Mr. Simons, a prominent member of the Georgia conventionuwhich the President convened for the purpose, among other things, of repudiating‘ this debt, said: “Let as re udiate only under the lash and the application 0 military power and then. as soon as we are an independent sovereignty.restoredto our equalrights an privilegesin the Union. let us iininc girttely’ all another conventionandassumethe rebel 0 ts.’ In nearly all of the conventionslield in those States the same feeling revailed. They said“ “Let us under the las ” abolish slavery and repudiate the confederate debt, and then, as soon as we “get our rights in the Union, " we will, by legislative enactments, restore substantial slavery and assume those debts. Under this inspiration the President’s propositions justmentioned were accepted by them. All these thin s, and1,000 others with which we are sa y familiar, attest the present spirit and temper of the South, and admonish us that “the time to fasten the bolts of a ship is when she is on the stocks, ” and warn us to 00k well to her cbndition before we take 0"! board a mntine us crew, whose declared intention has been to scuttle and sink her. We therefore insist that proper and necessary guarantees of justice, liberty, and safety shall not be left in the keeping of those who may at any moment repeal them, but that they shall be imbedded in the firm foundations of the Republic, where they will be forever irrevocable, to wit, in the Constitution of the U.S.; and that this shall be done as a condition precedent to the admission of the southern Sens&Reps. A gEntleman from my own State, who holds a seat in the other end of this Capitol, and so ports the policy of the Administration, said recently in a speech at Philadelphia: “The majority in Congressintend to keep these Statesout. The Prosident wants to atthemin. congrossis laboring to devisesome p an b which the [atesmay be kept out, while the Presiant and his friends have labored faithfully, honestly, and patri ptieally to devisesomeway by which they mayget In., That Senator, if he has taken the trouble to observe the issue between Congress and the President, knows that he has nottruly orfairly stated it, and he knows, also, that it is precisely the statement that Jeff. Davis or C. L. Vullandiglham would have made had they stood where he did. The true issue is, not whether those States shall come in or be kept out for all agree that they shall come in, but shall they come in now, at once, without conditions or guarantees of any kind, without any evidence of loyalty, and with a twofold representation? Shall they come clothed with twice the power possessed by the same number of loyalists, or shall they wait a little, until these matters can be examined and adjusted? The supporters of the Administration say they shall come in now, and at once, in order that they may be consulted about this question of adjustment, and may have a voice in deter mining what it shall be. We say, “Let us have a little time to consider and investigate this matter; you have been fighting 4 years to keep out of the Union; pray do not become nervous, gentlemen, if ittakes us a few months to put the old homestead in proper order for your reception. There are certain repairs to be made which we thinkare indis ensable to your comfort and liap iness as well] as to our own. The disease, too, lrom which you have suffered must be taken into account. It is secessiona desire to get out of the Union. We want a thorough cure, so that you will never have a symptom of the ul malady ain. May it not be that a brie liomeopat ic treatment on the principle ‘similiu similibus’ will meet your case? e a sured that we have no desire to keep you out for the purpose of punishment, and that just so soon as the repairs upon the old family mansion, made necessary by your own misconduct, are completed, and ou are in a condition to come back without infecting the rest of the family with your hateful malady, we will joyfully hail your return. But as to inviting you ack now, and at once, unhealed and unwashed, for the purpose of consulting you about the nature and manner of those proposed repairs, we think there would be about as much reason in opening our doors to the midnight assassin who recently mur dered a part of our children, in order that he may be consulted as to the best way to guard the rest from danger.” The same gent cman to whom I have just referred calls upon his Philadelphia democratiq admirers to aid him and the President in rebuilding the temple of liberty, and says: "Let us replaceits broken arches. Let us restore its crumbled columns and rebuild its wastedwalls, that the tribesof the Noith and of the South may again. as in theolden time, meetthereand worship together:it liberty's shrine in peaceand harmony. Sir, who is responsible for those “broken arches, ” those “crumbled columns, ” and those “wasted walls?” The very men whom he is so anxious to invite back. If the temple is to be rebuilt, does not common prudence require that it be done by its friends and not its enemies? I confess it is somewhat out of repair. but I prefer that the Vandals who tried to destro it should not take the contract to rebuild. I30 not their past conduct and present temper furnish some reason to apprehend that t“hey would omit from those “ arches” and columns” the cement of justice and civil equality, without which the edifice would tumble down upon our heads. I have some recol lection also of the “peace and harmony” w“ith which “in the olden time” the aforesaid tribe of the South” worshiped in that tem ple. It was my gpod, or ill fortune, to be present at some of their devotions, and to witness the religious zealw'ith whichistol and bowie knit'e in hand they strove to dp trueworshipersine rderthattheymightdebauch her at her very shrine. I have seen this same devout “tribe of the South" raise their hands toward Heaven and swear to defend that “ tem ple of liberty, " and before the ink was dry that iad recorded their oaths I have seen them so out to plot and conspire together for its estruction. I have seen them seize upon the revenues of liberty and approriate them for the support of their unclean go dess, slavery. I have seen them steal from the “temple of liberty” the arms and munitions of war which were stored there for her defense, and then turn them against the “temple” itself. Havingwitnessed thesede votional exercises of the “tribe of the South, ” Imaybe excused for insistin that before they return to renew their “worship” we shall have time to rebuild those “ broken arches, ” “crum bled columns, ” and “wasted walls” in our own way. When every art has been thoroughly reconstructed and a l the weak points encased with impenetrable iron walls, which neither treachery nor rebellion can ever mar or shake, I desire their return, but not before. Sir, it seems to me that this demand for the immediate restoriiion to power of those men without repentance and Without conditions or guarantees for the future presents a specta cle which has no parallel in history. Without just cause, without. in fact, any cause, and for purposes the most wicked and infamous, they renounced their allegiance to the Government which had always protected, pampered, and petted them, and waged, for 4 long and bloody years, a most atrocious war against it. Disregarding the ordinar rules of warfare recognized among civilize nations, they committed atrocities at which the whole world stood a host. Pestilence, starvation, and cold blooder murder were resorted to without scru ple. Even the raves of the dead were in vaded.i1ndfiendis malignity found gratification in mutilating their sacred treasures. Against such an enemy the nation contended for its ver existence. More than 2 million free men left their homes and endured the trials and dangers of the field in its defense. A quarter of a million of precious lives and $3,000,000,000 of public treasure aid the price of victory. To save the republic it has been draped with mourning an drenched with blood. During all these dark and gloomy years of carnage and desolation, those who forced all this sor row and sutfering upon the country have had their sympathizers and aiders and abettors at the North men who, lost to every instinct of patriotism, if not of common humanity, resisted drafts, obstructed volunteering, opposed taxation, denounced our soldiers, declared the “war a failure, ” and did everything they dare to make it so, and in the midst of the struggle, when victory was just within our grasp, demanded an “immediate cessation of hostili ties. Now, what do we see? These same rebels and rebel sympathizers, before the smoke of battle has cleared away; before the bleeding wounds of our brave soldiers have been healed; before the blood of our murdered defenders has dried upon their garments; while the bones of rive out liberty’s. our yet unburied martyrs still bleach beneath a southern sun; while loyalmeu are stilldenied the poor privilege of strewing flowers upon the graves o fallen heroes; while the South yet reeks with disloyalty and burns with ill supressed ven eance, these same men join han s and with half their old insolence demand not only the immediate and unconditional restoration to traitors of all their former political rights and privileges, but also the bestowal upon them of largely increased powers. Surel human history exhibits no such example of s omeless audacity. To ield would be to present on our art an example of unsurpassed wickedness and olly. And yet for resisting this most extraor‘ dinary demand we are denounced as disunion ists. What is our offense? We insist upon nothing for revenge; no blood, no executions, no banishments, no confiscations. We ask no indemnity for the past, for that is impossible. The dead cannot be revived; broken hearts cannot be healed. The horrors of Anderson ville and Belle Isle can have no atonement in this world. But we do demand security for the future. In this, and this alone, consists our offense. I have endeavored to oint out the difference between the policy of tie President and the policy of the Tnion party. Read side by side in the light of their respective tendencies an inevitable results, they stand as follows: the pren'dentnPolicy. It is the duty of congressto admit the southern Sens&Repsatoncewithout regard to the loyalty, or disloyalty of the ir constit uencies. The Government has no right. at this time to imposeany terms whatever as oopditions recedent to the full rest ration of the insurgentStates. The Constitution shall not be amendedin any way uffectingthe interests of theSouth until she is ropresented. The freedmen of the South. who, at our re nest.fought with us for t io Union, shall have no civil or politionl rights exceptsuch as the rebels maychooseto give them. As aresnlt of the war the North shall loseapd the Soutlrshall ain 13 additiona Representatives and 13 additional votes in the Electoral College, and the political power of one rebel shall be equal to the political power of 2 loy ista. Traitors may not only votetwice.oncefor themselves and once for the lie ro. but theymayalso hed the highest official positions in the Government they have tried to destroy. Our debts incurred in crushing rebellion, and our obigntions to pay bounties andpensiopsto our soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphansnnuyall be repudiated at the will of trai tors with the aid of one suit of the northern Representatives. It shall not be made unconstitutional for the Government to assume and pay rebel debts and claims for loss of. slaves or to tax loyal men for this purpose. safety. Not one momen the union Policy. 'Congress should take time to inquire carefully into the condition of the rebel States and admit them Just so ‘soon as i. can bedone wnh perfect before. The loyal people. by whosesacrifices 0 nation’slifo hasbeenanyod. have the right. and.it H the duty of their Representatives to demand any and every guarantee necessaryto insureitssafety and guard its honor. The Constitution must be amended before the full restoration of the South, or it nevercanbe, except through another war. No State shall denyto any personwithin its in risdiction the equal protection of the aws, nor make or enforceany law which shall n.bridge the privileges or immunities of n. citizen of the U.S. The Constitution shall besoamendedas to place representation on an equitablebasis and thus prevent the 1! rant in Justice which will otherwise exist. Not to do so is to pay a premium to treason. Loading traitors who have once violated their outhsto supportthe constitution shall not make or execute laws for loyal men. They mayvote for themselves, but not for the negro. The organic law shall declare that the validity of the public debt of the U.S.including obligations for the paymentof bountics and pensions, shall neverbeques tinned. Loyal men shall neyer be taxed to p debtsin curred i'orth c estruction of their Government nur oluinis for lossof slaves: and the Constitutionshall be amendedsoas to declnro such debts and claims illegal and void, and soas to render their assumption and payment. impossible. It shall hereafterbethe Ustnblisbed theory of this Government; that States thoir people may rebel and levy war rebellion of its people against it: but as seces “deprives it of all, sion, rebellion, civil and war government, ”and abro eniiiiot changethe min“ gates all its rights and of a State in the Union, privileges in the Union, itistherightof rebels an. but does not, in any way traitors, as soon as they affect its obligations; and are whipped and disthat it can only be re armed. to return at once storedto its former rela and make laws for theirtions by the lawmaking conquerors. POWULupon such terms and conditions as it may impose. Ifthisbenotso, the Government is power?ss for itsown protection or “if rebellion succeeds, it accomplishesits purpose and destroysthe Government. If it fails,: the war has been barren mofaryesults, and the battle be foughtout in the legislative halls of the country.”. I am free to say that the plan of reconstruction proposed falls short of what I desire, but Iaccept it because of the great good it contains, and because it is the best that ‘can now be obtained. My own opinion is that if traitors are to vote at all, their votes should he neu tralized by the ballots of loyalists, whether white or black. I believe that it is shamefulingratitude and gross injustice for this Government after calling upon any class of its citizens to defend it against its enemies, and after acceptinir their services, to turn upon them and say, “IVs willconferupononreneniiesthe right of suffmge, but you cannot exercise it for e reason that your complexion is not of the approved huc.” Loyalty and noteolor should be the test. I believe, further, that if treason be a crime, enough has been committed within the last 5 years to entitle somebody to be hung. In conclusion, let me saylto gentlemen who think the loyal people of this country can he so far deceived as to adopt this policy of unconditional restoration with all its inevitable consequences, you sadly undervalue their in telligence and patriotism. They were in carn est in crushing the rebellion. They are no less in earnest in demanding a safe and just policy of reconstruction. They were not moved from their purpose during the w arby losses in the field, by burdensome taxation, by threats of foreign intervention, nor by conspiracies and dissensions at home. They will not be moved from their present purpose by the bland ishments of Office nor by the defection of pretended friends. lqo more sublime s cctacle was ever witnessed than that which the cour age, constancy, and patriotism of the loyal American people have exhibited during this struggle. They have demonstrated to the world that war with all its accumulated hor rors cannot intimidate them, and that the allurements of official patronage cannot seduce or corrupt them. such a people may be safely trusted to finish the great work they have begun. The nation’s power is in their hands. They have purchased it at afearful cost. They will keep it until equal and exact justice shall have been secured to every citizen, and until the great Republic, free, united, and prosper ous, shall have achieved its glorious mission among the nations of the cart.