Mr. CLARK. Gentlemen say the President did that. I was not commenting on the author; I was commenting upon the impolicy of the act. Surely not, sir; on would retain the arms in the hands of the lack men. Let, then, your ballots o where you would intrust your bay ouets. 0th are effective wea ons; and if in time of war you needed the by ack mans bay onet to reserve your Government, you may equally, in time of peace, need his ballot to guard against acts more insidious but scarcely css pernicious than open rebellion. If the black man has intelligence enough to know on which side to fight, he certainly will know on which side to vote and if amid the fire and smoke of rebellion he kept the old flag in sight, and prayed for it and fought for it, much more readily in time of peace will he discern and strive to reserve the great principles of comstitutionall liberty. Mr. President, the restrictions which have been laid onthe black man in many States are the outgrowth, the miserable brood and spawn of slavery, and they should perish with it. The negro was denied land and home, because he was the chattel of his master; he was denied access to the courts, because he had no rights which a white man was bound to respect; he was not permitted to testify, becausehe might tell of the enormities practiced upon him; and he was denied a vote, that he might be of no sort of influence or consequence in human affairs. Sir, strike from him all these disabil ities with his fetters, and give him the fullest opportunity, with all the necessary means, to clievate himself from his humble, despised condition. Does anyone, I say again, complain that this leads to equality? Then let him go and complain of his akerthat He formed the negro at all; that He allowed him to breathe the same air, see the same light, hear the same sounds, or walk the same earth with the white man; that He gave him instincts, passions, hopes, desires, capabilities, a soul reaching to immortality; in s art that He made him a manl Here is the difficulty. Thsnegro is a man! and however degraded, i or, abject, or humble, it is our dut to elevate and improve him, and to give him the means of elevation or improvement; and the Senfrom Kentucky may assert and prove that there are 36, 56, or 106 points. of difference between him and a white man but until he shows he is not a man, the negro wi be entitled to be treated by us as a man, and to demand and enjoy the same political privileges as other men. Mr. President, open rebellion is ended and the Union is safe from its violence, but we are not through with our difficulties or dangers. Grave matters arising out of the war press themselves on our consideration and demand our resolute action. Among these stand fore most the protection of the freedmen, and the restoration of the rebellious States to their true relations with the Government. Both are of difficulty, but both of urgent necessity, and both are complicated, each with the other, by the fact, that the freedmen live in these rebellious States, and are to be protected there, while the people of these States are intensely hostile to them in many parts, and subJect them to oppressive indignities, barbarous cruel ties, stripes, and death. All agree that the freedmah must be protected. It has been said with equal beauty and force that “the poor mans life should never depend upon the rich mans pleasure.” Nor should the freedman, whose shackles have been broken by the wrench and twist of war, he letl: to the in difference, neglect, control, or cruelty of his inexorable master. If that master has submitted to superior force, his submissmn will be coextensive only with that force; and whenever opportunity shall offer, having no longer any interest in him as a chattel, he will Wreak his malignity and his vengeance upon the freedman, as both the object of his rebellion and the cause of his defeat. His master will sell him no land, that he may have no home. He will allow him no home, that he may become a vagrant. Becoming a vagrant, he will arrest him as a vagabond, and visit him with imprisonment or stripes, or both. He will give him no work, that he may starve or steal; and if he steal he will convict him of crime, sell him into servitude, and hold him again as a slave. He will shut him from the courts, seal his mouth as a witness, and beat, kidnap, or murder him, as passion may instigate or instinct prompt. Now, how shall this man be protected, and protected where he is? Forihold it essential that these men should remain where they are, to labor and develop the resources of the South, and make it a richer and more prosperous country than ever before. The country which exports its labor commits suicide. You may open the courts to him by law, you may make him a competent witness, you may give him land for a home, you may sweep away all distinction by law between him and others, and leave him at liberty to go and to come, to sue and be sued, to contract and labor when and where and how he pleases; you may establish for him schools and give him the means ofinformation, and all these are necessary and well. You may go further; you may order him food and clot iing, you may set over him the Freedmens Bureau to guard his interests and redress his wrongs, you may continue this bureau from ear to year, and still, in my judgment, you will have failed to do what most of all you need to doput the black man in a position to protect himself. You will have done much toward it, you will have fitted him to use his weapon, but not have supplied him with the weapon. To do this fully you must give him the ballot, make him a part of the Government, and thereby encourage a feeling of independence and selfrespect. There is nothing like the ballot for this. Take it from your northern men and they would feel powerless and degraded. Leave it in their hands and they are as good as the best, and can hurl Governors, members, and Senators from their seats of power. Arm 3 or 4 million of people with this weapon, and they will protect themselves and teach their oppressors caution and respect. Make them respect themselves, and they willsoon command the respect of others. I now turn, Mr. President, to the consideration of the other point, to wit, the restoration of the rebellious States and here, ifI mistake not, we shall find the extension of suffrage to the loyal blacks of the utmost importance, if not a sine qua. non. Men differ somewhat as to the condition of these States; and there are those who would restore them at once to the exercise and enjoyment of the privileges and powers of loyal States. Restore them, say they, 1st, and settle the points of difference between you, and the terms and conditions, afterward. But I am not one of those. Settle the terms and conditions 1st, and, above all, do what you may to fix the properstatus and condition of the freedmen; for rely uponityou will find itvastly more difficult afterward, ifnot impossible. But, say they, will you delay restoring these States to their rights for that purpose? Sir, I do not deem these rebels can claim many rights. They s urned them when they left us, and they for f ited them when they rebelled. Can these rights be put on or put off, cast away, lost, and recovered, just as the rebels choose? Nay, sir, I hold rather with the Roman orator, that they have no rights in the Republic who have been false to it: “At nunquam in has urbe ii, qui a republica defecerunl, civium jura tenuermit.” Mr. President. Ihuve often said I wished these States restored. I say it now. I do not wish, mean, or intend that one foot of territory or one particle of jurisdiction shall be lost to this Union. We fought to keep it, and we not warmed by any genuine loyalty. have won the tight, and I will not tear the flag which treason c uld not rend. Not only upon it let every star be blazoned, but let every star bear its old name and be in its old place; and let the memories of the better days of the republic be woven with the golden hues of a more prosperous future and form a ved which shall conceal forever the hideous features of civilWar. But I do not hesitate to declare here in my place that I would not now vote to admit anyone of these States to a participation in the administration of the Government unless, as said by the Senfrom Indiana, Mr. LAXE] I might vote for the admission of the State of Tennessee. The State of Tennessee, in my judgment, stands upon a different foundation from any other rebel State, because before this rebellion was disarmed, when the rebels had them in their hands, she was enabled to form agovernment true to the Union, and she has preserved that government ever since. She is enabled to send us, I believe, men who can take the oath required of them as having ever been loyal men and having never directly or indirectl voluntaril aided the rebellion. But I do not believe that it would be safe toadmit the other States; nordo I believe I shall ever vote at any time to admit to this floor men who have been actively engaged in this rebellion, in shooting, starving, and butchering our soldiers, or dismembering the Union, and seeking the life blood of the nation. I shall stand by the oath which excludes such men from these seats. I shall subject the nation to no such danger; myself and associates to no such infamous companions. Traitors cannot thus be rewarded by any agency of mine. Treason cannot be thus honored. The President said “ it mustbe made odious, ” and with thatl agree. It may be ar doned, its punishment removed, and the reels permitted to live under a Government which they have sought to destroy, but when this is done, there will still remain the damning fact, that they have been false to their country. Naught " Can wash the guilty stain away.” They may be so again. Treason once committed is sufficient for all time, and there should be no space or opportunit for its repetition. and, Mr. President, i. I judge aright, the rebellion has been disarme. but not subdued. Much of its spirit, its malignity survives; and while those who have been engaged in it say they accept the situation, it i. but too evident that had they now the strength they would throw off your authority and defy your power. Their lips acknowledge their allegiance to your Government, and they will keep it, because they have not strength to break it; but the 110951 e is allow the old flag to float because they dare noI. tear it down; but they will cheer a rebel song at the theater oftener and far more heartily, than the “StarSpangled Banner.” The Union man is despised and placed under the social ban. Treason is not may e odious; but 10"alty that never swerved, patriotism that never flinched is. True, these men accept the situation, and ask you for offices, but they will fill them with rebels, and select those who have smitten your soldiers the oftenest and hardest. They will accept your salaries at Richmond, and plow up your ead at Cold Harbor. The rebel States are not only full of such persons, but they are controlled by them, and whenever Senators are admitted here from those States, such men will be too often presented for admission. The Senfrom Wisconsin [Mr. DoourTLE] in discussing with his accustomed ability and force the position of these rebel States, and the policy of the President for restoring them to their true relations with the Government, very distirktly stated that he would not vote to admit to this Senate men whose hands were recking with the blood of Union soldiers. Evidently he does not think it quite safe or rudent so to do. He does not thin rebels should rule. Nor do I. The men who have sought to destroy the Government should not be intrusted with its safety. Now let me ask that Senator, if it is not safe to admit a rebel to sit and vote here, in what respect is it safe for him to sit and vote anywhere else in this nation, and what sort of a way is it to make a disloyal State loyal, to allow rebels to rule it? and yet we have this astoundingpalpable fact, that the administration of the government in almost every instance in those rebellious States has been suffered to go into the hands of rebels, and to fall under their control. Nay, more, while there were 3 or 4 millions of loyal peo10 in those States, the have been carefully exc uded from allIparticiation in the reorganization of those States. liite traitors have been preferred to them and thus it is, sir; elections have been held by traitors, conventions and legislatures have been held by traitors, offices fille, and a public sentiment created which today is more hostile in many places than it was months ago. Sir, our dangers are not yet passed, and we must see to it that we do not lose in legislative halls what our soldiers secured in the field. Sir, I do not hold that these rebellions States are out of the Union. They went out neither by the back door of secession nor the side doorof rebellion. They are still States in the Union; but they have been in rebellion and are still disloyal at heart; and while in that rebellion they overthrew and destroyed the loyal State governments and after their military power was broken, it became necessary to reconstruct those governments and put them again in motion. n this idea and assiimtion the President proceeded. He 1st established provisional governments. I will not now inquire by what authority, for I an ose by military authority as CommanderinEliief, but I will inquire why and whereforedid he do it. The answeris plain and ready. Because the old State governments were gone, destroyed by the rebels in being made the instruments oftreason; and there were no loyal governments in those States, and new ones must be formed. But yet, into the hands of the very rebels who had destroyed the oldlie intrusted the formation of the new; carefully excluding from all participation a very large proportion of the loyal people of those States, y declaring that the quaIification of voters should be the same as when these States went into rebellion. Now, this is the point I make: the rebellion had overthrown all uws about the qualilications of voters in these States; and so the President understood it, else why did he declare what they should be? and he set up the old qualifications which excluded a very large share of the loyal men. Sir, in myjudment he should have rather excluded the rebe s and let the loyal people vote; and I should about as soon have undertaken to ete the yel low fever by sending round infecte clothes, as Blackburn did, as to have checked rebellion by letting rebels vote. Do you tell me that the qualifications of vot ers, the determining who should vote and who 1 not, had been left to the States, and that they had excluded the black man from voting? Then I reply, their State governments and their qualifications had all been swept away together, and, there being no State government or organization, there could have been no State imitattion or restriction. The President himself did not understand that there was any State law in force prescribing who should be voters, for he undertook himself to prescribe the rule, even to exclude some persons who had been admitted to vote under teold State laws; and if these old State laws did exclude loyal men from voting, he could just as well have determined by military authority who should vote as set up a provisional government by military authority. Sir, I sustain and will labor to advance the Presidents polic of restoring to their true position at an early day these rebellious States, when it shall be safe so to do. But I must confess I do not admire this method, nor am I surprised at the results. I do not wonder Union m enare defeated and rebels elected, nor that traitors bear themselves haughlily, and “ disitefully use” those who never flinched in their loyalty. Mr. President, I have made these remarks, 1865 835 not to criticise the Presidents acts, nor to withhold or withdraw from him one grain of strength or support; but to make plain, if I can, the necessity of suffrage to every loyal person in these States to enable you to restore and hold them in their true relations. There is in all these States a large number of loyal people. In some sections they outnumber those who have been in rebellion. Most of them, it is true, have been slaves; they are ignorant, and perhaps as vet do not fully comprehend their condition. But they are loyal, and I would make their loyalty a counterpoise of treason, and secure the State against it by conferrin on them the same civil and political rights which are enjoyed by other citizens of the same State. There are, so far as I can see, but 3 ways to be taken with these rebellious States: Either they must be intrusted to rebel hands; or they must be held by military power; or the loyal people must be admitted to control them. The 1st method is entirely inadmissible; the 2nd by no means desirable, except as a necessity; and the 3rd is both practicable and desirable. I would no more a mit the rebels to control these States than I would sail a ship with the mutine us part of a crew, and confine those who were faithful to the captain in the hold or put them in irons. Military rule is contrary to the very objects and aims of our Government, while suffrage to all men is but the practical application of its 2 cardinal principles, selfgovernment and equality in that government. I say the last method is practicable. Take, for instance, the State of Mississippi. In 1860 she had 350 901 white inhabitants and 437, 404 colored. Now give these 437, 404 men the bal lot, and traitors never would be troubled with the “ ironclad oath, ” for they never would have a chance to take it. Would you let the negroes rule the State, do you ask? Yes, sir, in preference to rebels, for I am sure they will never carry it out of the Union, and will cause you no more blood and treasure in preserving it in its true relations. Do you say this would be dangerous? exerience does not so teach. In many of these States negroes once voted, and no harm came ofit. Down as late as 1828, in the State of tennessee, they voted and electeda member of congress. By every one who would exclude these colored men from voting should be remembered the words ofJefferson: “With what execration should the statesman be loaded. who, permitting 1/2 the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other. transforms those into despots and these into enemies: destroys the morals of one part and the patriotism of the other.” Mr. President, I have thus far but stated some of the general considerations which should govern us in our conclusions on this great question. I might follow ont its details, and I think they would be found equally interesting and conclusive. I might notice, and I think successfully resist, the objections to it, and I might point out the means and method by which practically this grand result may be reached; but i must content myself by sayin I will labor and toil for it in eve practica wa, and with earnest hope and rfaith that it will in time be reached. Mr. President, if we are true, steadfast, earn est seekers of the right path, we shall find and pursue it. The difficulties which now surround us will vanish or be overcome; and as during these years of civil commotion and convulsions of the political elements, and the rockings of the very foundations of your Government, the dome of your Capitol has risen steadily and majestically upward, till it now stands finished in all its beautiful proportions, neither affected by the expansion Of “ summers heat" or the contraction of “ winters cold, ” nor shaken by the tempests gust, so shall your Government rise from the conflicting elements around it till, surmounted at last with a statue cut from the same precious stone on which its foundations restthe equality of all menit shall draw the admiring nations toward it, ” exclaiming, How beautiful are thy tabernaclesl” Sir, if a stranger had come to yonder protunda a month ago and turned his face u ward to look on the eye of the dome, he woulifhave seen nothing but a rough scaffolding of boards and timbers, and known nothing of the glories of art beyond. If that same stranger should come now and look into the same eye of the dome, he would find the rough seaffolding gone, and behold beyond in beautiful stuccos the ms tic dance of these U.S. surrounded by Agriculture and Manufactures, Commerce and the Arts and so, sir, when shall be with drawn the rough scaffolding of strife and discord, we shall again behold all those States restored and united and there shall be no more war, but agriculture and manufactures, commerce and the arts, education and Chris tianit, not in picture, but in etfulgent reality, shall shed a glory over them hitherto unequaled.