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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



the constantly-receding hopes of deliverance through 

 the action of their own Government, depressed their 

 already desponding spirits, and destroyed those men- 

 tal and moral energies so necessary for a successful 

 struggle against disease and its agents. _ Homesick- 

 ness and disappointment, mental depression and dis- 

 tress, attending the daily longing for an apparently- 

 hopeless release, are felt to be as potent agencies in 

 the destruction of these prisoners as the physical 

 causes of actual disease. 



"Ah! why that homesickness, that longing, 

 and the distress consequent upon it, and its 

 effect in carrying those poor, brave, unfortu- 

 nate heroes to death? I will tell this House 

 before I am done. 



" Now, sir, there is another fact. Wirz was 

 put on trial, but really Mr. Davis was the man 

 intended to be tried through him. Over one 

 hundred and sixty witnesses were introduced 

 before the military commission. The trial 

 lasted three months. The whole country was 

 under military despotism ; citizens labored un- 

 der duress ; and quite a large number of Con- 

 federates were seeking to make favor with the 

 powers of the Government. Yet, sir, during 

 those three months, with all the witnesses they 

 could bring to Washington, not one single man 

 ever mentioned the name of Mr. Davis in con- 

 nection with a single atrocity at Andersonville 

 or elsewhere. The gentleman from Maine, with 

 all his research into all the histories of the 

 Duke of Alva and the massacre of Saint Bar- 

 tholomew and the Spanish Inquisition, has not 

 been able to frighten up such a witness yet. 



" Now, sir, there is a witness on this subject. 

 Wirz was condemned, found guilty, sentenced 

 to be executed ; and I have now before me the 

 written statement of his counsel, a Northern 

 man and a Union man. He gave this statement 

 to the country, and it has never been contra- 

 dicted. 



" Hear what this gentleman says: 



On the night before the execution of the prisoner 

 Wirz a telegram was sent to the Northern press from 

 this city, stating that Wirz had made important dis- 

 closures to General L. C. Baker, the well-known de- 

 tective, implicating Jefferson Davis, and that the 

 confession would probably be given to the public. 

 On the same evening some parties came to the con- 

 fessor of Wirz, Rev. Father Boyle, and also to me as 

 his counsel, one of them informing me that a high 

 cabinet officer wished to assure Wirz that if he would 

 implicate Jefferson Davis with the atrocities commit- 

 ted at Andersonville his sentence would be com- 

 muted. The messenger requested me to inform Wirz 

 of this. In presence of lather Boyle I told Wirz 

 next morning what had happened. 



"Hear the reply: 



Captain W irz simply and quietly replied : " Mr. 

 Schade, you know that I have always told you that 

 I do not know anything about Jefferson Davis. He 

 Lad no connection with me as to what was done at 

 Andersonville. I would not become a traitor against 

 Mm or anybody else, even to save my life." 



" Sir, what Wirz, within two hours of his ex- 

 ecution, would not say for his life, the gentle- 

 man from Maine says to the country to keep 

 himself and his party in power. Christianity 

 is a falsehood, humanity is a lie, civilization is 



a cheat, or the man who would not make a 

 false charge for his life was never guilty of 

 willful murder. 



" He who makes a charge must produce his 

 witnesses. They must be informed witnesses. 

 They must be credible witnesses. The gentle- 

 man from Maine makes his charge, but pro- 

 duces no witnesses. He says that men sent by 

 Jefferson Davis to Andersonville were his offi- 

 cers, executing his orders, commissioned by 

 him, and he therefore charges Mr. Davis with 

 these atrocities by inference. It was only when 

 the gentleman reached that portion of his argu- 

 ment that I thought I began to discover the 

 real purpose of his movement. I will not 

 charge him with it, but a suggestion came imme- 

 diately to my mind. 



"What was the proposition which the gen- 

 tleman proposes to establish ? It is that those 

 high in authority are to be charged with the 

 sins and treacheries of their agents, commis- 

 sioned by them and acting under their orders. 

 Is the gentleman artfully I beg pardon un- 

 der the cover of the prejudice and passion 

 against Jefferson Davis, seeking to assault 

 President Grant? If Jefferson Davis sent 

 General Winder to Andersonville, why Presi- 

 dent Grant sent McDonald and Joyce to St. 

 Louis. (Laughter.) Nay, more, sir ; is not the 

 very secretary of the White House, the private, 

 confidential secretary, indicted to-day for com- 

 plicity in these frauds? Does the gentleman 

 want to establish a rule of construction by 

 which he can authorize the country to arraign 

 General Grant for complicity in the whiskey 

 frauds ? (Laughter.) 



"Sir, is General Grant responsible for the 

 Credit Mobilier? Was he a stockholder in the 

 Sanborn contracts? Was he a copartner in the 

 frauds upon this District ? With all his wit- 

 nesses, the gentleman never can find a single 

 man who was confidential secretary of Mr. 

 Davis and charged with complicity in crime, 

 that Mr. Davis ever indorsed any man as fit for 

 office who was even gravely charged with any 

 complicity in fraud. Yet the gentleman's Pres- 

 ident, as I tmderstand it, absolutely sent to the 

 Senate of the United States for confirmation to 

 a high office the very man who stood charged 

 before the country with the grossest peculations 

 and frauds in this District, and that, too, after 

 these charges were made and while the investi- 

 gation was pending. 



" Sir, I am neither the author nor the disciple 

 of such political logic. And I will not, nor would 

 I for any consideration, assume the proposition 

 before this House to punish an enemy which 

 would implicate the President of the United 

 States in the grossest frauds. Yet if the gen- 

 tleman's proposition be true, General Grant, 

 instead of being entitled to a third presidential 

 term, is entitled to twenty terms in twenty 

 penitentiaries. But, sir, he is not guilty. The 

 argument is false. It is a libel upon the Amer- 

 ican rule of law and English precedent. You 

 cannot find its precedent anywhere in any civ- 



