244 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Cockrell, Coke, Davis of West Virginia, Dennis, 

 Eaton, Eustis, Garland, Gordon, Hereford, Hill, Jones 

 of Florida, Kernan, Lainar, McDonald, McPherson, 

 Maxey, Merrimon. Morgan, Saulsbury, Thurroan, 

 Wallace, Whyte, Withers 27. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bruce, Butler, Chafiee, Conkling, 

 Conover, Davis of Illinois, Grover, Harris, Howe, 

 Johnston, Jones of Nevada, McCreery, Patterson, 

 Plumb, Bandolph, Ransom, Sargent, Sharon, Shields, 

 Voorhees 20. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



The Presiding Officer : " The words stated 

 are stricken from the bill. The question no\v 

 is upon agreeing to the recommendation of the 

 Committee on Appropriations to strike out the 

 remaining words of the clause that was read 

 by the Secretary, namely, beginning with the 

 word 'that' on line 2194, and going to and in- 

 cluding the word 'repealed' in line 2203. Is 

 the Senate ready for the question ? " 



The Secretary proceeded to call the roll, and 

 the result was announced as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Anthony, Elaine, Booth, 

 Burnside. Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cameron of Wis- 

 consin, Chandler, Dawes, Dorsey, Edmunds, Ferry, 

 Hamlin, Hoar, Ingalls. Kellogg, Kirkwood, McMillan, 

 Matthews, Mitchell, Morrill, Oglesby, Paddock, Bol- 

 lins, Saunders, Spencer, Teller, Wadleigh, Windora 

 29. 



NATS Messrs. Bailey, Barnum, Bayard, Beck, 

 Cockrell, Coke, Davis of West Virginia, Dennis. 

 Eaton, Garland, Gordon, Hereford, Hill, Jones of 

 Florida, Kernan, Lainar, McDonald, McPherson, 

 .Maxey, Merrimon, Morgan, Saulsbury, Thurman, 

 Wallace, Whyte, Withers 26. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bruce, Butler, Chaffee, Conkling, 

 Conover, Davis of Illinois, Eustis, Grover, Harris, 

 Howe, Johnston, Jones of Nevada, McCreery, Patter- 

 son, Plumb, Eandolph, Eansom, Sargent, Sharon, 

 Shields, Voorhees 21. 



So the amendment was agreed to, and the 

 bill was subsequently passed. 



The House disagreed to the amendments of 

 the Senate, and a committee of conference was 

 appointed in each House. The following is 

 their report to the House of Representatives : 



The committee of conference on the disagreeing 

 votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the 

 Senate to the bill (H. E. No. 6240) making appropria- 

 tions for the legislative, executive, and judicial ex- 

 penses of the Government, for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1880, and for other purposes, having met, 

 after full and free conference, have been unable to 

 agree. 



- D - C. ATKINS, ) Managers on the part 



JAMEBECK, i ofthe Senate ' 



Mr. Atkins : " I move that the House adhere 

 to its disagreement ; and upon that motion I 

 call for the previous question." 



The previous question was seconded and the 

 main question ordered. 



The question being taken on the motion to 

 adhere, it was agreed to. 



Mr. Atkins of Tennessee said : " Mr. Speaker, 

 I regret that the conference committee upon 

 this bill, which I regard the most important of 

 the appropriation bills, have utterly failed to 



agree. We have had three sittings ; we have 

 discussed the question in every possible phase 

 of it, and we have found it impossible to come 

 to any agreement. What might have been ef- 

 fected if the whole subject had been left to the 

 conferees themselves, and to themselves alone, 

 it is not necessary for me here to say ; nor am 

 I warranted in saying even that they could 

 have come to a conclusion. But they each 

 felt that there was a power behind them 

 which would admit of no agreement. The 

 disagreement between them is radical. As 

 you know, Mr. Speaker, the House has de- 

 manded in, I may say, unmistakable terms 

 free elections, untrammeled elections. The 

 House has demanded also intelligent juries, 

 and that jurors should not be subjected to test 

 oaths while members of Congress coming from 

 the Southern States and representing the maj- 

 esty of the people upon this floor are not sub- 

 jected to such oaths. 



"There were about one hundred amend- 

 ments to the legislative, executive, and judicial 

 appropriation bill. We were enabled to agree 

 in regard to most of these amendments. We 

 did not agree to the salaries of the officers and 

 employees of the Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives. I believe it is but candid to say, 

 however, that if we could have agreed upon 

 the other points we might have agreed upon 

 that. 



" Mr. Speaker, the deliberate action of this 

 House in attaching the repealing clause to the 

 legislative, executive, and judicial appropria- 

 tion bill of certain sections of the Revised 

 Statutes has been respected and firmly main- 

 tained by the majority members of the House 

 conferees. Upon so grave a question, one not 

 measured by a mere appropriation of money, 

 but involving the rights and liberties of Amer- 

 ican citizens, the majority of the House con- 

 ferees did not hesitate a moment to resolutely 

 stand by the injunctions and carry out the ac- 

 tion of the body which created our functions. 

 Whatever individual opinions of mere policy 

 in the beginning I or any other Representative 

 may have entertained, and upon which it is 

 usual to exercise the broadest latitude and the 

 most liberal discretion in conference, here is a 

 question involving the most sacred rights and 

 privileges of the citizen, around which this 

 House has thrown the segis of its protection, 

 and over which this committee has been in- 

 trusted a special guardianship, and one which 

 they had no disposition to disregard. 



" The committee could not agree upon that 

 feature of the bill which proposes to repeal 

 the test oath now applied to Federal jurors. 

 The importance of selecting juries from among 

 the most intelligent of the people is too plain 

 to admit of argument. The rights of proper- 

 ty, the well-being of society, and the safety 

 of the best interests of the State require the 

 abrogation of a law which drives intelligence 

 from the jury-box and installs it with igno- 

 rance and prejudice. What public or private 



