Mr. STEWART. Mr. President I am sat isfied that it is impossible for this dongress to fully agree as to what is expedient to be done to harmonize factions and restore eace to our distracted country. Every one is liable to estimate the sentiments of the whole country by the views of a few friends or a small portion of his constituents, modified by his own peculiar ideas and wishes. This has and will continue to produce an irreconcilable conflict of opinions upon all questions of mere expe diency. there is very little difference of opinion among Union men as to what ought to be done if we had the power to do it. I have always been of the opinion that it was expe dient to do right. In this case we must agree as to what is right and do it, for we cannot agree as to what is expedient or what is likely to return A, B, or C to Congress. The Union party are agreed that all men are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and they will indorse any necessary means to secure these inalienable rights to every American citizen. The more direct and positive the lan the better. All digressions from rineip e or compromises of human rights, whether by congress or the President, only involve us in new difficulties and increase our embarrassments. The Presidents plan of restoration was unsat isfactory, because it ignored the rights and excluded from constitutional liberty 4 million loyal citizens guilty of no offense but fidelity to the Government, and at the same time deprived the friends of the Union of the cooperation of these loyal citizens in maintaining the integrity of the Constitution, the honor of our briwe soldiers, and the financial burdens of the war; because it placed the State governments of the South in the hands of the very men who plunged the country into war for secession and the extension of slavery, and because it admitted into Congress an increased representation of the disloyal elements of the reellion. Yet it. was better than no plan, no restoration, no Union, and no peace. The paramount importance of speedy restoration made me hesitate to condemn the plan of the President for want of a better. I was unwilling to all down without the material at hand with which to rebuild. But in the progress of events, 2 noble sentiments became manifest to me upon which the people of the loyal North might unite; protection for the Union and the friends of the IpInion, and mercy to a fallen foe. The attainment of these humane objects promised resto ration and peace. [reflected seriously upon a solution of our difficulties by an appeal which addresses itself only to the mest Christian qualities of humanity, and examined with great anxiety every plan presented. I found none which promised security for the future and protection for the friends of the Government, and at.the same time extended mercy to its ememies. Every proposal was wantin either in justice or mercy. Mercy pleaded generous amnesty; justice demanded impar tial suffrage. Both were buried beneath an ocean of prejudice. But the voice of an enlightened press and the arguments of earnest men in Congress inspired me with the hope that a direct proposition for a settlement of the questions at issue might finally succeed. I proposed pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks. The general plan was, and still is, approved by the loyal press with no important exception, while every scheme based upon expediency alone has disappeared like the mist of the morning before the rising sun. Although the advocacy of the resolutions subjected me to some invidious criticisms by persons who judge the motives of others by their own, yet no one has attempted an argument against the humanity and justice of the propositions. If those who have always entertained the the same views upon all subjects cannot vote for my resolution because they think it incon sistent for me to advocate negro suffrage, I shall be satisfied if I can obtain the votes of those only who have held themselves open to conviction and have sometimes changed their opinions. Give me the votes of those who have changed with the proress of events during the last 6 years. an the balance may vote as they lease. Those who, in the language of Mr. lincoln, “adoptnew views when4 ever they appear to be true views, ” are thel only persons wise or useful in this age of proress. The world moves, and those who O not erceive it are dead to the living issues of the ay. I have always advocated the necessity of taking the world as we find it, and following the logic of events. The development of new facts is constantly exploding old theo ries. The trouble is that some men do not seem to comprehend the new facts. The attempt to app the theories of slavery to a condition of freedom is the most dangerous evil of the age, yet those who do this boast of their consistency. They were educated to believe that a ne prowas a slave, possessing no rights that a white man was bound to respect, and they believed it still, and they are astonished at the inconsistencies of the world and its tend ency to recognize the rights of man. In advocating this plan my only hope of success is redicated upon the principles involved, and although it may receive no avor and few votes now, I am profoundlyimpressed with the conviction, that if this Union is ever restored, it inust be done with impartial suffrage and general amnesty. Gentlemen on all sides freely admit the justice of these principles, but express a fear that the country is not yetprepared to meet the issue. Let us not deceive ourselves; the people understand these questions better than we suppose. The leading minds of the nation have reclaimed from the beginning the doctrine of these resolutions. The people are in advance of Congress in their demands for justice, and in their magnanimous enerosity to a vanquished enemy. All they demand is security or the future, and with it they proceed to the work of restoration “ with malice toward none, with charity for all.” To start right in this matter it is only necessary to adhere to 1st principles, and constantly bear in mind i. iat “ Mankind are all by nature free and equal, Tis their consent alone gives just dominion.” Protection and allegiance are reciprocal. It is the duty of the Government to protect; of the subject to obey. Where both t icse duties are performed by the respective nrties, peace and order hiust follow. Monarchical government is founded upon the idea that (he sover fzign is the source of all power and the guard ian of“ the rights of the people. Republican government is founded upon the idea that the people are the only source of legitimate authority and the guardians of theirown rights through the instrumentality of the ballot. The theory of monarchical government is that the sovereign only can be trusted; the theory of republican government is that the people must be trusted. Monarchcal and republican Governments are theonly governmentstolernbleamon men. The mixed forms of oligarehics an aristocracies are only a multi liention of tyrants to prey upon the people or fathers established a republican Government on the representative basis, and declared that all power emanated from the people, and that all men were equal in the rightto exercise that power in a constitutional way at the ballotbox. But in practice they failed to come up to the high standard of their theory; they even tolerated slavery as an unavoidable evil, and from a supposed necessity ignored all the civil and political rights of the colored man, and even counted him as a chattel. It was a declaration of rights for all men, but a Government for white men only. The theor was good, the practise in this respect fatally defective. Disfranchisement an slavery in a portion of the Republic produced the results which might have been expected. The master exercised, both in the local and General Government, the power he longin to him as a free man and the power belonging to his slaves. This created an inequality in the beginning. The slaveholder was more powerful than the nonslaveliolder. This inequality and violation of republican principles produced arrogance and intolerance on the part of the slaveholding South, and jeal ousy and hatred on the part of the non-slave holding North. Free labor was odious to the southern aristocracy, slave labor was still more, odious to the Democracy of the North. For in time an effort was made by our statesmen to keep up a balance of power between the slave and nonslaveholding States, and all manner of expediencies were attempted to compromise and reconcile the irrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom, but all to no puriose. Nei ther felt safe, or, indeed, was safe, while its an tagonistic principle existed in the Government. The inevitable conflict came, and after 4 years of death, carnage, and desolating war, democracy was triumphant, and the aristo cratic institutions of the South, based upon slavery and inequality of human rights, were overthrown and utterly crushed. The triumph of arms was complete. The question now presented is, shall the triumph of democratic principles be equally so? There are 2 great obstacles in the way, both based upon passion and prejudice, and each seems nearly insur mountable. One is hatred of rebels, and a demand that the shall be disfranchised and enslaved for disrancbise ment is slavery. The other is hatred of the negro, and a demand that he shall be disfranchised and robbed of the power of self protection and virtually reen slaved. The great mass of the people of the South are either rebels or blocks, and if we yield to either demand the struggle is not ended. he democratic principle of the equality of all men in the right to protect themselves at the ballotbox will still be denied. The party left in power, whether it be black men or white men, will soon display all the meaner qualities of petty despotism, intolerance, arrogance, contempt for labor, and above all a fierce hatred tor the democratic protective principle of the equality of man. if we yield to both these demands, and disfranchise both blacks and whites, what will become of our free government, for which we were willing to sacriflee the last dollar and the last man? I am aware with what effect the argument for disfranchisement of rebels can be urged to the soldier, still heated with the conflict of battle; to the widows and orphans, destitute and sor rowing beneath the afflictions brought upon them by a wicked and cruel rebellion; with the laboring masses of the North, still smarting under the insults hened by southern aristoc racy upon the “mu sill” democracy of the loyal States in short, with everyloyal man who loves the Union and hates its enemies. But it is not the part of men and Christians to appeal to these most nabral sentiments of the human heart unless it be neeessa to continue the conflict for the attainment 0agreat principle. Now is the time to declare for human rights and the equality of man before the law, and if that be still denied no human power can stay the conflict. But can we not new claim that the loyal men of this nation by their valor and by their acrifices have won not only for themselves but for every man in all this broad land the glorious right of self government, and that they and their posterity are to read a rich har vest of blessings as the fruits of t to free institutions they have rese ued? May we not say to the South, “It was not your young men whose lives we sought, it was not your property we desired to destroy, but we found these sheltering and protecting and hedging about an institution in conflict with human liberty, and in. conflict with the Union, and in destroying it we were compelled to overthrow its defenders; but if you have ceased to defend it and war upon the Union we will now cease to harm you 2” All we want is justice for all men, and we will become the advocates of mercy for all men and amnesty and for veness for the past and a promise of frien ship for the future. Let jus tice and mercy stand together, and the demands of each are satisfied. “The qualitof mercy is It not strained: droppet i as the gentlerain from heaven Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed; It blesseth nim that gives and him that takes; Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch betterthan his crown; H is se eptershows the forceof temporal power. The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fen: ofltings; But mercy is above this se epterdsway; It is enthroned in the heartsof kings; It is an attribute to God himself: and earthly powerdoth thenshowlikest Gods, When mercyse asousjustico." Let justice be done and then it becomes the duty O every loyal man to invoke mercy even for those who haye attempted the destruction ofour free institutions. We Will then reflect that the South is not alone responsible for slavery and all its woes; that the N orth and civilized Europe have all played a part in planting this vile institution upon the most favored ection of our common country; and that the whole nation has been clothed in sackcloth and ashes for this great crime. When the evil is removed and the rights of man acknowledged we will cease to inquire who is most to blame or who is most gui ty, but we Wlll labor to forget the past in view of the bright prospect of universalence and universal justice. but while the war asts, whether it be a conflict upon the battle field or at the ballotbox, all men loyal to equal rights and evenhanded justice will be arrayed in fiercewantagonism with the enemies ofliberty. Butitissaid thatthenegroisi orant. Grant it. That he is inferior to the white: Grant it. That the great mass of them will not vote intelligently. Grant it. But what are you to do With him? He must either exercise his own political rights or somebody mustexercise them for him. on once trusted the duty of exercising both the civil and political rights of the blacks to the whites and it came near destroying every spark of republicanism they ever possessed. It destroyed all their love for democratic institutions, and caused them to make almost superhuman efforts to destroy the best democratic republican Government ever organize. It is now a fixed fact that it is not safe to add to the political and social power of the white man the political and social power of the black man. The white man cannot exercise that amount of power and remain a friend of free institutions; hence it becomes a necessity either to destroy the negro so that he shall no longer be a source of power to corru t the whites, or to trust him with his own politica and civil rights. One thing is certain, that th nevio must have the ballot or have no friends and being poor and friendless and surrounds as he is by enemies, his fate is extermination. 2899 oondsnssiomL atom May 2 I But. give him the ballot, and he will have lent y of white friends, for the people of the U.S. love votes and office more than. they hate negroes. Inced not allude to the kindly feelings the ballot secures for the poor, for you have plenty of illustrations at every election. There are many classes of poor people in the North who would be little better than slaves but for the power of the ballot, before which not only politicians but mer chant princes and millionaires tremble; and the mighty Executive of 40 million people bows in huiuble submission to the omnipotent power, of the ballot. In a republic it is mightier than both pen and sword. Before slavery was abolished the master was interested in protecting the slave from ruffianism and vioence, but now he has no protection but the sword or the ballot. We wiii not give him the former. We want no more blood. We must give him the latter or betrayhiin from slavery, not to liberty, but to destruction. We talk of iving equal civil rights, but he answers in the tanguage of the poet “So let them casetheir hearts with prntoof equal rights which men neer know; I have a love for freedomtoo." Give him the ballot and he will secure his own freedom, which includes all the balance. Freedmens Bureaus, civil rights bills, are all very well in their way, but very expensive in their operation. They caneffect very little in protecting or governing 4 million people. The government of a Freedmens bureau is not selfgovernment, and the sooner we commence to give these people self government the better. Immediate and universal suffrage may not be wise, butwhat danger can tllCXGTXBto allow all the negroes to vote with like educational, intellectual, and moral qualifications with the whites hereafter to become voters. If the rising generation of whites are unable to compete on equal terms in these respects with their late slaves, the negro must be regarded as superior. But there is no question of competition in it. It is simply a question of self protectiou, and the negro must have the ballot for his own protection, and it must come to this before 1. c conflict will cease. The whites who have been in this rebellion must also have the ballot and full enfranchisement or they must be driven out of the country, for if you retain them hero disfrauchised enemies, the extraordinary powers necessarily devolved upon the few whom you trust with political rights must make thentyrants. the principle is that a man to be free must exercise political power for himself. Ifhe is not allowed to do this he is a slave. If he is allowed to do more he is to that extent a despot. Every attempt to govern the people of any State by a minority, however loya that minority may be, is a mockery on republican institutions and will inevitably produce anarchy and discard. We must either abandon our principles or repudiate the idea of dealing with irresponsible minorities and calling them the people. There will be no peace or prosperity in at land, Missouri, or Tennessee until the people are enfranchised. But we are told that if the rebels are allowed to vote those States will fall immediately into disloyal hands; that the power of those States will be used to embarrass the Government and to degrade and persecute loyal men. This is undoubtedly true if the rebels only are enfranchise d; but that they will ultimately, and at no distant day, achieve the ballot no sensible man can doubt. In their struggle to obtain this, so necessary for their protection, millions of the American people will sympathize, aid, and approve their efforts, for the principle that a white man (who is allowed to live) ought to vote is too deep rooted in the nature of the American people to be ignored or repudiated. But they tell us when this is done the life and liberty of every loyal man, both black and white, is in jeopar y. Grant it. Nobody is insane enough to doubt it. Butwhat is the remedy? There are but two: military despot ism by the General Government, or an extension of the franchise to the loyal as well as the disloyal; for in each of those States the majority of the whole people are today acknowl edged to be loyal; and whether we are in favor of negro suffrage or not is not the question. The question is, shall this Government be in loyal or disloyal hands in the hands of its friends or the hands of its enemies? It is too late for the Republican party to dodge the issue. There have been too many speeches made in this Congress in favor of negro suffrage to deny that it is a part of the Republican creed. There have been too many votes in this Congress sustaining the principle of suffrage to admit ofany doubt of the real design an purposes of the Union party. If we deny our principles the roof of our insincerity will overwhelm us begro the people. There is nothing left, if we would have a party, but to affirm and justify our principles. Any attempt to hide them is primafacie evidence that they are contraband of political warfare, and subject to confiscation before the tribunal of the people. I was slow in committin myself to the necessity of negro suffrage. ll y constituentswere opposed to it; my education and mode of thinking had been opposed to it; but when I found the Union party committed to it; when I was thoroughly convinced that it alone would protect the negro and redeem the pledge of the GOvernment that he should be free; whenl was forced to the conclusion that the 15 original slave States must shortly be handed over to the enemies of the Government to aid the Democracy in repudiating the national debt, and, perchanee, paying the confederate debt, in making loyalty odious and treason honorable, in rewarding traitors and persecuting Union men, unless we extended the ballot to the friends of the Union for our mutual protection, I was resolved to meet the issue, and meet it squarely. Any attempt to conceal our designs will be proof positive of a conse ious weakness and a want O faith in the correctness of our principles.