Mr. BINGHAM. Well, the gentleman has given us about the stoutest reason for his argument, I suppose, that he could find. He stands behind the shadow of a mighty name. General rant, I believe, was one day in the State of SCarolina, if at all, on that journey; I am not certain if he touched the borders of the State at all. The gentleman thereupon concludes that it is all righting SCarolina; GenlGrant did not undertake to say so. But. the gentleman by his explanation concedes and that is enough for my purposethat the representatives of the people of the U.S. have some right to inquire. He concedes that by saying he is satisfied with the testimony of GenlGrant. I concede it too that congress has the right to inquire, but I am not satisfied with the alleged testimony of GenlGrant, in view of the fact that he as not given any testimony on that subject, and as not proposed to do so. So much, then, for that. how, Mr. Speaker, I am not willing that the gentleman, a or the struggle through which we have all passed, shall assume that lie alone, as a Representative of the people, is faithful to the of his country and to the sacred rights of the people of the whole country. I claim myself to cooperate with a party of men who are as charitable as the gentleman can be, even toward these late insurgents, these late conspirators, these men who but the other day with their drawn daggers at the white breast of our mother country. I am not willing to concede that these gentlemen who, by their utterances, but have and comfort to the rebellion during the gigantic struggle, are the only persons to be entrusted with the honor and dignity of this greatest of all trusts ever committed to the care of any people upon this earth, the perpetuity of the Republic. The Republic, err, is in the hands of its friends, and its only safety is in the hands of its friends. the "H The gentleman, as I understand him, admits that he voted for one of those measures the other do which looked to security for the future, an that was the proposed amendment to the constitution making it hereafter unconstitutional, by the will of the whole people of the U.S., either for the Congress of the U.S or for any State of this Union to assume or pay any part of the debt contracted in aid of the late rebellion, or of any debt which may hereafter be contracted in aid of any rebelion against the U.S. Well, sir if the people of the U.S. are justifiedand interfrom the gentlemans vote as well as from his voice to y that, in his opinion, they are justified4n taking that one security for the future are they not also justified in taking such additional security for the future as we bring in all the hereafter peace and prosperity to the South as well as to the North, to the East as well as to the West?, sir, it ought to have occurred to the gentleman when he was meditating his carefully prepared speech in commendation of the President, that there appeared in that same message of his an utterance which Ought to attract the attention of this House, and the attention of the whole country, and that was when he reproduced the words which express the true intent and meaning of the constitution of the U.S. ” qual and exact justice to all men.” That is the utterance of the President in his message, an utterance which the gentleman found it convenient to be quite previous of when he came to make up his words of commendation. According to the political creed of that party which proposes to take the President into its most and jealous keeping, there is on] to be equal and exact justice secured to white men. [Laughter] Yes, his party were for equal an exact justice to white men, uttering the horrid blasphemy all the while that this is a Government of white men. Mr. Speaker, everybody at all conversant with the history of the country knows that in the Congress of 1778, upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation as articles of perpetual union between the States, a motion was made then and there to limit citizenship by the insertion in one of the articles of the word “white, ” so that it should read, “All white free men of every State, excluding paupers, vagabonds, and so forth, shall be citizens of the U.S. ” There was a vote taken on it for our instruction, I suppose, and 4 fit be o all the people represented in that Congress rejected and excluded it from their fundamental law; and from that day to this it has found no place in the constitution and laws of the U.S., and colored men as well as white men have been and are citizens of the U.S. then, to return to the question, having adopted one measure of security for the future, we might as well adopt another, and act upon the suggestion of the the true intent of the constitution, which is to secure equal and exact justice to all men, may be carried into effect. Why, sir, it is a maxim that has come down to us from the infant days of the world that in justice in States is the source of turbulence and resistance to the laws; injustice is the parent of strife and conflict. Oppression makes even a wise man mad. It is a maxim as old as civilization, “for those who do injustice there will be a day of retribution.” I thank the President for reminding Congress of this watchword, “equal and exact justice to all men, ” which was familiar to the people in the purer and better days of the The spirit, the intent, the purpose o our constitution is to secure e on and exact justice to all men. That has not condone it has failed to be done in the past. It has failed in respect of white men as well as black men. It has failed to be done at times in respect of some of the most distinguished citizens of the Republic. Was justice done to your martyr President when he was assassinated in the capital? Time was, within the memory of every man now within hearing of my voice, when it was entirely unsafe for a citizen of Massachusetts or Ohio who was known to be the friend of the human race, the avowed advocate of the foundation principle of our constitution the absolute equality of all men before the lawto be found in the streets of Charleston or in the streets of Richmond. To be sure, it was not because the constitution of the U.S. sanctioned any infringement of his rights in that behalf: but resident, that hereafter, because in defiance of the constitution its Very guarantees were disregarded. I call the attention of the House to this fact merely for the purpose ofingesting for their consideration, that in view of all; in view of the fact that many of the I might say, in some sense, all the States of the Unionhave flagrantly violated the absolute guarantees of the constitution of the U.S. to all its citizens, it is time that we take security for the future, so that like occurrences may not again arise to distract our people and finally to dismember the Republic. When you come to weigh these words “equal and exact justice to all men, ” go, if you please, the words of the constitution itself: The citizens of each State (be in ipso facto citizens of the U.S.) shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens (supplying the ellipsis “of the U.S. ”) in the several States.” This guarantee is of the privileges and immunities of citizens of the U.S. in, not of, the several States. This guarantee of your constitution applies to every citizen of every State of the Union; there is not. a guarantee more sacred, and none more vital in that great instrument. It was utterly disregarded in the past by SCarolina when she prove with indignity and contempt and scorn from her limits the honored representative of Massachusetts, who went thither upon the peaceful mission of asserting in the tribunals of SCarolina the rights of American citizens. I repose, with the help of this Congress and of the American people, that hereafter there shall not be any disregard of that essential guarantee of your constitution in any State of the Union and how? By simply adding an amendment to the constitution to operate on all the States of this Union alike, giving to Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper to secure to all persons which includes every citizen of every State their equal must rights; and if the tribunals of SCarolina will not respect the rights of the citizens of Massachusetts under the constitution of their common country, I desire to see the Federal judiciary clothed with the power to take cognizance of the question, and assert those rights by solemn judgment, inflicting upon the Ogenders such penalties as will compel a decent respect for this guarantee to all the citizens of every State. Having said this much touching security for the future, allow me to add that I repel with scorn, come from what source it may, the suggestion that I cooperate with any party that proposes to impose an unequal or unjust burden upon any State in this Republic. I know, and you, sir, know, and every loyal citizen of this Republic has come to know, that the divinest feature of your constitution is the recognition of the absolute equality before the law of all persons, whether citizens or strangers; and the equality of every State within the limits of this Republic, subject only to the exception made by reasonof slavery, now happily abolished. The President therefore, might well say, as he does say in is message, that “the American system rests on the assertion of the equal right of MAN to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; to freedom of conscience, to the culture and exercise of all his faculties.” I propose, then, sir, by Constitution, to provide for the efficient enforcement, by law, of these “equal rights of every man, ” and upon the assertion of which, we are told by the President, the American system rests. In do in this I would impose no restraint upon SCarolina that shall not rest with equal weight upon the State of Ohio. I ask that SCarolina, and that Well, shall be bound to respect the rights of the humblest citizen of the remotest. State of the Republic when he may hereafter come within her Jurisdiction. Who makes objection to that, or who can justly object to it? These, then, are some of the matters that are before this House for consideration and it strikes me that they retain quite as much to the House as to the executive. I undertake to say that the POTUS will be found cooperating with the represent the people in their endeavor to introduce into the constitution not that which will marit, but that which will perfect it and enable the people hereafter to secure and reap for themselves and for their posterity forever the cat ends for which that constitution was or ained. It was ordained to form n more perfect Union, but only as a means to the attainment of all its declared purposes. It is a declared purpose of the constitution “to insure domestic tranquility.” How? By affording protection by law to the rights of all, in every State of the Union, und upon every sea the world over wherever your flag floats. Not merely “to establish a more perfect Union;” not merely to insure domestic tranquility; not merely “to provide for the common defense, ” was the constitution ordained; but also to. “establish justice.” It stands written, sir, on the fore front of that imperishable instrument that “in order to establish justice, we, the people of the U.S., do ordain this constitution.” Well might the President demand, as he does demand in his message, “equal and exact justice to all men.” That is precisely what is proposed to be accomplished. I repel every insinuation or intimation, come from what quarter it may, that the representatives of the people have manifested thus far the slightest disposition to interfere with the prerogatives, i gentlemen please so to term the powers, of the Executive. I deny that the representative of the people have taken any step indicating any such purpose, or any purpose to raise an issue or create a conflict between the President and Congress. But I may say further, that if the day ever comes when the resident of the U.S. finds in this House no other supporters than those who combined together at Chicago in 1864 to bury him where they hoped that even the hand of resurrection itself could never again find him, then God help the President and save him from his friends. [Applause.]