Mr. DEFREES. [The speech will be found in the Appendix.] Mr. Speaker. it is a source of congratulation to the country that Congress has finally succeeded so well in recommendin 01 Inn for the restoration of the Governmentin al of the States of the Union that is so fair, honorable, and lenient toward those who were the instruments of bringing such terrible devastation upon the country. The committee who have had charge of this sulziject are entitled to a great deal of credit, an will no doubt receive the thanks of all truly loyal men of every section of the country for the very able manner in which they have discharged the responsible duties required of them by this House. It is not my intention to enter into any len thy argument to show the righteousness of a Opting the propositions that are now before us, for the are self evident, but to cursorily glance at the sections as presented. Section one indisputably fixes the character of those who are entitled to be regarded as citizens of the U.S or citizens of the several States, and secures to all life, liberty, and ropei ty, and places all persons upon an equaity, regardless of their condition or color, so far as equal protection of the law is concerned. Certain y none can take exceptions to the revisions of this section. the 2nd section fixes the basis of representation in Congress upon the population of each State, yet provides that if any portion of the male inhabitants of any State, over 21 years of age, shall be debarred the privilege of exercising the elective franchise for any cause, except for participating in rebellion or for crime, the ersous so excluded shall be deducted from the whole amount of male citizens over 21 years of agein such State. This provision will operate alike in all of the States. Should there be a class of citizens in any State that the majority bf the people think are not capable of exercisin the franchise in telligibly, it would certainly e wrong to count such persons in the basis of representation, to swell its number, without a constituency to be responsible to. Then, again, this section holds out an inducement to the States that may have within its borders a population which it is conceived is unfit for voters to make every effort and use all means proper for the preparing and qualifying such citizens for the use of the elective franchise, in order that they may be fully represented upon all of the ir population. I am aware that it is said that the object of this section is to force the late rebel States to make voters of the negro poulation, a measure that is abhorred by them. twill operate upon them in no way differently than upon all the rest of the States. All have a portion of that class of people, and there is no telling.how long anyone of the States may have more than its due proportion of such citizens. I believe the President said in his veto of the freedmen’s Bureau bill, that the“Negro possessesaperfectright to change his place of abo e, communitaynd if. therefore.he does not find in one or Stateamodeoflifc suitedtohisdesires or proper remuneration for his labor. he can moveto another.wherethat labor is more esteemed and better rewarded.” The 3rd section contains the essence of the whole proposition, and is most eminently just and proper. It is an axiom that is as applicable to nations as to individuals that self protection is the 1st law of nature. If an individual is assailed and a determined effort is made to take his life. the person so attacked is justifiable in usin all the means at his command and the power ‘od has 'ven him for self protection, even to the slaying of his adversary. And whether the assaulting party accomlishes his foul purpose or not, he is dealt with by the law as a murderer and an assassin, and is placed where he can no longer rey upon society. Just so I hold it to be the duty and the right of a Government. If there are citizens of this Republic who have made every effort and have struggled with all their energies in every conceivable way to take its life, they, too, should be put out of the way of ever giving any further trouble, at least politically, whether they accomplished their designs or not. And who doubts, at this late day, thatwe have such persons within the U.S.? Men who have held high places of honor and trust in the Government; men who have been raised and nurtured under the benign influences of its institutions, educated and prepared for usefulnessat its national colleges, and that, too, with the special purpose ofqualifying them to protect its life. ow, sir, we have Just terminated a terrible rebellion, one that probably has no equal upon the pages of histo, and the people of the revolted States areasing again to be taken under the care and protection of the Government from which they attempted to secede. And while I think it right that they should again have the blessings of the laws of the Government extended to them, and they once more form a part of this glorious Union at as early a day as practicable, still I think every precaution should be taken to prevent a recurrence of those scenes through which we have just passed. Go back to the earliest history of human government of which we have any knowledge, and we learn it was always the policy to dispose of those who occasioned a revolt so that they could not again disturb the public eace. When the Israelites, in the absence of oses upon the mount, got up arevolution in the camp below, the leaders engaged in it were effectually and summarily disposed of by rightful authority. And we may come down to a later period in the history of the world, when a higher state of civilization existed fer instance, to the do is of Emmett; ora still later period, when the attempt was made by the Hungarians to throw off the oppression o the Austrian Government and we find it to be universally the case that the existing Government punished treason in some way, either by the executio‘n 0r banishment from the country or the deprivation of the political rights oft e traitor. Sir, the incipient steps of treason in this country originated in the Halls of Congress as early as 1829 30. That fiery and restless spirit, John C. Cal houn conceived the idea of rightful hostility to the laws of the General Government by a State, and on its tariff policy the spirit of secession began to lift its ydra head and take an open stand, and culminated in SCarolina in the spring of 1832 by assembling a convention to carry out its purposes. But the energy and patriotism of the then President, Andrew Jackson, soon scotched the serpent, and for awhile caused it to lie dormant. But the seed was sown, the poison was infused into the veins of the bodyhpolitic, and an occasion was only wanted for it to burst forth again. So well satisfied was President Jackson of that fact that he prophesied the time would come in the history of the country when slavery would be the pretext of its again attempting to assert its power. But treason was more successful in its last effort than in its former one. It insidiously allied itself with a great party of the country, and so wound its coils around it that in a great measure it controlled ever action of its move ment. I do not say that the mass of the Dem ocratic party intended to lend its influence for the overthrow of the Government, but I do say that a large portion of its leading men became infected with the leprosy of secession, and if not openly, did in agreat many instances covertly “give aid and comfort to the enemy.” So vast were the proportions of treason that it required all the energy and power of this mighty republic to stay its hand. 150w, Mr. Speaker, let us take a shortretro spective view of the ast, and see what was the character and position of those who brought the late rebellion upon the country, and who were the men that led the hostile armies of the enemy against the hosts of loyal men sent out for the protection of the Government. Who were the men that led the armies of treason? Who led the columns of the insurgents at Bull Run, at Shiloh, at Vicksburg, at Richmond, and, I might say, in all those sanguinary strug gles with the armies of the Republic ‘I They were men, sir, educated at the expense of the General Government; many of them at the time they entered the armies of treason wore insignia upon their shoulders evidencing that theyIicld position in the Arm and Navy of the U.S., men who ha sworn, by layin their hand upon the divine Word, to upho d and defend that lorions flag that surrounds your chair from:51 foes, both domestic and foreign. And, sir, who were the men in the outset of the rebellion that furnished the “ sinews of war” and the arms to place in the hands of traitors? The very individuals that the government had intrusted with the keeping of her treasures and the control of her arsenals; and even the soldiers of the regular Army that were in the disloyal States, in most instances, were stri ped of their arms by their commanders, an insulted by being surrendered to the cue mies of their Government, and mortified in consequence of having to give their parole of honor not to engage in the defense of their country. New, sir, the rebellion is over; the insur gents have been compelled by the forces of the Government to lay down their arms, not willingly, but grudgingly. A kind of quasi loyalty is manifested in some of the States lately in rebellion, and an effort is being made to incorporate them into the Union with the loyal States. A large majority of the men who inau rated the rebellion survive its overthrow; and the questionunderconsideration is, Whether it won] be politic and right to again permit any of the persons above described to hold seats in the councils of the nation or ang place of profit or trust under its authority. must confess in my view of the matter, to say the least of it, it would be a very great impropri ety, if not an outrage. I cannot believe the American people will ever consent that the reins of Government shall be placed in the hands of those whose fingers are driping with the blood of loyal citizens and who isgraced themselves by forsaking their country in the hour of trial, who had sworn to maintain it. We see in some of the southern States a spirit manifested to elect such and none others to seats in these Halls, in spite of the friendly admonitions of the President to do otherwise. Once admitted here, with no loyal element in their nature from choice, and their hearts rank ling with venom and bitterness, engendered by hatred toward the North for years, and having failed in their wicked attempt at overthrowing the Government, it is not to be supposed that the would be proper persons toassist in again In in the foundations of the Union upon a so did asis or maintaining it in all its integrity. I, sir, believe in the sentiment expressed by the present Chief Magistrate a year or 2 since, while addressing a.Tennessee audience, “that traitors should take a back seat in the work of restoration.” And I go further than that, and say that traitors of the class mentioned in this proposition must never be permitted to hold any place of trust or power. We are bound by every obligation of justice and honor to legislate to preclude any possibility, if such can be done of them ever ruling loyalists, white Oi black. suppose, sir, that the State of NewYork, some 15 or 20 years ago, had sent from one of her districts Aaron Burr as a Representative to this Hall; a man who was strongly suspected of having traitorous intentions against his country, but upon whom, I believe, it was never proven. Do you not think that the indignation of the whole count would have been aroused, and every man wh0 then hold a seat in this House would have felt in duty bound to cast from the nation the stigma thus attempted to be thrown upon it by refusing to admit him to a seat here? There can be no doubt of it. And is the public mind any the less sensitive now in reference to the honor of the nation? Have the people become less patriotic? Have they lost tie high sentiment of regard they once had for the honor of their country so that they would now consent that traitors of the blackest die might hold the highest positions in the Gavernment? Why, sir, so jealous of the honor of the nation were members of one branch of the national Legislature about the time of the commencement of the rebellion that they expelled a grave Senfrom my State from their councils for merely giving a letter of introduction to the rebel chief; a man who, it was said, had made some valuable improvements in fire arms. “Better were it for that man that a mill stoue were fastened about his neck and he cast into the depths of the sea” than to go before his constituents after having voted that such men might again hold position under the Government. I look upon treason, under any circumstances, as the highest degree of political sin; but when is added to it a 3 fold perjury, as is in most of the cases of those to whom this Jtresolution refers, it is unar donable. i do not know but that the Saviour of the world, when speakin of the sins that might be forgiven men, that there was one that could not be forgiven in this world or the world to come, but what he had reference to the monstrous sin of treason; if not, it must have been one closely allied to it. Now, sir, my policy is to let the citizens of the States lately in rebellion know that they must raise up a different class of politicians from those they have been in the habit of looking up to as leaders, men who have some love for republican liberty, some regard for the principles that are contained in the DeclarIndep, which lie at the foundation of the Government, and who are not blackened all over withingratitude, treachery, and crime. There is another consideration why this measure should ass. It would not only prevent the direfu influence these men would have n on the interests of the country, and especially that portion of it with which they are connected, but it would serve in some small degree as a punishment for their wickedness an violation of law. I know it is said that we of the North can afford to be magnanimous in the hour of victory, and that we should extend the right hand of fellowship to our erring brethren and welcome them back again to the protection of the Government and to a participation in its affairs without any reference to past events. But that kind of mag nanimity would be extremely unjust toward the memory of the 100s of 1,000s of loyal patriots who surrendered up their lives in defense of the country. It would be an out rage against the feelings of the 1000s of maimed and crippled soldiers whose lives will be a burden to them for the remainder of time 5 yet I fear that many are disposed to acquiesce in this mawkish generosity. Why, sir, of the many 1000s who have been engaged in this monstrous rebellion, and who it is acknowledged have been guilty of crimes that have no parallel in the history of mankind, not one traitor has been arraigned and brought to trial or received any punishment for his acts. It is true that a poor, miserable creature, who was the cat’s paw of the men that this JtResolution is intended to reach, was brought to trial ail convicted for violating the laws of war and humanity in starving soldiers todeath, but the men who are responsible for the action of Wirz go unwhipped of justice. And, sir, from present indications, notwithstanding the people are sending up petitions and the Legisatures of a number of the States have passed resolutions asking the powers that be to bring these men to trial ancilto justice, et I fear the halter will be cheated out of its victims and the sncredness of law be set at naught. But, Mr. Speaker, it has been argued, since this debate upon reconstruction commenced, that these men have become repentant, that they have signified awillingness to “ acce tthe situation, ” and that their love for the old L nion has again returned to them. Where is the evidence to substantiate the assertion? It certainly cannot be found in the testimony of any of those leading rebels who have been sum moned before the committee that reported these resolutions. It is true that Mr. Stephens, the VEEP of the defunct confederucy, says that he believes the people of the South will accommodate themselves to the surrounding circumstances and acquiesce in what may be properly done by the Government; but does he manifest, himself, any great devotion to the Constitution and the principlesu on which the Government is fou'uded? Bees e not tell the country that the dogma upon which the rebellion was inaugurated is right? Have any of these men manifested any regrets for the ruin and devastation that they have brought it on the country, only such as the cul rit exhi its when he is overtaken in crime an has failed in his schemes? If such is the fact I have not been able to see it. But, sir, instead of works meet for repentance, these men assert, with all the arrogance and hnughtiness characteristic of their former lives, that they are entitled to be heard here in these Halls, and that itisan infringement upon their constitutional rights when it is proposed to require some conditions precedent to the full restoration of the rebellious States. They talk as though it was but a small affair to attempt the life of this Government; thatalthough they failed in their machinations and efforts to sever the cords that bind it to other as a whole, yet, as by divine right, the claim a share in its government. such impuence is unparalleled in the history of mankind, unless it was when the devil required the Saviour to worship him in consideration of the vast kingdomshe promised him, when the old secessionist had no title to any. Sir, I consider the propositions under consideration very lenient. They do not come it fully to my idea of justice in the premises. T would go further than is now proposed. I would add to the disqualification for office disfranchisement forever, so far as we have the power, and the confiscation of all their estates, and place it beyond the executive clomenc to restore any of them to citizenship or tot eir property. They should be made to feel that treason is “odious, ” and that this Government has sufficient inherent power to vindicate itself in the punishment of all its foes of whatever character. Send them forth, sir, as vagabonds and outlaws, for the fin er of scorn of all patriots to be pointed at. place them before our countrymen as beacons of warning to the am bitious demagovue who may have rankling in his heart an unholy desire for power, even at the expense of the destruction of his Let our action on this resolution serve acsouanlitgrg.t to teach the patriot that the true path that loads to honor and glory is fidelity to the laws of his country. Impress thatprinclple upon the hearts of those that will soon grow up and take our places here, and the Republic is safe. The 4th section of the JtResolution, I presume will meet with little, if any, opposition. The good character of the Government depends upon the fidelity with which it meets its contracts and discharges its pecuniary obligations. The debt incurred in suppressing the rebellion is principally owing to our own citizens, and it is with pride that we can recur to the fact. The history of the world produces no parallel, where a nation was involved in a war of so large proportions and of so long du ration, of its own subjects furnishing the necessary means for its prosecution. This is an evidence that a republican Government is conducive to the prosperity of its citizens. But there is another species of debt referred to in this section that would seem to be more sacred, if possible, than that incurred in prosecuting the war. I refer to that of pensions and boun ties. The small ittance that is provided for those who have 0 ered their lives as a sacrifice to their country’s cause, and who have left he hind them those that were deendent upon them for support, must not be neg ected. Others who have survived the deadly conflict, but are left maimed for life, look to a generous government for support, and have a right to expect that provision will be made for their relief, and that the Government will be prompt in dischar gin its obligations to them. i Mr. Speaker, it looks to me now that we have reached a solid foundation upon which to reorganize the superstructure o the government, a basis that will be as durable as the everlasting hills. The people will ratify what we now propose to them, iiecause equal and exact justice is meted out to all classes of our population. The disturbing element of slavery that has hitherto rocked the country from center to circumference and caused distraction in the national councils, is forever gone. The high road to grandeur and happiness is opened up before us, and everything that is noble beck ons us on to future greatness and a still higher state of civilization, when all men will be equal before the law, and the great fact will be realized, that of one blood He made all the nations of the earth, and to one destiny all must come.