Mr. LAWRENCE, of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the social and political changes etiected as a consequence oi the rebellion require some ament inents to the great charter of our liberties, the Constitution of the U.S. If there is anyone thin more than all others demanded by the loya peopleof the country, it is that amendments shail be speedily submitted by congress to the States for their approval which shall change the basis of rere sentation in Congress and the Electoral ol lege, and shall forever prohibit the payment of the confederate and State debts contracted in aid of the rebellion, and shall prohibit the nation and the States from making payment on account of the emancipation of slaves. I propose now to discuss the last of these propositions as embodied in a JtResolution reported to this House on the 13th day of March, with the pending amendment thereto. This proposition to amend the Constitution is contained in an article in these words: "Size. 1. Neither Congressnor any State shall over authorize, provide for, or make payment to any person or persons on account of the emancipation of any slave or slaves, or as compensation therefor. Article 2. Congress stheall legislationw.earntdo the foJruedoitchiaisl power of the U.S shall extend to all cases arising under this article and the laws made in pursuance thereof." The immediate question which must be 1st voted on and decied is the pending amendment, to add to section one these words: “Except as provided by statute in force prior to the 1st day of anuary, 1865." I will now briefly explain the object of this amendment, and then the House can determine whether it should be adopted or whether it may not be best to reject it and let provision be made to discharge all existin obligations for slaves between this time an the cried when the proposed amendment to the constitution shall go into effect, if it shall be sanctioned by Congress and the requisite number of the State Legislatures. If the proposed amendment to the Constitution could be adopted exactlyas it stands, without the pending amendment to it, consistently with gpod faith I would most certainly urge it, with the hope that it would secure the sanction of the House, the people, and a sufficient number of theStates to make it a part of the Constitution. But congress, by an act approved Feb ruary 24, 1864. as assumed some obligations ormade pied es, the performance ofwhich may not properly e refused. By section 24 of that act it is provided that able bodied male colored persons shall form a part of the national forces; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service, he shall be free, and his master shall have a certificate therefor, and the bounty of $100, allowed by law, shall be aid to the master. this further provided that "Tho SecyWar shall appoint a commission in each of the slave Statesrepresentedin Congress. chargedto award to eachloya person to whom a colored volunteer mayowe serviceajiist compensation, not exceeding$300for each colored volunteer, payableout of the fund derived from commutations; and every such colored volunteer, on being musteredinto the service, shall be free." By the letter of the SecyWar, dated January 9, 1806, we learn these facts: that under this act commissmners were appomted in Maryland and Delaware, and that the President has suspended further appointments: The commutation funds referred to in thosastamount 0., the expenditures from that fund for rocuration of substitutes, recruits, unties, and remiums, including.00opaid the c icfofBureauofCol orod Troops, and for enrollment and draft to January 10.1866, were 8.362.64100 Balance subject to draft, January 11, 186.6. $9, 514, 92415 There were filed with the commission for Maryland for compensation 3,867 claims. Awards were made on 786 claims, amounting to $230, 750, and of these 25 were paid, amounting to $0, 900. The commission was dissolved October 18, 1865. The commission for Delaware awarded $11, 883 on 43 of the 114 claims filed with them, no part of which has been paid. This commission was dissolved i July 6, 1865. Whatever obligation the nation has incurred under this act, to the extent of the means of payment therein provided, may or may not be, paid, depending on the action of the Govern ment hereafter. 1 Maryland has passed laws also, provid in for payment for slaves enlisted as soldiers, an it is not proposed to disturb this. (See acts of 1 February 6, 1864, Laws of Maryland, chapter i 15, page 20; act of March 10, 1864, chapter I 246, Laws, age 335.) A JtResolution was passed y Congress and approved April 10, 1862, declaring "That the U.S. ought to conperatowith any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery. giving to such State pecuniary aid, " iize. j But the Government has not incurred any F liability under that resolution since no State acted on it. It was indignantly s urned by the States which might have profiteg by it. The proposed amendment to the Constitution will i exc ude any claim under that resolution. The amendment now pending is designed to except from the operation of the constitutional amendment, as originally introduced, claims for compensation under the laws already in force, to which I have referred. Whatever shall be paid for slaves will be the: discharge of a duty imposed by good faith as the pertormance of aped e already made. I do not concede the legal duty to pay for any slave at any time or in any form. No matter what interpretations have been given to the Constitution, it recognizes slaves as “ persons, ” not “property, ” and in declaring tie condition of persons their right to liberty, either by constitutional amendment or the exercise of the war power, there results no claim for compensation. “There is nothing in the laws of nature or of God which gives to man the right of property in man.” Slaves are not property at common law, (Anderson as. Poindexter, 6 Ohio State Reports, 622) and in the States where slavery has been abolished no compensation has gver been made for emancipated slaves. When mustered into the Military service they stand on the footing of other persons, and do not constitute property up lied to the public use by the exercise of the rit of eminent domain. But the obligations of good faith under existing laws rest upon a different footin. An now I will submit a few words in support of the proposed amendment to the constitution. Our present national debt may be. set down in round numbers at $3,000,000,000, to say nothing of State, county, city, village, and town indebtedness. It is of vast importance to the holders of national and other bonds to know if this indebtedness is to be increased. If it shall be, our national credit will be impaired, and when we come to renew the national bonds as they fall due, It higher rate of interest will be required if our indebtedness may be increased than if nothing of this sort is in contemplation or may be possible. It is of vast importance to the people that they shall know if their burdens maybe increased to pay for 4 million slaves, for if so there will come u a voice of complaint that will not be misnn erstood. It is of vast importance to the people of the late slave States, or those who may desire to make homes there, to know if the material prosperity of those States is to be retarded and industry loaded with insupportable taxation to discourage immigration and to prohibit the investment of capital in enterprises from which revenues and prosperity Will accrue to the States. The whole nation is interested in knowing whether the late slave States may be so burdened with taxes that their property and people shall be unable to bear a full share of the ond of debt imposed upon all by the slaveholders rebellion, the rebellion of southern socalled De mocracy in arms against the national life. Yet if 4 million slaves should be paid for at the rate of $300 each, it would create a debt of $1, 200,000,000, nearly 1/2 as much as the whole national debt created by the war. This price would not equal the estimated value of the slave population at the commencement of the war, especially when we remember that able bodied men sold at from 1000 to 2000 dollars each. But even at the valuation I have named, it would require one 6th of all the wealth of the late slave States to pal}v for the emancipated slaves, as may be seen mm a statistical table which I submit to the House, as follows: 8th Census, 1860. Value of perAggregate val Staum Value 0{ real soup] estate; 51232521, “ us of real and No. of olgumhf; esta effcvpasivoo p" own, “The value of slavel ($1, 185, 153.300) is equal to 15.889%. of the total real and personal property. Exclusive of slaves. WASHINGTON ". DEPT This proposition, therefore, is a necessity if l we would avoid repudiation or the constant danger of it which will continually impair the value of our national bonds, and increase the rate of interest, and hence the burden of paying the national debt. We have been admenished that constitutional amendments should be sparingly made, and I agree that none should be adopted except for adequate reasons. But the result of the war has created a necessity for some amendments which we cannot in justice to the nation or eoqe withhold. If there be danger in thet that either the late slave States or the nation may assume payment to masters for the value of slows in whole or in part, then [think all loyal men will agree that the possibility of this should be forever averted. d I atiirm that there is danger that this may be one. We are providing new not merely for today but for all time and what has been our expe rience in the past? The slave States were alu ays in a minority in Congress. The Sens&Reps from the free States Were always in the majority. But the South was united on every question affectin slavery or southern interests, while the Nort was as uniformly divided. It was a part of the political strategy of the South to " divide an conquer.” How well this was accomplished we all know. The northern Democracy, socalled, was, through almost its whole histor, ready and willing to unite with the South and give success to every southern demand. This coalition ruled the country until the people, alarmed at its corrupt and wicked purposes, overthrew its power in 1860in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. The Douglas Democracy of the North, during that political cam aign, could no longer tolerate the increased an increasing de mands of the slave power, and they were compelled to repudiate it at the expense of the disruption and division of the ancient party of the Democracy into the Breckinridge and Douglas factions or wings and we may even now see the evidence that so soon as southern Sens&Reps shall be admitted to Congress we will again have the coalition of southern and northern politicians and parties, which will be more formidable in power than in the justice of their principles or their means of success. During the whole war the North has had its sympathizers with treason, eager to censure and oppose every step taken for the suppression of rebellion. In Ohio, the State I in part represent here, this sympathy with traitors was expressed by a resolution adopted ata State convention of the socalled Democratic party on the 21st of January, 1861, in these words: “Resolved.That the 2 100,000 Demo oratsof Ohio send to the people of the U.S., both North and South, greeting; and when the people of the North shall have fulfilled their dutiesto the nth. then, and not until then, will it be proper for them to take into consideration the question of the right and propriety of coercion." and the national convention of the same party at Chicago, in 1864, adopteda resolution in these words: “Resolved, That this convention does explicitly do clarc, as the senseof the American people that after 4 years of failure to restorethe Sinion by the experiment of war, during which, under pretense of military necessity or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution has beendisregarded In every part and public liberty and private rights have been alike trodden down and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired; jus tice, humanity. liberty, and the public welfare de mand t u ni.mt mediatectlortsbemade for accssation of hostilities. with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States. Or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may gpnigestpreodn the basisof the Federal Union of the es. But I will not now pursue the evidence to demonstrate that southern traitors have their, northern sympathizers, and that these will be ready to unite their pplitical fortunes so soon as the can be admitted to power in the councils the nation. If the South shall demand compensation for her slaves her northern alhcs will be ready I to aid in the demand and the demand has already been made. We are admenished in advance of the modest purposes of the men who so recently waged war against the national life. The socalled Governor, James L. Orr, of SCarolina, in his inaugural address of December 29, upon the transfer of the provisional military government of that State to another form of government urporting to be end in form but military in act, said: " The Constitution of the U.S. recognized property in slaves, and an appropriation was made y Congress to indemnifyslave ownersin the DistCol when shiver was abolished there in 1862. I thereforecherisht in hope that Congress will, assoon as the public debt is provided for.make some Just and equitablearrangement to make the citizens of the South somecompensationforthe slaves manu initoedby the U.S. authorities." General Carl Schurz, in his recent report to the President, says: “It is true no striking demonstrationshave asyet been made of any decided unwillingness on the part of the people [of the South] to contribute to the discharge of our national obligations. But most of the conversationsI had with southernersupon this subject led me to apprehend that they, politicians and people, are rather inclined to ask moneyof the government as compensation for their emancipated slaves, &c., than, as the current expression is. to hclp paying the expensesot the whippinir they have received. In fact, there are abundant indications, in newspaper articles, public speeches, and electioneering documentsof candidates, which render it cmi nently probable that on the claim of compensation for their cmunlcipntedslaves.the southern States.as soon as readmitted to representationin Congress, will he almosta unit. In the Mississippi convention the idea was broached by Mr. Potter. in an elaborate speech, to have the late slave Stutes relieved from taxation for yours to come, in consideration of debts due them for the emancipated slaves: and this pics. I havp frequently heard advocated in private conversations. In the recent assemblage called the legislature of Virginia, it was gravely propose to cause an inventor to be taken of a l slaves of that State mac free and of all property destroyed by the U nion Army, with a view to ultimate compensation therefor. I repeat, then, that the demand for compensation Will be made and urged with a show, if not a hope, of success; it may be ultimately with success if not now forever prohibited. My distinguished colleague on the ComJudiciary, [Mr. Roosas] the acknowleded leader of the party in this House oppose to the Union party, in his speech of February 26, said: "Mr. Rooims. It is proposedtoprohibit theStates from paying the debtsthey contracted in aidof the rebellion. would not have one cent of it paid by the Federal Government, because it would have no right to do so, and it would be an outrageto do so. My ground is, that each State is sovereignupon the questionof its debts. There is no more sacredright any State than the right to say what debts it Will pa. to whom it will pay them, and when and how it will nytheiu; and an amendmentto the orguniclriw for the purpose of preventing a State pnyiniranydebt it pleases is butthe emblem of despotism and tyranny. Congresshas no power, by an amendmentto the Constitution or otherWise, to prevent NewJersey from paying any debt she ploases." GtobeM, arch 3, supplement. That, Mr. Speaker, I believe to be the sentiment of the party with which the gentleman acts on this floor and what is it? It is simply that it would be “the emblem of despotism and tyranny” to prohibit a State from payin a debt contracted in nu effort to destroy the national life. it is simply the doctrine that we may not properly prohibit a State from paying a debt contracted without authority, every dollar of which was expended in aid of treason. That may be Democratic loyalty, it is not the loyalty of Union men. There are vast elements of political power, of political strategy, and, if you please, of political corruption in $1, 200,000,000. I do not want this power knocking at our doors to bring suspicion if not reproach on congressionalintegrity. Let us forever prohibit the possibility of this now that we are admenished in season. But if all this should be impossible it is important to settle the question tor other reasons. The agitation of this subject in the rebel States will enable unse rupulous demagogues to employ it as a means of attaining political power, it Will enter into political contests, both ! State and national, giving rise if not to politi cal. parties at least to disturbingquestions from which alone the unse rupulous an the unworthy can derive advantage. We have been admenished that there are already many proposed amendments to the constitution. Ihis grossly perverts and libels the facts as they must. There are several proposed amendments, all covering the same ground, in a different form, and limited to a very few subjects. But with what grace does this opposition to all amendments come to us?, President Buchanan in his last annual message urged constitutional amendments, and his l political adherents saw nothing but wisdom and patriotism in that. 1 They declared the Constitution was made i by compromise and could only be sustained by compromise; that with every revolution of the wheel of political fortune a constitutional amendmerit must be made to avert a dissolution of the Union, and that to refuse to make it was the lllgllOStplOOfOfllWmlt of patriotism. congress did, in fact, on the 28th of February, 1861, propose. to the States a constitutional amendment designed forever to protect slavery from national interference or destruction. On the 16th of January, 1861, the famous Crittenden compromise constitutional amendment was voted upon in the Senate, and then the political friends of President Buchananv were clamorous in its support. AndrewJohnson, then a Senfrom Ten! nessee, voted for both of these amendments. In February, 1861, the “ Peace Conference” met for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution, and then the same political leaders who now are so suddenly struck with reverence and awe for “the Constitution as it is, ” were clamorous for amendments without number. The whole Democratic party seemed to have resolved itselfinto a universal town meeting to demand constitutional amendments in the interest of slavery and of incipient trai tors, thou by no social or of the rehange in our condition ha occurred to render them necessary. But now great social, political, and material changes have occurred in our condition by the rebellion and the overthrow of slaVery, which. render constitutional amendments necessary. When political. power was departin from the hands of the socalled Democracy, in 1860 and 1861, they alone demanded. amendments to the Constitution. Why we. F is? Then they were ready to surrender the political rights of the North to appeasethe treason of the South; now they seek alliance with traitors avain to control the nation, which, thank God, they failed to destroy“. There never has been a time in our history when fundamental changes in both national and State constitutions were so appropriate, so necessary as now. This was fully recognized by AndrewJohnson when, in his speech accepting the nomination for the Vice Presidency, he spoke on the 9th of June, 1864, as follows: "The question is whether man is capable of self government. I hold, withJetferson, thatgovernment. was madefor the convenienceof man and not man for government. The laws and constitutions were designed as instruments to promote his welfare and hence, from this principle, I concludethat governmentse an and ought to e changedand amended to conform to the wants, to.the requirements and progressof the people and the enlightened spirit of the axe, [Loud applause.] Now, it any pt"your so ccseionistshave lost faith in mens capacity for self government, and feel unlit for the exercise of this gireat right go straight to rebeldom, take Jeff. Davis, Bcauregaid and Bragg for your masters, and put their collars on your necks and let me say that now is the time to securethese fundamental principles, while the land is anarchy and rent vrith Viplheaves with the throes of a mighty revolution. Wile society is in this disordered state, and we are seeking security, let us fix the foundations of the Government on principles of eternal justice which will endure for all time. “But in calling a convention to restorethe State, who shall restoreand recstablish it? Shall the man who gave his influence and his meansto destroythe Government? Is he to participate in the out work of reor ionization? Shall he who broughtt iis misery upon the State be permitted to centre its destinies? I this beso, then all this preciousblood of our brave soldiers and officersso freely poured out will have been wuntonly spilled. All the glorious victories won by our noble armies will go for naught and all the battle fields which have beenlawn with dead heroes during the rebellion will have been made memorable in"vWaihny. all this carnage and devastation1It was that treason might be put down and traitors punished. Therefore anythat traitors should take a ack seat in the wer kof restoration. If there be but 5,000 men in Tennessep loyal to the Constitution loyal to freedom loyal to Justice. these true and faithful men should control the work of reorganization and reformation absolutely. [Loud and prolonged applause.) I sayfliat the traitorlias ceasedto be a citi sen and in Joining the rebellion hasbecomeapublic enemy. He forfeited his right to votewith loyal men when he renounced his citizenship and sought to de str“oyroeuarsoGnomveursntm beenmt.ade odious and traitors must be punished and impoverished. lTheir greattions must be Belltdand divided into smalpflaanrmtas and sold to honest. industrious men. The day for protecting the lands and negroesof theseauthors of rebellion is past. It is hightime it was. I have been most deeply pained at so O things which have come under my q servution. We got men in command who under the influence of flattery. fawnin, and caressing, grant protection to the traitor, while the our Union man stands out in the cold. often unable to get a recoifit, or a voucher for his losses. [Cries of Thats so and I adopt as appropriate, views which I find elsewhere, state thus: " To Congressis olely confided the power and the duty. whenever 2/3rds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, to propose aipendments. As to the resort to this power.the opinions of the founders of this Government may well beduced. Madison observes (Federalist. o. 43). thatuseful alterations will be suggested by experience, could not but be foreseen. It was requisite. therefore.thuta mode of introducing them should be provided. The mode preferred by the Convention seems to be stamped with every mark of propriet, It guards equally against the extremefacility which would render the Constitution too mutable and that extreme difficulty which might perpetuate its discovered faults. The fear. when the Constitution waspresentedto the American peoplefor their adoption or reteetiont was not a dispositiort too ready to amend it. at a disin elination so to d. In the last number of the federalist. llamilton meetsthis apprehension. Having quoted the double modein which amendmentsmight be made. he observps. Howspever ditheult it may be supposed to unite 2/3rds of Congrem or 3/4ths of the State Legislatures in amendmentswhich may affectlocal interests.can there be anyroom to apprehend any such difficulty in aunion loib neprotyints whio are merely relative to the general orsecurity of the people? It is a bold thing to say. in the present state of this country, after a battle. as it were. of the Titans and such a battle, that amendments relative to the general liberty and security of the people aronot demanded. “It is the more hold. it might be termedaudacious. to say this. when we know that the very contingenciesto which the article of the Constitution providing a mode for amendments expresslyapoints. have arisen; and as the fruit of that great attle, slavery is abolished throughout this fair land." I would not now carelessly, or hastily, or for anything less than reasons of the highest necessity, make changes in the Constitution. But thatsome changes are alike just and necessary has been demonstrated beyond controversy. That the basis of representation and direct taxes should be changed has been proven so clear] that none can doubt but those who wouldy reward traitors with a premium of political power for their treason. That the rebel debt should be reudiated, State and confederate, has been dec ered by the President. That there must be some security for the future, the lessons of the past lhou d teach us. Slavery, that compound of every wrong which man can inflict upon man, l know is dead, but its spirit still lives, and not until its ghost shall be buried will there be enduring peace in the land. Its allies are already dictating terms to us, and prescribing our duties, with their rebel Uniforms not yet laid aside. The organized body calling itself the Legislature of irginia have quite recently resolved: “That Virginia will not voluntarily consent to change the adJustment of politienl power as fixed by the Constitution of the U.S. ” and in the same resolve it is declared that fTo do so" “would be an amustifiahle breach of faith.” and all this simgly means that by the conltitution as it is, irginia, with a population 1/3rd of which is colored but disaanchised, insists that her white rebels shall have 12 Representatives, 1/3rd of them apportioned to her colored population, thereby giving every 2 voters in irginia as much political power as 3 voters in Ohio. Of course, she will not voluntarily consent to do political justice. That has not been her mission for the last few years and with unparalleled impudence she is dictating to us the terms of her return to political power before she has any status to give but any right to Representation here. The men who for years waged a war to de stroy the Government have no right to a share in reconstructing it. They should be content to share its rights, benefits, and blessings when it is restored and reconstructed. " This is the simplelesson taught us in that famous speech of the President, in which he declared “ that traitors should take a back seat in the work of restoration." The right of Virginia to dictate terms of restoration or prescribe our duties may be seen from the “statement of a few important facts bearing upon the admission of the Virginia delegation to the Congress of the U.S., ” which I find thus presented to us: " Besides the wellknownfacts connectedwith the original reorganizationof they irginiu state government at Wheeling. in 1861t.he separation of “festVirginia and the removal of Governor Peirpoint, with his carpet bag. to Alexandria. in 1863a ow events have transpired since the latter datewhich it is very impor taptfor Congress to know before it settles the Virginia question and which it will be the object of this paperbriefly to narrate. "On the 21stday of December.1863t.he General Assembly passedan acteallingu State convention to amend the constitution of Vlllilllltl, and providing for the election of its members. his convention met at Alexandria. February 13, 186} and on the 7th of April following adopted a new State constitution which from that date has been the organic law of the State. " The following provi sions were adopted i n that convention: “, Aarien IV. Sac l. The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be vestedin a General Assembly.which shall consist of a Senate and llouse of Delegates. “SEC. 3. The House of Delegates shall consist of not lessthaneighty and of not more than 104 members. The Senate shall never be less than one 4th nor more than 1/3rd the number of“the House of Delegates. Ec. 8. Amajority of the members elected to each House shall constitute a quorum to do business.but a smaller number may adjourn from day tmdny and shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members in such mannsr and under such penalty as each llouse may provi 2. "Since this constitution was adopted.there have been 3 sessionsof the General Assembly: a regular session commencing December 3, 1364.an extra sessioncommencinlsluno 21, 1865 and a regular session commencin ccember 4. 1543a5n, d not yet closed. At the rst regular session and the extra session the House consisted of 14 membersand the Senate of 6. No more were elected or could be as matters then existed. “Was the legislatuie which met December 3. 1864 and June 21, 1865a legal Legislature under the Alexandria constitution? Have its note any legal force or validity whatever? “Now theseacts, if illegal. have plunged the State into difficulties from which no power but Congress can relieve it and it does not clearly appear how even Congresse an relieve itothermse than by ignoring its socalled restored government, and organ isi“nghiteumniseowh.i efhas been introduced b the extension of the rights of suffrage and of holding office. be yond their former limits. by an act of the 14 delegatesand 6 senators at the extra session of June 21.1865. “The Alexandria constitution had prescribed the qualification of votersdud office holders. as follows: “ Aiiricsr HI. “ Qualifiealion of Voters. 1. Every white male citizen of tho Comine nwealth. of the ageof 21 years, who has been a resident of the State for one your and of the county. city or town where he offers to vote for 6 months next preceding an election and who has aid all taxes assessed to him after the adoption of t in! constitution. under the laws of the Commonwealthafter the reorganization of the county. city or town where he offersto vote, shall be qualified to vote for member of the General Assembly and all officerselective by is people: Provided, however, That no one shall be allowed to vote who. when he ollers to vote shall not thereupon take or shall not before have taken. the following oath: “I do solcinnly swear(or that affirmi I Will support the Constitution of the U.S and the laws made in pursuance the reof.as the supremelaw of the land. an thing in the constitution and laws of the State of Virginia, or in the ordinances of the convention wthe assembledat Richmond on the 13th day of Fcbruar. 1813t1o. the contrar notwithstanding: and that will uphold and do end the government of Virginia as restored by the convention which assomblei at Wheeling on the lllh day ofJune, 1861 and that I have not since the ].d: tay of January, Nil. voluntarily given aid or assistance.in any way, to those in rebellion against a Government of the U.S. for the purpose of promoting the same." But the Legislature shall have powerto passan act or acts prescribing means by which persons who have been disfranchised by this provision shall or may be restored to the rights of voterswhen in their opinion it Any will besale todoso. personfalsely so swearing shall besubjectto the pens.ties of periury. “ No person shall hold any officeunder this constitution who shall not have taken and subscribed the oath aforesaid. But nolperson shall vote or hold of fice under this constitution who has held o the c under the 80:08ll0d confederate government or under any rebellious State government or who hasbeena member of theso called confederate congress or a member of any State Leflslature in rebellion against the authority of the U.S. excepting therefrom county officers. In June, 1865, the 14 delegatesandsix senators. styling themselves a General Assembly. evidently thinking ithad become safeto doso. restored the persons whowere disfrniichised by the necessityof taking the oath required in article 3.sectionone. to the rights of voters. If they were a Legislature at all. they were authorized to do this becausethe constitution lind expressly giventhem the power to do it. But the constitution hadgiven them no power what evor to changethe qualifications for office holdin, or to removethe disability upon both voting and o ce holding. resulting from huvmg held office under the socalled confederate government or under any rebellious State government or from having sea a memberof the socalled confederate congress or a memberofany State Legislature in rebellion against the authority of the U.S. eXcepting there from countyofficers. The Alexandria constitution provides that no person. under any of these disa ilities. shull vote or hold office in the State. excepting county officers. “The 20 delegates and senators.however. an dertook to amend the constitution themselves.so as to remove all these disabilities. It wasa soretrouble to these gentlementhat a single rebel should bede nied a right to which anybodyelse was entitled, or that any discrimination should be made which placed a loyal man in a bettersituation than a rebel. of they assumed for themselves the authority of a ponstitutional convention and enacted the following "aws: CHAPTER VL An set prescribing meansby which personswho have been disfranchised by the 3rd article of the constitution may be restored to the rights of voters. PassedJune 22.1865. “ Whereas.in the opinion of this General Assembly the time has arrived when it would be safe and expedient to restoreto the rights of voters certain persons who are disfrnnchised by the provisions of the 3rd article of the constitution of Virginia. Now, for the purpose ofrestoring such persons, “:SEC. 1. llcifeliucledbuilie general Anembly of Vtr mnui.That every person possessingin other respects the (1UllilliCll ll01180f a voter, under the constitution and laws of the State, who has taken or shall here aiter tiikc. the oath preseribed by the amnestyproclamation of the POTUS of the 29thof May. 1865which oath is in the following words. to Wit: “I do solemnly swear Sor affirm) in the presenceof Almighty God, that I will faithtiill henceforth support. protect, and defend the Constitution of the U.S. mndtlip Union of the Slates thereunder and that I will. in like manner.abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have beenmadeduring the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves;" and an oath to uphold and defend the government of Virginia, restored by the convention which pssembled at Wheeling on the 11thof June 1861 which oath is in the followm words: “ I do solemnly swear (or af firm that I wi uphold and detend the government of” irginia as restored by the convention which as sembledat Wheeling ont ellth day of June. 1861;" shall be entitled and qualified to votefor membersof the General Assembly and all officpr selective by the people, subject always to the laws in regard to voters and votin not inconsistent with this act: Pfofltdtd however.lhat the persons excluded by the terms of the said proclamation from the benefitsthereof. exccpting those embraced in the 13 thelnss of such excluded poisons shall not be entitled orqimhfiod to vote as aforesaid. unlesspardoned by the President. as PlOVlded for bysaid reclamation. Snc. 2. This act shull be in forcefrom itspassago.” Ensrrsa I.An not to provide for the amendment gi tmsghird article of the constitution. PassedJune $30.1. Beitemuted by the General Assemblu qfVir: iiua.That the Governor of this Commonwealth hereby authorised to submit to the qualified voterso this State.at the next election for membersof congress and of the General Assembly. The question, “Shall the next General Assembly be cloted With power to alter or amend the 3rd article of the constitution?" and if a mesontg of the votes so east shall bein favor of menu sue power in the General Assembly.the Governors all communicatetheresult to that bod at its next session: Provided hon river, That the governor shall give at least 30 days notice of the submissionof said question, and shall at the sametime prescribethe mode and manner of ta“king the vote thereon. Sno. 2. "It This actshall bein forcefromits passage! is needless to say that the act was ratified by the people. by an Ioverwhelming majority.f an it is equally needless to say thatthe act was in itself entire illegal. whatever the legality of the homele ture proposing it. For. in Virginia. the constitution must be amended by a State convention called for the purpose by not of the Legislature. There is no express provision for this mode of amendment but having always been the mode employed in changing H the organic lawof the Stato. wesu mit that it cannot now be legally departedfrom. The 1st State constitution was adoptedin conventionin 1776: the 2nd was adoptedbyasimilui convention in 1829; the 3rd by a similar convention in 1851: the wheclin constitution by a sgmilar convention in 1861 and the Alexandria constitution by asimilar convention in l864. constant and unvarying us e from the earliest periods of our history asa State own through all the successivechangesin our constitution, till the present time and through revolutions and war as well as peace, does not constitute a common law .to regulate the method of changin the constitution. it is difficult to conceive how any law could be estab is e. From the fontsabo vestated.the following propositions appear plainl deducible: 1. That 14 elegatesand 6 senators do not constitute a legal Legislature and that. therefore.all the actsof the sessions commencing December 3.1864 and June 21, 1865.are void and all thathas beendone by Virtue of authority derived from those aots is void. “2 that even if 14 delegatesand 6 sena tors do constitute a legal Legislature, still they have no power to change the State constitution. as they have attemptedto do, and that such change md all acts done by Virtue of it. are void. "3 that the whole thing being lnow. through this billegal Legislature placedin the and sof exrebels. who areclearlydisiranchised by the organic lawof the State. the legislators, judges. magistrates.#0. being nearly slip the distranchised class.the owl cannot be remedied by any power with in the State, but congressalonecanrelieve Virginia from the me: tricable confusioninto which sheis plunged. 4. That the bestmeansof accomplishing this is to disregard the presentState organization and organize“ aItnew. may be interestifiigto know the votes given for Goyernor on Zith of ay. 1863.the time governor Pe“iiip.oHi.n Pteiwrpa0sienlte.cte3d.3 Governor of Virginia. 137;G. T. Yerby, 37; and that art of the foll lllg counties only voted: Elisabet Cit. Fairfax orthampton, Loudoun, York, Prince William. Norfolk. Alexan dV{ir1g8in, iab. ”081doB8erkeley and Jeffersonn. ow in West and in this connection I may be emitted to read an extract from a letter of ebruary 16, in part on the validity of the Virginia Legislature, written by that oblest of all the states men of the “Old Dominion, ” the loyal John M. Botts, who demonstrates alike the disloy alty of the South and the ills slit of the as sumed authority of the so caled irginia legislature. He says: “I have seen this same Legislature over steping its legitimate bounds.usurping the functions of the courts.with Arguseyes peeringover the Statefor another Victim to sotiate their rapacity and stretchin out its Brlarcan arms to strike at a Union railroad pprlease ied.enIt in order to put a secession president in his do not mean by this to expressany opinion asto the merits of this unfortunate controversy unfortunatetorthe interestsof the stockholders and the State hut I do menu to say that in my opinion the Legislature had no right to interfere in the matter and that if Mr. Barbour fclt aggrieved his remedy lwieafs; toano. oIval to the proper iudicial tribunals for r e an extraordmineaaryn to say.moreover, that he exhibits de cc of creduliuts and aim licity who helieves that Mr. Barbourh been the uion candidate and Mr. Jamieson the secession candidate fer the presidency of the Oran eandAlexandria road that ho would have been able to obtain the lamp proceedln s from the body calling itself the Legislature ot irgiriio. I have seen that Mr. Alexander Ii. Stephens himself, but ycsterds stcc edu upto his eyelids in secessionand rebellion. {which in A nl. 1861.in a speech delivered in Richmond, he said had been forced upon the South, and that the South had the right on their side.) and who has just been electedto the Senateof the U.S. be pauseof his participation in the rebellion, declaring in a letter to a friend in Washington that the condition and persecution of the union men in Georgia are vastly worsethan during the rebellion. I have seen application after application and memorial aftermemorial.comingu to Congress from Union men in nearly all the so ca led reconstructed States complaining of the bad treatment and violence done to them by the secession element of their several localitics. Imyself have been almost daily in receipt of letters for the last 2 months, saying that they are looking tome to do something to stay the hand of this prescriptive and intolerant party lDllllfl! State, and praying that I will cometo their to ie. "I haveseen too those men whoma becoming mod esty and a commendable diilidence of their capacity and pretensions to govern. alter the events of the last our years would have kept. at least for a time. in the background rushing with hot haste to assertthoir own indestructible an inalienable right. as if by divine inJunction. to govern and control. by thrusting themselves into places they had no constitutional rhiigghht to fill and grasping With greedy hand at every and petty office for those whose claims rested alone on the tact of their pervice in the rebel cause. I have seen inen wheedlin and cojoling President Johnsop in helpresfl, in public meetings and in the legislative nl 1!.who. when they get him in their power. Wlil lllOhSlll"o!ut to him the some allowance that theyjinve to Ggiiernor Beirpoint. for the unpar domiblo sin of havmR been a during souther Uuion man the rebellion, all of which is set orth and fully avowed by that infamous, mischievous, and treasonable shoot.the NewYork Daily News. which would lead the South to her still decper ruin and degrada ttieonns.ivaenldyWilltihhas a larger circulation, is more exthroughourotad is sought after with greater B Vltllly the South than any other paperin the U.S and which is regarded as the most faithful orgaii of the disloyal clement of the South. when it saysof Hon. Joshua Hill. oftleorgiu: “ Never can he representthere or elsewhere the brave and gallant menof Georgia. They know better than to intrhst the honor of their dead and the interestsof the liVing tosuchashe. Men do not trust those who have beenfalse to themin the hourofdan ger and darkness. The southern people never will. neyer can confide in thosewho. born amongthem or livmg in their midst during the dark and stormydays of their grand struggle.praed or sighedat least for the successof the foe and or the ruin and devastation of the houses and temples and fields of theSouth and for that tearful oppression beneath which these peopIe lerac, rethneonw. igstsigering and groaning. the edict that hasgone forth from the fountain source, the low maker and the law giver of secessiondepravity. the fate that awaits all good. true, and loyal men who stood by their country in the countryp peril, and hazlirded fortune liberty and life in its defense, as did Andrew Jo nson in Tennessee during the freat strife and strugglo for the life of the nation, an for the liberties of m nkind on the one hand, and the perpetuationof th power of southern Democracyon the other and nllt iswe are asked to receive as unmistakable evidence of a purpose on the part of the conquered to do full justice and to extend a full measure of mercy and forbearance to their conquerors in the current conflict and strike for higher wages through which we have passed; in this is foreshadowed the fate of Mr. Johnson whom they now smotherwith caresses, and stud with professions of loyalty to him if he should ever have the mistortuue to fall into their forgiving and merciful arias." "Now. then. I may be askedforwhat goodpurpose have I openedup, or propose to open up, these cases and I answer. I propose to show to these gentlemen what is held I); someof the best lawyors in this country to be soun incontrovertible law in their cases that they are not yet far enough out of the woodsto puton al these airs of superiorit and lordlydietation to thosewho have rights in this governmentsuperior to their own.t show to them that theystand on dangerous groun, with a miuelbeueath, and that they cannot and will not be permitted to frown down or crush down. to trample down, to vote down. to write down, orto utdown in anyway the union menof the South who aveit in their power to place them in a far worse condition than they have yet occupied from the beginniu of the rehelion and in afarwqrsecon dition than they can lacc the Union men. either by voting themout ofc cc, or otherwise oppressing or harassing them. As for lll0l social distinctions. let them be kept up to their hearts content. Nobody cares. I suppose to associate with any of those who prefer other society. This pretension and arrogance is too ridiculous and contemptible to produceany other feeling than that of pity and derision. If this disposition proceeded from the pride of the conqueredit might be respectedbut when it proceeds from bad taste, bad temper, bad feeling and worse judment. I should despise the man or womanwho wou d stoop to conciliate it. They have the right to do it. but those who encourageit stand much in the way of their own interests and the interests of the State, when we should all work together for the common good: but the can be permitted no longer to treat ni onmen with indignit. nor to stimalrze them as truit orsf or everysuch nion man as his remedy in illi own hands. If any man calls me a traitor or thinks me one. I challenge him to atrial of the guestion: let him make an affidavit against me. an I will retu rn the compliment to him and have the question tried. I will promise to plead no pardon in bar that l havecrawled to the footstoolof powerto solicit. "Do you ask mewhat this remedy is? Ill tell you. Supposethe loyal menreffise to pay the taxes ini posedby the bo n owin session and I give timely notice now that will not pay one dollar of tax iin posed upon me – on the gronn, 1st. that the Legislature is not alawfully and constitutionally constituted body, and 2nd, that itise omposedin art of aliens. whosepardonsareofno BVBILand who have nomore right to tax me than a Mexican Legislature would have. The sheriff peisesmy property and I apply to theiudge for an llljllllclloll and appeal to the law for protections he grants the injunction and he decides that they did or did not comply with the provisions of the constitution. thatthey wereor were not aliens, and that the pardons were or were not.granted in accordancewit i the provisions of the constitution. The case is carried up to the court of appeals, and from there to the SCOTUS Here is a case made for the Supreme Court and supposetheydecidethat the pardoiis are good for nothing, then all any citizen has to do is to go beforea magis trate or district judge of the edera1 court nd make oath that such a party has beenguilty of trea son and demand a warrant for his arrest, and he is bound to issuc such warrant, and bring him to trlal. when the pardon can be lead in bar and thus bring it "to the Supreme Court or adjudication. Now I want to be understood. Not a pardon has beengranted that I desire to see revoked. There is no man that I have cared to see renounced an alien by the law. provided full justice is done to the Union men.of whom there are from 30 to 50,000 in this State and who would openly proclaim it if it were not for the terror of public opinion and the fear of (leniinciution from the public press; but if there were but a homlfnl. a bii ors dozen or if I stood alone. I would demand it for myself. Therefore I call pou overa Union man in the State and in the Boutlli, (0 stau up for their rights without fear and say;1to all who would withhold them, Stand from an or. “Of course I must expect to hear a general bowl and volumesof abusefrom the reconstructed; but I am so used to this that it dont hurt and if they knew Wbut contempt I feel for all such trash they would savetheir wrath and bottleit up for somebody elsethat Would feel it morethan I do. 1 once heard it said that if it man throws ii stone in the dark and heheard ndoghowl, you may besure it hit him. This much in antic ignitionofwhut is to come. "This thing has to be stopped.for I pledgemyself to brin the whole matter to a udiciiil decismn.as I said he ore.ifit costsruehalft iat I am worth in the world if it is not. irrbumnotin prannlr. "I am. very respectfully and trulyf our friend, "JOB. BOTTS." Let it be remembered that if constitutional amendments are not secured now, they will not be secured when these Halls are filled with representatives from the rebel States and now, having given my views of this subject, I will, at the earliest practicable day, as]: this House to pass the JtResolution.