Mr. GUTHRIE. I am inc ined to vote for this amendment without going into a criticism upon the legal effectof the oath. I am against the section altogether on account of its proscriptive nature. I will vote for the amendment, because if it be adopted it will reduce the number to whom the section will a ply. I should be glad if now, after having been so many months in session, we had agreed among ourselves as to the conciliation of the South, because conciliation at last is our only true policy; for unless we come to agree with each other; unless we are able again to meet and unite in these Halls as citizens and representatives of a common country, to shape the des tinies of that country in conress, to direct it against embattled nations, i it shall become necessar, we are not. a united people. This t ird section is not an act of conciliation, it is an act of proserition. It is true it is not as extensive as the t ird section sent to us from the other House was. I think we have gained an advantage in that respect. That measure was intended to prescribe all the active population of the rebel States, because they all stood by the southern movement. This section as it now stands certainly proscribes the representative men of the South, the men who bad influence, and who still have influence in their localities, and who can do more in the work of conciliation here and elsewhere than all the men that you leave out of it. They are the representative men of the South, they have the confidence of the pee 110of that section of the countr. I think they have given abundant evidence that they are satisfied that they have tried the game of secession and given it up honestly and entirely, and are willing to come back to join in the Government heart and hand, and carry forward its flag, looking to the bright destiny of this nation in the future. The amendment will make the section less prescriptive, diminish the number which fall Victims under its rule, and for that reason I shall vote for it. Now is the hour for conciliation, now is the time to trust in the South.