CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



189 



far as that her courts, and hers alone, shall have 

 jurisdiction in matters of national concern and 

 in cases arising under the national Constitu- 

 tion." 



Mr. Whyte, of Maryland : " Mr. President, 

 the reason why this bill was put in its present 

 form as a separate bill was to avoid unneces- 

 sary discussion in regard to this peculiar case, 

 because it is a case in which I supposed nobody 

 would have any objection to relieving this young 

 man from the disability under which he labors. 

 He is the great-grandson of James Monroe, for- 

 merly President of the United States, and rep- 

 resenting in his da}', in his administration, that 

 ' era of good feeling ' which I supposed prevail- 

 ed in this body at the present time. His father 

 was for many years the Surgeon-General of the 

 United States Army, and rendered most dis- 

 tinguished service in that capacity. The youth 

 was born of a Virginia mother and resided in 

 Virginia, and when the war broke out Virginia 

 was his home. He was but temporarily in the 

 State of Maryland, and returned, as General 

 Johnston returned, who now honors a seat in 

 the House of Representatives, to the home of 

 his nativity, and although but sixteen years of 

 age, with that military ardor which had be- 

 longed to his father and which he inherited, he 

 felt that his duty was to the State that gave 

 him birth. At sixteen he entered the army. 

 He was not twenty-one when the war closed. 

 He has been since then a resident of my State, 

 and I have watched him since he has been with- 

 in its borders. He has been faithful to every duty 

 which the Constitution or the law required of 

 him. He has been eminently a good citizen, of 

 the highest character, and having learned that 

 there was an opportunity of his getting some 

 small appointment in the pay department of 

 the Army, he applied to me to aid him, when I 

 discovered this impediment to his appointment 

 to such a place, and therefore offered this bill, 

 and I supposed that there would be no objection 

 to relieving this young man of the disability im- 

 posed upon him by an act passed long ago, when 

 it was proper to have passed such an act." 



Mr. Logan, of Illinois : " May I ask the Sen- 

 ator what the jippointment is in the Army that 

 this young man seeks? " 



Mr. Whyte : " Paymaster. He is applying 

 for an appointment as paymaster in the pay 

 department, and is recommended by some of 

 the best Republicans in the United States." 



Mr. Garland, of Arkansas: u Mr. President, 

 for the reasons which have been so well assigned 

 by the Senator from Maryland, I gave my hearty 

 support to this bill before the Judiciary Com- 

 mittee, and I am still in favor of it. But at the 

 same time that I did so I propounded the ques- 

 tion there that the Senator from Vermont has 

 propounded to the Senate to-day : Why hesitate 

 and go on doing this act of amnesty by piece- 

 meal ? I quite concur with the Senator from 

 Vermont that it is time to repeal section 1218 

 and get rid of it. I think he is strictly and emi- 

 nently correct in his position on that. 



"I propose now, Mr. President, that we get 

 rid of section 1218, so that Mr. Heiskell, who is 

 a meritorious young man, may have the benefit 

 of it, with nil the others that may be under 

 disability, or that may come under the infliction 

 of this statute. 



" It is true, as the Senator from Maryland has 

 said, that we have granted these amnesties by 

 piecemeal ; we have granted them to individ- 

 uals from time to time ; and he has mentioned, 

 in particular cases, the distinguished services 

 to the Confederate States rendered by gentle- 

 men who now occupy responsible places in the 

 service of the United States. This is a remnant 

 of the statutes born and generated out of the 

 war ; and as such gentlemen hold positions all 

 through the service of the United States I can 

 not see for the life of me any use in this statute 

 any longer ; and therefore, as the Senator from 

 Kentucky who now sits to my right [Mr. BeckJ 

 has persistently and consistently, ever since he 

 has been in the Senate, introduced and pressed a 

 bill for this general purpose. I ask leave to ofter 

 it as an amendment to this bill in the nature of 

 a substitute. I move to strike out all after the 

 enacting clause and insert what I send to the 

 Chair." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed to strike 

 out all after the enacting clause of the bill, and 

 in lieu thereof to insert: 



"That section 1218 of the Revised Statutes of the 

 United States, being in chapter 1, title 14, of said Ee- 

 vised Statutes, which provides that ' no person who 

 has served in any capacity in the military, naval, or 

 civil service of the so-called Confederate States, or of 

 either of the States in insurrection during the late re- 

 bellion, shall be appointed to any position in the Army 

 of the United States,' be, and the same is hereby, re- 

 pealed." 



The Vice-President : " The question is on 

 the amendment proposed by the Senator from 

 Arkansas [Mr. Garland]." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The bill was reported to the Senate as amend- 

 ed, and the amendment was concurred in. 



The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a 

 third reading; and it was read the third time. 



The Vice-President : u The question is, ' Shall 

 the bill pass?' " 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio : " I have supposed 

 that the people of this country have a right to 

 the service of every able-bodied man in time of 

 war, and that if we should get into a war again 

 and no country can say it will always be at 

 peace we should have a right to the service of 

 the men who were lately in the Confederate 

 service ; and I supposed that so long a time had 

 elapsed, and there was such a sufficient evidence 

 of the fact besides the lapse of time, to quiet the 

 fears of anybody who is not harassed by a ner- 

 vousness that never harasses me about the loy- 

 alty of the people of the South. 



"How can any of these men get positions in 

 the Army of the United States ? Only by nom- 

 ination by the President and confirmation by 

 the Senate. Who of them are likely to get po- 

 sitions? Certainly not the old men, certainly 



