Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1884 — BISMARCK AND LASKER. [ARTICLE]

BISMARCK AND LASKER.

The Resolutions as Agreed Upon in Committee Passed by the House. Some Excitement Among the Member* Boring the Debate—The Various Speeches. * [Associated Press Report.] As soon as the members were in their seats Mr. Curtin, Chairmen of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted as e privileged question the report of the committee. This declai os that the original resolution was intended as a mark of sympathy for a distinguished man who bad died in this country. While the committee was of the opinion that the resolution should have been received in the proper spirit, yet it would refrain from criticising tho action of the German . authorities in regard to them. The dignified position of the Deparment of State fully sustained the high character the department had maintained since the organization of the Federal Government. As to the resolutions offered March 10, the committee was of the opinion that they contained language not necessary or proper to vindicate the character or dignity of the House. Therefore they would report the following resolution as a substitute: Resolved, That the resolutions referring to the death of Dr. Edouard Lasker, adopted by this Honse on Jan. 9 last, were intended as a tribute of respect to the memory of an eminent statesman who had died in the United states; as an expression of sympathy with the German people for whom he had been an honored representative. Resolved. That the House, having no official concern with the relations between the executive and legislative branches of the German Government, does not deem it requisite to its dignity to criticise the manner of the reception of the resolutions or the circumstances which prevented their reaching their destination after they had been communicated through the proper channels to the German Government Mr. Curtin thon moved the previous question. Mr. Reagan said be hoped this would not be done, as the House had already made apologias enough for being insulted. Mr. Cox, of New Y-ork, moved to lay the matter on the table, as the best way to treat the German Chancellor, but this motion was lost—S3 to 125. The previous question having been ordered, Mr. Ochiltree rose to debase the resolution. , He declared that this affair had gone beyond the domain of red tape and clrcnmlocutlon and had assumed a phase which called upon each Representative to preserve his own honor and dignity. It was not bfecoming the honor and dignity of the House to explain the meaning of the original resolutions. They spoke for themselves. The apologetic tone of the pending resolutions was unworthy the representatives of this great nation. The compliment to Lasker haJ rebuke to the German Chancellor because the men were the antithesis of each other. The Chancellor had ever been a sycophant to royalty, had never upheld the rights of the people, and never lost an opportunity to denounce popular sovereignty. Mr. Belford inquired ironically whether it would-be in oider to offer a resolution f resenting the apolcgies of the House to the German Chancellor for having troubled him, but was told it would not. Mr. Phelps, the second speaker, said that this matter had become of grave consequence. As the committee had unanimouslyagreed in their report, it would seem that there ought to be an explanation. The resolutions were passed unanimously Jan. P, just as the members were preparing to adjourn. Ten days later the House was startled by the Information that the Chancellor had refused to acoept them. The members then looked up the record to 6ee what they had done. They found that they had expressed regret at the death of Lasker, and also the belief that his free and liberal sentiments had advanced the interests of his country. Both were true, but the last one the House could not report. It had no right to send out its opinion that his political work had benefited Germany. There was no refuge. The House would resent the fact that its friendly sentiments had been rejected, but it could not resent the fact that its political sentiments had been sent back because it had no business to put them on the same paper. Mr. Curtin reviewed and defended the features of the report, and the resolutions were adopted without division, though an unsuccessful effort was made to have the yeas and nays ordered. Mr. Curtin then presented a report concerning the memorial, of the Liberal Union of the German Parliament expressing a desire for a closer union of the two nations, and an appreciation of the action of the House. Resolutions were presented reciprocating the wishes of the Liberal Union of Germany, accept ng the resolutions, and directing that they should be spread on the journal. Mr. Cox thought the House was trying to show its thanks to one portion of the Reichstag after having been thoroughly insulted by the b!ood-and-iron Minister. By so doing it was complicating matters in such a way as to lose all dignity and pluck. He (Cox) had favored the resolution of Mr. Hiscock, which was dignified and consistent, but the House preferred to make republicanism and democracy a farce or undignified buffoonery. The people of Germany were in accord with those of this country, and he believed that Some day there would be an uprising of the liberty-loving Teutons. Mr. Brumm said that the House was trying to carry water on both shoulders. Dignity was, in his judgment, honorable, heroio action, and not the playing of the coward, simply because a Chancellor might say the rules of etiquette had not been strictly followed. Mr. Deuster commended the action of the Department of State, and declared that Bismarck’s hasty action would prove unfortunate only for him. Mr. Phelps closed the debate. He claimed that the letter sent by Blsmarok to the German Minister in Washington, in which he bad expressod his cordial regard for the American people and willingness to transmit the resolutions if they had not expressed a political opinion, was an ample apology. Thanks to Bismarck, to Frelinghuyeen and his skill, and to the Commit ee cn Foreign Affairs, the dignity of the House had been saved. Tho German Chancellor had entered the Reichstag for the first time in eighteen months, in order to play the new role of an apologist: the gentleman from Texas had seen his fame grow from the confines of his State to the circumferenoe of the world: all had been satisfactorily ended, and the members had the right to ring down the curtain on this international epiEOde. The resolutions were then adopted without a division.