Mr. VANHORN, of NewYork. Mr. Speaker, theories are all very well. We may have plans in relation to reconstruction as with ref erence to other matters of public interest, but if not put into practical operation and made efficient in results they accomplish little else than to attract attention for the moment and remove us from practical results. For some time past I have rather adopted the idea that it would be as well, if not better, to allow this Congress to expire before acting directly and positively upon the question of reconstruction; that as the 40th Congress was elected exPressly upon the issue made up between the executive and legislative branches of the government, and as the people had decided the issue so positively." undeniably in favor of the policy and purposes of Congress, and in addition had exPressed their wish and determination that their rePresentatives should control the question of the restoration of the States lately in rebellion so far as it legitimately belonged to them; to adopt such measures in addition to what had already been Presented and indorsed by them as would injment secure the grand result sought to be accomplished, that it might be as well to leave the work to be finished by the next Congress. I had come to this conclusion for the following among other reasons: I desired to take from anyone, friend or foe, loyal or disloyal any complaint that we had acted hastily and not given a sufficient time for reflection and the 2nd sober thought to take possession of the people lately in rebellion, and still very far from being our friends. I have been anxious when the period for more postive action should arrive and more radical measures were demanded by every consideration of humanity, justice, and patriotism, and a regard for the vows we have all made to the Great Ruler to be just, and do justice, as I have for a long time been convinced, and as now the whole country raust be convinced, that that period, if not already upon us, is near at hand, that there should not be a voice raised against such action er measures, but that with united action we might go forward, beginning at the bottom, and plant governments in those States upon the sure foundations of unconditional loyalty, and place them where they will ever remain, in the faithful hands of the friends of the Government and impartial liberty. I have not been opposed, so to speak, to action at any time since we began this session, but have of the 2 thought it advisable that we should take the course I have suggested. But, sir, upon a careful survey of the whole field of operations, in view of my responsibilities to my country, knowing, too, as I do full well the one great and inspiring idea or thought that lifts the loyal people I rePresent above all time serving considerations and attaches them with an unyielding purpose to their country, for whose interests and salvation they have yielded up their choicest idols and surrendered their very household gods, making their hearth stones a desolation and filling their happy homes with wailing and woe; in view, too, of the sad condition of affairs all over the South, and especially in some portions of it, disorder, proscription social and political, ruin, treason and death reigning supreme, with little or no love for the Government that has crushed the rebellion, it is true, but which deals gently and generously with its enemies; with a fixed determination on the part of those lately inrebellion and still in power to the exclusion of the loyal, to make their rebellion honorable before the country and the world, and forever fix upon the faithful friends of the Government the badge of dishonor and treason; with the sure and certain P. of such a result being brought about if the Present state of things be allowed to continue, which in the end must result in the overthrow of our Government and institutions, or such opPressions and misrule be wiped out; in view, lastly, of the solemn vows the nation has taken upon itself in the hour of its sorest trial, when its fate was trembling in the even balance, that it would be faithful to the sacred trusts of humanity, liberty, and justice committed to its hands, that every faithful heart should be a sovereign and no wicked hand should fall heavily and cruelly upon one of its true and faithful ones for want of its protection and care; and as we expect to perpetuate our national life by the practice of such principles and the faithful execution of such sacred trusts, I have come to the conclusion that we cannot act too soon in endeavoring to correct the evils that are upon us and ward off the dangers that threaten us. Congress at its last session, after a long and faithful deliberation, Presented a plan and enacted a portion of it into a law, which is known as the constitutional amendment. This annendment had merits in it, although it was not all that very many desired and believed to be absolutely necessary upon which to secure a safe and complete restoration of the lately rebellious States. Many believed that the people South were misrepresented, that they were not still rebellious, that they were anx ious to return to a full and perfect allegiance to the Government they i. tried to destroy; that while they accepted the situation they were heartily sorry for their treason, and would adapt themselves gladly to the new condition of things and forever abandon their rebellious spirit even, and adhere more strongly than ever to their country. In the hope that this might be so, that such an anxious hope might be realized, the constitutional amendment was adopted by Congress, if not as a complete plan of reconstruction, nevertheless as part of a plan, which, with the faithful cooperation of the people lately in rebellion, it was hoped might go very far toward if not. accomplish the work we all so much desired, Congress desired to put these people, upon their professions of repentance and good faith toward the Government, holding at the same time, as we always must until the work is com: plete, the power in our own hands in behalf of the loyal people of the country; so that by no error or mistaken notion, resulting from fair promises or often repeated professions of loyalty, the chance shall pass from our hands to command the whole situation and secure the legitimate and just fruits of the great struggle through which our country has passed, to wit, a perfect Union and Government based upon right, with protection to all, with a full guarantee of the rights of manhood to all and a perpetual guarantee in favor of loyalty and the loyal as against treason and the disloyal. The people ratified our course, and in doing so declared their confidence in the Congress and its purposes as against any other policy proposed, and especially the one adopted by the executive government, and which today is the source of nearly all our evils and the confusion and crimes that desolate the South, as it places and keeps in power the sworn enemies of the republic to the exclusion of its unyielding friends. Congress never surrendered the right to do anything else that might be necessary to be done as time advanced, neither did the people at the last election decide that nothing else should be done. While they indorsed the amendment, they decided more than anything else that the work of reconstruction belonged to themselves through their rePresentatives, and demanded that the work begun in the amendment Presented should be finished by them, so far as it properly belonged to them, in such a way and at such a time as the peculiar advantages they had to determine when and how to act should justify. It is too late to argue the power of Congress in this work of reconstruction. All branches of the Government have acknowledged that the work is peculiarly a legislative work or the work of the people. The executive branch especially has so acknowledged it, and the people in their decisions upon the great questions in controversy so understand it. Secretary Seward telegraphs Provisional Governor Sharkey, of Mississippi, under date of July 24, 1865, as follows: “The government of the State will be only provisional until the civil government is reorganized with the approval of Congress.”. As late as September 12, 1865, the same high functionary telegraphs Provisional Governor Marvin, of Florida: “It must, however, be distinctly understoodthat twhiell rbeesstourbajeticotn to, which your proclamation refers to the decision of Congress.” As to both the right and duty the authorities are ample and abundant, aside from this exPress acknowledgment on the part of the executive government. Wheaton, 115, says: "The right of self Preservation is not only a right with respect to other States, but a duty with respect to its own members, and the most solemn and important one which a State owes to them.” “This right of self Preservation necessarily involves all other incidental rights as a meansto give effect to the principal end.” And again, Wattel declares: “Every nation is obliged to perform the duty of “ f o. Since, then, a nation is obliged to Preserveitself, it has a right to everything necessaryfor its Preservation:. For the law of nature gives us a right to everything without which we, could not fulfill our obligations; otherwise it would oblige us to impos sibilities, or rather would contradict itself in proscribing a duty and prohibiting at the same time the only means of fulfilling it.” "By an evident, consequence from what has been said, a nation ought carefully to avoid, as much as possible, whatever may causeits destruction, or that of the State, which is the same thing.”."., “A nation or State has a right to everything that can secure it from such a threatening danger, and to keep at a distance whatever is capable of causing its ruin; and that from the very same reasons that establishits rights to the things necessary to its Preservation.” Will anyone ask any higher authority than these, or can any higher be obtained? certainly not. Who is silly enough to demand that we must adhere strictly to the constitutional amendment as a finality without reference to existing facts, when it may be that a development of feeling and action in the South would justify a complete change of policy on the part of the government, or as it does attions of or additions to itl?easTt hseormee modifica is but one safe way to reconstruct the rebel States and restore them to their former relations to the Government of the U.S., and that is upon the principles of unconditional loyalty, and placing the power in those States in the hands of loyal men and those who are safe to intrust with power. No other policy will suc; ceed. We may travel all jothe point and try one scheme and then another, but in the end, if we do not let the question pass from our hands as we should not, we shall have to begin at the foundation, and upon the rock as we are doing in the bills now before us, and then the superstructure will be reared to stand forever. I see in the discussions of the propositions now before us and the disposition of the House to act upon and perfect them, a desire to do something to correct the evils that are upon us, and to adopt a policy in the end, if not immediately, to give ample and complete protection to our friends throughout all the rebellious States, and intrust the governments to their hands, and place them under their control. While I am willing to go for the bill Presented by the ComReconstruction, proposing to i. govern these States for the time by the military for the purposes of protection until we can erect suitable governments there based upon loyalty and loyal suffrage, still I greatly prefer that this measure may come in as part of a more comprehensive measure, which shall 1st provide for the establishment of such loyal civil governments, and then give all the military power necessary to more firmly establish them, and secure the more faithful execution of the great trusts to be executed by them. This would be more in accord with the genius of our Government. That it is the 1st great duty, however, of the Government, and has been since the war closed, to protect its friends in the South, both white and black, all will admit; and to do this, if necessary, I would cover every acre of it with armed men until the earthquaked beneath their tread. But what hinders at the same time the speedy erection of governments in all those States upon a basis of loyalty and loyal suffrage, with the exPress declaration on the part of the Government that such governments are to be maintained by its influence and power? In such casebut little military would be needed; perhaps there is enough already in those States to give the protection needed; if not it could be very oil; supplied. Those governments, thus established, and the loyal people feeling as they do not now, that they." a faithful Government behind them to protect and defend, if need be, would very soon provide for themselves sufficient force to secure their own defense and execute the laws both State and national. The very fact that the Government had settled its policy and it was to be maintained and the law executed and loyalty sustained, would of itself be as strong as armies and navies and achieve more than anything else in the great struggle between right and wrong, loyalty and disloyalty. When the war closed, those who are now in power in the South and responsible for the rebellion were ready to submit to any terms that the conqueror might choose to propose. They knew as they now know they justly deserved entire and complete exclusion from place and power, and that they were not so excluded surprised them more than it did us. This willingness to submit to our terms was on account of the fact that they were conquered, and that the Government was able to enforce its authority, together with the fact of the consciousness of their guilt and the enor mity of their crimes. That we have failed thus far to treat the loyal men of the South as our friends and given the disloyal the control, or allowed the Executive to set up and perpetuate governments without any authority of law and in the interests of those who brought on the war and all its attendant disasters, is the reason why today a spirit of defiance andrebellion rules more or less everywhere throughout the South; and to be loyal to the Government, and especially to have been loyal and sustained and fought for it during the war, is the most certain badge of dishonor and lasting disgrace. We have got to come back again to the point in this great struggle which we abandoned and exercise our power and arouse in the minds of the people South who thus demean themselves, the awful memories of the past, and teach them that “treason must be made odious and traitors punished, ” or at least displaced from power, and that no arm raised against us shall prosper. It is idle to talk of a final restoration upon the pretended governments now in those States. They are without any authority of law, and we never can legalize or recognize them as legitimate and republican so long as they are in the hands and under the control of our ene mies and the enemies of the loyal people of the South. such has been and is today the fact, and certainly they will and can never be any better. Those in power in them will never relinquish that power themselves; this is not in the nature of things, and the time never will come when they will consent even to share their power with those who have been opposed to them during the war and steadfast friends of the country during its hour of trial. I have no time now to find fault with the policy of the President in trying to give governments to those States; the people have exPressed their opinion upon that o, and repudiated it; it is fraught with evil, and will work a complete social and political proscription of all the loyal men there, a result which can be justified in no way possible, and to be prevented even at the exercise of the whole power of the Government. These pretended governments being null and void, having no legal existence, having been set up . there were no governments, without aly authority of law, it becomes the duty of Congress to gather together the loyal elements in those States and proceed through the cooperation of the loyal people therein to establish such governments as we can recognize, loyal in character, republican in form, and in spirit, so that they may be suitable channels through which we can cooperate, in complete harmon with the loyal sentiment of the country and o the Constitution. The President himself declared by proclamation and otherwise, and acted, too, upon the fact so declared, that the rebellion overthrew all loyal governments in the disloyal States; that they were but a mass of ruins when the war closed, which is agreed to by all; and that a necessity existed for the interference of the Government to aid in the establishment of governments therein. So said Congress, and so we say today. That necessity exists still. To meet this necessity the executive government proceeded without law, without the consent of the people or their rePresentatives, who alone have the right to initiate and put forth a policy of restoration in such cases as the one now upon our hands, to set up governments. It appointed provisional governors, which all agree was itf. any authority, and did other acts, however well intended, without law, none of which has ever been legalized or recognized by Congress, and cannot be. Had these governments proved a success and given ample and complete protection to o all the loyal South, and were they calculated to uild up a social and political society there based upon unconditional loyalty, and secure the prosperity and happiness of all the people alike, there might be some apology : the effort made. some grounds for ratifying what has been done, as our great object would thus have been accomplished; but no such results appear, neither is there any hope of their ever being realized. The delay thus long in giving such governments as are necessary to those States but makes our obligations the stronger to act, and act promptly, in this work of restoration. It is claimed that the theory thus advanced of erecting governments in these States, if car ried out, will inevitably lead to the conclusion that the States lately in rebellion are out of the Union, or dead States, a doctrine hostile to our professions during the war, and all the policy of the party now in power. It does not follow at all that these States, as such, are, or ever were, out of the Union because we propose to establish governments where they have been destroyed. The President decided that their governments were destroyed, and attempted to and did set up governments there in through the cooperation of the people, but of the disloyal portion of the people, which is the rock upon which he oft and upon which we and the country have taken issue with him; but he did not so act upon the pol icy that these States were out of the Union not at all; neither do we. We all agree that the governments in the rebellious States were disloyal through and through during the war; all i.agents sworn to support another government, socalled; and that all loyal organizations existing before the war were destroyed. There was, then, no loyal organizations through which the U.S. could cooperate; and by treason and crimes against the Constitution and the country the people having forfeited all rights under that Constitution 1st and foremost among which is the right of rePresentation the people against whom they have offended, and whose Government ours is, alone have the power to restore them to their forfeited rights; and they can do it in their own time and way. In doing this great work cooperation should be had with the loyal people in those States, and perhaps such as were never voluntarily i. but forced to act against their country, and with such alone. It is not only our right to proceed to this work, but it is our duty, and we cannot avoid it. Mr. Lincoln said on one occasion, in substance, that it mattered not, so far as the question of duty was concerned, whether these States were out of the Union or not, all would agree that their functions were suspended by the treason of their people and the destruction of their governments; the duty being upon us (the Congress) to provide governments for them, or aid the loyal people in restoring governments to those States. The condition of those States is a serious disability, which the people brought upon themselves by their own crimes and trea son against the country; and that disability must be removed by and through the operation of law, and can be accomplished in no other way. "Rights may be forfeited by organized communities that derive their powers from constitutions and laws, when their governments are overthrown by their treason and rebellion against such constitution and laws; but it does not follow that the States thus fall outside of the Union, as in the case before us, by no means. They may render themselves unfit and ineligible to the exercise of municipal or local authority, but they can in no case escape from under the Constitution and control of i. U.S., or the loyal people of the country, as in our case, who by their patriotism and devotion prevented their rebellion from terminating in a successful revolution, and the consequent overthrow of the Government. Taxation follows this right to control and goveru. It is a power conferred by the Constitution, which rules supreme over all our people; and while the functions of these States are suspended and the disability of their people remains upon them and not removed, in consequence of their having forfeited their rights under the Constitution by treason and crime, still taxation goes with the Constitution and our power to control and govern. So during the war. Our right to tax was not diminishe by the fact that we were not able to do so, by reason of the power of the rebellion at times and in places; but all the time this right given us by the Constitution was as supreme over all the country as the Constitution itself. How silly the argument, then, that because rePresentation is not and has not been allowed the States lately in rebellion before their disa bility has been removed and they are restored. tion with us is, what is our duty or the duty of by law to their forfeited rights, therefore their people should not be taxed. The Constitution of the U.S. was made by the people and not by the States as such, as its preamble declares, and hence it operates primarily upon the people, and all are i.by it and at all times under its control. Whether in rebellion or not, loyal or disloyal, all alike are subject to its control and must submit to its authority. It seems, then, that the President and Congress start out upon the same premises, admit ting the same facts, and acting upon the same necessity, to wit, that all governments were overthrown in the South by the rebellion, and that a necessity existed for the establishment of governments in their stead. He proceeded without law and placed the States so disabled in the hands of our enemies and the enemies of the loyal men South who had stood by us and the Government during the long dark night of the war, which policy is fast eating out the last vestige of loyalty in those States and forever shutting out the last hope of social and political equality to those faithful ones who never faltered in their faith and support of our cause during all the years of jand blood through which we have at last triumphantly.We, on the other hand, in behalf of the people we rePresent, and who saved the nation's life, declare that all this policy is wrong; its execution, as we see in the case before us, although not designed to be, is the crying evil of the hour, the greatest crime against humanity, loyalty, and justice of the age, and should be at once removed. Neither can it be said that the action of the President thus far has given these people any additional rights. The placing of the rebels in power in those States without authority of law, and their exercise of power under the pretended governments thus set up, gives them no right that they did not have before under the Constitution, and so far as our duty is concerned they stand before us precisely as they did when the war closed, subject to our control. The question of reconstruction is precisely the same and our duty the same as then in regard to those States lately in rebellion. It matters not either by whom such a policy was inaugurated, or by whom it may have been forced upon the loyalty of the South; the ques the hour? Great trusts are committed to our hands; to us is intrusted the keeping of great interests, such as take hold on the nation's life; such, too, as a consequence that reach, in their tender relations to such life, to the hearth stone of every family in the land, and to the heart of every patriotic and devoted child of the republic. These questions, then, are practical. It is not what we think, but what shall be done. Action is demanded, positive action, such as will command the respect and obedience of all. The sovereign power of our great people should be brought into requisition to do what and all that the case demands and the Constitution will allow, to relieve the distresses of our people and establish our institutions and Government upon a loyal and an enduring basis. To accomplish all this they have commissioned us to act for them. That all this may be accomplished, certainly they have made sacri fices enough already, but are willing still to make more if needs be to secure this grand result. Until, however, we reap some fruits of the battles they have fought and the victories they have won, until we have asserted the powers they have given us, and exercised the authority they have clothed us with to secure the great ends of justice, the responsibility will rest with us and not with them. I have said that the policy of discarding, now that the war is over, the Union men of the South, and shutting them out of place and control, is a great evil and the greatest crime of the age. I believe it. I know it is contended that there are not loyal Union men enough South to form and sustain governments in the States in question. This cannot be so and is not so. hen the war broke out and during the war many of the Union men were compelled to flee from the States in rebellion to the North for life and protection; others were forced into the rebel service, and very many joined the Federal armies. When the war closed the most of those who had been loyal were ready to return, and many did return, but did not find in the end that protection and favor to which they were entitled and which they had reason to expect at the hands of their Government, for which they struggled or to which they had been loyal. Had a different condition of things existed they would all have returned to their homes and their property and friends, and would still, could they be assured that they were to be preferred to traitors, and placed in power and position where they could protect themselves and be protected. The facts show that in every State there are an abundance of loyal men, who have been loyal, and who would gladly cooperate with the Government had they protection and power; and so in all the rebellious States there are 1000s of men who have never given way to treason, and as many more oft the masses of the people who were forced into the war against !. will who would cooperate with them gladly under the control of the U.S. in forming governments that would be loyal and remain loyal. I would place the power 1st in the hands of the unconditionally loyal, give them the control of the governments and the shaping of their policy, as Mr. Lincoln did in Tennessee, through and with the approbation of now President Johnson, allow all without distinction to participate in the framing of such governments who had been friends of the Government and loyal. Very soon all the better class who were forced into the rebellion would be absorbed by the policy of those who were invested with iow.er and control, the whole system being upon and supported by loyal suffrage, and thus treason would be made odious, loyalty honored, and the Republic and our liberties made secure. The leaders would then be cast out and placed upon their good behavior, and if ever it became safe, after we had secured all proper guarantees for the future security of the nation, and those States as thus restored had adopted all the amendments to the Constitution that have been or may be proposed for our safe ty, the disability of even these leaders of the rebellion might then be removed as provided by law. But what are our obligations with reference to this work? I have said in the light of the Constitution the work was ours and we were bound to perform it. It is ours to initiate and carry out. work to a completion, and we have no right to neglect or dodge it. It then belongs to the Executive to execute the law, and if he fail to do his duty the responsibility is not upon us, but upon him. If anything, more be needed to stir us to duty, we find it in the actual condition of the people South, and especially those who have every claim upon our protection and favor that any people can have upon their Government. That the spirit of the rebellion still lives and now thrives in the South no same man can deny; that the determination exists to make their rebellion honorable and the loyalty of the South a lasting disgrace and a permanent badge of dishonor is equally true and cannot be denied. The leaders of the rebellion, being in power in all of the ten States unreconstructed, still defy the authority of the U.S. to a great extent, and deny the power of the loyal millions of the country, who have saved our lniaotnio, n's life against their treason and rebel to Prescribe terms of settlement of this great controversy, and deny also that they have lost any rights they had before the war or committed any treason against the Government; We have offered to the country a constitutional amendment calculated to give us some security for the future, and asking through it but very little of what we had the right to demand an what a large portion of our people think should be required at the hands of the people and States South before they are fully restored to their former relations to the Government of the U.S. The States where the people have not been corrupted by the curse and virus of slavery, and one or 2 where this evil has long existed, States that stood nobly by our Government when it was on trial before the world in our recent struggle with treason and rebellion, one after another, as they have opportunity, wheel into line and seal, their devotion to our Union and liberty by ratifyin this amendment; while one after another o the ten States lately in rebellion and unreconstructed, through their pretended governments in the hands. traitors, have all rejected with defiance this same amendment, giving scarcely a voice in its favor. But we are told that the Executive has now evinced through his friends a disposition to change his policy and place it more in accord with the constitutional amendment, and that should be adopted. He, as the Executive, has no right to have a policy as against the people or their rePresentatives to the extent to force it upon the country. This proposition was Presented in the senate by. foSenfrom Connecti cut, [Mr. Dixox] and is said to be such as the southern States will indorse. While there are some good features in this measure, embracing portions of the amendment Presented by Congress and ratified by the people, the vital parts of it are discarded and care taken to leave the power now possessed by the late leading rebels in their own hands. The very announcement of this new scheme is a confession of weakness, which is encouraging to the loyal people of the country; but, like the other “policy, ” which has been repudiated by them and whose nakedness is now so completely exposed, it is only a movement the result of which would be to hold the power where it is now lodged by the pretended governments in the South, and rob the loyal men from any or very much control in them. It would thwart the will of the people, and secure a settlement of this great controversy upon other than the policy. justice and universal liberty, which the rePresentatives of the people.bound to demand and secure.. Executives may recommend, the late leading rebels seeking to hold power that they have rendered themselves unfit to possess may indorse, and together they may go all around the main question and attempt to avoid and set aside the voice of the people who saved the Government and whose rePresentatives we are; it is of no use, for here is the altar upon which the great offering must be laid; and here, in the name of the great people of the land, by Virtue of their power, and in obedience to their will, must remain the citadel of their hope, for in this high place of the nation alone can they declare their will and execute their sov. ereign purpose. To force or attempt to force, by any means, any other “policy” upon the country than the people demand and approve as it comes from those especially delegated by them under the Constitution, is no less than an attempt to usurp their power, and will fall, as it already has, upon and crush those who persist in so doing. There is no hope of ever restoring these States upon the principles of loyalty with the leaders of the rebellion in power; neither will they ever consent to make their rebellion dishonorable and lift to place and favor the loyal people of those States while they are masters of the situation and command the whole field of operations. Every gale that comes from the South is freighted with the pitiful cry of distress and help that breaks forth from the true, faithful, and trusty friends of the government, who are fleeing still before treason or bowing with broken spirits and hearts under the heavy load of sorrow which our failure thus far to protect and care for them lays upon them. Every sighing breeze tells the sad tale of expir. ING life that is passing away without the care we owe it; and to have been a defender of the nation's life is a crime and treason against the State and fits one only to be an outcast and makes life not worth possessing. It has been my privilege during quite a large art of the great conflict through which we have passed to hold a seat upon this floor, and when not here to have an important part in the no less important work of rallying the people at home, and thus aiding to strengthen the arm of the Government to crush the rebellion, and infall this work no consideration has had a greater influence upon me than the duty we owed the loyal men of the South whose cry was continually coming over to us pleading for help. And so it was with all our people. The war was fought not only for the Government and its perpetuity, but as a means to this end, for the protection of loyalty and loyal men every where. And now, when the war is over, and our Government and their Government is triumphant by the joint efforts of the loyal inen and South, it is a crime against justice and right to leave the loyal people of the South at the mercy of our common enemy, when we have the undisputed power to protect them and while it is our duty to protect them. No duty can be plainer. All admit that it is upon us and that it ought to be performed. Some insist that order will come out of the chaos that now reigns if the Present governments are allowed to remain, but for such a conclusion there is no good reason in the facts that now appear or have existed for the last 2 years, neither is there any hope that things will improve under the Present rule and power that now reigns supreme. Where is there any chance for the Union men South who mean to stand by their integrity and not waver in their loyalty? In what State lately in rebellion are they even respected as much as others, much less allowed to hold any position or have a voice in controlling public affairs? There may be localities which were more thoroughly scourged by war, and where the military have continually given evidence of a power that was able and would protect the loyal, that a different state of feeling to some extent exists or manifests itself; but the fact is undeniable, that in no locality throughout the whole South where the rebel element ruled during the war, and where the Government has taken away its restraint and left the people to do and conduct as they choose, but that the Union element is completely ignored so far as position in society is concerned, and the policy fixed and unchangeable to discard and wipe it out entirely. Is there an American citizen that will acquiesce in such a state of things? Who will fold his arms in his quiet and ease and because this fate is not his own have no pity for those who are thus treated, and will not raise his voice and arm if necessary to relieve their distresses and lift them up to the level of loyal citizenship and the recognition to which they are entitled. The same spirit of persecution that during the war.]". .men in the South followed them to the mountains, caves, and solitary places, left their dead bodies hanging upon the trees in the woods or by the way. side as a warning to their friends that they would share a like fate, still lives, and as the power of the Government is removed shows itself from time to time in just such degree as the condition of affairs will justify. Rewards are offered for the heads of some, and others are more openly shot down by the wayside. The facts as they appear, connected with the riots at Memphis and NewOrleans, clearly show the spirit of those who are now in power in the lately disloyal States, while they are but exPressions of the ruling feeling all over the South if once allowed to exercise and develop itself. The following letter from the chief justice of Louisiana will justify me in all I have said upon this subject: CITY OF JEFFERSON, LouisianA, January 7, 1867. SiR: In compliance with your desire, I my knowledge herestate and opinion of the loyalty of the people of Louisiana to the Government of the U.S., and what would be the condition of ofUnion sentiments those in the event that all local Control should be permanently in the hands of lately those in arms against the General Government. From conversations with the secessionists, I that they hope that an issue will arise from some cause, either between the President and Congress, or between the U.S and some foreign Power, which will precipitate a war, and through this hoped for war they believe they will rid themselves of a pool and Governmentwhich are 9dious to them. Most of the personswith whom I have conversed would today, join in any movement to selves rid them of the Government of the U.S., provided there was a fair prospectof success. The most of the people (I mean, the rebels) of Louisiana honestly believe that in the late struggle they were only contending for the right of self government: that the war carried on against them the U.S. was to destroy that right: that it was an iniquitous war on the part of the Government: that it was wagedwith inhumanity and bru tality by the Governmentand the people of and that by both the people of the NorththeanNdortthhe. Government they have been robbed and plundered of their rights and property. With such, imPressions on their minds they can entertain no loyalty to the Government of the U.S. in. nor friendly feelings for the people of the There is many an honestowho engaged in the late rebellion believing that he was right in so doing, but being now overpowered would submit to the decision of the sword were it most of their military leaders, some of whom facrtevtheary to bad men and murderers, now have control, and excite thesewell meaning men, and if military the U.S. forceswere today removed from Louisiana, and if there was no fear of interference by the U.S., these base men, their mili ers– among the most conspicuous of whom is Richard Taylor, who has murdered many citizens of this State would arouse the well meaning citizens, to violence and blood, and no Uniqn man, whether white or black, would be safe in his person or property. his So completeare the influence and control of such Inen caused the Richasrdas Tinaayltoiornoafnsdo Mayor citizens oe, who in NewOrleans on the 30th of dagger July, 1866 that the assassin's is restrained at P.time only by U.S. bayonets, and I cannot believe that the Government will leave, the Unionists and freedmen of the State in the hands of assassins. The spirit of secession is as strong and defiant as it over was, because the hope has been revived that it can succeed in maintaining power in each of the southern States, and that when a favorable occasion Presents it can disrupt the Federal Government. It rests with Congress to adopt such measures as destroy that hope and finally eradicate that spirit will If the Government and the northern people intend that Louisiana shall be a part of the U.S. the power and influence of o those who inaugu and controlled the rebellion must be broken, a Union sentiment fostered security and absolute freedom of speech and of the Press firinly esRtaebslpisehcetfdu.lly, your obedientservant. W. B. HYMAN. Hon. THowAs D. Eliot, Member of Congress, Washington, DistCol. All this is fully corroborated by our agents in those States. Generals Schofield in Virginia, Sickles in SCarolina, Sheridan in Louisiana, and Thomas in the West, all testify to one and the same thing in relation to the spirit of the ruling class in their depts. They all declare that there is no hope for the friends of the Union.if left to the Present systems of government for protection. That lawlessness and crime will exist in those States to a great degree for a time no one will deny, but after making due and liberal allowance for all this, the evidence is overwhelming, filling every newspaper, is the burden of every letter, the complaint of every swelling heart that finds a refuge in flight and reaches us or a place of safety; it is the conclusion of every investigation we have had, the essence of the testimony of every impar tial witness we have summoned, that the same spirit inspires and controls the dangerous men of the South to a great extent that did during the war, and left to themselves and their own control loyalty will find no protection nor realize any of its hopes. It is perhaps in the very nature of things that it should be so, but this is no excuse for neglect or delay on our rt when the remedy is so simple and plain. let the nation assert its power, and let the edict go forth that loyalty shall be the rule and treason the exception. This policy firmly settled and the work is half done. Governments can follow, as proposed by the measures before the House, placing the power in the hands of the loyal, supported by loyal man hood suffrage, disfranchising the leaders of the rebellion as unfit at least for a time to unite in shaping their destinies, and you have laid the foundations of iustitutions that will stand the test of time, and growing stronger and stronger with age, because justice and truth are the 1867. foundation stones upon which they rest, they will stand forever. Unless such be the result we shall lose nearly all the fruits of the great conflict through which we have passed triumphantly, and the sacrifices of blood and treasure to so. cure such a result will have been made in vain. Whatever may have been the objects and purposes of the war on the part of the Government at 1st, they bind no one at its close, in settling up the controversy, to aban don the great oft, that God wrought out by the struggle, and for the security of which He will hoftf all of us responsible. The whole world is moving onward to an advanced position, and for our nation, which seems to be the pioneer in the grand march of national prog ress, to falter and prove false to its vows and attempt to turn back, the great revolution, would be to render itself unworthy of leadin the nations onward to the grand realization o a more perfect national life. I am one of those who through all our recent struggle be. lieved that the great God, having for our people a higher and a nobler destiny, Preserved us that by reaping the fruits of that struggle, and applying them to a more perfect system of government, where justice, liberty, and equality should reign, we might give evidences of a higher development of national life, and thus lead the world on to a still greater advance. During all that struggle who does not remem ber the dark clouds. deep seas that shut out the light and almost buried up our hopes, when feeling along in the darkness, we were led by a way we knew not, always, however, making some sure and certain progress toward the gran result. He who was the support of our fathers in the days of old and defended their heads in the hour of battle because their cause was just, was with us through all our recent struggle, directing and guiding to such results as would fit us, if we were true, to be the instruments in His hand in accomplishing the ends designed. His footprints were seen all over the field of strife, and as the nation from time to time made its vows and promised to be just and do jus tice, the lifted, the storm passed, and at last the full sun appeared in all its splendor. Who dare now deny the obligations we are under to stand firmly and nobly by our plighted vows and give efficacy and power to the nation's voice? Too many of us seem to forget that “the battle is not to the strong and the race to the swift, ” but, influenced by the passions and prejudices born of old political notions and theories, stand up in our own sufficiency and power and try to force against the age and its advancing spirit those old notions and theories, which were too often perversions of right, jus tice, and liberty, in the main, having no authority in our great Bill of Rights portion the Constituitself. The gentlemen upon the other side of this Chamber, who rePresent the socalled Democratic party of the country, for that party and in its. exhibit a zeal worthy of a much better cause in their advocacy and support of those old notions and theories, and in their opposition to every measure of progress and They struggle as with the tena city of life against the swelling tide of progress that Presses them, apparently never f: a ine ment reflecting that and above all the struggle a divine purpose pushes on the rolling current, and ' '. sweep away all who oppose its resistless tide. They cling to the dead, loathsome, stinking carcasses that the great revolution has and is leaving behind us as the blasted wrecks of the wicked, opPressive forms and systems of the past, and fail to catch the new spirit and life of the Present and see in them the new creations of the future. We are now giving life and power to the true spirit of our Constitution. the liberties handed down to us by the fathers of the Revolution, who by day and by night, in the storm and in the sunshine, during all the eventful struggles of that Revolution, were inspired by the broadest liberty, the most toil patriotism, and a sense of the equal rights of all men, and equal and exact justice for all before the law. No other policy can live and thrive hereafter in this land of liberty, neither can the Republic long survive the overthrow and destruction of these certain and sure elements of national life. Why, then, struggle longer against the great God for mastery:. It is not a question longer of physical force, but of the supremacy of ideas and thoughts, tempered and fashioned by a true spirit and made noble and sublime by their exalted and divine character. It is in fact the same strug gle that has been upon us ever since our government was established, which for a time took the shape of strife upon the field of bat tle, but which again assumes its wonted field of operations to control the minds, consciences, and hearts of the people. In fact, it is the continuation of the world's great struggle between right and wrong, justice and injustice, which has always been going on, and which is now especially intensified in our own country. Let us briefly rehearse its history generally and as it relates to us. Who that has read the history of the world's great conflicts, and carefully studied their nature, tendencies, and results, as affecting human character and human destiny, and the existence and perfection of human society and government, but can see the hand of the great God in them all defending the weak, for with the weak is very often the right in great moral conflicts. Men have gone forth to battle with their fellows, nations have been upheaved with the throes of great civil commotions until the earth has quaked and the skies been covered with the darkness of battle, but no physical causes produced the struggle. Antecedent to all this, thought has grappled with thought purpose clashed with purpose, ideas bailed with ideas, mastery being claimed for each side, until, as in our case, physical force came in as a last resort to settle the question at issue between the contending ideas and thoughts. Always has this been the case, and it is impossible to be otherwise in such great moral and political conflicts. It has been very difficult at times in the heat and storm of the strug gle to see the bearings of the conflict, it is true; but after the storm had passed and the elements had settled down into their new relations and combinations, we see that some great truth has been developed, some fetter upon humanity has been broken, and it may be a whole race or a nation born into a new life with a higher and nobler destiny than before. God, in the person of his Son, has given the world a guarantee that the great truths of His gospel shall triumph in the world, and woe to the nation or the people who thrust themselves against His omnipotent decree. Onward and still onward has. great thought of the universal brother hood of man, a common immortality to all, an equal chance in the race of life to secure the highest hope of a common Christianity, all of which is the central, all controlling idea of this gospel, been off.way, elevating by degrees, but surely, the thoughts of the people, producing here and there starth ng revelations and hastening the world on to still higher hopes and a more illustrious advance. The struggle, though silent, is majestic and grand. It is the working of the great thought of Omnipotence in the minds and hearts of men, stirring them to the oftentimes wonderful developments of progress that astonish the world. While great struggles of physical force have wrought out grand results as they have given ascendency to grander ideas and thoughts, still all the great achievements in the histor of mankind have not been the results of such conflicts, but not unfrequently they have come to pass in the ordinary progress of events, the results of intellectual and moral forces. Prior to the Revolution the same struggle filled the colonies with apprehension and at time determination. the same The great thought of civil and religious liberty that filled the hearts and swelled the bosoms of those early voyagers in the May flower lived and burned in the hearts of ourancestors, and strengthened them to demand in the name of that eternal justice that inspired them with holy ardor for the defense of the right, those things which of right belonged to them, and to wrench from tyranny's grasp their land and its liberty. The young Republic in all the vigor and exuberance of its new and happy life, with bright prospect moved on in its orbit among the nations to reap the rich harvests of its more mature and illustrious days. How soon it found that: it had only entered upon the threshold of its trials, that at best it had only started into life, and with the very start, evil, avarice, ambition aristocracy, and a spirit of despotism were aii struggling for the mastery over its better, nobler, and holier purposes and aims. How soon it found that the great central inspiring thought of a common humanity and equal justice to all, which thought by day and by night during all the weary and bloody years of trial that ended in our liberties, lifted up the sinking hearts of our people and made them strong amid disaster even, as they thought of the eternal justice of Him who had ever listened to the cry of his opPressed people, and to whom they had made their solemn vows. The same struggle that had existed for nearly 1800 years betweentruth and falsehood, between liberty and opPression, still survived, and began to fill the young Republic with discord, contention, and strife. The shock of battle had been displaced by the close contact between antagonistic ideas and opposing thoughts. And still the war goes on. Parties rise and fall as the victory turns upon one side or the other. And so on through all the long and tedious war of conflicting ideas and antagonisms we have passed, the right steadily gaining strength, until that great moral and political struggle came in 1860, which resulted in the ascendency, in part at least, of the better idea, the heaven born idea, that man is a man, entitled to his liberty and to rank with his fellow in a common brotherhood, and share at the same bar on earth, as in eternity the same, and an equal dispensation of mercy and justice. As in all time past opPression and crime, beaten before the bar of public opinion, has been loth to yield to the judgment rendered without a struggle, so in this case they flew to arms, bid defiance to the conquerors of the field of peaceful conflict, covered over the land with armed men, and under the plea and pretense of injury received, waged a cruel, unrelenting, and bar barous warfare against the nation's, life and the defenders of civil and religious liberty. The heaving, surging sea of angry, loody strife has become still as the wave of battle has subsided, but down in its mighty depths the current rolls on and on, and still the war of antagonisms and conflicting ideas continues. God, my friends, has not abandoned the field et, and will not leave it until every knee shall and every tongue shall confess that he is God forever more. His eternal justice is deaf to all appeals that come short of being inspired by the Divine preceptembodied in the “golden rule, ” and it is useless to Presume upon His forbearance and mercy while we regard iniquity in our hearts and practice it toward those for whom He has overruled this great conflict and directed it to a happy issue. If, then, in the fight of history, our own experience, and the Present, these things be so, why contend longer with inevitable destiny? We shall surely be worsted, for no arm raised against the right shall long prosper. The same struggle will go on. Constitutions may throw up barriers against it, laws may declare that peace shall reign through all the land, resolutions of great conventions may denounce agitation in advance, and parties, President, Congress, and people, may anathematize the man or set of men who may dare to break the constitutional silence, it matters not. No outward applications will cure the disease. The practice must be radical I mean in no offensive sense – the remedy must enter into the whole circulation, purifying the source and fountain head, and then all the streams will be sweet and pure. When this nation ascends to the high position within its reach, fulfills the vows it has taken upon itself before the great Ruler when its fate was trembling in the even balance, and with uplifted i. swore to be just and do justice as well as love mercy, then will the light of a purer and a happier life shine upon its way, in which no obstacles shall arise to check its grand and sublime career. I say, again, we must be just; without exact justice to all after such a struggle as we have passed through, with such vows as we have made, and such sacrifices and costly offerings as we have brought to the altar and seen consumed, there will be no lasting peace, for it is not according to the ways of the Almighty so to deal with his people. such is our relations to it. the struggle and such Now, Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, let me say that we have no right longer to delay the work which we have begun, which is clearly before us, and which it is our duty to perform. By the vows the nation made in the day of its extremity, when the tide of battle rolled heavily upon us, that we would not fail to be just; by the battlefield. all over the South, over which have run rivers of blood, and are scattered the wasting and unknown forms of the nation's heroes who perished for its life; by the 1000s of new made gaves that billow the whole South, sad mementoes of loved ones fallen in our defense and to secure what we now ask; by the tears and sorrows of widowhood and orphanage the land over, produced by the crimes of the very persons we propose to displace from power; by the wailings and woes of the whole nation during more than 4 years of dreadful war for the exPress purpose of crushing out rebellion that the Government might not only live, but that it might protect its friends and reward its loyal defenders; finally, by the sacrifices, toils, sufferings, blood, and death of over 300,000 noble sons of the Republic, who went down be neath the great conflict on the field of strife, at home, in the hospital, on land and sea, starved in prison pens, and tortured by poison, I demand that this work be Pressed on as now begun, until all the legitimate and just fruits of the great struggle and decisive vic tories we have won be appropriated to the proper use and benefit of all the people of the i., and especially those who amid more than ordinary trials have proven their devotion to the Union and liberty. Sir, within the shadow of this Capitol lie the wasting forms of many 1000s of those who have given themselves for the salvation of our Government and our liberties; and standing by the very side of these sacred relics, who dare refuse to move forward to lay hold of the high duties that Press upon us, and Press upon us now? Whatever others may do, and however false they may prove to the occasion upon which we have fallen and the great duty of the hour, let us move forward, strong in the right, seeking and doing justice to all as we shall see the light, “though the earth shall quake and tremble beneath our feet and the heavens o'er us fall.”