cture was one which would
well adorn the great National anniversary so near at hand, but many
men feared that it was a picture only and not a reality.

An occasion arose four weeks after the delivery of the President's
message, to test the real feelings of the House concerning the Southern
question. Mr. Randall of Pennsylvania introduced a bill removing the
political disabilities from every person in the United States. Since
the broad Act of Amnesty in 1872, which excepted only a few classes
from its operation, a considerable number of Southern gentlemen had
been relieved upon individual application; but the mass of those
excepted were still under the disability. The disposition of the
Republicans was to grant without hesitation an amnesty almost
universal, the exceptions, with a majority of the party probably,
being limited to three persons,--Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs, and
Jacob Thompson. Mr. Randall brought his bill to a vote on the 10th of
January, 1876. By the Constitution it required a vote of two-thirds,
but fell short of the number, the _ayes_ being 175, the _noes_ 97.
The negative vote was wholly Republican; while the affirmative vote
included all the Democratic members together with a small number of
Republicans.

Mr. Blaine moved to amend by excepting Jefferson Davis from the
benefits of the bill. The situation was peculiar. Upon a direct vote,
if the amendment were submitted, very few Republicans could be found
who would include Mr. Davis by name in the amnesty; and there was a
large number of Democrats who wished to be saved from the embarrassment
implied in such a procedure. They appreciated the difference between
voting for a bill of general amnesty which included Jefferson Davis
without name, and voting for an amendment which named him and him only
for restoration to eligibility to any office under the Government of
the United States. No punishment was inflicted upon Mr. Davis; no
confiscation of his property was attempted or desired; Congress did not
wish to deny him the right of suffrage. He was simply deprived of the
right to aspire to the honors of the Republic. The Democrats being a
majority of the House could prevent the amendment of the bill, and the
Republicans being more than one-third could prevent the passage of the
bill. It was a singular case of playing at parliamentary cross-purposes,
and afforded the ground, as it proved in the end, for a prolonged and
somewhat exciting d