Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, it is known, at least by in constituents, that I was not a supporter of the last Administration, and did not cast my vote for the election of the present incumbent of the presidential chair; nor have I any retractions to make or apologies to offer for such opposition. Educated in the principles of thellJemocratic party, with an a iding faith in their correctness, I cheerfull gave my aid to the election of its chosen stanard hear ers, thinking it the best and safest policy to in trust in its keeping the destinies of the counti; nor have these opinions been shaken by so sequent events, but confirmed. I thought that conciliatory measures and wise counsels would preserve the Union and avert the calamities of a civilWar. To this end I favored the eace offerings tendered in Congress by Mr. Critten den and Mr. Douglas. Some of the measures of the Administration, which I regarded as in fringing upon the Constitution, the reserved rights of the States, and the liberties of the citizen, I strenuously opposed. This difference 00f opinion with and opposition to the administration has sometimes called forth from its friends the unjustifiable charge of disloyalty to the Government and sympathy with treason. The inference is unfair, and no hypothesis could be more foreign to the truth. At the last presidential election 1800,000 votes were cast outside of the States in rebellion against the policy of the Adminis tration. These men were not disunionists they were true friends of the Constitution and the perpetuity of civil liberty. They would have preserved the Union peaceabl if possible, but forcibly if necessary. The nion preserved in its pristine urity is worth all the sac rifices, vastas they have been, of blood and treasure. Whether they were right or wrong, whether the one or the other policy would have been best, is no longer a practical question; what is done cannot e recalled. Let us turn from the dead past to the living, practical issues before us. 1st and greatest in mavuitude and importance is the restoration of the aUnion with amicable, fraternal relations between its different sections. It rises infinitely above all others, and merits the profound and dispassionate consideration of on gress and the countr. Half a million of our rave men and untol millions of treasure have been lavishly bestowed to suppress rebellion, enforce the laws, and maintain the Union. The objects for which the war was prosecuted were authoritatively enunciated by resolutions introduced in both branches of Congress by Messrs. Johnson and Crittenden, and obtained with great unanimity its concurrent sanction. On this congressional platform, acquieseed in by every Dept of the Government without change or modification, the war was prosecuted, the rebellion suppressed, eace restored, and the Union maintained. Suc, at least, was the judgment of the country up to the time of the meetin of the present Congress. Every where, on and and J sea, our arms had been triumphantly victorious; the insurgents were route and vanquished, laid down their arms and sued for once. Animosity began to give way, sections bickering was hushed, business and confidence began to revive, the country was tired of strife and war, the national heart earned for peace, quiet, unity, and fraternity. he Executive had inaugurated and was successfully carryin out a policy for the restoration of civil aufiiority, which for its wisdom and justice commended itself to the country and the civilized world. such was the condition of national affairs when Congress convened. These bright visions and cherished hopes received their 1st rude shock when the hon crable Speaker. in his serenade speech, sounded the key note of opposition to restoration that we should “make aste slowly.” The sentiments enunciated in that carefully preated speech, by one of the ablest and most stin yguished of his party, foreshadowed unmistalb ably the purposeto thwart the Executive in his policy for the restoration of the Union. A caucus was called Mr. Srsvsxss antirestoration resolution adopted, the Clerk refused to place on the roll or call the name of any member from either of the 11 southern States. As soon as the House was thus organized the caucus resolution was adopted, creating the celebrated JtCommee of 15 on reconstruction. to which were to be referred without debate all credentials and other matters appertaining to members from the 11 southern States, thereby ignorin the standing ComElections in enc House and depriving them of their right to “judge of the elections, aturns, and v qualifications of its own mem This committee was created for the purpose of preventing restoration; to destroy, not to restore, and thus far it has successful yearried out the objects and purposes for which it was ushered into existence. They are opposed to the restoration of the Union, and it will never be restored as long as they have the power to prevent it. The resolution creating this committee and defining its duties is in palpable conflict with the plain provisions of the constitution. Permit me to call your attention to it. Article 1, section 5, provides that “each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members.” Now, while this resolution stands as valid and is executed it virtually annuls this constitutional provision that “ each House shall be the judge, ” &c., “ of the qualifications of its own members.” By the terms of this resolution both Houses must judge of the qualifications, &e., of each, instead of each House judging of its own members. By referring all credentials to this committee you deprive this House of being “the judge, ” or of even exressing an opinion on the subject; neither House can act so arately as the “judge; ” but it requires both Houses, acting joint y, to be the “judges.” By the Constitution each House is to act separately in judging of the qualifications of its own members, while by the resolution this right is denied as it requires the concurrent action of both Houses be ore the members can be admitted to either. If 3/4ths of the members of this House desire to admita member from Tennessee it cannot be done without the consent of the Senate, wherefore I hold that the resolution is in violation of the constitution as it prohibits each House from the exercise of the constitutional right to judge of the qualifications, &c., of its own members, as this House cannot act upon the subject without the concurrent action of the Senate. By this new rule all propositious for the admission of members from the southern States must be referred, without debate or vote, to the JtComReconstruction. How, then, can this House judge of the qualifications and admit a memberwhen it desires to do so? Itmay be said by rese inding the resolution. But can one House repeal a JtResolution? Thus the Constitution is held in abeyance by JtResolution of Congress. Again, article 1, section 2, of the Con! stitution provides that “each State shall have at least one Representative, ” and by article 1, section 3, the Senate of the U.S shall be composed of 2 Senators from each State, chosen y the Legislature thereof, for 6 ears; and each Senator shall have one vote. et Congress has been in session for over 5 months, and in palpable violation of this plain constitutional provision has pers ist ently refused any representation either in the Senate or House from 11 States of the Union, although from some of them, at least, loyal Sens&Reps, duly elected and qualified, with legal credentials, have been knocing at our doors asking admission, unless they Would consent to abandon the rent fundamental principle which lies at the asis of our form of government, that each State has the exclusive right to determine who shall exercise the elective franchise, and to manage find control her own domestic institutions and civil polity in her own way, subject only to tb Constitution of the U.S and the laws made in pursuance thereof. Congress can only lawful yexcrcise the delegated pow ers, all others “ are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Many of the States now represented in Congress do not conform to the invidions discriminations of the disunion committee. Why not exclude their members for the same reason? Sir, I have not been disappointed in the action of the committee charged with the specific duty ofre construction. Accordin to all parliament ary rules and usages, it shorfid have gleen constructed with a majority favorable to ie object with which it was specially intrusted. I fear this orphan child of reconstruction will never receive much nourishment from the breast of its unnatural, unfriendly mother. Like Military courts martial. the committee was organized to convict. Their object has been to dissever.nd destroy, not to restore or build up. This “central directory” has held its star chamber meetings in secret conclave. Still the country could readily divine what such a committee would naturally be doing. After 2 months session with the credentials of members from 11 States before them, the 1st bantling ushered into the presence of the House, nur tured on the fructifying pap of the “committee of public safety, ” was a constitutional amendment to deprive these unrepresented States of some 20 or 30 Representatives ip congress, to which they are entitled under the constitution, and without permitting them to be heard by Representatives or otherwise. It is sought to enforce an odious constitutional provison upon 8 million people, against t air will, and ) without their assent. Then every modest appropriation of $10,000 is asked for to enable them to manufacture testimony in favor of disunion and against the restoration policy of the Administration. such a request. was promptly granted by such a congress. Next, 25,000 extra copies of volumine us carparts testimony, prepare by the secret junta, are ordered to be printed, expressly as a cam )aign document, to be used for the purpose of engendering sectional strife and exciting personal animosities and bitterness between the people. Thus increased taxes are imposed upon the tpeople to further party schemes, dissever the nion, and misrepresent and malign the President. After 3 months of the most excruciating labor the “directory” introduce another proposition to admit the State of Tennessee into the Union. The State of Tennessee out of the Union!If so, then the rebellion was asue cess, the Union severed, and the Government destroyed. Sir, is this theory of a disse vered Union and dead States true? If so, when, where, and by what means was it accomplished? The insurgents passed ordinances of secession. Did we acknowledge their binding force or validity? Surely not; we held them as absolutcl null and void. They claimed the right to talie certain States out of the Union, and to enforce it, appealed to the arbitrament of arms. We denied the right and accepted the tendered wager of battle. They waged war against the Government for the purpose of taking the States out of the Union; we prosecuted it on our part to keep them in the nion; and inasmuch as it is admitted that the contest was decided in our favor, it is difficult to understand how the committee come to the sage conclusion that the insurgent States are out of the Union. If this theory be true, the present incumbent of the executive chair is ineligible to the office of President, not having been prior to his election “ 14 years a resident of the U.S. ” Sir, the sophistical theory of a dissevered Union is false and fallacious, and cannot stand the scrutinizing tast of investigation. Accord in to the reasoning of the committee, the singlfiar anomaly is presented that the States, in some mysterious manner, without any rsou knowing when, where, or how, actually got out of the Union, though the rebellion collapsed and the Government triumphed. It it ored that the States were guilty of treason, and, therefore, dead States, out of the Union. Every lawyer knows that a State cannot commit treason. Tennessee, never having been out, requires no enabling act at. our hands for readmission. Though temporarily overrun by rebellion, she is not obliterated or torn by ruth less hands from her orbit. She still stands as one of the States in the national constellation, without any constitutional right or lawful authoritv on her part to sece e or on ours to force er out. The Union of these States can only be de stroyed or dissevered by consent or force. consent has not been given, and force has been overcome by force. Thank God, the terrible frairicidal conflict is terminated. The Union has survived the shock and still lives. The nations blood and treasure have not been sac rificed for naught. If these 11 States are actually out of the Union, wh were some of their Representatives retaine in Congress, without objection, after the passage of their ordinances of secession and during the prose cution of the war? In August, 1861, Congress imposed a direct tax on these elevenStates of between 5 and 6 million dollars, which recognized them as being in the Union. In March, 1862, in apportioning representation among the States, 57 members were assigned to the 11 States whose rere sentatives are now excluded from this all. Why a portion them representatives in congress if) they were out of the Union? Article 4,section 3, of the Constitution provides that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the unction of 2 or more States, or parts of totes, without the consent of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.” Under and by virtue of this provision the State of Virginia was divided, vthe State of WestVirginia admitted by the consent of the Legislature of Virginia, thereby recognizing her as a State in the nion, and the action of her Legislature as valid in giving their consent to her ismemberment. It is well known that President Lincoln always recognized and regarded the States within the Union, and ured in public and private upon his party the [it mission of lte Representatives from the State of Louisiana into congress. In the adoption of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery the States lately in rebellion were distinctly recognized as being in the Union, for that purpose, by the Administration. The Supreme ourt of the U.S. recently, with but one dissenting voice, decided to take up and dispose of the business in said States, thus adju icating that they are States in the Union, and not Territories or conquered provinces. Sir, I have now shown that for the last 4 years every Dept of the Government, executive, legislative, and judicial, has Uniformly recognized them as States in the Union, and reudiated the suicidal dogma of a de stroye Union and dead States. The chair man of the ComReconstruction mooted. his favorite theory of conquer territory and dead States in the 38 Congress, but with all his opularit as aparty leader and acknowledged1 ability e was unable to control 20 votes of his own party in favor of the proposition; and when introduced by him in the Baltimore convention was voted down by an overwhelmin majority in the house of his own friends. ow, since the meeting of this Congress, new light seems suddenly to have dawned upon the darkness. Heretofore an intimation that the Union was disrupted or severed was regarded as disloyal, but now it constitutes the very uintesseiice of patriot ism. Now, the President and his Cabinet, as well as the brave officers and soldiers who periled their lives that the Union might live, are to be ostracized and repudiated because they refuse to keep step to the revolutionary strides of these radical destructionists. Mr. Speaker, can it be possible that honor able members are serious when they propose to hold as conquered provinces, and govern ymilitary force 11 States, with 8 or 10 millions of people, for an indefinite period of time without representation? Will they obliterate these States, and strike 11 stars from the national galax? Would they create a Hungary, a Poland, or an Ireland? Shall we turn upon our fathers, abjure our past history, and take to our embrace theories of government drawn from the despotisms of the Old World? I implore gentlemen to pause and consider before they peril all we hold most dear by taking a step so pregnant with danger; to let reason and justice, and not passion or party considerations, control their action. A eat responsibility from which we cannot, i we would, divest ourselves devolves upon this congress. Why should we longer delay the full and complete restoration of the Union? Is there anything to be gained by procrastination? If, as is alleged, there still exists in some arts of the South unkind and even bitter feeings toward the North, it is not likely that oppression and tyranny on our part or the enforcement of the antiAmerican doctrine of “ taxation without representation" will tend to diminish it or increase theirrespect and love for us. The southern people committed a grave error, a were guilty of a great wrong in wa ng or against a beneficent Government; an they have been greatly humiliated and severely punished. In their penury and penitence they as to comeback. Like the prodigal son, they have wandered far from their fathers house, wasted their substance in riotous living, have been feeding upon husks, have come to themselves and turned their faces homeward. Now, what shall we do? Shall we imitate the elder brother by gettin angry, or the kind hearted father who saw tereturning prodigal when afar off, and went forth to meet him? Sir, for myself I am frank to say I have no heart to turn my back upon the returning pen. Kent. If there are still roots of bitterness springing up in the hearts of this people, the surest and most expeditious way to eradicate them is by justice tempered with mercy. 2 antagonistic plans, radically different, are pending before Congress and the country: 1. The lan of the committee of 15, of a severed nion, dead States, conquered prov inces, and public enemies, to be taxed without representation and governed by arbitrary force. 2. The plan of the President: that the ordinances of secession were void; that the States still live and are in the Union; that taxation without representation is against the genius of our Government; that legally elected loyal Representatives should be admitted to their seats in Congress. On these issues I cannot doubt as to my duty, and shall cordially support the restoration pol. icy of the Administration in preference to the destructive policy of Congress. One willbuild up, the other destroy one is life the other death, to the nation. It is my deliberate conviction, founded upon the best information at my command, that the controlling minds on that committee neither desire nor intend that the Union shall ever be restored. They fan the dying embers of sectional prejudice and passion; they pretend that there is danger of another outbreak in the South and that the freedmen will be reenslaved, and thereby hope to conceal their covert designs upon the liberties of the people and more effectually break down the reserved rights of the States, undermine the foundations of constitutional liberty, and erect upon its ruins a consolidated despot ism. I say it in sorrow, not in malice, and sincerely hope I may be mistaken. Mr. Speaker, paradoxical as it may appear, there are persons in this country, nurtured in our midst, basking beneath the protecting aegis of our flag, inimical to our free institutions, hostile to our form of government, ready to overturn it whenever a favorable opportunity is presented; nor, sir, are they connod to the south side of Mason and Dixons line. The “hammering” has been goin on at both ends; at the South it has now ceasetf. If like obstructions impede our progress at the other end of the line, they must get out of the way, or alike remedy must be applied. The great mass of our people are devotedly attached to our institutions and form of government, and will not tolerate treason or isunion in any section. History is replete with instances in which friendship and devotion have been assumed for the purpose of stealthily disarming apprehended danger and destroying the victim. We may find, when too late, that we have nurtured in our bosoms venomous retiles ready to strike with poisoned fangs at the heart of the cher ished and revered institutions of our fathers. Forewarned we are forearm ed, while those who betray with a kiss are most to be dreaded and shunned. Sir, why are the 3 score and ten constitutional amendments thrust upon the consideration of the present Congress? More in number than in all previous Congresses combined. It is a circumstance pregnant with meaning, omine us of the deep seated hatred and utter contempt with which that instrument, is regarded by a majority of the members of this Congress. Indeed, it is thought unfashionable and in bad taste to speak a word in praise of the old Constitution. If all these amendments were adopted there would scarcely be anything left of it. To us, truly, has igno rance been bliss; for over 3/4ths of a century we have been “plodding along with our old Constitution. ashington, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton, and their compeers, made it. The benighted and sluggish intellects of such men as Jackson, Clay, Webster, and Benton, were impervious to this latter day light, and died in blissful ignorance that a Constitution the had lived under and cher ished was so ra ically defective in protecting the rights and liberties of the people. How weak and frail is human judgmeutl How strange and inse rutable are the ways of Prov idence, that the nation should have been suffered to grope its way in darkness so long! But now, suddenly and miraculously as the conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, pretended statesmen in the 39th Congress rise 11 men assuming to have more urity than ashington, more intellect than adison and Jefferson, and discover that our form of government is a failure; that our admirable Constitution, with all its symmetrical checks and balances, is an abhorrent thing, to be detested and s urned, and wholly unfit for this moral and enightened age Mr. Speaker, I am sometimes oppressed with serious misgivings, whether gentlemen who find so many radical defects in our constitution are really in favor of the form of government under which we live. I prefer to let well enough alone, to"Bear those ills we have. Than fly to others that we know not of." and I trust it will not be esteemed discourte ous to the House when I announce thatI have as much confidence in the capacity and integ rit of the men who made our Constitution as I have in the “central directory, ” which, if not checked in their revolutionary schemes, will destroy it. I concur in and commend to the House the views of the President so felicitously expressed in relation to amending the Constitution. Now, I submit, Mr. Speaker, for the can did and disassionate consideration of the House, whether the paramount interest of the country does not demand at our hands that we should stop this tinkering with the Constitution and s ply ourselves to the necessar and legitimate business before us. The people expect and will demand this at our hands. They are grievously oppressed with onerous taxes let us try and ameliorate their condition an lighten those heavy burdens. Retrenchment o expenses should commence at once in every branch and Dept of the public service. The tariff should be reealed or reduced to a revenue standard; the ords of the loom are amassing princely fortunes at the expense of the consumer. heArmy and Navy should be at once reduced to a peace establishment. The internalrevenue is oppressive and bears very unequally, especially on mechanics and artisans; the $600 exemption should be increased to $1,000, and large incomes of $20,000 and upward should pay a higher tax, say 20 to 25%. The laws in relation to fishing bonnties is class legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the consumer, and should be reealed. The nations gratitude, as well as the claims of justice to our countrys brave defenders, demand the passage of a law for. the equalization of bonnties. These important measures are kept back and neglected in the revailing mania of this Congress to get rid of e old Constitution. If we will take 11 the necessary business, sink the nartisan in e patriot, and leave President making to the people, to whom it properly belongs, we still have time and opportunity to render invaluable services to the country. I am not unmindful that you have sacrifices to make and prejudices to overcome in rising above party to the higher plans of statesmanship. I will not claim exemtion from its influence; perhaps we have al been more or less subect to its onds. From boyhood I have been i entified with the Democratic party; it may have committed some errors no finite organization is perfect still I have an abiding faith in the correctness of its principles and the purit of its motives, and would sooner confide the safety and destiny of our country to its kecpin than any party that ever existed in the tide O time; and yet I have ever held in contempt a mere partisan for the sake of party. Our paramount duties and obligations to the country rise infinitely above al such paltry ties an considerations. Against the judgment and clear convictions of those with whom it has been my pride to act, the people by decisive majorities have sustained the party in power; that exression of opinion, though not according wlt our judgment, is at least entitled to our respect; consequently, upon entering upon the duties of this Congress I accepted the situation, without any disposition to interpose factions opposition to such measures as the people had indorsed; with an anxious desire to cooperate in the adoption of such measures as would secure enduring peace, prosperity, and unity to the whole country. It, however, soon became apparent that a breach between the President an the radical portion of the party was inev itable. that new political affiliations were forming, old issues ccoming obsolete, new ones coming up, and in these mutations strange bed fellows and old antagonism thrown together. Viewing the situation merely from a party stand point, the opposition would have allili ated with the dise. ected faction and opposed the Administration. such was not our course. Being in favor of the Union and a restoration of fraternal relations between the different States, we gave these measures our support, although inaugurated by an Administration which we had opposed. I am neither an opposer or follower of President Johnson, but will sustain him when right and oppose him when wrong. He has said and done many things, and probably will again, in which I cannot concur. Nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, candor and justice require me to say I am deeply impressed with the conviction that President Johnson, considering the new and embar rassing circumstances by which he is surrounded, is doing the best he can for the restoration of the Union and the interest of the whole country, and thus beliewng, I would be unworthy the high trust confided to me, and of the constituency I have the honor to represent, if I failed to sustain him. I see no reason to impu n his motives, doubt his honesty, or question iis capacity. He has served the countrylong and faithfullyin important official positions. His early political training and antecedents are such as to give hope to the friends of the Union and constitutional liberty. This is no time forcations or factions legislation. The Union of the States and the ib erties of the people are imperiled; their true friends must stand unitedly to ether battling against secession and disunion wherever, North or South, they may show their hydra head or cloven foot. On these issues the President is right, and we must sustain him and hold up his hands. New, I submit to all candid and fair minded men whether the ribaldry and vituperation daily heaped upon the President by tiis radical faction is just and fair. Is hea dog to be muzzled, or a slave that dare not oak? Is an Amegican President to crouch lire a whipped spaniel at the feet of revolutionary disunionists or treasouahle malplote tors?.When he communicates his views to the Senate, founded upon information derived from the Lieutenant General and others, in relation to the condition of affairs in the southern States, as he was bound to do by his duty and oath of office, he is charged by a leading radical Senator with making a “ white washing report, ” intending to convey the impression that he had perured himself by furnishing a false report.When he intimates to a Senator his opinion in regard to amending the Constitution the chairman of the committee of 15 Srnvsxsg tells the House that kings have 0st their hea s, for slighter offense, and brands him as a “usurper.” These are grave charges to be made a inst the President of their own choosing. Ofivhat heine us crime has AndrewJohnson been guilty, that he should be thus abused by these Robespicrres and Dantons? Is it because he is the friend of the people and the peoples Government and opposed to traitors and treason North and South? Has he not breasted the storm, stood firm and unmoved as an adniantine rock, while the suing waves of disunion and trea son dashed W1dly and madly around him 2 Has he not always been the fearless and incorruptiblechampion of the rights and liberties of the people? Ah, there is the rub; they know he is too firm to be forced and too pure to be bought Southern traitors unsuccessfully tried both. He denounced and fought them until the acknowledged themselves whipped, laid own their arms, and sued for pardon. Then his Generous nature revolted at the meanness of wreaking vengeance upon a subdued and fallen foe. Criticisms have conindulged in, that in 1861 treason was not nipped in the bud, but then, asnow, he se entedt e danger in the tainted air, and was among the 1st to raise his warning voice and denounce the treasonable conv spiracies against the integrity of the Union. If these maligners are for the Union, the President is not in their way; but if against it, they will find they have a hard road to travel; but when they show penitence, and retract their disunion sentiments, executive clemency will wipe out all their guilty stains. He is generous and humane, but when they attempt to drive him they will find him firm and unmoved, except by the right. Mr. Speaker, the country has cause of grati tude that in this national crisis, in this day of extreme peril, the right man is in the right place. All is not lost that is in danger. The resident stands as a wall of fire between the people and the revolutionary disunionists who won d undermine the foundations of the governmentthatthey might peretuate their power, revel in peculation and public Southern treason plunder is among the things of the past. Northern disunionists must also be put down. The friends of the Union must stand firm and united, encouraing the heart and strengthening the hands of their great cham pion. As Aaron and Hur stayed up the hands of Moses that Israel might prevail against Amalek, so may our Aarons and Hurs stay up the hands O our Moses, that the may be steady, and before the going down of the sun on the November election our Joshnas will discomfit and utterly overthrow and at out of remembrance these disunion Amale 8. Mr. Speaker, I have an abiding faith that an over ruling Providence shapes and directs the des tinies of men and nations; that the same protecting hand that lead forth the children of Israel and gave them victory over their ene mies; that watched over our feeble colonies in their infancy; gave us Washington to organize and lead our raw recruits and undise iplined militia against the mercenary hirelings and trained veterans of despotism; that gave us such men as Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and their compeers to found and establish the best Government the world ever saw; that have us Jackson to ni treason in the bud, and y the wise and fcariizss exercise of the veto power throttled the U.S. Bank, has in these latter days vouchsafed to the nation the incorruptible Johnson to protect and de fend the Constitution and preserve and innintain the rights and liberties of the people. His marked character renders him peculiarly adapted to the present crisis. Springing from the people in the humble wal s O life, his sympathies and associations have been with the laboring masses. He refers with pride and pleasure to the log cabin with the reminiscences of western frontier life where he spent his boyhood days. Starting out in life in the humble avocation of a tailor, without the advantages of an earl education or rich and influential friends, he as by strength of intellect, aplication to business, untirin energy, and lau able ambition made his marg in the world, occupying alternately nearly every honorable position from justice of the peace to President. What a proud commen tary is here presented for the contemlation ot the friends of our free institutions. this quite natural that Mr. Johnson should cherish a warm attachment and profound reverence for such a Government. e was devoted to and confided in the people, and they never forsook him. It is said he is a “usurper" a grave charge; but the public mind Wlll feel at rest when advised that it emanates from the committee of 15, which was organized to convict. His “usurpation” consiste in the exercise of a constitutional prerogative of expressing his opinions on public affairs. Again he is charged with being a “ usurper" for vetoing the Freedmens Bureau. Sir, that act is the crowning virtue in his life, and the biigntest chaplet in his crown. A “ usurper" would have accepted the proffered power and patronage, greater and more unlimited than was ever conferred on any President. If a usur or or tyrant, why did he decline it? Would the directory” have rejected such immense patronage? Never. A measure which, if controlled by a “ usurper, ” would have converted the Government into a military despotism. It provides for dividing the country into districts, with sub districts of counties, parishes, &c., with hordes of officers, not elected by or amen able to the people on whom they are quartered, with summary power to try, convict, and punish without judicial process, trial by jury, writ of error, or appeal. These officers and agents may be white or black, and a negro may be sent from some other State to Illinois to sit in judgment on our civil officers and others and punish them “by fine not exceeding $1,000, or imrisonment not exceeding one year, or both, 7 and they need not waitthe slow process of execution, but ample provision is made for enforcing the judgment by the military, which may also consist of negroes. It further provides for furnishing at government expense, in each district, “the freedmen, their wives, and children, with provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, med ical stores, medical aid, transportation, ” Sic. Nor is this all. The freedmen were to be edu cated and have school houses erected at the public expense. Why should this odious distinction be made in this law against the whites on account of color? A person so fortunate as to have a black skin (a circumstance not under their control) can have “provisions, ” “ cloth in, ” “fuel, ” “and other supplies, ” “medica stores, ” “medical aid, ” transportation? with school houses and education at the government eXpense, while the proscribed whites onaccount of prejudice against their color by this congress maybe hungry and naked and cold, without me ical aid or medical supplies, or school houses, or education, or free passes and not a dollar can the get from the nation coffers. The widows an or hans of our brave white soldiers, who gave their lives that the Union might live, are deprived by reason of their unfortunate color, though many of them are quite needy, from participating in this governmental charity bestowed upon colored persons with such munificence by this congress. A short time since a bill was forced t this House by routgl: a party vote, and under pressure of the gag law, appropriating some $10,000,000 for the Freedmens Bureau and if the vetoed bill had become a law, the expense of this bureau would have been doubled or trebled. Except for the Presidents veto this vast burden would have been permanently entailed upon the labor and industry of the country, and coerced by the tax gatherer from an overburdened people. I am unwilling to vote a tax on my constituents to support in idleness any class of people, white or black. I see no reason whyablac man should not earn his support by the sweat of his brow as well as white men and yet it is known that the galleries of this Hall have for the last 5 months been crowded with colored persons, who are housed, fed, and clothed at the public expense. Mr. Speaker, I have no unkind feeling toward the unfortunate colored people; they are free; be it so. I hope it may prove to them a blessing, and am opposed to any law discrim inating against them in the security and protection of life, liberty, person, property, and the proceeds of their labor. These civil rights all should enjoy. Beyond this I am not prepared to go, and those pretended friends who urge political and social equality, and confer ring special privileges like those in the vetoed bill, are, in my judgment, the worst enemies of the colored race. But it is objected that on the 22d of Febru ary the President made a speech at the White House to the people, in which he indulged in some strictures upon prominent persons as to their loyalty. When a Senator he was bold and fearless in his denunciations of cons ira tors and traitors against the integrity ot the Union, and I know of no reason why he should be less so when representing the whole people as POTUS Indeed I have faith that the national inquest by a decisive majority will indorse the sentiments enun ciated in that able and patriotic speech. Again, his traducers charge that he actually suffered unterrified Democrats to stand around him listening to his speech; and that, too, without invoing the aid of provost marshals to hunt them down and incarcerate them in the military bastile on Capitol Hill. Sir, this is a charge of so grave a character I will not presume to interpose a justification. The speech is before the country, and approved by the po0 lo. It is well it was made. Hcis bound by the Constitution and his oath of office to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the U.S., ” and “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” He is the representative of and directly amenable to the people, and when there is a revolutionary conspiracy lotted by a secret “ directory” to disruptthe nion, subvert the constitution, and filch from the people their liberties, it is meet and proper, as well as his solemn duty, to a peal to the people, expose the perfidious treac iery, and denounce the traitors. He had before he made that speech evinced extraordinary for bearance. Amajorityiu Congress had excluded Representatives from 11 States, and virtu ally decided that the Union was destroyed. His motives and policy of restoration had been bitterly assailed and malignantly misrepresented by the star chamber conclave and their abettors. They had besmeared him with their choicest Billingsgate, such as “ usurper, ” “whitewasher, ” “tyrant, ” “traitor, ” “cop erhead, ” “ rebel, ” &c. Disparaging compar isons were drawn between him and certain negroes Fred. Douglass and others. If he had kept silent under such rovocations his meekness and humility would have obse ured, if not totally eclipsed, that of Moses, the Israelitish law iver. He appealed to the patriotism and into ligence of the people, the true source of all power. in vindication of himself and his policy against the assaults of his enemies. The occasion on which those fitly spoken words and golden sentiments were enunciated will form a memorable epoch in our history. From that day the power for evil was broken. Bad men are held up to the withering rebuke and contemptuous scorn of an outraged and r indignant people, and the surging waves of fanaticism are stayed. “The man at the other end of the avenue” has spoken; the faction is paralyzed; the country breathes freer. Their cheeks blanch with terror as they hear the rum bling of the “earthquake.” The volcano in its convulsive eruptions has ejected from its cratera solid column of are Tennessee marble, so firm and immovable that the angry billows of disunion and the bowling tempest of treason Imay dash around its lofty summit, spend their fury in vain, and fall harmless at its adaman tine base, and “ the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ” The majorit in Congress may, for the temporary respite let};them, scold and snarl at their inevitable destiny; they may denounce the Administration retard but not prevent the restoration of the Union. The residentwill stand firm; the people, irrespective of party, will rally to his standard when the integrity of the Union is menaced by open enemies or pretended friends. It is no time for the true friends of the country to fall out by the way; personal considerations and party schemes should remain in abeyance unti the Union is restored. The country has at no time within the last 5 years been in more imminent peril than at. present; the radical majority in congress are inaugurating measures of the most revolutionary character, which, if carried out, will in evitably involve the country in another fratricidal civilWar. Calling themselves a Union party, those gentlemen o pose all measures for the restoration of the nion. Pretending to be a constitutional party, they endeavor to break down its safeguards and destroy it. Assuming to be an administration party, they denounce and oppose the Administration, its policy and friends. One Senator and 3 members of the House who were legally elected and justly entitled to their seats were voted out that they might increase their majority so as to pass their unconstitutional measures over the veto of the President. No members seat is secure who opposes their schemes as long as they require votes to carry their measures. Obstacles are brushed out. of their way like cobwebs; they stoop to conquer, and hold that the end sancti fies the means. They hope to perpetuate their power and political ase end ancy by excluding from Congress and the ballot box all who oppose their revolutionary schemes. Mr. Speaker, I cannot flatter myself that I shall be able to present any arguments or considerations to this House which will induce gentlemen to pause and consider. I wish I could. The only hope left is in an appeal to the people, the patriotic masses, who love country more than party. Our patriotic fathers laid broad and deep the solid foundations upon which the magnificent superstructure of civil and rel igious liberty were reared; for near 80 years, in peace and war, it has answered all the purposes of a most perfect government. It may have faults; what form of human government has not? It has furnished protection and security to all classes of our citizens wherever our flag floats, at home and abroad, on the land and the sea. Our national progress and prosperity, in power, wealth, and civilization, has been a marvel to ourselves and eclipsed the nations of the world. Why experiment with so rich and precious a boon? If we are blessed with a better Government than is to be found elsewhere had we not better bear with it until we know that amendments will insure improvements? It has costa vast amount of blood and treasure, and is worthy of preservation. It is the only true model for free representative government. It is the asylum of the oppressed, and a secure refuge from the crumbling despot isms of the Old World. We receive with open arms and greet with a hearty welcome the drowntrodden people as they come flocking to our shores. The eyes of the world are upon us. The great experiment of the capacityof man for self government is being tested. The despotisms and monarchies of the Old World prophesy our utter failure, and that faction and party are the rock n on which we will strike and crumble intoragments. In the meanwhile the friends of free government in the Old World look wistfully on with emotions alter nating between hope and fear. This muuificent inheritance of free government, he ueathed to us by our cherished and revere ancestry founded upon the corner stone of the right of the people to govern, is all our most cherished hopes or loftiest ambition could desire. great and responsible charge has been committed to our keeping. As ourmental vision looks at the vista before us, seeking to pierce the ved which hides from us the obse ure future, we are solemnly imressed with the conviction that the imperile destiny for weal or woe of this generation, as well as of unborn millions, han tremblingly in the bal ance. It is my ar ent desire, my sincere hope, that we may severally so discharge our respective duties, under the vast resonsibilities that devolve upon us, as to redoun to the true interest, highest honor, and perpetual glory of our common country. That when we leave these representative halls for the last time, to be occupied by those who succeed us, when we sever our public relations and retire from this congressional forum, around which cluster many fond and endearing remcmbrance s, to the sanctity of the domestic circle and the quiet shades of private life, we may feel the proud satisfaction of having conse ientiously acted our part in this momentous national crisis, in this convulsive struggle for the Constitution of our country and the liberties of the people. I have no higher ambition, no loftier aspiration. THE TARIFF.