Mr. HENDRICKS. Mr. President, if the Senator claims to be answering any remarks thgt I had the honor to submit to the Senate, he may ask me any question growing out of them; but he has no right to go into the discussion of another subject and proponnd questions to me to answer in a few words in the midst of his speech. Now, I understand the question that he asks to be aboatthis: whether, if there be a rebellion or an insurrection in any of the States, Congress has power to authorize the putting down of that insurrection or rebellion. I have no question of that. I never doubted that. There was nothing in in remarks that suggested a doubt of that. I rave been talking about the country as it is. The G war is over; there is no insurrection anywhere; and it is not true to history or to fact to say that there is a war. There is no rebellion North or South. Certain Legislatures have assembled in the southern States. They have elected men as Senators. The come here and present their credentials. pay it is exclusively for the Senate to decide upon their credentials; and the Constitution havmg ven that power to the Senate, it is not for the house to participate in the decision of that question. As to what shall be done ina state of war, whether we shall put down an insurrection, that is another question. Of the power of the Government to put down an insurrection I have no doubt. It is expressly provided for in the Constitution. But the question that I discussed was the right of a man to take his seat when he came here with all the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution and the law in a time of peace, as we now have it; and the Senator upon that question cannot argue it as if we were in the midst of a state of war. What a State may do in the midst of war is another question. Thank God, sir, we have.passed the point of war more than one year; and for one long yehr this country has anx iously hoped for a comlcte return of all the States to their practical) relations to the government.