Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1879 — HONORING THE SOLDIER. [ARTICLE]

HONORING THE SOLDIER.

Hypocrisy of the Republican Party Exposed. Speech of the Hon. D. W. Voorhees, of Indiana, in the U. S. Senate. Bir, the eoldier roll ftt this hour, with the Democratic party in the ascendency in both branches of Congress, under the control, if you please, to use a hackneyed phrase, of “ Confederate Brigadiers,” shows a better patronage bestowed on the Union soldier than it did when the Republican party had unlimited sway. But I come to another feature of this subject which constantly confronts us. I listened, as we all did, some time ago to the brilliant speech of the Senator from New York, in which he here ly arraigned the Democratic party on account of the present comp .sition or the Senate. Because a number of gentlemen on this side served in the Confederate army, and a less number on the Republican side served in the Union army, therefore in his opinion the Democratic party was largely to blame, and, therefore, he launched all his powerful invective against us. ~ , 1 call attention to the passage to which I allude in the speech of the Beuator from New York He said upon that occasion: Twenty-sevm States adhered to the Union in the dark hour. I'lioae Brutes send to Congress 2IW Huuators and Representatives. Of these 2<i!l Senators and R presen tat. ve» Htty-four. and only fittyfour, were soldiers i .< the armies of the Union. He is now speaking of the House as well as the Benate: Ihe eleven States which were disloyal send ninety-three Senators and Reforeue tatives to Cou gross. Of tiles. , eighty-five were soldiers m the armies of the Rettellion. and at least three more held high civil station in the Rebellion, making in all eighty-eight out of ninety-three. Let nte state the same fact, dividing the houses. There are but four Senators / ere who fought iu the Union army. They all sit here now; and there are but four. Twenty Senators sit here who fought in the army of rebellion, and three more -enators sit here who held high civil command in the Confederacy. He says there are four Union soldiers sitting on that side. I can count but three, but I will take his count. With powerful force, with vehement voice and gesture, and with a look of lofty reproach and menace, the Senator from New York called us to account for that state of affairs. Hi assailed ns until we sat hero looking at each other in a sort of bewildered way, wondering which one among us was most to blame because there were not more mom hers of the Buiate on tho Republican side, chosen by Republican Legislatures, who had served their country under tho Hag in time of danger. The Beuator so amazed mo, an.i arrested my attention so thoroughly that I have looked into the subject somewhat since. Bir, 1 am the last man t,o indulge in a wanton personality; hut the Beuator from Now York cannot complain—l will notsay complain, for that ho never does—hut he caDnot charge mo with a want of fairness when I remind him, as I do now, that since the war closed there have been four elections held in the State of New York by Republican Legislatures. Each timo the party of which the Bonator is so brilliantand distinguished a leader and ornament had an opportunity to send somebody hero who had shed iiis blood, or offered to sited it, in tho war for the Union. Four times they refused to do it, three times by sending the Senator himself, and once in wonting a gentleman whom I pre-Mimo I may mention as once his colleague, Mr. Fenton. Four times tho party of which the Senator is leader and king m his own State had a chance to select as Senator some soldier who had adorned the history of New York by his valor, who had been conspicuous by his heroism, who had faced the belching batteries of the onemy, and yet each time tho towering figure of the Sena'or himself intercepted the soldier’s hopes. Those who wore the blue went to tho rear while the tall plurno of the civil chieftain went to the front; and yet how ho rails at m tor not tilling tke Repttolieaii seats on tho floor with Union soldiers! Amazing spectacle! Was ever such daring displayed before in the Benate? Does the Senator assume that our forbearance is illimitable? Behold him; the represeuta ivo of a State which four times has had the opportunity to send some one of her many soldiers to this place, and which has persistently refused, arraigns others in that regard! Tho Senator lrom New York said, and said well, as he says everything well, that New York sent a ltaif million of her men to the field. So she did I claim an interest in tho glory of New York. She is the great metropolitan Btati of this repunlic New York city is the great commercial outlet for us all. The Senator from Now York can never utter one word of praise adding to the distinction and glory of his Sta e that wdl not meet with a warm .response from me'and from the Western peoplo. And I insist that iu the vast population of that great State there are many soltliois who would make good Senators if the Republican party would only givo them a chance. Firmly persuadod, howover, Mr. President, that the Senator from New York by this time feels convinced and convicted m his own mind of his orrors upon this point, I will pass to another State, a very busy State on this floor through its great-brained and warm-hearted Honator. If I have uot heard the exact words fall from his lips which we heard from the Honator from New Y’ork, yet the same spirit lias pervaded all he has said. He has made constant assault ou the Democratic party for i s alleged hos ility to Federal soldiers. He too lias been disturbed because there are so many men on one side of this Chamber who periled their lives in battle and so few on the other. If this fact is to be deplored, then I ask why comes the Senator from Maine [Mr. Biaine] here? Why does lie not yield to some gallant soldier from the PiueTree State? Tho Senator from Maine was just as good a soldier as I was. and no ha ter. We both staid at home, and kept our seats in Congress; we paid our money to fill the quotas of our townships, and in this way hired substitutes. Some of my kindred, perhaps it is not proper for me to say also some of my wife’s kindred, went to the front, and some of them died from wounds in battle. How that may be with the Senator fr«m Maine I seek no further to disclose. But there have been, in the State of Maine, five elections for Senators since 18155, each time resulting in the choice of a Republican Senator. Are there in fact, no soldiers in that State to send to the Bt nate? Is there nobody there fit to be a member of this body who wore the blue during tho war? If there is, and he has been jostled aside by the superior ability and, I wiil not say artifice, but ingenuity of the Senator from Maine, certainly that Senarorought not to come hero an 1 reproach us for nis own grievous fault. Five times the State of Maine has had the chance to do honor to some soldier in her borders, and five times Rho has done nothing of the kind, a d thus she haH added five conspicuous illustrations of the dire hypocrisy, the vile sham, and black, false pretense of the Republican party in its protended love for the Federal soldior. We have now and then heard a rush of fervid sound from the S f ato of Michigan. It comes sometimes as a hurricane of wrath. It invokes all tho bloody memories of tho past and wishes the country to feed on them. The Bonator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] is especially incensed at the presence of a Democratic majority, and at the presence of more Senators who fought in the Confederate than in the Union army. • The Confederate soldier was sincero, for no man can deny the good faith of those who freely dio for their principles. When such men pledge themselves to the Government, as they have since the war, I believo in their manhood and honor. But what right, has the Senator from Michigan to complain that Union soldiers are not here to meet them as Senators as they often did on the field ? Since 1865, the close of the war, four elections in Michigan have taken place for Senator. What soldier has been honored ? Not one. My friend who sits opposite me [Mr. Ferry] knows that I am not complaining that he is’here, or criticising the wisdom or the judgment of the Legislature that sent him; nor will the other Beuator [Mr. Chandler], junior in rank but senior in years, misunderstand me. I intend, however, to silence those who reproach the present composition of the Benate, or comoel them to explain why it is that their own States have so universally ignored the Federal soldier and sent men hero who staid at home, never confronted the enemy nor encountered danger during the war. How well the gallant and brave Senator from Illinois [Mr. Logan] understands this. 1 think I can at this moment read his thoughts. The “ home guards ” are here in force. We see them all around us. The proper order of things is here reversed. The rear ranks are to the front, and the front ranks have gone to the rear. And now these rear men iu war and front men in peace fill a.l the air with a dismal cry over the injustice which they themselves have inflicted on the soldier. The senior Bonator from Vermont [Mr. Edmunds] is not here. I hope prosperous gales a e attending upon the ship that is bearing him abroad. I took a kindly leave of him, and I wish him a pleasant and safe vovage; yet if he wore here I doubt not his voice would bo swelling the chorus of assault, because there aro more military mon on this side of the Benate than on the other side. Bir, Vermont has held soven Senatorial elections since the war closed. There could not have been any soldiers, I think, in that State, or some one might have been found in seven trials. The State is uot large, the population is not extensive. Seven times a Senator was called and seven times a civilian answered and was chosen. Seven times the roll of public merit has been called of those who deserved well of their country; and sex od times the eager, hungry, stay-at-home, home-guard politician has rushed to the front, seized the prize, and the soldier has stayed at home. He comes not here from Vermont What I say of Vermont is likewise eminently true of the Old Bay State. There have been six Senatorial elections in Massachusetts since the war, and where is the face of the broDzed vetera •on this floor? Why comes he not? Why does he remain away from these halls? Massachusetts sent, I believe, 150,000 troops to the field, agd yet pot, ope is gogorfic]

by a seat on this floor, and the hearts of the two Senators from that State beat in unison with the heart of the bold Senator from New York as they all together charge on the Democratic party in hot anger because the Republican party,* almost omnipotent all over the North, has sent here but four men who were Union soldiers, while the South has sent twenty or thirty—l do not know how many, nor do I care—who were soldiers on the other side. Sir, I think, perhaps I have illustrated this phase of hypocritical polities sufficiently for the present, and, if so, f may pass to another feature of the same general fraud. The cry is not only that there are too few soldiers of the Federal army in Congress, bnt there is a great panic because there are too many of what are called Confederate Brigadiers. They are Eaintcd as very dangerous characters; they are eld up to the country for the purpose of alarming it We are to have a shrieking campaign in Onto; it has now commenced in favor of a man who staid at home and put money in nis purse, against two Federal soldiers traveling ou three legs betweeu them, and the issue is the danger of Confederate Brigadiers-! That is to be the battle-cry of the Republican leaders in the great Ohio contest between two Union soldiers ou the Democratic side with three legs, and a “home-guard” who got rich by the opportunities of the war on the other sn'e, the leader of the Republican hosts. What a campaign it will be! I can see it now. With banners uplifted, with songs and battle-cries, drum and fife, it is espected to affright the souls of all good people of Ohi i into the support of Foster for fear the election of Ewing and Uice will give over the State to the Confederate Brigadiers. Let us see a little further, however, about this dangerous person called the Confederate Brigadier: Who first brought him here? Who is responsible for the introduction of the Confederate Brigadier to the theater of national politics? Bout’ ern gen'lemeu around me on this floor are here because they thought the country wa- restored to its normal relations; that the Spates were rehabilitated under the constitution; that each State had the right to select its own representatives in both branches of Congress, ana that they were not compelled to ask leave to come of any set of men from any part of the country. Gentlemen, I welcome you. You are right in being here. You are met, ho wever, by a party with a violent unwelcome, with abuse and denunciation hurled as a key-note to party warfare by the great Senator from New York, and followed up by all the Senators on that side of tho Chamber. Bir, there is something due to hi-uory on this subject Is the Confederate soldier unfit to take part in the affairs of this Government; or la it, iu fact, only she Confederate eoldier who votes the Democratic ticket to whom you object? Is it the Confederate soldier per »>', or does the objection to him only arise wiien he votes the Democratic ticket? If a Confederate soldier votes the Republican ticket, and indorses all the rascality that overwhelmed the South as a deluge during carpeting sm, do you embraco him? Toll mo win n have ever spewed such a one out of your m mills. Tell me where you ever repulsed him from your warmest and most affec'ionate political embrace. None such have ever been cast ou: by the Republican party. On the contrary, all such have had seats of dignity and rob s of honor assigned. It is but a little while ago since a Confederate Brigadier first took part in the control of public affairs. He was invited to do so by the candidate of tho stalwarts for the next Presidency, Gen. Grant. Grant appointed Brig Gen. Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia, to a seat in his Cabinet. A majority of the Republican Senators sitting here to-day on their oaths voted to confirm him as the first law officer of this Government. They gave it to him to construe the constitution, to interpret tho laws, to render decisions binding for years, and perhaps for all time. Gen Grant put into tho bauds of Confederate Brig. Gen. AmosT. Akerman tho portfolio of justice, and a Republican Senate confirmed him: and why? Not because he was greatly learned iu law. Nor did they object that he had carried a sword, and kill: d whom he could, under tho Confederate flag; lie voted the Republican ticket, and that was enough; it washed away all his sins, and made him clean and pure in their eyes, though his sins had beeu as seariet before

Another instance, nearer home in timo and place, occurs next to my mind. I know what profound satisfaction I will afford to the Benator from Nc.v York [Mr. Oonkling] when I pauso for a moment to pronounce a eulogy upon the present administration. I know the appreciation winch his robust intellect lias of the patriotic and comprehensive capacities of the administration now in power. I know, therefore, he will ho grateful to me for calling attention to the fact that, although ho lias ar■raigned us for the disproportion of Confederate Brigadiers iu this body to tho Union Brigad ers or Major Generals, yet this favorite administration of his has confided one of its very important Cabinet portfolios to another Confedorado Brigadier, Gen. Key, of Tennessee. I have no word of disparagement for Gen. Key or Gon. Akerman. I am not hero to abuse or denounce these men for changing their politics; they lud a right to do so. Ido say, however, that Senators on the other side, after voting to confirm these men for positions of the very highest public importance, have not the shadow of a right to assail ua for welcoming the Southern Senators who are on this flo ir. Gen. Key diew his sword under the flag of the South, and fought through the war. Ho then came to the Senate, and while here made a speech. I refor to it now principally to show how much the Senator from New York has forgiven, to exhibit that gracious phase of his character which some do not, know of as well as I do, to illustrate that liis forb arauce and charity are as broad as the mantle that covers all sin* Gen. Key spoke just before ho was appointed to the place he now holds. Common ling upon that very memorable field of testimony wherein Eliza Pinkston covered herself and the Republican party with infamy, and wcile arraigning John Sherman for being the patron of that paragon of falsehood, the present Postmaster General on this floor, on the 18th day of December, 1870, used this language : “And on this testimony, the falsehood of which is so apparent ou its face, a State is to be disfranchised, and a President, whom the people never elected, is to be placed in office.” 1 told you, Mr. President, I would prove now generous tho charity of the Senator from New York has been. Within but a few days of his appointment and con firmation, the present Postmaster General not only announced that the present President of the United Staff’s was not elected President by the people at all, but further, that there was a plot to foist him into that office by disfranchising a Stato through the instrumentality of wholesale falsehood. Heltas never recanted this truthful statement that I know of. I suppose he has agreed to vote the Republican ticket, and doubtless he does eo. I presume it was ou that condition that a Republican S mate confirmed this Confederate Brigadier with an additional handicap in the shape of the speech l have read from. Mr. Conkling—How does the Senator stretch my charity over that?

Mr. Vorhees—Because I have never heard that ringing voice which God lias uiven the Senator f rom Now York in denunciation of that appointment. I therefore supposed he had condoned the offenses enumerated by me. I think the word “condone” a fitter word in this connection, all things considered, that “ forgive.” The Senator has been unsparing in his assaults because of our affiliation with the men of the South, while the administration of his party appoints not merely a Confederate Brigadier, hilt one who in his presence said that your President never was elected bj the people, that his claim to that great office rested' on wholrsale falsehood and threatened the disfranchisement of a State. Passing on, however, I invite Senators to take a walk with me through the South, starting from the Potomac. 1 will promise still further to illustrate the shameless, barefaced, false pretensionsof the Republican party on tins subject. Ah soon as we cross the Potomac we at once find a Federal Judge holding an office for life in Virginia. I shall not seek to disparage his ability or his character, but he was an original secessionist and the edito.' of a secession paper when ihe war broke out. I allude, of course, to Judge Hughes. He is now where he construes tbe laws of tho United States throughout a wide expanse of country and over a large and intelligent population. He was appointed by a Republican administration, confirmed by a Republican Senate, confirmed by the voices of those who have since hurled their anathemas in our ears because we welcomed you, and you, Southern Senators, to this floor. Ttiev have welcomed Confederate officers to the bench and to tho Cabinet; they have welcomed them to foreign missions;’ they have welcomed them to official positions of every description, on the one sole condition that they would vote the Republican ticket. Party politics controls this whole matter. When tbey vote the Republican ticket they are your Brigadiers; when they vote the Democratic ticket they are our Brigadiers. My purpose must not be misunderstood. I am not producing any of these names here to assault them; lam simply using them to illustrate a policy so crooked and so outrageous that it deserves exposure, and it shall have it. Here, next, is another Virginian, John 8. Mosby. Who was John 8. Mosby? I know him well. I speak no unkind word of him, yet I can remember when it was a question whether his surrender would be received, whether ho would bo accepted as a prisoner of war, or whether he should be outlawed from that central amnesty which the Government was then extending. There was a time when the name of Mosby shook the fears of men in this Capitol. There was a time when it wAs supposed he fought under a black flag, and that it could sometimes be seen from the dome in the soft sunlight of an afternoon. It was thought that his warfare partook of the nature of the guerrilla, and such a belief largely prevails to this hour. But all is forgiven now; not only forgiven, but verily this most offensive Confederate warrior has his rich reward. Instead of some wounded Federal soldier occupying the position, this Republican Senate has confirmed John 8. Mosby as Consul at Hong-Kong, and be is now an American representative to the oldest empire on earth; he is among the Celestials. The traveler, in passing through Virginia, naturally visits North Carolina next We will do the same. Thomas Settle, of North '’arolina, is now a District Judge ot the Unit id States, a life office of rank au.i importance. It is douptlegs true ttiat Judge a compe-

tent man; I am told he is by both the Senate's from that State; but he was an officer of the Confederate army. He was & secessionist: he fongbt the battles of secession; he turned to be a Republican, aud was made. President of the Republican National Convention which nominated Grant, in 1872, at Philadelphia. Afterward he was made Minister to Peru, and he now occupies a high judicial station. I proclaim here, as far as my voice will go, that the most profitable speculation a man who fought in the Confederate army can now engage in is to advertise himself ready to enter the ranks of' the Republican party at a fair compensation. Gov. Holden, of North Carolina, was an original secessionist and a signer of the ordinance of secession which took North Carolina oat of the Union. The Republican party, as soon as he joined its ranks, its unhallowed ranks down there —1 will not quite apply that word to it up here—made him Governor of the State. He remained Governor until he was impeached; but proven crimes did not seem to disgrace him with the Republicans. Since then he has been appointed Postm aster at Raleigh and confirmed by the Senate, and he is tnero now at a good, wholesome salary. Every weak cr treacherous man in the South who for shame or for love of gain desires to abandon his friends aud prey upon his own people is thus rewarded. Take the Barringers; one of them is a United Staff-s Judge iu Egypt. They were Confederates; they are Republicans now, aud they are cared for. The United States District Attorney of North Carolina, Mr. Lusk, was an officer in the Confederate army, and he was confirmed here. He was confirmed by Senators whose s mis shrink from contact with a Confederate officer unless he is a Republican. Mr. Young was a Confederate officer, and he is now one of the Revenue Collectors of hat State. Going on down the Atlantic coast and we strike South Carolina, the land of the Marions, the Sumpters, the Hamptons, the Prestons, the Rutledges, the Butlers; the land of chivalrie men. What has occurred here? James L. Orr was once Speaker of the House of Representatives, and 1 speak of him with respect; he is dead. I knew him well. He went iuto secession, and armed rebellion, and was a Confederate officer. He afterward joined the Republican party; and what a place they gave him! They made him Minister to Russia. If not one of the first-class missions, it is the foremost of the second-class. I believe it does not rank with the first

Mr. Conkling—lt does. Mr. Blaine—lt does now. Mr. Voorhees—Then it was one of the four first-class missions, England, France, Germanv, and Russia; and this Confederate officer received it as his reward for joining the Republican party. I know what my friend from Illinois [Mr. Logan] is saving to himself He is mentally exclaiming: “Would to God that some of my comrades who fought under the old flag could have a great place like that. ” I cannot be mistaken as to what is going on in tho breast of that hard-fighting Federal soldier. I think oven my genial friend from Rhode Island [Mr. Burnside] lias his conscience somewhat quickened if not entirely aroused on the subject by this time. Col. Northup, of South Carolina, is now United States District Attorney; he was an officer in the Confederate army. We move on again and pause next in Mississippi, the land of the brave and warm-hearted, as l know, for 1 havo been there; tho land of genius, because the Senator from Mississippi sitting behind me [Mr. Lamar] nas his home there. Let us see how the Republican party lias managed its affairs in that State. Major Morphia was the most prominent scout of Gen. Stephen D. Lee’s command and he is now the United States Marshal for the Northern District of Mississippi. Capt. G. W. Hunt was an aid to Gen. Hardee, and he is now the United States Marshal for tho Southern District of Mississippi. Ah! bow the good things come to the regenerate! Thomas Walton—l knew him; he is iu his grave, and peace to his ashes—was an aid to Gen. •Longstreet. He was appointed United States District Attorney; and after his death was succeeded by Green Chandler, a Confederate officer who was'at that time United States mail agent, and is now United States District Attorney in the place of Walton, deceased. Col. G. W. Henderson was a Colonel of Cavalry in Gen. Chalmers’ division. He is now receiving the reward of his services as a United States Revenue Collector; and, in order to make you feel proud of your party in Mississippi and to finish up my work properly, it ouly remains for me to state that the Republican candidate for State Auditor in 1875 was Capt. Buchanan, Captain in the Second Missouri Cavalry at Fort Pillow. He is said, according to all’ accounts, to have fought fiercely in that memorable battle. Yet he received all the votes the Republican party had to give, as well as the prayers of his Northern friends who could not get to the polls to vote for him. With what devout aspiration the Senator from Maine hoped for his success, and I have no doubt he could get up now and prove that he would have been elected if his supporters had not been bulldozed. Yes, he was a Captain righting at Fort Pdlow under the Confederate flag. The leaders of the Republican party standing here as the representatives of indignant loyalty against Confederate Brigadiers take to their bosoms this Confederate officer who bathed his sword iu the blood of Fort Pillow!

I have heard of the means of grace. I used when a boy to attend camp-meetings. I have heard the richest outpourings of the gospel. I have heard grace described as a fountain flowing in boundless beauty and eternal and illimitable wealth. I have listened when it was claimed that this grace washed away all stains, cleansed the muiderer’s soul ou the gallows, purified and gave peace to the guiltiest conscience ever cahed shivering and quaking with fear from this >orld to the world beyond; but I have never before heard of a fountain of grace so wide, so deep, so exhaustless, so spontaneous in its unceasing flow as that of the Republican party to Confederate officers if tney ivdl only vote the Republican ticket! Take next Louisiana, that fated region of riot, discider, and stupendous nuveracity. We have known it long as the land of the magnolia and the cypress; »e know it now as the land also of stalwart liars, as disclosed within the last few weeks in this Capitol. Let the curtain bo raised anu let us look at some Federal officials in Louisiana. We see one who was long in office there and who has made a great and bloody figure in history; a man of command ing military capacity—Gen. Janies Longstreet. Gen. Grant made him Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans, took his bloody hand in his, not only forgave but rewarded him, not only welcomed him but said, “Come up higher.”* Who was Longstreet? I have heard one who commanded a corps in the Wilderness speak of that dreadful shock of baitle when Ins corps encountered Longstreet’s, and the blood ran in rivulets. No braver, harder fighter ever drew sword or encountered an enemy thin Longstreet He was educated for a soldier by hd> Government, and he cost it more lives than any other ono man who commanded no more than a corps iu the Confederate army. Who was Lougstieet at Gettysburg and at Autiefam? An educated American soldier fighting wi'h desperate courage to establish an independent government. When the history of the late sectional war shall be written, alongside of the names of Gordon and Stonewall Jackson, of Joseph E Johnston and Albert Sidney Johnston, will be written in living letters the military achievements of James Longstreet. Yet nothing stood between him and civil preferment the moment he was willing to turn his back upon Ins old comrades who had shared with him the bloody charge, tho nightly bivouac, and the overwhelming disaster that fell upon them all at the close. And am I to sit still in my seat and near hourly reproaches from the mouths of men who confirmed Janies Longstreet to a civil office because this side of the Chamber is composed iu part of tuose who were iu the same contest by his side? No, sir, Ido not propose to do it. I propose to appeal for fail n ss, for common honesty and common decency to the country upon this question. I do not intend that the record shall bo made up in the interest of injustice. It is not in the power of Republican Senators to make it up in the way they propose, for the truth is not their way. Their accusations shall recoil on their own beads. Their charges rest upon false foundations. If there is guilt at all on this subject, tho leaders of the Republican party are themselves the guilty parties Other officers may be cited iu Louisiana. Col. Wharton is Uni td States Marshal. H§ was a Confederate officer. Co). William H! Hough is a District Judge; Mr. Leonard is a United States District Attorney; Col. Smith is Postmaster at Baton Rouge; George B. Johnson was late Auditor; Alexander Boarmaii is United States Judge; Gen. P. O. Hebert was iu office as one of the Levee Commissioners, under Gen. Grant. All these were officers in the Confederate army. I cannot dwell, however, longer on Louisi ana. I turn for a moment to Alabama. Who was Judge Humphreys, who is now of the judiciary of this district? Is there any office of more importance than a judicial ’office? Who was Judge Humphreys? He raised a regiment for the Confederate service. He had, however, only to join the Republican party and he was a? once appointed one of .lie fudges of tho Supremo Court of this district, where he now site. Ho was confirmed by Republican Senators, who now prate about the presence of Confederate Brigadiers in the public service. Now I desire at this point to say a word for the comfort of my friend from Rhode Island. Of all the six New England States the little State of Rhode Island is the only one that does herself the honor to send a soldier to this body. 1 am glad to see him here: he adorns the position he occupies It is refreshing in view of the conduct of Republican Legislatures iu New England that Rhode Island does send a soldier here. I have a kind feeling for Rhode Island for two reasons: She sheltered Roger Williams when ho fled from the barbarism of bigotry in Massachusetts. Under his inspiration she established religious liberty, and maintained it afterward. This can only be said of the early history of two other States—Catholic Maryland and Quaker Penn sylvania. Roger Williams established the Baptist church and free worship for all in Rhode Island. This is one reasou for liking that State.- The other is that she has sent my friend to the Senate, a conspicuous illustration of the general infidelity of tho Republican party in New Eugland toward the Union soldier, for nqne cpipey fn.uu any otl.er-State,