Mr. JOHNSON of Pennsylvania obtained leave to print a speech, which will appear in the Appendix. Speech entitled Basis of Representation, January 29, 1866, On the proposition to amend the Constitution of the U.S., apportioning representation and taxation. Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Speaker, if the masses of the Republican party are half as anxious to amend the Constitution as are their Representatives here, or, in other words, if they really believe that it needs half the amendment that has been proposed by their Representatives here, it would seem extremely difficult to reconcile that belief with the declarations so ofien repeated during the war that the South had re belied against the best Government the world ever saw or that was ever devised by the with of man. If this multitude of propositions to amend the Constitution are the legitimate fruits of the nations experience for 3 quarters of a cen tury, and now come to us as the deliberate judgment of the American people, made up in the progress of nearly 3 generations, it would seemnot at all strange that so large aportion of our countrymen at last rose in rebellion against a Government so defective in all its fundamental principles, and the great wonder would seem to be that the men and the party nowpro osing these amendments are the same that so ately and so loudly claimed to be the only true friends of the Constitution and the Union and if our experience and judgment asa nation have not taught us that these amendments are necessary to remedy existing evils I think it will be found very ditheult to reconcile our proposed action herewith that sentiment of profound wisdom expressed in the DeclarIndep, that "Governments long established should not be changed for slight and transienteansm." The most of these propOSitions, if not all of them, emanate from the NewEngland school of politics, which embraces all the doctrines of the now thoroughly abolitionized Republican party. Who can imagine the torture that these people must have suffered for man, many long years, galled as their necks must have all the time been with the Government of the fathers to them so unrepublican in form? We be n now to understand why Massachusetts so ong ago reclaimed the doctrine of State secession an threatened its exercise for what they regarded as evils under our 5 stem of government; and now we begin to understand why in the late War with Old England, NewEnglanders sent up rockets and blue lights to apprise the enemy of an opportunit to capture them. They Were tired of our, to tiibm, imper fect form of Government, and were ready to cast it off for any other that might be thrown upon them. We hear a great deal said of the consummate folly, to use no harsher term, mani fested by the people of the South in oing as they did intoQebe lion against the vast y superior power of the North; but with these devel opments before us it is quite evident that their supremest follyeonsiste in their takin thelead in attempting to break up the Union. ad they but waited until another presidential election was over and the Republican wartywas hurled from power, as it surely would have been, the v would) have had the satisfaction of beholding these malcontents turnin their backs upon the best Government the world ever saw, and then the traitors and patriots would have stood during the war as they stood before it, and in the re versed order in which they now stand. But, sir. these propositions are not the suggestions of long exerience, nor are they the result of a nations eliberation. They are the contrivances of partisan politicians, who, finding themselves in possession of political power not honestly obtained from the people by an open and candid declaration of principles, now avowed, fear that unless they can so alter and change our form of government under the protext of amendment as to prevent it, the people will rise against them an hurl them to that oh livion so richly merited by any party that would in this enlightened age undertake to steal into power under false issues and hold it in defiance of their will. In the 1st instance we have a batch of amendments, socalled, which it is contended are necessary to make good the guarantee of the constitution to the several States of governments republican in form. Some propose to enforce these provisions by constitutional amendment, adopted by 3/4ths of the States, while others propose to hold these States as Territo ries um or military despots, and withhold from their people all the rights of self government until they will consent to surrender a part of them to a foreign race. This is making good the guarantees of a RFG with a vengeance. We laugh at the story of an Irishman who ran into the street brandishing his shillalah and declaring that he would have once if he had to fight for it, while we say tot c people of the several States South that unless they permit negroes to vote their governments will not be deemed republican in form, and we will hold them under military subjection forever. The people of the South seem to fail entirely to aprcciate that high toned republican and libera spirit which would dictate to them that they must either surrender the principles of self government handed doWn to them by the fathers to an ignorant and dependent race or submitto the most despotic form of government known to the world, military satrnps, provost marshals, alcaldes, and viceroys, with swarms of office holders sent among them to eat out their substance and tax them without representation. Betwixt these evils the people of the South seem unwiiling to choose. The one proposition is to set up for them a race of false representatives and govern them accordingly; the other is to limit the class of persons who shall be represented to the white male adults, or voters and this we are told isa just measure of punishment to this rebellious people for their political offenses. Formerly there was great complaint by the o ponents of slavery against that clause of the oustitution which permitted tive slaves to be countedin the basis of representation as equal to 3 free persons, white or black, North or South. Against this provision of the Constitution there has been one continuous howl from the now abolitionized States. They forgot that in the formation of the Constitution the commerce and traffic of the northern States forced a continuance of the African slave tradeupon the southern States until the year 1808, and that to induce the South to submit to this trade they gave them a slave representation in the congress; and now that slavery is abolished and the 35th s clause necessarily falls with the institution, it is proposed to take way from the entire negro population, now all ree alike, all representation whatever, and thus deprive them of a free mans right before they can be justly taxed. It is true that the proposition is softened somewhat by the clause which relieves that class of population from being made a basis for the apportionment of direct taxes. This will make it more palatable to the white population, inasmuch as it relieves them of the great bur den of that apportionment. as the Constitution now provides. But even this will not relieve the nogroes from the payment of some portion of those very direct taxes, and these are by no means the only taxes that are levied in these times of high tariffs, now upon imports, and proposed to be extended to exports as well as imports. Let us look, then, to the operation of this proposed amendment in the southern States. We say to the present voters of the South, you must allow your votes to be neutralized by the negroes among you, or we will not allow those negroes to be represented here. Those man umitted slaves may grow cotton, and we will tax their labor when they come to export its fruits, and den them all representation. Who does this punish, or who become the sufferers under the operation of this proposed alteration of the Constitution “I Surely not the white population, for they are created an aristocracy worse than the old oligarchy of which we used to hear so much. They are the only persons to be represented, and while they represent themselves they govern the opposite race as arbitrarily as an despotism in the world. lhis effect in the North will be the same as in the South except as to its extent. [am not only the accredited Representative of the voters an white population of my district, but I am under the Constitution the Representative of the interests of all other persons inhabiting the district; the voters bY their expressed wish and the rest by the wish that is to be implied by knowing their interest. The lad friends of the Gentfrom NewYork, [him Bnooss, ] complain that they are taxed without being permitted to represent themselves at the ballot box. But what would they say if they were taxed and not represented at all? It must be borne in mind that persons can be re presented without themselves being permitte to vote. The one is being represented, the other is representing oues self and others at the same time. Take the case of 2 families ownin property of equal value; the one is composeof males and females, tyoung and old, while the other is composed e an equal number of persons, but all voters. Both are taxed alike, because both are re presented alike by the lawmaking power. lis this not the same kind of taxation and representation for which our fathers fought the war of the Revolution? 1f the principle of repre sentation as a basis of taxation was worth the long and fearful struggle of the Revolution, ought we not to hold it as too dear to be frit tered away in the manner proposed? There seems to be an almost perfect oblivion among the friends of these various measures as to where the line should be drawn between the representatives and the represented. Human wisdom has never yet fixed upon any definite line of demarkation, as is attested by the vari ous provisions in the constitutions of the several States relating to this subject. A certain class of persons must be set apart as the ope! ators of the public will. All are passengers on, board the ship of state, but all are not officers in command; yet all are protected by the flag at the mastshead. How many 100s and 1,000s of our constituents would like to be members of congress yet only one man out of the 130,000 population apportioned to a district can hold such office, and he is selected by a majorit, or it may be a mere plurality, of 25,000 voters. A faithful member of congress represents the whole population of his istriet, male and female, black and white; and to represent them faithfully he must familiarize himself with all their varied interestsand harmonize them as best he can with the interests of the whole country by the exercise of a sound discretion and a patriotic will. If he relies wholly upon the voters of his district for the expressed wish of his whole constituency he may err, but not unless the voters are unfaithful representatives of the po ulntion behind them and this is not likely to uppen, because mens wishes, when intolligibly made, are found to be with their interests. The vote of the husband is supposed to represent the interests of his wife and so e father those of his children, and these a gregated make up the public weal, commonwealth, or republic ca and that Government which is founde and administered upon this principle is republican in form within the meaning of our Constitution. True, it may happen that these results Will not always follow, and that while a Government may be republican in form it may not be wholly so in substance; yet this would be an exception that would prove the correctness of the general principle. Now, let us turn again to the principles cm braced in the proposed amendment and seehow they square with those upon which our Government is founded. You propose to Withdraw the whole colored population and substitute in lieu thereof only the white population of the District as the basis of representation. Let us apply this rule to the State of SCarolina, and, for the purposes of illustration, assumethat the whole population of that State is equally divided between the races, white and black. Underthe Constitution as it is members of congress are apportioned to the whole population, and they are represented accordingly. This you change, and allow only the white popJnlation to form the basis of representation. nless the voters of this class of persons extend the elect, ive franchise to the negroes, 1/2 of the entire population is at once proscribed from being represented. The ordinary ratio of voters is to the whole poulation as one is to five, and hence only 1/2 of the whole population would be represented; and this is ravely proposed, so that the guarantee of the constitution to that State of a government republican in form may be made good for all time to come. Are these voters, who are but one 10th of the population, and who are, by the express terms of this amendment, separated in interest from, and made wholly independent of, the other five 10ths. regarded with their white constituency as the Commonwealth of SCarolina the respublica? If not, then yonramendmentwill force upon that State a government that is not republican in form. Is not this pluckin up the tares to the entire destruction of the wheat? and let me a uin remark, that the principle being the same or all the States, its application will be the same except as to the extent of the prescription and as to the southern States, gentlemen say they have their remedy. Let them make their negroes voters and the rule will not O crate so harshly upon them. Will they do itl) and if not who will be the sufferers, they or the negroes? Were I asouthern man, I am very free to say that I would do no such thing. I would sooner extend the elective franchise to all white male inhabitants, naturalized and unnaturalized, without either property or tax qualification, and by this means I would swell the basis of representation by inviting to those States the whole tide of European immi gration. By this means I would hold the oisoned chalice to the lips of those who would prepare it for and present it to me, and then we would have the northern States sheltering themselves behind the very same obnoxious remedy that they are tryingto force upon those of the South. The consequences of this course are so inevitable that am forced to the conclusion that gentlemen are either unconscious of what they are doing or that this is one of the means by which they intend to force negro suffrage upon the North as well as South, as it isProvided. That whenever the elective franchise shall bedeniedor abridged in any1State on account ofrace or color. all personsofsuc raceor colorshall be excluded from the basis of representation. What would be its effect in Pennsylvania? Take the 14thdistrict, inwhich is the city of Harrisburg, and which, like all capital towns, hasa large negro population. Unless the negroes were made voters that district would have to be enlarged to a greater area.to embrace a sufficient population to entitle it toamcmber; and so the people oft t district would be shorn of their representation here and so of the Chester district, where a large Quaker opu lntion has drawn together afiarge po uration of negpoes. The people of these an similar districts would be compelled to either suffer in their representation or coin voters out of negro material. Are gentlemen prepared to introduce so great an innovation 1] on the American system of self government?p Our fathers took their stand between an absolute democracy on the one hand and a class aristocracy on the other, and they did this by making our Government a representative democracy, having for its basis the whole population of the country consenting to be so governed. I know not what others may do or prefer to do, but as for myself, the form of Government handed down to us by the fathers is good enough for me. As an American citizen accept the inheritance in the form it is given, and acknowl edge the patriotic oblivation resting upon us all, that we should not alter or change it in any material way, but transmit it to our posterity unim aired, to be perpetuated forever. Ho ding these views and being governed by these motives, I shall steadily op use all amendments to the Constitution which tend to alter the fundamental principles upon which it is based. Rather than adopt these alterations as amendments I would enlarge the constitutional oath to be administered to all Federal officers so as to require them, like the President, to obligate themselves not only to so port the constitution of the U.S. but to protect and defend it from all revolutionary re ormers from within, as Wellasopen and avowed enemies from without. Sir, let me appeal to this House and to the country that this is not a proper period in our political history to make thesegreat alterations. et us be forewarned and admenished of the great danger that always attends hasty and in considerate legislation, and most especially that kind of legislation that becomes from its an preme an irrepealable character the fundnmental law of the land. Changes are not always reforms, and this is no time to make experiments. Our fathers waited many years after the close of the war and their independence was acknowledged before they undertook to form a more perfect Union and Government, and the great growth and prosperity of our country bear everlasting witness to tile Wisdom of their course. Let the passions and the exciteinents that lashed the skies in one vast blaze of fury and frenzy have ample time to cool, so that whatever we may do will be done in a.spirit of true patriotism and love for the whole country, an not in that miserable spirit of sectional and partisan interest, envy, jealousy, hatred, and revenge that seems to pervade these propositions to alter, by way of amendment, the very foundations upon which our American system of government is laid. Let us do this, and our country will remain the pride and lory of our race, a home and an asylum for the oppressed of all lands, and our form of Government a model for the whole world. Let us do this, and our names will be held in grateful remembrance by generations yet unborn. {Patched in from Appendix.}