLIA.MS engaged aet bier of their beloved commander. And so, followed to his tomb by a J. yely m many unportant busmess enterpnses, but held no official posi whole community of mourners, he was laid to rest with all the honors twn except member of the school board of Detroit until the breaking that are paid to heroes. out of the last war, when he promptly tendered his services to the Mr. BANKS addressed the House. [See Appendix.] Federal Government, serving first as president of the State military board; then as commander of the military camp of instruction at :Mr. MAYHAM. Mr. Speaker, again has death summoned a halt in Fort Wayne, Michigan; and on the 17th of April, 1861, was commis our legislative duties and we are called upon to gather around the sioned by President Linc0ln as brigadier-general of :volunteers, and bier of our departed brother, to pay that tribute of respect due to the was ordered t~ ~e:port to General ?ttcClellan, and was by him trans memory of hia exalted character and distinguishecl public services. ferred to the div1s10n under General BANKS, then stationed in Mary Here in the presence of the inexorable destroyer we meet on common land. groun -admission into the l''ederal Union to the tin;le of his death, and on be"!leved they had fairly won, rather than precipitate civil strife, which w hQse history he had shed such luster by his noble deeds, his death was would have greatly imperiled, if it did not destroy, e'Vetything valu most deeply mourned. The asslitmbled throng who gathered to pay able in American institutions. respect to his memory stood with bowed and uncovered heads as his While he never aspired to leadership, he was not a servile indorser lifeless clay was solemnly borne along the crowded stref3fs. ·No be of the po ores 'of others. An enlightened conscience was his guide oould witness that assembla~e of State, judicial, and municipal offi in public as in private affairs. He enteutained decided opinions on cers and the military and civic procession, draped in the sad habil all important public questions, which were formed upon careful ex iments of mourning, without being deeply impressed with the fact amination and matured reflection. These he avowed with independ that one prominent in noble public acts had fallen; and none could ence and maintained with resolution. He was not so'blind an adher witness the universal grief of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, ent to party that be could not sometimes see something which hl8 and not feel that a benefactor of his race was being borne away to candor compelled him to commend in the oppo&ition, and occasion the dark shadows of the grave. ally something to disapprove in the conduct or policy of his political To the memory of noble deeds like his, marble and bronze statues friends. He never lacked the courage to act according to his honest may be reared by a grateful and munificent Commonwealth; but no convictions, and in doing !!!O his acknowledged integrity of purpose monument can be erected by the hand of art so grateful to the mem never failed to shield him from unfriendly criticism. He was espe ory of his real wortli as that which is enshrined. in the affections and cially averse to display, and sought least of all to exhibit himself. engraven upon the hearts of his countrymen by the noble deeds of As a statesman he discharged with ability and becoming dignity. his life. They will linger in the recollections of a grateful nation, all the diplomatic and legislative duties which were devolved upon and will be cherished like precious jewels in the memory of admiring him. In the peculiarly dehcate position of a representative of his and stricken friends, and the influence of his noble example will live Government abroad he was prudent and vigilant; and while he oc in this country long after his mortal remains shall have dissolved to cupied a seat in this House no constituency had a more honest or their native element. As the encircling waves radiating from the faithful Representative. He regarded a public office as an important pebble dropped upon the surface of the placid lake spread wider and trust, in the execution of which the utmost fidelity was .. to be ob wider until they reach the sho;e, so will the influence of his well served, and did not consider himself discharged from responsibility spent life be felt further andfnither through succeeding generations until that measure of faithfulness had been fully exercised. in countless cycles to the shores of time. As a soldier he performed meritorious service in the war with Mex Mr. CONGER addressed the Honse. [His remarks will appear in ico, in which a few gallant Anglo-Saxon battalions subdued an em pire and conquered an honorable peace in the enemy's capital. In the Appendix.] the late civil struggle, in which the mightiest armies ever marshaled Mr. PHELPS. Mr. Speaker, ALPHEUS S ..WILLIAMS was born in the on this continent, led by the greatest captains of the age and com State of Connecticut, in the district which I represent, and in the posed of men of the same brave race and blood, were for four years town which, when he removed from it, embraced the locality where hurling at each other the most terrible thunder-bolts of war, he held I reside. Some of my n~arest neighbors are among his kindred, and high command in the field, and maintained with unshaken patriotism ,a.nring his congressional service we were personal friends. It is throughout the contest the integrity of the Union and the glory of 'fitting, therefore, that I should add, in few and sincere words, my the flag. · humble offering to those of his colleagues and others who have already Sir, as by common consent the discord of this Hall is hushed and -addressed, and are yet to address, the Honse on this occasion. the work of legislation laid aside to give way to this sol~mn duty, The detailed history of his life and character has been so fully and I cannot forbear repeating the allusion so often recently made on fai-thfully narrated by his colleague, [Mr. HUBBELL,] who introduced occasions like the present to the suddenness and frequency of death the resolutions now before the Honse, and his military career by him, in our midst. He whose departure we now specially deplore is btit .and also by my friend from Ohio, General BAl'.~"'L.·'m, and my friend one of a noble group who have been lately taken from us. Once, :from Massachusetts, General BANKs, who were for some time his com and again, and again, and again, in the short space of less than three rades in the field, as to leave nothing unsaid in those respects; and weeks, was the startling summons which called one of bur associates I shall content myself with such more general observations as occur away from earth sounded in onrears. Aslife's silver cord was loosed to me, and in making them shall need the indulgence of the House they one by one passed into that mysterious shadow on the other side bot for a few moments. of which-the uni-versal conqueror here is himself subdued, and thiB The vigorous New England morality which characterized the era mortal puts on immortality. They have each left to his friends the of his youth, combined with the thorough academic training which legacy of an honorable name, and to his country a record of distin he received at one of the most renowned of American n:Q.iversities, so guished service which shall be hereafter written upon the pages of imbued his moral and endowed his mental nature that when he went her history. But a few days since they were all with us in the flush forth at the age of twenty-six years to engage in the business of life of health and hope. Now, 'Upon what was then the frontier of Western settlement and civiliza Death lies upon them like an untimely frost. tion, he was not unprepared for the struggle. What was at that time But in the case of our friend death was not unmerciful. He was the border of an almost illimitable wilderness has since become the taken not in the morning, neither in the meridian of life. The years .center of population and refinement, and the foundation of its unex of his usefulness were beneficently lengthened to almost the allotred ampled growth in all the elements of material prosperity may in large span when- part be justly cn~dited to the strong intellect, the unyielding enter God's :finger touched him, and he slept. prise, the stern morality, and earnest piety of its New England set tlers. Such men and women are the true founders and builders of He passed away in the maturity of age and the ripeness of expe .enlightened States. Their plan of settlement included the church rience, while yet his "eye was not dim nor his natural force abated." and school-bouse, and they provided for them when they made pro Few, very few, have better improved the talents intrusted to their vision for the houses which were to shelter themselves and their care, or given to their fellow-men more satisfactory evidence of a children. '!'hey not only grew up with but stamped their noble pe profitable stewardship. . . ~uliarities upon the section in which they located; and they, and ·over the demise of General WILLIAMS the State of his birth mingles those who followed them, ha-ve greatly contributed to make it what both her pride ancl her lamentation with those of the State of his we now see it, in all respects a great, and prosperous, and powerful adoption, and unites with her in paying to his memory the tribute of part of the American Union. her profound respect. General WILLIAMS was in many respects a genuine type of that For myself and my colleagues and in the name of our Common class of men. His personal characteristics were of the highest or wealth I reverently lay upon his resting-place a chaplet of immor -der. Ho was a true gentleman, a liberal citizen, an obliging neigh telles and a crown of amaranth. bor, a sincere friend. His nature was kind and gentle as a woman:s, Brave soldier, honored statesman, cherished friend! When the and no deserving appeal to either his charity or generosity was e-ver snow-clad earth on that wintry December day closed over your mortal ·disregarded. No one among all his associates here was more justly remains the tomb shut forever from our view one whom we had esteemed for those sterling intellectual and social qualities which 1..Jlown only to respect and have lost only to L'tment. bind men together in the closest bonds of confidence and sympathy, ¥~~:~f:t~:!X:l:O~fu.~esea- and he invariably attached to himself those who came within the The silent grave; ·Circle· of his intercourse. His best and most enduring monument Thither all earthly pomp and boast will be the lasting remembrance and unqualified respect of his fel Roll, to be swallowed up and lost low-citizens. In its dark wave. Of an exceptionally quiet demeanor, he never mingled in the un But to the eye of faith that is not the end. When the warm spring ~:~Cemly strife of tongues which has sometimes converted this repre time shall again come with its new life of verdure and its new bloom sentative body into an excited and disorderly assemblage. I well of flowers it will symbolize a resurrection. The stone shall at l~ngth remember how, during the closing scenes of tLe last session of the be rolled from the door of the sepulcher and its portals be no more Forty-fourth Congress, when the oountry was passing through the sealed. The lost shall be regained and the separated forever re most dangerous crisis it bad ever experiep.ced, and the surging waves united. -<>f partisan excitement in this Hall were shaking the foundations of the Government, he was one of a very small number who were calm .Mr. ·wiLLITS. When a worthy man dies, he should not too soon and s~lf-possessed. His natural conservatism led him to take his .be forgotten. The memory of a good man is a herita~e; his life an side with those who loved their country with unselfish devotion and example to his generation. We live, labor, suffer, andd1e; weachiev& thought it wise to sacrifice temporary party ascendency, which they success, fill the measure of our duties, and pass away. For a time 1688 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-· 'HOUSE. · FEBRUARY''.2Q; the place remains unfilled, the ax:mor is thrown aside, the duties are he had entered. Ih 18:_37 he was admitted to the bar; in •1839 efected snspended. - But soon the armor is taken up, the duties are assumed judge of probate for four years-; in 1843 alderman, and 1844 recorder by others, and.the place is :filled by some one of the coming genera of Detroit. From 1843 to 1847 he was proprietor of the Detroit Adver tion w.hich so closely follows. There is but a short halt in the work, tiser, the leading whig paper of the State, which he disposed of to and then it goes on again. · lead the First Michiga• Volunteer Regiment to the Mexican war. In · Sonie men -originate, others perform. It is given to some to mark 1849 be was appointed postmaster of Detroit by President Taylor and the outlines, and to others to fill in the details. As a rule the man held the place for four years. During 1858 and 1859 he was a member who designs either has not'·time or is incompetent to execute. The of the board of education of the city. In 1t:l61, following the convic man who does the work and does it well is as essential to the plan as tions he held, that the perpetuity of our institutions depended upon its projector. The great ca-ptains of every age succeed because they the continued union of the States, he entered into the late civil"war have good lieutenants. Lincoln had Stanton; Grant had Sherman on the side of the Union. War, and particularly a popular war, de and Thomas, McPherson and Rawlins. velops remarkable and unexpected changes in the character· of men. _Frequently, leadership is nominal, position an accident; the cap Great men arise to meet a great emergency, either in the council or tain a :figure-head, but the lieutenant never. He does the work, is on th~ field. The times, accident, or a seemin~. trivial occun-ence never an accident. In the history of this world fame comes to the sometimes changes the current of a man's whole life. Human nature man who-represents results, whether. he has earned it or not. Let us is many-sided. Anomalies exist and appear where least expected. not forget the patient toil; the ]lonest thorough work that made these History is bristling with exemplifications. From the time when, as results possible. All honor to the lieutenants-to them gratitude if the story goes, Tyrtreus roused by his odes and. preans the sinking not glory. coura.ge of the Spartans, and the larue poet enrolled his name a.mong To-day I would speak a few words in honor of one of these lieu the military saviors of the city, the scholar, traveler, the refined gen tenants. He never aspired to be captain ; he never sought leader tleman has proved gloriously that those attainments and a;ccomplish ship. Whatever of place or position he held came to him as the proper ments in no wise unfit him for the rougher life .of a soldier. Readily man to :fill it. He honored the State of Michigan as she delighted to and successfully have the classic and luxurious retirements ~f the honor him. Forty-two years of his life he gave to her aud his country study given place to the stirrin~ scep.es of camp "life. Such proof iS through her. given in the career of the man m honor of whose memory we assem . .ALPHEUS STARKEY WILLIAMS deserves to be remembered. The ble to-day. lesson of his life is that he always did his duty and did it well. He From April, 1861, to January, 1866, General WILLIAl\IS served his was emphatically one of the workers through whom results were country in camp and on the battle-field. To him thi-s was a solemn achieved. He was well equipped for his life labor. He had a sturdy duty, into which he entered with. his characteristic singleness of constitution that brought him to the age of sixty-eight years without pqrpose. He left his State as brigadier-general of volunteers, with ~serious illness. He was born of Welsh-English parentage at Say a commission dating from April, 1861, and never returned until.Tuly, brook, Connecticut, September20, 1810; graijuated in his twenty-first 1865. He never received a furlough. IIis life was in camp with his year at YaleCollege; spent the following three years at the Yale law men; his family subordinated to his country. His home ties, strong school. During the years of his collegiate and law course he was a as they were, could not draw him away from the higher duty to ~eat traveler and visited every State then in the Union, and the which he felt himself called. Into this new life he put all his en.. .Mexican province of Texas. After he finished his law studies he spent ergy. He called into requisition all, those qualities which he had two year11 in Europe, returning to his native land in 1836. At the age inherited from his sturdy ancestors, and had so highly developed· by .of twenty-six, with all of culture that Yale could give; with a mind education and travel. That he spent those years in the vicissitudes stored in the classics and the law; .with a thorough knowledge from of war with a full appreciation of all that occurred is attested by personal observation of his own country and with the accomplish the ·numerous letters written to his family, a volume of themselves, ments of foreign travel; with a clear head, a trained intellect, a cul in which there is much that is worthy of preservation, and from tivated taste, a strong constitution, he son~ht a home at Detroit in which I would like to quote, would time aud the occasion permit. the then infant State of Michigan. At this tUDe Michigan had a popu Suffice it to say they are models of purity in style, of graphic descrip la,tion of less than one hundred tbouAand. In this new Common tion, and in wholesome discussion of the events of the war. But wealth, just placed in the galaxy of States he cast his life lot. He underlying all and pervading all is a sincerity of conviction and was one of the almost countless number whom the East ha-s sent to honesty of purpose that defeat could not destroy nor seeming injus build up the West. tice impair. He never complained; he never said aught in deroga~ . As a rule, this influx was composed of men like General WILLIAl\18, tion of a fellow-soldier; he was charitable even toward those who young, full of energy, scant in material resources, relying upon the supplanted )lim or were advanced when seemingly- he justly was talent nature has conferred, upon habits of industry primitive New entitled to the promotion. He was a noble man as well ns a gallant England so wonderfully fostered, with the keen sense of independ soldier. e~ce and self-reliance which so characterize the Anglo-Saxon race. A word now as to the part our friend took iu the strife which for The pioneers of the West were a hardy race; not heroic, perhaps, in four years so filled the minds and hearts of our people. the sense the poets sing, but their lives and labors were truly heroic. General WILLIAl\18 had had some military experience as a ·private Their sturdy toil, wise forethought, patient willingness to build that and afterward as captain of the celebrated Brady Guards; and in the f>thers might enjoy; their sacrifice of present ease that they might United States service, in the winter of 1838 and-1839, during what iS found a home for their children and give them the culture and advan known as the "Canadian patriot war." Also, in October, 1847, he tages denied to themselves; all these, and more that time forbids us was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the First :Michigan Volun to mention, furnish subjects for the consideration of statesmen and teers for the Mexican war, but his regiment arrived too late to take the meditation of poets. _ a share in the battles about the City of Mexico. The regiment was At the time our deceased colleague landed in Detroit, the woods of mustered out in July, 1848. - , Michigan were full of just such men, who were slashing the sturdy oak In the late war· General WILLIA:l\[S's first services were as president an~ turning up the virgin soil to the sun; who were plowing and plant of the State military board and commander of the camp of instrac ing, clearing and building; men who like him had left homes of culture tion at Fort Wayne, near Detroit, for the officers and non-commis and many social advantages for the log cabin to be found only by sioned officers of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Michigan Volunteer following the blazed trees; for a social intercourse limited to" rais Regiments. From this important post he was. ordered to report .as ings" and "frolics" by the burning log-heaps in the clearings! or the brigadier-general to McClellan for active service, and by the latter grand old blazing fire-place that tp.rew a .ruddy glow upon th.e joyous, general was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade of General rustic scene. At the eastern edge of this forest was Detroit, one of BANKs's division. Shortly after assuming this command occurred the the gateways into the "far West." Though hut a small town she had battle of Ball's Bluff; and from that time on General WILLIAMS .saw a._ history of over one hundred years. For over a century the white continuous, active service to the end .of the war. washed cottages of the French settler had dotted the shores of "the This is not the time nor the place to enter into a detailetl description straits," where Pontiac, Tecumseh, and other noted Indian warriors of these campaigns. Suffice it to say that during the famous -series had held their councils, and the tribes gathered for their annual of battles, at)3all's Bluff, Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, tribute. The Indian wars were over; the war of 1812had :finally set aud Gettysburgh, which the Army of the Potoma~ fouO'ht, Generl:tl tied in the mind of the Indian and all the world the supremacy of WILLIAMS, at the head of a brigade, divisi<>n, or corps, gallantly took the United States over thevastterritorywhicbfrom the time of Mar his share. Here he gained. the reputation which has followed him quette down had been debatable ground; and now it was open to the through his life and to his grave and which will linger an unfading peaceable occupation of the pioneer and adventurer, and an immigra picture upon the memories of his comrades and upon the tablets of tion began that almost equaled the irruption of the tribes of Central public recollection-that of a conscientious and successful coaujutor and Northern Europe upon the plains of France, Italy, and Spain. and executor of his chief, a kind, popular, and beloved comrade, and In 1836 this immigration was at its highest; Detroit was filled with a gallant, skilled, and distinguished officer. · men on "fortune bent." Among them came our friend. He foun,d In September, 1863, with his old division -Genem-1 WlLLIAMS was there .his peers in culture, his equals in ability to grasp success in the ordered West to the Army of the Cumberland. Durin~ "the :winter feverish, adventurous life in this new home; but among them all there of 1863-'64 he covered the Nashville and Bridgeport.Railroad. - , was to be found no one his superior. in integrity or in steadfa-stness of In May, 1864, he entered upon the famous " ·campaign of one hun purpose. He was all his life a positive man; a man of :fixed convic dred days under fire/' which ended with the capture of Atlanta. In tions; a conservative man; a safe man. " . November, of the same year, General Sherman organized his forces for- . These characteristics soon won for him a place in the new society the celebrated "rua:rch to the sea.'' In command of his division Gen- / ·. 1879. ... GONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1689 ~ eral W.ILLI.A.MS jo~ed in ·the march.. .At Savannah ~e 'lo\as made. a May; 1862., to Bentonville in March, 1865, he participated in fifteen bat brevet maJor-general, and became an Important factor m ,the successes tles;a.mong which were Antietam, Chancellorsville, andGettysburgh. ot the ·campq,ign. . . I . · He was often honorably mentioned for his meritorious conduct in . At the.close of the war General WILLIAMS reported rot Washrn~n ba.ttle, and was brevetted a major-general for "marked .ability and and was a~ignl3d to the West. He continued in ~omq}and of am~ energy." Such a name and such a record could not have been~ained itnry district in.Missouri until January,.18661 while hfl)me at Detroit without abilities of a high order. Fictitiousreputationswereindeed on leave of absence, he Wiia honorably discharged frorq the Ar~y. sometimes made in our Army. General WILLIA..l\18 won his-by.merit His was a peculiru:facul~. At hiscomman~ an~ relady for mstan alone. . . taneous use were all the -prmCiples of strategic skill ~ a clear, ready AB a member of this Honse he was highly esteemed for his ability mind, quick to choose and act, and an inexorable w:ill com~i~ed with and social qualities. His large experience and strong commonsense a perseverance which regarded no obstacles. These qualities, com gave him a commanding position here. He seldom participated in bined with his-lovable character, made him what haS come to be re the discussions of this body. We all know, however, how attentively uarded almost an anomaly in history: a man whose resplendent repu he was listened to when he did speak. He did not waste the time of ~tion is. clear and unsullied by the dislike of those above him in the Honse to catch the ears of the galleries, nor to place his name rank or the envy and jealousy of those beneath. At the end of the· on the pages of the RECORD. When he claimed its attention we knew campaign through Georgia, the officers of. his old brigade waited on he had no other purpose than the promotion of the public business. him in a body and presented the unanimous _Petition ?f one and all He was a man of independent thought and action. When his views that "Old Pap," aa he was fondly called by hiS men, nnght return to differed from those of his party associates he had no hesitancy in cast his old command. The respect in whichhewas held by his superiors ing his vote accordingly. In his long and varied career as a pdblic is .shown by the distinguished consideration with which he was man he always maintained an unsullied reputation. Often as he was treated always when alive, and when gone from the cares and· strife before the people as a candidate for office at no time was his personal of this world, by the grief-stricken faces which appeared in the mil integrity a-ssailed. His character was so exalted that party rancor itary pageant so fitly tendered on the departure of the sad funereal could not reaeh it. party from this city. Mr. Speaker, the eulogy which it has been my privilege to pro General WILLIAMS left the Army to be still more honored among nounce upon General WILLIAJ."\18 falls far short of his just deserts. I the representatives of his Government abroad and in the councils of have as a Representative of Pennsylvania upon whose soil he fought, the nation at home. In December, 1866, he became minister resident and many of whose brave sons he led in battle, added her tribute to of Central America, where he remained three years, and over which his memory J:.ere. I have spoken of his bravery as a soldier, his abil he traveled extensively. General WILLIAJ.'IS was elected to the For ity as a statesman, but have not paused to dwell uponhisremarkable· ty-fourth Congress, and re-elected to the Forty-fifth. I need not en social qualities and private virtues. After all it is these that most large upon his services in this Chamber,·or upon his fidelity out of it. endear to the heart and live longest in the memory. The victories We all knew him and all appreciated him. He was honest; he was in war or politics of a departed one may serve to keep his memory firm in his convictions, little swayed by parlyi passions to which we alive for a time, and cause his name to be mentioned by an unfeeling all, too much perhaps, are given. He was assiduous and conscien populace in terms of praise; but the sweet, endearing qualities which tious in his duties, and remitted them not even though warned by we have marked in onr daily social intercourse will win that of greater his friends. He was stricken down in the line of his duty, in his value far than the applause of the noisy multitude-the tribute of a committee-room, while coosiderin~ the important duties committed tear. None of us can forget the genial smiles and cheerful-greetings to his charge. He died at his post, as is the wish of all good soldiers. of General WILLIAMS. That smile has faded from our sight, and We took his remains to his home, and laid them in the grave on the "Silence now, enamored of his voice, locks its mute music in her rugged. shores of the beautiful river which forty-two years before he first cell." aw in the bright hope of his young manhood. May his soul rest in like peace and quiet beside that brighter stream, Mr. CALDWELL, of Tennessee. 1\IIr. Speaker, in the early days of the golden river that flows by the throne of God. the Forty-fourth Congress my attention was called by one of my col leagues to the remarkable career of the distinguished man to whose Mr. MAISH. Mr. Speaker, again have we paused in the busy labors memory we are now paying- a tribute of respect. Turning to the of this place. The usual clamor that marks the conduct of public Directory, I read with surpriSe and admiration the brief story of his. business has given way to that sober silence which is but the out life, as recorded therein. I invite the attention of the House to it ward expression of the feelings of our hearts. now, for no gift of speech or rhetoric can convey so accurate an· idea We have met to pay a last sad tribute to a departed brother, now of his character as this simple, unadorned recital of his long and sleeping beneath the sod of the valley, and the solemnity of the oc varied public service: · casion is intensified when we remember that this is but a repetition ALPHEUS 8. WILLLUIS, of Detroit, was born b.t Sa.ybrook,'Connecticut, septem of similar scenes fresh in the memory of all. ber 20, 1810; graduated at Yale College iu 1831; was a student in the Yale law Death has been busy in our midst, and within a few weeks has school in 1832 and 1833; traveled in Europe in 1834, 1835, and 1836 ; removed to Michigan in 1836, and commenced the practice of law; was judge of probate for marked for the tomb some of the most honored men of our day and Wayne County, 1840-'44; alderman of Detroit in 1843, and recorder of the city in time. First his summons came to him whose death we commemorate 1844; was propriet.or and editor of the Detroit Daily Advertiser in 1843-'48 ; was. to-day. Hardly had he been borne to the grave when we were lieutenant-colonel of the First Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the startled by the intelligence of the death of one of Virginia's noble Mexican war, 1847-'48; was postmaster of Detroit, 1849-'53; was a member of the Detroit board of education, 1856-'57; entered the Union Army by appointment sons, and the chair of Douglas was made vacant. Then came the of the President as brigadier-general of volunteers in August, 1861; commanded mournful news that Hartridge, of Georgia, had fallen in the fight, the Twelfth Corps in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, and Gettysburgb, .and ere the gloom had passed away the fatal messenger had laid his and the Twentieth Corps in the siege of Atlanta, on Sherman's "march to the sea •r hand upon Schleicher, of Texas. and in the campaign of the Carolinas, and was mustered out of service in January, 1866; was appointed in August, I 66, by the President, one of tho commissioners How impressively do these swift-recurring visitations remind us to adjust the military claims of Missouri; was' the democratic candidate for gov "what·shadows we are and what shadows we pursue." It is well ernor in Xo>ember, 1866 ; was minister resident to the Republic of Salvador, that we should lay aside the ordinary business of life, and, forgetful 1866-'69 ; was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty of its ambitions, its cares, and its strifes, spend an hour in the imme fifth Con_gress as a democrat, receiving 14,471 votes against 12,417 vot~s for Henry diate presence of that dread messenger, who respects neither the M. Duffield, republican, and 1,736 votes !or John V. Renkle, greenback candidate. beauty of youth, the strength of manhood, nor the majesty of age ; After graduating in 1831 at au institution which has preparecl 'vho- enters alike the palace and the cottage, and who cannot even be many of our 1mblic men for careers of honor and usefulness, after debarred here. more than four years devotecl to the study of the law and to European In a long life of public serviee, General 'YILLIAMS held many prom travel, and after four more years spent in the practice of his chosen inent civil and military positions. In all of the varied duties these profession in the city of Detroit, at the age of thirty his public serv.:.. imposed on him he acted his part so well that he gained high honor ice commenced. First a judge of probate, then alderman and re .and distinction. Well equipped by a liberal education .and extensive corder of the city, then proprietor and director of a great pnbliojour,. travel in the Old World, he entered upon the ac'tive field of life among nal during .five years of high partisan excitement, then lieutenant strangers. colonel of a regiment that helped to plant the Americ-an flag ove-r . In 1836 he located in Detroit. At that early period the city of his the halls of the Munteznmas~ then postmaster at Detroit for frve adoption was in the far West. In a young and growing city a man years and member of the board of education, then as general in the -Qf energy and talent would not long be allowed to remain in obscu volunteer service commanding one corps at South Mountain, Antie rity. lie was soon honored with various positions of public trust. In tam, and Gettysburgh, and another in Sherman's memorable march all of them he gained the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. to the sea and through the Carolinas; then, on the restoration of He began his military career in our war with Mexico. As lieuten peace, a. commissioner charged with the delicate duty of adjusting ant-colonel of ®e of the Michigan regiinents he gained distinction the military claims of the State of Missouri; then, in 1866, the candi as an officer and a soldier in that contest. It was, however, in the date of the democratic party for governor of Michigan ; for tluee -war of the rebellion that .he achieved the crowning &lory of his years representing his country as-minister resident to the Republic military reputation. He early responded to the call of nis country. of Salvador, and then a member of the Forty-fourth and of this. In. August, 1861, he was comrmssioned a brigadier-general, and was Congress. Where in all this book of biographies is there recorded'a fx:om that time until -the end of the war intrusted with important public service so long continued and so varied Y A jurist, an edu -dnties _and commands. Whether at the head of a brigade, a division, cator, a warrior, a diplomate, a legislator; snch is the manifold ch~ or ·a COll'S, he was equal to every situation, and always proved him acter that passes under review to-day. To discharge acceptably the soli an able, brave, and efficient officer. Beginning at Winchester in duties and meet fully the responsibilities :md demands of these va- , ~ . ( . J690 CONGRESSIONAL REOOR~·-HOU~E. FEBRUARY- 20, rious offices must require a versatility of intellect very rarely be was fond o the excitement and glory of the political arena he had stowed upon men. Men so gifted have illustrated our own annals, a. contempt .flpr much that if!! drawn around it by reckless a'mbition and here and there in the current of universal history have appeared a~d: selfish gJteed, so graphically portrayed by an eminent American most conspicuous examples. Chief among them is Julius Cresar. divme: ~ \ Essaying everything, he excelled in all. ·He was the foremost gen Th.e wire-puru.hg and ~he •ribery, the pitiful truckling antl the grotosque com eral and statesman of his age and, excepting Cicero, its greatest ora promlses, ~h~ exll.~geration and the detraction, the melodramatic issues and the tor. As a historian critics have united in the judgment that he has sham patriotism, f,he partv watchwords and the party nicknames the schemes of never been surpassed and rarely equaled in simplicity, vigor, and the few paraded ala the will of the many, the elevation of men whose onlv worth is ~the votes they command, vile men whose hands you would not grasp in friend truthfulness. He was a mathematician and jurist, the friend and ship, whose presence yon would not tolerate by your fireside· incompetent men patron of letters and literary men. Though his character be marred w;hose fitness is ~~tin their ~pacity as functionaries or legisl~tors, but as organ by a sensuality not uncommon in that age, the words which Shak plpes; the snatcrung at the slices and offal of office, the intemperance am1 the vio speare puts into the mouth of .Antony, in the famous apostrophe to lence, the finesse and the falsehood. that " bleeding piece of earth" are not the mere extravagances of a All these things, the peculiar stock in trade of the demago•,.ue so grief-oppressed brain: intimately connected with political agitation and public life in this Thou art the ruins of the noblest man ·country and perhaps in all countries, inspired his honest and manly That ever lived in the tide of times. soul with a just disdain. He impressed me as a man that hated de As already remarked our own history is not without distinguished vious and crooked ways and loved direct and ingenuous dealing in instances of this universal talent for public affairs, and foremost :public as well as in private life. · among them is Washington, of whom an ardent and eloquent Irish His love for constitutional government and liberty protecteu there man once said : under was intense and ai>sorbing. That he should at the close of1the There have been splendid exemplifications of some single qualification : Cresar war and after a most successful and brilliant military career have laid was merciful, Scipio was continent, Hannibal was patient; but it was reserved aside his armor and entered the lists of those who fought on political for Washington to blend them aU in one, and exhibit in one glow of assooiated fields for the rest()ration of what they regarded as the constitutional beauty the pride of every model and the perfection of every master. rights of lately rebellious States, braving the obloquy and detraction In his essay upon the character of Hampden, when he laments the ·of the time, is a speaking index to his principles and character. He untimely fall of that great man,· Mr. Macaulay makes this allusion to had only to resolve in what direction lay the right, and the conse ·Washington: quences of pursuing it never cost him an apprehension or a tbouuht. When the vices and ignorance, which the old tyranny had4!;enerated, threatened These were left to the Supreme Disposer of human events, in the firm the new freedom with destruction, England missed that sObriety, that self-com conviction that truth is eternal and her ultimate triumph certain. mand, that perfect soundness of judgment, that perfect rectitude of intention, to In the social circle General WILLIAMS was genial and agreeable. .which the history of revolutions furnishes no parallel, or fnrnishe a parallel in His friends sought and loved his society. He contributed to the Washington alone. interest and life of a conversation from a large fund of humor, anec If such has been the estimate of enlightened foreigners, what judg dote, and reminiscence, and did it witi:I. much tact and delicacy. I ment shall his own countrymen pass upon him Truly, sir, it may recall now with melancholy interest a holiday spent in his company be said that the Father of his Conntry is so impressed upon mankind during the spring of 1878, at the Great Falls of the Potomac, which by tradition ·and history, and the fruits of his wisdom and labors, impressed me forcibly with the social and a,ffectionate traits o{a seem visible everywhere around us, that the world stands up to pronounce ingly rugged nature. Around us was a ecenery prodigal of a wild his to be one of the few characters in all history " which have stood beauty, which Ufted the mind above private and public cares into the the closest scrutiny and the severest test, which have been tried in bosom of nature. Huge masses of upheaved, diejointed, unshapen rock the furna-ce and proved pure, which have been weighed in the bal lay around on every hand, silently attesting some remote period when ance and not been found wanting, which have been declared sterlin~ awful forces had there been called into play. Gray, water-worn, and by the general consent of mankind, and which are visibly stampe while on a mission of the heart, yielding up his youn .life to a p_esti sional Directory. And recalling the events of his life from its very lential fever on au alien soH; Quinn, genial, generou~ mcorruptible; commencement, or rather from the time when with full panoplied · Welch, buoyant with all the energy, p~de, ~?- ~nSipiration of the manhood he mingled in the struggles of real life, down to its close spring-time of life; Douglas. famed even m Vrrgnna a~ an orat~r and here, the lesson which I gather in tho very thought of his colleague is jurist; H~rtridge, "the ro~e and expectancy" of .Geo~a; Schl~wher, perfectly expressed in the language of America's greatest and purest learned laborious, and fa1thful; and last, the illus,.,nous subJect of soldier, and it is this: "Duty is the sublimest word of our language." these m'emorial exercises. Reviewing this l~inous roll of departed My acquaintance with him began when he and I came to occupy worth and O'enius and manhood, we are reminded t;hat our lives are seats as members of a former Congress, four years ago. Without cul but aa the ~ands upon the shore, our voices but as the evening zeph minating in very inttimate association our relations grew into a cor yrs that dally with the leaf for a moment and pass away forever. dial ancl sincere friendship which remained unabated to the close of 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, his life. From the blossom of health to the paleness of deat-h, General WILLIAMS attracted all who approached him by a suavity From the Jti].ded saloon to the bier and the shroud of manner, by a gentleness of demeanor, by a high-toned and chiv Oh! why Should the spirit of mortal be proud~ alric bearing, by a universal courtesy and kindness which ga.ve assur Whence or how we came is mystery. Whither we tend we know ance of a noble heart within. We all remember his pleasant, cheerful not. We do know that the survivor of us all shall tarry but a little voice, we recall his warm and cordial greetings, and we can never while here and then join the mighty caravan that bas gone forward forget the infinite charm which his bright presence and genial con to the infinite Beyond. As·each falls his place is filled. The l'epre versation diffused over every circle in which he moved. But, sir, all sentative is dead; long live the representative! The nation lives on. these traits of that noble character have been fully and fondly recalled It has perished in none of its parts, for it exists not in one, nor a here to-night. Be it my task to glance at a few leading events of the hundred, nor a. thousand men, however eminent and great, but in the dead patriot's life to impress the lesson which I gather from it. affections, hopes, energies, and will of forty millions of human be Possessed of a liberal education, he.was fully fitted to fight the .ings. ThesE:\ themselves may perish and fall away, but other gene'r- battles of life. Fortunate in being able to travel abroad in Europe at . ationsadvance to take their places; for whom also the seed-time and a very early age, he was lifted above that narrowness of soul, he lost the harvest,· the snow and the rain, the sunshine and storm, the flow that provincialism which sometimes attaches to and dwarfs the ers and the music of birds shall come and go. strongest minds, and returned to his country from abroad well cal So the multitude goes, like the flower or the wood, culated and well qualified to perform a high and heroic part in its That withers away to let others succeed. history, to impress himself upon his times, and to leave a la-sting mon So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that has often been .told ; ument of love and gratitude in the hearts of his countrymen. I find For we are the same our fathers have boon ; him winning distinction at the bar and filling high civic positiens We see the same sights our fathers have seen; long before some of us who are here to-night were born. In all these We drink the same stream and view the same sun, stations we find him ever true to the dictates of duty. In the prime And run the same course our fathers have rnn ; The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would t.hink; of his manhood, when the war-call came from the Rio Grande and From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink; from Mexico, and when all that was brave and chivalrous in America '... To the life we are clinging they also would cling, had gathered where War palsied Mexico's rooted mountains and bathed But it speeds for us all like a bird on the wing. her gorges in battle-flames and hovered his boding, dark presence over God grant that as our lives speed onward and the years go by in her chaparrals, we find this hero among the very first from the State the solemn procession of the ages, they shall transmit the sa.me love of of his adoption to fly to the field of duty and of danger. We all know free institutions and honest Government, the same hatred of corrup bow well he discharged his duty there. We know how superbly he tion and misrule, the same exalted, self-denying patriotism that illustrated the high qualities of the American soldier. We find him warmed the heart and guided the footsteps of the eminent man whose there, as everywhere, at the post of duty. He was like the lone sen . life we this day commemorate; and we may best realize our own re tinel who stands beneath the watching stars and who, though dangers sponsibility and pro>e ourselves equal to it if we bear forever in thicken all around a.nd creep about amid the shadows; deserts not his mind that- post, but dies there if need be; or like the pilot who, with hand on Death hath made no breach wheel, amid storm or shipwreck or circling flames stands at the post In love and sympathy, in hope and ~ust; of duty to die there if need be. So we find General WILLIAMS in the No outward sign or sound our ears can re:t~h; high disch 'U'ge of his duties as a soldier proffering his life to his conn l I ' But there's an inward, spiritual speech That greets us still, though mortal ton_,gue be dead, try, to fight for her, for her to die if needs be. And bids us do the work that thev laid nown. Returning from Mexico amid the rejoicing of a. triumphant and grateful people, General WILLIAMS settled down once more to the pur Mx. ELLIS. Mr. Speaker, ·with the shadows and sorrows of the suits of peaceful and private life. Not long, however, was it before bereavement occasioned by the death of General WILLIAMS upon us, he was discharging the functions of high civil position under Federa.l we stand to-ni~ht face t-o face with the consideration of his life, its appointment. And thus he continued growing steadily in the hearts achievements, rts toils, its labors, its aspirations. With one accord of his people, beloved, honored, respected, and discharging with scru we agree that it was a useful and honorable life, and now that it is pulous care every duty which develved upon him, whether a-s citizen, finished forever we would gather from it whatever of virtues it may official, or lawyer. And there he remained until theterriblefrowno~ .' hav~ exemplified, whatever of example for onr guidance it may have the gathering war-cloud dar-kened our unhappy country and the hour _furnished. grew heavy with peril. A new pathway of duty is suddenly opened ,. And yet, sir, I scal'Cely lrnow how to add anything for our reflec before him, and sorrowfully, sadly perhaps, and yet without faltering tion to what has already been said. The language of eulogy seems or hesitating, he sets out bravely to pursue it. to me to be exhausted. The voice of that strong, manly affection Sir, in all that mighty tide of valor that poured from hill and plain, which bound General WILLIAMS to the brave, strong hearts of those in all the mighty and majestic armies that gathered in this northern who associated with him has been fully uttered. Not one single land.beneath the folds of the flag of the Union, how many elements, note of all the wondrous and touching symphonies which slumber in how many emotions, how many different impulses there were! There the lyre-strings of the mournful muse has been left untouched 'l.nd was youth with no knowledge of the realities, the terrible sufferings . unawakened, while by masterly hands the outlines of the life and of war, gathered there perhaps from the high and chivalric impulse the features of the character of the illnstrous dead have been drawn to dare the dangers of the field. To such there was something of so perfectly that I painfully feel my inability to add a. single touch pride in the perils of war, and they were eager and ready to rush to to the already perfect work. And, yet, sir, would I weave a chaplet, the fray to pluck some laurel from the battle-field. There were others simple though it be, for his memory; and from the perennial blooms that rallied in those grand armies from a feeling of phihnthropy. and deathless verdure of the far southern land that I represent Their inspiration and thought was that they were bearing liberty and would I bring a flower to lay with those richer offerings which have enfranchisement and equal rights to a downtrodden and long-op been so lovingly placed upon the grave of our lamented friend. pressed race. There were perhaps a few who were animated by sec Mr. Speaker, men's lives are valuable as they incarnate ideas, or as tional hate; but there were hundreds and thousa.nds whose sole idea they exemplify splendid virtues, or us they teach valuable lessons. and sentiment was the preservation of the Union. In entering upon We turn over the pages of the days and the years of their lives as we that terrible struggle General WILLIAMS was animated by no love of turn over the pages of a volume. Some of them we remember, others war, no thirst for glory. He had been in the tented field; he had we mark f some we love to recall, and others we forget as a volume "drunk in the earthquake of the gnns;" he had seen the writhing of or a page whereon no word is written. Those who have toiled for a the wounded ; he had marked the pale, sca,thed faces of the dead; he great principle, who have taught their fellow-men useful lessons, or had seen how war's hostile hoofs trenched tho land and blotted out who have exemplified virtnes worthy the imitation, live on even after its very civilization; and from this spectacle of gathering strife his death. Those who die ha.ving lived for naught, who failed to achieve kindly and brave heart shrank. Nor was there with him any of the and to teach and to exemplify, are but as demolished temples, wherein sentiment of philanthropy. From his stand-point, to his political no worship was ever held, no rites performed, and around which no views, the peculiar institutions of the South were guaranteed by the love clings and no fond memory dwells. Constitution, nor did he believe that lawful power existed to touch Until this evening I had known but little of the details of that or destroy it. Nor with him was there the mere sentiment of the pros illustrious career whose .sudden close causes the solemn services of servation of the Union. There. was to him something beyond; the this hour. But from the lip!i of his distinguished and eloquent col preservation of the Constitution, the absolute salvation of republican league [Mr. WILLITS] I have heard elaborated the details of those government. In his belief liberty itself was imperiled, and imperiled :l;:tbors and achievements which. are so briefly outlined in the Congres- too by the rash acts of his own countrymen. ,... \ 1692 CONGRESSIONAL REOOR11)>-HOUSE. FEBRUARY. 20 Sir, I can well imagine ltow that patriotic, that kindly heart would p_resent Co,n~ss are thick. The statesman full of years and expe !lave averted the storm~how like Curtius·he would have leaped into nence has d.r pe<:J. out of the ranks and gone t.o a hiO'her assemblage. the gulf to 8a.Ve the Union .and to preserve peace. I can well fancy The mature an m the full bloom and blossom of 'life has· dri.fted that with him there was no passion, no hate, no other sentiment ani away to the spirit land, and the boatman with the silent dar ha-s passed mating his heart than the high and noble and splendid impulse of again, and the \young man in his beauty and his glory has floated duty and of loyalty to his country, loyalty to her free institutions; away to the otlier shore. Even while you look upon the man who and sternly, bravely, sadly, without passion, a splendid type of the comes in here full of hope and happiness, brimming over with en conservative sentiment of the war democracy of the North, he went ergy and enterprise, anxious and ambitious to make for himself a down to do battle for the Union and the Constitution. name that will not die. While he stands before you in his pride his Mr. Speaker, I was ·of those who fought in the armies against which life goes out, and he is gone forever. What a commentary on' the General WILLIAMS drew his sword. But I would be indeed'blinded pride and vanity of man. by prejudice and insensate of soul did I fail to appreciate and to can Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud W didly avow the honest, the sincere-convictions of duty, the lofty, un Like a swift.fteeting met~r. a. fast-flying cloud, bending, and' sacred sense of loyalty which animated his soul when A fiMh of the lightning, a. break of the wave, in sorrow rather than in anger my brother drew his sword upon me :Man pMses from life to his rest in the grave. and my people, and without passion or hatred, solemnly and patiently, 'Tis the wink of an eye; 'tis the draught of a breath, sadly but sternly, fought on until victory crowned his effort with her :From the blossom of health, to the paleness of death, smile. I trust, sir, the time may soon come when prejudice and pas From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud sion shall no longer prevent us from clearly seeing and manfully Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be pl'Oud 7 according honesty of purpose and purity of motive to all Americans "Why, sir, look around you, and see the silent resting-places of the who engaged in our unhappy strife. When that time comes we will dead. Here lies the great Se:tlator and statesman from Indiana, so be very near the glorious day of perfect peace and reunion. Hownobly long the Boaner~es of the Senate, whose war record has immortalized General WILLIAMS bore himself in that civil war has been told. He his name and will keep his memory green through the ages. Tlie exhibited the highest qualities of the American soldier, and in an eyes of the millions loyal to the old flag are still· wet with the tears eminent degree developed great capacity to command, while he illus his taking-off summoned from loving hearts. Here sleeps the silent trated a lion-like courage which made him seem at times to defy dan form of the gallant and gracious Bogy, from the great State beyond ger and to court death upon the field. This quality won from the com the Mississippi ; and here reposes all that is left of the educated and mon soldier that endearing and fa.iniliar epithet of "Old Fighting eloquent Leonard, the cultivated and classic gentleman from the Pap," which followed him in peace, and which will live forever. Those Gulf, whose thoughts were wisdom and whose words were music ; who followed him can well remember with a soldier's pride that brow and here rests the manly and once majestic form of our hero, Major which was so calm amid whistling bullets, that form which rode with General ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS, the brave soldier aud the wise and such death-defying heroism right amid the blaze of hostile guns, and liberal-minded statesman, the gallant officer and the genial friendr that death-scornina- courage that seemed to find its congenial home the wise counselor and th'e knightly gentleman, the pure judge and upon the battle-fiefd where brave men fought and bled and died for the safe commander ; and here, too, is the statesman from the· land what they deemed was right. And the " star of the field that poured of flowers, the gifted and graceful gentleman from Savannah, the elo its beams upon his battle" and led him at last to victory was simply quent and accomplished Hartridge, whose praises are chanted in the light of his life, the star of duty. It waa his 11 pillar of clou.d by mournful measure in the city he loved, and the loss sustained by his day and of fire by night." He followed it as steadfaatly and with the decease will press down upon the hearts ·that loved him with greater same faith that the prophet of Israel of old followed that which the and greater force as the days roll on and the years sweep by. Almighty's hand had· upreared before his wondering and adoring And this is the resting-place of the once proud and pleasant gen gaze; and at last it led him to victory and to peace. tleman from Old Virginia. Only a few years since and he was the And, Mr. Speaker, with General 'VILLIA1trs the cessation of the war great orator, the graphic speaker, the courtly gentleman, and the meant peace. · His heroic soul was too noble to taunt the fallen; his charming companion. Here, side by side, lie Quinn and Welch, good bra.ve heart was too manly to desire to persecute the humiliated and men and true, uniting the East and the West; and here is another, the conquered, a tid no sooner had that sword, as knightly and as chiv who has but just laid down his work. His voice still echoes in this alrous as 'ever bathed in the battle light, or ever pointed the way Hall, we might almost believe, he wa-s so recently with us, a distin to. victory, been sheathed, than the hand which had so heroically guished and honored member. He, too, has laid his political burdens wielded it was all busy with deeds of kindness, with endeavors to down and pa.ssed over the mysterious river. . bind tip the wounds of the war. The earnest and energetic Schleicher, the able and active states Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar with his career here. Suffice it to man, the kind, consistent, and conservative gentleman, has whis say that duty guided him in all his ways and acts in this Hall. We pered his last good-night to us and disappeared. Surely we are among miss him from his accustomed place. His seat is vacant. We miss the graves and speaking to the dead. Life,'at such a time as this, his valued councils, his great labors, his cheerful presence, and the seems of little consequence indeed. How vain the pomp and show strength we reposed in him. Death found him, while life had seemed of fashion; how false and foolish ambition doth appear; how more ever to place him in the discharge of his duty; still at his post, ill the than useless aud unworthy human strife. midst of his committee-room, discharging and prosecutin~ the duties When we behold the uncertainty of life, how like a dream it comes of his committee, the arrow of death found him. The wmter of his and goes! When we see the great, the good, the ambitious, and the life had been reached; its-fullness was completed; it was well fin proud cut down and gone as goes the fairest and frailest flower, ished, filled to the full measure of duty done. We bore him away to blighted by a breath or breeze blown across the blossom~at such an slumber in the soil of his adopted State. hour we can forget the unkind word; the strife and struggle of de And as Michigan, mourning Michigan, opened her arms to receive bate are lulled to rest; the angry and acrimonious charge, preferred within her embrace-all that remained of .ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMs, to in the hour of prejudice or of passion, is regretted and recalled, ior hold him forever in his final sleep, I can fancy that she kissed his given and forgotten. Here and now no unhallowed thoughts come cold forehead and said, "No son hath served me more faithfully and in to divide, disturb, or distract us. Here and now the clamoring more acceptably than thou." cry of political ambition is still; we are the best of friends just now. -_ Tb~ro, in her fond breast may he sweetly rest. Ay, Here in the calm of death and in the sadness and silence of. these Soldier, ·rest; thy warfare o'er, green but grassless graves we are gentle and generous, grave and Sleep the sleep that knows no waking; gracious. Why, the very air is full of the spirit of kindness and -Of Dream of battle-fields no more, love. Why should it not be so to-morrow~ Why should this gentle Days of danger, nights of waking. and loving spell speed away with the passing hour 'I Yes~ softly, sweetly, sleep in the bosom of thy adopted State. Why can we not cling to the sweet and sacred emotions begotten · The flowers will bloom and the birds will sing above thee, and nat by this occasion, and allow them to guide us intfi paths of peace and ure around thy last resting-place shall fling all the beauties that the ways of pleasantness, so that our friendship may be like the oven and changing seasons know. But no birdling's song, no flower's perfumed ever-flowing stream of deep and gentle motion 1 breath, snail be purer or sweeter than were the emanations of thy Sectional bitterness and party strife have no place here. They dare soul. And no sunset cloud nor line·of life shall be more grand, more not enter while such holy and hallowed thoughts are :filling every beautiful than the example which thou has left us. heart and ·soul with the highest and holiest desires of the man and Mr. Speaker, we soon forget llie's trials, all life's struggles, all life's politician. If we could command this gentle spirit from the skies to achievements. But the majesty of death's seal impresses men's souls stay with us, our country would be the gainer, and our statesmen and dares them to forget. And such a life as. that which we mourn would not lose thereby. And now, by these new-made graves, where to-day finished by death, shall live fore"\'ter. lie the dead statesmen from the North and from the South, from the ·· It was a heathen poet, I believ-e, who ~aid: East and from the West, let us swear to put down .forever sectional strife and bitterness, and bury deep the hatred of the past, and stand In tl:!El halls that our feasts illume, The rose for one hour may bloom· together under the old flag and be forever one. :But the cypress that grows 'round the tomb, And what shall we say of our departed friend and brother-whose Ah! the cypress is green forever. memory we come to celebrate to-day Y What shaH we say t Say he was every inch a man; au honest and honorable man; the noblest Mr. ELLSWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to add my humble work of God, so the poet sang, and his numbers told tho truth, and tribute to the mem-ory of our lamented friend and brother. such a man w.as.ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS, whose home was in the lovely Sir, we are standing where the graves of our fallen comrades of the City of the Straits. What shaH we say of him f Say he was the ,...... ------~ ------c::~;-:--;------...,...------\ I I I I 1879; . .._.)I CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 1693 bra-ve soldie1.' -and safe commander. -I look back along the wn.y he destinies of the nation. Oh for. a Congress of Jll3t such independent .came and soo him as he came from Yale, with tlie honors of the giim men, loving country more than party. Then the Republic would cer old college thick around his brow, flushed with expectations, beam tainly endure. Then the ages as they come and pass would brighten ing with young life and hope; hale and hearty, buoyant and busy and strengthen t he golden chain that binds in one this sisterhood of with the future which lay all before him then, an~ he ready t o e:Dfoll States. . Then the prosperity and perpetuity of the Union would be his name among the countless throng of competitors for the pnzes assmed, and we,..sbould rest without a single fear as to the future to be won or lost- in the race of life. I see him as he travels in dis glory of the Republic. _ tant lands beyond.the seas; I see him return to his native country, .ALPHEus S. WILLIAMs could sink the politician in the man and cultured and refined -by contact with the world beyond; I see him stand a1>ove the low and mean ambitions of the petty partisan. He step proudly on the wharf' of the little city of Detroit, then but a could fling aside ambition when his colm.try called; he could with western village; I see him pleading with manly eloquence for his stand the party cry, and stand bravely for that his judgment said clients at the bar, in the pride and beauty of his young manhood; I was-truth and right. And such a man is a glory to any nation, and behold his dignity on the judicial bench, wisely administering the it should be proud of him and hasten to crown him as her own. laws of his adopted city and State, kindly and judiciously protecting I would honor such a man and keep his memory green forever, the orphan and the widow. Ancl such was our hero and statesman who sleeps beside the majestic I see him under the Stars and Stripes, marching with the boys in river he loved, in the beautiful city of the dead. blue for the plains of Mexico; I see him on the burning sands of that And we sing to him, as he sleeps in the silent land, Tennyson1s sad torrid land, cheering the weary and fainting soldiers -qntil they march farewell to the stream of his youth, slightly transposed, a.nd leave triumphantly into the halls of the Montezumas; I see him there in him to his rest : the storm of battle, where the coward flees and the hero stands or Flow down ~rand river to the sea, falls; I see him marching home when the contest ended, with his ., Thy tribute wave deliver; - good sword untarnished by one ignoble act, but bright and shining as · No more by thee his steps shall be, the record he had made; I see him, too, in his mature and ripened Forever and forever. man1wod, when he heard his country's cry for help, and came bravely Flow, grandly flow, a crystal sea, forth and stood under the banner of the free, when he went forth in And then a river- defense of the Union to put down the mistaken and misguided men No more by thee his steps shall be, who dared to .fire upon the flag our fathers loved and gave to us. I Forever and forever. .. . see in fancy the gleam of his eye amid the storm of battle, at .Antie By thee shall sigh thine alder-tree, tam and in the line of .fire at South Mountain; I see his majestic By thee thine aspen quiver; form amid the surging waves of battle, as charge after charge swept ..And there by thee shaU hum the bee, round Round-top at bloody Gettysburgh, and hear his manly words Forever and forever. .to his brave boys at the city of Atlanta; and I see him beside his great captain on that wonderful march to the sea" when all the world .A. thousand suns shall shine on thee, .A. thousand moons shall quiver wondered.n No more by thee his steps shall be, And behold him, on his triumphant way through the Carolinas, as Forever and forever. he swept on to victory and to peace. I hear again the joyful bells . . pealing. forth the glad tidings of a Union restored and re-established. Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Spe-aker, there is an allegory which has the I look again, and he is coming home with his brave and gallant testimony of years as the one unsurpassed in any language. In his men-all that were left of them. I hear the huzzahs of his people as cell the grand old tinker saw a. vision, which has delighted the school he stands once more in the charming city of his love, as he returned boy; and, like lihe Book of Books, is always new and always gloriou-s to them from the red flame of battle, crowned with glory; and there to the man, while it opens up avenues of thought to the scholar and is no one among all the thousands who throng to meet him but de hands down along the lines of Time the sonorous old .Anglo-Saxon. lights to do him honor. In boyhood the character who was my friend, with whom I loitered He is their favorite son, and they welcome him with cannon, with along the highway and in whose presence I felt that life was sun music and banners and :flowers. shine and all its paths were paths of peace, was that noble conception I see him on his way to this Hall, sent here by the voice of his peo of Bunyan drawn with a vigorous toll'Ch and a bold hand, Old Mr. -ple he had so well served before; and! see him returned by an over Honest. The only portion of the character which I could not con whelming vote, and from day to day in the quiet and industrious ceive of as being in keeping with the rest was th~t Honest must discharge of his arduous duties. As a legislator he worked in com necessarily be old. I fancied that honesty was always young; that mittee and in the House, always at his post, anxious and earnest in sturdy Mr. Honest, even when about to cross the river, had preserved his labors, as all will testify who knew him well; and a more de his youthful .fire and the vigor of his early manhood. While.I passed voted and diligent friend of the District of Columbia never found his by other noble characters, drawn by that grand untutored English way into the CQngress of the nation; and the people of the District artist, I loved to walk by the side of Mr. Honest. may well deplore his loss, as we know they do. While on my own When I came to know the man who had honored Detroit I felt that .sick-bed I heard the sad tidings of his illness, and soon the startling my early conceptions were right-honesty is always young. What news, " he is dead ; " and he was gone. I hear the mournful music is youth' Some who are young in years are old in misery, old by ~i the mufiled drum, and the solemn dirge from the band :floats out reason of imbecility. There are, however, those who preserve through ·upon the quiet air. I see the solemn c- and foreign travel, he commenced that career which endeared him t{) our people; controlled by what circumstances I know not, he engaged in a news and after devoting most of his lite t{) the service of the public died1 fnll of honors paper enterprise, becoming both editor and.proprietor of the Detroit and yell1'8, literally with the !tarness on, at his post as Representative of the first district of our State at "\Vashmgton. Daily Advertiser. The paper was conducted with ability. His trusts. Filling successively the J?OSitions ofju~geof prob~e of ~ayneCounty, recorder he had discharged with satisfaction and credit. of the city of Detroit, edxtor of the Daily Advertiser, lieutenant-colonel of the In 1847 the United States inaugurated hostilities against ·Mexico. First Michigan Volunteers in the Mexican war, postmMter at Detroit, member of the board of education, president of the State military board, and commander of The instant the first trumpet-blast invited to arms this young lawyer the military camp of instruction at Fort Wayne, be acquit~d himse~ !n all these and editor exemplified the virtues which grace and dignify his u.fter positions in such a manner as to secure the confidence of his fellow-mt12ens. life; he readily sacrificed position, comfort, home, and enlisted for the· He had established a. reputation as an upright man; as a journalist who, when war, was chosen lieutenant-culonel of the First Michigan Voluntee~s, the tone of our press was low, contributed to its elevation; as a gallant soldier; as andduring that struggle rendered heroic service, distinguishing him an exact, diligent., and accommodatin~r public servant; as a capable instructor, and as a public-spirited citizen. But tbough in this circumscribed sphere General self for both prudence and valor. On his return from a campa.ign WILLLUIS had won public confidence and regard, it was reserved for that hour of unexcelled in glory, unexampled in success, he was appointed post the nation's travail. the !~:Teat rebellion, to illustrate those qualities which entitle master of Detroit, and accepta.bly acted in such capacity for four years, him to the gratitude of the Republic and make his memory a matter of State ending 1853, after which he served as member of the board of educationr pride. Appointed bri .. adier-general of .-olunteers .A.pxil 17, 1861, he took the field, and devoting himself unselfishly and laboriously to the welfare and en-: thenceforward ~as seldom absent from his command till the war closed. lightenment of the young. A few years after, when rebellion thun Whether at the head of a regiment, a brigade, a division, or a corps ; whether dered its echoes and launched its darts at the national life, no patriot on the midwinter march across the .Alleghanies, with thermometer below zero, or covering the retreat on Winchester with a single regiment before Stonewall Jack in the land repaired to the war with hotter zeal than General WILL son's army · whether at the head of a corps at Antietam, where one-third of the IAMS, no one served the Republic with truer faith or more conrageous trophies of the day rewarded his efforts, or again at Gettysburgh, where he com devotion, and few with greater ability.than he as division and corps manded a corps, or on that fateful and dramatic march from the mountains to the commander. In death's plenteous harvest he plucked laurels at South sea we alwavs find him the thoughtful, considerate general, careful of the comfort of hls men; the conscientious, st~bborn fighter, using all the reso~ces at.hi_s CO!D· Mountain, Antietam, and Gettysburgh, at the siege of Atlanta, and mand · oblivious apparently of his personal deserts, never murmurmg at lUJustice in that marvelous march through Georgia from its capital to the sear to ~self but strenuous and aggressive when those intrusted to his care were its board. object. :ri his mind had I?een cast in. a less symmetrical m?ld, and hi.s pe!'sonal He was not only a brave but a patient soldier, never fault-finding, ambition not been subordinated to his sense of duty, he nnght have !l.ttained a higher rank in the service, but he never could have acquired as firm a hold as he never despairing of the Republic. He continued to wield his sword possessed upon the affections of his men and the esteem of those who knew him. until a victory more glorious than any achieved by earth's war .Ap].tointed by President Johnson minister to Salvador, he remained at his post riors was secure-a Union restored and liberty the heritage of every until i-ecalled, raithful and vigilant in guarding and sustaining the interests of his man, woman, and child shadowed by the flag; a. victory accepted as eount~en and the honor of the flag which he had upheld by his sword. Elected twice from the first district to Congress, his course was inspired by the such by both victors and vanquished; a victory of the Republic which purest patrio.tism, guided by mature intelJ!gence, and charac~erized by rl:iligent in the phrase of Rome's great orator is the common parent of us all. and painstaking labor. In no sense a partisan, he dared to differ as a legtslator, General WILLIAMs possessed a soul unpoisoned by envy, ungalled where his conscience so dictated, when to do so implied great fortitude and in volved great personal sacrifice: Therefore, by hate. "He forgot in peace the injuries received in war." Be it Tesolved., That the death of General WILLIAMS calls for an expression of When peace wa.s pronounced by the glad herald of mercy and a.ll sorrow and regret from our people of more than ordinary character, and that the logical sequences of war were put beyond peril by constitutional such expression should be recognized and emphasized by their representatives as amendment, he hailed his late foe a.s brother, unfurled the white ban sembled: Second. That in his life, rounded out as it was by so many ennobling qualities ner of charity and demanded peace between the sections, insisted marred by fewer defects than fall to the lot of most, always responsive to the call that we should erect to forgiveness an altar reaching to the skies,. of pablio dnty equal to every emergency, free from assumption and aiTogance, he 1 around which should gather in honest accord the sons of tho North presented the Ideal type of the American citizen-in t.ho highest sense a man with and the South, and there reverently vow eternal fidelity to liberty and out fear and without reproach. Third. That the recollection of his many virtues should be held as a legacy more Union, 'neath which should be deep-buried all the hates and preju valuable than material wealth and his many services held in grateful remembrance dices engendered by opposing systems of labor and intensified by th~ by the people of this State and the Republic. fury of a war. To this end he demanded that the Constitution's lim Fourth. That the sympathy of both houses is hereby respectfully tendered to itations and restraints, disregarded through necessity in war, should his fanxily. Fifth. That these resolutions and this preamble be entered on the jonrnal of be restored in peace; that taunts and sneers were unpatriotic, un both houses, and copies en~ssed and sealed with tho seal of the State and for generous, and unmanly; that a real victory should be grasped by ex warded, one to his family and one each to our Senators and Representatives in Con tending to every man, whether federate or confederate, the hand of gresa. T. W. PALMER, sincere brotherhood. W. W. DUFFIELD, And herein is General WILLI.A.)IS especially to be glorified in the Senate Committee. grateful remembrance of his countrymen; herein he lifted himself E. W. COTTRELL, above the ordinary plane of humanity, and wisely instructed the peo E. P. ALLEN, ANDREW JACKSON, ple. None can distrust his patriotism, and yet he seized, with equal Hott$e Committee. readiness the band loyal and disloyal, and mourned alike over loyal and disloyal slain. He deemed valor and self-sacrifice supreme virt Mr. WILLIS, of New York. Mr. Speaker, homage to t4e dead is a ues, though exemplified in a. cause he condemned. He accorded to. virtue, peculiar to no age or people. When a friend or companion, others that honesty of conviction which was an attribute of his own even in the ordinary course, rfiaches life's limit, an impulse, honor- life, recognizable in all his acts. God grant that in this respect his 3ble to humanity, causes us to halt, and with sorrowing heaxts meas example like that of Wolfe's "may have a magnet's force/' and be ure the loss we have sustained. Such is the purp@se of this hour. The heeded by our entire people; and then we shall enjoy a peace which man whose death we mourn in many respects wa.s remarkable; his even a.ngels will celebrate-a certain pledge of Union and liberty for loss belongs not alone to us, but to the entire country. His life is ages. . history. Living in a. period crowded with grand eveRts, both in war Mr. Speaker, the virtues of General WILLilliS were well under and in peace, it was his enviable fortune to ident.ify himself with such stood. His life belies the doubtful proverb that 11 republics are un of them as yield luster undimmed and imperishable upon this country. grateful." Immediately after his muster-out from the Army he was On the 20th day of December last, at the foot of yonder slope, in appointed commissioner to adjust the military claims of Missouri. full view of this magnificent Capito], expired in peace and glory, at This duty, requiring honesty, judgment, and capacity, wa.s most tended by his saddened family and friends, ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMs, of thoroughly a.nd satisfactorily executed. Soon after he was commis Michigan. The verdict of his constituenq was reversed by Omnia· sioned minister of the United States to Salvador, which trust he di& cient decree. He was permitted.to experience a. felicity most accept charged with credit and decorum. Upon his return to his home new able to a. patriot, to die in the service of a country be idolized. honors were accorded him. He wa-s elected a member of CongreBS> He was born in 1810, in the staid and ancient Commonwealth of for two terms, and would have been to a third had not a disruption Connecticut, when the Republic was less populous than the States of occurred in his own party, doubtless due to his steadfast adherence New York and Connecticut are to-day. While he yet lived it swelled to what he believed to be sound principles of finance. into the proportions of a vast territorial empire, peopled with more While here he rejoiced in the esteem and confidence of all ~sasso than forty millions of freemen. ciates. He served upon important committees and was charged. with Thrtune uniformly befriended him. Favored with a collegiate ed grave responsibilities. Conscientiously and efficiently he bore them. ucation at Yale, where he graduated in 1831,. also with a professional In legislative life his most noticeable trait was independence, in training at a law school connected with that venerable institution; which he rose far above many supposed to be intellectually his supe informed and enlightened by three years of Europe~m travel, he had riors. He was wedded to hisparty, butdidnotworship it; he recog rare advantages, which doubtless contributed largely to the successes nized it simply as an agency through which just measures of policy of his subsequent life. could be enforced in the administration of government. When in his. Soon after hi& return in 1836, yielding to an adventurous dispo judgment it failed to subserve this purpose he disregarded its behests. 'Bition, he parted company with the old-fashioned, conservative, slow He never yielded to the command of a caucus the right to exercise traveling people of his native State and settled in Michlgan, then his individual judgment or permitted his manhood to be cr:;tmped and sparsely settled by the Caucasian, an outpost of civilization, made it warped by party discipline-~ characteristic which thoughtful men his residence for life, and began the practice of the legal profession. will not hesitate to commend as a virtue, though hot partisans are Whether he was an acute lawyer er eloquent advocate we :bave no apt to impute it as a fault. means of declaring, but tmch was his success and such the confidence That party cannot endure long or nobly which exa~ts unthink he enjoyed that in less tha.n four years he was a judge of probate, ing obedience from its votaries and condemns their consciences to then an alde:rman,. then recorder. While holding the latter position, serfdom. He who hesitates to protest when: his party is wrong is. 1696 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 20, its enemy, though wearing the guise of friend. Heed, then, this hint, Sir, I keenly distrust my ability to express iu fit.tin~ terms with the lesson his life enforces: break the chains of partisansfrlp when the barren language at my control, my high a.npremation ~f the ever the honor and welfare of the Republic requires; subordinate heroic life of AI.PHEUS S. WILLIAMS. Whether at the head of his always party policy to truth and justice. Another virtue inherent conquering columns, cheered on by the rallying cry of his comrades in his character, and consequently a feature of his political career, or side by side ~th his counci!llg brothe.rs in this hall, his e_vecy was his intense hatred of that despicable compound of hypocrisy, ~ct was c~aractenzed by a d~votion ~o the nght. H~ was as retiring and selfishness known as the demagogue. Fawning and sycophancy, m counCil as he was conspiCuous m war, at all times retaining a those odious factors in American politics, he was an entire stranger strong hold upon the loftier affections of the citizen and the sol to. Always manly and outspoken, it was enough for him to have a dier. When ~ratricidal war ha~ ended, his hand no longer grasped the consciousness that a measure was right or wrong to support or to blade, but seiZed the flag of hiS country beneath and around which oppose it. the conquering and the conquered could rally and forget the terrible He did not flatter "his sworn brother, the people," or put on the past. gown of humility to gain attachment and acquire power. Without In him was beautifully blended the sublime courage of the soldie1· question he valued popularity, but only as a requital for faithful, con and the exalted patriotism of the statesman. In him the partisan scientious service. Possessing real virtues, he had no occasion to was lost in the patriot; the hand that struck the conquering blow affect or parade pretended ones. Many of our public men are as servile reached forth to rescue the vanquished from the despoiler. to popular caprice as was Polonius to Hamlet, when he could see in And now, while all that is mortal of ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS rests in a cloud, according to suggestion, a camel, or a weasel, or a whale. a lonely grave, drowned by the storms of winter, he is present and Oh, that none would be deemed worthy high station save steadfast lives in every heart in which the sound of a generous footfall finds patriots, who in the exercise of sworn duties disdain the atrocious, de a generous welcome. He bivouacs on that eternal camping-ground structive arts of demagogism. Because in General WILLIAMS can be awaiting the verdict of stern but impartial history. ' found a true pattern for such I'eform have I given prominence to this It is not, sir, for. me to enter the charmed circle of the domestic loud-speaking virtue transparent in his life of laborious and patriotic hearth-stone to inquire whether he contributed to the luster of those service. gentle and lofty virtues which cluster there; this I leave to the faith The private life of General WILLIAMS was not less admirable than ful biographer who may by courtesy inquire of the stricken ones of his public career; his domestic qualities not less sterling and genu the domestic life of the husband and father. ine than his public virtues. He was a man, full grown, exulting in Although the chain that bound him t{) us has been broken, still its that even threefold development-heart, intellect, and body-which dissevered links lie in sparkling ruin about us. The unlettered peas God intended should be attained. ant may rush to battle with a death mena-cing impetuosity, his faith As a friend of ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS, as a comrade of his in battle, ful cheek unblanched, while the treacherous statesman may falter as his companion in this Honse, I welcome this opportunity of esti when confronted with a solemn public duty. The head that is turned mating his worth as a citizen, as a soldier, as a legislator. by the laurels of the soldier will bow at the shrine of power. The If we accept the Epicurean maxim- • civic chieftain who retires amid the plaudits of a grateful people wiD.s Post mortem, nulla. voluptaa, a triumph much loftier than the battle-scarred veteran of a hundred it would behoove us to shed unavailing tears that our brother has fields returning amid the greetings of a maddened populace. This cieparted. If death were the end of all, indeed our grief would be in highest ambition onr friend had achieved; this aBSured he "laid hlm. consolable; but the creed of the heathen has yielded to one higher down to die," and while frail dust that furniahed him a dwellin~ and holier. We rejoice in the belief, and have a thorough conception place for so long now rests secure from the bolts of war, I trnst his of its trutp, that- good name is ransomed from the breath of calumny. There is no death ! 'Vhat seems so is transition ; A hero in the cause of truth This life of mortal breath And elementalstrif~ Is bnt a suburb of the life elysian, His armor buolded on in youth Whose portal we call death. He laid aside with life. Let us, rather than indulge a sorrow that profiteth not, recall him Thus has fallen another of the gallant spirits who carried the fla.g as that friend who never betrayed a friendship; as that patriot who of our country to the gates of Mexico, and laid at the feet of an un welcomed danger whenever his country was imperiled; as that citi grateful nation the glittering empire on the Pacific slopes. And, zen who, whether in private or public life, dischar~ed with fidelity though he is dead, his appeals for justice to his intrepid companions every trust; as that Christian who throughout his life exemplified a of 1846 will linger near until the hisses of scorn with which his com practical Christianity; finally, as a man courageous, honest, true, rades are met shall be silenced, and long-delayed justice be meted out whose character is marred by no taint and whose career reflects every to them. virtue. At a time like this the country could illy spare one like him. He It can be justly said of him he was born not merely to fill up an had the courage to rebuke tyranny in the ruler and licentiousness in empty space on the earth, but for a purpose; that his existence was the people, and for which he was ostracised politically by the people not an idle vanity! but a real boon to mankind. We may conceive for whom he had given and received so many blows. that in bidding adieu to the world our friend in ecstasy declared: He is dead. Can it be the manly voice, 'Tis a blessing to live, but a greater to die; Whose tones so oft have stirred And the best of the world is its path to the sky. And bid the patriot's heart rejoice, It is fashionable in this world of ours when one passeth away to Shall never more be heard i descant in this melancholy strain: "When his body perislleth, man is no more; he fades from memory, and it is as though he had not Mr. MAJORS. :Mr. Speaker, to-night was assigned for the o:ftering been." There is no warrant for this mournful philosophy in any law, of resolutions in memory of Mr. WELCH, late·a Representative from physical or moral. In the economy of God what is good cannot die. Nebraska; but as the hour is so late his fri.ends, on consultation, Good actions are seeds deep sown, and as Southey says: have decided to ask the Honse to assign some other time for that Sometimes the shoot is choked with weeds or withers on a stone; purpose. But in a kindly soil it strikes its root The SPEAKER. The question, then, is upon the adoption of the And fiourisheth, a.nd bringetb forth abundant fruit. resolutions offered by the gentleman from Michigan, [Mr. HUBBELL.] It is no mean and vulgar condition to be born in the image of a The question being taken," the resolutions were unanimously agreed God. .ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS so upheld himself as not to shame that to i and then, in accordance with the last resolution, the House (at ten image. Therefore- o'clock and thirty-five minutes p.m.) adjourned. He lives in glory, and his spea.I..'ing dust Has more of life than half its breathing moulds. PETITIONS, ETC. Mr. SLEMONS. Mr. Speaker, if the name and fame of .ALPHEt;S S. The following petitions, &c., were presented a-t the Clerk's desk, WILLIAMS were not the common heritage of the American people, I under the rule, and referred as stated: shouid on this occasion content myself simply by uncovering my head By Mr. BAKER, of Indiana: The petition of George Weaver and 66 others, citizens of Avilla, Indiana, against the extension or the and remaining sil~nt as the mournful wrtege passes. Were those who loved him most, and who now vent their woes in secret, present to clover-huller patent of John C. Birdsell-to the Committee on Pat speak, I would not come between them and the dead hero. Sir, in ents. one short month the darkest shadow of widowhood and the deepest By Mr. CANNON, of Illinois: The petition of Mrs. Eliza Smith and others, of Champaign County, Illinois, for le~ialation to make effect wail of orphanage which ever entered this Hall has been seen and ive the anti-polygamy law of 1862-to the vommittee on the Judi beard by all of us. In that brief space of time the startling announce ment "he is dead," like the fire-bell by night, bas broken upon this ciary. Honse four times, awakening andcallingusagain to witness the cumu Also, the petition of Charlotte Jackson and others, of Champaign lative evidence that every beating pulse is an additional note in the County, Illinois, of similar import-to the same committee. funeral march to the great hereafter, about which we believe so much Also, the petition of Mary E. Smith and others, of Champaign and know so little, and that none may escape the remorseless enemy County, lllinois, of similar import-to the same committee. of all life; the king on his throne, the peasant in his hovel, are alike Also, the petition of Mrs. Belle D. Rogers and others, of Champaign doomed; County, Illinois, of similar import-to the same committee. Ancl that nightly we pit~h our moving t~nt Also, the petition of Mrs. Belle C. Thompson and others, of Cham· A day's march nenrer home-. paign County, Illinois, of similar import-t{) the same committee. • ~ • I r J CONGRESSIONAL RECOR:8-SEN.A.TE. 1697 By Mr. COOK: Memorial of-Henry C. Wayne, of Georgia, relating PETITIONS AND- MEMORIALS. to the interoceanic ship-canal through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, The VICE-PRESIDENT presented a memorial of the Legislative -connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans-to the Committee on Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, concernin~ the system of UnitQd Commerce. State~ land surveys and appropriations for tne same ; which was Also, the petition of auctioneers in the District of Columbia, against referred to the Committee on Appropriations. the passage of the lieense bill for said District now pending before Mr. McCREERY presented the petition of George L. Sheriff, of Congress.:_to the Committee for the District of Columbia. Washington, District of Columbia, praying for the passage of a law By"Mr. COX, of New York: The petition of J. M. Bundy and others, relieving him from the payment of a certain special assessment for publishers of New York City, for the reduction of the postage on the improvement of the street in front of his property; which was sample copies of newspapers and newspaper manuscript-to the Com referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. mittee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. Mr. SPENCER presented a resolution, in the nature of a memorial, Also, the petition of citizens of New York, to prevent the extension of the Legislature of Alabama, in favor of the extension of the time of the McKay & Mathies patent for attaching up:pers to the soles of in which that State may select, and the inhabitants of the townships boots and shoes-to the Committee of Ways and Means. falling within the Chickasaw cession in Alabama may accept, the By Mr: DENISON: The petition of Mrs. Orinda L. Daten and 31 lands granted in lieu of and as indemnity for the sixteenth sections others, of Randolph, Vermont, for legisla~on to render e~e~tive the falling within said cession, as provided by the act of Congress of Jnly anti-polygamy laws of ·1862-to the Commtttee on the Jndimary. 4, 1836; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. By Mr. DWIGHT: The petition of A. W. Webber, master, and Will Mr. BOOTH presented a petition of citizens of California, praying iam C. Gray, secretary, and 17 members of Orange Grange1 No. 269, an amendment of the Constitution prohibiting the several States -Sch nyler County, New York, for the passage of the interstate commerce from disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex:; which bill-to the Committee on Commerce. was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. ERRETT: Resolutions of the Chamber of Commerce of He also presented a petition of citizens of California, praying for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, favoring a treaty with Mexico-to the Com such legislation as will protect the rights of settlers on the -public mittee on Foreign Affairs; lands granted in aid of the c;:onstrnction of the Southern Pacific Rail By Mr. FRYE : The petition of L. C. Herrick and others, citizens of road; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Maine, for the passage of the interstate-commerce bill-to the Com Mr. WHYTE presented a petition of John S. Saunders, of Balti mittee on Commerce. more, Maryland, praying for the removal of his political disabilities; Also, the petition of L. C. Herrick and others, citizens of Maine, for which waa referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. . a reduction of the tax on tobacco-to the Committee of Ways and He also presented a memorial of A. C. P. Shoemaker and others, Means. citizens of Maryland, praying for legislation to enable them to con :Ry Mr. HENDERSON: The yetition of Mrs. Catharine Shepard test by law certain assessments imposed upon their property in the and 14 other women, of Hennepm, Illinois, for such legislation as will District Qf Columbia; which was referred to the Committee on the make effective the anti-polygamy law of 1862-to the Committee on District of Colum9ia. 'the Judiciary. Mr. CAMERON, of Wisconsin, presented a petition of citizens of Also, the petition of Mrs. Maggie Forney and 19 other women, of Wisconsin, praying an amendment to the Constitution providing that Pntnam County, Dlinois, of similar import-to the same committee. after the year 1890 all male citizens over theageof twenty-one years By Mr. HUNGERFORD: The petition of Mrs. J. Howard and 26 shall be possessed of certain educational qualifications before being other women, of Bath, New York, of similar import--to the same com allowed th~ right of suffrage; which was referred to the Committee mittee. on Education and Labor. By Mr. KIDDER: The petition of John L. Jolley and 84 ethers, Mr. KERNAN presented the petition of WilliamS. Carr, of the city citizens of Vermillion, Dakoia Territory, for the improvement of the of New York, praying for the extension of his patent for an improve- Missouri River at that place-to the Committee on Commerce. ment in water-closets; which was referred to the Committee on Pat By Mr. LOCKWOOD: The petition of cigar manufacturers of Bnf ents. falo, New York, for the amendment of the revenue laws so as to pre Mr. McPHERSON. I desire to call up the bill (H. R. No. 58'24) ex vent the manufacture of cigars in tenement houses-to the Committee tending the limits of the port of New York. of Ways and Means. Mr. WINDOM. I insist upon the regular order this morning. Also, the petition of women of Aurora, New York, for legislation to The VICE-PRESIDENT. Is there further business for the morn make effective the anti-polygamy law of 1862-to the Committee on ing honrf the Judiciary. Mr. COCKRELL. I give notice now, before we get to the trans By Mr. PEDDIE: The petition of manufacturers of Orange, New action of any business, that there must be a quorum here, and it is .Tersey, that the consideration of Senate bill No. 300, being an amend evident there is not a quorum on the floor now. !shall enter my pro ment of the patent laws, and now before the Honse, be laid over thia test against the passage of any bill unless there is a quorum of Sen se8sion, so that there mar, be ample opportunity for the mannfacturers ators present. to be heard concerning lts provisions-to the Committee on Patents. The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Secretary will call the ro11 of the By Mr. PHILLIPS: The petition of women of MitcheR County, Senate. Kansas, for legislation to make effective the anti-polygamy law of Mr. W~OM. The Senator £rom Arkansas, [Mr. DoRSEY,] the 1862-to the Committee on the Judiciary. Senator from Iowa, [Mr. ALLisoN,] and the Senator from Pennsyl By ~ RICE, of Massachusetts: The petition of Henry Waterman vania, [Mr.W ALLACE,] are all engaged on a subcommitt-ee in the room for an e.xtension of a patent for improvements in tempering wire and of the Committee on Appropriations by leave of the Senate. steel-to the Committee on Patents. The Secretary called the roll, and forty-two Senators answered to By_Mr. STEWART: Resolutions of the Legislature of Minnesota, their names. favoring legislation to prevent the adulteration of food, sweets, &c. The VICE-PRESIDENT. Forty-two Senators are present. There to the Committee of Ways and Means. is a quorum. • Also, memorial of the Legislature of Minnesota, for the construction Mr. McPHERSON. I now desire to call np Honse bill No. 5824. of dams and reservoirs on the headwaters of the Mississippi River, The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Senator from New Jersey asks the · for the improvement of navigation on said river-to the Committee Senate to consider at this time a bill which will be reported by its on Commerce. title. Also, resolution of the Legislature of Minnesota, requesting Con Mr. WINDOM. I must insist on the regular order. · gress to appropriate money for the improvement of the Minnesota The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there further business of the morning River-to the same committee. hour T Petitions and memorials are still in order. By Mr. THOMPSON : Resolutions of the Legislature of Pennsyl Mr. HARRIS presented a petition of members of Melrose Grange, No. yania, favoring appropriations for the erection of Government build 80, of Shelby County, Tennessee, praying for the reduction of the .tax ings in said State-to the Committee on ~P.J!.~!:,riations. on tobacco; which was ordered to lie on the table. By Mr. VAN VORHES: The petition of a C. McVay and 331 Mr. MORRILL presented the petition of Thaddeus Fairbanks, of other ladies, of Athens, Ohio, for such legislation aa will make more Saint Johnsbury,-Vermont, praying for an extension of his patenj; for effective the anti-polygamy law of 1862=-to the Committee on the an improvement in refrigerators, accompanied by a bill and a copy J ndiciary. - of a letter from John C. Schooley; which were referred to the Com mittee on Patents. Mr. EDMUNDS. I present the petition of a lar~e numper of ladies, ·. · members of the Methodist Episcopal church m Hebrouville and Dodgeville, Utah, praying Congress to enact such legislation as will IN SENATE. make effective the anti-polygamy law of 1862. I move its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary. . FRIDAY, February 21, 1879. The motion was agreed to. Mr. BUTLER presented the petition of sundry granges in New York The Se~ate met at twelve o'clock m. and other States, praying for the pa.ss!l'~e .of Ilo~e . bif! No_. 3?'f7, ~~g Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. ulating interstate commerce and prohib1tmg nnJnst discrmunat10ns '.Fhe Secretary proceeded to read the Journal of the proceedings of by common carriers; which were referred to the Committee on Com- yesterday; when, on motion of Mr. SPEN~, ~d by unanimou.S con merce. . sent~ the reading·was dispensed with. Mr. McMILLAN presented a petition of members of Itasca Grange, Vlll-107 ..·'