Mr. PHELPS. Mr. Speaker, on the 1st of May, 1865, the Union Army numbered one million 516 men. Afterastrug gle, unprecedented in ancient or in modern history. the purpose for which that vast power had been called forth was accomplished. our years of civilWar between people of the same race, of the highest type of modern civilization, and of equal intelligence, courage, and determination, had been waed upon a theater of contitfental proportionsfiiad employed in its prosecution the most finished an destructive enginery, had in its terrific battles and daily skirmishes cost this generation over half a.million lives, and had entailed upon the nation a debt of 3000 and upon the insur cut section a loss of 7,000 million dol are. But remark able as was this contest in all the elements of material grandeur, it was still more memorable for the importance of the issue involved, and the extraordinary precision with which it was defined. Slavery, struggling for perpetuity, expansion, and power, struck at the existence of the Government, which, in the growth and progress of ideas necessarily came to stand in its path, arrest its advance, and menace its security. Slavery was the cause, and the only cause, of the rebellion. The idea of secession would never have been practically adopted, certainly never enforced y arms, but in de fense of that institution. Hence the war policy of the Government necessarily became antislavery. Hence, in the fullness of time, came the proclamation of emancipation, the organization and arming of liberated slaves, the immediate and uncompensated abolition of slav ery within her limits by the State of Maryland an offering voluntarily made by that loyal State. as her contribution to the common cause in furtherance of the general policy settled upon as the only one to suppress the rebellion sud following that, the passage by Congress by a 2/3rds majority of the proposition to be submitted to the several States to abolish slavery throughout the country forever by constitutional amendment. The policy thus adopted and crsevered in by the Government ultimately enforced a similar policy of emancipation and enlistment of slaves upon the consideration of the rebel authorities. The instant the confederate government found itself reduced to that dilemma the scales fell from all eyes. No sooner was it discovered that the thinned ranks of the rebel army, exhausted by 4 bloody cars of incessant combat, and required to ace the fresh columns that poured down with endless tramp from the North, could only be recruited from among those very slaves, to rivet whose fetters that army was in fact fighting, than the whole fabric tumbled into ruin. To arm the slaves was of course to free them, and to free the slaves to fight the battles of slavery was simply a reductio adabsurdum and a ghostly farce. 1n the providence of God, it seems necessary that this most cruel of wars should have been fought to the bitter end upon the “ line” which has been indicated: 1st, to secure from the South the complete, irrevocable, and final surrender of slavery; 2nd, to remove all occasion for hinderin the immediate pacification of the count y a desultory guerrilla warfare, so much feared and predicted; and 3rd, to obviate all danger, and thus to extinguish in every candid mind all reasonable fear of a possible future rebellion in the interest of the defeated insurgents. This generation cannot fully appreciate, but history will recognize the cat fact of the abolition of the institution O human slavery. It is too sudden, too violent, and too vast to be fully comprehended today. Not the least among the many great evils of this system was the specific infinenceit produced over the moral sense, dwarfingund contracting the conse iences of men to its narrow standard.just as darkness contracts the physical eye. Bursting suddenly and with great noise and fury into the bright air of freedom, what wonder that we should still seewith dazzled and bewildered vision, that i we should grope and clutch va ely at the objects around us, that we shoot be tormented with panic fears and haunted with hideous dreams of the dark prison house. It is, therefore, by no means strange to me. but quite natural, that man wellmcaning but purblind patriots should stili afilict themselves and society with their panic dread ofrebellion; should predict the revivel or even affirm the actual present existence of slavery; should start at every sound, and stampede at every shadow; should see walking by moonlight the ghost of slavery, and behind every bush is “ red handed rebel;” should rend the air with clamors for protection against this into nary monhter, and make both day and night hi cons with their jargon of guarantees, conditions, and constitutional amendments. Nor is it at all surprising that these same purblind patriots, in their blunder ing frenzy, should strike by mistake their best friends, should attack the SecyState, should denounce and threaten the President, and involve in the same censure the sacred memory of his lainented predecessor. Sir, who is Secretary Seward, that he should be hawked at and torn, not now by the knife of the traitor assassin striking slaverys last blow at its greatest human antagonist, but this time by the loud and blatant champions of loyalty? Iremembeihim well, with his higherlaw” and his “irrepressible conflict, ” the scarred and reenlisted veteran in this great war of liberty; and I recollect him as he stood in the Senate many years ago when men who now revile him as recrcant and denounce him as a rebel sympathizer, then scoffed at him as an abolition anatic, as he stood at the head of a corporals urd gallantly attacking slavery in its strong hdld. Sir. it may be said of him that while Philli s and Garrison and the other humbugs of hot sexes were fighting valiantly in the rear, William H. Seward was at the front, lendin not the advanced guard, but the skirmis lineof freedom right it to the breastworks. With Henry Ward Beec er, he has devoted all the best years of his life to the destruction of human slavery. He struck at it whenever it lifted one of its hydra heads: he has put the searing iron, hissing hot, to the last of them; he felt anxiously and skillfully for the last pulsation of the dying monsters heart; he has pronounced it dead, and he who feared it not when living and terrible is not seared at its carrion. e belongs to a more vigorous and a more practical school of statesmen. He takes this view of the case, and all sensible men of firm nerves, clear eye sight, and good digestion, agree with him, or soon will. The South was fermerly possessed of the devil, in the scripture sense, an dwelt among the tombs. While this unclean spirit was present, there was much foamin and gnashing. It was finally exercised, an as it came reading its way from outits tormented and bleeding victim, it howled out its name, not as legion, but slavery. It became incarnate in the person of Booth, and astonished and a alled mankind by the supreme hofror and ihst convulsion of demoniae madness, before it died the death of a dog. Now, there are those who would scourge and manacle and out? and curse the rese ued, regenerated, and emancipated South, even before her wounds are stanched from this frightful, this worse than Cesarean operation. Beecher and Seward are of a different school of philanthropists. They seethe one but lately possessed of the unclean spirit and gnashing among the tombs, now sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. They do not look for uniform amiability, nor do they require the patient immediately, and while smarting with pain, to exress profound satisfaction and intense de ight With the process, iior u;.feignedpersonal love and gratitude toward those who performed it. On the contrary, it is fair to presume that these men of honor would abandon the unhappy victim to the tormentors should it exhibit so craven a spirit and so contemptible a hypocrisy. Nor is it deemed indispensably necessary that men, otherwise loyal, should profess now to hold the doctrines which they have endeavored to maintain by the sword as false and heretical ab initio. For 40 years and more they have been educated to believe the false and dangerous heresy whicb bore them the bitter fruits they reaped from the attempt at rebellion. It would be unrea sonable to require, as it would be impossible to expect, that these people should all of a sudden sincerely and honestly believe that the pginciple for which they contended was false, cause those who professed ithave been routed upon the field. what we require and have a right to require of them is that they abandon that doctrine as a principle of action for the future. We have lost too many of our people in this war, we have shed too much blood and lost too much property and spent too much money to be altogether indifferent about the 10 itimate fruits of our dearly bought victory. We fought for Union, for the integrity, the immortality of our Government, and by the help of God we have conquered. We owe it to ourselves and to posterity to assure the one and the other against danger in the future. We therefore demand a searching, adequate, and irreversible guarantee of future practical loyalty.That demand is the sum and substance of the Administration policy, which it has lately become the fashion to scoff at. Here is the “pdicy” in the exact language of President Johnson. I quote from his annual message to Congress, of the 4th December, 1865, a state paperthat for clearness, terseness, cogency, an elegance has never been surpassed, and that for broad and catholic states manship and heroic intrepidity has taken the world by surprise: "It is not too much to ask. in the name of the whole people. that on the one side the plan of resto ration she I proceedin conformityWith a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into oblivion; and that on the other the evidence of sincerity in the future maintenanceof the Union shall beput beyond any doubt by theratification of the proposed amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the abolitionof slavery forever Within the limits of our country. "The adoption of the amendmentreunites us be yond all power of disruption. It heals the wound that is still imperfectly closed: it removesslavery. the elementwhich hasso long perplexedand divided the country: it makesof us once ine ro a united people. renewed and strengthened. bound more than ever to mutual infection and support." "And again: As nostate can throwa defenseover the erime of treason, the power of pardon is exclusively vestedin ethxeere exiseienugtive government of the U.S. In that power I havetaken every precaution to connect it with the clearest recognition of the binding force of the laws or the U.S. o nd an unqualified ackn owledgment of the great social change of condition in regard to slavery which has grown out of the war.“ The same plan of restoration was embodied by President Lincoln in his famous proclamation of July 18, 1864: To whomit may concern. Any proposition yvhlch embracesthe, restoration of peace.t ointegrity of the whole Union and the abandonment of slavery, will be receivedand consideredby the executive government of the U.S. and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points. To secure the definite, unequivocal, and in revocable surrender of slavery, the one only cause of rebellion, the one solitary root of disloyalty, to secure it by the voluntary surrender of the insurgents themselves and to secure it by their legislative ratification of the constitutional amendment, acting upon it as, States; as States of and States in the Union; as States of and in the Union under the constitution; not only so, but as States of the Union above the Constitution by actually exercising the supreme State prerovative of amendment, by, in fact, sharing the State omnipotence of organic creation; this, then, was the aim and end of the Administration policy, this was the practical restoration of the Union. Contrasts are sometimes more useful for purposes of illustration than analogies. The stars are not visible until the blackness of night. devours the light of day. With this view let us hear the bo (1 and outs oken leader of the House, speaking, as he rankly admits, upon his own responsibility; but speaking, as he claims, with equal candor, “ so as to secure perpetual ase endancy to the party of the Union, " or, as be otherwise phrases it, to “continue the Republican ase endency." “ 2 things are of vital importance" I am quoting the distinguished Gentfrom Pennsylvania, [Mr. STEVENS] "so to establish a principle that none of the rebel States shall be countedin any of the amendmentsof the Constitutionuntil theyare duly admittedinto the family of Statesbythelawmaking powerof theircon queror. For more than 6 months the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery has been ratified by the Legislatures of 3/4ths of the States that actedon its passageby Congress and which had legislatures or which were Statese apable of acting, or"rIequired to act. on the question. take no account of the gregation of white washedrebelswho without any and authority have assembled in the capitals of the late rebel Statesand simulated legislative bodies." The reference is to the Legislatures elected in the several States by virtue originally of proclamations emanating from provisional governors appointed by the President; all the electors and members being required to take the grescribed amnesty oath of allegiance to the o vernment, and acquiescencein martial emancipation. To proceed: “ Nor do I regard with any respect the cunning by which piylqyrcWqiutnwthteiclegtrhaepyhdicealundneodu the SecyState SCarolina had adopted the amondmentz Alabama has adopted the amendment. being the 27th Stato, die. This was intended to delude the pebple and accustom Congressto hear repeated the names of these extinct States as if they ware alive. when. in truth, they have now no more existence than the revolted cities of Lntium. 2/3rds of whose people were colonized and their property confiscated and their right of citilenship withdrawn by conquering and avonging Reine.” Here we have outlined with the freedom and boldness of a master hand the framework of a plan which was at a very early day of the session (December 18) proposed for the consideration and adoptionof Congress. This plan had for its basis the theory of “defunct, ” dead, " or “extinct States, ” or if that were adjudged impossible or absurd, then they were to be called “States out of the Union and now conquered Territories.” In either case, that is, whether on the one hand they are “ not out of the Union but only dead carcasses lying within the Union, ” or whether on the other hand “they are and for 4 years have been out of the Union for all legal purposes” in either of these hypotheses the logical sequence resulted that “ being now conquered they are subject to the absolute disposa of Congress.” This programme then goes on to dispose of them as subjugated foreign provinces, to man acle their outlawed peep e, and hold them in definitely as the mere slaves of Congress; to force them “to mingle With those to whom congress shall extend the right of suffrage, ” and in that condition, excluded from representation, though subject to taxation, governed and discipline by imported agents and commissioners, dragoone, court martialed, and plundered, they are to be kept “ for some years” “to eat the fruit of foul rebellion.” Should this training fail to develop a spirit of earnest and sincere loyalty; should the advantages of this school, in which with exquisite and inim itable humor it is declared that they are to learn the principles of freedom, “practice justice to all men, ” and “accustom themselves to make and to obey equal laws" appear to have been thrown away uponingrates unable to appreciate and unWilling to profit by them, does the programzne on that account fail? Not at all. t has butjust be u to succeed. The remedy for obstinate disoyalty is at hand. Perma nent, incurable disaffection may read its fate very plainly in that of “ the revolted cities of Latium, 2/3rds of whose people were colo nized and their property confiscated and their right of citizens ip withdrawn by conquering and avenging Rome.” As a speculation upon disloyalty, this policy could not possibly be improved. If general confiscation of property, under pretext, is what is wanted, no surer road to it can be found. It than submit will retire with the hardy is a process which, if put in operation upon a community whose loyalty was immaculate, would speedily convert it into a community of rebels. Why, sir, I believe that the spir ited people of my own native State of Vermont, teased by so tormenting a tyranny, would in dignantly revolt and turn upon their oppress ors at every hazard and against all 0d s. If they did not, they would not prove their legit imate dese ent from those gallant men of 1781 upon whom Ethan alien relied in his demand on behalf of the sell constituted State of Ver mont for her immediate admission into the Union and representation in the Continental Congress. dis“pHuete declared to that body that no personcould his attachment to and sufferings in the cause of his count: but he did not hesitateto assert that Vermont ha an indubitable right to ngfi on terms of cessation of hostilities with Great itain, provided the U.S. persist in rejecting her up llcation for a union with the States. Vermont. O all people.would bethe most iniserable were sheobliged to defend the independenceof the U.S and they at the sametime at full liberty to overthrow and ruin the independenceof Vermont. I amporsuadsd. when Congress consider the circumstances of this State, they will not be more surprised thatI have transmitted thus letters lettersfrom British emissa rics containing treasonable overtures than that I have kept them in custody: for I am as resolutely determined to defend the independenceof Vermont ase congressare that of the U.S and rather Grcen mountaiin boys into the desolatecaverns ot themountains and wagewar with human nature at largo."Hos kiius History of Vermont. page 102. such was the resolute and defiant attitude maintained by the infant State of Vermont, de manding of Congress admission into the Union as a fight, although her independence had never been recognized nor her sovereignty established; and even her boundaries were disuted and her territory claimed by the neigh orin States and yet the memory of the bold than Allen is today as much revered for that spirited and emphatic declarationto Congress as for his famous reply to the British commander of Ticonderoga, asking by what authority he demanded its surrender: “I de mand it in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress! " The congressional treatment of the 11 States lately in insurrection, according to the plan of the Gentfrom Pennsylvanianus so well adapted to provoke continued hostility to the Government and and a maddened population into imbecile an desperate resistance that the extreme resort of confiscation which would then be justified has already been anticipated by an elaborate calculation. 4000 million dollars are to be raised by sale of lands and such other property as can be found. 4 billions of money, mark on, to be raised out of acountry blasted by a evastating war, out of a people stripped and picked by rebel sequestration, theirw ole slave property and their entire circulating medium annihi lated; a people at this moment, many of them be ging their victuals and clothes of the North i his programme of dissolution and reconstruction is of course incom lete without a series of amendments to the constitution, all of which are to be consummated “ before the defunct States are admitted to be capable of State action.” “ They ought neverto be recognizedas capable of acting in the Union or of bein counted as valid States until the Constitution 5 all have. been so amendedas to make it what its framers intended, and soas to secure parpotual nse eudoncy to the party of the Union, ” 5w The 1st of these amendments is to change the basis of representation from Federal numbers to actual voters. The others are to allow Congress to lay a duty on exports, to make all laws uniform, to prohibit the assumption of the rebel debt, and lastly, to extend the right of suffrage to the emancipated blacks, although upon this point there seems to be some don t as to whether the result may not be reached by direct congressional action. In either case, whether by constitutional amendment or by legislation. universal negro suffragic must be enforced as well “to continue the republican ascendency” as because “ without the right of suffrage in the late slave States the slaves had far better been left in bondage.” As an earnest of the enforcement of this policy, and as a pledge of the principle on which this Congress would legislate for Territories over which it claimed jurisdiction, the action of this House, at a very early period of the session, may be cited. A bill passed the House in January establishing universal negro suffrage in the DistCol. This was done by a valid exercise of power, Congress having by the Constitution exclusive legislation over this District in all cases. It was one however, in direct violation of the wishes of the people of the District, and against the almost unanimous protest of the legal and qualified voters. It was not called fit by the public sentiment of the country. Since the breaking out of the rebellion, NewYork, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Connecticut had been asked to enffunchise the few colored men within their limits. They all refused. In the State of NewYork it assumed the form of a proposition to permit negro suffrage without a property qualification. In 1860 such a proposition had been defeated by ycas 197, 503, nays 837, 984. In 1864, after the pre sumed advance of publicsentiment upon this question, a like proposition was defeated by yeas 85, 406, nays 224, 336. In August, 1862, a vote was had in the State of Illinois on several propositions relating to negroes and mulat toes, with this result: For pxoluding them from the State Against. Against granting them suffrageor the right to hold offico a11, 920 For. For the enactment of laws to prohibit them from going to or VOUDRin the State.938 Against. 154.524 As late as the autumn of 1865 the people of Connecticut refused by over 6,000majority to enfranchise the handful of colored men residin among them. An effort was made in the Ihirty lgighth Congress to incor porate the feature of negro suffrage in the bill to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Montana. It failed; and among those who voted persistently against negro sag fra e in this new Territory, where there were perlaps no negroes at all, are the names of the entire Maryland delegation, consisting at that time (1864) of Messrs. Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, Harris, Thomas, and Webster. After so many and such decided manifestations of public opinion, showing unmistakably that the people of this country are inflexibly opposed to a general and promise uous intermingling with negroes at the polls and in public office, it was scarcely to be expected that the repudiated doctrine should be forced apon the protesting population of this District. Whatever reasons may be ured in support of universal suffrage in genera, they all fail in the case of a municipal corporation. There are no people or interests within the limits of the DistCol of any importance that are not included within the corporate franchises of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. There is no voting done in the District except for the municipal Officers of the 2 corporations. It was therefore unfortunate that the political experiment of universal negro suffrage should 1st be applied to a city corporation, in which the horde of voters thus manufactured were, with scarcely an exception, without a particle of interest in the body whosefranchises they were made to share, and whose funds they were assigned to control. Up to this time the rash feat of legislation remains a failure under the silent veto of the Senate and the dead weight of public opinion. It is significant, however, of the fate in store for 11 States, under the false doctrine that by attempted secession they have consummated the dissolution of the Union, and by the failure of their insurrection, the surrender of their insur gent armies, and full and complete submission to the authority of the Government and obedience to its laws, have done no more nor less than lapse into the condition of conquered territories, subject to the absolute disposal of congress. I do not propose to review in detail the arguments or to discuss the authorities by which this doctrine has been maintained. I have been surprised, upon a question of such moment, at a crisis in our countrys history of such transe endent gravit, to encounter a line of reasoning so utterly allacious. The ivot of the whole argument is the concession o bel ligerent rights. Humanity required an obseryance of those restraints and courtesies which are due to an enemy by the law of nations. Cartels for the exchange of prisoners, and flags of truce to bury the dead, are therefore pointed to as the evidences of a state of war between independent foreign nations. That is what this argument amounts to, and nothing more. I was still more astonished to find the narrow technical doctrine of estoppel drawn from its propers ere in the county court to reenforce this feeble logic. SCarolina must be held to be out of the Union because her convention and Legislature roundly aliirmed that she was in so many words. Notwithstanding the government took issue with SCarolina upon that identical proposition, dening that she was out of the nion in law, an in fact making good that denial by wager of battle, still SCarolina, underthis doctrine of eswppel, must be held to have succeeded from the very fact of failure, and the Government to have failed from the very fact of success. Sir, we have had a war for union, not for disunion. We have fought, not to consum mate secession, but to prevent it. We were called forth, and we went forth, to put down treason, to enforce the laws, to crush out rebellion, to maintain the Government, and to save the Union. With our mart red leader we 1st tried to save the Union With slavery and we failed. We then tried to save it without sla very and we succeeded. We did not fight to secure the ase endency of a party, or to keep any man or set of men in Office, but we fought {lor our country, for its Constitution, and its ag. It was on this principle that the great contest began, and it was on this principle, held steadily in view by every Dept of the Government thatit was prosecuted to a successful issue. These prinnciples were clearly set forth by President Lincoln in his various proclamations and messages, letters and s eecbes. In his 1st inaugural, March 4, 18451, e laid down the correct doctrine, from which, to the day of his death, he never departed: "It follows that no State upon its own more motion can lawfully get out of the Union: that resolves and ordinances to that effect are 10 ally void: and athgaatinastcts of violence within any tats or States the authority of the U.S. are insurrectioniuy or revolutionar, according to circumstances. I consider, there ore. that in view of the Constitution and laWQ, the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care. as the Constitution itself expressly c oins upon me that the laws of the Union be faith ully executed in all the States." The executive Dept, speaking through the SecyState, explicitly declared that"The Congressof the U.S. furnishes a cpoanrstiteitsutionalforum for debate belwcen the uliennted Sens&Reps from the loyal portion of the people are thus already fully empow eredto confer; and somealso are vacant and inviting Sens&Reps from the discon tentedparty who may be constitutionally sent there from the Statesinvolved in the insurrection." To the sameprinciple Congress also is committed by its acts an resolutions. The act of August, 1861, layiria direct tax of $20,000,000 upon the U.S. apportions that sum 1 among the several States, includingall the States l forthwith, tQo caGuse t.he said then in rebellion by name. Thus 7 inia is recognized as still a “ State within the nion: To the State ofVirginia, $937, 680.667." and so with NCarolina, SCarolina, and all the 11. Each is taxed by name, and each is named as a State, as in the case of the loyal States. The act of Congress of March 4, 1862, under which the present HoRep was chosen, recognizes the right of these States to representation, in terms. Thus we have the great fact that these States were living States, States of this Union, States subject to taxation and entitled to representation, conclusively settled by Congress itself, and settled at the very time when the people of those States were actually in flagrant insurrection. If doubt should still exist as to the true intent and meaning of these acts let congress be its own interpreter. The record here is fa miliar but cannot be too often repeated. It is one of the great landmarks in this controversy and should always be he t in sight. In July, 1861, a resolution was adopted by such large majorities in.both Houses of Congress as amounted virtually to unanimity, declaring: “ That this war is any not prosecutedupon our part in spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States.but to delandand maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws madein pursuancethereof and to preservethe Union with all the dignity, equality, rind rights of the several States upnlisimhcpdaired; that assoonas those ohjects are accola the war ought to cease." The principle thus emphatically pronounced by Congress and the Executive was the common sentiment and universal understanding of the whole country throughout the entire period of the rebeliion. It was allirmed by State legislatures; itwas announced in party platforms; it was enforced everywhere by loyal speakers and the loyal press. It was significantly recownized by the vnion national convention whidli admitted the delegations from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana, upon an equal footing with the other States, following in this respect the example of Congress, and presented the name of AndrewJohnson, of Tennessee, to the suffrages of the American people as the Union candidate for VEEP It was triumphantly sustained at the ballot box by the nation at large and it is the same AndrewJohnson, of Tennessee, who is today laboring to apply that same principle, in perfect harmony and cousistenc with his own record and with the known wishes of the lamented Lincoln, surrounded and supported by a Cabinet of Lincolns selection. The owidenceof the recognition of these States as States in the Union, by force of the combined authority of both Congress and the Executive, culminates in their ratification of the great constitutional amendment as declared by the official certificate of the SecyState. That certificate was officially published on the lSth of December, 186 5, in pursuance of an act of Congress. (April 20, 1818. ) providing that when the State Dept shall have been officially notified that any proposed amendment to the Constitution had been adopted according to the provisions of that instrument “It shall be the duty of the SecyState. amendmentto he published” "specifying the Suites by which the samemayhave beenadopted, and thzit the samehas becomevalid.” After reciting the amendment, the certificate of the SecyState proceeds as follow: “And whereas it appearsfrom official documentson file in this Dept at the amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. proposed, as aforesaid has been ratified by ine Lezislntures of the States of Illinois. RhdIsland. Michigan. Maryland, NewYork, WestVirginia. Maine, Iiansus, Massachusetts. Pennsylvania, Virginia. Ohio, Missouri. hevada. Iiidiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut. NewHam slurc. SCarolina, Alabama, NCarolina, an Gcor sin, in all 27 States: and whereas. the Wholenumberof states in the U.S. 36: and whereas the before syn ciallynanicil States whoseLegislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment constitute 3/4ths of the whole number of State:Iin the U.S.: “Now. therefore, be it known that I. William H. Seward SecyState. by virtue and in pursuonce of the 2nd section of the act of Congress I approved the 20111 of April, 1818. entitled An not to grtoavsitdees and r ftohreotphuebrlipeuartpioonseosf, tdhoe lhaewresboyfctehret ifUyntihtcadt the amendment aforesaid has becomevalid to all intents and the U.S. " Thus, by the joint authority of both Congress and the Executive, 8 States that are claimed to be out of the Union, or dead States within the Union from their articipation in a rebellion for slavery, are ually and conclusively recognized as constitutional Statesof the Union for the highest of all purposes. It is a fortunate and auspicious circumstance that the highest proof that could be offered of their legal and constitutional status is connected Wllil the strongest guarantee that could be given of their repentance for the past and their loyalty in the future. I use the word “repentance” designedly. True repentance consists not in loud mouthed mfessious. It consists in “bringing forth its meet for repentance.” How much the South was chastened, humbled, and punished by the stern hand of war, he only can estimate who remembers the strange, infatuated fondness with which her people clung to their peculiar institution, and who a reciates the vastamount ofwealth represented)iiy it. It must not be forgotten by those whose clamors for the punishment of traitors grow incessantly louder as the danger from treason grows less, that in addition to the loss of the flower of the southern manhood in battle; in addition to the utter annihilation of the entire circulatin medium in, the pockets of these people an of the invested wealth in their safes; in addition to the wide spread devastation and ruin of a desolating war, the crowning punishment of confiscation has already been their portion. Emancipation was punishment to every man who owned a slave. I have always believed that treason was a crime. Myself, I shrank from it as from pollution, until the time came to close with it in a deathrapple. For the leaders of rebellion, those who fired the southern heart and precipitated revolution, I have no sympathy, even now, in their disgrace. I have believed that treason ought to be punished, and I believe that it has been punished. If there be those who still thirst for vengeance, there may be exceptions, but I believe that they belong principall to that class of patriots who, in the words of GenlSherman , “shun the fight and the march, and are loudest, bravest, and fiercest when danger is past.” In the view which I have taken of the great constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, it appears in a 4fold aspect: 1. As a surrender of the cause of the war. 2. As a pledge of sincerity in accepting the result of the war. 3. As a guarantee of future loyalty. 4. As a punishment for treason, by confiscation. Is anything; else wanted to pacify the country, restore teUnion, close up our ranks, and march with solid, unbroken front against imperialism in America and despotism through out the world? Is anything else to be done before confidence can be restored at home, trade revived, finances strengthened, currency settled, and resources developed? The freedmen must be cared for and protected in their rights. I admit the necessity. It is already provided for. Under the 2nd sectiod of the amendment Congress has all necessary power over the subject. With the learned Gentfrom Ohio, [Mr. BINGHAM] I had constitutional scruples about the civil rights bill which I could not overcome even for the pleasure of reversing a veto. But that bill is now a law; it will probably be several years before it is judicially negatived; in the mean time the freedmen under its operation are secure, and the public sentiment around them will gradually make all special legislation unnecessary. Is anything else demanded? “Traitors must purposesas ii. part of the Constitution of be kept from ruling the country they strove to ruin. “Loyal men must govern a preserved republic.” Ihat is my belief. That exigency also has been foreseen and provided for. You have a test oath searching and stringent enough to satisfy the most exactin. Under itno traitor can enter Congress or hold a Federal office. I ask you now to administer that oath to Maynard and Stokes and Cooper, and to other brave and loyal Representatives from Tennessee. I ask for the immediate and unconditional admission of the Tennessee delegation on the floor of this House upon an equal footing with those of us who come from other loyal States. It is too late to argue the claims of that State. The whole country knows them by heart. During a cat portion of the war Tennessee was act ually represented in Congress; in this House by Maynard, in the Senate by AndrewJohnson. the seraph Abdiel of the great rebellion: “Faithful found Among the falthless. faithful only he: Amen innumerable false.unmoved, Unsha en, unseduced, unterrilied, Hisloyalty he kept, his love, his zeal." All the evidence taken by the JtComReconstruction concurs in the propriety of the prompt admission of her representatives to prevent the warm and lowing loyalty ofher people from being chilled, as the loyalty of any people would be, by a persistent and contemptuous ostracism. General Fisk. the commissioner of the Freedmens Bureau for Tennessee und Kentucky, head uarters at Nashville, Tennessee, testifies as follows: “Tennessee abolished slavery by her own action; she electeda Governor by the people; she repudiated the rebel debt; she ratified the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, and did all that without executive indication or inauguration. Tennesseefurnished 1,000s for the defense of the Union. All this is to her advantage, and were I a member of the Senate or HoRep of Conirrca I would vote most cheerful yto admit the delegation from Tennessee, believing that in so doing I would be taking a stop that would increasethe loyal sentiment of theState, and which would promotethe tranquillity and prosperity of the State.” The testimony of General George H. Thomas is equally emphatic upon this point; and, in fact, there is but one opinion among all no quainted with the actual condition of the people is of that State. Why not, then, admit the Tennessee delegation? Is anything else demanded? Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that the JtCommee of 15, composed as it is of Gentlemen of character. experience, and ability, would have given us, as the result of their protracted labors, some proposition on which all loyal men might unite. lpdid hope in the beginning that within a week after their organization. at least when Congress reassembled in January, they would report in favor of the immediate admission of the representatives of Tennessee. I believe that a majority of the House were prepared to admit those Representatives on any day when the question could be fairly got before them. Their admission has been delayed, and now, under the operation of the reconstruction programme recently reported from that committee, it appears that the State of Tennessee is to be indefinitely excluded from the Union. I say indefinitely, because her admission is made to depend upon the ratification by 3/4ths of the States of a series of constitutional amendments, which 3/4ths of all the States will never rat ify. It is not enough that Tennessee herself ratifies the amendment. That does not entitle her. by this scheme, to the recognition of congress. If the real intention had been to encourage southern loyalty hy discriminating in its favor, the plan would have recognized States as they successively wheeled into line upon the platform. Not only are these States to be excluded until every one of these amendments shall have become part of the Constitution, but each is required, by the 3rd section of the amendment, to disfranchise nearly the whole of its voting population. Disfranchisement is a war measure, and in time of rebellion is almost as necessary a means of defense as an army. It is altogether unsuited to a condition of peace, and, in fact, there can be no real peace in any community where such a prescriptive policy is long persisted in. It is unfortunately true that in most of these States the mass of the population “ adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort.” Whether “ voluntarily” or not would he, in the majority of cases, a nice question of casuistry. After the triumphant suppression of a revolt it in not. wise or statesmanlikc to go back for a minute in quisition into past ofienses and canvass calmly and leisurely the by gone effervescences of fierce excitement. “Let the dead past bur its dead." There are doubtless at the Scot inveterate, malignant, bitter, revengeful rebels. There are men there who, if tried for treason, lawfully convicted, and sentenced to be hung, could not succeed in getting even my signature to an application for executive clemency. such men are a curse to any country. such men brought on the rebellion, and such men are today doing the South more harm by their loud mouthed ranting and offensive demonstrations than all the radicals in the country. I believe such cases to be more numerous in Maryland and the other border States than in the confederacy itself. I believe such cases to be less numerous in the late rebel army than in the great army of “sympathizers, ” muichin like Noahs animals into the ark, male an female. On that side, as on ours. there is a class whom GenlSherman s description was made to fit, “Aclass who shun the march and the fight, and are loudest, bravest, and fiercest when danger is past.” such mon. though few in number and contemptiblo in power, attract attention from the noise they make. One grasshop er makes more noise in a field than a herd o cattle. As a question of propriety, l should like to see such men suppressed; by disfranchisement if that would get rid of them. But, unfortunately, no practicable test can be found to discriminate such men from others whom it is not politic nor right to proscribe. 1 refer to men “who did go into rebellion, but who. having taken the amnesty oath, mean in good faith to keep it.” such men are loyal men, and loyal men ought to participate in the government of the country. Sir, I know men who have done, and are now doing, yeoman service in the Union cause who could not liter ally swear that they had never “voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection. giving it aid and comfort.” Are such men to benow kicked out into the limbo of traitors? God torbidl Let as rather take them by the hand and encourage them to persevere. Likely as not, they will one day getfar beyond us in the prog ress of loyalty, and turn back to reproach us for our want of zeal! No, sir, you will have to abandon this sweeping indiscriminate proscription of a whole population, that is, if you are in earnest when you say “it is expedient that the States lately in insurrection should at the earliest day consistent with the future peace and safety of the Union be restored to full participation in all political rights.” If you are not in earnest, but only want an issue to disturb the minds of the people of the North by telling them from the stump frightful stories about the people of the South to prevent their participation in the next. presidential election, and thus “to secure the Republican ase end ency;” why then keep it in, and let an intelligent people decide the issue. The 1st section of the proposed amendment is as follows: No State shall make or enforce n nylaw which shall abridge the priVIleges or immunities of citizen! of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive uny personof life liberty, or property without due process of law. nor deny to any person within its iuris diction the equal protection of the laws. By the 5th section The Congrrss shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article and by the bill accompanying the proposed amendment, entitled “A bill to provide for the restoration of the States lately in insurrection to their full political rights, ” it is required, as a condition precedent to the admission into Congress of the Sens&Reps from such State that it shall have modified its constitution and laws in conformity with the amendments. By citizens of the U.S. ” are meant persons of color, they being declared such by act of Congress. The “ privileges or immunities” of citizens are such ) as Congress may by law ascertain and define. I presume it wilfnot bedenied that uuder this ameudment fi f adopted, it would be for Congress to define and determine by law in what the “privileges and immunities" of citizens of the U.S. consist, in like manner as Congress has already, under the constitutional amendment abolishing sla very and conferring the power to enforce its abolition by appropriate legislation, determined that the emancipated blacks are “citizens of the U.S., ” and defined in what their civil rights as such citizens consist. An act of Congress to define the privileges and immunities of citizens could and doubtless would be made to include the (privileges of voting, serving upon juries, an of holding Office. Those privileges must, then, be incor porated into the constitution and laws of each of the States excluded before they have complied with the terms prescribed. Civil rights are limited to suing and testifying in courts, and being amenable to the same punishments as other citizens. “Privileges and immuni ties” are a much broader and more comre hensive term, and may, by definition, inc ude suffrage, jury duty, and eligibility to office. It might, indeed, be argued that even in the absence of a declaratory law, these franchises are necessarily conferred upon all “ citizens of the U.S. ” by the simple terms of the amendment itself. ith such a law, negro suffrage and eligibilityis at once enforced over the whole country; in the excluded States by virtue of the provision reniring them to mod ify their constitution and laws as a condition precedeut to representation; in the loyal Slates y virtue of the provision giving Congress power to enforce the provisions referred to by appropriate legislation. tis no recommendation to me that this covert introduction of negro suffrage is so artfully framed as almost to ese ape observation and avoid odium. I would much rather vote for a direct, honest, manly proposition that all men could understand at once, than for an equivo cal proccss accomplishing the same result by machinery. If it is wise, statesmanlike, patriotic, or proper to take from the States the qualifications o voters, and to enforce at this time over the length and breadth of the land Universal nc prosuffrage and eligibility, then, sir, let us made the issue visible and face it like men. The 2nd and 4th sections relate to the basis of representation and the repudiation of the rebel debt and of claims for emancipated slaves. That relating to the basis of representation is founded upon a correct principle, and if submitted in connection with a proposition lookin to the immediate and unconditional admission of the representation of Tennessee and Arkansas would probably remove all difli enlty. No special objection would be made to the4th section, although I regard it as wholly unnecessary. The idea that under any combi nation of parties in the future this Congress would ever entertain a proposition to ay the rebel debt or compensate the owners O eman fiipated slaves is too trifling to govern the action statesmen. As for the individual States, they have all, or nearly all, incorporated such a provision in their constitutions, and if they had not they are not able by any process to ese ape the payment of their proportion of the national debt. The collection laws of the Government operate directly upon individuals and upon property in all the States. It will be as much as the people of those States can do for many years to ay their share of the Federal taxes, and the an or of their assuming the debt of the explode coufederacy or the payment of claims for emancipated slaves is, in my judgment, wholly imaginary. A few words with respect to the present condition and future pros ects of the southern States generally and l have done. As to the disposition of the people of these States, there are 2 lights to guide us to a judment. One is by way of inference or logical eduction from the necessities of their situation; the other is positive testimony. After all is said about rebels that can be said, they are but human beings governed by like motives and actuated by self interestwith other mortals. Obviously this interest prompts them to renew and stren then their allegiance to the Government. Tie surrender of slavery has left them without a motive for rebellion. Loyalty, which means habitual obedience to law, is mans normal condition in society. These people must necessarily settle into that condition, if not prevented by malndininistration. Their strongest desire now is naturally to be completely restored to the full enjoyment of their.olitical privileges as members of the Union. This desire has increased with the difficulties thrown in their wa. l was not of those who wished to see the epresoutatives elected from those States resuming their seats in this Hall on the 1st day of the session as though nothing had happened. I was perfectly willing to have them subjected to an or enl ofreasonable delay, one result of which would be to increase their appreciation of the privilege they sought. It is their interest now to overthrow the dogma of secession. since a legitimate application of it results in fixing their status as aliens and subjugpted. The only interest they ever had in up holding it was as a means of protectin, in the last resort, their peculiar institution. They will gradually, but surcly, become fixed in sound principles O constitutional construction, from the very necessities of the situation. It seemed at one time absurd to suppose that the present generation could ever form asin cere attachment to the Federal Government or any Dept of it and yet the forgiving disposition manifested by our lamented president Lincoln caused the death of him whom they had loathed to be sincerely mourned as a calamity to the South. The unexpected clem ency exhibited by President Johnson, compelled by the exigencies of his great office and the moderate counsels of Mr. Lincolns Cabinet. to leave harsh and vindictive utterances, hot from the boiling caldron of civilWar, unrealized in time of peace, soon won for the executive Dept of the Government the confidence and even affection of the majority of the southern masses. Their interest in the legislative branch of the Government will return at once with their admission to a participation in it. After a careful and anxious survey of the sit uation, made under an awful sense of respon sibility to my country and to history, with no personal predilection or private interest that I am aware of to warp my judgment. toward the conclusion it has reached, but with prejudices and interests all bearing in an o posite direction, lam constrained to believe that all further guarantees, by wayofconslitniional amendment or otherwise, as conditions precedent to a cantions and discriminating admission of loyal Representatives from States and districts whose inhabitants have been in insurrection, but who now present themselves in an attitude of loy alty and harmony, are unnecessary, impolitic, unstatesmanlike, and prejudicial to the peace and welfare of the country. The guarantees we have, and which I deem sufficient, are: 1. The constitutional amendment abolishing slavery and conferring upon Congress ample power to enforce it; and 2. A loyal army ofonc million fighting men, just as determined to stamp out treason should it dare to show itself in the future, usthey have proved themselves able to deal with it in the past. The direct testimony as to the actual condition of the southern people is of course conflicting. I have, however, seen nothing which has materially shaken my confidence in the evidence of Lieutenant GenlGrant. His opportunities for observation have been ample, his judgment is not biased by partisanship, his sound common sense, his knowled leof human nature, his keen penetration and a most intuitive discernment of character are the most solid pillars upon which his great reputation rests. His testihiony is substantially corroborated by that of Major GenlSheridan, furnished at a later period. GenlGrant testifies as follows: “ I amsntisfiedthat the mass of thinkin menof the Squth accept the present situation of ii airs in good faith. the questionswhich have heretoforedl Vldd the sentiment of the people of the 2 sections slavery and State rights or the right of a State to secedofrom the Union they regardas having been settledforever by the highest tribuiinl arms that man can resort to. I was pleased to learn from the leading menwhom I mett int the not only accepted the decision arrived at as final. ut. now that the smokeof battle has cleared iiwui and time has been given for reflection, that this OCIEIOHhas been a fortunate one for the whole country. they receiving like benefits from itwith those who opposed them in“the field and in council, 4 yearsof war, during which law wasexecuted only atthopointoflhe bayonet throughout theStates in rebellion. have left the peoples possiblyin a condi ttihoonriniyot to yield thnt rey obe ience to civil au the American people have generally been in the habit of yieldipg. This would render the precence of small garrisons throughout those States necessaryuntil such time nslabor returns to its proper channel and civil authority is fully established. I did not meet anyone. cit orthose holding place. under the Government or citizens of the southern States.who think it practicable to Withdrawthemil itary from the South at present. The white and the black mutually requiret e protection of the General Government. “There is such universal acquiescence in the autbority of the General Government throu bout the purtions of the country visited by ms that the more presence ofa military force, Without regard to num cocursn.tirsy saunffideoieenotntoommarienqtauiinreotrhdaetr. t The hefogrcoeokdeopf tthine the interior, where t cre are many freedmen, (elsewherein the southern States than at forts upon the sen coast no force is necessary.)shouldall be.wbit troops. The reasons for this are obvious Without mentioning many of them. The presenceof black troops, lately slaves, demoralizeslabor. bothbytheir advice and by furnishing in their campsii.resort for thofreedmen for long distances around. White troops generally excite no opposition, and thpreforp a small number of them can maintain order in a given district. Colored troops must be kept in bodies sufficient to defend themselves. It is not the thinking men who would use violence toward any clmo troops sent among them by the General Government, but the ignorant in sumo placesmight; and the late slave seemsto be imbu With the idea that the property of his late master should, by right belong 0him or at least should haveno protection from the colored soldier. There is danger of collisions hem: brought on by such causes. observations lcad me to the conclpsionthattha citizens of the southern States are anxious to return to selfovernment within the Union assoon as possible; t int while reconstructing they want and require protection from the Government; that theyare in earnestin wishing todowhatth eythink isrequired by the Government not humiliating to them as citizons and ifsuch ocoursoweropointedouttheywonld pursueit in good faith. it is to bore netted that there cannot boa grenter comminzlingutt iis t i inc between the citizens of the two seotions and particularly with those intrusted Withthe lawmaking power.” Mr. Speaker, it is not well that the people should be deceived in this matter, nor can they be. The question is simply one of union or disunion. Let the issue be frankly made and squarely met. Let the great contest be made under no doubtful colors, with trumpets sonnding no uncertain sound, and may (10d.defend the right! For myself, I wish no new war cry. I want to see no new motto emblazoned upon the victoriousillag of my count. I will recognize none that has not been with it under fire. “Liberty and Union 1” words embroidered there by the eloquence of Webster, are still proudly borne upon its folds. Let them remain there, with althe added signifiance that the great war for liberty and Union has imported; with univer sal liberty achieVed for all the inhabitants of the land, and Union, unconditional Union, the determined aim of all who rally around it. I