. .. . XXXlXT.EitstiNblarAfit—irtittiir SESSION. WASHING TON Dec. 21. SENATE.—Mr. Howard (Mich.) offered a resolution calling upon the President to in form the Senate upon what, charges Jeffer son Davis is confined, and why he is not brought to,trial. - Adopted. , • The Chair announced the following as the Committee on Reconstruction on the part of the Senate: Messrs. Fessenden, Grimes, Harris, Howard, Johnson and Williams. 4301 Mr. Sumner Mass.),presentecl the petition of colored citiz sof Tennessee asking that that the Congr ssional delegation from Ten nessee be not received until that State shall have recognized the civil rights of its colored citizens. • Mr. Stunner said he indorsed the petition. No State; he sal _l, ought to be recognized in Con g ress Congress hundred and eighty thousand Of its people. - The petitionswas referred. Mr. Sumner presented the petition of white citizens of the District of Columbia, asking for the extension of the right of suf frage to colored people. Mr. Sumner said—l am glad to present this petition from citizens of the District of ' Celumbia,'-tecause it shows that there are good people herei who are not indifferent to the great'Cause of equalirights. lam more disposed to make this remark because I see the notice of a public meeting of 'whites in this city, in the hope of arresting this cause. Of Course the whites can meet if they please, 4 1 bat any vote on their part will be, under the circumstances, little better. than an absur dity. Of course, such a meeting, called un der such.auspices,willvote,to continue their 'unjust pretensions. Squatters, who for generations have squatted on ie rights of 1 , 1 others, do not quietly give up'their claim. • ' But the whites of the District of Columbia, ,1 in respect to the colored people, are no bet ter then squatters, and it is our duty to dispossea them. Hereafter no one should be allowed to squat on the rights of others, civil or political. Mr. Howard (Mich.) presented the peti tion of three thousand seven hundred and forty- colored citizens of South Carolina, asking fOr such legislation in Congress as will insure them their political rights. Re ferred to the special Committee on Recon struction. Mr. Davis (Ken.) offered a resolution • calling upon the heads of departments for a list of persons indebted to the United States. Objected to, and laid over under the rale. Mr. Lane (Ind.) offered a resolution, - which was adopted, instructing the Com mittee of Post-offices and Post-roads to in quire into and report upon the expediency 'of abolishing the franking privilege, except - upon written communications. Mr. Wilson (Mass.) introduced the fol lowing, which was referred to the Judiciary Corn mittee : A bill to maintain and enforce the free doin of the inhabitants of the United States: Whereas, The Congress of the United States did, on the first day of February, 1865, submit to the Legislatures of the sev eral States an amendment to the Constitu tion, declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary: servitude, except as a punish - went for crime, should exist in the United States, and that Congress should have power to enforce the same by appropriate legislation; and, whereas, the Secretary of State, did on the 19t11 day of December, 1865, make official proclamation that the said amendment has been ratified by three fourths of the Legislatures of said States, therefore be it enacted, etc, That all laws, statutes, acts, ordinances, rules and regulations heretofore in force, or held valid in any State or territory of the united States, whereby or wherein any ine quality of vil rights and immunities 1 among the inhabitants of the United States, or any territory thereof is recognized, au thorized, or established, or maintained by reason of, or founded upon distinction or difference of race, color, or descent, or upon a previous condition in the status of slavery or involuntary servitude, be and they are hereby declared null and void, and it shall hereafter be unlawful to make, institute, ordain, or establish any such law, statute, act, or ordinance. rule or regulation, or to enfwrce or to attempt to enforce the same. -SEei 2. And be , it further enacted, That all inhabitants of any State or territory of the United Suites, without distinction of color or race, shall be entitled to make and en force contracts, to sue, be parties and give evidence in all courts and causes, to lease, piQirchase, hold or sell, and convey real and r personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate. SEC. 3. And belt further enacted, That any person who shall, under the cover of any law or regulation, attempt to subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitantof any State or territory to privation of any right of person or property received or protected by this act, or shall otherwise violate the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon convic tion in any District or Circuit Court of the United States, be punished by a fine not ex ceeding one thousand dollars, or by impri sonment not exceeding three years, or both, I at the discretion of the Court. Provided, , That in the States declared in insurrection by the proclamation of the President, of the first of Ju1y,1862, proceedings for the con viction and punishment oft , 'any violation of this act may be had in proper military courts, until Congress shall by law provide for the re-establishment of the constitutional relations of said State te - thiTUnited States. SEC. 4. And be-it further enacted, That in all cases where any defendant, - n any suit or proceeding in any Court of a State or terri tory, shall claim any tight unddr the provi sions of this act by way. of defence, such ' doffendant may remove, by petition, such suit or proceedings into the proper district or circuit Court of the United States. Mr. Stewart called up the Senate bill to secure the freedom of citizens of States 'lately in rebellion, and proceeded to address the Senate in reply to Mr. Sumner's argu ment of yesterday. He maintained that the message of the President on the condi tion of the Southern States was a patriotic and truthful document. He controverted the theory that the Southern States are out of the Union, and that they had been re duced to a territorial condition. We had tha assurance of the President and Lieu tenant General that good order was being restored in the Southern States. There was no necessity for treating the Southern States as conquered provinces. Mr. Stewart denied the right of the Gene ral Government to interfere in defining the qualification of electors in! the Southern States. The Constitution leaves that to ,the States themselves. If this is not a •• . 't,e man's Government, it must be remem! that neither the black man nor the red 4. an ever formed such Government as this. He argued that the people of the North were not justified in forcing negro suffrage upon the Smith, while they withheld political rights from negroes in the Northern States. , Al - F Wilson replied to the' argument.of Mr. Stewart, stating the necessity that ex isted for the passage of the bill before Ake Senate. The testimony of thetleading offi cers of the army in the South went- to prove that great atrocities and cruelties werebeing perpetrated upon the freedmenof the South. Mr. Stewart had , questioned the truth of reports respecting these cruelties, but he might as well doubt the cruelties of Ander sonville, where eighty-three per cent. of _ the men who entered the hospitals died, where more American soldiers lie buried that fell in the whole Mexican war. More American soldiers ,lie buried than fell in Wellington's four . great battles in Spain—more than fell at Waterloo, In kermann, the Alma and :Sebastopol, alto nether of British soldiers.' Speaking, of po litical topics, - Mr. Wilson said: I desire , THE DX •i - Y EVENING to say a:slitgle'Word further. . We Were teld byllie!Senator from Delaware, Santa- Vary, yesterday; that there *as 4 ,an appre;• tensions here that the Democratic party Was to come back again to power through the agency of the . President of the United States. Sir, I think the Senator from Dela ware was altogether mistaken in regard to any such proposition. Ido not apprehend that the democratic pertY is coming into power through the agency of the President of the United Statesoor through the, agency of anybody'else. A party that haS .main tained the attitude of the Democratic • party duringthis great rebellion; and that has allied itself witha sinking and lost cause, is not likely hereafter to get control of the government of the United States. It needs reconstruction and reorganization quite as much as the rebel State of this Union, and must have reconstruction and reorganiza tion before it can govern through anybody. As to the President, I know there has been a studied attempt, a systematic attempt, i@uring the last few months to separate him from the great party that elected hint. I have never entertained any fears in regard to that matter. 'The President is bound to the men who elected him by honor, by principle and by interest. His fame is to rest upon the great fact that he is able to complete the work which Abraham Lincoln commenced—the work of restoring a broken Union, and preserving the cause of human liberty in America. That the President of the United States is as conscientious as any man living: that his reputation now and his fame with posterity depends upon moving right straight fcirward in the resto ration of the Union and in the security o . the liberty of all men, the securing equal and impartial and universal liberty, 1. do not entertain a doubt. He found the rebel States last spring broken, shivered, con quered and subjugated. No people, since the morning of creation ever fought a braver battle than the rebels; and no men were ever so defeated, so sub jugated, so conquered in the fitald. Their ideas annihilated forever, mans of them ruined in fortune, no body of men have ever been so conquered and so punished. Sir, I have it not in my heart to seek their lives or their blood, but I believe it to be the sentiment of the country that we de mand guarantees for the future; but that while we demand these guarantees we shall say nothing and do nothing to humiliate or degrade any body of men in this country. I believe it to be in our power to secure all that the patriotic aad liberty-loving men of the country require. I believe the President of the United States has labored according to his sense of public duty to prepare the rebel States for admission into the Union, and to secure the liberties of the people of the country. In some things I would have done differently to what he has done, but he has done nothing inconsistent with the Congress of the United States moving right straight forward and onward. In pressing the necessary legisla tion to complete the great work begun, he has made no issue with Congress, and Con gress has made no issue with Min. He does not undertake to dictate to us, but he has pursued his own line of policy, and we ought to pursue ours. If we believe we should go further than he has gone, why let us pass the needed legislation; and if then the President takes issue with us, why then the issue will be made and met. But Ido not think any issue will be made. I have an nndoubting faith. So that .if we enact the needed legislation to secure the liberties of all men in this country, and bring these States into Congress in a proper manner, it will receive th sanction and approval of the 'Executive of the country. I know that it has been and is the policy of the Democratic party to represent that a great and inevitable conflict is to come between the President and Congress. It was so represented before the country last autumn. We met it in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, and in the great State of New York, and to-day, sir, of twenty-five loyal States that have stood by the country, twenty-three of them are in harmony with us upon the floor stronger to-day in our sentiments and opinions than any other day the sun ever shone upon, and will be stron ger to-morrow. There are some men, it seems tome, who profess to be more devoted to the President than the mass of the nzen who elected him. I think it to be our duty to give the Presi dent a manly, generous support, to look on with confidence, but to be as inflexible as destiny itself with the causeof impartial and universal liberty in the country—a cause for which 325,000 Union soldiers sleep in their bloody graves to-day—a cause for which more than 400,000 scarred and maimed heroes tread the soil of the country. They have done their duty, their whole duty. They have] trampled this rebellion down under their iron heel of war, and it is committed not to the President alone,not to Congress alone, but to the Administration put into power by the American people,,to restore this Union; and so to restore it that there shall be no oppression, and no rules or regulations that shall oppress a,single man we have made free. They are our wards, to use the language of the President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln pledged himself to his country and to his God for their emancipation and to maintain their , liberties, and that pledge, I believe, every I department of the Government, execu tive, legislative and judicial, will maintain. Measured by what existed last April, we have made progress. In some sections a great deal, in others less, and in some, per haps, we have gone backward, but there has been general progress. During the last nine months, measured by what existed when the President of the United States entered upon his duties, and what now ex - ists in the country, taking the whole rebel portion into account, we have made pro gress; but we have not made so much as I wish we had made, and as I think we could have made, but if we made less progress than we desired to make we must make manifest in the future that progress has been made only by fidelity to the great cause which we have stood by during the lasi four years of bloody war. ' We have had a conflict of twenty-five ypeas of•ideas and of thoughts—words and thoughts stronger than cannon balls; and we have had four years of bloody war. Slavery, and everything that belongs to or pertains to it, lies prostrate . before us to nay, and the foot of a regenerated nation is .11tor. it. Sir, I hone .no words, nre to be uttered avd no steps to he taken of a-reac tionary character. I hope nothing that goes ‘by the name of the worst word in the Eng ti sh language, conservatism, is tobe allowed . ere. If there is a word in the English anguage that means twenty years of ser ility, it is that word conservative. It ought i of to be on the lips of an American citizen; I hope, too, sir; that we are not to make apologies here. The way to settle the ques tion is to say to the rebels, "We don't want to degrade you; we have resisted you twenty years—your aggressive policy of slaveryand your barbarian robberies. ; We bore the dishonor and disgrace of your policy. You plunged us into -four years I of bloody , civil war to perpetuate slavery, to • make the ideas of slavery dominant in Christian and republican'America. We resisted your ag•- gressions before the people. We shrank not from civil war. We met the contest. 'You fought •• bravely; - worthy of a • better cause, but you were defeated, crushed, an nihilated, ground to powder. Not a flag of yours waves between the capital and the Rio Grande. Not a robel soldier. bears , a rebel bayonet anywhere. . We do not seek' your - lives or your blood, and you . have but' little property for us to seek if we would.- All we ask is this, and this we shall ask, as sure as God rules the world—the men emancipated by war, emancipmed bylegi lation, emancipated by the proclamation the martyred President, emancipated b tiii;i;ii* . j : that geanclamendment of the-Constitution, by thii body as an able, jndicions and patri we shall have these mein as tree as you are,, ,otic state paper. to tread proudll- their native , hills. I want _Resolved, That the principles thereftt every rebel and every rebel , sympathizer, aieried for the restoration of the `Union, every repentant and unrepentant rebel in are the safest and most practicable. that can the land, no understandthat the loyal men now',be applied to our disordered, doulestic _ of this country who voted their blood' and affairs. . treasure, and who gave'their sons for Reao/ved, That no State or number of the preservation of the Union and the cause ,States confederated together, cap. in, any of liberty, have sworn it. They have written manner sunder their connection s with the it on tile lids of their bibles; they have en- Federal Union, except by a totalsubversion ' graved it on their door posts, that' these of our present systemn. of government, and men shall be free indeed—not serfs, not that the President, in enunciating this doc slaves—and that no black laws or un- trine in his late message, has but given ex friendly legislation shall live on the statute pressionno thesentiments of all those who books of any community in America. deny the right or power of a State to secede. Mr. Watson continued his argument that , Resolved, That the President is entitled to the loyal people had a right to the guaran- the thanks of Congress and the country for tees he had, indicated. There was no differ- his faithful, wise d and successful efforts to ence, except in the main points, as to some restore civil government, law and order to of the modes of action in the Trent? Union the States whose citizens were lately in in-1 1' party. There had been these diffefences for surrection against the Federal authority, twenty-five years in the Union party, and and we' hereby pledge ourselves to aid, out of' this had grown a free end manly assist and uphold him in the policy which discussion of great public questions. The he has adopted to give harmony, peace and Senator from Deleware, when he spoke of union to the country. divisions in this great party, did not know Mr. Voorhees moved and the House post the men who had fought the great battle for poned the consideration of the resolutions the country and for liberty if he supposed until the ninth of January. that men accustomed to speak their minds On motion of Mr. Niblack (Ind.) the Com freely as brothers and American citizens mittee for the District of Columbia was in upon all great questions were to break up strutted to inquire into the expediency of and sever and be disrupted for the benefit of providing for the election and admission men who had linked their names forever into this House of a delegate from this Dis with the cause of human slavery on this trict, with power and privileges similar to continent, and some of them with the cause those from the present organized territories, of the rebellion itself. and to report by bill or otherwise. In conclusion, Mr. Wilson said he hoped Mr. Smith (Ky.) offered the following re that at no distant day these seats would be solution: ; z filled by men who, whatever might have _Resolved, That James M. Johnson, claim been their errors in the past, would support ing a seat as inembef of the Thirty-ninth the cause of the country and of liberty to Congress from the State of Arkansas, be man, and that these freedmen, degraded by admitted to the privileges of the floor pend two centuries of slavery, wouldi in all re- ing his claim as a member thereof. epects be free, and that they would go on Mr. Stevens said if the gentleman would with us in a career of elevation and fm- amend the resolution so as to leave out that provement. 1 part which claimed Mr. Johnson to be a Mr. Saulsbury (Delaware) said that Mr. member of this House he would not object Wilson was laboring under a very great to it. mistake. He seemed to have understood Mr. Smith replied that Mr, Jehnson had me as saying that the Democratic party in rendered three or four years of military this country was to come into power through service to his country, and it would be a re the agency of the President. I said nosh- fiection upon him to deny him theprivileges ing of the kind. Since the commencement of the floor. of this session the Democratic members Mr. Kelley (Pa.) inquired whether any have sat in their seats in perfect silence, body else was here claiming to be a mena without saying one word in reference to any ber elect from Arkansas. issues that were made to distract 'the coun- Mr. Smith replied that he did not know. cils of the Republican party. I did say, Mr. Ingersoll (Ill.) said he was acquaint however, that an apprehension seemed to ed with Ni. Johnson, and was happy to say exist in the minds of some in the other end that that gentleman was a devoted loyalist,. of the Capitol, and in this Chamber, that having fought three years or more in our the Democratic party of the country was army, and did as much to sustain the Union about to come into power through the cause in Arkansas as any one. It was a re agency of the present Executive.' I was fiection upon hi:, as well as on the House, expressing no opinion, but stating a simple to;refuse him the p vilege of the floor. fact that such an apprehension seemed to Mr. Smith was w' 'rig to amend the reso exist. Was I justified in that remark? lution by striking fro.. 't the words "whose I recollect reading a speech made in this credentials have been pr:. • nted." city by Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, a distiu- Mr. Schenck (Ohio) couls not understand gossiped citizen of Pennsylvania, iu winch why this gentleman should 'e selected for he advocated the exclusion of the Southern such privileges from other • equally as States from representation in Congress, on loyal the ground that such representation would Mr. Smith replied that he bad no objec be (It structive of the Republican party, de tion to any other loyal man loqing admitted. is high authority in that poinicel church, I He had informed Mr. Johnsothat he would believe. I appeal to the honorable Senator offer this resolution, and he Ad so because, from Massachusetts to know whether in at the first session of the T ' ty eighth Con th a speech made by his colleague yesterday, gress, he was admitted to the privileges of anu extracts from private letters read, toe the fluor, and so, at the last session, the same apprehensions did not seem to exist? question was submitted to the Committee of Sir, Icm not rise to express a.,ly opinions of Elections, and he drew pay and mileage for my own, Whether that apprehension was both sessions. He now came here again as well or ill founded, lam in no . position to a member elect, bearing his credentials with know. I only know the Preeiaent of the the great seal, having, as a loyal man, United States as a distinguished Senator on fought for three years for the interest and this floor, having served with him tor salvation of the government. He merely , several years. Our personal relations were asked to be recognized as a gentleman always of the most friendly and kindly claiming a sent on this floor. character, and I will /. take occasion to say Olnecuon being made to the resolution, that although not of his party now, I en- Mr. Smith withdrew it. tertain a high personal regard far him. Mr. Kerr (Ind.) introduced a bill, which Though he may have strayed into wrong was referred, for the relief of loyal and in no- company, still for him personally I eater- cent. part owners of personal property cap tain great respect and kindness,andnor one, tared on account of the criminal acts of so far as his action shall conform to the Con- other part owners of it. stitntion of the country and the just rights Mr. O'Neill (Pa.) introduced a bill rela of the States of the Union, I shall render five to the payment of the one hundred him my hearty support. dollars bounty, provided by the act of July Mr. Saulsbury said the Democratic party 2241, 1861, to the legal representatives of the was not In such a bad condition as Mr. Wi.- men who enlisted during that year, and son thought. It did not need reconstruc- who left their commands without authority tion or reorganization. As to the subject of but who subsequently returned and were reconstruction, he believed that the plan of killed in battle or died from wounds re- General Sherman was the best yet presented ceived in the service. Referred to the Com; to the country, and he was sorry it was not mittee on Military Affairs. adopted. Mr. Ingersoil (Ill.) introduced the follow- Mr. Wade moved that the Senate adjourn. ing, which was agreed to: Mr. Trumbull said it was necessary to Whereas, By the late explosion at the have a brief Executive session. So the doors United States Arsenal in the District of were closed, an Executive session was held, Columbia, several government employes and the Senate, at 3 o'clock, adjourned to were killed, and others terribly mutilated; meet on Friday, January 31. h, 1866, at 12 and whereas- it is alleged that one or more o'clock. of the killed 'left large families in destitute House.—Mr. Dolos R. Ashley appeared, circumstances, thereaee, be it and was qualified as a Representative from _Re.•olvcd, That the Committee on the the State of Nevada. District of Columbia be directed to inquire The speaker announced the following into the matter and reporteto the House Darned gentlemen as the regents of the what relief, if any, should he rendered by Smithsonian Institution ,on the_part of the the United States Government. House: Messrs. Pattersbn (N. H.) lanes- Several other resolutions of inquiry were worth (,Ili.;, and Garfield, (O.) adopted when the House resolved itself The Speaker also announced the following into Committee of the Whole on the State of on the Committee on Mines and Mauna . the Union,Mr. Bout eel ,Alass.)in the chair, recently authorized to be appointed: Messrs on the President's annual message. Rigby (Cal.), D. R. Asniey ,Nevada), Cobb Mr. Finck (Ohio) said the reason why the (W, is.), Strouse (Pa.), Driggs ,al lain a J. M. So) &ern representatives werenot, admitted Ashley (Unit)), Henderson (Oregon), .Allis..)n to seats in Congress was that there was a (Iowa), and Noell (Mu.). v body of men opposed to the Union of the On motion of Arr. Phelps (Md.), it was States unless they could mould its policy to' Beso/acd, That the Secrete of the, Trea- I suit their own views. He protested against sury be directed to report/for then To ma- this attempt to subvert the true principles tion of the ,House, what a'Riunt o' ouey of our Government, to preserve which tour has been expended for the esta6 . malt years of Ni , nr was waged. In reply to Mr. and support of the Naval Asaderni at Aun- Stevens, he argued, that the Southern apolis nom us doundatiointto t e present States were never out of the Union, and time. that by insurree teed themselves On motion Mr. Schenck ,0 ( /,,, it ;visas beyond the lip e Constitution; lae.setaccl, That tive thous' .),opies of the therefore, the law was not appli- A tany Register tor the year 1663 be"priuted cable to them as id people. He for the use of the House. was in favor of a States being Air. Et übberd c.;onn.) offered the following now represents people in that resolution, which was it lerred tri - Alke__Coat- section had acquiesced with great unanimity mittee on Foreign Aflairs : in the resent of the war, and shown a dispel .llaso/i ea", 'I hat the Government of the sition to be forever loyal and to sustain the United States ought never to recognize any Government which they had vainly striven government, imposed unuu any nation 011 to overthrow. He denied the right of Con (his continent by the arms of any European gress to legislate with reference to suffrage Power.* in the Southern states. This could not be , Mr. Conkling (N. Y.) asked leave ti`e) offer done unless on the theory of the gentleman a resolution requesting the President of the irom Pennsyn aniti (Mr. Stevens ),that they United States, if not incompatible with tae arc out of the Union. We should endeavor public interests, to conmainie Ate to the to made more pernianent tau heretofore House any report or reports made by the the bond of Union. In the main, he Judge Advocate General, or any other approved the course and policy of the officer of the gin ern:mental., to the grounds, President on the question of the restoration facts or accusations by which Jef erson. of these States; t 4 :;ic e them their just Davis, C. C. Clay, Stephen R. Mallory end righte, and to 'peal the wounds which toe David Ynlee, or either of them, are held in war had utifficta The people wotild insist confinement. that thee States shall be represented, and Mr. Johnson (Pa.) asked why the gentle- would susta in the fresidEint in every honest man did not call on the President for the effort to maintain his position. The honora reasons why these persons are held in eon- ble gentleman procecued, at some length, to iinement, and not on the Judge Advocate show the disastrous effects of what he General? characterized as the radical movements. Mr. Conkling replied that the ysolution Mr. Raymond (N. Y.)—Mr. ahatrwan, I simply called tor facts. should be glad, if it meet the sense of those Mr. Johnson objected to the reception of niembeis who are present, to make some the resolution. remarks upon the general question now On motion of Mr Alley ( ass.), it was before the House ; but Ido not wish to tres- Besolved, That: the Com inn , on Post pass at all upon the disposition of those who Offices and Post Roads be instructed to in- may be present in regard to this matter. I quire into the expediency of establishing a do not know, however, that. there will be a national system f telegraphing, by which -better opportunity to say what little I have all telegrams sh 11 be forwarded under a to say than is now offered; and if the House similar system to ur present postal service, shall indicate no other wish I will proceed within the excises vejurisdiction of the Poste to say it.' [Cries of "Go on !"] I need •not Office Departmen . i say that I have been gratified to hear many Mr. Henderson Oregon) introduced a bill things which have fallen from the lips of which was refer ed to the Committe the gentleman of Ohio (Mr. Finck),who has Claims, making appropriation elm- just taken his seat. t . burse Oregon for expenses incurred in the I have no party feeling nor any other suppression of - Indian hostilityin 1854. feeling which would prevent me from re- Mr. Raymond (N.' Y.) asked leaie to, in- joicing in the indications apparent on that trodnce a bill Providingfor the appointment side of the House'of a purpose to concur of a committee to Purnhase a site and erect a with the loyal people of the country and .rtilding for a post office in the city of New with the loyal administration of the govern York; but objectionwas made. went, and with the loyal majorities in both Mr. Voorhees (Ind.) submitted the follow- . Houses of Congress, in restormg peace and Resolved, order to :our common . country. I. cannot, ' Boolved, That the, message of the Rived- perhaps, help wishing, sir, that these indi dent of the United States, delivered at the cations of an interest in the preservation of opening of the presont Congress, is regarded our government had come some what sooner. HlL'lDElalifa;:ylPAAr, DEOEMBER 2, 1865 T 1 SHEET I cannot help feeling that such expressions cannot now be of ree much service th the country., as they might have been. If we could haVe had from that side of the House such indications of an interest in the pre servation .of, the. Union; such heart-felt sympathy 'with the, efforts of the govern ment ler, the . preservation of'that Union; such hearty denunciation of those who were seeking its destruction while the was was raging, I am sure we might have teen spared some years of war, some millions of money, and rivers of blood and tears. But, sir, lam not disposed to light lover again battles now happily ended. I feel, and I am rejoiced to find that members on the other side of the Houseefeel, that the great question now before us is to restore the Union to its old integrity, purified from everything that interferes with- the fdhl de velopment of the spirit of liberty which it was made to enshrine. 1 trust that we shall have a general concurrence of the members of this House and of the Congress in such Measures as may be deemed most fit and proper for the accomplishment of that re sult. I am glad to assume and to believe that there is not a man in this country who does not wish, from the bottom of his heart to see the day speedily come when we shall have this nation—the great American re public—again united, more harmonious in its action than it has ever been, and forever , one and indivisible. We, in this Congress, are to devise the means to restore its union and its harinony, to perfect its institutions, and to make it, m all its parts and in all its action, through all time to come, too wise and too free ever to invite or ever to permit the hand of rebellion to be raised against it. Nov, sir, in devising those ways and means to accomplish that great result, the first thing we have to do is to know the proint from which we start—to understand the nature of the material with which we have to work, the condition of the territory, and the States with which we are concerned. I bad supposed at the outset of this session that it was the purpose of this House to pro ceed to that work without discussion, and to commit it almost exclusively, if not entirely, to the joint committee raised by the two Houses for the consideration of that subject. But, sir, I must say that I was glad when I perceived the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens), himself 'the chairman on the part of this House of the great Committee on Reconstruci;lon, lead off a discussion of this general subject, and thus invite all the rest of LIB who choose to follow him in the debate. In the remarks which he made to this body a few days since, he laid down with the clearness and the force which charac terise everything he says and does, his point of departure in commencing this great work. I had hoped that the ground he would lay down would be such that we could all of us stand upon it, and co-operate with him in sour common object. I feel constrained tte say, sir, and Ido it without the slightest disposition to create or to ex aggerate differences, that there were points in his exposition of the state of the country with which I, connot concur—l cannot, for myself, start from precisely the point which he assumes. In his remarks on that occasion he as sumed. that the States lately in rebellion were and are out of the Union. Througnout his speech (I will not trouble you with reading passages frOS it) I find him speak ing of these States as "outside of the Union," as "dead States," as having forfeited all their rights and terminated tneir State ex istence. I find expressions still more definite and distinct—l find him stating that they "are and for four years have been out of the Union for all legal purposes," as having been for four years "a separate power" and "a separate nation." His position, there fore, is that these States having been in rebellion are now out of the Union, anti simply slithin the jurisdiction of the Con stitution of the United States as so much territory to be dealt with precisely as the will of the conqueror—to use his own Lan go aga—"may dictate." Now, sir, if that position is correct, it prescribes for us the cue of a line of policy to be pursued very different from the one that will be proper ifds is not correct. His belief is that what we have to do is to create now States out of this territory at the proper time, "many years distant," retaining them in the meantime, in a territorial condition, and subjecting them to precisely such a state of discipline and tutelage as Congress or the governmentof the United States may see fit to prescribe. If I believed in the premises which he assumes, possibly, though I do not think probably, I might agree with the conclusion be reaches. But, sir, I cannot believe that this is our condition. I cannot believe that these States have ever been out of the Union, or that they are now out of the Union. I cannot believe that they ever have been or are now, in any sense, a separate power. If they were, sir, how and when did they he r eon:le so? They were once States of this Union, that every one concedes—nouhd to the Union, and made utrntbers of the Union, by the Constitution of the United States. If they ever went out (lithe Union it was at some specific time, and by sume specific act. I regret that the gentleman from Penusyl vania k Mr. Stevens) is not now in his seat. I should have been glad to ask him by what specific act, and at what precise time, any one of those States took itself out of the American Union. Was it by the ordinance of secession? I think we all agree that an ordinance of secession, passed by any,State or this Union, is simply a nullity, because it encounters, in its practical operation, the Constitution of the United States, whi.ih is the supreme law of the land. It could lieve no legal actual force or validity. It eaora not operate to effect any actual change in the relation of the State adopting it to the national governmennstill less to accomplish the removal of that State from the sovereign jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United States. Well, sir, did the resolutions of these States, the declaration of their officials, the speeches of members of their Legislatures, e r the utterances of their press, accomplish the result? Certainly Out. They could not possibly work any change whatever in the relations of these States to the general gov ernment. All theieordinanees and all their resolutions were sun ply declarations of a purpose to secede. Their secession, if it ever took place, certainly could not date froin the time when their intention to secede was first announced. After declaring that intention, they proceeded to carry it into effect. bow? By war—by sustaining their purpose by arms against the tlee_te which the United States brought to bear against it. Did they sustain it? Wore their arias victo rious? if they were, then their secession was an accomplished fact. If not, it was nothing more than an abortive attempt—a purpose unfulfilled. This, then, is simply a question of fact, and we all now what the fact is. They did not succeed. They failed to main tain their grouud by force of arms. In other words, they tidied to secede. But the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens) insists that they did secede r and that this fat is not in the least affected by the other fact that .the Constitution forbids secession. He says that the lawi forbids murd but that murders age nevertheless mmitted. But there la no analogy between the two cases. If see cession had been accomplished; if. these, States had gone ' out and. overcome" the; armies that txied to prevent their going' out, then the prohibition of the Constitutioni could not have altered the fact. In the case of murder, the man is leilled,and murder is thustsommitted in spite of the law. The fact, ofkilling is essential to the committal of the crime, and the fact of going out is essen tial to secession. Butin this ease, there was no such fact.' I think I need not argue any further the, position that the rebel States have never for cue moment, by any ordinance of secession, or by any successful war, carried them s'elv es beyond the rightful jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United States. They have interrupted for a time the practical enforcement and exercise of tbat jurisdicr tion. They rendered it impossible for a time for this government to enforce obedi ence to its laws; but there never has been an hour when this government, or this Congress, or this House, or the gentleman from Pennsylvania himself, ever conceded that these States were beyond the jurisdic tion of the Constitution and laws of the United States. • ing all these four years of war Con gress has been making laws for the govern ment of these very States, and the gentle man from Pennsylvania had voted for them and voted to raise, armies to coerce them. Why was this done, if they were a separate nation? Why, if they were not a part of the United States? Those laws were made for them as States. Members had voted direct taxes, which are apportioned, accord ing to the Constitution, only among the several States, according to their popula tion. In a variety of ways, to some of which the gentleman who preceded me has referred, this Congress has by its action assumed and asserted that they were still States in the Union, though in rebellion, and that it was with the rebellion that we were making war, and not with the States thgmselves as States, and still less as a separated, as a foreign Power. The gentleman from Pe,nnsylvania citeda • variety of legal precedehts and declarations of principles, nearly all of them, I believe. drawn from ie celebrated decision of the Supreme Court, promulgsved by Justice Grier inwhat are popularly known as "The Prize Cities." His citations were all made for the purpose of proving that these States were in a condition of public war; that they were waging such a war as could only be waged by a separate and independent power. But a careful scrutiny of that de cision will show that it lends not the slight est countenance to such an inference. Gentlemen who hear me will doubtless recollect that the object of the trial in those cases was to decide whether certain vessels captured in trying to run the blockade were lawful prizes of war or not, and the decision of this point turned on the question whether the war then raging was such a contest as justified a resort to the modes and usages of public war, of which blockade was one. Justice Grier decided that it was; that so far as the purposes and weapons of war were concerned the two parties were bel ligerents, and ihat the government might blockade the ports and capture the property within the lines of the district in rebellion precisely as if that district were an inde pendent nation engaged in a public wai. But he said not one word which could as sett or imply that it was an independent na tion, that it bad a separate existence or had gone out of the sovereign jurisdiction of the United States. On the contrary, everything he said, the very passages quoted by the gentleman from Pennsylvania himself, im ply and assert precisely the opposite., He speaks of them not as sovereign, nor as be ing separate, but as trying to be separate from the United States. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens) spoke of States forfeiting their State existence by the fact of rebellion. Well,l do not see how there can be any such forfeiture involved or implied. The indi vidual citizens of these States went with the rebellion. They thereby insured certain penalties under the laws and Constitution of the United States. What the States did was to endeavor to interpose their State author ity between the individual in rebellion and the government of the United States,which assumed and which would carry out the assumption to declare those individuals traitors for their acts. The individuals in the States woo Wbre in rebell on, it seems to me, were the only par ties who, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, could incur the penal ties of treason. I know of no law, I know of nothing in the Constitution of the United States, I know of nothing in any recognized or established code of international law which can punish a State, as a State, for any act it may perform. It is certain that our Constitution assumes nothing of the kind. It does not deal with States, except in one or two instances, such as the election of members of Congress and the election of electors of the Presicient and Vice President. Indeed the main feature which distinguishes • the Union under the Constitution from the old confederation is this, the whereas the old confederation did deal with States directly, making requisition upon them for supplies and relying upon them for the execution of its laws, the Constitution of the United Statss, ,in order to form a more perfect Union, made its laws binding on the indi vidual citizens of the several States,whether living in one State or another. Congress,as the legislative branch of this Govern:.uent, enacts a law which shall be operative upon every individual within its jurisdietiori. • It is binding upon each individual citizen, and if be resists it by force he is guilty of a crime.and is punished accordingly,any thing in the constitution or laws of hisSiate to the contrary notwithstanding. But the States themselves are not touthed by the laws of the United States or by the Constitution of the United States. •A State cannot be indicted—a Suite cannot be tried. A State cannot be hung for treason. The individual in a State "may be so tried and • hung, but the State, as an organization, as an organic member of the Union, still ' exists, whether its individual citizens coin- mit treason or not. Mr. Kelley (Pa.)—Will" the gentleman from New York, Ur. Raymond, yield to me a moment for a question? Mr. Raymond—Certainly. Mr. Kelley—l desire to ask the gentleman this question. By virtue of what d(,es a STate'exist? Is it by virtue of a constitution tr and by virtue of ‘•s relations to the Union? P oes a State of th z Tuion exist first by vir tue 01 a constitti 'on, and secondly by virtue of its practical relations to the government of the United States; and further, I would ask whether those States, acting by conven tions of the people, have not overthrown the constitution which made them part of the ' Union, and thereby destroy ed,or suspended, phrase it as you will, the practical relations which made them part of the Union? Mr. Raymond-1 will say in reply to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelley) that it is not the practical relations of a State at any particular moment make it- a State or a part of the Union. What makes a State a part of the Union is the Constitution of the United States, and the rebel States have never yet destroyed that. Mr. Kelley—The question I proposed. is, whether a State does not t-...xist oy virtue of a constitution—its constitution, which is a thing which, may be modified or over thrown? Mr. Raymond—Certainly. Mr. Kelley--And whether these rebellious constitutions or States have not been over thrown ? Mr. Raymond—A State does not exist by virtue of any particular constitution. It always has a constitution, •but it need not have a specific constitution at any specified. time. A State has certain practical relations' to the government of the United States,.but the fact of these relations being practically operative and at any moment does not con titute its relationship to the government, or its membership, of the United States. Its * practical operation is one thing. The fact of its existence as an organized community, one of , the great national community of States, is quite another thing. Mr. Reiley-z-I 4 et me interrupt the gen. tleman one traamerit longer. willask him whether, if the constitution, be overthrown otde,stroyed, and its tpractitud ;relations dease, there be any State left? • . Mr. Raymcncl—Why l sir, s if there be no constitution ofany 'sort in a State, no law
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