Mr. CLARKE, of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, Iap preach the discussion of the question of reconstruction with anxious solicitude. Results momentous to the interests of civil liberty, and affecting the weal or woe of those who are to come after us, depend upon the solution of the roblein. While we are here assembled to legislate for the protection, welfare, and permanent salvationo the nation, the enemieso the Union and of Freedom are still boldly contending for the control or the destruction of the Government. The form, but not the character, of the contest has changed. Beaten upon the battle field, the pestilent politicians of the rebel States, aided by their more pestilent northern allies, continue the contest at the ballot box with a renewed hope and with the same inflexible and malicious purposes. Let me say here, sir, that under these so einn circumstances the duties of all loyal and patriotic men are as stern, unyielding, and, if necessary, should be as self sacrificing as the duties of the soldiers of the Union who went forth to fight our battles, to struggle, to suffer, and to die. Sir, we are not worthy to be the legislators of the Republic in this great crisis, if we do not possess that unflinching courage and that unswerving fidelity, necessary to gather up the logical results of the war, and base a on them a more perfect freedom and a grander nationality. It is not my purpose to enter into a discussion of the legalpstatus of the rebellious States. The doctrine of the “immortality of States, ” and the attempt to conceal beneath it the crimes and enormities of individual and associated treason, finds an ample exposure in history, in reason, and in common sense. The traitors of the South, with their sympathizers in the North, who recipitated secession and who proclaimed the nion dissolved forever, are now the loud ine uthed advocates of that “State immortality” in which they hope to obtain absolution from unpunished crimes and a protection to new conspiracies. I hold that the rebellious States are out of the Union so far as any right, i have forfeited all, by a treason as unprovoked as j defeated and gconqueror. l i. I whole nation. 7 commenced by the President. 1 exists on the part of said States to claim anything from the Federal Government. They it was wicked and unnecessary, and they are powerless, at the mercy of the iey stand as a criminal at the bar of offended justice, and it is the prerogative of congress to aliix the penalty and hedge about the reractory States with those irreversible, guarantees necessary for the permanent good of the oiiendersand the future peacciot the “r hile they areout of the Union so far as they have any right to claim anything for themselves, they are in the Union so far as the jurisdiction of national authority extends an authority which has no limit but the will of the conqueror, and the necessity, safety, and welfare of the people of all the States. Though the attempt to disrupt the Union was a failure, the forfeiture of all the rights which were originally reserved to the States was full and complete. As well might the highwayman or the midnight assassin claim the protection of the traveler who had ese aped from the plunge of his misdirected dagger, as for the rebellious States to claim from congress anything but the terms Congress is please to give. Nowhere have I seen the status of the rebel States and the powers of the General Government” so well set forth, as in a recent address by that stem patriot, Governor Brownlow, to the noble loyalists of East Tennessee. He says: " Thenational Government may govern the sece ded States with or without the media of elections. If it chooseto do it by meansof clections it has the right to irescribe the qualifications of electors. It may mu c suffragelimited or universal." " The revolted States have destroyed their separate governments. As communities of people, as State.“vbounded by geographical lines, the rebel Stateshave never been out of the Union; but as governing powersthey are not in the Union. forassuch. in theirefforts todestroy th"e Union. they have themselves been destroyed.” (5 national Government is bound to control theserebel States, so as to secure the safetyofall the loyal people therein, and of the whole nation. It cannot allow itself to be destrpyed by hostile voters any more than by hostile armies. “The Illellwllo hurt the Union thement" "receive the most votes in the revolted States. The repudiation of the Federal debt and the payment of the rebel debt are the aims of the reconstructedgovernmentsof the South. Thorestoration of slavery is the grai purpose of the rebels, and is hoped for and looked t in their voting an“d their conversation." The nutionaltlovernmentought to hold theSouth by military power till its people heartily repent of the guilt an spirit of the rebellion. The bestinter estsof the country, and the appiness of generations yct unborn, require that the rebels shall not be restored to power. Justice should be done to friends of the Union. the Let the nation delayingiving pardons to leading guilty rebelsand according power to the organized enemiesof the country." "The rebels clamor" “ for the right of testifying and votin: and Union men are ready tohconcede the right. ccause of the color of their skin! But for 4 years they did all they could to destroy the Union, and for this they should not be allowed a voice in its affairs. for 4 years the blacks did all they could by givm information and fighting, to save the nion; Bill but for their color they would now have the right to testify and vote. The voice of prejudice says, hold them backl The voice of reason and justice says. take suffrage from the white enemiesof the Union and give it to the black friends! If the StatesWill not do this. Congresshas the power under the amendmentto the Constitution to do it, and ought to carry it out!” Mr. Speaker, I have said that the character of the contest has not changed. It is true the rebels have been defeated on the field of battle; the great armies which menaced our capital and defied your authority have been broken up. When Lee and Johnston surren dered, all the leading rebels expected, was, to ese ape to foreign lands or to suffer the penalties merited by their crimes. By the laws of Congress they were excluded from participat,ing in public affairs; and it is difficult to see [how they could be legally {pardoned by the i Executive until convicted o treason by due. process of law. Congress was not in session. A asty, irregular )IOCOSSof reconstruction was, Pardons were freely showered upon untried. uneonvicted, butl guilty rebels. The men who educated the public opinion of the South in the doctrine of State rights, and precipitated the rebellion, were I unfortunately placed in power; and in some of. the States, minorities of the people, and than of minorities the rebels, were called upon to organize State governments and to form State constitutions. [be brave white loyalists of the South, few in number. suffering, bleeding, and impov erished, appealed in vain for that protection and recognition due to exalted patriotism and to their isolated position. 4 millions of black loyalists, notwithstanding the pledge of the proclamation of freedom, were ignored, and left to the mercy of an embittered and hostile rebelpopulation. The appointment of men, as Governors of some of the rebel States, fresh from the conclaves oftreason, and the encouragement thus given to the rebel population these men represented, necessarily resulted adverse to all true loyalty in the South, and paved the way to the election of rebel generals and rebel officials, as Governors and Sens&Reps of the “ reconstructed” States. Thus it is that the men who one year ago were in the field fighting against the Union, are today the rulers of the southern States as of old, and demand in imperious terms the right to govern, notonly the South, but the whole nation. Sir, I deny this reposterous assumption in all its forms, whether it comes from the trai tors themselves, or from their faithful allies who have been concealed in the Union party only to attempt its destruction. Nor must our strength on this question he frittered away by the cunning devices of political guerrillas. As States. the South went into rebellion. In their State capacity they attempted to confederate together for the destruction of the Union and the establishment of a separate nationality. In my judgment, sir, it is t ie highest duty of Congress to examine the condition, sentiment, laws, and all the ramifications of the social and political condition of these States in the light of past experience, and in view of the present and future welfare and safety of the nation, as a preparatory step in any policy or condition of restoration, and more especially when the question of the recndowment of the right of representation upon this floor and at the other end of the Capitol, is considered. Representatives from any State, loyal or dis, loy.al, s.houl.d represent. majorities.and. not minorities. We should in no way be justified, either by the dictates of justice or by a decent regard tor the interests of the whole people, to admit to this floor, men, on their indivicual loyalty, sim 1 because they could take the test oath, whife the great mass of their constituents are disloyal and unrestrained in their future actions by proper safeguards. Our 1st duty, I repeat, is to inquire into the condition of the constituency, and to settle the account on the basis of national justice and in the spirit of the DeclarIndep. What, then, is the condition of the rebel States and how and on what terms should they be restored to their relations to the federal Union I It is not my purpose to indul e in any unkind criticism of those who once he (1their fellows in bondage. Simple facts are sufficient. The American people appreciate fully the control lin influences ofe ncation, of circumstances, an of those germinal influenoeswhich reduced the southern character. The former slaveholders are just what their system has made them. They stand today, with all its evil influences permeating their minds, and intensified by a most mortifying defeat of cherished purpose s, fiercely contested and ardently soug t. It is but natural, sir, that they should hate not only those who defeated them, but the principles and purposes which animated the victors. especially do they hate the loyal and defenseless freedmen. Every mail brings to us the records of injustice and outrage. Every gathering of the defeated yet struggling and defiant rebels, shows conclusively that the only purpose entertained by them is to hold on to as much of slavery as possible. If the people of the rebel States wereas anxious to do justice to the freedmen, and to establish republican liberty, as they seemto be in maintaining old prejudices, and in perpetuating all the essential elements of slavery, we should speedily approach the hour of complete restoration. GenlHoward, the present able head of the Freed mens Bureau, has given most vigorous expression in relation to the condition of affairs in the South, in a late speech at the CooperInstitute, NewYork: "They surrender slavery inch by inch and piece by piece. but they will not give it up altogether until constrainedto do it by the power of freedom itself. Comgulsory labor is stampedupon every lan yet propose. Their whole thought seems to be. 0w can we white men maintain our authority overthese black men? llow keep them from renting lands. from having disutes With us and testifying against us in courts of law and having a voiccin framin and executing the laws? the Great majority of southern pee in avow all this: it is a truth apparent to every t in mg man." Sir; it is because they do avow this boldly and frankly, and carry it out in their acts, that I see the necessity of extending the strong arm of the Federal power to redeem the plighted faith of the nation in the protection of the rights of its humblest but most loyal citizens. {I give my support to the humane and patriotic ", incasures of this Congress and to the principles and the methods by which the desired results are to be obtained, entertaining no doubt of our constitutional power. The 2nd clause "0f the great amendment expressly provides that Congress shall have power to enforce emanci tpation by all necessary legislation. Notwithstanding this solemn injunction of the Constitution, we are told by the Gentfrom NewJersey [Mr. Romans] that all our legislation framed in the interests of liberty, is an infringement of the rights of the States, and that it is of an unconstitutional character, and that the rebel States themselves, through their courts. would be sufficient to protect the rights of the people. In other words, the control of the southern States should be surrendered to the rebels. It would be easy to show how impossible it is for the freedmen at this stage of southern development to receive anything like justice, protection, equity, at the hands of the communities which were built upon his forced labor and are now depressed by his forced emancipation. Judges, juries, lawyers officers, must for many years, certainly during this generation, carry with them such a hatre and contempt for the freedmen as to utterly preclude the idea that they can do him full Justice. A negro testifying in a State court against a white man, will labor under the disadvantage for many years of being despised by the local court and the local population. Now, sir, I do not say this in reproach, but as a simple illustration of a well understood truth. I want these people, necessarily standing for awhile in an exceptional position and having been pledged the national honor or their protection, to know that the may turn from the prejudices which must an will affect local triunals, and under the broad wgis of the Union find those ample guarantees, which, not to insure them, will forever dishonor us. Mr. Speaker, the last 4 years of our history has reversed the position of the nation. Our pathway must now lead in the direction of freedom, justice. an enlarged liberty to the citizen, and a iiobler civilization in the prog ress of national destiny. Time is making even, the wrong of the fugitive slave law, with its atrocious infaniies. 1hose who supported that statute and could see no infringement of the reserved rights of the States, now build many an argument upon the very principles they then so seornfully rejected. Vhat was it to those advocates of organized injusticethat they laughed to scorn the idea which underlies all true harmony between States and the individ ua"ls thereof? John Stuart Mill has aptly said: The State.while it respects the liberty of eachin what specially regardshimself is bound to maintain aviirilantcontrol overhis exercise ofany powerwhich it allows him to exerciseover others.” But, sir, the object was mower. They desired only to sustain injustice that they might obtain place, and gratify their ambition investing the governing power in the hands of the aristocratic ew. Sir, the party of which I am proud to be a member, has sought other ends. It desired, and still does, as I understand its principles, to establish impartial justice as the foundation of our national polity. It is only by a just application of this principle, in the protection of the rights of all classes and conditions of our people, that republican institutions can be made permanent on this continent. The logical results of the revolution, in whose closing acts the members of this Congress have the honor to partincipat, must be accepted by us in this spirit an for these purposes, or we shall be swept from the scene of public action be the scorn and indignation of the people of the loyal States, who have fought too earnestly and suffered too much tobe sacrificed by timidity or betrayed by power. But, sir, let me return from this digression. Iwill not detain the House in recapitulating at much length the testimony relating to the southern animus, wtheh from 1,000sources has been placed before the country. That in every conceivable shape and form the freed men are oppressed, is most true. The letters received by members of this Congress since the present session Opened, from persons of the most reliable character, would, if gathered into a volume, present a mass of facts so oppalling that even gentlemen on the other side, who have no ear or the suffering of anybody except they have been aiding the late rebellion; even those gentlemen would shrink back, and out of common humanity, meet as half way in devising some legislation by which the people we have made free shall be fully protected. Among the laws passed by the Legislature and approved by the “reconstructed” Goycrnor of the “ reconstructed” State ofAlabama, governor Patten, the confederate cotton loan agent. I find one signed January 4, 1866, which provides: “ 1. That it shall not be lawful for anv freedman. mnlatto or free personofcolor in this State. to own fire arms, or carry about his persona pistol or other deadly weapon. "2. That after the 20th day of January, 1866. any personthus offending may bearrestedupon the warrant of any actingjusticeof the peace and upon conviction fined any sum not exccedlhg 8100or impris oned in the countyjail or put to labor on the public worksof any county.incorporated town. city or vil lage. for any term not exceeding 3 months. "3. That if any gun.pistol, or other deadly weapon be found in the possesswn of any freedman. mnlatto or free person of color. The samemayb any justice of the eace, sheriff or constable he taken from such free man. mulatto. Or free personofcolor: and ifsuch person is proved to be the owner thereof, the same shall upon an order of any justice of the peace.be sold, and the proceedsthereof aid overto such freedman mnlatto or person of color owning the same. "4. That it shal not be lawful for any person to sell, give or lend firearms or ammurition of any description whatever.to any freedman. ficc negro or mnlatto; and any person so violating the provisions of thius act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be lined in the sum of at lessthan 50 nor more than 100 dollars, at the discretion of the jury trying the case." In this respect Alabama is superior to mississippi, whose rebel militia, upon the seizure of the arms of black Union soldiers, appropriated the same to their own use. Sir, I find in the Constitution of the U.S. an article which declares that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” For myself, I shall insist that the reconstructed rebels of Mississippi rgspect, the Constitution in their local laws, by fore I will even consider their claims to representation in Congress. But Alabama is not alone. The “ reconstructed " adjutant general of Mississippi, a State which passed laws to prevent persons of color American citizens from owning, leasing, or rentin real estate, issued an order under date of December 13, 1865, for the disarming of the freedmen, in which occurs the followmg sentence: “In the execution of this order. you will abstain from all unnecessary Violence: but should you meet With any resistance. ou will employ sufficient force to accomplish your object." This order is addressed to the militia, composed of men who, like the Jackson company, voted to adopt the uniform, rules, and tactics of the confederate army, to admit no one who had not served in that army or was not known to be friendl to that cause. The Adjutant General of t a U.S. reports about 70,000 men enlisted in Mississippi and serving in our Army. Who, sir, were those men! Not the present militia but the brave black soldiers of the Union, disarmed and robbed by this wicked and despotic order. Nearly every white man in that State that could eararms was in the rebel ranks. Nearly all of their able bodied colored men who could reach our lines enlisted under the old flag. Many of these brave defenders of the nation paid for the arms with which they went to bat tle and I regret, sir, that justice compels me to say, to the disgrace of the Federal Government, that the " reconstructed” State authorities of Mississippi were allowed to rob and disarm our veteran soldiers and arm the rebels fresh from the field of treasonable strife. Sir, the disarmed loyalists of Alabama, Missis sippi, and Louisiana are powerless today, and {oppressed by the pardoned and encouraged, rebels of those States. They appeal to the American Congress for protection. In response to this appeal I s iull vote for every just measure of protection, for I do not intend to be among the treacherous violators of the solemn pledge of the nation. I shall vote for these measures, believing them necessary for a speedy restoration of the Union. I desire to see these vacant seats filled, and that at an early day. But, sir, I would make haste slowly. whileI remain a member of this body I shall never vote to admit to its deliberations any man who voluntarily parti eipated in the rebellionand conspired against the liberties of my country. As the Representative of a loyal constituency, who sent to the field over 22,000 men to fight, not only for the Union, but for liberty, I will never surrender the right of Congress to do all things necessary for the welfare of the whole nation, and the full and permanent freedom and )protection of all its citizens. I shall continue I to insist upon irreversible guarantees from the rebel States, and they must be accepted, too, in a spirit of repentance commensurate with the crimes they have committed against our counI try and against humanity. In justification of i this policyI appeal to the gallant people of Kansas, for whom I am proud to speak in this hour of national peril. Other genthemen upon this floor may hitVe constituencies who will surrender the results of our great contest at the dictation of power, or by vacillation and impa tience; but fsay to you, sir, and I say to the icountry, that my constituents will never conlsent to be governed by rebels and traitors. Mr. Speaker, what GenlGrant said (he who having led us to victory in war is, I believe, under the providence of God, to lead us too still greater victory in peace) in his letter to the President, of December 18, 1865, will illustrate the condition of the South: “ In some form the F roodrnenBsureau is an absolute necessity until civil law is established and enforoeil. scouring to the freedmentheir right: and full protection." “It cannot be expected that the opinions held by menat the South for years can bechangedin a day, and therefore the freedmen require, for a few years.not only laws to protect them, but the fosteringcare of those who will give them goodeounsel and on whom they can rely.” Kentucky, always claimed as a loyal State, and exercising a powerful, but baneful influence over our early war policy, comes to us with pertinent proofs of the eat necessity which asks action at our hand; The State Legislature has lately passed laws calculated to virtually make serfs of the persons that the constitutional amendment made free, and who are citizens of this Republic. The vagrant laws are so amended that a man can like a negro child and have it bound to him until the same is of age. A negro adult, if it be decided that he appears to have nothing to do, can he sold to forced labor for one year. I might go on, sir, to read the barbarous codes which have been passed in all the rebel States. I might show how the condition of the l freedman has been growin worse under the mistaken policy that has been pigsued. I ll might justly describe a condition of nominal:1 freedom worse than a condition of actual Q slavery. But I pass on. General Carl Sehurz, in his able report to the President upon the condition of aflairs in the South, says: "The true problem remains, not how to remove the colored man from his present field of labor, but how to make him, where lie is, a true free man, and an intelligent and useful citizen. The means are simple: protection by the Government until his political and social unmonables him to roteet himself; offeringto his legitimate ambition ie stimulant of a perfectly fair chancein life, and granting to him. the rights which, in evory just organization of society, are coupled with corresponding duties." Sir, I am not only in favor of protecting the oppressed freedmen on these rounds, but I step upon higher ground, and use my action on reasons affecting the welfare of the nation and the permanent security of all its great interests. The spirit which animated the South, and led it into rebellion, grew out of that pernicious political philosophy known as the doctrine of State rights and State sofereignty, in which the canning slave oligarchy earl in treiiched itself, culminating in treason an disunion. The same cunning instincts are still at work. The same spirit stimulates their present polity. Slavery destroyed, their object is now to make their former slaves dependent serfs, victims of unjust laws, and debarred from all progress and elevation by organized social prejudices. This policy is but another form of the spirit whi h Spratt, of SCarolina, expressed when efending secession before the confederate convention at Montgomery, Ala bama, March 1861. He said: " We secede because the North believesin equality before the law and we do not; because we believein a class kept ignorant that they may be contented, and disfrauchised that theymaybemerelythe ballast of the ship of state.” These bold words, this merciless logic, expresses fully the animating idea of the rebellion. of the ex1stence of this spirit now, we have ample proof in the tenacity with which every just measure of protection is opposed, and in the wild delight in which the remarkable utterances of the Executive in veto messages and in speeches, are quoted, North and South, by those who accept the position enunciated by Mr. Spratt. The existence of these ideas, and the defiance and restlessness of the encouraged rebels, render absolutely essential the passage of proper constitutional amendments, as well as other measures necessary for future security. These sentiments of the rebel Spratt are today the ruling ones of the rebellious States Alexander H. Ste hens, the unpardoned VEEP of the soutern confederacy, and now insulting the American people by claiming to be U.S. Senator elect from Georgia, addressed the rebel Legislature of that State on the anniversary of the birthday of Washington. Among other things, he is reported as declaring that “secession was not a crime to be reented of, or even a mistake to be condemned. but simply a failure to be deplored;” and that the rebellion was an “heroic struggle to maintain the Constitution of the U.S. ” The re“port of his speech continues: Having failed in the arenaof arms they must now abandon the hope of constitutional liberty and the cause for which they fought, unlessthey can secure in the courts and the halls of legislation what they lostin the field; and that the surestwa of regaining what they lost in battle is to sustain e restoration policy of the President." Here, sir, commences the new conspiracy, a confident attempt to win at the ballot box what they failed to achieve on the battle field. In this way bloody handed rebels, fresh from the murder and starvation of Union soldiers, demand admission to these Halls as the rightful law makers of the nation. In behalf of the interests of the present and the hopes of the future, this dangerous assumption must be resisted, and just and righteous legislation of Congress must go on. Liberty, universal and impartiiil, and the high duty of Congress to enlarge its scope and power, must not be compromised. Let no man forget that the spirit of republican institutions is radical, aggressive, and undeniable and creative. Sir, if any man invested with any portion of the sovereign power of the people shall betray his trust in this great crisis, et him stand forth in the withering gaze of the maimed heroes of 1,000 battle fields, and of the patriotic masses pfthis nation, and recalling the memory of half a million of starved and murdered soldiers, and in the light of justice, reason, humanity, and religion, receive that terrible condemnation which mankind have always visited upon unfaithful public servants, and which most assuredly the Americanpeople now have in store for the betrayers of public liberty. Sir, we must not take counsel of our fears. No man, no part, no policy, has strength enough to inislea or to deceive the public mind. It has been educated amid the throes of a mighty revolution, and sharpened by unparalleled sacrifices and sufferings. Nor did we fight the battles of the Union for an uncertain purpose. Mr. Lincoln did not invoke the “considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God" it on his immortal proclamation of freedom to iave us disgracefully abandon its pledges and securities. Sir, the President, the Cabinet, and Congress, all elevated to power by a loyal and radical constituency, are at the servants of this constituency, and unless false to all that is sacred in the obligations of human government, will execute the will of loyalty, and spurn the advice of compromisers and traitors. But I know that some will falter. The timid, the impatient, and the corrupt will fall by the way. Let who will, falter; let who may, go back; let me say for myself and my constituency, we stand now, as in the turbulent ast, believing in the Republic, and determined to build into law the doctrines of the DeclarIndep. It has been well said “that the nation which gives liberty and refuses equality, bestows at once too much and refuses too little." Give, then, to the freedman his inalienable rights and that full protection due to him from a nation he has fought to defend in the hour of danger. Mr. Speaker, in all ages of the world it has required costly sacrifices and persistent cour age to maintain the rights of the many of the poor, the weak, and the defenseless, against the injustice, the despotism, and the cupidity of the few. The character of the contest for the maintenance of popular rights. through which we are now passing, is not an exception to the rule. Despots and demagognes defy justice, ignore humanity, and in the name of the Constitution vainly attempt to stay the prog ress of the Republic to a more perfect freedom and a grander nationality. In the estimation of the Gentfrom NewJersey, [Mr. Roosas] the leader of the Democratic party upon this floor, every legislative act lookingto the protection of freedom, every sentiment of the loyal American people demanding from the rebel States security for the future peace of the nation, is revolutionary and unconstitutional. Recreaat Republicans, false to the inexorable logic of this crisis, to the people, to themselves, and to God, and vainly attempting to stay the progress of human liberty, catch up and herald the cry. Just now, sir, we have a grand political chorus, in which the Gentfrom NewYork [Mr. Rsvuoxn] and the Gentfrom NewJersey [Mr. Roosits join in harmonious strains, and invoking the aid of the “reconstructed” rebels, chant anew the requiem ofcopperhead Democracy and antiquated conservatism. Sir, let the new son be sung. Let fawning sycophants prostrate themselves at the feet of power. Let them oppose and denounce the just and humane policy of the majority of this Congress. I say to these Gentlemen one and all, you may elay, but you cannot prevent the final triumph of these prin ci les. A !New, sir, as I have before claimed, the power of Congress in the enactment of all pecessary and positive measures of reorganization is full Secretary Seward telegraphs Provisional Governor Sharkey, of Mississippi, under date of July 24, 1866, as follows: “ The government of the State will be provisional only until the civil governmentis reorganized with the approval of Congress." Aslate as September 12, 1865, the samehigh functionary telegraphs Provisional Governor Marvin, of Florida: “ It must.however be distinctly understoodthat the restoration to which your proclamation refers wrll besubJoctto the decisionof Congress.” In the exercise of this decision let Congress set forth in distinct terms the conditions 0t" restoration. Let us place before the whole people certain fundamental and irreversible uarantees to which assent should be required from the disorganized States as a condition precedent to becoming governing partners in the nation. In pursuance of this policy I would embody in constitutional amendments: d Prohibition of the payment of the rebel O I. 2. Prohibition of the payment for slaves. 3. An equal basis of representation in every State. 4. A declaration of the indivisibility and sovereignty of the Union. I would require further that the rebel States should make equal the civil rights of all their.loyal inhabitants; and establish State governments republican in form and based upon impartial suffrage. In the words of AndrewJohnson, which I fully adopt, uttered on the 9th of June, 1864, in his speech at Nashville: " The questionis whether man is capable of self government. Iholt. withJctferson. that Government was madefor the convenience of man and not man for Governuient. The laws and constitutions were designed as instruments to promote his welfare and hence.from this principle. I conclude that governmentse an and ought to be changed and amended to contoriu to the wants, to the requirements and prog ressof the people and the enlightened spirit of the age. [Loud applause. Now. if any of your secessionists have lost tait in mens capacity for self government and feel unlit for the exercise of this great right go straight to rebeldom, take Jell.l)av.is. cauregard and Bragg for your masters and put their collars on your necks. thesAenfdunldeatmmeenCtaalyprtihnactipnleosw. Wish it lehethtiemlaentdo isserceunrte mwiitihrhtaynraorveohtyntaionnd. uWphheilaevessocwieitthy itshein ththriosedsisoof ra tdheered state, and we are seeking security, let us fix eterlnoaulndations of the Government on principles of " But Justice lling whaichcownivlleenntidounrteofroersatollretimthee. who shall restore and State. who gave ro establish it? Shall the man his influence and his meansto destroy the Government? Is he to parlicipate in the great work of reorganization? Shall be who brought this misery upon the State be permitted to control its destimes? If this be so. 1ien all this precious blood of our brave soldiers and officers so freely poured out will have been wantonly spilled. All the glorious victories won by our noble armieswill go for naught and all the battle fieldswhich have been sown with dead heroes during the rebellion will have beenmade memorablein vain. “Why all this carnage and devastation? It was that treason might be put down and traitors punished. Therefore I say that.traitors should take a back seat in the work of restoration.". “ “ I say that the traitor has ceased to be a citizen and in Joiniiiiz the rebellion has heroinea public enemy. lle fortcited his riirl itto vote with loyal men when he renounced lllt! citizenship and sought to destroyour Government." These, sir. indorsed by this high authority, are, in my judgment, the main features of any plan of reconstruction which would be adequate to meet the emergencies of this crisis. But the duties of this Congress do not cud here. We must keep faith with the defenders of the nation in the hour of peril. Early in the session it was my privilege, as I esteemed it my duty, to introduce a bill for the equalization of bounties. I hope the ComMilAffrs will soon report some measure of the kind, and that it will be adopted at this se ssmn. While we guard the national credit. let us not hesitate to repay the debt of grati tude we owe to the citizen soldiery of the Republic. Sir, there is another lesson we should not forget. History admenishes us that the people must be jealous of the powers vested in the representative branch of the Government. In the struggles which have taken place for the maintenance of representative democracy the eneroachments of power have always been directed against the popular branch of the system. Cromwell, seizing supreme power, and restless of control, dispersed the Long Parliament by the bayonets of his oldiery. Napoleon returning a conqueror from Egypt, paved his way to despotic power by. the forcible dispersion of the Gonstituent Assembly of France. Louis Napoleon, in later days, with the oath to the French republic fresh on his lips, which, unmindful of his uncles treachery, had elected him to the highest office in its gift, denounced the National Assembly as revolutionary and traitorous, arrested its members, butchered those who defended them, and invested himself with imperial power. and, sir, let it not pass unnoticed here that the organs of treason and sedition at the national capital, and in the North and in the South, have boldly calle upon an American President to play the role of the usurper, and disperse by force the congress of the U.S., a body which holds in its keeping the liberties and the interests of the loyal millions of America. Surely it is the duty of the President they thus insultb inviting him to become a revolutionist an a despot, to arrest and punish the traitors who uttered this astounding trea son; for AndrewJohnson has often declared that “treason must be made odious and traitors must be punished;” and as late as April 20, 1865, be colored: “It is time the American people should be taught to understand that treason is acrime, notin revenge. not in anger, but that treasonis acrime and should be esteemed as such and punished as such." Sir, there has been no treason so bold and so easily detected as that of the National Intelligencer and of the Chicago Times, and other papers to which I have alluded. idr. Speaker, let us guard with watchful eyes the cita el of freedom. Though there maybe no misuse or usurpation of power at present, who can look into the fiiture and divine its history. for its ambitions, its conspiracies, its mysteries, as well as its brightest pa cs, are hidden from our sight. All we can O is, to learn by the histo of the past, and to build as firm as the eveiiiasting hills the fabric of a true representative Government, in which the rights of the many shall be forever protected from the caprice, the will, or the despotism of the few. In this great crisis each Dept of the Government has separate an distinct duties, and my rayer to Almighty God is that each and all wiliperform them well.