Mr. ANDERSON. Well, it may take 5 years more of steadfast fighting to secure the end for which the war was waged; and he who falters now is untrue to the Government. Mr. Speaker, the ordinances of secession were on I, but they were effective to such an extent as to dissolve the practical relations of the States adoptin them with the Union. N ow, are these practic relations to be restored upon their caprice alone? The President imposed conditions upon those States. He required them to accept the constitutional amendment as acondition precedent. congress made war, and is the war making power. congress makes peace, and is the peace making power. Over and over a ain, in his eorres ondence with the provisiona governors, the resident reiterates the doctrine that they mustndo t the constitutional amendment prohibiting s have or that their governments cannot be restore? If he had the power to impose this restriction upon the rebellious States, why is it that the congress of the nation, representing the loyal sentiment of the country, has not the power to impose additional restrictions? Sir, it will not do to say that this thing was done at the suggestion of the President; for, occupying the position that he did, his suggestion amounted to an absolute command to those States to adopt the constitutional amendment. The President has more than once declared the right of Congress to exercise centrol over this whole question of reconstruction. He says in his annual mes sage to Congress: “ Follow citizens of the Senate and HoRep, ou are the judges of the qualifications. elections.an returns of your own membera." It is not, sir, the 1st time that the President uttered that declaration. I find in a message of the POTUS, commu nicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information in regard to provisional governments, the following: [Telegram Received7.2op.m.] COLUMBIA.SCAROLINA, November27, 1865. PRESIDENTJOHNSON: Will you please inform me whether the SCarolina members of conrcss should bein Washington at the organization of the House? Will the Clerk of thellouse call theirnanies if their credentials are presentedto him? Will the test oath be required or will it berefusedby Congress? If the members are not allowed to take their seats they do not wish to incur the trouble and expenseof going on, and the mortifieation of beingrejected. Do give your views and wishes. B. F. PERRY. Provinional Governor. [Telezram] Exse uriv: OITIOI WASHINGTON.D. 0. November27, 1865. B. F. PERRY, Provisional Governor, 001mm, S. C. I do not think it necessaryfor the members elect from SCarolina tobepresentat the organization of Congress. On thse ontrary, it will bebetter policy to present their certificatesof election after the 2 Houses are organized, apd then it will be a simple questiop under the constitution of the members taking their seats. Each House mustiudeo for itself the election.returns, and qualifications of its own members. As to what the 2 Houseswill do in reference to the oath now required to be taken beforethe llltmberse an take their seats is unknown to me and I do not like to predict; but. upon the whole. I am of opinion that it would he better for the question to comeup and be disposedof after the 2 Houseshave been organized., I hope that your Legislature will adopt a codein referenceto free personsof color that a i ll b9 accept. ablo to the country, at the sometimodomg instice to the white and colored population. AndrewJohnson. POTUS Sir, he reiterates that position in his annual message to Congress, and declares that each House ofCongress must judge for itself of the qualifications, elections, an returns of its own members and now, sir, what do we hear? We hear of Congress delaying the matter of reconstruction, and we hear throughout the partisan press of the country who are looking to the action of Congress declarations that this delay is made for the purpose of creatin disaffection and discputentr tgiroughout the and What delay has occurred upon the part of congress? On the very 1st day of the session the Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. Srsvsss] introduced a JtResolution creating a ComReconstruction. Perhaps no JtCommee ever raised by Congress has by ca so much and so wrongfully abused as this JtComReconstruc1tion. The committee has been charged with dela and yet, Mr. Speaker, the resolution of this House passed on the 12th of January last, calling upon the President, “if not incompatiblewith the public interest, to communicate to it copies of all messages, proclamations, and other documents issue by the provisional governors of any States that may have been proclaimed at any time to be in rebellion; of all acts, ordinances, resolutions, and proceedings of conventions, or of Legislatures held in such States, under the authority or at the call of said provisional governors; of all returns of elections for said members of such conventions and Legislatures, together with the qualifications required for voters at such elections, and for momers when elected; together with such other information concerning the public actions of such States tending to throw light upon their political condition as might be in his possession; and to communicate, further, copies of all proclamations issued by the President or his immediate predecessor, relating to the subect, whether issued by him or the SecryState, and the papers accompanying the same, ” receivedno response until the 6th instant, nearly 9 weeks after its adoption. The country knows that during the administration of the provisional governors of those States conventions were called therein, that they convened and that official accounts of the action of said conventions were sent to Washington. Copies of the laws passed by the Legislatures of these States subsequently assembled were also sent here. Official orders to military governors and official apers from the militar headquarters in all the 11 rebellious States were also here. Congress asked that these papers should be placed at the disposal of the ComReconstruction at an early day of the session, and had absolutely to repeat the request before an answer was obtained. The work of the committee was thus delayed, not by Congress, but by the President. The information asked for was most important, and was of that description that certainl those favoring the immediate admission of their delegates to Congress are estopped from objecting to. Failing to obtain the desired information the committee goes to work in search of facts from other uarters. Witnesses have been summoned from alparts of the South and a large amount of testimony has been gathered up, and now that it has been obtained the wisdom of Congress in raising this commitee has been fully shown. We do not hear a " much nowadays about the e were wont to hear. Our ends so much opposed to raising 0. So loud in their complaints of es of its action, find that it has perl important work at great labor, and a work, t 0, absolutely necessary in order that Congres may act understandingly upon this most important question. I do not charge that the President has been remiss in this matter, because the communication of th SecyState shows that if blame is to be placed anywhere it is to be placed upon his shoulders. But, sir, I call the atten of the country to these facts to show that pass has been doing its utmost to advancelution of this question of reconstruc.to act advisedly and understand question of such magnitude and “it demands the careful consid 255. Congress has gone for i testimony and published The action of congress in.e has received vindication d the testimon taken by weighed by e Ameril can people, or at least by those who have been truly loyal to the Government ending the terrible conflict through which we have passed. The President, in his annual message, expressed it desire to secure all men in their rights and to protect the freedmen in all the privileges guarantied to them under the emancipation proclamation. A large majority ofboth branches of Congress. responding to what were under stood to be the wishes of the Executive, gave to him for his approval what is known as the Freedmens Bureau bill. Itwas not an original measure. It wasan amendment to the law under which the Freedmens Bureau has been and is now acting and which is sanctioned by the president himself. It was a bill subject to repeal, as other laws are, and intended to operate only so long as the necessity for its operation existed. Itwas not a bill expensive to the Government, for the reason that under the present law millions of dollars have indirectly been saved which otherwise would have been lost. It was intended to assist the freedmen to make a living for themselves. It was not a measure designed exclusively for the negroes, for under the operation of the present laws more whites, in some sections and in manyinstances, have been ben efited by it than blacks. Under the recommendation of GenlGrant the bureau was to be madea part of the War Dept, so that the bill, instead of establishing military jurisdiction over all parts of the U.S. containin refugees, freedmen, and negroes, simply exten s it over the officers and employees of the bureau. It was not contemplates to appoint a cute and other officers in every county or par isfii unless the President himself thought it necessary and advisable to do so. The arbitrary powers conferred upon the officers of the bureau o no further than the President himself and the officers under him have already gone, and ccrtainl Congress has power to provide the rules our? regulations for the government of the Army and Levy. All, from Commander in Chief to the humblest soldier, are subject to such rules and reulations. The war power is still being exercised by the President in suspendin the writ of habeascorpus contrary to the constitution, which expressly states that it shall only be suspended in case of invasion or rebellion. As we certainly have no invasion the President must think there is rebellion. The report of GenlHoward shows that at no time have more than 147,000 persons been under care of the bureau, and of these 50 7,000 were white refugees. When it is recollected that there are 4 million negroes in the southern States, and when we consider the ravages of war in those States, the number of persons assisted by the bureau is small indeed. From the sworn statements of General Fisk before the reconstruction committee it appears that out of the 25,000 persons fed by the bureau in Tennessee 17,500 were white refugees. The infamous and oppressive black codes adopted in nearly all of the rebellious States made it necessary to extend to the negroes the protection of the strong arm of the Government. Now, has Congress done its duty in passing this bill? I have said before that if the people of the southern States of this Union would consider matters as they are, if they would see things as theyreally exist, if they would understan the legitimate results of the war through which we have passed, there would be no difficult on this question of reconstruction. Sir, if they had known the disastrous Consequences which were to overwhelm them in this conflict with the Government they never would have gone into the rebellion. It is strange, strange that they did not contemplate the probable results of this war. Did they suppose that the loyal people of this country, who, by not of Congress, called into service and place in the Army the black men of the South, and declared them i free man, intended to abandon them at the very moment when they most needed protection, especially when every account that comes to us from the southern States shows that the southern Ipeople are treating the colored race very inuei in the same spirit in which they carried on the war against the Government of their fathers an inhuman and cruel treatment and for no earthly reason but that in their coritest with the Government of the U.S. they have been overthrown and made to submit to its authority? Sir, itthe Congress of the U.S. fails to do its duty to these meme omen, and children of the black race, if it fails to make effectual the provision recently incorporated in the Constitution of this country for their protection, then. sir, we must give over into the hands of traitors the last relic of the freedom we promised to the black men of the South. Sir, I never will yield my assent to the doctrine that these people are not entitled to the best protection we can afford them. I believe to dny that they are citizens of the U.S. We are today interpreting the constitution from a freedom and not from a slavery stand point. The old interpretation of the Constitution was from a slavery stand point. We called upon these people in the midst of a struggle for the existence of the nation to aid and assist us in preventing traitors from tearing down the emblem of our nationality. Shall we now turn the cold shoulder upon them and say, “Though you have assisted us and done all that men could do to reserve the integrity and nationality of the government, yet, now that the battle is won and the victory sure. you have no rights that a white man is bound to respect?” well remember, Mr. Speaker, the position of the Democratic party of this country t rongh out this war. I remember distinctly what it. was in my own State; I remember distinctly what it was in the other States of the Republic. I notice, however, that they are making some progress; for the other day, in your own State of Indiana, they absolutely declared that secession is a heresy, and that the thanks of the country are due to the Army and Navy of the Union for their success in suppressing the rebellion. That is some progress for our Dem, ocratic friends to have made. I remember, Mr. Speaker, the opposition of the Democracy to the whole progress of the war party of the nation upon this question of slavery. When the POTUS issued his roclamation of freedom our Democratic frien s declared that it would ruin the country, that it would place the negro upon an equality with the white man. The car of progress moved on. The reclamation was issued. The negro was m e free by its operation. 7 Then the proposition was made to put the negro into the rmy of the Government and permit him to fight for the liberties of his own race, for the maintenance of the Union of theso States, and the preservation of the Constitution and the Government. Our Democratic friends lifted their hands still higher, rolled back the whites of their eyes, and in piteous tones proclaimed that the final stab had been given to the white man, and that the negro was certainly now his equal. Loyal men of the country stood up for the policy of the nation. The negro was put into the Army, and on many a well fought attle field he showed his valor, his ability to handle the rifle and the bayonet, and to assist the white man in preserving free institutions upon this continent. Then came the contestin many of the States with reference to admitting negroes to the right to testify, to em: and be sued, to contract and be contracted with, and to all the civil rights that white men enjoy in the States. I well remember how that political party in my Own State bitterly o posed any such law as that. They declared that to allow a negro to testify in the courts was certainly equivalent to placing him on an absoluteequality with the white man. But, sir, the car of progress moved on, and in nearly all the States of this Union today the negro has the right to testify, the right to sue and be sued, the right to contract and be contracted with, and in all the loyal States, of this Union he enjoys the civil rights of an American citizen., Sir, rays of light are always cheering, and especially so when they come from on unexpected quarter. I want to read because Ipre or to read from those who will have influence with the antiprogressive party in this nation an extract from a speech recently delivered before the Geor ia Legislature by the man who held the 2ndrank in the colic. sed rebel confederucy I mean Alexander Stephens. I read from him not because I admire the man, but because I know that what he says will impress that portion of the (people of this country who need to be impresse upon this great question of doing “equal and exact justice to all men.” Here is what Alexander H. Ste hens says in reference to the rights of the reed mell Z. “ All obstacles. if there be any. should he removed which can possiblyhinder or retard theimprovement of the blue5 to the extent of th81f capacity. All proper aid should be ven to their own efiorts. Channcls of educationa ould be openedu to them. schools and the usual means of moral an intellec tual training should be encouraged anion them. Thisys the dictate not only of what is right approperand Just in itself. but it is also the promptip of the highest considerationsof interest. It, is did cult to conceive a greaterevil or purse than it now is. than for so large a portion of its population as this class will quite probably constitute among us hereafterto be rearedin ignorance.depravity and vice. In view ollsuch a state of things.well might the prudent, even iiow, look to its abandonment. Let us not.howcver, indulge in such thoughts of the future. Norlet us without an ellort suy the system cannot be worked. Lotus not.stanr lingstill.hesitiitingly ask Enn there be any goodthing comeout of i aznrct? But let as rather say, as Gamaliel did. If this counsel or this work be of men. it Will come to nnuizlllit; but if it be of God. ye cannot overthrow it. lest aply yo be found to fight against God. “The most vexed questionsof the ago are social rohlems. Thesewe have heretofore had but little O do with: we were relioyed of them by our peculiar institutions. Emancipation of the blacks with its consequence s was over oonsideredby me with more interest asnsocial question.onorelating to the proper claim of the different elements of society an their relations to eachother. looking to the best interests of all, than in any other light. The pecuniary aspect of it. the considerations of labor and capitnl, in a politico economic vicw. sunk into insignificance in comparison to this. This problem, as one of the results of thowar is now upon us.presentingoneof the most perplexing questionsof thesort that any people ever had to don With. Let usresolve to do the best we can With it from all the lights we have or can get from any quarter." I commend this language of the distinguished Gentfrom Geor “a, the late vice resident of the rebel conederacy, to those in the northern States who cry out against the congress of the nation and against.its efforts to restore to these people terights that they ought to enjoy under the Constitution of the country. It is a problem that we have to solve. We cannot suffer 4 millions of the people of this continent to remain in ignorance, to become degraded and vicious. It is our duty to elevate them in the scale of society, to make them useful citizens, w that they with us may contribute to the wealth, the prosperity, and greatness of our common country. Why, sir, the policy is a olic to commend to the American peeple. I}; is he only policy which will give safety and perpetuity to the union of those States. Let memention another encouraging sign. I noticed the other day that the distin uished Senfrom Nevada, [Mr. Srswanr] ereto fore acting with the POTUS in opposition to the policy of Congress, has declare, in resolutions submitted by him, for universal amnesty and universal suffrage. Sir, this but shows the progress of the hour; it but shows the stern, earnest, reliable, loyal, sentiment of this Union is right in vindicating the principles of justice amfhumanity, and as sure as ( od reigns in heaven, they will ultimately triumph over the wrongs and injustice that the party opposed to the war power and lgating during this contest, and now seek to impose on this question of reconstruction. Sir, I do not feel like pursuin the harsh policy toward helpless States. I do not feel ike asking (though it would be just to ask) indem nity for the past, but I must demand security for, the future. I am standing, so far as I am concerned, in favor of limited negro suffrage in the southern States. On the negro suffrage bill in the DistCol I was in favor of restricted suffrage. I am today in favor of restricted negro suffrage in the States. I not only want it for the purpose of balance against the rebels in those States, but I want it for the protection of the negro himself. I am not of those who believe that the Freedmens Bureau bill is broad enough to build a political plat form upon, nor yet do I think our Democratic friends can make a successful race upon the Presidents veto message. Both platforms are too narrow for the American people to stand upon. The reat, the living, the Vital question of the hour s the extension of suffrage to the negro in the southern States with a view to his own protection and the maintenance of loyal supremacy in the Union. ut, sir, in occupying this ositiou, I do not differ with the POTUS In a conversation With Mr. Stearus and with the Senfrom Missouri, [Mr. Heuonnsoud and again in a letter addressed to the provisional governor of Mississippi, which I wi I read, he declared himself in favor of negro suffrage.