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BY S. X ROW.
CLEARFIELD, PA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1866.
VOL 12.-NO. 40.
li-SM
SPEECH OP
O. "W. SCOFIELD
ftp PENNSYLVANIA,
HOIST.
In the House of Representatives, April 23, 1866.
Thm House, as in Committee of the Whole on
iJ oY!b."nU haying under oondera
rion the President's annual message- .
Afr'SpuAKEE: What is the whole amount
of disloyal population in the Southern
States? I do QOt inclu(Je m thi3 inquiry
Arsons who have been stigmatized as "sym
pathizers" or. "copperheads." much less
L other portion of the Democratic party,
but only those who sought to divide the
country into two republics and who now re
mt the failure of their enterprise. The
whole amount of white population in the
Seven Confederate States is 5 097,524. De
ducting from this amount the estimated
number of loyal people in those States and
addine the disloyal scattered through the
ther five slave Scates, will give the answer
to my question. .Making this deduct ion
aud addition from the most reliable data
within my reach, I conclude that the disy
a nwuliiti.in in the whole South will not
exceid, it indeed it will equal, five million
'"ifthe eleven Confederate States were re
admitted now (the Constitution and laws
remaining unamended) what aaiount of rep
resentation in Congress and the Electoral
College would this five million be entitled
to claim ? They would certainly have these
eleven States. There could hardly be a
doubt about Kentucky. For if the loyal
juen of that State, sustained by the power
of the Federal army and the persuasion of
Federal patronage, with the young disu
nionists absent in the South and the old
ones disfranchised at home, could scarcely
hild their own, what could we expect them
to do when these young men have returned,
the disfranchising laws have been swept
away, the army removed or palsied by or
ders, and Federal patronage at least uncer
tain? This would give them twenty-four
Senators. There are four more States that
belonged to the slaveholding class, Delaware,
Maryland, Went Virginia. and Missouri. Is
it any stret h of probabilities to suppose
that two more Senators will be picked up
somewhere in these four States by the Con
federate clement? I fear there will be
more. This will sive them twenty six Sen
jtorsk - . '.
In the House of Representatives this
population will have as large, if not larger,
proportionate representation. By the ap
portionment of 1861. fifty-eight Represent
atives were asMgned to the eleven Confed
erate States. These States will be so dis
tricted by the hostile sentiment of their sev
eral Legislatures that not one true Union
man can be elected. To the other five slave
holding States twenty-six were assigned by
the act of 1S61. If any one will take the
trouble to look over these districts, I think
lie will come to the conclusion that even if
the laws disfranchising rebels in Maryland,
West Virginia, and Missouri remain in
force, not less than half of these will be
controlled by the influence and votes of the
late secessionists. This gives them seventy
one Representatives in the House. But
tven this large number must soon be in
creased. The two-fifths of the four million
freeduien which were not counted in the
representative basis of the last census
must be counted in the census of 1870, and
(other things remaining the same) add to
that number thirteen members more ; so
that the five million disloyal population, as
soon as their full power can be felt through
the elections, will have at least twenty-six
Senators and eighty-four Representatives
and one hundred and ten votes in the Elec
toral College. This is a low calculation.
When we consider the earnestness, or rath
er I should say the fierceness of these peo
ple, the ability, ambition, and courage of
their leaders, we may well apprehend that
the number will be even greater. But this
number is their own legitimate and certain
under the laws as they stand. Supposing
the entire population of the United States
to be thirty five million now, this fire mil
lion will be just one seventh of the whole,'
but will have more than one third the rep
resentation in both Houses of Congress, and
more than one third of the Electoral Col
lege. The same amount of loyal population
at the North is represented by only about
half that number. If by factions or party
divisions among the loyalists of the country,
they could contrive to secure one-sixth more
of the representation, they would have a
majority of the whole, and be able to con
trol Federal legislation, elect the President,
and distribute his patronage.
When these States are admitted and these
people come to have the unabridged control
of this two-fold representation, how will
they desire to use it? I do not inquire how
they possibly may use it, nor even how they
now expect or intend to use it, but how, if
unrestrained by a united North, it would be
their interest and desire to use it. For the
perpetuation of the Union ? I fear not.
They have come back to the Union, we
should remember, only by coercion. To
them it is a forced bridal. They submit to
it, but they do not, because they cannot,
embrace it in their hearts. The soldiers
maimed, wives widowed, and children or
phaned in their bad cause appeal to their
leaders for the promised support, but the
Union has no pensions for them. The for
tunes invested Confederate faith Bee no
hope of realization in the Union. Hatred
of the North and its anti-slavery majorities,
the original motive for secession, is ten times
wronger now than in 1861, and is backed up
h $4,000,000,000 of debt, damages, and
pensions, which, as they , insist, could, in a
operate government, be levied by an ex
JJ"rt duty upon the cotton-consuming world.
The life-habits of these people, their love
f ease and domination, their pride, aris
tocracy, wealth, and power were all the out
growth of an institution which might pos
sibly be revived in a separate republic, but
n,i,;v, :a e Tr n.
naiu la 1U1CVC1 gUUC 1U bUC UU1UU. vuu-
federacy" is a word that must long be en
shrined in their hearts by ths tender mem
ories of their fallen kindred, but it must
live, as they well know, in the history, tra
ditions, and ballads of the Union, associa
ted with perjury, dishonorable crime, and
cruel war. If they should profess to love
the Union we could not believe them. It
is so unnatural that it would be easier to
believe they were hypocrites than that they
were monsters. J ' -
But they are neither hypon-ites nor mon
sters. They do not love the Union, and do
not pretend to. It is untruthful men of
our own section that prevaricate for them.
The same class of men that misrepresented
the feelings of the North before the war,
and thus deceived the South and goaded
them into rebellion, now misrepresent the
feelings of the South to deceive the North
and lure it into irretrievable surrender. Be
fore the war they deceived the South and
trayed the North ; but now it is reversed,
they deceive the North and betray the loy
al South. The same perfidious breath that
carried South the untruthful story of north
ern hate, and thus prompted the war,comes
back nowwithanotherstory,eiually untruth
ful, of southern love. They tell us that the
disloyal South is a gentle bride, impatient
for the nuptials, when they know that she
submits to them withloathing . Have they
not laid down their arms? is the argu
mentative inquiry. No, sir; their arms
were taken from them. Have they not sub
mitted ? No, sir ; they were defeated in
battle. There is nothing in their past con
duct nor present attitude that justifies the
use of the word submission. Prisoners of
war have been taken, but they were releas
ed on parole ; rebel armies have been dis
persed, but they have been reorganized as
State militia ; rebel State governments have
been overthrown, but again revived and re
stored to the old possessors ; and forfeitures
of life and estates have been remitted, but
that is all. Call this clemency, privilege,
triumph, victory, what you please, but do
not call it submission, with which it has not
one shade of meaning in common. We do
not need to call witnesses to prove that these
people are hostile to the Union and its in
terests The history of the human race
proves it. Whoever attempts to prove the
contrary must first show that they are un
like any other people whose passions, strug
gles, and defeats are recorded in the annals
of the world.
But witnesses have been called Union
generals and rebel generals, Union and reb
el citizens, without distinction ef party,
condition, race, or color and all support
under oath the great historic truth, that a
purpose imbibed in infancy, cherished and
stimulated by the rostrum, press, and pulpit
for a lifetime ; upheld by large fortunes,
wrung from the toil of slaves, and sanctified
by the Hood of sons and kindred, has not
been and cannot be surrendered to military
orders. Such a purpose surrenders only to
time. I do not present this great truth now
by way of reproof or condemnation of these
misguided people, but only by way of cau
tion and warning to ourselves. I come ,to
the conclusion, therefore, t hat they do not
desire the perpetuation of the Union. If
we would remove all restraints and give
them freedom of choice thev would revive
the Confederacy at once. They would take
advantage of a war with Great Britain or
France to secure their independence, and
they would take advantage of their double
representation here to promote such a war.
If no opportunity of escape should soon of
fer, would they not still live in hopes of it and
in persistent hospitality to the country's ob
ligations to the soldiers, widows, orphans,
and creditors of our war, and friendly to
the assumption of similar obligations crea
ted by themselves in the iuterest of the re
bellion? Even in advance of their own
eoming a portion of their vast claims have
reached your files. Wlieu my colleague
Mr. Randall from the Democratic side
proposed that the national faith, pledged in
war, should not be broken in peace, there
was one voice from Kentucky against it
only one by eount, but considering the quar
ter from which it came, mnltifudinous in
omen. A bill has also been introduced by
a gentleman, scmetimes called the Democrat
ic leader in this House, to repudiate in part
the public debt under pretense of taxing it,
in violation of the laws by which it was
created. These cannot be regarded as the
oddities of one or two men, but rather as
impulsive confessions of imprudent scouts,
too far in advance of the following army.
The purpose will not be generallydbclosed
until the forces are arranged for its execu
tion. I am speaking now only of the dangers
that will beset the Republic by the allow
ance of a representation unfriendly to its
Srosperity and even its existence- in such
isproportionate numbers. But we should
not forget that this act is also a recognition
as republican in form of constitutions, we
have never seen (except that of Tennessee)
and all, except those of Lincoln origin, un
der rebel supremacy. The white Unionists
who have been looking through five dreary
years of persecution, lynch ing, and confisca
tion to this as their hour of deliverance, will
find themselves betrayed into the hands of
their ola, unhumbled, unrelenting torment
ors. It also consigns the freedmen to the
tyranny of old masters, not now as hereto
fore bribed to humanity by a monied inter
est in the preservation of their chattel es
tates. Twenty-five per ctnt., says an hon
orable gentleman who. presents his back of
fensively to the North as he makes his low
obeisance South, twenty-five percent, have
already perished. The wish no doubt was
father to the thought with the masters in
whose interest the declaration is made.' ,
These, then, are my psoases. I will re
neat them. : - -
1. There are only about five million dis
loyal population in the country.
f 2. This population when fully restored to
I the Union, the Constitution and laws re-
Tvi Ullilnfy m w flnil 1 1 1 11 i 1
uuuuiug uuauicuu, wiu uoui more man
one third of its representative power and
the supreme control of at least thirteen
States,
3. They will be interested to use that pow
er for the division of the Union ; and, fail
ing in that, for the repudiation of its mili
tary and financial obligations.
Now, what is to be done ? If these
States are denied representation, it violates
the fundamental principle of republican
government. If allowed a double and hos
tile representation, the Union itself must
be destroyed or preserved at the expense of
another war.
Three remedies are proposed :
1. Disfranchise some portion of the reb
els. 2. Allow all the rebels to vote,- but neu
tralize their disunion sentiments by enfran
chising the blacks in these States.
2. Equalize representation by taking as
its basis either the number of voters or the
population, minus the disfranchised classes ;
so that these States shall have no more rep
resentation in proportion to their represen
ted people than the old tree States have.
Father proposition would require an
amendment to the Constitution, to be ac
cepted by the rebel States as a condition,
precedent to their restoration. It is also
proposed to couple with either proposition
a second amendment, prohibiting the as
sumption of rebel debts and claims either
by States or the United States.
The third proposition has commended
itself to much the largest number of Union
members, and the amendments to that ef
fect have already passed this House by more
than a two-thirds vote. This, then, so far
as this House is concerned, is the Congres
sional plan of reconstruction. All we ask
of the rebel leaders, who are. wrongly charg
ing us with havme no policy at all, but de
signing to exclude them for an indefinite
period, is a little time to put in iorm ot lun
damental law these pledges of future peace.
For five years they have been out upon
plague-infected seas. Can they rot tarry
at quarantine for a single session?
Stripped of all disguises, herein lies the
main disagreement. Shall these States be
recognized at once in their present temper,
without guarantees of any kind and with a i
twolold representation ? It is not whether
they shall be represented at all ; to that we
all agree. There may be a little question
of time ; a difference of a few weeks or a
few months, and that is all. Shall they be
represented twice over, once in their own
names and once in the name of the negroes ?
Shall they come in upon a "representative
basis that clothes a white man of the South
with almost as much again political power
as a northern man controls? That gives
two white voters in South Carolina as much
voice in the selection of a President and in
the legislation of this house as five voters
in Pennsylvania possess? That practically
gives to one seventh of your population,dis
loyal at that, more than one third of your
power? That, sir, is the great question be
fore this House and the American public.
It is an effort on the part of the Opposition
to carry into the politics 01 the country the
old problem by which sixteen is made the
majority of forfy-nine. In England it is
called the system of "rotten-boroughs."
It has long been the subject of political
strife between the free and slave-labor coun
ties of Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee.
And when it is everywhere else abandoned
as a pernicious and anti-republican theory
of representation, we are asked to make it
the basis of reconstruction in the model re
public. '
j he enactment 01 tnese two simple ana
brief amendments, or others similar in pur
Dose. is so absolutely necessary for the pres
ervation of the Republic and the discharge
of its obligations to its soldiers and credi
tors, and is so jut and even generous to the
the insurgents, that they ought to receive
assent of every Union man. The oppo
sition do not dare to discuss theirnents.
While some deny that we have any plan of
reconstruction, others assaU it with insidu
ous and deceptive objections.' Some of
these I propose to notice here.
First of all, they complain of the con
sumption of time. Five months have pass
ed, and not a rebel admitted is the com
plaining accusation. The opposition are
impatient. They cannot wait. Come in
at once, say they, to the "erring brethren."
Do not wait to drop your side arms or ex
change your disloyal garments. Buls to
protect the loyal men ot the south against
your pretended violence are pending now,
come'and help dereat them. w e wui soon
have bills to enlarge pensions and equalize
bounties to the soldiers you have maimed
and the widows you have made ; your ad
vice and votes will be needed. - A bill to
give bounty land to the "boys in blue'
could not be defeated nor the "butternuts"
included without you. A bill to lift the bur
dens of taxation from the industry of the
country and place it upon your foreign con
federates, through exported cotton, will
need your attention. Hurry up your or
ganizations. Do not wait to heal lips blis
tered with a double oath of broken fealty
before you kiss the Holy Evangelists with
another. We have buried our sons and are
languishing to clasp the hands of their mur
derers. When once admitted, deny that
you ever tried to break up the Government,
but swear on all occasionsthat the Lincoln
party were and are the traitors.
The complainants have only themselves
to bbime for much of this delay. , Except
for their .persistent opposition the amend
ments would have been, submitted months
a en u the Legislatures then in session w
the loyal States, and vbeen absented to, no
m,Vi- Kw'fliA Annstitntinnal number. Ex-
uuuuu, yj ---- ; . .
cent for their own opposition they might
nnw h welcoming back their lone-mourned
friends to seats in these Halls. But they
would consent to nothing that did not re
turn them greater in numbers, and more
malevolent in purpose. Hence the delay.
Otnc illae lacritnae.
t ext we are tol that it conflicts with the
1 resident's policy." What is the Presi
dent s policy ? I aver, first, that the Presi
dent, when last authoritatively heard from.
was in favor of the principle embodied in
catn or the proposed amendments. Of the
nrst one, because he required the confeder
ate States to adont it ; nf tha
because he has repeatedly declared himself
in ravor ot making the number of voters the
Dasis or representation. 1 aver, second,
that he does not consider the status of the
States such, that their asseit to constitu
tional amendments cannot be required as
conditions-precedent to their restoration,
because he directed Mr. Seward to inform
these States that their assent to the amend
ment proposed in the last Confess was "in.
dispensible" to restoration ; and because he
has not himselt dealt with them as if they
were States already in the Union. Wlien
the confederacy fell they were in full opera
tion under governments originally organized
in the Union. Governors. Legislatures.
judges, and a full set of county and town
ship omcers were at work under constitu
tions once declared to be republican in form
by the United States. These governments
were regular unless you assent to the doc
trine of forfeiture, for they had political
continuity, what the church people call
apostolic succession, let they were des
troyed by the President's order and new
ones extemporized in their stead. .
From that time to this, in these States, the
breath of the President has been the law ot
the land. ; Mr. Johnson went much further
in this direction than his predecessor. Mr.
Lincoln established governments, only in
States where he found none existing before,
but Mr. Johnson nrst destroyed existing
governments and then supplied their places
with those of his own creation. So, both
by words, and actions which speak louder
than words, the President assents to every
principle involved in the congressional poli
cy of reconstruction. Indeed, the two poli
cies could not well conflict, because they re
late to dinerent subjects. 1 he one creates
or revives State organizations, the other re
news their fcederal relations. When these
organizations were complete, and the States
ready to apply to Congress for a return to
the Union, the President's policy was ended.
His work was all done. The rest was for
Congress. So he directed his Secretary of
State to inform Governor Sharkey, July
24, 1865, Governor Marvin, September 12,
1865, and so he informed us in his annual
message, it he has cnanged his policy
since then it is hardly worth while to inquire
what it is now, for his principles are written
in water. -
I do not wish to disguise the fact that
while he approves the amendments and be
lieves the power exists to require their adop
tion asconditions ot return, he thinks it un
necessary to insist upon any terms addition
al to those imposed by himself. It is in
this opinion that his old persecutors, the de
feated enemies of the Union, the foiled
Elotters of his assassination, have taken
eart, and with cruel malice conspirSd with
northeru sympathizers to pursue him with
their unrelenting friendship. Their last
hope for the destruction of this country lies
in the seduction ot its friends. War failed
them, they resort to diplomacy. The Presi
dent was not much moved by their threats,
will he be seduced by their flattery I lr so,
let me assure those of our friends who are
disposed to suppress their own convictions
in hope to detain him and his patronage in
a little select court party, that they might
as well exercise a reasonable liberty of opin
ion. For if he ever determines to trust his
political future to anybody besides the great
earnest, triumphant Union organization
that elected him, he will have Bense enough
to put them aside as mere nobodies in popu
lar strength, heartless friends and harmless
enemies, as courtiers always are, and push
straight for the "southern brothered," rebel
led opponents of a permanent and peaceful
Union. In that event his children and
friends may well rejoice that the past, at
least, is secure. His patriotic thoughts of
the last five years will still live, although
only to reprove him.
Again, it is said by way of excuse, "Why
not admit such Union men as iowler,
Stokes, and Maynard. of Tennessee?" Be
cause it is not a question about men. Shall
a disloyal district, while it is still in a dis
loyal spirit, be declared entitled to represen
tationwith only half as many represented peo
ple in it as we require for a district in the
North? That is the question. Captain
Semmes ran un the Union flag when he
wished to decoy an unarmed merchant ves
sel under the power of his guns, but repla
ced it with the pirate, emblem when he had
secured his victim. Ihe names ot these
patriots are hung out to-day to secure rep
resentation to a rebel constituency behind
them, but they will be hauled down at the
first election and rebels put up in their stead.
You may think you are only recognizing the
Union flag, but when it is too late you win
find yourselves along side the 'Alabama and
in the power of its pirate crew.
But it is said in reply, "We will not ad
mit disloyal men even if elected." How
can you help yourselves? .Ifa whole dele
gation from South Carolina, for instance,
present themselves to the Clerk of the last
House and ask to be placed on the roll, prior
to organization, and tender him the certifi
cate of their election signed by the Gover
nor and sealed with the great seal of that
most sovereign State. , shall .the Clerk nay
which is loyal and. which not 2 J suppose
not. Aflw t-.li a .rtrMnization.' in which "
have participated, and all have been quali
fied and taken their seats, will you get up
an inquisitorial committee to explore tnese-
mrat aana tVai- vnSiinOeS ! aOU . 0
father confessors to their sins ? .iNo, but
the iron-clad oath will exclude them. . Xo
that almost every man
who is in favor of admitting these States
without conditions is also in favor of repeal
ing that oath ? They already denounce it as
an odious and unconstitutional test. The
Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmas
ter General, backed up by a message from
the President, ask its repeal so far as regards
their Departments, thus making rebels as
eligible as Union soldiers to appointments
here, and under such lead I expect to see it
swept away, and so do most or the gentle
men who are now urging us to lay aside a
real safeguard and trust to this cobweb of a
morning.
But suppose we could in this way contrive
to dictate to these people who they should
and who they should not elect, what kind
of representation would that be ? Wre say
to them, "you are free to select your repre
sentatives, but mind that you select such as
suit us, not yourselves." Youcallthat rep
resentation ? I call it obedience. We pro
pose to extract the envenomed fang of the
serpent before he is uncaged, and you to
bind him with test oaths afterward. Sup
pose, again, you could manage to exclude
in this way those who had been engaged in
the rebellion, do you not know that a rebel
constituency could find a fit representation
outside that list, and all the more danger
ous on that account? If they had none at
home they could colonize from the North.
Again, magnanimity is invoked as a shield
of desertion. A great natiou, it is said, can
afford to be magnanimous. Of course it
can ; but let us see how this is. F'or four
years these people made war upon us with
out cause or even plausible excuse. Before
they began it, we begged them in great hu
mility to withhold from the country this
terrible desolation. In tears we warned
them of the punishment that must follow.
Our entreaties and warnings were received
in the rebel capital, so their telegraph in
formed us, "with peals of laughter. ' They
fired upon us while we were yet upon our
knees begging for peace and union. The
contest once begun, was conducted on our
part with great forbearance and within the
strictest military law. We even returned
for awhile their fugitive slaves. On their
part it was conducted not only with the con
demned system of cruel guerrilla and pirati
cal warfare, but with fire, poison, yellow
fever, 1 and assassination. The estates of
Union men within their power were confis
cated, and have never yet ' been restored,
and Union men were hung for treason to
their pretended government.
You tell us they have suffered. ' So have
we. Peace has come at last ; business pros
perity will return ; the insignia of mourn
ing will be laid aside ; but in the heart of
every family there is an unspoken sorrow
thatwillsaddenlifeeventothe grave. Now,
we are admonished to be magnanimous to
the authors of all this suffering. I accept
admonition, but I submit that we are so
already.- The law condemned them to death,
and we have pardoned them. Their estates
were forfeited, and we have restored them.
Not a traitor has been been hung ; not one
convicted ; not one tried ; not a dozen ar
rested : but many have been honored as
rulers in States they only failed to ruin.
The high-sounding eloquence of the gentle
man trom JNew lork, I iur. Kaymond, call
ing upon us to admire the "courage and de
votion" with which these bad men prosecu
ted a cruel war against our kindred, our
homes, and our country for four years, has
scarcely subsided when our tears are invok
ed over their self-inflicted sufferings. Thus
at this end of the avenue we are alternately
called upon to admire and pity them, while
at the other the green seal is kept hot with
its work ot clemency clemency often unso
licited, sometimes contemned. We have
even ordered historic inscriptions to be eras
ed from captured, cannon at West Point,
that the boys educated at the expense ot a
Government their fathers could not quite
destroy might not be irritated. What more
can we do ? What more can gentlemen ask
in the name of magnanimity? "Give to
this one seventh of your population more
than one third of your political power ?"
Is that what you ask, and call it only mag
nanimity to the false men of the country ?
Call it rather treachery to the faithful, or if
that sounds too harsh, call it submission,
surrender, what you like, but for the sake
ot truth let no one call betrayal of country
and friends magnanimity to enemies.
Again, sir. the enort to cut oil the excess
of this unpatriotic and sectional representa
tion in ascribed to party motives. Is it not
the opposition exposed to the same charge?
Is it not the Democratic party as anxious to
secure friends as we are to avoid enemies ?
For the last five years they have been beaten
everywhere. ' Every' election has proved to
them that they were growing small by large
degrees. "Would to God that night or reb
els would come". has been their dady prayer.
Does their haste to embrace the misguided
brethern come solely from pure love and af
fection I Is it not possible that their pas
sion is somewhat like that of
"The immortal Captain Wot tie.
Who was all for love and a little for the bottle?
Is it not possible that they look a little to
party, too? That they long not only for
the alliance but the leadership Was general
ly able and always consistent, however un
wise. . It was not under that lead that they
proclaimed both secession and coercion un
constitutional ; that the war for the Union
was constitutional, but there was no consti
fntinnal mode of conducting it : that an ar
my should be raised but .volunteering; was
imnracticable and drafting unconstitutional:
that it was right to raise money, but wrong
to tax or borrow ; that they were opposed
to emaucipauun, out not in iavor oi Slavery.
It wa3 not tinder that lead that Andrew
Johnson, was denounced as Lincoln's satrap
when he consented to be provisional gover
nor of a State from which the old Governor
and Legislature had run away, and cheered
as a patriot when he drove out the , Gover
nors and Legislatures of half a dozen States
and supplied their places with appointees
of his own. It is not probable that, tired
of their contradictory and hypocritical posi
tion, they crave the undissembhng leader
ship of Breckinridge and Hunter, Davis and
Toombs, as much as we can possibly dread
it? . :: ' '
As another excuse for opposition to this
plan of restoration it is said there are other
inequalities in representation that ought to
be removed as well as t his. - An honorable
gentleman from Pennsylvania complains
that the six eastern States have each two
Senators, while New York and other large
States have no more. It is true that some
of the eastern States are small; but the
Constitution provides that each State, wheth
er large or small, shall have two Senators ;
and it further provides that while that in
strument may be amended in other respects,
with the assent ot three fourths ot the Mates,
in this respect it shall not be amended with
out the assent of all the States. But why
point only to the eastern States to illustrate
the inequality of senatorial representation ?
The best illustration of it is not to be found
there. The population of these States is
3,135,223. In the South you can find a
smaller population with a larger representa
tion in the Senate. The population of Ar
kansas, Texas, Florida, South Carolina,
West Virginia, .Marylard, and Delaware is
only 3,032,761. Here are seven States with
more than 100,000 less population than
the six eastern States, one third of that be
ing negroes, with fourteen Senators, two
more than New Fngland. Wrhy did not the
gentleman make his point on these States?
Was it because the eastern States are free
and loyal and the others were slaveholding,'
and in part disloyal ? And why, just in
this connection, does he complain that boun
ties are paid for catching fish? He never
complained when higher bounties were paid
for catching men and women for the south
ern market. These are the old complaints
of the South, warmed over, in anticipation of
its return, groundless, no doubt, but if ever
so just, furnishing no good excuse lor allow
ing to the complaints a twofold representa
tion in this House. .
Onec more we are reminded that taxation
and representation should go together.
True, sir, but that would not entitle them
to a double representation, nor deprive Con
gress of a reasonable time for deliberation
as to tbe extent of the right and the best
mode of securing it. But if is meant that
they are entitled on the score of taxation to
instantaneous, unconditional, and dispro
portionate representation, I must beg leave
to inquire, where are the immense taxes
paid by them, upon which to base such ex
traordinary claims ? The loyal people of
the country have been paying burdensome
taxes, a million per day, imposed by their
misconduct, but when and where have they
paid taxes? For the last five years they
have paid none, and the amount they are
just now begining to pay is too trilling for
argument. If the right of representation
couid be acquired by imposing taxes upon
others or by robbery of the Government,
their claim would be indisputable. They
robbed the southern post offices of money,
stamps, and mails; the arsenals and milita
ry and naval depots of ammunition, arms,
and clothing; the custom-houses and sub-
Treasuries of goods, bonds, and money ; and
the New Orleans mint of $600,000 in gold,
and have never made restitution. But they
have paid very few taxes, and long before
they will be called upon to do so a lair and
adequate representation will be accorded
them. V "
But they have still another argument 8
the one relied upon when all others fail,
their refuge from discomfiture in every oth
er field of debate and that is what they
call the constitutional argument. When
they find themselves unable to maintain in
discussion the propriety of allowing the dis
loyal population a twofold representation,
the half to represent themselves and the
other half to misrepresent the loyal people,
white and black, in their midst ; when they
can do longer screen themselves behind the
"President's policy," words of indefinite
meaning; when their aspersion upon our
motives is " rer elled by showing that they
have as strong party interest in forming an
alliance with the re Deis as we possibly can
have in trying to prevent it: when their
taxation theory is demolished by a report
from the Secretary of the Treasury, they
fall back upon the - constitutional right of
States to representation. : They will retreat
no further. This is their last ditch in de
bate. And here, - -.-.-
"In Dixie's land - i
They take their stand, ' '
To live or die for Dixie " .:, . . ;
Mr. Speaker, we are in an anomalous con
dition. The Constitution doeanot especial
ly provide for the difficulties with which we
are surrounded. Our fathers could not be
lieve that so large a portion of the American
people could be so barbarized by slavery as
to undertake such stupendous crime. They'
did not provide for what they could not
foresee. There are no precedents on file to
guide us. This is the first disunion rebel
lion? Ours will be the first precedent in re '
construction,, and the last only if it is just
ly and wisely made. ' There are objections,
plausible or otherwise,' to every theory that
has been or can be advanced as to the ttatut
of these States. My colleague Mr. Ste
vens said that theirpreent position was very
much like that of California after the Mex-'
ican war. 1 A score or more pf speeches have
been made to show that there are objections
to this theory. The gentleman from Ohio
Mr. SheUabarger ' suggested that these
State governments nad perished in the re
bellion, ana mat now new ones, republican.
m form, should be ong mated by Uoneresfc
Objections were raised to this tbertry. The
gentleman from New York Mr. Raymond
suggested that new governments most be
originated and proper guarantees and con
ditions could be imposed, but these things
should be done by the Commander-in-Chief
of the Army and Navy as the torms of sur-
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