148 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



his country, honored with the highest com- 

 mand which could be given to the son of any 

 State, immediately upon hearing that the State 

 to which he belonged had become dishonored 

 had become traitorous, had rebelled, had 

 struck down the flag, had withdrawn from the 

 association which had honored the State, not 

 which the State had honored resigns that 

 high position, hands back to the Government 

 with scorn and derision the honors conferred 

 upon him, resigns his high commission, but 

 carries off in his old trembling hand the sword 

 which the nation had given him, carries it off 

 to use it to strike the heart of the nation which 

 gave it. [Laughter on the Democratic side.] 

 Ah! those gentlemen laugh and sneer; per- 

 haps they did the same. [Laughter on the Re- 

 publican side.] I do not envy the smile that 

 gathers upon the faces of some gentlemen on 

 the other side of the House the smile of their 

 derision at the picture I have drawn. It is 

 a becoming exhibition of the contortions of 

 which the human face is capable under adverse 

 circumstances. [Laughter.] It treats well of 

 the wisdom and power of that Creator who 

 can make a face subservient to the rule and 

 will of the mind, which shall show a contrary 

 feeling to that which exists within the breast 

 sometimes. [Laughter.] Now, sir, that is the 

 picture of this man. 



"The gentleman says he was too old to en- 

 gage in the Confederate service. He was not 

 too old to resign and leave the service of his 

 country. lie was not too old to tell the offi- 

 cials of his Government that he did resign be- 

 cause his State was treacherous, because it was 

 rebellious, and that he was hurrying to leave 

 the service of his country that he might fling 

 himself, old as he was, trembling as he was, 

 paralyzed as he was, with his remaining vital 

 forces into the arms of his treacherous and re- 

 bellious State, to aid it. either by force of arms 

 or by counsel and advice and encouragement. 



" Ay, sir, it is reported to have been said by 

 a distinguished general in the service of the 

 United States, that the South had robbed the 

 cradle and the grave to bring strength to their 

 cause. Here was this man not yet in the grave. 

 Here was this man who had gone to Virginia 

 to aid Virginia in its treason. The law said to 

 all such men and all officers of this Govern- 

 ment, a law enacted and re-enacted : If you 

 will thus, in the day of your country's emer- 

 gency and danger, forsake your post of duty, 

 there shall be no payment made to you for 

 services either past or present. That law for 

 twenty years almost has stood on the statute- 

 book of the nation. That law for six years 

 almost standing there has never been attacked 

 by any man whose face now lights up with 

 sneers at what I say. There is boldness among 

 you, infinite boldness ; but no man has had the 

 courage to propose the repeal of that section. 

 No man has dared to stand up before the 

 American, people and declare that law was im- 

 proper or unnecessary, or ought to be repealed. 



It remains to-day, sir, for the gentleman from 

 Virginia " 



Mr. Goode : " If the gentleman will allow 

 me, I think he is in error in that statement. 

 It is my recollection that repeated efforts have 

 been made to repeal section 3,480 of the Kevised 

 Statutes. Repeated efforts have been made in 

 the other Chamber if they have not been made 

 here, and there the question has been debated, 

 but postponed and defeated in various ways." 



Mr. Conger: " If there is such an effort, it 

 is of record. I ask the gentleman for the 

 record. I never heard of it in this Chamber. 



" No, sir, the American people do not wish 

 that law repealed. If that side of the House 

 desire for any purpose, and so inconsiderable 

 a one as this, to be on record for the repeal of 

 the law which no hand has dared to touch for 

 twenty years, I invite them to the issue. It 

 seems to me as if the infinite variety of blunders 

 of the Democracy would insure their ruin with- 

 out any effort from our side of the House ; and 

 I say, let them put their votes on record, even 

 in this case, which is an entering-wedge for 

 thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars 

 to be taken out of the Treasury to pay up for 

 the rebellion which is past." 



Mr. House, of Tennessee: "It seems to me 

 that this discussion has taken a very wide range, 

 and aside from the merits of the case now be- 

 fore this committee. To what the gentleman 

 from Michigan has seen fit to say on this occa- 

 sion in reference to the South and in reference 

 to this side of the House I care not to reply. 

 It is not the first time that that gentleman has 

 bawled himself hoarse in that case. It is not 

 the first time the bloody shirt has been invoked 

 by that gentleman to cover the cause of in- 

 justice. 



" What is the case before this committee ? It 

 is the case of an aged widow asking for what? 

 For the pitiful sum of $136 which this Govern- 

 ment owed to her dead husband owed before 

 there was any war of the rebellion for ser- 

 vices that he had rendered his country. No- 

 body disputes that. She is the widow of a man 

 who had reflected honor upon his country's 

 flag in the past. This claim is for services he 

 then rendered. 



" Does the Government owe him that money 

 or not? Does anybody dispute that the Gov- 

 ernment owes it? Suppose, Mr. Chairman, 

 that I owed you the sum of $136, and you and 

 I were afterward to have a dispute or a falling 

 out, and in order to punish you I repudiated 

 the debt and refused to pay it. Between in- 

 dividuals such conduct would be infamous. 

 Shall the Government place itself in that po- 

 sition toward this old widow ? 



" This Government has never attempted to 

 confiscate this debt. If it had been confiscated, 

 confiscation could not have lasted beyond the 

 life of this officer ; his heirs would have been 

 entitled to it. Whatever may have been his 

 faults, or whatever in the estimation of gentle- 

 men may have been his crimes, he has passed 



