XXXECtIi Congress — First Session. • ICLOSE OF YESTERDAY'S pROCEEDnIGS.] SENATE.—The proposed amendment to to the Constitution on the subject of repre sentation was taken up at one o'clock. Mr. Morrill rose, he said, to discuss one or two of the important topicetonnected with this subject. That it was an important measure, it need only be stated-that it pro posed to change the basis of representation in the popular branch of the national Con gress. Its importance wasrendered, he was about* to say, painfully significant by the discussions on this floor within the last few weeks which have occupied the attention of the Senate. It is said to be unnecessary and unimportant by one class of Senators; also, that it is unjust to the States, particularly the States which have been lately in rebel lion. It is said on the other hand, by those who take a different view of the subject, that it is unjust to the freedmen, whom it is the duty of the nation to protect and pro vide for; It was said yesterday by Mr. Sum ner that we violate a great principle of Ame rica,p law and American liberty when we attempt to pass it—that it is fundamentally wrung and unjust to a defenceless and un protected race the wards of the nation, whose duty it is to give them protection. It .is plain that, bet , keen these cross purposes, the measure will come to nought. Mr. Morrill said it was his purpose to show that neither of the causes of opposition to the measure was just. The proposed amend ment is not unjust to the Statei recently in rebellion, and it does not violate-afgreat fundamental principle of Anittric,an repre sentative law. On the other hand, it does not violate the principles of popular liberty in the person of this dependent race. Al though I shall not pretend that it is an ade quate measure, or that it deals out full and ample justice to this feeble race, whom I believe it to be the duty of the nation to pro tect and defend, yet I maintain its tendency is in that direction. The proposition is ren dered necessary, said Mr. Morrill, by the changed condition of affairs. One of these changes has been an amendment to the Con stitution, which forever sweeps away from the Constitution of the United States that class described as all other persons, three fifths of whom shall be counted in the basis of representation. Slavery and involuntary servitude have been swept away from the country, and now what do we find? You find Ethe basis of your representation not proposed to be changed, but you find that it has been changed. It has been changed by the events of the • war. The great revolution- in which we have been engaged has changed the basis of representation in the popular branch of 'Congress. Notwithstanding this change, we find Repregentatives from these lately rebellious States demanding admission into the lower branch of Congress upon repre sentation based upon a system of slavery which is among the things that were, and this question is 'iaresented: Shall the Ame rican Congress admit into its councils some thirty representatives in the lower branch of Congress based upon a provision of the Constitution now f rendered obsolete by the change to which' I have alluded? This would be to bring into your presence the institution of slavery itself. This would be to say that, notwithstanding the great revo lution, that has gone forward, you will not recognize it. To-day thirty representatives, in theory and in fact, demand admission into the lower house of Congress, based en tirely upon the representative system pro vided by the Constitution of the United States. I would ask those who deny that the proposed amendment is necessary how they propose to provide for the great fact of which I have spoken. Mr. Saulsbury desired to know of Mr. Morrill whether he was in favor of letting Southern slaves vote,and whether he would keep the South unrepresented until these slaves were permitted to vote? .—Mr. Morrill said the question was not per tinent to the point he was discussing. He continued his argument, alleging that some amendment has been rendered necessary. To admit the present applicants for seats in the other House would be to recognize the institution of slavery. In answer to the ob jection that had been urged against this pro position, that it would deprive the Southern States of their constitutional rights, he said these States were still insurrectionary. At the close of the war General Sherman attempted to recognize their existence as States with civil rights, but the President quickly repudiated his action in that re gard, thong he immediately afterward did himself what he had repudiated in General Sherman. . _ He appointed Governor Perry.--in South Carolina, and authorized him td recognize the State government of South Carolina on the basis of a military order; and almost the first act of Governor Perry's official life was to restore all the rebel officers in'the State of South Carolina, upon the condition of their taking the oath to Congress. Mr. Morrill said Congress conld not re cognize these Southern State governments as set up by Mr. Johnson. Mr. Wilson (Mass.) said there were indi cations that the vending measure would be defeated. This he seriously regretted, for his heart and his conscience approved of it. He approved of it, because he believed that it would sweep the loyal States of this '.' , "Union by an immense majority, and that no public man could succeed who opposed ';.• it. Be approved of it, because if it were in -the Constitution of the,United States to-day _before five years passed away every black •znan in. America would be enfranchised and . • clothed with the ballot t Gentlemen on the other side of this cham ber *oppose this measure as unjust to the States tecently in rebellion. Some of them tell w. that we, who are pressing this measure, are willing, if we can secure the 'franchise for the black man, to let all other •,,iabesi . go. We are told, too, that it is itoMoral, indecent and offensive to reason ang conscience. This measure came into •Congriss with the sanction of the CoMmittee on.. Reconstruction, composed, as it is, of ~ men of individual honor and personal character. It comes to the Senate, after an overwhelming:vote of the House of Repre sentatives. It is sustained by ninety out of every hundred of the public journals that support the present administration. Weie it submitted to the American people, it would -be sustained by every man in the loyal States, who' believes that the sol • dier who fought the battles of the country is the equal of the rebels who fought against it. It will be a question of manhood; a ques‘ tion whether one rebel in South Carolina is ' to count as much in the electoral colleges and in the House or Representatives as two loyal men of New England or the great Western States fighting the battle before 'the people. On the question of the equality •of the basis of representation, I believe it .-' would triumph and - go into the Constitution ; —being incorporated into the Constitution, the practical effect would be this and only t is.c It would raise up a party in every one of these States immediately on its pas- sage. ' These men might be influenced by the of .loower, by pride, by ambition to ". begin the contest for they would not like to yieliplitbe power of these States in the Union They Might begin the battle animated by unworthy motives. but, as soon as the dis . -eussion.commenced it would address itself to the reason, ,to the heart and to the con science of the :people. The advocate of ' ll. negro enfranchisement would themselves grow up to believe in the justice and equity and right of giving the ballot-box to the black man. There would be discussion in every square mile of the rebel' States; ap peals to the pride, the ambititm and the heart; to justice and equity; to the interests and to the. Tissipns and to all the lofty tha casreway and control and in- T..7,wpOgi They would co-operate with the friends .of freedmen throughout the-country. They would be the left wing of the great army of freedmen in the country, and we would give them our prayers, our influence, our voices and our aid in fighting that battle. They would have the support of the prayers of the poor black men in the South in that struggle. tßefore five years- had passed away there would not be a rebel State that --would not enfranchise the' colored men. And when they did triumph they would have made a public sentiment by which every black man could gat° the Ballot-box in safety with his friends. Force by posi tive law to-day upon Virginia and the Carolinians, or any of those States, colored suffrage, and the negro would go to the ballot-box almost at the peril of his• life; but let there be four, or five, or six years of discussion and , it will triumph peace ably, and it will! be'as easy for a black man to vote without molestation as they vote to-day in the commonwealth of Massachu setts. I believe, too, that if this measure was in • the Constitution it would bring suffrage to the black men of this - country within five years, and that when suffrage did come under these circumstances, it would, in the language of Mr. Lincoln come to stay. It would be fixed for ever in the general policy of the country. Believing this, I must give my vote for this measure. Mr. Wilson was discussing the various propositions on the subject of representation now before the Senate, and maintaining that Congress could not by a joint resolution or by a law, 'regulate suf frage in the several States, when he was interrupted by Mr. Yates, of Illinois, who desired to ask a question, end said I would like to ask the Senator from Massachusetts whether, by the constitutional amend ment, every man made free is not as free as the Senator or myself? In qther words, whether he is not entitled to the same rights and privileges, by which I mean civil as well as political privileges, as ;the Senator or myself; whether he is not one of the people of the United States, one of the citizens of the United States, and entitled to the same rights and privileges, with him and with myself, or any other one of the people of the United States? I mean by the force of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery and emanci pating that people, as I contend, into the sovereignty, into the body politic of the United States. That proposition being put, as I think, the Senator from Massachusetts will admit, for he cannot deny it, according to the stand-point from which he sees things and from which I see things. I will not ask the question whether, under the Consti tution as it now exists, States have juris diction over the question of citizenship in the states; but I will ask him the question whether, we came to make an organic alte ration in the Constitution of the United States, and when we have in view the secu rity of the rights of all citizens of the United States—and, of course, I mean citizens without regard to race or color, as these words I believe, according to the opinion of the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Johnson), have no longer any meaning under the Con stitution of the United States—whether now, when we propose to establish an or ganic act by the operation of an amend ment to the Constitution, whether we pro pose to place it in the power of any State to disfranchise any portion of the American people? That is the question, for the pro position now pending submits to the people of the rebel States to decide whether the freedmen are to have these rights or not. Does the Senator from Massachusetts, or any other Senator, pretend to say that, under the constitutional amendment, the question of representation will be decided by the citizens of these rebel States, by which I mean not only white citizens, but also the people of the United States—the people that are as free and have the same rights as you and I have to-day. The ques tion is whether you will permit, in a new organic act of that Constitution, a portion of the people of the Southern States—and rebels and traitors at that—to say who shall be represented upon the floor of the Senate. These are the questions. I do not put them for the sake of embarrassing the Senator from Massachusetts, but I put them for my own information, and have not yet decided whether I will support the amendment or not. The fact is these questions have dis turbed me to some extent, and I would like to have them answered. Mr. Wilson said he would endeavor to answer the questions of Mr. Yates frankly. I will say, to,begin with, that the constitu tional amendment which was proposed here by the Senator from Missouri, ( Mr. Henderson), and reported by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Trumbull), adopted by Congress and ratified by the people was never understood by any man in the Senate ,or House of Representatives, or by the pub lic press of the country, as conferring upon Congress the right to force the suffrage ou any State of the Union. I say farther, that If it it had been supposed that it gave that right it never.would have passed Congress or received the sanction of the States. I will say, sir, that I think beyond doubt or question, it gave, it clothed Congress with ample and full power to protect the civil rights and immunities of every emanci pated slave in the country; .that that slave is as free as I am, that the child emanci pated in his cradle to-day is as free as the Senator from Illinois or myself, as much a citizen of the United States as either of us; but, sir, citizenship never did, in this coun try, carry with it the right of suffrage or the right to hold office. A man may be a citi zen and rot have the right of suffrage. There are men in Massachusetts who have been. citizens for forty years and have not the right of suffrage to-day. Mr. Yates—Was it understood at the time of the passage of the amendment that it would confer civil rights? Mr. Wilson—l suppose it did give Con gress ample power to make these men free as the non-voting white population of those States, as flee women or children, or per sons who had not the right of suffrage. But I did not understand it then, and I do not believe now that it gave Congress the power to clothe these people with the right of suf fage, or the right to hold office: Mr. Yates—Although I do not deny the proposition of the !Senate, I will put this question to them. I do not deny the power of the States to regilate suffrage by any means, to decide upon the qualifications of those who are to vote, to devise and make rules and regulations. It is the duty of the States to regulate this right, but they cannot destroy it; and I ask the Senator from Mas sachusetts whether he believes it is in the power of the State of Massachusetts, or of South Carolina, in simply regulating the right of suffrage, to deortve the citizens of a State of the right to vote altogether. Mr. Wilson—l answer that, right or wrong, the State of Massachusetts has done it. Mr. Yates—That is not the question. Mr. Wilson—The Senator may say that it is not right, that it ought not to be done. I pgree with him. In my own State I voted against an amendment to the State Constitu tion requiring the qualification of reading and writing. Mr. Yates— I ask if this proposed amend ment does not allow the rebel States to -ex clude the freedmen from voting. Mr. Wilson—l have never read or heard or seep anything that convinced me that the adoption of the constitutional amendment gave the Congress of the United States any power to regulate suffrage in any State. Mr. Yates--I desire to know whether by the pending amendment South Carolina or any other State cannot disfranchise them entirely • Mi. Wilson—l may answer the Senator simply by saying that I think this amiSnd ment leaves the 'matter to the States pre cisely where it is now. There is no implica tion in it—no compromise in it—no Barren dem of any power of the government. THE DAILY EVENING BULLETIN ; PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY, MARCH Mr. Yates—The position I assume in this —that before the adoption of • the constitu tional amendment the States had a right under the Constitution and under the deci sion of the Supreme Court of, the United States, to disfranchise the colored people. Colored men were considered a subject race, not part of the people, not part of the sovereignty. But, sir, by the constitutional amendment they are as free as the Senator from Massachusetts this day. Now, the question is, whether, with this amendment* before us, we will put into this amendment a new amendment by which these States may disfranchise these persons altogether? Mr. Wilson, in -reply to Mr. Yates read from the opinion of Attorney General Bates that political rights and political power were essentially different—that the former belong to all citizens alike, and were in the very name and nature of citizenship; but the latter does not belong to all citizens alike. Mr. Wilson said that the framers of the Constitution, mindful of the imperfection of human institutions, prescribed the mode by which the work of their own bands might be amended by the generations that should come after them; that the first Congress under the Constitution, in which many of its framers had entered, proposed twelve amendments to that instrument, ten of which were adopted by the people; that Congress proposed two amendments more, which received the sanction of the nation, and that from time to time other amend ments were proposed by eminent states men, without their being subjected to the imputation of being "innovators," or "rad cats who were reckless of consequences.'.' He observed that at the close of the great civil war that had tested our institutions,re vealing alike their strength and weakness, the Republic was divided into two classes of men—the one demanding the immediate admission of the rebellions States, rebel end foremost; the other demanding guarantees that should secure alike the rights of all men. black and white; that the one class proposed amendments to the Constitution that should secure by irreversible provi sions the rights of all, and the• other flip- pantly denouncing this amendment as the unreasonable demand of a radical faction. Some five years ago these chambers rang with the passionate utterances of incipient treason; every man who inveighed against amendments for the security of freedom hastened to support these amendments which wane to be forever irrepealable. The first of these proposed a'inendments de manded that in all the territory south of the line of latitude 36 deg. 30 min., slavery of the African race should be recognized as existing; that it should not be interfered with by Congress, and that it should be re cognized as property by all departments of territorial government; the second amend ment proposed that Congress should have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction; the third amend ment proposed that Congress should be divested of the power to abolish E'it in the District of Columbia so long as it existed in the States of Virginia and Maryland, or either of them, without the consent of the inhabitants of said district; the fourth pro posed that Congress should have no power to prohibit or hinder the transportation or "slaves from one State to another, or to n Territory in which slaves were, by law, per mitted to be held; end the fifth amendmenT proposed that Congress should have power to provide by law that the United States should pay to the owner the full value of his fugitive slave in all cases where the United - States Marshal was prevented by violation and intimidation from arresting him; or when, after the arrest of such fugi tive slave, he might be rescued by force. These amendments in the interest or human slavery were forever to stand as part of the Constitution, and Congress was to have no power to amend the section allow ing three-fifths of the slaves to be repre sented, or that provision of the Constitution to be changed which requires the surrender of persons held to - service or labor. Such were the five amendments proposed five years ago; and those men who assumed to be conservative were ready to incorporate into the Constitution of their country these inhuman and unchristian provisions Strange as it might seem, these very men were now ready to denounce those win) simply asked that a fey, - amendments might be adopted for the security of human rights. He (Mr. Wilson) alleged that for thirty years, in public and private life, he had striven for the emancipation, elevation and improvement of the African race; that be had gone and would go as far as the man who had gone or would go furthest in any and all practical measures that woul,; enlarge or secure the rights of all men in every portion of our country; that, acting in this spirit, and animated by this purpose, he had made up 'his mind to vote for the amendment of the Constitution proposed by he committee. He did not support it as the best measure that could be devised by the wisdom of man, but he supported it as the best one that could now be secured. He saw no compromise in it—no defilement of the Constitution of his country—no degradation of any class or poition of his countrymen. He contended that the power to regulate or prescribe the right of suffrage belonged to the States at the formation of the Consti tution; that the constitution and laws of every'State prescribed the qualifications of the electors. From the adoption of the Con stitution of the United States all parties, all branches of the Uovernment, State and na tional, bad conceded that the States pos sessed the power to prescribe the qualifica tions of eledtors. His collebgue, in an elo quent and exhaustive speech,liad presented the utterances of statesmen, philosophers poets, the great and good of all lands and ages, in favor of human rights. He ; Mr. Wilson) thanked him, and he was sure the friends of human liberty would thank him for gathering up the sentiments and opin ions of these ancient sages and phitanthro pasts. Their utterances could not but in spire Senators with renewed zeal in the cause of human rights. But while these ut terances told us what ought to be, they did not show thst the Congress of the United States, by legislation, could secure what ought to be. The adoption of the constitu tional amendment did not clothe Congress with the power to regulate suffrage in the States. He averred that, when this amend ment was pending in Congress, no man thought so; nor did he believe that the legis latures of the States, or any member there of, understood it to confer any right of gov erning others or of bearing rule in the States; that if it had been understood that this proposed amendment of the Constitu tion was to give to Congress the right, by legislation, to override the constitutions and laws of the States, and to prescribe the qualifications of electors, that amendment would never have been ratified by the States. It secured personal freedom—the right to be protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property, By the framers of the Constitution persons held in bondage numbered three-fifths in the basis of representation. That concession to - slavery gave the slaveholding States un due power and influence in Congress, and was ever a just cause of complaint. By ' emancipation these persons formerly ac counted as slaves are free, thus giving addi tional Representatives to the late slavehold ing States. By the Constitution as it is four and a half millions of slaves recently emancipated were added to the free popula tion of the country, adding thirteen Repre sentatives to the emancipating States. By the Constitution as it is the States were clothed with the power to prescribe the qualifications of electors. The emancipated slaves, that would give to the recently slaveholding States some thirty Representatives in Congress, were wholly denied the right of suffrage. By adding to the basis of representation these freedmen, the power of those "who deny heir rights in the Government would be strengthened. By the Constitution as it is, one rebel in South Carolina or Mississippi was equal in power in the House of Repre sentatives and the electoral college to two loyal men m New England, the great Cen tral States, or the States of the West. Such 'inequality, he contended, was unjust and wholly indefensible. This amendment, said Mr.Wilson,simply proposed a penalty for denying to freedmen the right of suffrage.' It proposes that tree persons, as now, shall continue to be the basis of " representation; but ,that tf any por tion of them,on account of color or race,were 'denied, in any State, the right of suffrage they should not be counted in the basis of representation. If it were true—and who could doubt it— that the State possessed the power of pre scribing the qualifications of electors, how could it be maintained that, by implication. this amendment conceded to the States the power of denying the right of suffrage? This amendment conceded nothing what ever. It yielded nothing whatever of the powers now possessed by the Federal Government, but it did say to every State, if you deny suffrage to any man on account of color or rape, the whole of that class or race shall be excluded from the basis of representation ." There was no compromise in this; no concession; no sur render of any rights now possessed by the Government. He believed that if this amendment should be submitted to the Legislatures of the several free States now ,in session, they would hasten td adopt it, 'and if ie free States did adopt it, their people could de mand, and would demand, that it should be a condition precedent to the admission into the halls of Congress of any and every applicant for a seat as Et representative therein. He could tell the Senators that the people of the free States would hail and wel come the adoption of this amendment. Nearly every Republican press in the entire Union supported it, and if it should be passed by Congress, he would venture to declare that no man or set of men could go before_the people of the free States and op pose it. No man could go before the people and maintain that the system that made one rebel soldier in South Carolina the equal of two loyal soldiers in the free States was a system worthy of their suffrages. He (Mr. Wilson) believed that the incor poration of this amendment into the Consti tution of the United States would, in a short time, secure suffrage to men of African de scent. The States recently in rebellion would never consent to lose, for any length of time, their representation in Congress. But, on the other hand, on the adoption or incorporation of that amendment into the Constitution, a party would spring up in all the recently slaveholding States, animated by interest, by pride, by the love of power, and more or less influenced by a sense of justice to colored men, which would advo cate negro suffrage. Such a party would spring into existence, and it would rapidly increase—in some States undoubtedly, more rapidly than others; that party would be a liberal and progressive party; it would act in harmony with the patriotic and liberty loving men who had carried the country through fire and blood to unity, liberty and peace. On Southern soil they would fight the battle of negro enfranchisement, and in that battle they would triumph; and in so triumphing they would have the sympathy ,and support of the liberal and progressive men of the whole country. In that triumph they would create a public sentiment that would not allow but protect the negro in depositing his ballot in peace and security; and it would be found that the negro who had. hitherto been true to the country through the rebellion would stand by that country, by the friends of that country and by the men wht/ gave him liberty and clothed him with the full powers of citizen of the United States. He (Mr. Wilson) had not the shadow of a doubt that if this amendment were incorporated into the Constitution of the United States it would, within less than five years, secure the full enfranchisement of men of African descent in every State of the Union. Believing, therefore, that this amendment wouldSecureenfranctiisement, that it would lessen the power of the enemies of a free dom, and that it was the only mode now lett to secure justice to the African race, he would give it his vote, and with that vote his earnest support. It was in the power of the Government last spring to have ex acted suffrage in the rebel States; the moral sense of the nation, the justice of the nation demanded it. But the golden moment was lost. Now the nation must secure that great measure in some other mode, and this amendment seemed to be the onic practicable trude left to secure that object. He could not sacrifice the interests of a race. nor peril the cause of his country, nor could he yield up a certainty for any cherished theory. If this amendment should fail through any action of his, if nothing should b achieved, if these seats be again tilled, the great opportunity be lost, perhaps for years. f the unequal basis of representation should continue to stand, and suffrage oe denied, he could frame no answer to Satisfy his own conscience or to satisfy a disappointed peo ple. The adoption of this amendffient sur rendered nothing of power of rights. It was made in the interests of liberty and jus tice—not to degrade but enlarge the rights of a race;and be predicted it would speedily secure the enfranchisement of the colored race. Politicians and presses I - bona - any char acterized nine-tenths of the men who had placed the present Administration in power as "radicals." For thirty years there had been a class of men who bad instinctively clung to every lingering wrong, and wailed over every rotten institution as it tell.. Had those political Bourbons yet to learn that for the past thirty years the patriotism, free dom, justice, humanity and progressive de velopment of the republic had been repre sented by the "radicals? - Had they for gotten that for thirty years, on every issue before the country, the radicals had been vindicated by events, and by the verdict of history ? Surely, they could not have for gotten the glorious fact that the radicals never plotted treason, never betrayed the cause of freedom, nor never tired upon the flag of their country. Had these conservatives forgotten,-what the world will ever remember, that the crimes agaimit country, liberty, justice and humanity that bad marked the past thirty ye ars were committed t in the name of con • servatism ? Conservatives trampled down the sacred right of petition and the freedom of speech ; arraigned before the bar of the House, the illustrious Adams and censured the . tearless Giddings; manacled colored seamen on the decks of Massachusetts ships in the harbor of Charleston and drove Sam uel Hoar from South. Carolina; annexed Texas to make slavery perpetual, and op posed the admission of free California; re jected the prohibition of slavery in 'Utah and New Mexico, and enacted the fugitive slave law; repealed the prohibition of sla very in Kansas; seized the balloi-boxes by lawless violence; enacted slave cedes; mur dered free State settlers and framed Le &nipton constitutions; struck down a Sen ator on the floor of the Senate, and fired upon the flag covering bread for starving soldiers; organized treason, and plunged the country into civil war; banded toge ther as Knights of the Golden Circle, and fired orphan asylums in the city of New . ork; starved prisoners of war at Ander sonville, and plotted the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Every crime for a ge-. neration against liberty and the rights of man in A.merica bad been committed by men who prated- of their , conservatism and denounced the advocates of country, free domjustice and humanity as reckless agi tators and radicals. During the past . gene ration, in all the struggles for country, for the rights of man, for justice and huma nity, the denounced and branded radicals ,:1866. moving in harmony with the internal forces of nature and qrod, had achieved glorious victories and won enduring tri umphs. • While timid conservatism ever inglori ously retreated from one lost battle for old abuses to another, radicalism met every demand of slavery, of treason, of injustice, with a prompt and emphatic No! and moved right on to assured victories—victor ies that history would record, and coming generations remember. Iu the struggle for the present, where there was a wrong to be righted, or a grievance to be redressed, con servative presses and conservative politi cians would find that the radicals would go into the contests with the light of past vic tories on their faces. Mr. Wilson said that the Senator from Indiana, (Mr. Hendricks) bad endorsed the blasphemous doctrine that the great Repub lic, founded upon the equality of humanity was a white man's go r ent. That Sen ator denied the Beryles and sacrifices of the black man' during the war. The negro soldiers had behaved nobly, fought bravely aridtuffered much for the country. Thou sands of them had died that the country might live. More than six thousand negro soldiers lie buried within five miles of where the Senator from Indiana stood when he undertook to belittle the services of colored soldiers. The Senate, at 4 o'clock, went into execu tive session, and soon after adjourned, hav ing previously agreed that a vote should be taken to-morrow at 4 o'clock. HOUSE.—Mr. Wilson also !reported back, with;a recommendation that its pass, the Senate bill to restrict the expenses of col lecting soldiers' claims against the govern ment. This. is the bill restricting claim agents' fees to ten dollars. Some debate grew upon this bill. Mr. Wentworth (Ill.) in denouncing claim agents, gave notice to soldiers that if they would send thq,ir papers to members of Con gress, they would attend to their business with great pleasure. Mr. Wilson explained that the fee of ten dollars was simply a limitation; the soldier could drive any bargain within that limit. This bill had been reported for the purpose of protecting the soldiers. If the gentleman from Illinois attended to all the claims of soldiers from his district he would have very little time to devote to reciprocity legisla tion. [Laughter.] Mr. Wentworth said he had done so after the Mexican war and expected to do so now. He was the gratuitous agent of every man in his district for all his Washington business. [Laughter.] Mr. Wilson reminded the gentleman that the State of Illinois had sent more soldiers to this war than the United States sent to Mexico. He bad had himself, as he pre sumed every other member had, attended cheerfully and without compensation to the business of soldiers in his district, but he could not undertake to attend to his duties as member of Congress and at the same time attend to all such claims. ;I - 111 r. Schenck iohio) proposed to recommit the bill, with instructions to amend the bill by providing for a system of agents, to :be paid by the United States, by whom the clalms of soldiers for back pay, bounties and pensions due from the government may be collected free of cost to the soldier. After considerable debate, participated in by Messrs. Shellabarger,lngersoll, Wilson, Eldridge, Cobb and Scenck, in which it was stated that Ohio,lllinois, lowa and other States had agents here attending to the bus iness of soldiers, free of charge. The motion of Mr. Schenck to recommit with instructions, was voted on by yeas and nays, and was carried. Yeas 70, nays 69. The House resumed the consideration of the Senate bills to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights and fur nish the means of their vindication. Post poned till to-day. Mr. Broomall (Pa.) addressed the Hon se He said he was satisfied that our Southern allies in the war waged to preserve the ex istence of the Union, had nething to trust to except the integrity and •firmness of the Union majority in both Houses of Congress. That majority, through its appropriate com mittee had presented the bill under consid eration as one of. the measares relied on to carry on that great and patriotic purpose. The object of the bill was twofold—to de clare who are citizens of the United States, and to secure to tL.An the protection which every government owed to its citizens. Ob jections had been made to the bill, because it called the negro a citizen. But why not call him so? Every civilized man must owe allegiance somewhere. The negro in America was a civilized man, and must owe allegiance somewhere. Until the opponents of this measure could point to the foreign power to which he was subject, he (Mr. Broomall) must assume the negro to be what the bill called him, a citizen of the country in which he was born. If t he negro owed allegianceto the govern ment, then the government owed protection to him, and that protection must be pro vided by appropriate legislation. An unsus pected argument had been made by the leader of the opposition in this body, that this bill permitted the negro to votein the several States of the Union, and rather ludicrous to see the committee hav ing the bill in charge agreeing to put in a provision to quiet the alarm of the opposite party. He was willing to concede that if the Democrats were to be kept above the ne groes in the social scale, there mast be some discriminating legislation in their favor. Be used to think that the white man was better than the negro; but an experience of three winters in the South had satisfied him that depended somewhat on the white man's politics [Laughter.] Mr. Wright (N. J.) rose to a question of order. The subject underdiscussion was an act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights. He had looked over it, and found that no such terms as "Democratic party," "Republican party," "Copperhead" or "Niggerhead" were used in it. The gentleman from Pennsylvania was therefore talking very wide of the mark if he meant to apply any of those epithets to the constituency which he (Mr. Wright) represented. • ~ The Speaker—The latter part of the gen tleman's remarks is not a point of order. The Chair thihks that, the gentleman from Pennsylvania is confining himself to the bill, which is very wide in its range, and therefore he overrules the point df order. Mr. Broomall confessed that since the last election in New Jersey he probably ought to treat the gentleman's (Mr. Wright's) constituents with a little more consideration; but whether he should apolo gize to them or not would depend on their future behaviour. Referring to Mr. Seward, he spoke of him as a distinguished public functionary, once the foremost champion of the rights of men, and whose statesmanlike knowledge had pointed out the irrepressible conflict be tween slavery and freedom, but who could not now see that treason and loyalty were eternal and uncompromising antagonists. He spoke of the President as one who had been denounced as a negro Moses, and had been charged even with conspiring in the assassination of his predecessor, but who now had these same rebels, who once de nounced him, hanging around his neck like so many millstones. Whether they would eventually drown him or not was yet to be seen. For his part, he never would consent that the government should desert its allies in the. Sonth,`and surrender their rights and interests to the enemy, and in this he would make no distinction of caste or color, either among friends or foes. A colloquy between Mr. Broomall and Mr. Davis, in regard to the constitutionality of the second section of the bill, took place, oecupying the time up to the close of Mr. Broomalre hour. Mr. Raymond (N. Y.) obtained the floor, but yielded it to Mr. Bingham, for the purpose of offering an amendment to the pending motion to re commit with instructions. The amendment was to strike out of the first section the words "and there shall be no discrimination in civil rights," ctc., and also to strike out everything penal in the bill, and authoriz ing criminal proceedings, and in lieu of itto give to all citizens of the United States, in jured by denial or violation of any of their rights secured, and protected by this act, right of action in the United States Courts, with double costs in all cases of recovery,. without regard to the award of damages. Mr. Raymond addressed the House. He would not have discussed the bill at tins time if he had not taken the liberty and re sponsibility of offering a substitute. for it. He was very free to confess that he was not prepared to say anything on it at all worthy of its great importance. Whether con sidered simply as a proposed statute,. or in its bearing on the general question of restoration of peace and harmony to the Union, he regarded it as one of the most im portant bills presented to the House,worthv of engaging the coolest, calmest and beit judgment of every member. The bill pro posed two things. First, to declare who should be citizens of the United States, and especially to declare that all shall be citi . zens without distinction of race, color or previous condition of servitude, who are' born on the soil. That was the first great provision. The second was to provide for the class of persons thus introduced to citi zenship protection against anticipated_ inequality of legislation in the several. States. Both those provisions were of the utmost possible importance. He was thoroughly and heartiiy in favor of both, and he should vote for both if he could be convinced that they fell within the powers conferred on. Congress by the Constitution of the United States, and were demanded by the emer gencies of the occasion. As to the first pur pose of the bill he had no doubt whatever. The substitute which he had offered. declared that all persons here ofore born, or heretofore to be born; within the limits of the jerrisdiction of the United States are and shall be citi zens of the United States, and entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of such citizenship. That was the enunciation of a great prin ciple, which he thought ought to and would, under ordinary circum stances, secure to every one of the citizens thus entitled to citizenship ample and fall protection. It was not worth while, had he any de sire to conceal the fact, the special object of his substitute, as well as of the bill, was to introduce into. American citizenship the four million of persons who had just been eman cipated from a condition of slavery. He did not knoky that any bill was necessary for that purpose. He was inclined to think that no bill was necessary:that the moment the disabilities imposed upon them by ser vitude were removed they became by virtue of that act citizens of the United States, and that they were to-day entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of citi zenship. But that bad been doubted and. denied in courts, in legislative halls, and in the Executive Department of the Govern ment. It had been asserted, and decisions to that effect were on record, that they were not citizens because they were of the Afri can race. His proposition that they were citizens, and should be regarded as such from this time forward. Some questions had been raised as to the power of Congress to pronounce such a decision, but he believed that it had such a power under that clause of the Constitution authorizing Congress to establish a system of naturali zation. He was inclined to think that the word. "naturalization" might be fairly regarded and construed as implying and including a power to introduce into citizenship those now excluded from it, whether native born or alien. But, independent of that, he did not see where Congress got any authority to except these native persons of African blood from the general rule of the law of every nation, -that all persons born on the soil are subjects or citizens of the governKnent. That was the rule in England, in France, and in this country. No such power of execution has been conferred on Congress, and no such power had been exercised, if this bill should fail to become a law, and if the sub stitute which he bad offered should be re ported back by the Judiciary Committee, as he understood it would be, he would take pleasure in discussing that noint farther. He supposed he need not declare here the great desirableness to this class of persons ot having cob ferred upon them the great, inestimable, priceless boon of liberty. He thought that the fact of conferring upon four millions of people absolute personal liberty, freedom from servitude from this time for ward forever, was the highest boon [bat it was in the power of any government to confer on an enslaved race. Having gone so far, he desired to goon by successive steps still further, inad ' ' to lift them, in all respects, so far as their nature would allow and power permit, to the level of any other itizers. He desired, as the next step in the process of elevating that race, to give them the right of citizenship. He hoped that no one would be prepared or inclined to say that that was a trifling boon; for, it so, he feared the house was scarcely in the frame of mind to sot upon the great question coming before it. He, for one was peither prepared nor inolined to disparage American citizenship. Make the colored mat, a citizen of the United States and he would have every right that any other citizen had under the laws and Constitution of the United States. It was not among the least of the advantages of conferring upon hint citizenship that it would constantly exercise on him an educa ting process. It would teach people of all other races, his fellow-citizens, to respect him and aid him in his efforts. Every one would concede that it was of the highest possible value to any portion of the people living in the country to receive from the Government the status of American citizen ship. • He presented these considerations rapidly, hurriedly and imperfectly, simply as the reasons which induced him to offer a sub stitute for the bill now pending. The bill was intended to prevent unequal legislation; that flats a high and proper object, and he would cordially co-operate in securing it. His colleague (Mr. Davis) had also declared. his purpose to vote for any constitutional law aiming at and calculated to se cure the object; and he had been a little grieved to hear the point made against him. (Mr. Davis) that he required a law to be constitutional before he would give it his, vote. Not in terms but in tone that point had certainly been made. He (Mr. Ray mond) could not,on his conscience and oath, however much he might think an object de sirable, vote for attaining it by means which seemed to him unconstitutional. Acting here on his responsibility as a legislator, not under stress of toe necessities of war, but calmly, he could not and would not , vote for any bill except his judgment satis fied him that it W 11.9 constitutional. Even on grounds of expediency the House ought. well to consider this matter. He desired that the House should not pass any bill that should be intercepted on its way to the: statute books by well grounded complaints of u nconstitutionality, from any other de pertinent of the Government. The second section of the bill providing for the punish ment, by fine and. imprisonment;of Judges of State Courts for enforcing State laws,her could not justify to his own judgment. He saw that the gentleinan -from Ohio (Mr. Bingham) took the same view of it, for he bad suggested an amendment to that sec tion; that amendment seemed to attain the object and he (Mr. Raymond) would • vote for it..
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers