Mr. KASSON. I wish to say, before yielding for this amendment, that while I think this construction ought to be given as a matter of justice to the Congress and people of the U.S., I also agree that we ought to impose penalties upon every man who takes part in a violation of the law which is presumed to have been established by the constitutional amendment. I shall probably adopt the amendment of the Gentfrom Pennsylvania, but I wish further time to examine it. I desire, if possible, to get a unanimous expression from this House, whether or not they are in favor of this construction of the constitution., Why, sir, every single step that any man in this body or out of it has taken to protect these southern people, in what they call their “rights, ” every single movement that comes under the denomination of “magna nimity to the South, ” has been met by them with such action as has destroyed the political char. acter and reputation.man who has attempted to befriend them; they have destroyed every Republican who has attempted to hold back what have been called “radical” measures; they have destroyed the Democratic party, that has attempted to insist upon their immediate right of representation; and they will continue to destroy the political reputation of every math who attempts to stem this great current of civil rights and individual freedom throughout the U.S. And yet they come here and claim from us that they must have their State rights; that if they wish to sell negroes into slavery, we shall let them sell them; that if they wish to whip them into exclusion from all possible right of voting, we shall let them whip them into that condition; that if they wish to drive loyal men out of the South, we must let them drive them out of the South. And then, when we point to outrages like those to which I have referred, they come to us and say, “Why, you must not hold this community responsible for the act of an individual a justice of the peace, or the judge of a Sir, single court.” I hold that for every organic expression of this hostility to the U.S. that community is to be held responsible. In my judgment there exists today in many parts of the South a rebellion against the lawful authority of the U.S. They are attempting, by trickery and deception such as would do dishonor to that imaginary Yankee who is ever present in the brains of the South today they are attempting, by that, deception aid trickery, odious and horrible in character, to defeat the wisest and most humane laws which we are passing for the protection of free citizens. South. And if they tell me that it is not their organic will, and that we must not hold innocent men responsible for the acts of the guilty, I say to them, “Point me to your public press for any articles that denounce these outrages; point me to your political conventions that denounce them; point me to any public meetings that attempt to create a better public sentiment; point me to your F. that dare denounce outrages of life and limb to the innocent sufferer on account of his color; point me to your courts that construe one solitary law of the U.S. in the sense and interest it was designed to enforce and protect; do this, and then I will excuse the individual out rage; but until you do that, I hold the body organic and politic of the South responsible for the infamous crimes and misdemeanors they are daily perpetrating against what we regard as the rights of the citizen under the Constitution and the laws.” When they shall thus reform their organic action, then they can come to us and ask for magnanimity in our treatment of them. But 1st they must take care that all free men, white or black, who adhere to the Government of the U.S shall be protected as fully as one of their own class of citizens. Until that is done they have no claim to represent themselves in the Congress of the U.S., for the simple reason that there is a continual moral, political, and organic rebellion going on in the South today, characterized by every act of rebellion except the act of armed and organized military resistance.