Mr. CULLUM. Constitutional Amendment. SPEECH OF HON. S. M. CULLOM, OF Illinois, the HORep, June 16, 1866. [The SPEAKER stated there were several gentlemen who wished to speak but were precluded by the closing of the debate on the state of the Union, and ifthero wereno objectionthey could hand their speeches to the reporters to be printed in the Globe. There was no objection, and it was ordered accordinzly.] Mr. CULLOM. Mr. Speaker, ii skillful general knows the position, strength, and courage of his own men. as also the position, numbers, and designs of the enemy. He studies the sil uation and is seldom deceivedeitherby his Own forces or those with whom he is contending. The Union party of this country should study well its position upon the great political questions of the day as well as the position of those who have opposed it. ever since the beginning of Our struggle for national existence. We should see to it.thnt our positions are defensible, whether our Union forces are established upon the solid foundations chosen by our fathers, and whether the spirit and courage of thcloyol people, are a sure guarantee of victory. These are not ordinary times; ages seem almost crowded into a day, and we are hurried along on the full tide of events scarcely knowing where we are or whither we are going. Then, sir, in the language of the great Webster, let us refer to the Oint from which we departed, that we may at cast be able to conjecture where we now are. As the north star is the sure guide to the weary traveler as he passes over the unknown desert in the darkness of night, so there is one principle in our Government which, if followe and adhered to by the people, will lead us through the present. darkness which hangs over the country like a thick'cloud, and on to peace, prosperity, and permanency as a nation. That principle runs all through our Government, and forms the very fulcrum of its existence. It is peculiar to America and singles her out from all other nations and places her far above them all in a proper estimation of the value of governments for men. That principle should be made the touchstone by which all the great questions now agitatin the country and involving the rights of men s iould betested, and by it we as legislators may determine whether in o' ur disosition of these questions. we are mov bac 'ward or forward. Vhen our fathers proclaimed in the language of the DeclarIndep that they held these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the ar suit of happiness; and that to secure t iese rights governments are instituted among men they spoke to the world the thrilling notes ot truth which set the American Republic high above all other Governments in the shining galaxy of nations, kindled a new Home of liberty in the hearts of the American people, and made the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World from that moment more and more insecure. That principle forms the very life of this nation; smother it out and America dies dies disgraced. As the man once honest, sober, a Christian, turns from the habits which marked him as the mun of God and in the pool of debauchery, without friends to mourn him, dies. so this Republic, when she smothers out that life principle of her distinctive organization, will die unliouored and unsung. The framers of the Constitution recognized it as one of the paramount objects of government. Union, justice, domestic tran apillity, the general welfare, the securement of e blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity, were the great objects for which they ordained and established the Constitution of the U.S. To secure the blessings of liberty, the DeclarIndep was written and proclaimed, the long and severe struggle of the Revolution endured, and the Constitution framed and ratified by our fathers. Sir, when that great and good man who was said to be “ 1st in war, 1st in peace, and 1st in the hearts of his countrymen, ” was by res olution of Congress in 17.75made commander in chief of the armies, by the terms of the res olution, it was for the defense of American liberty. Union and liberty in the early days of this Republic were together mingled and interwoven in the hearts of the people, and from those living principles, warming and ele vating the hearts of the early patriots of this land, grew the great prosperity and mighty power of this country.Mr. Speaker, since the organization of this Government we have had some agitation and excitement as the result of the presence of elements anta onistic to that vital principle of libert. A though for many years slavery remuine in the Government as a local institution, undisturbed, yet its existence was in direct antagonism to the spirit and life of the vital principle of the Government. While that institution did not seek to reach out ands read its isenous wings over the whole inn and may 6 slave national and freedom sectional, wicked and orrid and barbarous as the institution was in the estimation of the millions of free men, as well asthe millions of downtrodden slaves, yet it was permitted to exist. But, sir, its votiiries were not content that it should remain in the States where it had long existed, and tiually the cry was that “as the star of empire took its way” to the West, so must sla very follow, and plant its curse upon the vir gin soil of the new Territories of the nation. The free people, whose moral sense had long been insulte by the hideous forms of slavery and by its bold determination to crush out the vital principle of the Government, finally dared to assert tiieir position, that freedom should be national, and that if slavery existed at all it should be sectional and that it should not spread over territory t ten free, if by any constitutional power or means they eoul prevent it. The majority of the free people of the government were against its encroachments upon their rights as free men, and when the voice of the people was heard, and in a constitutional mode it spoke against the institution of slavery, war came upon the count like a sweeping tornado, and for 4 years tenation trembled in the balance as tyranny, oppression, and all the wickedness of accumulating ages combined together, and with a desperation unparalleled were hurled against the Government struggling to maintain its integrity and the vital principle of its existence. Sir, as the sound of war rolliad over the mountains and up the valleys of the North the fire of liberty and patriotism re kindled in the hearts of the people, and from that hour slavery was doomed to speedy destruction. That element which had become an eating canker upon the body politic was to be removed, together with the excitement it had caused. The war continued; slaver was destroyed; the rebellion finally crushe, and we are at work changing and modifying the laws and Constitution to more perfectly suit the new order of things. Slavery, sir, was the cause of the rebellion; slavery has been the great disturher of the peace and harmony of our people from the beginning; slavery was a great moral and political evil; the moral sense of the people was against it; the spirit of the Government was against it: the spirit of the age was against it: the civilization of all Christendom was against it; it has now passed away, and may not the American people well rejoice? Nations, like men, cannot ong prosperund cherish evil. They, like men, must dea justly if they would long succeed. But, sir, the people who were once slaves are now free. It has come the duty of the government to give them civil rights, to throw around them protection, to shield them, dependent as they are, just emerged from the prison of bondage, from the impositions of wicked men. This has in a measure been done. We have proposed amendments to the Constitution, which are as follows: ResolvedbytheSonataand HoRep. the U.S.A. in Congressassembled, 2/3rds of both Houses concurring.) That the ollowinir article he proposedto the legislnturesof the several Statesasan amendmenttot e Constitution of the U.S. which when ratified by 3/4ths offuid Legislatures shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely: ARTICLE. S.c‘rios 1. All personsborn or naturalized in the U.S and subjectto the jurisdietion thereof. are citizens of the U.S and of the States whereinthey reside. No States all make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or iinniunities of citizens of the U.S.: nor shall any state deprive any person of life liberty or property. without due processof law; nor deny to any Person pithin its Jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Site. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned union! The several States according to their respectivenumbers.countingthe whole number of persons, excluding Indium! not taxed. lint wheneverthe right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and VEEP, Representatives in Congress.exrentive andjudicial officers, or members of the Legislature thereof is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such Stateubeing 21 years of it c, and citizens of the U.S or in any way a ridged.exceptfor nrticipntion in rebellion or other crimc, the basis 0 representation therein shall be reduced in the prortion which the number of such ninle citizensshu lbear to the whole unm lger of malecitizens21 yearsof agein such ‘tnte. SEC. 3, That no person shall he a Senator or Ropresentutivo in conress, or cleetor of President and VEEP or old any ot iicc.civil or military. under the U.S or under any State. who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the U.S., or as a member of any StateLeglFlfllllft' or its a judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the U.S.us shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.orgivenaidor comfort to the enemies thereof. But Cont ressnmyb, y it vote of2/3rds of each House remove such disability. Site. 4. The validity of the public debtof the U.S. authorizedbylaw including dohts incurred for payment of pensions and bountiesfor services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion shall not be nestionud. But neither the U.S.nor any tutu shall assumeor pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the U.S or anyclaim for the lore or emancipntion of any slave, but all such debts, obligations and claims shall behcld illegal and voul. SHC.5.The Congress shall have power to enforce. by appropriatelegislation.the provisionsof this seetion. By these amendments, which have gone to the people or the States for ratification, we provide that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S and subject to our jurisdiction shall be citizens of the U.S and of the several States; that no State shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens, llOl.‘ deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deprive any person the equal protection of the laws. By these amendments we proposeto settle the basis of representation an prevent the late rebel States from having an increased representation in the Halls of Congress when those States are admitted to the right of representation, as a direct result of their rebellion against the country. We are in favor of giving to the several States representation based upon the whole number of mucus, excluding Indians not taxed; rovi ed, that when the right to vote is deuie to any male inhabitants of the age of 21, and citizens, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, then the asis of representation shall be reduced in proportion as the number so denied bears to the whole number of male citizens 21 years old in the State. Is this section of the amendment just and right? Are the people of the loyal States ready to fold their arms and admit these southern States again to representation, and say this is no time to amend the Constitution because the people have not recovered from the excitement of the war, while the immediate result of the rebellion is to give them much more power in the Government than they before enjoyed? I Sir, in the beginning of the war we often heard the boastings of these southern men‘ that one southern man was equal to 5 men in the North. Unless this amendment, which we have sent to the States, shall be ratified and become a part of the Constitution, it may truthfully be said that one southern vote is equal to 2 of the North. I am against such unequal representation. If the South should lose nothing in representation by her rebellion, I surely do not desire her to gain. But, sir, if the southern States do not desire to be weakened in their representation in the councils of the nation, they have the means of giving themselves strength. SCarolina, with a oulation composed largely more than half of pblitek persons, ‘who are given no voice in the Government, should not be permitted to take her place again in the sisterhood, covered all over as she is with secession, rebellion, and crime against the country, with additional members of Congress and presidential electors, as the reward for the rebellion for which she is prominently responsible, and which was inau gurated by SCarolina batteries firing upon the starving garrison at Sumter. But, sir, there are other interesting sections in the amendment passed by this Congress. The next section in the series provides that no person shall be aSenator or Representative in Congress or presidential elector, or hold any office, civil or military, under the U.S or any State, who, having previously taken the oath, as a member of Congress, oliicer of the U.S., member of the Legislature of any State, or as ajndicial officer of any State, to supportthe Constitution of the U.S., shall have engaged in insurrection and rebellion against the same, or given the enemies of the Government any aid or comfort. Is this not a just and righteous provision? Can it be that there are any loyal people in this country, now that we are passing out of the most terrible struggle the world ever saw, who can oppose such an amendment? The men who rebelled against the Government and undertook to overthrow it are all guilty of treason. By the laws of the country, under the Constitution. a man who commits such a crime is liable to the punishment of death. His liberty, his property, and his life are all at the mercy of the Government. Yet the nation passesover all this, calls not upon the officers of the law to visit its pen alty upon them, except, perhaps, in a few cases, but says to all that great army of rebels and all those behind them aiding their cause in their efforts to destroy the country, “We will exercise toward you a more than Christian charity and will remit you to all your original rights, unless before your rebellion you enjoyed the special favors of the nation." Sir, after some effort and much reflection we have at last become hard hearted and cruel enough to say in this amendment to Davis and Lee and Mason and Slidell and Harris and Hampton and Beauregard and Johnstou and Pillow and Breckinridge and Toombs and Ste phone and a few more such men who turned their backs upon the Government which had during all their lives lavished favors upon them, and upon which they had lived and grown and fattened, that they could not here after hold any office, Federal or State. We have said this, it is true, and for it we are said to be illiberal. Sir, it is a degree of magnanimity unequaled in all time in any civilized country on the globe. What cruelty these radicals are perpetrating upon the devoted heads of these leadersof the rebellion. These men, mostofwhom became gra with age, feeding at the Government crib, an many of whom should have been caught and tried, convicted and hung, for their treason before they left these Halls and other high positionsof national trust and honor at the beginning of the rebellion. Cruel and ungenerous is the radical party toward such men as these. Sir, if such treatment of such men he cruelty, then we are cruel. But, sir, as I hear these sickly pleas in behalfof these leaders of the rebellion by men in our own country, I almost wonder that England and France, those virtuous allies of the rebels, havenot again raised their voices against such ungenerous treatment of the so ple whom they followed with such tender n costion all through the war. These bdoved friends of theirs, whose coffers were replenished by British gold, whose arms were made in Britis l sho s, and whose ships were built in British doc yards. Sir, I rather guess that these neighbors, these friendly neighbors of ours, are a little too busy now to give their attention to such matters so far from home. I have heard it said that this is a world of checks and balances. I believe it, and it is well that it is. A short time ago England was rejoicing as she thought she read the history of the destruction of free government in the struggles through which we as a nation were passing. Quickly did she manifest an anxiety to recognize our domestic enemies as helligerents and as a separate nation, and to announce to the world that the American llepublic, founded as it was and is upon the consent of the people, was a failure. With an air of supercilious triumph she trampled upon our rights, aided indirectly, if not directly, our enemies, encouraged them to continue the struggle, held out to them promises of recognition, demanded from us the possession of prominent rebels ca tured on the sea, and did everything she dare to do to embarrass us, hardened and oppressed and struggling as we were to maintain our national existence and freedom she desired and expected to see us go down among the wreck of nations. But, sir, we passed through the storm and now as the cloud of war thickens and gathers over Europe, and as America stands erect, having come out of the contest with the stars and stripes waving over the whole land, England may well exclaim, as she looks back upon the past, oh, what a mistake we made in not acting the part of an honorable nation toward the young giant of the western world in her master struggle against oppression. And, sir, while England looks about her to catch the 1st glimpse of the war clouds as they rise in the political horizon, suddenly the silence is broken by the announcement in her northern British possessions that the Fenians are coming, an their cry is, Liberty for Ireland, or death to the oppressors of her downtrodden sous! Sir, oppression finds its enemies as well as votarics all over the world, and recently the people of Canada, that place where treason nestled and where the so emes of murder and arson to destroy our rulers and burn our cities were concocted, were startled from their homes to defend themselves for the wrongs inflicted by their Government upon the sons of the Em erald Isle in years goncb chccks and balances. France, too, rule by Napoleon HI, with an eye always lusting for power, when the days of our Republic were almost dark as the night, discovers that in that hour it was her dutylto collect from our little sister republic of i Mexico a claim, old, stale, imaginary, and unadjusted as it was, and with that deceitful pretense sends her imperial troops and lands them upon our southern border, ‘wrth a pitiless, penniless, and bigoted adventurer, with the relia of a despot, at their head. Money and dets were not the object of that expedition. Napoleon, like England, believed he saw our republic tottering to the fall, and while, as he supppsed, we went down, an empire should he eatslished upon our ruins. hat empire is not yet estab ished. War is upon the people in EurOpe. The American struggle is ended, and Napoleon proclaims that he will very soon withdraw his troops, and trembles' lest they get kicked out before he can decently ship them away. But to return again to the consideration of the proposed amendments. I believe them to be eminently fair and just and subject only to the objection that they are too liberal to the offenders against the country. The last section of the amendment declares the Federal debtof the U.S. authorized by law, includin debts incurred for payment of pensions an bounties for services in suppressing the rebellion, inviolate, and prohibits either the nation or the States from t ie payment either of‘ any debt or obligation incurred in aid of the rebellion or any claim for emancipated slaves. The trade and commerce and business of the country demand this at our hands; our financial sta bility requires it; our credit requires it; and justice to the men oflabor and toil who fought the battles of the country and conquered the rebellion demand such guarantees as that the nation may not in the future be borne down by the load of rebel debts which might be placed upon them unless they are cut off by the constitution of the country. I have given and shall continue to give these proposed amendments my support; they will soon, I trust, be ratified by a sutficient number of States and becomes. art of the great Magna Charta of the land. [hey are preliminary to the full restoration of the rebellious States to theirpolitical power in the nation. But we are told that those States will not accept such amendments as a condition precedent to their restoration to their practical relations with the Government; whether this be true I am unable to say, but, sir, viewing them in the light of their own interest, which I believe they now begin to see, I think they will accept them as a just, liberal, and generous offer founded on justice and humanity, and not in malice and revenge. But we hear it said that this is not the time to amend the Constitution, while a art of the country remains unrepresented. ‘ir, all that part of the country is represented whose people helped to save it in the late struggle. Whose business is it to reconstruct this country? Who should be consulted in regard to our duty here! Shall the men who struggled to destroy the temple of liberty be invite to dictate the man‘ner in which its battered walls shall be repaired? Or shall the patriotic men who gath ered around that temple and drove back the enemies of liberty repair and beautify the structure in their own time and way. and, if" they so desire, place a new cup stone thereon, written upon its face the words akin to the DeclarIndep “ the equal rights of all men before the law, without regard to religion, race, or color." Sir, the situation is improving; the Government is being established upon an enduring bapis, and the hopes of the future are bright ening as the star of justice rises above the political horizon. We are moving forward, and the destinctive principle of our Government stands out bolder an bolder every day as a terror to tyrants and oppression. America shall be in fact.what it has been in name, free and independent;.the home of the brave and the land of the free. A nation to which the oppressed of all countries may come and find a free home for themselves and their children, and become the peers of all the rest. Here the German, whose patriotic heart yearns for the largest liberty; t in Irishman, who has long struggled against the iron heel of oppression; the oppressed of all nations, may come and contest with an “equal chance” 1. c proudest American, to wealth, position, and the highest honors a mighty people can bestow. But, Mr. Speaker, other nations are being stirred to their very center by the mighty moving of the people for equal rights. The rulers of England and France and Austria and Prus sia are lo day watching the pulse of the people, and as it beats stronger and stronger for equal rights, the thrones of monarchs and despots become more unstable, and in the interest of humanity I say, God hasten their falll The world moves, and may we nothope that Amer ica will place herself 1st. in the linc, and in her grand march to wealth and power may the oppressed of all nations gather aroun her standard and push on the army of libertyuntil all the enemies of justicc are subdued 1y the convincing power and logic oftruth and right. But. Mr. Speaker, where are our enemies in this contest? Sir, they have not yet left the field. beaten as they have been ever since the greatstruggle has been going on, yet they are still vigilant and hopeful of final succcss the 2 wings of that great political arm, the southern wing, under the command of Havis and the northern wing, under the command of Vallandigham, are coming closer together, and in the coming election these 2 great political armies, onc once beaten by the sword, and the other often beaten by the ballot, are to be thrown against the great politicallarmy of the Union in the 'hope that victory may yet perch upon their banners. There will be, there can be. as there has not been for the last 4 years, but. 2 great parties in this country. lien may talk, devise schemes, make plat forms, call conventions under whatever name they lease, and organize 3rd arties, but the peop 0 will sweep them out o the way, and clieving that they are in the midst of that same struggle for national existencejand the perpetuity of free institutions, they Will move forward in the support of the men and measures who will protect them from the power of rebels and the reiestablishment of oppression. This Government is either to remain in the hands of the people whose views are reflected by the votes and speeches of the majority in this Congress, or it is to be handed over to the people whose sentiments and political views are reflected by Vallandigham, eymour, Ste phens and Lee. The same doubting, undecided disposition existed in the minds of many good men during the war that exists now. As the storms of opposition came upon the Union party theyi from all quarters of the country, hint hearted men almost staggered in their faith, and sometimes were ready to advise a more amiable and tender polic on the part of the Government toward the re cls and on the question of slavery; but the Government, in the hands of the Union party. kept right on, neither turning to the right.norleft, untiffinally the rebellion collapsed and the corner stone of its temple was removed. So let the Union party continue to keep right on, neither turning the one wu or the other, but. moving for ward in the rigit, and it will not be weakened by faint hearted men nor beaten by all its foes combined, and will soon have accomplished the great object of in mission, the so vntion of the Republic from all its domestic enemies and its establishment upon the foundations of Justice, which shall guaranty its perpetuity for agesyet to come.