Mr. DOOLITTLE. No, sir, I will not yield at present. I am arguing this point, and I propose to call the attention of the Senate to it. say that in the report of the reconstruction committee they abandon universal or “impartial” negro suffrage as a condition precedent to the recognition of these States and teadmission of their representatives, and I say they have abandons the other proposition that they are not States that they are conquered or subjugated provinces. They admit them to be States, organized States, and propose to submit to their Legislatures the question upon the ratification of amendments to the constitution. Mr. President, my friendfrom Massachusetts says that 99 out of every 100 of the Union party that elected Mr. Johnson are against him on these questions. He will find himself utterly mistaken. I can very well conceive that Mr. Johnson in relation to his friends now is very much like the position of Mr. Lincoln to the Union party after he was nominated at Baltimore, an be ore the Opposition had presented their platform at Chicago and nominated their candidate. From the time of Mr. Lincolns nomination there was a wonderful opposition raised in the ranks of the Union or republican party. The Senfrom Ohio [Mr.Wms] came out with his protest. It was rumored all over the country that Mr. Lincoln was about to resign or withdraw as a candidate and give place to somebody else, and it was more than whispered, too, by leading men on this floor connected with the Republican warty, that ifa Democrat should be nominate at Chicago who was in favor of a prosecution of the war, they would abandon Mr. Lincoln and give their adhesion to the Democratic candidate. But, sir. when the platform of the Opposition came to be presented, when the people came to look at the platform laid down at Chicago, Mr. Lincoln was elected from that hour; the tide set instantly in his favor, and nothing could resist it and I say to gentlemen now that you will find that instead of its bein true as you say that 99 in every bun red of the Republican party are opposed to Mr. Johnson, before the next fall elections are over a majority of that party will“ be with him, and very likely you among them. Sir, I have seen since I have been here in this body and a member of the Union rty, almostasunaniine usauo position in the aim: party to Mr. Lincoln as see now here against Mr. Johnson, and I have seen them come in, and I expect to see them come in again. Mr. President, when gentlemen talk about ruling Mr. Johnson and me out of the Union party, or crowdin us off the Union platform on which he was e ected and on which 1 hel ted to elect him, they know but little of Mr. Johnson or of me. I do not yield the platform on which I stand, whoever may aban on it. I do not yield it whoever may come upon it. parties in oppos1tion to principle are to me nothing more nor less than mere means to an end. When you ask me or undertake to drive me to, abandon the ground on which we have elected Our Administration, I will be no more bound by your part ties than is flax when it is touched with fire. flut, sir, when you argue with me a principle you will find me there every time. Tiough professed Republicans may abandon the platform, and though professed emocrnts may abandon their party and come on to my platform, I will not abandon it. Now, Mr. President, let us look at this matter a little as reasonable men. We organized in this great campaign. We fought the battle through. We vanquished all opposition. wc captured the rebellion, and With it we captured the Demoenntic party also. They surrendered unconditionally to our Adminis tration, to our principles, to our platform, and pledged themselves to its support, both North and South. These are the facts. Now what would a wise general do? What shall we do with this great victory? Shall we be afraid of it and run away, or shall we stand fast by our principles and the position we have taken, and master the situation ourselves? That is the question. I know that the Democratic party as such, being completely vanquished witi our success in the capture of the rebellion, have come forward and admit that ourgrouud is the right ground. Do they so now that the war is a failure? Not at all. Ihey declare that it is a glorious success. Do they now say that they are in favor of theinstitution of slavery or extending it, or allowmg it to be extended? Not at all. They are rejoicing that slavery is abolished. They come forward and nvow in all their newspapers and in all their resolutions and in all their party ciceds precise] what we avowed in the campaign of 1864. s not that a victory? Will you run away from your own victory? Why could we not as men have stood up by the side of our President, whom we had chosen, who stood precisely on the ground on which we placed him, in whom there has been no variableness on this question, no shadow of turning, but moving right on? Why could we not have stood by him and reaped all this great victory, built u the Union party of the country and hel its administration for a quarter of a century 3 Mr. President, the whole secret was told by the frank, open hearted, manly Senfrom Ohio [Mr. Tiinn] when he made his answer to the speech which I delivered in this body on the 17th of January. What did he say? He said that he agreed with Mr. Johnson in all he had done; he found no fault with what he had done; he had proceeded upon the policy of our party, upon the policy of Mr. Lincoln, and had improved upon the policy of Mr. Lincoln; and, said that Senator, in substance, the only thing which remains to be done to put the key stone in the arch is universal, impartial negro suffrage in the South. With that the whole policy of Mr. Johnson would have been complete. That was the point of difference. It began at the beginning of this session with that, and with the resolution that my colleague brought in, that we must treat these States as Territories, that we must provide provisional governments for them as Ierritories. These 2 ideas were the ideas that began this war ii on the President and upon his policy. The resident had made no war ii on anybody. He had made no war upon any 0d s policy or position. He had simply in his rst message, and every subsequentact of his has conformed tothat, brought forward the true state of the case. He was the executor of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, in his last speech from which I before read an entrnct in this body, about 3 days before his assassination urged upon the country this Bupt, olitelry. President, in relation to the power of appointment. I said to my colleague that wghin my recollection, now 30 years of po itienl affairs, I have never known an administration more tolerant of opposition than the Administration now in power. I believe it. If Mr. Johnson has erre at all, it has been in being too tolerant, not merely of opposition of opinion, but of opposition in the shape of the most vilifying, wicked, unfounded, libel ous abuse which has been thrown upon him from one end of the country to the other by newspapers wlfose editors or proprietors were holding othee under the Government. In relation to some of those matters, neither you nor I, if we had the responsibility of the executive Dept upon us, would tolerate that kind of personal abuse. It is unbecoming to allow it. But, sir, in relation to Mr. Johnson, as I have said, he, like other men, may err; but for 3 cars to come he is to be our President, the resident of our choice. the President in whose hands, to a considerable extent, the destinies of this countryare necessarily placed; and within the next 3 years to come we must settle all these great questions, and we must dispose of our pending relations with Mexico and with GreatBritain. In what condition are we placed now, with these States all unrepresented, with the people growing more and more discoutented fniean the Union men of the South as well as those who have been in war against us for the reason thatfor 6 long months here you have turned your back upon representatives as loyal as any man who sits upon this floor, some of whom have been wounded upon the battle field while serving the cause of the country, and treated them precisel as you would treat the disloyal of the Sout. They become aggrieved; they become discontented and disappointed; their hearts are failin within them; and, as Mr. Lincoln said woulil occur, we. by turning our backs upon them, are doing all in our power to demor alize, disperse, and disorganize our friends in the South. What condition, I ask, are we in if we should have (what may come upon us at any hour) difficulties growing out of our relations with Mexico? Suppose that, from our complications there, we are involved in a war with Austria or France, orboth together, what condition are you in to call upon the people of the South to come up to aid you in the great conflict? I tell you, Senators, it is our duty to close up this question. What is the effect of the proposition before us. reported from the ComReconstruction? Isthere aman on this floor who believes that that reposition, if it be submitted to the severalpStates, will be adopted by a majority, much less by 3/4ths of them? Who believes if we should submit it that it would be so adopted? I do not think there is any man who can believe it. If they will not adopt it, what, then, is the effect? Instead of being reconstruction it is obstruction to the restoration of the States and of the Union. Mr. President, I do not care to be drawn into a discussion of.these party questions. I foresaw in certain movements that took place in the beginning, that it was war on the administration and intended as war on the administration by some whotook part in it; and fearful of the result I have struggled from the beginning to avoid it, to endeavor if possible and by every means to have our friends in congress and the POTUS not harmoniously and act together on these out questions. The system of ogcy which Mr. Johnson inherited from Mr. Lincoln had been in operation for years. He presented it. You have not presented any better policy. Something must be done. This policy of the President must be acceptedkcertainly, unless there is a better policy. We must do something. Why not then come u, one and all, and take hold of this matter? can assure my friendfrom Massachusetts that the people of this country, now that the war is over, demand peace, and will have it, and that it shall be once in reality and not a mockery. They demand the union of those States, not their disunion. They demand reconstruction, not obstruction. They demand, and will have, the loyal representatives of the southern States in the Congress of the U.S. Sir, our friends here sometimes overlook and do not fully comprehend, in my judgment I say it with all respect that decpsentedfeeling there is existing anion, the great mass of the people of the North. llIy friendfrom Massachusetts is utterly mistaken when he thinks that 99/100ths of the Republican party, as it is called, or the Union party, are With him on this question. He will) find himself utterly mistaken if he relies on any such anticiation. I had hoped that this question wont have been voted upon long ago. I know that this discussion has taken a wide range and made many digressions did essions which pei. a s I ought to regret, an which certainly I Will not continue by any longer trespassing on the time of the Senate.