148 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1875). 



A large majority of the people of Louisiana 

 have acquiesced, 230; the Louisiana question 

 the most important before Congress, 230; 

 who are crying about the Louisiana people ? 

 230 ; Governor Kellogg can maintain himself, 

 231 ; the President is authorized to send pro- 

 tection to Louisiana, 231 ; Governor Kellogg's 

 letter to the President, 231 ; the powers un- 

 der the Constitution, 231 ; the term " United 

 States," 332; the President is invested with 

 all the power necessary to perform his duty, 

 232 ; nothing to do with the propriety of Du- 

 rell's decisions, 232 ; protection from domestic 

 violence appeals to the force of the nation, 

 233; the United States is not authorized to 

 order a new election in Louisiana, 233; we 

 can only guarantee a republican form of gov- 

 ernment, 233 ; the word " form " is not a mat- 

 ter of chance as it occurs in the Constitution, 

 234 ; if the three branches of a State govern- 

 ment collude together, but preserve the repub- 

 lican "form," would Congress have power to 

 interfere ? 234 ; order a new election in Lou- 

 isiana, and you have established a precedent 

 that must impair elective government, 235 ; 

 let the remedy for frauds be found in the 

 courts, 235 ; you do not know how the elec- 

 tion has gone in Louisiana, and until you do 

 you have no right to interfere, 235 ; what is 

 our right of interference? 235 ; based on two 

 grounds, 235 ; the facts, 237 ; this is no mere 

 question of party triumph, 237; what the 

 people say, 237 ; shall this conspiracy to over- 

 throw a State be successfully accomplished? 

 238; Congress not authorized to pass the 

 pending bill, 238 ; further discussion, 239 ; no 

 final action, 239. 



In the House, a bill to confer jurisdiction on 

 the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia 

 passed, 239 ; the bill reported, amended, and 

 passed in the Senate, 239 ; amendments con- 

 curred in by the House, 240; report of the 

 Senate committee on transportation, 240. 



XV. Second session of the Forty-third, 

 138 ; list of members, 138. 



In the House, a bill for the improvement of 

 the currency considered, 139; the bill, 139; 

 extract from the message, 139 ; its truthfulness, 

 139 ; the bill is a proposition to abate the for- 

 eign indebtedness, 139; sole object in propos- 

 ing to issue convertible bonds, 130 ; evil coun- 

 sels seem to prevail, 140; a demand for gold 

 created beyond the means of the country to 



meet, 140; why so little difference between 

 gold and paper in France? 140; how stands 

 the greenback now ? 140 ; what does the bill 

 propose? 141; it would quicken every in- 

 dustry in the country, 141 ; no political inter- 

 est in this question, 141 ; what has been pro- 

 posed and said, 141 ; the proposition is simply 

 asking the Government to pay interest on the 

 money loaned to it, 142 ; why is all business 

 enterprise crippled? 142; what is the objec- 

 tion to contraction? 142; one-quarter of all 

 the property of the country is invested in debt, 

 142 ; the consequence is, we are eaten up by 

 interest, 142 ; let the Government borrow at 

 a low rate of interest, and it will come down 

 lower, 143. 



Expansion sure to follow this bill, 143 ; all 

 agree upon the evil and the mischief to be re- 

 medied, 143 ; money is high because of the ap- 

 prehension that Congress is going to inflate the 

 currency, 143 ; only the power of self-preser- 

 vation probably can authorize the Government 

 to issue this kind of paper, 144; opinion of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury on the first issue 

 of legal tenders, 144 ; war with its necessities 

 and burdens being past, they look to us to 

 cause these notes to pass away, 144; reasons 

 for voting against the bill, 144 ; let the green- 

 backs be exchangeable for gold at the Treas- 

 ury, 145 ; there is illimitable expansion in this 

 bill, 145 ; no final action taken, 146. 



In the Senate, a bill reported from the Com- . 

 mittee on Finance to provide for the resump- 

 tion of specie payments, 146; the bill, 146; 

 explanation of the features of the bill, 146, 147 ; 

 it simply follows the example set by the States, 

 by England, and by other nations, 147 ; it pro- 

 vides ample means to prepare for and to main- 

 tain resumption, 147; three different plans 

 proposed to prepare for resumption, 148 ; one 

 is contraction, 148 ; another is the conversion 

 of United States notes into a bond, 148 ; the 

 third is a graduated scale for resumption in 

 coin and bullion, 148; all of these plans are 

 omitted from the bill, 148. 



Are the greenbacks, when retired, to be can- 

 celed and destroyed? 148; it is not proposed 

 to decide that question in this bill, 149 ; what 

 are the provisions made in the bill to prepare 

 the way for specie payments ? 149 ; what will 

 be the effect of free banking ? 149 ; what is 

 the third and last section of this bill? 149; 

 complete resumption in four years and retiring 



