Mr. STEVENS. The short time allowed by Our resolution will suflice to introduce this debate. If unexpectedly there should be any objection to the proposed amendment to the Constitution I may ask the indulgence of the puse to reply. The committee are not ignorant of the fact that there has been someimpntience at the delay in making this report; that it existed to some extent in the country as well as among a few members of the House. It originated in the suggestions of faction, no doubt, but naturally spread until it infected some good men. This is not to be wondered at or complained of. Very few could be informed of the necessity for such delay. Beside, we are not all endowed with patience; some men are naturally restive, especially if they have uctiye minds and deep conviction. But I beg gentlemen to consider the magni tude of the task which was imposed upon the committee. They were expected to suggest a plan for rebuilding a shattered nation a nation which though not disseveied was yet shaken and riven by the gigantic and persistent efforts of 6 million able and ardent meni of bitter rebels striving through 4 years of bloody war. It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle s rang from the vicious principles incorporate into the institutions ofour country. Our fathers had been compelled to postpone the principles of their great Declaration, and wait for their full establishment till a more propitious time. That time ought to be present now. But the public mind has been educated in error for a century. How difficult in a day to iinlearn it. In rebuilding, it is necessary to clear away the rotten and defective portions of the old foundations, and to sink deep and found the repaired edifice upon the firm foundation of eternal justice. If, perchance, the accumulated quicksands render it impossible to reach in every part so firm a basis, then it becomes our duty to drive deep and solid the substituted piles on which to build. It would not be Wise to prevent the raising of the structure because some corner of it might be founded upon materials subject to the inevitable laws of mortal deca. It were better to shelter the household on trust to the advancing progress of a.higher morality and a purer and more intelligent principle to underpin the defective corner. I would not for a moment inculcate the idea of surrenderingaprinciple vital to justice. But if full justice could not be obtained at once I would not refuse to do what is possible. The commander of an army who should find his enemy intrenched on imregnable heights would act iinwisely ifhe insisted on marching his troops full in the face of a destructive fire merely to show his courage. Would it not be better to flank the works and march round and round and besiege, and thus secure the surrender of the enemy, though it might cost time? The former course would show valor and folly; the latter moral and physical courage, as well as prudence and wisdom. rth is proposition isnotall that the committeeuldsired. It falls far short of in wishes, but it fuifills my hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained in the present state of public Opinion. Not only Congress but the several States are to be consulted. Upon a careful survey of the whole ground, we did not believe that 19 of the loyal States could be induced to ratify any proposition more stringent than this. I say 19, for I utterly repudiate and scorn the idea that an State not acting in the Union is to be counts on the question art, when the regular order of I hope the of ratification. It is absurd to suppose that any more than 3/4ths of the States that propose the amendment are required to make it valid; that States not here are to be counted as present. Believing, then, that this is the best proposition that can be made effectual, I accept it. I shall not be driven by clamor or denunciation to throw owe a.great good because it is not perfect. I Will take all I can get in the cause of humanity and leave it to be perfected by better men in better times. It may be that that time will not come while I am here to enjoy the glorious trium h; but that it will come isas certain as that here is a just God. The House should remember the great labor which the committee had to perform. They were charged to inquire into the condition of 11 States of great extent of territory. They sought, often in vain, to procure their organic laws and statutes. They took the evidence of every class and condition of witness, from the rebel VEEP and the commander in chief of their armies down to the humblestfreedman. The sub committees who were charged withthatduty of whom Iwas notone, and can therefore speak freely exhibited a degree of patience and diligence which was never excelled. Considering their other duties, the mass of evidence taken may well be considered extraordinary. Itmustbe remembered, also, that 3 months since and more, the committee reported and the flouse adopted a proposed amendment fixing the basis of representation in such way as would surely have secured the cufi anchisement of every citizen at no distant period. That, together with the amendment repudiating the rebel debt, which we also passed, would have gone far to curb the rebellious spirit of secession, and to have given to the oppressed race their rights. It went to the other end of the Capitol, and was there mortally wounded in the house of its friends. After having received the careful examination and approbation of the committee, and having received the united Republican vote of 120 Representatives of the people, it was denounced as “utterly repreIiensible, ” and “unpardonuble;” “to be encountered as a public enemy;” “positively endangering the peace of the country, and covering its name with dishonor.” “A wick edness on a larger scale than the crime against Kansas or the fugitive slave law; gross, foul, outrageous; an ineredible injustice against thei whole African race;” with every other vulgar epithet which polished cultivation could command. It was slaughtered by a puerile and pedantic criticism, by a perversion of philo logical definition which, if when I taught school a lad who had studied Lindle Murray had assumed, I would have expelled him from the institution as unfit to waste education upon. Butitisglead, and unless this (less efficient, I adhiit.) shadiTmss, its death as postponed the roteciion of the edlpped rageperhaps for ages. I confess my mortification atfts defeat; I ieved especially because it almost closed the oor of hope for the amelioration of the condition of the freedmen. But men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us again try and see whether we cannot devise some way to overcome the united forces of self righteous republicans and unrighteous copperheads. It willj not do for those who for 30 years have fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of modern catamounts. Let us now refer tomiitivisions of the lproposed amendment. The 1st section prohibits the States from abridging the privileges and immunities of citizens of the U.S., or unlawfully de priving them of life, liberty, or property, or of denying to any person within their jurisdiction the “equal” protection of the laws. 1 Lgap hardly believe that any person can be band who Will not admit that every one of these provisions isjust. They areal Inserted, ih some form or other, in our DECLARATION 0} organic law. But the Constinitiourlimitsbnly the action of congress, and is not a limitation on the States; this amendment supplies that deWud allows congresatuhnuecLthe unjust ltiglblfltlqll of thgStatemfar that the law which opbrates upon one man shall operate equally upon all. Whatever law punishes a white man for a crime shall punish the black man precisely in the same way and to the same degree. Whatever law protects the white man shall afford “ equal” protection to the black man. Whatever means of redress is afforded to one shall be afforded to all. Whatever law allows the white man to testify in court shall allow the man of color to do the same. These are great advantages over their present codes. New different degrees of punisment are inflicted, not on account of the magnitude of the crime, but according to the color of the skin. Now color disqualifies a man from testifying in courts, or being tried in the some way as white men. I need not enumerate these partial and oppressiveliws. Unless the Constitution should restrain them those States will all, I fear, keep up this discrimination, and crush to death the hated freedmen. Some answergffllouuivil rights bill secures the same this s.: That is pdrtlytfllej but a law is repealabltfiy a majority and I need hardly say that the 1st time that the South with theircopperhead allies obtain the command of Congress it will be repealed. The veto of the President and their votes on the bill are conclusive evidence of that and yet I am amazed and alarmed at the impatience of certain well meaning Republicans at the exclusion of the rebel States until the Constitution shall be so amended as to restrain their despotiedesires. Thisameudmentonceadopted cannot be annulled without 2/3rds of on gress. That they will hardly get and yet certain of our distinguished friends propose to admit State after State before this becomes a part of the Constitution. What madness! Is their judgment misled by their kindness; or are they unce se iously drifting into the haven of power at the other end of the avenue? I do not suspect it, but others will. Theseennd section I consider the mostim portankinllreplticle. ILfixeathe hasisnf representation in Congress. If any State shall exclude any of her adult male citizens from the elective franchise, or abridge that right, she shall forfeit her right to representation in the same proortion. The effect of this provision will be either to compel the States to grant universal suffrage or so to shear them of their power as to keep them forever in a hopeless minorit in the national Government, both legislative and executive. IL they depot enfranchise, the freadmerrfltwould give to the rebel States but 3sesaml representatives. Thus shorn of their power, they would soon become restive. Southern ride would not long brook a hopeless minority. True it will take 2, 3, possibly 5 years before they conquer their prejudices sufficiently to allow their late slaves to become their equals at the olls. That short delay would not be injurious. n the mean time the freedmen would become more enlightened, and more fit to discharge the high duties of their new condition. In that time, too, the loyal Congress could mature their laws and so amend the Constitution as to secure the rights of every human being, and render disunion impossible. Hcuven forbid that the southern States, or am one of them, should be represented on this foor until such muniments of freedom are built high and firm. Against our will they have been absent for 4 bloody years; against our will they must not come back until we are ready to receive them. Do not tell me that there are loyal representatives waiting for admission until their States are loyal they can have no standing here. They would merely misrepresent their constituents. I admit that this article is not as good as the one we sent to death in the Senate. In my judgment, we shall not approach the measure of justice until we have given every adult freedman a homestead on the land where he was born and toiled and suffered. 40 acres of land and a but would be more valuable to him than the immediate right to vote. Unless we give them this we shall receive the censure of mankind and the curse of Heaven. That article referred to provided that ifone oft he inured race was excluded the State should forfeit the right to have any of them represented. That would have.hastened their full enfranchiseinent. This section allows the States to discriminate among the same class, and receive proportionate credit in representation. This I dislike. But it is a short step forward. The large stride which we in vain proposed is dead; the inur derers must answer to the suffering race. would not have been the perpetrator. A load of misery must sit heavy on their souls. The 3rd section may encounter more difference of opinion here. among the people I believe it will be the most opu or of all the provisions; it prohibits rebe s from voting for members of Congress and electors of President until 1870. My only objection to it is that it is too lenient. I know that there is a morbid sensibility, sometimes called mercy, which affects a few of all classes, from the priest to the clown, which has more sympathy for the murderer on the gallows than for his victim. I hope I have a heart as capable of feeling for human woe as others. [have long since wished that capital punishment were abolished. But I never dreamed that all punishment could be dispensed with in human society. Anarchy, treason, and violence would reign triumphant. Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on traitors. I might not consent to the extreme severity denounced upon them by a provisional governor of Tennessee I mean the late lamented AndrewJohnson of blessed memory but I would have increased the severity of this section. I would be glad to see it extended to 1876, and to include all State and municipal as well as national elections. In my judgmentwe do not sufficientl protectthe loyal men of the rebel States from the vindictive per secutions of their victorious rebel neighbors. Still I will move no amendment, nor vote for any, lest the whole fabric should tumble to pieces. I need say nothing of the 4th section, for none dare object to it who is not himself a rebel. To the friend of justice, the friend of the Union, of the perpetuity of liberty, and the final triumph of the rights of man and their extension to every human being, let me say, sacrifice as we have done your peculiar views, and instead of vainly insisting upon the instan taneous operation of all that is right accept what is possible, and “all these things shall be adderfunto you.”. I move to recommitthe JtResolution to the ComReconstruction.