Mr. WILSON. Mr. President, the country clearly understands why the amendment proposed by the Senfrom Illinois upon this hill is moved. It grows out of an apprehension, of which there are significant signs, that executive patronage is to be used to influence the action of the country, to influence the public sentiment upon the great question of reconstruction. It seems to me that it is legitimate and proper u n this proposition that the action of the resi at, the condition of the country, and the relations of the men who made him POTUS should now be discussed. I propose, Mr. President, to notice very briefly one or 2 of the observations made yesterday by the Senfrom Wisconsin [Mr. DoLITTLE] and by the Senfrom Pennsylvania, [Mr. COWAN. The Senfrom Pennsylvania set out with the declaration that the President had been charged by me with a betrayal of the Republican party. When I indicated to him that I had made no such charge, the senator repeated it and reasserted it. Sir, the record shows thatimade no such charge agaiut the POTUS I have endeavored at all times and on all occasions, in public and in private, to prevent any dra ngreement between the President and Congress, any disruption of the ties which bound him to the men who brought him into power. A year ago. within 30 days afier the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, I learned from various sources that there was a class of public men among us who hoped to have a new cast of the Administration, a reorganization, a reconstruction of political parties. It was more than hinted 1) some of these persons that the radicals would be “sloughed off, ” that the extreme men of the rebel States would be “sloughed off, ” and that there would be a great political organization composed of conservative men. The belief was expressed by these managers that the POTUS would be the founder of a rest party, as were Jeffer son and Jackson. It was a new era, just the lucky moment to found a great party of the future a party that would take care of its founders. Sir, I confess these hints gave me some anx iety, some alarm for the country. I am among those who believe in the faith and creed, in the motives, objects, and purposes of that political organization which made Mr. Lincoln Presidentin 1860, which carried the country through the fire and blood of civilWar, and reelected Mr. Lincoln in 1864. I believe it to be a liberty loving and patriotic organization, composed of the noblest, the truest men of our country, and that an overwhelming majority of the thoughtful, reflecting, conseientious, Bible reading, and God fearing men of the country are in its ranks. Every sentiment that great organization has ever breathed has been for liberty, for patriotism, for justice, for humanity, for the elevation of every being who breathes Gods air or walks His earth. I do not claim that its public men are better than the public men of other parties who have gone before us or of other parties that have existed in our time; but the great masses, the rank and file, the men who give the votes, are swayed and controlled by as lofty motives as ever animated the bosom of humanity. Thus believing, I felt it to be the duty of patriotism and of liberty to labor by day and y night to prevent a rupture and to preserve the integrity of that political organization that held the control of nearly all the States and of the national GOvernment. Ani mated by that desire, during the last autumn, for 6 weeks, before vast throu s of men in Pennsylvania, NewJerse, and Tiew York, I maintained everywhere that there need be no difference among us, that there must he no rupture, that there should be none. I came here in December animated by that spirit, resolved that no word or act of mine should precipitate a disruption of the great Union party of the country. It was only when the civil rights bill, the dearest measure I ever iy;et supported in the 12 sessions I have been here, was vetoed; it was only when the 22d of February speech was made and a determination avowed to maintain the Presidents policya ainst any policy that might be devised y the congress of the U.S., thatl thoughtthe disruption of the ties that bound the resident to the great Union party of the country possible if not probable. The Senfrom Pennsylvania said another thin, which, as he was replying to some remar s of mine, I choose to notice now. He spoke of the hate that animated some of our people. Sir, I can say before my conse ience and my God that during these 30 years of struggle between the irre ressible forces of antislavery and slavery in merica, I have never entertained one sentiment ofuukindness toward my countrymen of the slave holding States. As I have gazed upon the graves of neighbors and of kindred who have fallen in this war, I have never had a feeling of revenge. I have felt that this struggle, which was a contest of ideas, of thoughts, of acts, and of blood, was a logical and philosophical contest. It was a contest between men trained in the spirit of liberty; that spirit which embraces in its affections all the c ildren of men of every clime and race; that spirit which pulls not the highest down, but lit the lowest up, on the one hand, and on the other the dark malignant spirit of sla very, which shrivels the mind and chases the soul. For 200 years the one side had been trained to the 10ve of freedom, justice, and humanity, and the other had been trained in the spirit ofcaste. It was a contest of giants; it wast e “irrepressible conflict;” and it came to blows; and when it did come to blows it rocked the continent with its power. We have triumphed. Slavery dies atraitors death, and leaves a traitors name in the history of the Republic. Liberty, patriotism, justice, humanity, all that is noble, all that inspires men to lofty deeds were with us in that contest. I look upon the contest as one that could not well be avoided. We have triumphed; and I want no more blood, no more confiscations. I want none of their houses, or their lands, nor anything that is theirs. From the day that Kirby Smith surrendered his army to this hour, no person from the rebel States has asked a favor from me that I have not freely given. I mean to give act, vote, and thought to elevate, improve, and build a that war blasted section of the country. Wliat I say of myselfI can, I am sure, say of the great masses of the State I represent. We would build the church, erect the school house, send the teacher, send on i tal, send skill, do everything to build up the war worn and waste places in the rebel States. The Senfrom Pennsylvania, as usual with him, was very boastful; he was prophetic. I have heard that Senator make predictions before. I remember that during the late long and bloody war that Senator who opposed many of the measures advocated by the majority on this floor and sustained by the Adminis tration, often predicted the direst disasters from the enactment of those measures, When the confiscation bill was pending he opposed it. When the proposition was made to make free the slaves ca tured from the rebels in the places our Army a ould take possession of or who should come within the lines of our Army, the Senator declared it a disruption of the Union and a desecration of the sacred charter of the Constitution. The Senator have his vote against that measure recommended by President Lincoln to aid the loyal States in emancipation; and yet he told us yesterday that he supported the President now, as he did once before, and we had to submit before and we wpuld have to submit new. The Senator opposed the repeal of that dark act that blackened the legislation of the country the fugitive slave law. To that measure of humanity, of justice, of the organization of labor the Freedmens Bureau that Senator gave his persistent opposition. To the act allowing the negro to give testimony. an act of simple justice, that Senator gave his opposition. To the act to make free the wives and children of the men who were fighting the battles of the country, that Senator also gave his oppoeition. In fact, most of the leadin measures of the Administration of Mr. Lincoln met, as is well known, his stern opposition, and those measures were carried by those of us here whom he then branded as radicals, and whom he now continues to brand as radicals. The Senator told us that he belon to one wing of the party and that we radica s belong to the other. I must say I would like to see the win of the party to which that Senator belongs in the State of Pennsylvania. If he belongs to the very tip of the tail of the party in Pennsylvania I have yet to see it. The senator well knows that during the past 3 years he has had the sturdy opposition of the Republican press of Pennsylvania and of the Republican masses of Pennsylvania. I remember, in 1863, when the contest, so important to the country, petween Judge Woodward, the representative of opposition to the war, on the one hand, and Governor Cur tin, who had contrib uted so much to carry on the war, on the other, stirred Pennsylvania to its profoundest depths, that the Senator took no part in the contest. I remember, in 1864, when the contest was between Mr. Lincoln, whose friend he now professes to be, and the nominee of the Chi cago platform party, he had little voice or counsel to give, except very severe criticisms upon the Administration, and not very stinted laudations of General McClellan. Today all the Republican presses but one in Pennsylvania support the general policy of Congress. There are one or 2 others that give a sort of I divided support to Congress and to the President. I wrll not remind the Senator of the action of the Republican convention a few weeks ago, or of the action of the Legislature of his own State. Surely their action is an indication of the temperof the people of his great Commonwealth. The Senator tells us now that we radicals do not belong to the Republican organization. Sir, they have a delegation from Pennsylvania in the other House, and no one man among them of the Republicans stands where that Senator stands. In truth, every indication in that State shows that at least 99 out of every 100 of the Republicans of that State are with Congress. We radicals do not belong to the part I I should like to see the warty with the ra icals weeded out. by, sir, I have not a doubt of the fact that in the free States to da there is not a representative or a senatoria district in which the Johnson men can elect a man opposed to congress to their State Legislature without the votes of Democrats. ere are 39 Republican Senators. How many of them are outside of the ranks of the branded radicals? There are 140 republicans in the House. How many of them are outside of the ranks of the radicals? Sir, you can put all the Johnson men in the Senate and HoRep on one side of one of the street cars on the avenue. They could be packed on the front and rear, and they could carry their market baskets, too. [Laughter] Of 180 members they have, perhaps, ten, antiI they are stronger here, by far, than they are in any portion of the free States today. Sir, let anyone of these much reproached radicals star for his home, and from the moment he lea es yonder depot until he reaches his home he will receive an ovation, hearty Gods blessings, from almost everybody, and he may travel for days and never hear a word said in favor of “my policy” from any party or set of men. The Senfrom NewYork [Mr. HARRIS] went home the other day, and I ven ture to say he met nothing but approving smiles and aplanding words from the men who made this A ministration. There is not 1%. of the Republicans of NewYork who do not approve of the votes he has given in this congress and when the other Senfrom NewYork the other day gave his vote in favor of the civil rights bill, it brought the instantaneous applause of the galleries, and it was repeated by the 100s of 1,000s of the Union men of the great State of NewYork. So it is with all these Senators about me and of the members of the HoRep. They never had so much the confidence, the respect, and the love of the people as they have now, and if anyone man of them is specially singled out for op robrium he is from that moment dearer to the people than ever before. Although I do not like to make predictions, I will venture to say, in answer to what was said by the Senfrom Pennsylvania and the Senfrom Wisconsin, that in almost every State the Republican party is stronger now than it was a year ago. We have 78,000 majority for Abra am Lincoln and AndrewJohnson in 1864 in Massachusetts. I would pledge mylife that we can give 100,000 majority for impartial suffrage in Massachusetts now, and that where we have one Republican against it we have 50 Democrats for it. Iwill make this suggestion to the Senfrom Pennsylvania and he and Iwill remember it when we meet, if we live, in De cember next that he will find that not more than an average of 1% of the Republican party of the country has been led off into an stray movements. 60 the Senfrom Pennsylvania and the Senfrom Wisconsin believe that they can the cotintry appenl to the Republicans to elect Representatives or elect Legislatures against us? They will not elect, in the free States, a single Republican against us, unless they do it with the aid of those who are ever Opposed to us. I say to our friends in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and everywhere else, that these Senators, who tell us they are fighting within our ranks, mean to go beyond our ranks: they mean to make combinations with the men who stood on the Chicago platform in 18, and with the traitors whose ba onets were in front of our legions in the rebel States. Without that countenance and that support, there is nothing of them, and can be nothing of them. Sir, how is it with Wisconsin? One paperthere. started within a few weeks, supports the policy advocated by the Senfrom Vise onsin. The Legislature, with scarcely a dissenting vote among the republicans, have spoken in condemnation of their Senator, and asked him to resign his seat.