Mr. HARDING, of Kentucky. It will be observed that this proposed constitutional amendment provides that “all debts, obligations and claims” “ for the loss or emancipation of any slaves” “shall be held illegal and void." But the provision of the act of 1864, which has just been read, provides in so many But as my time is limited, I will not dwell words that a loyal man whose slave may have been drafted shall receive a bounty of $100; that at the time such slave is drafted the master shall receive a certificate, upon which he shall draw the money. The next clause provides that the owner of a slave volunteering in the military service of the U.S. for at that period of the war it was of great importance to encourage volunteering shall receive compensation not exceeding $300. I care but little about this question except. for the principle involved. We in Kentucky have suffered osses and are prepared to suffer losses. But I present this question as n question of good faith. The Government has given this pledge to the owners of slaves who volunteered or were drafted into the Army of the U.S.; and it is now proposed that this pledge shall be disregarded and set at naught. Gentlemen may say that this principle of making compensation for slaves is all wrong; but, sir, the law itselfdeclares that it is a “just compensation.” The language of the act is: “The SecyWar shall appointa commission in eachof the slave States representedin Congress. charged to award to each loyal person to whom a colored volunteermay oweservicenjust compensationg pot exceeding $300 for each such colored voluntcer. And then the act goes on and designates the very fund out of which this compensation shall be aid the fund derived from commutations. fiere, then, is a vested right acquired under a law passed by this Congress to encourage volunteering and to recruit the national forces. By this act the faith of the nation is pledged that every loyal owner whose slave may have volunteered or been drafted into the military Service of the U.S shall receive what Congress then termed a “just compensation not exceeding $300.” Yet by the constitutional amendment.now before us it is proposed Puffipndiate this solemn pledge of the nation's an. Now. sir, it is well to be a little cautious on this subject of repudiation. We make no threats on our part. We denounced the sentiment and the very idea of repudiation, but here this very article which proposes to declare that the public debt shall he held inviolably sacred contains a clause which in direct and open terms proposes an utter repudiation of that very law which provided for nothing but “just compensation. Under the section to which I have referred commissioners were appointed in Maryland and Delaware and progressed to some extent with their work; butin Missouri and Kentucky no commissioners have yet been appointed. It is now proposed that this public debt a debt of record, acknowledged to be just and valid shall he repudiated. 2be you suppose, sir, that good faith can be thus violated, and thosewho commit this violation escape in the future all consequences of their act? If you stir up a hornct’s nest like this, may you not be stung by and by? The act which this Congress prooses to do is palpably unjust, Congress itself being the judge, and this proposed amendment being the test. There is no evasion. It is an open and direct attempt at repudiation. I ask, sir, whether there is any man from Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, or Kentucky who will stultify himself by going for this amendment when it repudiates a recognized debt on the part of those States. Dare you set an example of repudiation? If you do can you ever complain, should it become the mad cry throughout the country? Ifyou give the example can you comlain when it comes to be followed? The peop e will so, when repudiation takes place, they are only following your own example. Do you suppose in the West, do on sup mm in Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky, with all the burdens they have had to bear diiring the war, they are going to be tributary to the northern and eastern States? Do you suppose they will continue to pay the heavy share imposed upon them for the public debt when they are denied a small compensation like this? further on that point. I warn gentlemen to pause before they set such an example. You, are in power now, triumphantly so, but your l actions since you have been here seem to show i you are not satisfied that you are going to con, tinue in power. Set an example like this, and can you complain of repudiation afterward“? I In regard to this constitutional amendment l a great many things might be said. it is provided in the 1st section that all persons born l or naturalized in the U.S., and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of l the U.S and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce !. any law which shall up. abridge. c privileges or l immunities of citizens of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property vithout due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. And the last section provides that Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate l legislation the revisions of this article. This iatonce transfers all powers from the State governments over the citizens of a State to Congress. You will see that it is only a prop aration for an interminable conflict between l the Federal and State jurisdictions. We i know what the result of this will be. for we l have alread seen it tested. Will not Congress then virtual y hold all power of legislation over ! your own citizens and in defiance of you? But how does this agree with the memorable language of the Chicago platform, which declares in so many words that “ the right of each State to order and control its own domestic, affairs according to its own judgment exclusively is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend?" This amendment is l in direct contravention of that platform, be l cause it transfers to Congress from the States all power of control over their own citizens. Let me tell you, you are reparing for revolutions after revolutions. ‘liey may be peace ful, and I hope they will. I ivarii you there will be no peace in this country until each State be allowed to control its own citizens. Ifyou take that from them what care I for the splen did machinery of a national Government? My constituents are able to judge of their own wants, but you propose to take this power from them and to transfer it to Congress, and to let Congress judge of their wants and what legislation should be enacted for their government. I think I should be sustained by high authority ifI were to announce that this amendment is a mere political platform, and that it is not approved by many who will vote for it, because they do not believe it onvht to pass. It is a mere platform upon which the party is to go before the country to fight the political battles of next fall. I should have high authority if' I were to say that those who vote for these conand deceit. gone. But further than that. SHERMAN] who was referred to by the gentle his speech by saying: "I shall detain the Senate but for n. momentto explainthe reasonsfor they ote I shall give in oppo‘sition to what is my own deliberate Judgmenton the questionnow pending, "This proosition is simple plan and obvious: and yet an or the necessityin which we are n placed. I shall feel called upon to vote against And then, after making further v. r he uses this language in regard t "ment which he is going to n, Thalt is a pTiiinperhdobv” prineip cwiis op.i i no local jealousy. 1hr yioouhlenahh.“Although myo in any subject that this constitutional amendments were opposed to them. I and that they are about to go cfore the country with them masked and veiled in hypocrisy 1. We have heard from the gentle I " man just now, in regard to the 3rd section, that the heart and core of the whole matter is, v The Senator Mr. 1 man who 1st addressed you today, set out in both branches of it. yet asWe were comelled to unite on some measure and we must all wed someof our opinions upon various questions involved there are 5 sectionsin this proposed article I feel bound to vote against this amendment offered by the Senfrom Wisconsin. Though in my judginent it would do more than any other to heal the difficulties by which we are surrounded." There is an open confession that he is about to vote against an amendment which he entertains no doubt would do more to heal our difficulties than anything else! Now, sir, no man can excuse himself for a thing of that kind; and while I admire the lion est yof. his confession, that he is doing it for party and political purposes, yet I utterly detest the odious ‘principle that he avows for mere y I asprutrhpeos attention of the House to an extract from another speech and, mark you, I am not now offering you copperhead” testimony. The extract is from a speech made by one of your great northern lights, the celebrated Wen dell Phillips. I ask the ‘Clerk to read it.