Mr. HUBBELL, of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, history is said to be philosophy teaching by example. In the annals of the human race the past 5 years of our own country will contain greater and sublimer lessons for the instruction of mankind than will be found in any other period of the same duration since the time when history commenced its record. In martial prowess and military achievements the great wars of Napoleon, commencing with his Italian campaign in 1796, and continuing down to the battle of Waterloo, in 1815, which terminated the career of that wonderful man, who shook the earth as with the “throes of an earthquake, ” bore no comparison with those of our own country in the recent rebellion. In this war, dark, loody, and fratricidal, count less millions of treasure and 1,000s of the most valuable lives, mostly among the middle aged and young, have been cruelly and wan tonly sacrificed. Surely our losses have been great, but how incalculably greater have been our compensations. For every sorrow there is a consolation, and for every grief there is a joy. As at Marathon. Yorktown, and Waterloo, in this terrible conflict of arms, the cause of jus tice, humanity, and liberty has been successful. In this sea of blood, wautonly shed, from the nations escutcheon the dark stain of slavery has been washed away forever. A race of 4 million People, downtrodden and oppressed, the victims of the most unrelenting despotism, have been made free and restored to the rights of manhood. Upon the accession to the presidency of the late President Lincoln there was no disposition on the part of any considerable portion of those mainly instrumental in his election to interfere with the peculiar institution in the States where it existed. Their only purpose was to arrest its further extension; and but for the rebellion this institution might have continued for 100 years, or for an indefinite period of time. In all human probability, within the short period of 50 years the aggre gate amount of human happiness will be much greater than it would have ecu if the war had not occurred. Indeed, mysterious and pastfinding out are the ways of Providence. In the face of rapine, murder, and civilWar, we dare not approve the events through which our country has just passed. In the face of emancipation and universal freedom to all men and all races we dare not condemn. So interwoven are the providences of God in the affairs of men that there are actions in human conduct of which human tribunals are incompetent to judge. When we look back at the condition of those before the war whose wicked counsel originated and whose mad ambition led the people of the socalled confederate States into the whirlpool of rebellion and civilWar, and when we reflect how frantic with fury and madness they were, both those who led and those who followed, we can only account for their strange and suicidal conduct upon the su)position that communities and nations, like individuals, have their parox sms of passion and insanity. How terrible have been their sufferings, how unrovoked was the rebellion, and how awfully suiilime has been the retributionl Prior to the war, for 30 years, with the exception of short intervals, the political power of the Government was controlled by that section that attempted to establish the socalled “confederate States of America.” The leaders of the rebellion were the great barons and constituted the aristocracy of our country. They monopolized in the Senate, in the Cabinet, and in the field every place of honor and emolument. In all sectional and political controversies they were successful. 1 eir treason, in the vain attempt to destroy our Government, has converted)their opulence into poverty; their States have been desolated by war; their families and kindred have been slain in battle, and the pe culiar institution whose area and power it was their purpose to enlarge and stren then has been utterly and foreverdestroyed. ixecutive clemency alone can save them from exile, the prison, and the scaffold. In view of their trea son and horrid crimes, who can say that this terrible retribution is not just, or that this punishment is not merited? In the treatment of a conquered enemy or a fallen foe, sound philosoph and the principles of the Christian religion it ike inculcate mag nanimity as a duty on the part of the victors as well as a cardinal virtue. Mr. Chairman, I now proceed to the discussion of the subject more immediately under consideration. The discussion of the presidents message has assumed a wide range. It is impossible that it should have been otherwise; for the message embraces subjects the most momentous that ever occupied the thoughts of a deliberative body of men. While the policy of the Administration in its efforts to reorganize civil Governments in the socalled “confederate States of America” is indorsed by the count, and cordially and earnestly approved by he loyal Union men,there are those who niisa uprchend, in myjudgment, its principles and (oubt its wisdom. Mr. Chairman, we are now enjoyin the light of what maybe considered the bright da of the Republic; the military power of the reellion has been broken; the resources of the confederate States have been exhausted; among the masses the spirit of insurrection has been subdued, and the leaders are either in exile or captivity or at the feet of the Executive, suppli cants for mercy. That we may the better understand the path of duty, as well as the policy, justice, and wisdom may indicate, it might not be unprofitable for us to go back in our history towhat may be considered the dark day of the Republic. On the 1st Monday of December, 1863, the 38th Congress convened in this Ca itol. Upon its immediate organizationa power ul minority party appeared in the HoRep hostile to the national Administration, more or less in sympathy with the rebellion, and representing a constituency extending throughout the loyal States with sentiments and views in harmony with their own. Every measure proposed by the Administration party to strengthen the financial or military condition of the country was denounced and assailed by this party as unconstitutional and oppressive. The rebels, elated by their victories, were confidentof success, and everywhere the war for the preservation of the Union and the suppression of the rebellion was pronounced a failure. The perils of our situation were greatly enhanced by differences of opinion among Union men upon the presidential question. In the then alarming and perilous condition of the country President Lincoln, on the 8th day of December of that year, issued his proclamation of amnesty and pardon, and proposed his plan for the reconstruction of order and civi government in the rebel States. The purpose of the President in his roffered pardon was to weaken the power of the rebellion by inducing the insurgents to abandon the bogus government of the socalled “southern confederacy” and return to their proper allegiance to the Government. Good fait on the part of those in authority, and especially the Chief Magistrate of a great nation, is always required. This proclamation of prof fered mercy was unrescinded and in full force on the 14th of April, 1865, the day of his assas sination., ii Ine y propose to call the attention of the committee to some of the principal features of the amnesty proclnmation of presidentLincoln. The preamble recites the provision of the constitution of the U.S. declaring that the President “shall have power to grant rerieves and pardons for offenses against the U.S., except in cases of impeachment, ” makes a brief allusion to the laws of Congress, ” declarin forfeitures and confiscation of property an liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and a so declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time thereafter by proclamation to extend to persons who may have participated in the eXisting rebellion, in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty with such exceptions, and at such times, an on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare.” The preamble then concludes wi“th this important averment: Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the U.S and reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective States. By reference to this part of the preamble it is plain to be seen that the presibut had in view 2 objects to accomplish: 1st, to weaken the rebellion by proffering amnesty and pardon to those who desired to resume their allegiance to the U.S.; and 2nd, to “ reiiiiiu curate loyal State governments.” I will now, Mr. Chairman, by the indulgence of the committee, read those parts of the proclamation I deem the most essential to a proper understanding of its import and purpose: “I, Abraham Lincoln. POTUS, do proclaim, declare and make known to all persons who have directly, or by implication, participated iny the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby nanto dtotheni and each of them. with restoration of all rights of property except as to slaves, and in proper casesw cre rig is of 3rd iiities shall have intervened and upon the conditon that every such person shall tako and subsoribean oath and thencefor wnrdkcop and maintain such oath inviolatc; and which oath shall be regis tored for permnncnt prpserviilion and shall beof the te“nor an ctfeotfollowing, to wit; l. dip solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God. that I Will henceforth faithfully support. protect and defcnd the constitution of the U.S and the Union of the States thereunder: and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support 1 actsof Congress passed during the existing ic cl 1 on with reference to slaves. so long and so far asnot repealed. modified, or held void by congress or by decision of the SupremeCourt and that wallm like manner abide b and faithfully support all proclamations of the resident made during the QXlrslllig rebellion so long and so far asnot ine ditied or declare V01:5 the decision of the Supreme Court. So help me. The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are: “1. All who are, or shall have been. pretended civil or diploinutic othe cmor otherwise, or domestic or foreign agents of the protended contederatcgovernment. ". 2. All who let! Judicial stations under the U.S. to aid the rebellion. 3. All who shall have beenmihtary or naval officersofsaid pretended confederate government, iibove the rank of colonel in the army, or lieutenant in the nav. “i All who loft seatsin the Congressof the U.S. to aid the rebellion. “6. All who resigned or tendered resignationsof their commissions in the Army and Nayyof the U.S., to ovade their duty in resisting the rebellion. "6. All who have engagedin any way in treating otherwise thanv lawfully as prisonersof war persons fsoeuanmdeinn, the U. S. service. asofficeis. soldiers or in any other capacity.” President Lincoln further declared: “And I do further proclaim. declare and make known, that. whenever. in any of the Status of arkansas, Texus. Louisiana h ississippi, Tennessee Alabama, Georgia, Floria. SCarolina. an NCarolina, a number of persons. not less than one tooth in number of the votes cast in such State at the presidential election of the your of our Lord 1860. each having takon the oath aforesaid and not having since vio ated it, and being a qualified voter by the election low of the State cXisting immediately before the socalled act of secession and excluding all others. chall roe stablisha state governmentwliioh shall be republican, and in iiowise contravening said oath, such shall berecognizedas the true government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that th a U.S shall ignorant to every State in this Union a RFG, and shall rotcct eachof them against ii: vusion: and, on application of the Legislature or the Executive. (when the legislature cannot be convened.) against domestic violence.” It will be seen by this proclamation that president Lincoln looked forward to a “ reinaugution, ” to uso his own language, of “ loyal State governments” in the rebel States at the earliest possible moment. His plan proposed that whenever it could be ascertained that one 10th in number of the votes cast in anyone of. the socallod confederate States at the presidential election in 1860, each having taken the oath prescribed, and being a qualified voter by the election law in force immediately before the socalled act of accession, and excluding nllothers, those persons should have the privilege of reestablishing a State government which was required to ho republican in form; and when os tablished it was to he recognized as the true governmmt of such State. For the purpose of my argument, I am not called upon to argue the question whether this plan was a wise or a foolish one. It is a fact well understood that President Lincoln consistently and pertinn ciously adhered to this plan for the reorganization of civil governments in the rebel States until the day of his death. In subsequent messages to Congress, in offiuinl proclamations, in friends was hushed into silence by Pun“. conversations, and by public address, he reiterated and reaflirmed his adherence to this hip. In his last public address, on the evening of the llth of April, he used the following, rlanguage: "In my annual messageof December, 1863 and ao compuuyiiii: the proclamation. I presented a plan of ltLtilhiillCllUll, as the phrase ous, which I promised, ifudoted by any State, woulfhc acceptableand sustaiiic by the Executive Government of the nation. I distinctly stated that it waspplan which might possibl be acceptable, and also distinctly protested that the xecutive cluiniednoright to say when or whother members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States. “The plan was. in advance. submitted to the Cabinet and approved b ever momber of it. One of thorn suggestedthat I shou (1 then apply the emancipation proclamation thercto. exceptin arts of Virgiiiia unri Lonisinumnnd that I should drop the suggestien about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I should omit the protest against my own power in record. to admissionof incuibeia of Congress; but even be approved every part and parcel of the plan which has since beon employed or touched by the notionof Louisiana.” It was in this speech he gave in his quaint and happy style his solution of the question as to the political status of the rebel States, “that they were not in their proper relation to the General Government. It is a fiict well understood, that no measure of Mr. Lincolns administration, except the emancipation proclamution, was more thoroughly discusse and better understood by the people than this. At the time it was proposed, political parties were directing their attention to the approaching presidential election, and Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for reclection. This measure became the subject, among both political friends and foes, of discussion and criticism, in oral controversy, and by the press. The feeble opposition to Mr. Lincoln among his political the unmis takable public voice demanding his renoraination and reelection. The national Union convention on the 7th of June following, by a unanimous voteplaced Mr. Lincoln be ore the public for a reelection. Subsequent to his nomination Congress passed a bill which was sent to the President or his approval, making provision for the reorganization of civil government s in the rebel States, essentially different in its provisions from the plan proposed by the President. Either for want of time, or disapproval of its provisions, or both, the president omitted to return the bill with his a proval. On the ith of August immediate y following. 2 distinguished gentlemen occupying high official positions, one a member of the Senate and the other of the HoRep in the 38th Congress, ar raigned the President in a paper published in the NewYork Tribune called the “Protest” with a bitterness that attracted the attention of the whole country. I have no disposition to reflect upon the honor or patriotism of the living or the memory of the dead; but I feel authorized by the facts in saying, in vindication of the truth of history, that upon the issue raised by those gentlemen with President Lincoln the 10al Union men of the country almost unanimous y sustained the Executive. Upon this and other issues Mr. Lincoln was ree lected President by an overwhelming and unrecedented majority; and there was no time iiiing his Administration when the American people had more confidence in the wisdom and ctriot ism of his Administration than they h on the day he was stricken down by the assassin. I may have occasion, if my brief hour permitc, again to allude to this congressiomil p an. If I were called upon, Mr. Chairman, to explain the key to Abraham Lincolns wonderful popularity, and his hold upon the hearts of his countrymen, my answer would be, “He possessed a soul free from all narrowmiudedness and prejudico.” In him what u striking exemplification of the lesson inculcated by the renowned philosopher of poetry: “The quality of mercy is not strnined;". U. 9 i "it is It twico blessed: blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” In his 2nd inaugural address, from the fullness of aniagnaniiiious soul, Abraham Lincoln gave utterance to. a sentiment that will I l place his name in the list of the very few whose memory will never die: “With malice toward none. with charity for all, with firmnessin the rightiis God gives us to see the right. let us strive on to finish the weik wc lift) in; to bind up the nations wounds. to CBllfor him who shall have borne the battle. for hi widow and his orphan to do all which may achicvo and cherish a just and a limiting poaco among oursolve sand with nations.” upon the accession of AndrewJohnson to the residency the path of duty was plain. A wise and harmonious Cabinet, enjoying the confidence of their countrymen, by the blessings of divine Providence, survived the assassination of President Lincoln. He had been the successful candidate for the 2nd olhce on the same ticket, supported by the same party and was supposed to entertain the same sentiments and views. On entering upon the discharge of the responsible duties of Chief Magistrate of the nation, Mr. Johnson found a policy inau gurated by his illustrious redecessor that had received the sanction of teAmerican people in the most authoritative manner. Any t epart ure on his art from that policy. in the absence of newly developed lights, wouldI have been a betrayal of public confidence, and subjected him justly to the charge of peifidy to his part, and the country. On entering upon the discwage of his duties, Mr. Johnson found the rebellion substantially suppessed. The amnesty proclamation issued ll; President Lincoln on the 8th of December, 1868, was still in full force, but it was thought by some pardon and amnesty could only be obtained under that proclamation for offenses committed prior to that date; and that a new amnest proclamation might be required for those whose offenses were of a subsequent date. On the 20th day of May, 1865, President Johnson issued his roclamation of amnesty. The oath prescribe by Mr. Johnson I wiill now, by the in gence of the committee, rea: “I do solemnly swear or affirm, in the prsnoo of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithflilly dolend the constitution of the U.S., and the Union of the States thereunder: and that I will in like manner abide by and fuithfull support all the laws aiip proclamations which have conmade during the existing rebellion With referonocto the emancipation of slaves. So help inc God. ". It will be seen this oath is precisely the same as that prescribed by President Lincoln, with this clause omitted; “ So long and so faras not modified or doclaredvoid by the decision of the Supreme Court.” I invite the examination of the committee to this roclamation. It will be seen that both reserve to themselves the privilege, upon special application, to grant giccial pardons, and both made exceptions. President Johnsons exceptions embraced the same as President Lincolns, and in addition 8 other classes which I will now read: “7. All persons who have been or are flbSQDtBOfrSom ghflp U.S. for the purpose of aiding the proe " um. 8. All military or naval officersin the rebelservice who were educated by the Government in the Military Academy at WestPoint or at the U.S. Naval Academy. “JL All personswho hold thpprctcpded officesofGovernorsof Statesin insurrection against thoU. S. “10. All persons who 1cfl. their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the U.S and passedbeyond the Fedora]military lines into theso ciilled confederate States. for the purpose of aiding the rebellion.” “11. All persons who have engagedin the destruction of the commerce of the U.S. upou the high seas, and all personswho have maderaids into the U.S. from Canada, or been engaged in deslroing the 00I!lmol0oOf the U.S. upon the] esand rivers that separate the British Prov incesfrom the U.S. "12. All personswho. at the time when they sock to obtain the ciiefit thorcof. by takin the oath heroin proscribed, are in military or civi confinement or custody or under bond of the military or nayul authorities or agents of the U.S. priiionera of war 2? Persons detainpd for offensesof any kind. either by proor llffel their COHYIQUOD: "13. All person l who havevoluntarily participated in said rebellion and the estimated valiio ol whoa. taxnblo property is over 20,000 dollars. "14. All personswho have taken the oath of amnesty. as prescribed in the Presidents proclamation of Doconi er28 or the oath of allegiance to the Goyerninciit of the U.S., since the date of said proclamation, and who have not thoncefoiwnrdkept and maintained thounahvblato; provided that neclnl application maybe made to the President for pardon. by any person holing to the excepted classes and such lenienc Will o liberally extended as may be consistentwit the facts and the peaceand dignity of the U.S. ” I ought, perhaps, to call the attention of the committee in this connection to the act of congress, approved July 17, 1862, entitled “An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebelion, to some and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes.” “he provisron to which I call your attention reads as follows: “Sun. 13. Abife: That the Presldent is herebyauthorized, at any time hereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participutedin the existing rebellionin any Stuto, or part thereof. pardonandumnesty. With such excep ious, and at such time, and on such conditions, as he may deemexpedient for the public welfare.” This law is now in full force. Perhaps in the absence of this prowsum the President possessed the "ower under the constitutional provision to reease forfeitures under the confiscation law, as well as to grant: pardon and amnesty to rebels and other offenders, but whether the power is vested by the Constitution or not, t ie enactment of the law is a sanetion by Congress of the exercise of that power onItthe part of the Executive. will be borne in mind that under Mr. Lincolns plan and during his administration, military governors were appomted for the States of Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas, civil governmeuts restored, free constitutions adopted, and slavery was abolished. On the 29th day of lilay, being the same day Mr. Johnson issued his amnesty proclamation, he issued his proclamation appomting William W. Holden, provisional governor of the State of NCarolina, and containin rules and regulations for his direction and guience in his administration. In like manner, immediately after, other provisionaldgovernors were appointed for the other so –called “confederate States, ” With like rules and regulations. I shall only invite the attention of the committee to the NCarolina proclamation. The preamble recites the 4th section of the constitution, declaring that the U.S. ahall uuranty to every State in the Union a RFG, and protect each against invasion and domestic vioence; makes the further recital of the constitutional revision, making the President Commander inChiefof the Army and Navy, as well as the chief executive officer of the nation, bound by solemn oath to see that the laws be faithfully executed, and makingl a further recital, that the rebellion which ha been waged by a portion of the peeple. of the U.S. rates against the properly constituted authorities of the Government thereof, in a most violent and revolting form, and which had deprived the people of NCarolina of civil government; and then the preamble concludes as follows: “Whereas it becomes necessary and prope rto carry out and enforcethe obligations of the U.S. to the peopleof NCarolina in securine them in the enioyment of a RFG.” I will now by the indulgence of the committee read that part of the proclamation I deem necessary to a proper understanding of its pro, Visions:. "I, AndrewJohnson. POTUS and (lomiuunderimChief of the Army and Navy of the U.S. do hereby appoint William W. Holden provisional governor of the State of North Qnrolinu. Whose dutyit shall be. at the earliest prac ItiIcable period. to prescribe such rulesnnd reirulations may a necessary and proper for conveuin a convention composed of delegatesto be chosen y that portion of the people of said State who are loyal to the U.S and no others. for the purpose of “Iittirin authority mteondeixnegre thisee State all the powers or to enable Inch loyal peopleof the State of NCarolina. to ore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federul Government and to present such are ub eiinform of sLtesovtinment iis will entitle the tn. reto the guaranteeof the U.S. therefor and ignmvapseioopnl, oitno suprrroetcetciotine , n by the U.S. against and domestic violence: iro hvirded that in any election that maybe hereafter eld ohoooma delegates to any State convention as i aforesaid mopemon shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a member of such convention. unlesshe shrill previously have taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty as set forth in the Presidents proclamation, May 2). 1564 and is uvoter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of NCarolina in force immediately before the 20thday of May, A. b. 1561, the date of the soeolled ordinance of seeession, and the said convention when convened or the Legislature that may be thereafter assemble, will prescribe the qualification of electors and the eligibilit of persons to hold office under the titution and 2 of the State a power the power of the several States composing the Federal Union averightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the presenttime.” In this proclamation the President required the military commander of the Dept and all other officers in the military and naval service to cooperate with Governor Holden in the organization of a State goyernment. The See retaryof the Treasury, the PostMGenl, and the heads of the various Depts were required to appoint revenue officers, make provision for the collection of the revenues, uppoint postmasters, mail agents, and establish a postal system throughout the State, and do all other things ncedful to a prompt and immediate execution of the laws of the U.S. in said State of NCarolina. It will be seen by an examination of this plan of President Johnsons, that in all its essential features it is precisely the same as that inau gurated by Mr. Lincoln, and to which he adhered to the day of his death. The provisional governor, William W. Hol den, was required to call a convention to alter or amend the constitution and make immediate provision for the reestablishine nt of civil government in that State. He was further required to prescribe such rules and regulations as might be necessary for convening the convention, composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of that State who were loyal to the Government of the U.S and none were to be permitted to vote or be eligible to a seat in the convention. only those who had taken the oath prescribed in the amnesty proclamation of that date, and possessed the qualifications of a voter by the constitution and laws in force in that State on the 20th day of May 1861, the date of the socalled ordinance of secession. Of course, Mr. Chairman, there are irregularities in this plan that a technical lawyer who has devoted himself for a lifetime to the quibbles of his profession would be likely to criti cise and censure. The practical statesman, however, in a great emergency is required to rise above the narrow views of the profession. There is a law of necessity, anterior to all written constitutions and written laws, that in the convulsions of society mustandoften does regulate and govern the conduct of thoseiu authority. Upon the suppression of the rebellion. so far as civil government was concerned, chaotic confusion reigned in the socalled confederate States. The pretended ordinances of secession and all authority and acts under them being a usurpation, were null and void. The constitution and laws in force at the time of their adoption, in capable ofannihilation by force or violence, had lost their vitality in the absence of the propermachinery of Government to execute and administer them. A restoration of order and civil government out of the chaos and confusion that prevailed in those States, would necessarily encounter technical irregularity, whether conducted by the legislative or the executive Dept of the Government. Let us now look for a moment at the condition of affairs at the time Mr. Johnson entered upon the discharge of his official duties. The war was substantially ended. Lee had surren dered his army to GenlGrant, and the remaining military force of the southern confederacy was rapidly melting away. The constitutional omendment abolishing slavery had been proposed by Congress, but whether its ratification by the necessary number of States to secure its adoption could be obtained was a question. to say the least, that excited the fears as well an the hopes of tho loyal men of the country. The emancipation proclamation was a military measure. 7but its effect would be in sections in the rebel States, in abolishing slavery. where the relation of master and slave had not been severed by military force, when the war was over, and the local and municipal law sustaining that relation restomd, was a question that even President Lincoln seemed to have his doubts. Secretary Seward, in his Auburn speech before the presidential election, in allu Osion to this question, said it would be one for the decision of the legislative councils and the judicial tribunals of the country. This monster crime against humanity had shocked the moral sense of the world and del uged a nation in blood. In view of the desolation and sacrifices it had caused, all good men felt that the only safe and sure guarantee for our future safety and peace was to make irrevocable the destruction of this “ sum of all vil luinies.” With this cause of the war removed, the great mass of Union men believed the 2 sections of the country, “like kindred drops of water, would mingle into one.” The President at once took a firm and a manly position. He said to the South, in the most emphatic and authoritative manner, in the work of reconstriiction you must acknowledge and recognize the fact that a state of war has freed your slaves. In this bold, humane, and patriotic position he never faltered, and today we are a nation of free man. No slave breathes our air; “the moment his feet press our soil his limbs swell beyond the measure of his chains, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disinthralled by the genius of universal emancipation.” This, Mr. Chairman is one of the fruits of that ir regularity. The rebel States during the war had contracted untold millions of indebtedneso, which the President required them, by an amendment to their constitution s, to repudiate. Another technical irregularity. A repeal of the ordinances of secession was another. These are the fruits of that irregularity. It would have been justas easy for the President to have said to those States, ” Take your constitutions and laws in force at the time of the adoption of the socalled ordinances of secession, and reconstruct civil governments upon their principles and in accordance with their provisions.” It would have bee, certainly technically more regular, but by an nproceeding unamuestied reels would have been restored to the possession of the local governments. The policy of the President seemed to hate interfere as little as possible with their former system of government, and at the same time secure the necessary guarantees for future peace. The proceeding of the barons of England at Runny mede in the thirteeuth century, in extorting from King John the Great Charter, the foundation of English liberty, in a technical point of view was certainly one of great irregularity. Their defense was, a great occasion forced upon them the necessity for such u proceeding for their safety, and that event forms the greatest epoch in English history; and its influence upon the happiness of mankind will be felt down to the last syllable of recorded time. In considering the policy of the President it must be remembered that in all the rebel States civil governments have been established and the provisional governments have been with drawn, exec t. in the State of Texas. A large military establishment and the Freedmens bureau are still retained to enforce obedience to the law as well as protection to the freedmen. How long it maybe necessary to continue military garrisons and the Fieedmens Bureau in those States time, an essential element in all roformations, can alone determine. As soon as the Government can be relieved of their expense, in safety to the country, Iam in favor of their withdrawal; but. in this matter my policy is “to make haste slowly.” and for; the time being, at least, I am opposed to their withdrawal., 1 I! I have now done with this branch of my sub, ject, ltwill be remembered PresidentLincoln, l in his speech at the Executive Mansion, dtor the surrender of Lee, from which I have already made quotations, said expressly with reference to the plan of reconstruction he proposed, “1f adopted by any State would be acceptable and be sustained by the Executive Government of the nation.” n the same speech, and almost in the same breath, he made the following em“pIhatic declaration: distinctly stated that it was a plan which might possibly be acceptable and also dstinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say when 9; whether members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States.” It will be observed from the careful and can tious language of President Lincoln, there was another branch of the Government to which those States, when their civil governments were restored, would have to look for recognition. He said “it was a plan which might possibly be acceptable.” cccptable to whom? My answer is, acceptable to Congress, in whom is vested by the constitution the supreme legislative power of the nation, subject only to its own limitations and restrictions. In the message we are now considering, PresidentIohnson uses the following language, which may be considered the counter art to the speech of President Lincoln which I have just quoted: “Here it is for you. fellowcitizens of the Senate and for you. fellowcitizens of the HoRep. to judge. Each of you for yourselves. of the elections. returns, and qualifications of your own members.” The brief hour allotted will not permit me to discuss at this time the question of the political status of the socalled confederate states.” Upon the suppression of the rebellion they could not be considered States in political parlance, either in or out of the Union. The term "States" implies a political commonwealth, with executive, legislative, and judiciary Depts. In those States, these, with all the machinery of civil government, were destroyed by the war. In the absence of civil governments and from the necessity of the case, the President established militar governments, which have been superseded l; civil governments, established under the militar orders of the President in the manner I have already nar rated. These civil governments, thus organized, are in the nature o military governments, being the ncies of the CommanderinChief, for those States whose rightf civil governments had been destroyed by th rebellion. I therefore, Mr. Chairman, not only claim the right and power of Congress to review what has been done in the restoration of civil governments in the rebel States, but maintain that it is the duty of congress, by appropriate legislation, to legalize t cir validity and restore those States to their properrelation to the General Government. Chairman, and members from those States are admitted to their seats in this House, I desire to see an amendment made to the constitution changing the basis of representation from population to voters, or its equivalent, so as to conform to the new order o things created by the war. Ample and complete protection to the freedmen in all their rights of persons and of property to the full extent enjoyed by all nonvotmg classes is demanded a ike by every consideration of humanity, as well as by the unmistakable voice of their grateful countrymen. In the darkest hour of our countrys peril, by their fidelit to the cause of the Union they not only earne their freedom but that protection from the Government which the great and the good of all conditions of society demand for them. As soon as these objects can be attained, and they elect loyal men who can take the oath, I amun favor of a restoration of all the Statesto theirt properrelation to the General Governmentn. I heartily approve of what has been done by the President. He has acted wisely, in good faith, and in obedience to the will of the nation. With malice toward none, with charity for all, his policy has been wise, magnanimous, and conciliatory. In our deliberations it seems to me our aim Before this is done, Mr. should be toheal and not to irritate, to bind up the nations wounds, and so conduct our legislation as to restore to all parts of our here tofore unhappy and distracted country concord and harmony. ADMISSION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, ETC