Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I resumethis bill, introduced by the Gentfrom Illinois, [Mr. Wasunuasn] has no fpartisan purpose, but is merely the expression of the Representati les of the people of the U.S. of the fidelity which the people attach to a great general of the country. have always made it a principle of my life that those who have shown heroism and bravery, without regard to pal. y, are and ought to be entitled to the respect and high consideration of the people they have defended and sustained. I think I can say with certaint that upon this side of the House, which I part y represent, no one will disagree with the sentiments which have been urged here by those who have advo cated the passage of this bill. But, sir, I feel that no stigma ought to be attached to any man in this House because he may disa ree with the sentiments of others or what they believe the properaction of Congress should be in regard to soldiers of the Army. I am not here to find faultwith the honorable Gentfrom Kentucky [Mr. McKee] because he cannot be able to agree with the views of a majority of this House in the votes they may cast on this question. I feel there is no more solemn duty resting on any member of Congress, regardless of what objections may be made to him politically, than to stand here and express what he sincerely believes, whether his views meet with the approbation of a majority of the whole people of this country or not. In favoring this bill on my part I am moved by no consideration of party and with no object to advance in rank on eminence the Lieutenant General of this country above those who have participated with him in the many battles and victories which during the last 4 and a half years have taken place in our midst. I do not want to be understood in giving my vote for this bill that all our gratitude is to be cen tered in one man in the Army. 1 have not forgotten there are other able and illustrious generals in the Army entitled to the undying gratitude of the American people as well as those whose names appear in all thatI have heard during this discussion.I suppose it will be the will of the POTUS on the passage of this bill to give the commission contemplated in it to Lieutenant GenlGrant, as one who occupies the official position in the Army the highest of an, except it may be the POTUS Sir, there is noman more willing than I to extend that gratitude to GenlGrant, because his heroism, his bravery, his patriotism, his fortitude, and his determination through this war have been unequaled in the history of the civilized world; but while he has shown this heroism and bravery, let us not forget the 1,000s and 100s of 1,000s of men whom he led, of the men who faced the battlements of the enemy, of the men whose blood, whose valor, and whose patriotism equally consecrated the glorious victories which the American Army achieved during the bloody revolution through which we have just passed. It is a tribute which we owe, not on y to GenlGrant, but to the men who followed him, to those whom he commanded, that while we extend to this brave and illustrious general the undying gratitude of the nation, we should at the same timeextend to those brave and faithful soldiers the sentiment of respect and es teem which we cherish for every man who has engaged in this war for the suppression of the rebellion. But, sir, GenlGrant has that which commends him to my respect much more than many others who were engaged in the war. I mean his Christian charity, his meekness, and his honorable manhood in granting to those whom he had subdued the rights which civilization demands shall be extended to an enemy that is at your feet. When General Lee, whose ability I suppose will not be denied, as it never has been denied, by any gentleman on this floor, surrendered his swor to GenlGrant, it was handed back to him, as a manifestation of that Christian charity and goodness of heart which should characterize a truehearted hero when his enemy is at his feet. GenlGrant was ready to extend to his conquered adversary those principles of civilized warfare which our fathers extended to their enemies in the bloody days of the Revolution. But, air, this is no new office that is proposed to be given, ifI understand it. If my recollection serves me right, in reading the history of this country, General Washington occupied the same position that we now expect to be given to GenlGrant, or to such other General as the POTUS in his wisdom may see fit. I believe that the mantle of the illustrious Washington may well fall upon the shoulders of GenlGrant. I believe that he has walked in the footsteps of the Father of his Country, and has shown an amiability of character and a tenderness of heart toward his fees that Washington did to those who had ven aid and comfort to the followers and adherents of King George during the 7 years of the revolutionary war. Therefore it is with pleasure that I record my vote in favor of that hero, and I do it with a sentiment that it is not for him alone, but as a recommendation to the people of the country that they shall stand by those whose illus trious deeds of valor have been exhibited on the field of battle, whether as officers or soldiers, without distinction of rank or position. Mr.SHELLABARGER. lrise, Mr. Speaker, for the gurpose of making a single statement in regar to a matter alluded to in the remarks of my colleague, [Mr. FIXCK] With exact justice and propriety, my colleague stated that m the services of GenlGrant there had appeared nothing of the partisan; that his public life was characterized by a devotion to his country without regard to partisan opinions or prejudices. The remark that I propose to make in connection with that is, that in no act in the life and service of GenlGrant, to my mind is the saeacity and foresight of the distinguished LieutenantGeneral more plainly indicated than in the fact that nearl one month before the head of this nation ha discovered that slavery must be stricken down before liberty could be saved, that great fact was announced by GenlGrant, and in terms fearless and distinct, the vigor of which startled the American mind at the time it was announced by this pioneer upon the great subject of emancipation. I undertake to say her in the face of the nation, that the sagacity of the Lieutenant General as a military commander was nowhere more completel vindicated than it was in that foresight, that determined, and announced in advance, that policy which is contained in the letterwhich I send to the Clerks desk, and ask to have read a letter Which bears date nearly a month before the proclamation of emancipation.