CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



191 



ferred the Union side and those who preferred 

 the Confederate side, or who were in rebellion 

 against the Government. I think it was a prop- 

 er distinction. Whether that distinction in time 

 of war shall be wiped out or not is another con- 

 sideration. We are not in war. 



" The repeal of this law does not strike me 

 as being very well in this respect: We find that 

 recently the Congress of the United States has 

 authorized the President to appoint certain per- 

 sons in the Army, that they might be placed on 

 the retired list, who resigned at the beginning 

 of this war in order to keep themselves out of 

 the war. Being out of the Army for fifteen 

 years, the Congress of the United States has 

 passed a law authorizing their appointment in 

 the Army that they may be placed on the re- 

 tired list. 



" I see in this repeal the very same thing re- 

 enacted here in Congress, that men who were 

 in the Army prior to the war may be restored, 

 if they are to be considered on an equality 

 (which I do not say anything about) with these 

 other men, and certainly they ought to be on an 

 equality with men who resigned to keep them- 

 selves out of the way of bullets. It may be said 

 there is no reason why Congress should not au- 

 thorize the President to place them in the Army 

 that they may go on the retired list, because 

 they are to-day above the age at which they can 

 be appointed in the Army. There is no good 

 ground at all for the repeal of this law, except 

 for the placing of these men in the Army again 

 that they may be retired, as has been done in 

 some instances. 



u No, sir ; if the Congress of the United States 

 shall attempt to put back into the Army all the 

 men, or part of them, who were dismissed on 

 account of unfaithfulness to their country, or 

 men who had been in the Army and resigned 

 and went on the other side because of their want 

 of good faith to their country, then I say we 

 are doing a wrong not only to the Army but to 

 the country which supports the Army. There 

 can be no reason for this, unless it is that these 

 men may be placed in the Army again that they 

 may be retired and supported by the Govern- 

 ment, because there is no other way, they being 

 beyond the age in which they can get into the 

 Army, except by act of Congress. 



"Then, sir, I say further, not out of any bit- 

 terness or feeling, that I do claim, and I claim 

 it in this Senate Chamber in the presence of 

 Senators whom I have a high respect for who 

 \\ t-re on the other side in the contest, that there 

 should be a distinction made in our Army in 

 time of peace between those who fought for the 

 Union and those who fought to destroy it. I 

 have always maintained it, and ever shall main- 

 tain it, not because I have any feelings of ani- 

 mosity against these men ; no such thing. They 

 may have been misguided ; that is not the ques- 

 tion. They were found in a certain position 

 against the Government. Being found there, 

 they are not entitled again to wear the uniform 

 of this country and draw its sword in preference 



to the men who have always been faithful to it. 

 In time of war, the Senator from Ohio says, 

 would you not allow these men to fight ? ' Suf- 

 ficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' When 

 war comes we will consider the question ; but 

 in time of peace I say, without giving any opin- 

 ion as to the future, I would not place men in 

 the Army who fought for the destruction of this 

 Government by the side of men who struggled 

 for its existence. I would not do it, and I never 

 will do it." 



Mr. Thurman : " Mr. President, I can not help 

 saying a word more on this bill, though I did 

 not intend to say a word about'it originally. I 

 can not let the remarks of the Senator from 

 Illinois pass without a word. The Senator 

 would not remove this brand from these men in 

 time of peace ; but when war comes, should it 

 come with any foreign power or a dozen foreign 

 powers, then the Senator will be willing to say 

 to these men, ' Here, we branded you during all 

 these many years of peace, and all the while 

 when you were perfectly loyal, and now in the 

 hour of need of the country we appeal to your 

 patriotism to come out and fight for us.' " 



Mr. Logan: "The Senator will allow me to 

 remark that I did not say that." 



Mr. Thurman : u No, but that is exactly what 

 it comes to.' 1 



Mr. Logan : " No, sir, I beg the Senator's par- 

 don, I said no such thing. I said it would be 

 time to consider that question when war came, 

 and if the Senator now wants to call me out on 

 that question I will answer him honestly. Peace 

 or war, had I the appointing power, I would 

 give commissions to those men who never failed 

 when their country called." 



Mr. Thurman: "That sounds very well in- 

 deed, and we know now what the programme 

 of the Senator is, that in time of war he would 

 not commission one single man, however loyal, 

 however eminent, however distinguished his 

 military talent, if that man twenty or thirty 

 years before had been on the Confederate side. 

 I am perfectly willing that the Senator may take 

 that ground and stand on it." 



Mr. Logan : "I did not say that, either." 



Mr. Thurman: "And, Mr. President, there 

 was another thing that struck me as a little cu- 

 rious. The Senator said that the object of this 

 bill must be to put a parcel of officers who were 

 once in the Army of the United States and went 

 into the Confederate service upon the retired list 

 of the Army of the United States. How, indeed, 

 the Senator could get such an idea as that in his 

 head passes my comprehension. Certainly it is 

 not supported by the few instances he gave, 

 that of Colonel Haller and that of some Mary- 

 land colonel. In respect to Colonel Haller we 

 are told by the Senator from Oregon that he did 

 not resign. In regard to the Maryland man, I 

 know nothing about him ; I never heard his 

 name before ; but if he did resign in order to 

 escape exposing his person to bullets, as the Sen- 

 ator from Illinois said if I understood him cor- 

 rectly, how comes it that a Republican Senate, 



