Mr. LONGYEAR. Mr. Speaker, the questions before the House are not so much whether the rebellious States are in or out of the Union; or whether the Government has or has not the right to impose conditions upon their return to working relations with it. Those questions have already been settled by the uniform action and declarations of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Government. The Supreme Court, as long ago as 1862, declared, in the decision of the prize cases, (2 Blacks Reports, 636, 667) that “the present civilWar between the U.S. an the socalled confederate States has such character and magnitude as to give the U.S. the same rights and powers which they might exercise in the case of a national or foreign war;” and quoting Vattel for authority, the court further declared that “acivilWar breaks the bands of society and Government, or at least suspends their force and etfect.” he 30 8th Congress, at its 1st session, and while the war was still flagrant, by solemn enactment declared the State govern merits in those States subverted and overthrown, and imposed conditions upon their reconstruction. This enactment most unfortunately did not receive the signature of the President, although he approved of all its provisions in the proclamation which he issued soon after its passe e. The same thing has been assumed and note upon by Congress and by each House in numerous other enactments and resolutions since that time, many of which received the sanction of the late President Lincoln. e The present incumbent of the presidential chair, while he reinained the AndrewJohnson of Tennessee for whom the great loyal masses of the nation gave their suffrages for VEEP of the nation in 1864, both before and since his elevation to that position, ay, and since by the hand of treason he became ele vated to be the chief Executive of the nation, has declared that all government in those States and in each of them had ceased to exist; and not ohly that, but that the rightto regulate sutirage and to impose conditions in the efforts of those who had been in rebellion to reconstruct State governments existed in the national Government. I will only note a singlebut oft repeated declaration of resident Johnson upon this point. In each of his famous proclamations appointing provisional governors for the several States in rebellion, occurs this re“markable passage: Whereas the rebellion which has beenwagedby a portion of the peopleof the U.S. against the properly cpustitutedauthorities of the Government thereof, in the most Violentnnd revolting form, but whoseorganized and armed iorces have now been almost entirely overcome, has in its revolutlnnug processdeprived t a Carolina, people of the State of [Nor 0.]of civil government." The President in each of those proclamations also assumed to regulate suffrage and eligibility to office, as follows: “Provided, That at any election that may be here avfetnetriohne, ladsfaofrocrheosaoisdin, ngodelegatesto any State cone rsoushall be qualitied as an elector, or shall be e imblo as amemberof such caonndvention unless he shall previously have taken subscribed the oathof amnestyussetforth in the Presidents proclamation of Mn 29. 1865 and is a voter unlified as prescribed by a constitution and laws of the State of [North nrolina, Jtc.] in fo e immediately before the 20th day O try. llFor otherwiseas the case was.] the date of the so caed ordinance of secession." These declarations and acts of the present Executive were made and done, too, after active hostilities had ceased, and the armed force of the rebellion had surrendered to or been broken and dispersed by the superior force of the national Government, events upon the happening of which it is contended by the advocates of State rights here and elsewhere the States in rebellion at once resumed all their rights as States of the Union, including, of course, the right of representation in Congress and the right to regulate suifrage and office in their own wa. WVithout stopping, then, to discuss these questions upon principle, Iassume, as proven by antherity of all the coordinate branches of the national Government, the following propositions:1. That as a result of the rebellion, all civil government was destroyed in those States which were engaged in it. 2. That the people of those States can erect new State governments only by virtue of the authority and consent of the national Government, and upon such terms and conditions as the latter may prescribe. 8; and in this connection the national government may regulate sutlruge and eligibility to Office, and make and establish such other regulations as may be necessary for its future security and perpetuity. 4 and it makes no difference in this respect whether such regulations are establishe by statute or by constitutional amendment. The loyal people who, by their Representatives and Senators constituting the Congress for the time being. have the power to propose constitutional amendments and enact laws for the common welfare, have equal power through their Legislatures or conventions to ratify and make effectual such constitutional amendments. He who attempts to argue against these propositions does so against the uniform current and logic of the swift passing events of the last 5 years and their inevitable sequences, and will find all his high sounding rhetoric return to him empty, like echo from adamantine cliff in a desolate forest. I do not propose to discuss the question here whether the power to prescribe such regulations and conditions is in the Executive or in the Congress. I believe it is in Congress. The people believe it is in congress, and the great masses of the loyal people both North and South are lookingto congress today for protection and security; and for one, I intend to do my duty toward them in that respect to the best of my ability. The onlyquestion really open for discussion is, what reguations and conditions are necessary; and what shall be imposed to insure the future domestic tranquillity of the people and the security and perpetuity of our national existence? the amendments and bills reported by the ComReconstruction fa far short of the ekpectations of the people, and I may say are short of whatimay have desired. The fact is the people are always ahead of their legislators in all matters of reform. But so far as the report goes it is in the right direction, and I will not reject it fer the sole reason that it does not go far enough. The constitutional amendment proposed by the committee, with a single objection, meets my hearty approval. That objection is to the 3rd section, and it is not that it does not go far enough, nor that it goes too far, but that it comes too late. I would disfranchise every voluntary rebel in the land, and place him where the late AndrewJohnson of Tennessee, at a time when the patriotic redominated ever the sinister ele m“ ents of iis nature, said he should be placed, on the back seats” in the great work of restorin the body politic to health and vigor. But that same AndrewJohnson, acting as POTUS, and under authority, too, of an act of Congress has, in my opinion, placed it beyond our power to do this without a violation of the faith of the Government in the eyes of the whole world. What is the case presented? Section 3 reads as follows: Until the 4th do of July, 1870.all persons who voluntarily adhere to the lute insurrection, giving it aid and comfort shall be excluded from the right to vote for membersof Congressand for electorsof President and VEEP “All persons who voluntarily adhered, ” die. Let us see what persons are included in this expression. It would seem that the word “all” is sufficiently coin rehensive and can admit of no excetions; but let us see if its use here is not elusive under the circumstances now surrounding the question. By authority oflaw, full pardon and amnesty have been granted1. To all rebels below acertain rank who. should take a certain oath, dise. 2. To all below the rank of colonel who were worth less than $20,000 at the commencement of the rebellion. This included, of course, the great mass of the southern peeple. 3. Nearly all of the classes above excepted have since received special pardons, and what remain are being pardoned now day by day, and before the proposed amendment can become part and parcel of the Constitution there will probably not be left a single uiipardoned rebel in the whole land, from the highest to the lowest. In the light of the events of the past 5 years, and of the fiendish barbarism practiced by these rebels during hostilities, and of the devilish hate still rankling in the bosoms of the great mass of them toward the Union and toward loyal men, these are humiliating facts; but still they are facts, and we must face them and not stultify ourselves in the eyes of the world by ignoring them. Amnesty and pardon, although not strictly nonymous terms, have been used as such in this connection. Amnesty has the effect “to elfuce the crime and cause it to be forgotten." This is the language of the authorities, and this the effect that has always been given to it by all civilized nations. it not only exempts the rty from punishment, but remits him to all is former rights, natural. civil, and political, with simply 2 exceptiOns: 1st, whore rights of 3rd persons have intervened; and 2nd, where the disability has been created by statute, and existed at the time of pardon. I concede that if the disability now proposed to be created had existed by the Constitution or by statute at the time of amnesty granted, it would remain until removed by the same formalities; but who ever heard of any civilized nation affixin to an offense a punishment or even a disability after the crime itself had been elf seed, wiped out, obliterated by an amnesty or a pardon? The eminent Gentfrom Pennsylvania. the chairman of the committee on the part of the House, who reported this amendment, taking the same view of the law of the case as I do, tells usin effect that the disability is not intended to apply to such as have received pardon aml amnesty. He tells us that if the amendment is adopted and becomes part of the Constitution, and one of the amnestied rebels comes to the polls and offers his vote for member of Congress, &c., and shows his pardon, then he has not adhered, &c., and is not included in the expression, “all persons who have adhered, ” etc. This is no doubt correct; but let me tell the gentleman that in this view of the case the amendment is meaningless, yes, worse than meaningless, it is cause of discord among the friends of the balance of the amendment, where the utmost harmony should be cultivated. If adopted. it would not stand in the way of a single rebel ballot. Long before it can be adopted, every one of the few unpardoned rebels now remaining will have received the extreme nnction of )flldOIl by his Excellency the POTUS, and will have become a voter by the side of the most loyal, notwithstanding the prohibition. lt would be a dead letter. The provision would also be so easily evaded by appointing electors of President and VEEP through their Legislatures, as SCarolina has always done. Let us then reect this dead weight, and not load down goo provisions, absolutely essen tial provisions, by this, which, however good in and of itself, cannot be enforced. I regard this provision, if adopted: both worthless and harmless, and therefore I shall vote for the proposed amendment as a whole, whether this be rejected or retained. I am heartily in favor of the whole amendment, except this section 3, and should be in favor of that if I thought it could be given any effect; and I have said this much because of my unit iety that the main revisions of the amendment should prevail: and not be jeopardized by the retention of a worthless provision. Rebels must be taken care of here in the Halls of Congress; and so long as the loyal people of the country remain true to themselves and the Government, traitors will be taken care of here. The sword of justice will continue to hang over the portals of these Halls, and no traitor will be allowed to pass their thresholds.