Mr. KELSO. In the consideration of this subject, our 1st dutiis to ascertain the present status of the reel States, to determine which seems to be a difficult matter even with some of our greatest statesmen. No reasonable and loyal man I think, will now contend, as did the rebels 5 years ago, that those States, by the mere act of secession, became forei u and independent governments. Those who vocate that doctrine now are 5 l I 1866. 731 years behind the rebels themselves, who now contend that those States are in the Union and have been all the time. I shall, therefore, regard it as a conceded fact that those socalled States have all the time de jure composed a eographical and political part of the U.S., and now defacto constitute such apart. The only question, therefore, to be determined is, whether they are defacto Statesgoverning artners in the nionor merely U.S. erritories subject to the disposition of congress. This leads us to consider, what is a State? Politicall speaking, a State is a body of people united or the purpose of government, and occupyinga portion of country comprised within certain described limits. The land alone does not constitute the State; neither do the people alone, nor do both together, unless the people are united for governmental purposes. State is a unit, and isolated inhabitants acting independently of each other cannot form such a unit. This I regard as a correct general description of a State, and to constitute one of ti}: U.S., such State must be bona fide united with the other States for mutual protection. It must be constantl yielding its just proportion to the support ofy the General government, whichis only an embodiment or blending of the powers yielded by the several States, just as the qight which illuminates a vast hall is the embodiment or blendin of the lights which emanate from many individual lamps. If a State ceases to blend its powers with v those of the other States, it ceases, at the same, time, to have any art or lot. as an active, governing partner in that united power or General Government; just as a lamp ceases to have any part or lot in illuminating the ball when It peases to blend its rays with those of the other am s. i ow, some of the members of this Union did, by secession, cease to blend their powers with tose of the other States and, as a matter of course, theyceased tobe governing partners in the Union, though the authority of the General Government continued to extend over them just as the united light from the lam s still urning illuminates every part of the ha 1 even after some of the lamps have ceased to emit their rays. The General Government was not diminished in extent by the defection of some of its members, thoughit certainly was in absolute power, just ast e light in the hall is diminished in intensity, but not in extent, by the going out of the lamps. The States that have thus ceased to be active partners in the Union have necessarily ceased to exist as States, or they have fallen into a protracted catalepsy, in which their functions are suspended while their vitality still remains. How long this political catalepsy can continue without terminating in political deathVI do not know, but I suppose our greatand good Executive and the of ther advocates of the cataleptic doctrine could inform us. My own opinion is that those States, as such, have ceased to exist. They have, as I conceive, violated the essen. tial conditions of their existence as States of this Union by refusing for nearly 5 years to have anything to do in our Government; and by waging a cruel war upon us, they violated a l the stipulations of the contract into which the entered when they became States. Acting int eir State capacity they disUnited themselves from the Union, and having failed to sustain themselves as independent States, they have necessarily ceased to exist at all as States, for no State can possibly exist as such without being united with this Union, or independent of it, and they are neither. Besides this, we find that at least one of the essential elements of a State has been destroyed or withdrawn from them. We have seen that a State is an organized body of people, and that without organization the people cannot constitute a State; and as the organizations were destroyed in the rebel States they perished as States, and their remaining elements returned to their original or territorial condition, just as water ceases to exist as such when one of its essential elements, hydrogen, for instance, is withdrawn. Besides the destruction of the governmental organizations in those States, the people composing those organization shave become dead in law, and thus another essential element of a State is destroyed. Whether we consider the rebels as traitors or as alien enemies, they have forfeited their lives, and though they have not perished liter ally, they certainly have in law, and they can have no life, politically, until it is given them by the Government to which their lives have been forfeited. If all the people of one of the States should perish, literally would that State still exist? or instance, 1i: all the people of SCarolina should sink as they ought to, would the uninhabited land constitute a State? If so, would it be loyal, or disloyal? If the land of SCarolina should sink, as it ought to, would the fugitive people who might csca e. still form a State? rif so, what State would it be, and where would it be situated 7 [he people have not perished literally, it is true, but tiiey have, as we have seen, perished in law, which is just the same as literal death, so far as it affects the existence of the States. The land remains and the debris of the fallen State structures, just as the ground remains where a house has once stood, and the debris of the house may still cover that ground, but since it has fallen to pieces it can no longer be regarded as a house, nor can it perform the functions of a house until it is reconstructed. 80 fully have the socalled rebel States he come territorial in their condition, that congress may form from them as many or as few new States as may be thouflht best, totallyi oring the names and boundaries of the deunct States. As a general rule, however, it would be better to give the same names and bounda ries to the new States as were possessed by the old. As to SCarolina, however, I would like her name to be abolished were it practica ble, and her territory divided between Massachusetts and southwest Missouri. We would soon take the aristocracy out of her. I believe that all correct reasoners will arrive at the same conclusion I have in rerd to the present status of the rebel States. he rebels owever, since they have been whipped, and many good loyal men, think other wxse, but as they have, as a general rule, resolved not to be convinced, I will not delay time by any further arguments. They contend that since the constitution and laws of the U.S. do not provide for the withdrawal of any State from this Union, nor for its selfdestruction, such withdrawal and such destruction are impossible. This is a beautiful theory and would become universally popular did facts only bear it out. By it we could prove that Lincoln was not mur dered. The attempt bein unconstitutional and illeal was null and void and the end unaccomp ished. The same could be said in regard to the half million of our brave soldiers that were slain in the war. but who, according to this theory, were not killed at all. In a word, since the constitution does not authorize any crime or any evil, any attempt to commit or produce either would be null and void and the result unattained. All crimes and all evils must therefore be imaginary, and we may at once enter into the joys of the millennium without further delay, and without asking the al mighty any odds. acts, however, stubborn facts, are against this theory. The facts are that, in direct violation of the constitution and the laws, men have committed murder, suicide, and other crimes. Individuals have perished contrary to law. The blow that caused their death was not rendered “null and void” by being unconstitutional and illegal, neitherwas the death blow which rebellion gave to certain States of this Union rendered “null and void” merely because it was unconstitutional and illegal. If the seceded States have been defacto members of this Union all the time, they have of course, had a right to vote for President and VEEP to send Sens&Reps to this Gongress, and to participate in all the transactions of our Government; and they will continue to possess this right during any future rebellion which they may see fit to inaugurate. If treason in the past has deprived them of no rights, pow ers, nor privileges, it could not in the future deprive them of any of those things. They need, then, have no fear. A remium is placed upon rebellion. Let them then renew the war as soon as they please. They can lose nothing, and may gain much. If they succeed, and establish permanently their independence, the will, in addition to independence, possess a the advantages of members of this nion; for their independence, being “un constitution al, ” will be “null and void. If the fail, they will still possess all the rights an privileges of loyal States. Their generals will be made Governors of States, and presidents of railroads, colleges, &c., and their leaders will generall be distinguished by their “instinctive franness and honor.” at them understand that this is the manner in which “trai tors” are to be hung and “treason” made “odious, ” and what more could they ask? If the theory which we are considering be correct, then we are the most cruel of tyrants and usurpers, for we have been and are still doing in the South what the General Government has no power to do in the States. If instead of 11 States, all the States had, on the same day, seceded and set up independent governments, if each had refused to aid in electin a President and VEEP, and had reused to send Sens&Reps to Congress, if each State had thus refused to have any art or lot in the Union, and had each seized a the GOvernment property within its limitsif all the U.S. officers and employee s, finding themselves unsup orted, had gone home, where would the Union e of which all these States would still be “unimpaired members I" If rebellion in 11 States cannot destroy their membership as States in this Union, it could not destroy the membership of 3 times 11 States. Every vestige of the Union might thus be destroyed, and yet, according to this theory, the Union would still be unim aired; and I again ask, where would that nion be and what would it be? If under such circumstances it would be merely in a catalepsy, I fear the attack. wouldbe a very serious one. We thus see that the theory of State immor tality will not bear the test of reason and of facts, and we will therefore leave this part of the subject and proceed to consider the best mode of reconstructin into real States those territories which, as we have seen. have resulted from the suicidal destruction of the soscalled rebel States. At the very threshold of this subject, we are met by 2 questions of vast importance, neither of which have at been answered: 1. What shall be done with the rebels? 2. What shall be done with the negroes? The 1st of these questions would be easily answered if we had a hell to put our rebels in, as the Almighty had for His rebels; but as we lack that one little convenience, we should take that course which will best secure justice to them and safety to the nation. Strict justice, according to the laws of all nations, would require that the rebels all suffer an icnominious death; but since the POTUS has granted them their lives and the liberty of their persons, I will not new question their right to enjoy what has thus been given them. 10 grant them more than these, however, would at present he inconsistent with the safet of the loyal people of the South, and indee of the whole nation, and I deny that the President or anyone else has the ri"ht or authority to favor rebels at the expense o loyal people. By the laws of nationsz the rebels have forfeited every vestige of right and title to their property, which is now, to all intents and purposes, vested in the U.S.; and once so vested I do not think that it can be divested, except by the people themselves, or by their representatives in Congress. our billion dollars of this property be regarded as funds in the U.S. ljuresatlsy nry for the payment of the public debt; and to give this vast sum to the aristocratic leaders of the rebellion would be conferring upon them a dangerous power, and would besides be indirectTy taking the money from the pockets of loyal men, who would then be comelled, by taxation, to ay that debt. This would be very unjust, and do not think that the POTUS has any more right to give this property to the rebels than he has to give them any other property belonging to the people. When the reels inaugurated an unjust war agpinst us, they knew what they were doing and what they were riskin; and with their eyes open, they staked their 5s and their fortunes upon the result. They expected to gain all or lose all. They neither expected to ask nor to receive any favors from the U.S., and I assure you that they had no intention to grant any favors to loyal men in the event that victory decided in their (the rebels) favor. Does any man here suppose thatif the rebellion had succeeded a Fc eral soldier could have gone South and regained possession of his property? Even as it is, it is a very dangerous thing fora Union man to return to his home in the South. Let us, then, confiscate the property of the rebels, or at least so much of it as will ay our entire war debt. This could be done with iout reducing any of the wealthy rebels to less than $10,000 workh of property. this would be but a trifling indemnity for the past; but it is, alasl all that we can ever hope to receive. Can the rebels ever restore the untold millions of property which they have destroyed? Can they restore to innocence and happiness the 1,000s whom their unholy war has lured or driven into the paths of vice? Can they bring joy to the hearts of the millions of widows and orphans whose loved ones they have slain? Can the restore to health and vigor the 600,000 mutilated forms that have returned, more wrecks, from the field of battle? Can they restore reason to the oor maniacs whom they drove to insanity by their unheardof cruelty? Can they reanimate the 400,000 cold forms of our heroic dead? Can they reclothe in living flesh the 60,000 wasted skeletons that they tor tured to death by cold and hunger in the Libby, and at Salisbur, andersonville, and Belle Isle? Besides conseating their property, I would disfranchise the rebels until tfiey could show an nnspotted record of loyalty for at least 5 years. This I would do, not so much as a punishment to them, as a security to the loyal people of the South and of the nation. If the rebels areal lowed to vote, their ballots will be cast for our destruction, as their bullets have heretofore been, and it maybe with more fatal effect. Can anyone doubt this who has any knowledge of the bitter hatred which still exists among the rebels toward our Government and all its friends? Have the rebels ever admitted that they were wrong? Have they surrendered their treasonable doctrines of secession and State rights? Do they not land as heroes those who have murdered the greatest number of Union men? Do they not regard their dead as saiuted martyrs? Do they not sullenly show in 1,000ways that the still cling to the hope of ul timate success? llas treason made them more loyal? Has war made them more friendly? Has murder rendered them more humane? Has perjury rendered them more honest? Have all the horrible crimes of which they are guilty rendered them better men and more worth of our confidence? One year ago, and were they not butchering, scathin, tearing out the hearts of our fathers and brofiiers or torturing them to death by the mostunliearof crueltics? and now, with hands all covered with gore and wear in the very rments which the tore from the co (1 forms o our murdered dea, they have the,tutions and:1 ply for admission as States. I effrontery to ask equal rights and privileges with the brave defenders of our country; and ohl shame! they are met and embraced as brothers by 1,000s from the North who haveal ways claimed to be loyal. "hese traitors may be “hightoned gentlemen, ” they may be possessed of an “ instinctive frankness and honor, ” but I cannot so see them. I see them now as I saw them when they were burning our homes, when they were driving our wives and our little ones out in the winter storms, when they were butchering our grayhaired sires, tearing offtheir bloody scalps, roasting their feet, or burning out their tongues. As a southern man, I speak in behalf of the loyal men of the South. Withouta murmur we sacrificed all we possessed. We fou htduring 4 long years, and 1,000s ofour ravest and best went down amid the thunder clouds of battle. Our families were reduced to want, and many sank under the weight of their sufferings, and the wild winds of winter are now wailin over their lowly beds. We do not ask that the rebels be punished for all this. We are willing to forgive them; but, in the name of Heaven, we do ask for protection, or, at least, for the privilege of protecting ourselves. As to Missouri, we have but little to ask. There we have got the rebels under; and, by the Eternal, we mean to keep them under. There are, however, millions of loyal people just as true as ourselves, in other portions of the South, who are not so fortunate as we are. Their lives are never safe, and they will soon be crushed if the rebels are restored to power. For them I plead. By every princip e of humanity, by its solemn p edges, by its sacred honor, this Government is bound to protect them; and this, in my opinion, can only be done by holding the socalled rebel States as U.S. Territories, and governing themas such untilthe loyal people, unintimidated by the rebels, can form and present republican consti believe that congress has full authority to determine who shall vote in those Territories, and it is bound to see that all the loyal citizens arel allowed avoice in the conventions that ntbet to frame the new State constitution s. The rebels should have no part nor lot in the formation of those constitution s, and their restoration to the elective franchise should devolve upon the loyal State governments after such have been established. In this way the safety of the loyal people can be secured, peace and order establish ed, and slavery forever abolished. But what shall be done with the negroes? I have sufficient] y answered this question already by including them among the citizens of the erritories, concerning which I have been speaking. Of course all the loyal citizens should have a voice in the formation of the new State constitution; and if they were so unwise as to insert the word white in those constitutions I would have nothing more to say; while if none but whites were allowed avoice in framing those constitution s, I would not consider them republican in form if they ostracized any citizen on account of race or color. If none but blacks were allowed a voice in the framing of those constitution s, and they should ostracize any citizen on account of race or color, I would also ie eject their constitutions as not republican in orm. I am prepared to be met here by the 1,000 and one hackneyed objections to negro suffrage. These objections have been often and ably refuted in this House, and by the loyal press throughout the nation; and I do not now propose to notice them in detail. The only one, indeed, which is worthy of notice is the want of intelligence among the negroes. This is a reasonable, but by no means an insurmountable objection. the same objection could, with equal justice, be ur edagainst 4/5ths of the whiites of the Souih Some evils would, no doubt, attend the enfranchisement of 4 million ignorant blacks and half a million equally ignorant whites, none of whom have ever been accustomed to think or act for themselves; yet those evils would be comparatively unimportant, and would soon disappear when those masses become more enlightened. The experience of the past proves that the dangers we have to fear arise more from the corrupt principles of those who are intelligent than from the ignorance of those who are not. The most intelligent classes of the South were the most uniformly disloyal. Intelligence among the people is of vast importance, but dearly have we learned that pure and iinswerving loy alty is of 1,000times more importance. The Union did not save the southern whites through their intelligence, nor did it lose the blacks through their ignorance. The whites with all their intelligence were traitors, the blacks with all their ignorance were loyal; and thus we have at least one instance in which the negroes, with all their disadvantages, have shown themselves worthy of trust; and I, for one, am willing to trust them again. They have shown themselves sufficiently intelligent to be, as a class, sober, honest, industrious, loyal, and brave; and this, among American citizens, is the most important kin of intelli gence. They know enough to cast bullets with judgment, and I have no doubt but that they would soon learn to cast ballots with equal judgment. A very little intellience is sufficient to distinguish between rightand wron, loyalty and treason, and whoever knows enoug to do that is intelligent enough to fight and to vote. The philosopher who can explain the composition of gunpowder and the chemical and mechanical powers brought into action in the use of firearms, is very little superior in battle to the loyal and brave, but unlettered rustic who merely knows enough to clap one ee shut, take deliberate aim, and kill his rebel. he philosopher who has ransacked whole libra ries only knows enough to cast his vote for the right; the rustic, guided only bv the promptings ofan honest and loyal heart, knows enough to do the same. Somebody must vote in the South, and for my part I would rather it should be the loyal pprti, though they are mostly ignorant and ac. Of course they would commit some blunders at 1st, but they would soon learn. Practice in voting. as in all other things, makes perfect, and there can be no perfection without practice. Ifyou wish them to learn the part of swimming will you forbid them the use of water until they have become expert swimmers? Will you refuse them the use of books until they have become good readers? Will you refuse them the use of pensuntilthey have become good writers? Will you refuse them the use o instruments until they have become good musicians? and can you, with any more reason, refuse them the use of the ballot until they have become good voters? How can you (expect them or anybody else to learn when you withhold from them the only means by which they could learn? If, however, you must have a suffrage qualified by intelligence, fix your standard, apply it imartially to all withoutregard to race or color, and I will not so seriously object, though it would, at this time, cut of? 19 20ths of the loyal people of the South, both black and white. I have thus far considered the subject of impartial suffrage in the southern territories merely with reference to its practicability. I shall now proceed to consider it with reference to its justness and its necessity. In the 1st place, then, though we may deny that the loyal lacks have any right to the elective franchise, we must nevertheless grant it to them in order thus to protect the loyal whites, whom all admit we are bound to roteet. From the best accounts I can obtain, the loyal whites constitute less than one 20th part of the entire population of these territories, and less than one 12th of the white population. If, then, we disfranchise the loyal blacks, what hope will remain to the loyal whites after the Federal troops are withdrawn and the rebels restored to power? I venture the rediction that at the end of one ear, there wou d not be 100thor ough nion men in the South that would dare 1866. 733 to own their principles. They would be killed, driven out, or forced to succumb to the over whelming tide of treason. This is the opinion of all my Union friends in the South with whom I am eorres ending; it is the opinion of my old friend, the elegate from Louisiana; it is the Opinion of my colleagues here, and it is the Opinion of all who know the real spirit of the rebels. It would be folly to think of putting the governments of the South into the hands, exclusively, of the loyal whites. There are not enough of them who can read and write to fill the Of fices, and even if there were, their governments would be quickly swamped by the exasperated millions o rebels on one side, and the equally formidable hosts of justly incensed slaves on the other. It would be still greater folly to think of always governing the South by military power. We could not bear the expense, and the longer we keep our armies there the worse the rebels hate us. Soon that burning hatred would burst outin warmore terrible than has yetbeen known. Many of the rebels do not deny that they intend to renew the struggle at no distant da. Some of the nearest relatives I have on cart are rebels, and they refuse to correspond with me, on the ground that we will soon be again arrayed against each other in a more bloody struggle than that through which we have just passed. Having betraye our faith with the oya blacks in this struggle, we could hardly count on their aid in the next. If they did not help our ene mies, they would be likely to help themselves, and who could blame them? Thus we see that necessity comels us to give the elective franchise to the 10a blacks; and we will now consider whether the eternal laws of liberty and justice do not require the same. If the negroes are men, they are entitled to the rightsof men. If it be true that “ all men” in regard to their rights “ are bornequal, ” then whatever is the inalienable rivht o one man or one race of men is undeniabIy theinalienable right of all men and all races. lfit be true that we should do unto others as we would that they should do unto us, and if we would not that the African race should deprive us ofany ofour ina lienable rights, how dare we, as a Christian people, do so unto them? and how can we hope for Gods blessing while we continue to violate this His solemn commandment? Have not the judgments of the last 5 years been sufficient to teach us wisdom, coming upon us, as all admit they have, in direct consequence of the terrible crime of slavery? For my part, I am satisfied with our punishments, and am willing to do justice to all men, even to the despised negroes, though in so doing Imust do violence to prejudices, old almost as my life, and strong as my innate passions. Though I never was a pro slavery mun, yet reared up in a slave State, and by ultra proslavery parents, I unconsciously imbibed many of their prejudices. Besides the arguments already advanced, the gratitude, the plighted faith of our nation binds us to bestow upon the loyal blacks all the rights of free men. Iii the darkest hour of our countrys need they never faltered, though their fidelity to us subjected them to unheardof outrages and to death in 1,000terrible forms. Our poor starved prisoners, escapin from the rebel slaughterpens, found no friend but the poor, despised negro. He shared with them his own scant fare, and in the darkness of the night led them through swamps and over mountains to the camps of their friends. When the war hung in even balance, we called upon these poor slaves to help us, and promised in return to make them free. No danger, no obstacle dauntedthem. Bytensof1,000s the poured into our ranks, and soon a 100,000threw themselves upon the foe. The scale soon turned in our favor. Fort Wagner, ort Pil low, Port Hudson, Petersbur, ascore of bat tlefields the most bloody and temost glorious, all speak of their valor. As rushes the might avalanche from the Alpine heights, so rurihe q they amid the hot smoke and the thunders of the battle upon the traitor foe. On, on, through trenches, over ramparts, up to the very mout s of the cannons that mowed them down, they bore our flag to victory, while 1,000s, from whose bosonis the hot blood wasgushing, turned their glaring eyes upward to that “brave old flag, ” and poured out their last ath in cheers for victory and liberty. Poor, prave, deluded men! They thought they were free. Our country had promised them freedom, and even in dying they were hap y because they thought it was true. They didpnot know that the very people for whom they were dying would have shamelessly violated their solemn promise and turned them over helpless into tie hands of their enraged and cruel masters. It would have been better had they all died. Alas for those who still live! They come home warworn and weary to find that their fond hope of liberty was only a delusive drca. They are greeted with, PIWeare done with you niggers; now lay down your arms and either leave the country or go to work for your old rebel masters. This is a white mans country, and you have no rights here which a white man is bound to respect. We promised you freedom, it is true, and we have bargained with your old masters not to call you slaves in the future; but excepting the name, our condition is not likely to be any bettey. our old masters areenragdd and will wreak their vengeance upon your defenseless heads, but then you are biiick.” Oh, God! if it be such a crime to be black, why hast thou made them thus? Slavery is said to be abolished. In name it is, butnot in reality. Of right the negroesal ways were free; but what good did the right do them when freedom itself was withheld I So with the name of freedom now, what good will that do them if the substance is withheld? They have been proclaimed free, but has that made them so? Were I to see you drowning, and were to proclaim you free from that danger, and then leave you without help, what good would my proclamation do on? Were I to find you hungry and cold, an were merely to proclaim that you were clothed and fed, would thatproclamation be real food and clothing? It would certainly be as real as is the liberty which we have bestowed upon the slaves. We have only deprived them of the protection of their owners, who had the same interest in their safety that they had in the safety of their horses or oxen. Now they have the protection of no one, and are the slaves of all their ene mies. When the negro was an ox, he had the protection of an ex. Now that he is half man and half ox, he is regarded as a monster, and receives no protection at all. Does not every southern breeze still bring to our ears the sound of the lash, the bayin of the bloodhound, the cries of the slave, an the screams of murder? and will not this condition of things continue until the negroesareeitherannihilatedor driven to terrible eeds of desperation. It certainly will, unless we pntthem m acondition to defend their own rights by giving them the elective franchise. Let us then by a solemn act of Congress declare the socalled rebel States to be mere Territories. Let us then call upon all the loyal people of those Territories, and none but the loyal, to form constitution s, republican in form, and a ply for admission as States of this Union. I he power being thus established in the hands of the loyal people, they would be able to keep the rebels in subjection, and we could recall our armies. Emiation, sure of protectiou, would pour into thbse States, and ) soon the element of treason would be swallowed up and lost. In conclusion, I will say that I hope all the loyal States will soon erase from their statutes those disgraceful distinctions which many of them still make among their citizens on account of color. Of my own State I am truly roud. She is coming forth as a giant from the t under clouds of war, and is free. She is educating her freedmen with reference to giving them the elective franchise at no distant day. I hope the other States will do likewise, and that we may all live to see our redeemed country glorious among the nations, as indeed " The land of the free and the homeof the brave.” [Applause in the and then, on motgiaolnleroiefs} l Mr. ECKLEY, (at 20 minutes to ten oclock p. m.) the House adjourned.