Mr. GARFIELD. Mr. Speaker, in the short time allowed me I can say but very little. But I want to call the attention of the '. to 2 or 3 points which, in my judgment, stand out prominently, and which should control our action upon this measure. And 1st, I call attention to the fact that from the collapse of the rebellion to the Present hour the Congress of the U.S. has under taken to restore the States lately in rebellion by cooperation with their people, and that our efforts in that direction have proved a complete and disastrous failure. We commenced, sir, by waiving 9 10thsof all the powers we had over these people under the influence of mercy. It was clearly the right of the victorious government to indict, try, convict, and hang every rebel traitor in the South for their bloody conspiracy against the Republic. o In accordance with a law passed by the 1st Congress that met under the Constitution, and approved by Washington, we might have punished with death by hanging every rebel of the South. We might have confiscated the last dollar of the last rebel to aid in paying the cost of the war. Or adopting a more merciful policy, we might have declared that no man who voluntarily went into the rebellion should ever again enjoy the rights of a citizen of the U.S. They had forfeited every right of citizenship by becoming traitors and public enemies. What the conquering sovereign would do with them was for Congress to declare. Now, with all these powers in its hands Congress declared that it would do nothing for vengeance, but everything for liberty and safety. The rePresentatives of the nation said to the people of the South, join with us in giving liberty and justice to that race which you have so long outraged, make it safe for free loyal men to live among you, bow to the authority of our common country, and we will forgive the car nage, the desolation, the losses, and the unutter able woes you have brought upon the nation, and you shall come back to your places in the Union with no other personal disability than this: that your leaders shall not again rule us except by the consent of 2/3rds of both Houses of Congress. That was the proposition which this Congress submitted during its last session; and I am here to affirm today that so magnanimous, so merciful a proposition has never been submitted by a sovereignty to rebels since the day when God offered forgiveness to the fallen sons of men. The constitutional amendment did not come up to the full height of the great occasion; it did not meet all that I desired in the way of guarantees to liberty; but if the rebel States had adopted it as Tennessee did, I should have felt bound to let them in on the same terms rescribed for Tennessee. I have also been in avor of waiting, to give them full time to deliberate and act. They have deliberated; they have acted. The last one of the sinful ten has at last, with contempt and scorn, flung back into ourteeth the magnanimous offer of a generous nation. It is now our turn to act. They would not cooperate with us in rebuilding what they destroyed. We must remove the rubbish and rebuild from the bottom. Whether they are willing or not we must compel obe dience to the Union, and demand protection for its humblest citizen wherever the flag floats. We must so exert the power of the nation that it shall be deemed both safe and honorable to have been loyal in the midst of treason. We must see to it that the frightful carnival of blood now raging in the South shall continue no longer. We must make it possible for the humblest citizen of the U.S. from whatever State he may come to travel in safety from the Ohio river to the Gulf. In short, we must plant liberty on the ruins of slavery and establish law and peace where anarchy and violence now reign. I believe, sir, the time has come when we must lay the heavy hand of military authority upon these rebel communities, and hold them in its grasp till their madness is past, and until “clothed and in their right minds” they come bowing to the authority of the Union, and taking their places loyally in the family circle of the States. Now, Mr. Speaker, I am aware that this is a severe and stringent measure. I do not hesitate to say that I give my assent to its main features with many misgivings. I am not unmindful of the grave suggestions of the Gentfrom NewYork {Mr. RAYMoND] in reference to the history of such legislation in other countries and other ages. I remem ber, too, that upon the walls of Imperial Rome, a Praetorian guard announced that the world was for sale to the highest bidder, and that the legions knocked down the imperial purple to Nero, the highest bidder. I beg to remind the gentleman that this is not a proposition to commit the liberties of the Republic into the hands of the military. It is a new article of war commanding the Army to return to its work of putting i.the rebellion by maintaining the honor and keeping the peace of the nation. If the officers of our Army should need such a suggestion, let them remember that no people on the face of the earth have shown themselves so able to pull down their idols as the American people. However much honored and beloved a man may be, if the day ever comes when he shows himself untrue to liberty they will pluck him out of their very hearts and trample him indignantly under their feet. We have seen this in the military history of the last 5 years, and in the political history of the last campaign. Now, we propose for a short time to assign our Army to this duty for specific and beneficent purposes, namely, to keep the peace until we can exercise the high functions enjoined upon us in the Constitution, of giving to these States republican governments based upon the will of the whole loyal people. The generals of our Army enjoy in a wonderful degree the confidence of the nation, but if for any cause the most honored among them should lay his hands unlawfully upon the liberty of the hum blest citizen he would be trampled under the feet of millions of indignant free men. We are not, as some gentlemen seem to suppose, stretching out helpless hands to the Army for aid, but we are commanding them, as public servants, to do this work in the interest of liberty. I have spoken only of the general purpose of this bill. I now desire to say that I am not satisfied with the manner in which it is proposed to pass it through this House. I demand that it be opened for amendment as well as discussion. I will not consent that anyone man or committee in this House shall frame a bill of this importance and compel me to vote for or against it without an opportunity to suggest amendments to its provisions. However unimportant my own opinions may be, other men shall not do my thinking for me. There are some words which I want stricken out of this bill and some limitations I want added. I at least shall ask that they be considered. I trust the gentleman who has the bill in charge will allow a full trial of proposals for change, and that the bill, properly guarded, may become a law.