Mr. WILSON. I thank the Senator for his explanation; but I will say that I have never entertained a feeling of bitterness or of unkindness to the southern people; that in spite of all that has taken place, I have always regarded those people as my countrymen; wron and deluded, but still my countrymen. Nor do I wish to impose upon them anything that may be definding or unmauly;. but I wish to protect all the people there of every race, the poorest and the umblest; and while I would not impose any degradations upon them, I would not permit them to impose any degradations upon others. Sir, I deny the right of these States to pass these laws against men who are citizens of the U.S. They are free, and, in the language of AttyGen Bates “Every citizen of?the U.S. is a component member of the nation, with rights and duties under, the constitution and lows of the U.S. which carrot be abridged or destroy by the laws of any color State. The laws of t a State, if they conict with the laws of the nation. are of no force.” But these old slave codes still exist; they are executed in 4/5ths of the rebel terntory today, and 4 or 5 of those states are assing other codes inhuman, unchristian and inconsistent with the idea that these free men have rights. These freedmen are as free as I am, to work when they please, to play when they please, to go where they please, to work at what they please, and to use the product of their labor, and those States have no right to pass such laws as are now pending and have just been passed in some of them. But, sir, the Senfrom Maryland says that cruelties and mat crimes are committed in all sections oftocountry. I know it, but we have not cruel and inhuman laws to be enforced. Sir, armed men are traversing portions of the rebel States today enforcing these black laws upon men whom we have made free and to whom we stand pledged before man and God to maintain their freedom. A few months ago these freedmen were joyous, hopeful, con5 eat. today they are istrustful, silent and sad, and this condition has grown out of the Iul. insurrection and rebellion now wrongs and ciuelties and oppressions that have been perpetrated upon them. The evidence of all, or nearly all of the officers of the U.S., of the Freedmens Bureau, and of the Army, goes to prove that great outrages and wrongs are perpetrated upon these people. I do not think we ought to stand here quibbling over the authority to interfere. These States have been declared to be in insurrection and rebellion, and they are legally in That is the decision of Congress, of the President, and of the Supreme Court. I think we onght to act promptly and vact at once, and tell these men who have been for 4 years in rebellion against the country that, we have emancipated 3 and a hal million people by the proclamation of the President, and that the President is pledged, and that the Army and Navy are pledged, to maintain their freedom. I clieve that the constitutional amendment has been adopted, and that under the 2nd section of that amendment we have the power to pass not only a bill that shall a ply these provisions to the rebel States, but to Kentucky to Maryland, to Delaware, and to all the loyal States. But this bill is confined entirely to the States declared b the President to be in insurrection and rebellion, and aplies to, that population whom we have made ree by presidential proclamation. Sir, the law of Mississippi makes every one of these men whom we have made free practi cally a slave, and he is in a worse condition today than he was when he was a slave, because his master had some interest in protecting and caring for him. To turn these freedmen over to the tender mercies of men who hate them for their fidelity to the country is a crime that will bring the judgment of Heaven upon us. The evidence is before us, we cannot shut our eyes to facts. The condition of the freedmen is worse today than on the day General Lee surrendered to GenlGrant. Their spirits are less buo out; they are less hopeful, less confident of their future; and we owe it here in Congress to so that these laws shall never more be enforce, and that these States, at least while they are in rebellion, shall not have power to pass an laws to oppress men whom we have declare free, and to whom we have given the lighted faith of the Republic.