Mr. HOWARD. The 4th section of this amendment declares that neithor the U.S. uoi anyStateshall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred or which may hereafterbe incurred. in aid of insurrection or of war againstthe U.S or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or a or. I take it for granted that no member of this body would oppose the adoption of this section of the amendment. I do not believe the people of the U.S. will object to declaring that the whole of the rebel debt shall be eter nally repudiated and extinguished n debt contracted in the prosecution of the most wicked war with which the earth was ever cursed, against a Government that was never felt by them except in the benefits it conferred. such a debt can never be assumed or paid by the loyal people of the U.S., and if suffered to remain in quasi existence it can only be hft in that condition as a subject of political squabbling and party wrangling. The assumtion of the rebel debt would be the last and nalsignal for the destruction of the nation known as the U.S.A. Whatever )arty may succeed in so wicked a scheme, by whatever name it may be called and under whatever false guises or pretenses it may O crate, if it succeed in assuming this indobte ness, putsan end 1st to the credit of the Government, and then, as an unavoidable consequence, to the Government itself. I do not propose to spend time upon this branch of the subject. I simply refer to it as a necessity of such magnitudeas in myjudmentto demand our action and the action of the States of the Union without delay. It is necessary to act, to extinguish this debt, to put it beyond the pale of party controversy, to put it out of sight, and to bury it so deep that it can never again be raised to life in such manner as to become a theme of party discussion. The amount of that debt is probably not less than 5 billion dollars. We do not know its exact amount, and I am not sure that it is possible ever to ascertain it; but if there should ever be a fair prospect of its assumption by the U.S or by the States it is perfectly certain that the evidences of it would multiply thicker than the leaves in Vallombrosa. Those evidences are a great curiosity in the history of commercial affairs. I hold in my hand a specimen of the confederate currency. I will read it for the information of Senators and to give it a permanent registration among our proceedings: RICHMOND.DecemberI. 1802. No. 81413. 6 months after the ratification of a treaty of Spteuatccesbocf t.wcon the confederate States and the U.S.A. the Contederate Statesof America will pay to the beareron demand 8100. Signed by the Treasurer and countersigned by the Begister of the Confederate States of America. at Richmond. such is the kind of commercial security upon which the rebellion was chiefly waged against us. The confederacy issued its promises pay able 6 months after a treaty of peace should be ratified between those States and the U.S. I hardly think that in a lawyers office that would be regarded as no otiable paper. I doubt very much whether the carer of such a security would be able to sue upon it, even in a court of SCarolina. It is payable not exactly upon the happening of a contingency, but upon the happening ofwliat is and ever will be a total impossibility. “Six months after a treaty of eacc.” ltis not yet due and of course never wi lbecome due. It was never expected to become due by any man who had a thimble fill of brains; but was used as part of that vast system of humbug deception, and imposture by which the southern people were deluded. lhcir bogus government never expected to pay it. Sir, the peace of the country ought not to be disturbed or jeoparded by the agitation of any such question as the assumption of the rebel debt. It becomes the character and dignit of the Government, which has spent so much of treasure and blood in putting down this wicked rebellion, to give an assurance to the people of the U.S., whether loyal or disloyal, and to all the people of the civilized world, that this rebel debt thus contracted is never to be paid, that it shall never be recognized as the foundation of any claim or any contract whatever; and such an assurance will be also an especial compensation to the holders of the “cotton loan" in England, which has created so much sensation both on the other side of the Atlantic and on this. I confess I am not without a little anxiety on this point. I wish to give those martyrs to the cause of the “ confederate States of America, ” those who so generously lent that mushroom government their cold cash upon the promises contained in the cotton bonds, a final assurance as to the real value of their securities, and that they are never to look to the U.S or to any State of the Union for indemnity on account of moneys advanced by them in the piratical scheme of destroying the Government of the U.S. Sir, I do not believe in paying traitors nor do I believe in indemnifying men abroa who, with their eyes open and a malignity in their heart beyond all gave them aid and comfort. Nor do pasreaelltehl, e propriety of kecing this question open before the country, on enabling the foreign holders of cotton bonds to keep the political atmos phere of this country in a turmoil for the future with a view ultimately of getting their pay from somebody. It is time for us to put our hands upon this whole thing and to extinguish all hope. The next clause is avery simple one. I have already remarked upon it; and shall spend no more time upon it. It gives to Congress power to enforce by appropriate legislation all the provisions of this article of amendment. Without this clause, no power is granted to Congress by the amendment or anyone of its sections. t casts upon Congress the responsi bility of seeing to it, for the future. that all the sections of the amendment are carried out in good faith and that no State infrin es the rights of persons or property. I loo upon this clause as indispensable for the reason that it. thus imposes upon Congress this power and this duty. It enables Congress, in case the States shall enact laws in conflict with the principles of the amendment, to correct that legislation by a formal congressional enactment.