Mr. JOHNson, in his proclamation from which I have read, speci e"d the exceptions, namely: the fullnwinc classes uf persons are exccpted from the benefitsof this proclamation: 1st. all who are or shall have been pretended civd or diplomatic officers or offil i tviso domestic or foreign it cuts of the pretended government; 2nd. all who et tjudicial stations under the U.S. the aid the rebellion 3rd. all who shall have been military or naval 0 corn of SJlll pretended confederate government abovu the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the iiivy: lourth. all who loft centsin the Congrols ot the U.S. to aid the rebellion: 5th. all whoyesigiied or tendered resivnationsof their coin missions in the Army or Navy of the U.S. to evade duty in resisting the rebellion; 6th. all who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise thaiivlziw fully as prisoners of war persons found in the l; U.S.s service as officers soldiers. eunicn or in other capacities: 7 th. all persons who have been or “PO absentecs from the U.S. for the purpose of niding llio i'cbellion; 8th all military and naval chiters in the rebel rervicc w n wereedn ontetl by the Government in the Military Academy at WestPoint or the U.S.Naval Academy" 9th. nll poisons who held the pretended officcs of Governors ofb States in insurrectionagainst the uni Statesztemb, all persons who left their homes Within the jurisdiction and irotection of the U.S and passed beyondt it: Federal military lines into the pretended confederate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion: 11 th. all personswho have been an aged in the destruction of the commercc of the U.S.supon the high seas and all persons who have made raids into the U.S. from Canada, or bpen engaged in destroying the commerceof the U.S. upon the lakes and flVFfS that separate the British Provinces from the U.S.: 12th . all persons who. at the time When they seekto obtain the benefitshercof by taking the oath herein prescribed.are in military. naval. Or civil conlincmentor custody, or underbonds of the civil. military or naval authorities or agents of the U.S. asprisoners of war or pin sons detained lor ptle nsesof any kind. either before or after coui'iction thirteentli. all persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion and the estimated value at whose Ulxabllb‘lfffl crty is over 20,000 dollars: 14t.i. nllpersons who have take‘n the oath of nninesly as prescribedin the Presidents proclamation of December8. A. I). 1863 or an oath of allegiaiioo to the Governmentof the U.S. Since the date of said proclamation and wan hmquot thence fonvnrd kept and maintained the same inviolate: Provided, That special application inn bemadeto the President forpardonby an poison clu'uging to the exccpted classes; and sue clemency Will be liberally extendedas may be consistent iyith the factsof the mac and the peace and dignity ol the U.S." These were the terms of amnesty and par don which were proclaimed by the President, in pursuance of the exliress statute passed by the Culigress of the bU.S. Now, sir. this amendment proposed to the Constitution embraces large numbers of persons to whom pardon and amnesty have already been given. I know it may be said that by an amendment of the Constitution of the U.S., which is the supreme law of the land, you can unnul all existing rights. You could. perhaps. by an amendment to the Constitution of the U.S., enact a provision which would deprive individual citizens of their prop crty, and vest the whole of it in the government. of a State or in the Government of the U.S.; you might, perhaps, by a constitutional amendment, pass a bill of nttainder by which certain men should be sentenced to dugh and to corruption of blood; but, sir, I would it. be right? That is the question.l Where men in good faith have taken this oath and accepted tie terms of this amnesty and pardon, is it right to undertake, by a constitutional amendment. to robthem of this vested right? Sir, I have never been taught to believe that might was right, or that such a provision would e right because we had the power to pass it. I maintain that good fail, the good faith of this Government which was lodged by the Congress of the U.S., and the President acting under the authority of Congress, requires us not to undertake to destroy or take away the rights which we our selves have vested. Our honor is involved in it, and we cannot, as honorable men, it seems to me, undertake to unnul what we ourselves have given and they have accepted in good faith. While upon this subject of pardons, as so much has been said from time to time of the numbers of pardons that have been granted, I beg leave to state from a paper which I hold in my hand, furnished to me, and which I believe to be correct, that there still remain an pardoned, liable to trial and to conviction and punishment among the chief leaders of the rebellion, 130 major and brigadier generals, 88 members of the confederate congress. socalled, 158 exU.S. Army officers, and 122 exU.S. Navy officers, who left. our service tojoin the rebellion, and of the prominent rebel officials, like cabinet oliicers and governors of States, 37. In all 535 of these principal officers remain an. ardoned. They are in the hands of the law, lia is to be tried, certainly all the civilians at. least. As to major generals and brigadier gen' erals who surrendered, the terms of the surrender may control the good faith of the U.S. on the question of their trial. conviction, and punishment. Mr. President, to this amendment I object also because it assumes on the part of the Constitution of the U.S. to fix the qualifications of those officers who hold offices under the State gOvernments. lfit were confined to officers under the U.S., to Sens&Reps in Congress, and to all persons holding office under the Government of the U.S., I could well see the propriety of the U.S. prescribing the qualificutions of their own officers. But when you go beyond that and undertake by the constitution of the U.S. to rescribe the qualifications of officers under the laws and constitutions of the States, it. seems to me you are interfering with a question which belongs to the people of the States. In the States of Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and WestVirginia the people have assumed to pass upon the questionj'or themselves. The prescribe the qualifications of those who shall iold offices under their State governments. I think that is a matter which belongs to the people of the States. I stated yesterday that in my judgment one of the great dangers to be apprehended from inserting this proposition as a part of the constitutional amendment to be submitted would be to prevent the adoption of the residue of the amendment, for I understand this proposition to be to submit all these sections together as one amendment, although there are 5 or 6 sections, the subjectsruatter of which are entirely distinct. I‘lic proposition seems to be to submit them all together, so that if there is one section which 3/4ths of the Slates refuse to sanction, all will be lost. I think that certainly ifthis amendment is to he ressed in its present form each section shon d be submitted in so many distinct and independent articles so that if any article wero adopted by 3/4ths of the States, that article could become a part of the Constitution. For in stance. thatarticle which forbids the assumtion of the rebel debt and that article on the subject of the basis of representation might be adopted, when this, from the form in wEich it stands, wonld not be able to command the assent or ratification of 3/4ths of the States, and therefore all might be lost. Now. Mr. President. I confess for one that if constitutional amendments are to be sub? mitted I desire that they should be submitted in such a form that they will be adopted. I want this thing closed up, not kept open for ever. If these amendments are submitted in such form as not to receive the sanction of 3/4ths of the States, where are we? Still in a state of quasi war. I think that this clause which is now proused to be inserted in the amendment, instead of tending to reconstruction or restoration, has a tendency to obstruct the very thing at which all aim or should aim. I am just as liable to be mistaken as any other person ; but it is my deliberate opinion thati on the 1st day of this session we had admitted into both Houses of Congress those gentlemen who came here and who were prepared in good faith to take the oath which we require to be taken, we should this day be in a much better condition than we are now. believe that if these men who could take the oath had been admitted, and those who could not take it had been sent home, the people of those States would have found men who would take the oath, there would have been Representatives from many, if not all, of the States, by this time and we should have presented the spectacle of a united people, the U.S., not the disU.S., not acondition of quasi war. a moral warfare, a condition in which we hear from one end of the session almost. to the other continual denunciation and vitu oration, and which does not tend to peace, oes not tend to restoration or the harmony of the States. I believe, sir, that these men would have been able in all these Statesto have built up a pow erful party to support them if we had taken them by the hand, countenanced them, and given them the moral support of Congress and of the Government. But by our treating them as if they were like rebels themselves we discourage them and discourage the men who stood with them. I have no doubt. of another thin. that if this day the Representatives from all aiese States who could take the oath of allegiance were in Congress, speaking the voice of a united people to the civilized world, our bonds would stand at 10%. higher than they do today. I have no doubt of another thing, that had all these States been represented by loyal men taking the oath of a legiance, joining with no heart and hand to speak the united voice of the American people, Maxi milian would have left Mexico before now. Sir. did you not read the speech of Roebuck in the British Parliament the other day. the man who from the be inning hoped for the dissolution of the Union, abored forit, denounced the English Gavernment. for not interfering to aid the South to dissolve the Union?