Mr. SAULSBURY. Mr. President, ifthere is anything for which the people of this country ought to thank Andrew Jonson, POTUS, it is that he has set his face like a flint against the legislation of congress wholly without constitutional authority subversive of the principles of the fundamen law of the land, dangerous to the existencepf republican principles, and grossly oppressive to the people of the whole country. For such a patriotic service he deserves the thanks of the nation; and I cannot but believe that in view of this extraordinary legislation on the part of Congress, and the firmness with which he meets it, a grateful people will hereafter reward him with its highest onors. What is the question involved in this case? What is the principle involved? No less a principle than this: has the Congress of the nite States the power to take under it; charge a portion of the people, discriminating against all others, and put their hand in the public Treasury, take the puhlic money, approd priate it to the support 0 this particular clasl ot‘individuals and tax all the rest of the people of the country for the support of this class? Sir, I know that it, is perfectly useless to apeal to the Constitution of the U.S. this 0 dead letter. It has no more wQght or consideration in the legislation of Congress, in myjndgment, than any other piece of printed matter. Not only are the negroes of the South set free, by which the object and the aim of all the abolitionists in the land was accomplished as we supposed, but a bill is passed by congress conferring upon them all civil rights enjoyed by white citizens of the country, and they are now selected out from among the people of the U.S., the public Treasury put at their disposal, and the white people of the country taxed for their support. Lands to which you claim title by virtue of a purchase under a tax sale. lands, therefore (if on have the title) of the U.S., you take and give to the negroes in SCarolina. You give these lands to no white person. If it be said that it is not an absolute gift, you may make money of it, the answer is that you say on sell them to negroes for $1 60 an acre. I you have the title to these lands, what is the reason that you select out the negro race and fix the price at $1 50 an acre, when, if your title be perfect, you can command perhaps 50 or 100 dollars an acre for these cotton lands? If it was proper to make the remark in the Senate of the U.S.s, I could say that you could have a purchaser without going out of the senate at ten dollars an acre, taking the whole of them, every acre of the 60 odd 1,000 acres which you propose to so] to these negroes at $1 50 an acre. If you have the title to these lands, that is the way you propose to dispose of them at a nominal price to the negro race. Mr. President. I shall attempt no review of the operations of the Freedmen’s Bureau. I never believed that Congress had any right to establish any such bureau to take under its cha c any particular portion of the people of the IU.S. an to provide for them out of the public Treasury or out of the public lands. such legislation was unknown in the early history of the Government, unknown until these extraordinary times; but, sir, it seems that we have become so much wiser than our fathers that we have discovered new principles of government, and have found somewhere within our legislative power the authority to become guardians for {bur million negroes. Mr. President, there is one aspect of this case, and it will apply to many other cases that come before Congress, that it is time for the American people to begin to consider. If there is an thingl in private life to whichl am oppose; if there is anything thatI would oppose as n legislator, it is the repudiation of a ebt. I do not believe in the repudiation of a private debt, and I do not believe in the repudiation of a public debt. This species of legislation Exes an unwilling people to support negroes in idleness, gives away your lands, if they be your lands, to negroes, that they may live in idleness upon them; deprives citizens of the U.S. of their title to lands contrar to the principles of the Constitution of the U.S., which declares that they shall not be so divested except by due process of law. Pile up your public debt until it becomes so onerous that the people cannot and will not further bear it, andhhere are men in this country so anxious for political power, so anxious for political promotion that they will start la party in this country to wipe out that debt and l get clear of the burden which you wish to iml pose upon them. I do not wish to see this; wish to see the national faith and the national. honor maintained; but, sir, there is a limit to l Oppression and there is a limit to taxation be youd which the people will not suffer. Already, i not in the South, for I have seen no indications from that quarter of any intention to repudiate 5 this debt, but I will tell you, sir, that now, in your own free States, there are men, in my judgment, who would hail the day when your public debt at least so much of it as has no crued from the appropriation of money to support. these negroes in idleness there are men, t Tea, who would gladly see that portion of the public debt wiped out. this may be plain talk. No man can charge me with a design or a par ose or a wish that such should be the case. but you must know that men are governed by interest. Your ub lic debt is now over $3,000,000,00 on have added to it enormously during the present session. You propose to continue taxes upon the people of the U.S. to support this Freedmen’s Bureau for 2 years onger, and what will be the amount of expenditure under this bill no one can tell. The Commissioner may appoint just as many agents as he pleases, at a salary of not less than $500 each. It is impossible, therefore, for you to determine the amount of exeuditure that will take place under this bill. this so much more needlessly added to your public debt. Why, sir, it seems to me that we have got to conclude that there is no end to the resources of this country or the ability of the people to pay taxes. It used to be that apublic debt of $100,000,000 was considered a great burden. An annual expenditure for the purposes of Government of 50 or 60 or 75 million dollars was considered such a wasteful expenditure of the public money that when you met in Chicago in 1800 you proclaimed your selves the friends of retrenchment and reform, and were going to administer this Government upon more economical principles, ata less expenditure than it had been administered there tofore. And yet, sir, in the 5 or 6 years you have been in power you have piled up a debt of some 5,000 million dollars. You yourselves admitted, the chairman of the ComWays&Means in the House at the commencement of the session admitted that the public debt was $4,000,000, UUOand more, and you are levying taxes upon the people of the country to pay the interest upon this enormous debt, and you propose to pay a portion of the principal. Where is the money to come from? There is taxation burdensome, onerous, upon all classes of the community, a stamp upon everything, the necessaries of life 2 or 3 fold higher in price than hereto fore, and you suppose the people of this country are so absolutely demented that for more love of the idle, worthless negro race they are going to submit to all this burden of taxation, and that this false philanthropy, the parent of idleness and vagabondisrn as far as that race is concerned, is going to waft you again into the seats of power and that a tax ridden and tax burdened people are going to bail you as the great party to save the country upon the principles of liberty and there to meet you with hosannas wherever you bear your partisan standards and cast their votes to continue you, in the high places of power. Sir there are periods in the history of the worl, of all nations and people, when madness seizes upon the mind, when the judgment flies to brutish beasts. We have for a long time been in that situation, passing through it, in it, however, still; but, thank God, the symp toms of a political and a bright dawning begin to appear. The people of this country at least are cginning to wake up to the true character of this legislation. Sirs, you sit not quietly in your seats; you are not entirely calm when you can be so alarmed at the call for a little meeting in Philadelphia. it shows that you your selves begin to think that there is something in your past political action that the judgment of the American people may not approve. You cannot pretend now that we are in the midst of a war. You cannot set up that plea of necessity, the last refuge of every man without any legal authority to support his action. You cannot set up sue a plea as that, and say that there is any necessity for this Freedmen’s Bureau. When the people of this country are called upon for their taxes, which, in part, are tobe appropriated to the support of this Freedmen’s ureau, you cannot plead that we are now in a state of war and it is necessary to break down the military power at the South; it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the country; for I presume that in view of your legislation you yourselves will even now blush to say that you ever have preserved the American Union. You can lead none of these things. It is a direct, p ain, palpable proposition to the American people to put their hands in their pockets, pull out the earnings of their labor, and appropriate them to support the negroes in idleness. It seems to me that you believe sincerely and honestly that they will res 0nd to such a call as that nt, Mr. President, there is a feature in this bill that undertakes to declare and almost undertakes to say that that shall be so which cannot in the very nature of things be so. This bill says that these agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, these guardian angels of the saintly negroes, these protectors of the idols of your heart, shall be under the military protection and subject to the military jurisdiction of the U.S. What are they? Are they persons belonging to the Army or Navy of the U.S.? And can you by not of congress say that A B, who in fact is in civil life, shall for certain purposes be considered as belonging to the militar service? If you can say that the agents of this F freedmen’s Bureau, who cultivate the cotton lands of the South by negro labor for their own benefit, and who disense your alms to those freed. negrocs, shall be under the military jurisdiction and protection of the U.S., you may say that every member of this Senate and every private citizen of the U.S shall be subject to the military protection and under the military jurisdiction of the U.S.;that he shall be protected by and haven remedy by and through the military power of the U.S. How, sir, do you reconcile that with the Constitution of the U.S., which declares that all civilians shall be subject to the civil law, and that only those persons who are engaged in the land and naval forces shall be subject to the military jurisdiction of the U.S.? An attempt is made by this bill, therefore, to subvert a plain, pal able provision of the Federal Constitution y rendering civilians subject to military jurisdiction and affording them military protection. And what will be the consequence of this? If one of these agents, clothed with a little brief authority, dares to invade the right of any citizen of any State in which he shall be located and the citizen seeks redress in the courts of law against him, you say by your bill that he shall be subject to the militaryjurisdiction and have the protection of the military power. You bring him in direct conflict with the civil authoritv of the States wherever any branch of this h‘reedmeu’s Burean shall be located. He is to be protected by the military authority of the U.S., and you exempt him in fact from trial for any wrong whatever, murder, breach of the peace, or any crime that can be committed. You exempt the party committing such oTTenses from responsibility to the civil tribunals. Some little military hero, who perhaps has never smelled gunpowder in battle, but who has been placed in charge of this Freedmen’s Bureau, is‘ to step in and say to the highest courts in the States and to the highest civilauthority, “You shall not take cognizance of offenses against the laws, for I am the great man, above the State law and all State authority, that is to determine whether this one of the pet lambs of congressional legislation shall be held amenable for his action or not.” This provision of this bill is totally subver sive of the civil law of the land, and it is subjecting the civil authority in time of peace to the military authority. But, sir, that is not all. There is another provision of this bill. It used to be thought that it required many years of long labor and study to become ajudge. It. used to be a maxim that 20 years at least were required; but, sir, you are making judges fast. 'lsliese commissioners and agents are by the provisions of this bill actually constituted judges men who neither know the definition of an estate for life, for years, or in fee, who know nothing in the world about land except they see the dirt of which it is composed and the vegetation that springs out of the ground. They are madejudges, and judges in reference to title to lands, and judges, too, from whose decision there is to be no appeal. This bill expressly declares that these commissioners and agents shall determine the title to lands, and it gives no appeals from their very learned and grave decision. Any ignoramus that has never seen a law book, and perhaps if he ever saw one could not read it, and every fellow who never conceived a principle of law or a principle of justice, is to sit in solemn judgment in reti rence to the title to estates, and from his decision no aggrieved party can appeal. Mr. President, I question not the motives of others; I have no right to question them; but I have a right to speak my own honest opinions and I think that the with of man could not have frameda bill obnoxious to more serious objections in point of law than this bill to extend the operations of the Freedlnen’s Bureau: and certainly if it had been the deSign to frame a bill impolitic in its character, unwise in its provisions,ingenuity could not have possibly devised a bill to accomplish such a purpose more effectually than this. But, Mr. President, it is a foregone conclusion that this bill is to pass. A war, it seems, has been got. up between the POTUS and another portion of his party. The hostile armies on either side are arrayed. I will not be even a private in the ranks of either. I support the President wherever I believe he is right, and I oppose him where ever I believe he is wrong; an while I believe that you by your legislation are greatly promoting his political interests, an peradveu ture may lead to a renewal ofhis term of office, yet I claim not to belong to his party nor to yours neither detachment. nor wing of the party. But, sir, it seems this war has been got up. feeling has been engendered; and then when the POTUS sends in a message assigning the strongest possible reasons why your bill should not become a law of the land, the bill must be fought out on this line though it takes all summer no truce, no cessation of hostilities. All I have got to say is, keep on if you think there is no here after. It will not belong before the American people will decide upon the merits of this controversy. Passion is not going to last always; men are not going to be maddened always; the time for clear deliberation and calm thoughtfulness will come at last, and, when it does come, I apprehend the reaction will be as powerful as was the invasion ofconstitutional liberty and constitutional principles by the now dominant party. The people of this country will not always submit to this species of legislation, but resorting to the caceful method of the ballot box, tired of the control and mismanagement of a party that kee 9 1/3rd of this Union practically out of tie Union, which shuts the oils of legislation against the representatives of 11 States of the Union, and assumes to ‘legislute not only for the States they represent but for those who are denied a voice in the councils of the nation, the time will come. I humbly hope and believe, when the American people, aroused to a sense of their own dignity and their own character and their own interests will, by filling these Halls with representatives of their will, forever put an end to this species of legislation and again restore the Government to the principles upon which it was administered by the founders of the republic.