The amendment I have offered presents the question naked and simple.

Will you remonetize silver and place it back where it was before it was excluded from the mints of the United States and Europe?

At the very outset of this discussion I appealed to the sober judgment of Senators to consider the responsibility which they take in adopting what I regard as a revolution more full of injury, more dangerous in its character, and more…

I then, at considerable length, stated the objections to the free coinage of silver and the revolution it would create in the financial condition of the country.

One of the most important subjects considered by the Senate within the last ten years, to which I have given special attention, is the construction of a ship canal across Central America.

The route by Lake Nicaragua was early regarded by the American people as the only adequate, efficient and practicable passage.

A canal for navigation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans should form a proper subject of consideration at the congress.

The vast object, if it should ever be accomplished, will be interesting in a greater or less degree to all parts of the world; but especially to this continent will accrue its greatest benefits; and to Colombia, Mexico, Central America…

When California was acquired as the result of the Mexican War, and gold was discovered in its soil, the necessity for some means of speedy transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast became imperative.

By the treaty negotiated in 1884, between the United States and Nicaragua, the canal was to be built by the United States.

The conditions proposed would have made it an international work of great importance to all commercial nations, while ample authority was reserved on the part of the United States to protect its investment with tolls sufficient to pay the…

If such aid is rendered it must be to the full cost of the work, and all the benefits should inure to the people and not to the corporation or its stockholders.

The credit of the United States will secure a loan at the lowest possible rate of interest, and with money thus obtained, and with the confidence of contractors that they will receive their pay for work done, the cost will be reduced to…

It is the interest of the commercial world as well as of the United States that the tolls charged on the passage of vessels should be as low as possible, and this will be secured by the construction of the work by the government.

It will be a monument to our republic and will tend to widen its influence with all the nations of Central and South America.

We all need charity for our frailties, but I can feel none for anyone who would wound those already in distress.

Resolved, That we hereby record the high appreciation in which the American people hold the character and services of General Sherman, as one of the greatest soldiers of his generation, as one of the grandest patriots that our country has…

We mingle our grief with that of the nation, mourning the departure of her great son, and of the survivors of the battle-scarred veterans whom he led to victory and peace.

He was distinguished, first of all, from his early boyhood, for his love and veneration for, and obedience to, his mother.

There never was a time--since his appointment as a cadet, to her death--that he did not insist upon sharing with her his modest pay, and gave to her most respectful homage and duty.

I doubt if any man living can truly say that General Sherman owes him a dollar, while thousands know he was generous in giving in proportion to his means.

He looked upon the heavy taxes now in vogue as in the nature of confiscation, and in some cases sold his land, rapidly rising in value, because the taxes assessed seemed to him unreasonable.

He said that war was barbarism that could not be refined, and the speediest way to end it was to prosecute it with vigor to complete success.

When this was done, and the Union was saved, he was for the most liberal terms of conciliation and kindness to the southern people.

Never since the close of the war have I heard him utter words of bitterness against the enemies he fought, nor of the men in the north who had reviled him.