Mr. MYERS. Mr. Speaker, we are passing through the most interesting periods of American history. No higher (fiities, no graver responsibilities, no prouder privileges ever devolved upon men than those which the American people have accepted and discharged in the last 5 years. Every attribute of manhood has been called forth by the struggle for a nations existence, until purified by the ordeal we have risen in the scale of honor and of civilization. Happy in the arts of peace, treasons oisoned dagger found us unarmed. Yet to ay rebellion and treason lie prostrate, while the slave power which for years sapped the ioundations of our liberties, at last striking at the life of the Republic, learned, in its own dying agonies, that there is nothing so terrible as the wrath of a free people. I need not recount the story of these years of battle, when the rivers were reddened and the fields drenched with the blood of those who should have been brothers. The right has triumphed. Unsym pathizin nations abroad have taken good heed of it. 5e are at this time the most powerful empire on the globe. Nor have I the time to si alize acts of heroism where all were heroes. the trumpet of fame will be broken when they are forgotten. Who shall tell of the unreturning brave or sprinkle over their graves the sweet incense of a nations gratitude? Unnumbered 1,000s of them went down to death, willingly as the bridegroom to the altar. But they died that liberty might live, and a Union preserved is their monument, imperish able as the eternal hills. What meed of raise, what public honors, what high rewar s can suffice for their noble survivors, man of them maimed and crippled forever in this oliest of causes? Where shall the balm be found for those who sorrow, and like Rachel, mourning for their children too, will not be comforted? We have been lifted out of the sordid and common place into the generous, the lofty, and patriotic, the purest sympathies of our nature constantly brought into action. A world looked on amazed as courage unsurpassed, faith untiring, charity beyond bounds, and zealous love of country won for us the moral as well as physical victory. Childhood already girded on the sword for the conflict. The women were worthy of the women of the Revolution. As words of cheer from home strengthened the arms of our defenders, from camp and deck and battle front their thanks were echoed; while amid the very thunder of artillery the American soldier, still the American citizen, sealed with his ballot the verdict of the people, whose voice in this happy land has always been more potent than bayonets. Mr. Speaker, the Representatives of the people reflected this overwhelming sentiment. he bolder their stand the more loudly were they aplauded. They voted men, and as from the fee sown by Cadmus in the olden my thology, or at the whistle of Roderick Dhu, men s rang up in every furrow and by every hill si e. lhey voted money and laid heavy taxes to obtain it. The citizens gladly paid the taxes and took the Government loans, a million a day. The shafts of death thinned our armies. Conscription laws, at all times unpleasant, were received almost without a murmur, and through the popular exertions rarely needed to be enforced. Generals failed; amid universal acquiescence Congress placed a lien tenant general over them who knew no such word as fail. It gave higher pay and bounty and pension for the soldier and sailor. It thanked the brave on all fitting occasions. With a President, whose name will ever be coupled with that of the Father of his Country, the Cabinet and national Legislature faltered not in this trying emergency. In field and council, at home and abroad, the people of the North were true, and the boast of the Roman wasnot prouder than that of him who could say “I am an American citizen.” When I speak of the people I mean the majority. The right of the majority to rule is the principle underlying all our institutions. The rebellion was a rebellion against this principle. The overthrow of the confederacy is its triumph and vindication. In the North it continued to be respected. During all this bloody strife, however, a factions minority to the extentofits power clogged the progressof the national arms. The masses are always honest, but designing leaders, ambitious of power rather than false to their country, endeavored to misguide them. When the life of the nation was trembling in the balance, when nothing but the suspension of the writ of habeascorpus could save it, these leaders quibbled less as to its necessity than as to where the power was vested. Abraham Lincoln cut the ordian knot, suspended the writ, and saved the country. The quibblers spent years denying that he did it constitutionally, although Congress had ratified the legality of the act. Reenforcements were begged for at the front; the factionists denounced the draft and the enlistment of negroes, although these measures added half a million to our armies they opposed the soldiers cause; they denfed him the right to vote; they voted to continue slavery. in a word, they clung to the slave power, asserted the war for the Union to be a failure, and when the cup ofvictory was at the very lips of the nation would have dashed it to the earth. Mr. Speaker, after the disastrous battle of Gamma the Roman Senate waited on Terentius Varro, thanking him that at least he had not despaired of the republic. What shall be said of those who, in the fullness of our strength, when our arms were triumphant and our cause nearly won, almost paralyzed the public energies by despairing of the contest? The irresistible logic of events swept over them like an avalanche, and their posterity may be grateful if it has covered them with the waters of oblivion. With these exceptions, as I have said, the North was true. In the South, if loyalty existed, it was bid from us by a wall of fire. Mr. Speaker, the war is over; the spirit of the rebellion is not all dead, but arme resistance to the national authority has ceased. The sword has done its work, and the duties of statesmanship step in to perfect it. The 39th Congress meets to consider questions of greater magnitude than have been presented since the formation of the Government. The eyes and the hopes of patriots everywhere are turned to it. The tele raphic flashes of its discussions from day to ay are eager] scanned. By every hearth stone where there is a vacant chair from every corner of the land where loyal hearts beat North and South, the prayer ase ends to heaven that all this blood and agony and sacrifice may not have been in vain, that the dreadful lessons of these sadyears shall not pass unheeded; above all, that those whom the people have chosen to legislate for them shall, in the great work of reorganization, be true to the principles which triumphed in the contest, and see to it well that the illlB of another rebellion are excluded in life organic laws which are to unite us again and now, let us, as Representatives of a great nation, counsel together, for if we fail in our duty now the wrong may be irreparable; if we discharge it manfully and justly, millions yet unborn shall rise and call us blessed. One great question overshadows while it includes all the rest. The 11 States which attempted secession are knocking at the doors of Congress claiming immediate admission for those whom they have chosen Sens&Reps. Are these States entitled at this time to such recognition? and again, who shall admit or reject them? What are the rounds, ifnny, for their present exclusion, and 5what the conditions and qualifications requisite to secure them representation? In determining this whole subject, sir, important as it is, we need no fine spun theories. lhe law is so plain that he who runs may read it. A calm statement of the facts will suggest the remedy, solving any difficulty. It is useless to discuss whether the rebel States have ever been out of the Union. Some stoutly assert that secession not being legal was impossible. A successful revolution would certainly have contradicted this idea. Again, ifthe peopleof SCarolina, dissatisfied with the Government, had all left her borders, the Territorial limits of the State only would have remained. The rebellion, however, failed, and there was no honorable hegira. These States and their people were all the time legally in the Union; the triumph of ourarms alone made them actually so once more. But one thing all can agree upon. For 4 years these 11 States were beyond the national control. They defied the Constitution and laws of the Union. They set up a new constitution. antirepublican and founded on slavery. As States, so far as they could, they severed the bonds which knit them to the rest. They broke up their old State governments and erected new ones and made new laws to suit the condition they were trying to bring about. Whether they Were in or out of the Union is quite immaterial. Only 3 days before his death Mr. Lincoln pronounced this “a merely pernicious abstraction.” “ We all agree, ” said he, “that the seceded States, socalled, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the Government, civil and Military, is to again get them into that proper practical relation.” President Johnson, in his an nual message, tells us “their functions are suspended. I accept these definitions, and believe in them. A suspension of functions necessitates a restoration by some power, or the State as such will die. Who has the power to restore it? Some contend that the Executive has it, others that it rests with Congress. The solution is an easy one. The lawmaking power is supreme in this land, and except where the assent of the Executive aids in passing the law, his sole power is to execute it. Either the rebellious States could legally at any time during the rebellion have resumed their places in the Congress of the Union or they could not. If the law then or now would have permitted it, then or now it could be done without order, direction, or authority from the President. The decision, then, rests either with these States or with Congress. Nosane man will assert the monstrous doctrine that the confederacy could have kept its armies in the field and sent even loyal men to the Congress of the U.S. War then makes a difference. The laws which were violated by foul rebellion cannot be held up as its shield. The parent authority, it is true, might have consented at any time to a restoration, and while the war brought no change of civil relations was willing on adue submission to do so; but the party who breaks the contract cannot set it up at his pleasure, and though these rebel States violen y suspended their own func Maficlitions it is not for them, especially after failure, l to declare the time and manner and conditions of their restoration., It is absurd to cite the resolutions we passed at the beginnin of the war to induce these, States to reconsider their folly. When you can 1 breathe life into the nostrils, our blood into the veins, and quicken the u ses of the 100s of 1,000s whom t ieir refusal struck dead, men may prate about promises and congressional resolutions base on their assent, at not till then! At the outset of the rebellion the POTUS, speaking confidently for the people, declared the Union was unbroken, that no plainly written provision of the Constitution had ever been denied, and pleaded eloquently with the South against its contemplated withdrawal. State after State, in utter disre gard of all entreaties, had withdrawn its senators and members, and still refused to return them. The blow was struck, the war went on, slavery still lived. The President and Congress a in and again urged a practical reacknowl eggment of the national authority that the war might cease and the South return with all their rights. Compensated emancipation was tend ered them; they laughed it to scorn. Their seats here and in the Senate Chamber remained vacant, while, at the bidding of those who left them, loyal blood still trickled down the mount ain sides and the bodies of the loyal dead en riched the valleys of the South. At last for bearance ceased to be a virtue. Under the war power the President gave the peoplein revolt 100 days notice, in which time they were permitted to renew their allegiance without the overthrow of their institutions, especially inviting them to choose members of Congress in good faith and by elections in which a majority of their voters should urticipate. The proffer fell upon dull ears on hardened hearts, and under the same power, on January 1, 1803, he issued the great emancipation proclamation, absolutely freeing the slaves, save in a few excepted localities. lngrafted afterward by constitutional amendment, it verified the promises of the DeclarIndep, and all over the Union forever prohibited properly in man. The red right arm of war at last had changed the political privileges which the South was so long, so constantly pressed to preserve for itself. Slavery was to rebellion the heel of Achilles, and there it was smitten. The usurpers hud staked their all on the hazard of battle. They bowed down before false gods. Rude icono clasts, they broke the beautiful images of their loyal State governments, but the stain which marred their marble purit perished too. Nothing but victory could he p them now. If de feated the U.S. might carve for them new forms of republican government, but the defect which their blinded vision loved would be omitted forever. One more chance was given them, not to restore theserivileges, but to obtain terms of peace which might have secured them immediate representation. Abra ham Lincoln even left his high seat for this purpose to meet their commissioners at Fort ress Monroe. separation or destruction was still their motto! then the Union armies moved upon theirs, breaking their columns, seizing their cities, driving them along the valleys till they withered like a scroll, and in defeat and dismay surrendered to the majesty ay, sir, I am happy to add, to the clemency of the men and now, who will be so bold as to say that upon this surrender the rebel States could, of their own motion and on their own terms, reenter the American Congress? If so, let us look the fact in the face no condition whatever conld legall be imposed on them. In the prosecution of their attempt to break up the Government they had contracted an enormous debt to their own followers and to their sympa thizers in England and elsewhere. They could of right return and endeavor to make the nation ay it. The war power had struck the fetter s from the slave, but the constitutional amendment was not yet ratified by the States. They might with propriet have refused to adopt it, claimed their seats ere, denounced the Proclamation as inValid, and endeavored in congress and out of it to render it n nullity. Ah. but gentlemen may say they did neither of these things; they were put upon terms in these 2 matters. Yes, sir they were; and I thank the President that he orced them to do right. He forced them to do right, although the may even yet reconsider their repudiation of the rebel debt, until the Constitution shall forbid it. But who could legally dictate these terms? and if such terms could be imposed, what can prevent Congress, the lawmaking power, from determining whether other guarantees are required? Congress, under the Constitution, has the power to “ declare war, ” to “ suppress insurrections and repel invasions, " ygt in the view of some gentlemen here it may not inquire whether war or insurrection has utterly ceased! It may “constitute tribunals, ” yet it has no right to be informed whether such tribunals are still closed and the course of justice impeded! It can regulate commerce “among the several States, as well as with foreign nations, but it must not see if such commerce has been illegally restrictedl It may provide “for the general welfare of the U.S., " but when that welfare has been violently as sailed it dare not ask even whether the assaults upon its integrity or those it is bound to protect still continnel “The U.S shall guaranty to every State in the Union a RFG;” but after 4 years, during which all government recognized by the Constitution has been overthrown, woe be to Congress, the guarantying power, if it attempt to investigate whether republican government has been restored or now exists in any of these States! Oh, no; Congress, with all its great powers, is limited, they so, to that section which makes each House “t e judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members;” and when, after 4 years of revolution and ruin, the member from mississippi presents himself, Mr. Speaker, before you, if his election has been hed at the regular time, if his return be duly signedand no one contests it, if with or without republican government, with or without loyal constituents, he is willing to be sworn, you have nothing to do but to swear him in, and we are powerless to make further inquiry. To state the proposition is to refute it. One word more on this point: it is said that such was Mr. Lincolns view of the case. The Opinions of that lamented patriot, written and spoken, are just the reverse. In order to foster loyalty, in order to end the rebellion by lifting up the hands of those who had straye and were repentant, rather than by the dread wager of battle, Mr. Lincoln, on De cember 8, 1863, issued his amnesty proclamation, promising that when one 10th of the number who voted for President in 1860 should in any State reestablish a republican government, it should be recognized as the true government of the State; and, not directin any election for members of Congress, he a ded: “To avoid misunderstanding. it may beproper to further say that whethermemberssent to yongressfrom any stateshull beadmitted to seats constitutionally, rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the Executive." More than this, when the war was ended, in his last public speech, referring to the government he had endeavored to set up and sought to sustain in Louisiana, he thus alluded to the views above expressed, applying them, then and there, to that State: "And I alsofiin the proclamation ldistinctly protestedthat the xecutiveclaimed no right tosaywhen or whother members should be admitted to seatsin Comrressfrom such States. This plan was in advance submitted to the then Cabinet, and as distinctly approved by every memberof it. Mr. Lincolns views, it will thus be seen, were precisely those now held by Congress, and the following aragraph from the Senate judiciary report, of liebruary 18, 1865, accompanyin the JtResolution relating to the credenti s of members claiming seats from Louisiana, a report and resolution which gave general satisfaction, denotes how fully these opinions governed the last Congress: “ The personsin possession of the local authorities of Louisiana having rebelled against the authority of the U.S and hor inhabitants havin: been declared to be in a state of insurrection in pursuance of a law passedby the 2 Housesof Congress.your committee deem it improper for this body to admit to Senators from uiriann, till by somejoint aetion of both Houses t are shall besome recognition of an existing State government acti in harmony with the Government of the U.S and recognising its authority." But enough, air, upon this point. When the integrity of the Union was endangered by open and secret foes; when the land trembled with the shock of hostile forces, and timid men saw nothing but darknessin the future, the Government was found to possess ample power under the Constitution to preserve itself a inst trea son and rebellion. It hasequal right, now the cloud is lifted. to protect itself against their consequences; a protection which can be enforced on y by law and afforded only by the power which makes the law. What, then, are the conditions on which any rebellious State shall be restored to representation in the national councils? I answer, That it shall conform by its constitution and laws to the change in political relations brought about by the war, accepting the issue in good faith, submitting to such acts of Congress, and ratifyin, if required, such amendments to the nations Constitution as fairly and equally embody the results of this great change. Certainly there is nothing very harsh in this. But Congress istojudge oftgese conditions, and nervous people, more anxious as of old about what they call southern rights than careful of national security. fear it will do wrong. I do not believe that congress will act unjustly. I" for one, am not nfrai to trust the national Representatives. The ceme directly from the people. They ming ewith and catch their ins i rations from that source. The elections ta e place less than a year from the time they are rst sworn in, and if they err the people will sit in judgment on them. The creation of this bod is the very essence of popular government. he Senate is only one remove urther from the people and this great republican idea, with a Ilresident comin too almost directly from the people, clothe with the veto power to check asty or imprudent legislation. which on careful thought 2/3rds may still overrule, is to me the most beautiful in theory as it has been the most successful in practice which the world ever knew. I cannot believe, sir, that either of these branches of the Government will willingly tres pass upon the privileges of the other. I have faith that each will act honestly, and in this crisis of the country will be no less true than heretofore to every right of the Government and the people. There is not a man in this House who does not desire the restoration of the functions of every southern State at the earliest moment consistent with the securit of the whole. The Union was our watchwor and battle cry, ouripillar of cloud by day and illar of fire by night; our Army was nown only as the Army of the Union. The great party which, rising above partisanship, prosecuted the war to a successful close, was the party of the Union. From the 1st shot at Sumter, all over the land, prouder than orillamme or crese ent, in everyyalley, on every mountain, from every window and house to of the North, wherever our kcels plowed the waters or the eddying wavesof bat tle were the reddest, the flag of the Union floated in beauty with not a star omit ted on its field of azure. For this the conflict was accepted. For this the victory was won. This was the sacred trust we inherited, and the Union so admirably formed, cleansed now of its only blemish, we hope to hand down to the latest generation. But several months have passed. and, terrible to relate, the representatives from the South are not yet on the doors of Congress! Still more terrible, their claims have been referred to a JtCommee to report upon; and perhaps more tprrible still, gentlemen here charge that they are denied representation. I assert, sir, that they have never been denied the right of representation. I have said that Congress is to judge of the condition of these people; but it is for them to show themselves ready for Representation here. If there is delay, it is their own fault. 3 months delay! Why, sir, I haveheen one of those most urgent for the reports of the reconstruction committee. I want the country to know that full justice will be done. I am anxious that each State shall be found fitted for representation; but when I remember that the regular Election Committee, with no evidence to take, has not yet reported upon several of its cases, I believe the country will not expect too much of a committee which has to consider the most delicate questious ever presented to Congress, and whihhi has already reported several bills of an importance not to be over estimated. Oh! but it is said, the committee is a joint one and revolutionary; it ties up the Houses to inaction. The Library Committee is ajoint one, yet I never heard 0t its creating a revolution, even in literature! The Printing committee is ajoint one, but thus far has not de stroyed the liberties of the press! Each subject presented is referred to some committee, an is only acted on as it reports. Upon this important subject the committee was made ajoint one, because it would be an anomaly to receive members from any State in this House when in the Senate itslaws were found to cause a delay in the reception of Senators, and vice versa. The Houses are acting separately and respectively in this matter asin all others, joint reports only enabling them to present the question more speedily and harmoniously. Admit each district to representation, is the demand. Sir, it is the State which sends senators, and the Legislature of the State which elects them. It is the State to which we must guaranty a RFG. It was by state conventions the people assembled to reorganize, not by districts. Tie are juding how far the work of reorganization is goo. State lines are not obliterated, though the false doctrine of State rights is. The claimants from Tennessee, by memorial to us, tell how their State has been reorganized. They “submit that the said government is republican in form as well as in spirit, and they ask that the same be recognized and its perpetuity guarantied as the true and propergovernment of the State of Tennessee, ” not that they should be admitted by districts and our duties to their State shirked and here let me say I hope the day is near when this recognition and guarantee shall be given. Tennessee furnished 30,000 gallant soldiers to the Union Army, several of whom are elected to seats here. She was excepted in the roclamation of emancipation; but one of the grst acts of her Legislature was to ratify the “constitutional amendment” by a unanimous vote; and while her functions, or those of any State fully organized before the war ended, might be restored before a change in the basis of representation is finally ratified by the States, I believe she would adopt that, too. She (as well as Maryland and Missouri) excludes rebels from votin till a term of years shall have naturalized, i not nationalized, them. Above all, her laws so the committee seem to report have accepted the issue of the war and embodied its results. I hope I have disposed of the question of receiving members by districts.. but if Gentlemen desire to be technical and I do not, if powers exercised with an honest purpose are questioned because the 2 Houses, the Congress, are doing what it is contended each House should do separately, let me add that, from the insurrectionary States organized since the rebellion ceased, there has not perhaps been a single member elected to this House constitutional!, or who could take his seat if 411gSupreme ourt instead of ourselves had to determine the question. Article 1, section 2 of the Constitution prescribes that “Whon vacancies happen in the representation from any State. the executiveauthority thereofshall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies." If it be alleged that the southern members left by districts, and so may return to their places, I answer that the Executive of the State must issue the writs of election. If, on the other hand, as the President well says in his several proclamations appointing provisional govern ors, the rebellion “has, in its revolutionary progress, deprived the people [of each State] of all civil government, ” such government must be established anew. The President directed conventions to be chosen by the loyal people in each such State, with authority “ to present such a republican form of State government as will entit e the State to the guarantee of the U.S. therefor.” Surely it cannot be that with the State laws not yet. reestablished, a convention may redistrict a State, or order elections for members of the national Legislaturc. Yet in all of these States save one there was such haste to obtain power again they could not wait till an Executive was elected, but the writs were issued under the provisional govern ors, and the elections ordered without law by the conventions. The NCarolina certificates are even signed by “ W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor.” n SCarolina the Legislature ordered the election, but there was no Txecutive to sign the law, and it cannot even be supported under their old laws, as the convention had redistricted the State. In Virginia 14 delegates and 6 Senators, calling themselves a Legislature, not only changed the time of election for members of Congress but assumed the duties which, under long settled usage, belong only to a convention called for the purpose, and changed their constitution. the accusation of delay may be still better. appreciated when I state that, except from Tennessee, Arkansas, and one or 2 from Louisiana, there are ver few of those sent here who could take “the iron clad oath” if the doors were thrown open to them. Is Texas denied representation? Thusfar no Governor or member of Congress has been elected in this State, where Generals Howard and Gregory tell us slavery still virtually exists. Her convention is only now in session. What of Georgia, which sends as Senators Alexander H. Stephens, the VEEP of the confederacy, and Herse hel V. Johnson, of the rebel senate? Her provisional governor telegraphed to the President, “No members of Congress elected can take the oath.” Do we den representation to her or has she par alyzed herself? and Mississippi, which, after electing as Governor a contederate major general, who was pardoned to enable him to ta of the office, passed laws so violative of equal liberty under the Constitution and equal right before the law that the President instructed General Thomas to disregard them? What of Vi "nia, which restored rebels to the right of an rage, and whose unjust vagrant laws, founded, too, on a previous agreement amonrr the planters to keep down wages, General Ierry had to set aside? How is it with SCarolina, whose Legislature, after repeated renests from the president to repudiate the rebel debt, took good care to adjourn without doing so, having provided that “persons of color shall be known as servants and those they contract with as masters?" Alabama, whose Executive is Governor Patton, the confederate cotton loan agent and whose aristocratic and antirepublican laws, almost reenacting slavery, among other harsh inflictions impose an imprisonment of 3 months and a fine of $100 11 on anyone owning fire arms, and a fine ofli ty dollars and 6 months imprisonment on any servant or laborer (white or black) who loiters away his time or is stubborn or refractory? Can Florida complain? By an ordinance of the convention, adopted November 4, 1865, a vagrant in that State shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 and imprisoned for a term not exceeding 12 months, or by being sold for a term not exceeding 12 months, at the discretion of the court; the convention, be it understood, the same week declaring that “slavery had been destroyed in this State by the Govprnment of the U.S. " and no later vagrant act having been reported to us. It is with no pleasure that I cite either the law or the facts against any of these States. I wish both were otherwise. What I have said has been byway of defense not attack. It will be a proud day when, their rehabilitation complete, the loyal Representatives from all of them can meet here, beneath the shadow of the old flag, remembering its glories, rejoicing in its triumphs, consecrating it for the dominion of a continent in the future, and still unfolding its undying promise to the oppressed throughout the world}.) When that time, I trust not far distant, shall come, pecansofjoy will be chanted all over the land, and the thunder from 1,000 brazen throats, speeding over hill and prairie and river, will be echoed far across the sea, proclaiming in tones never a ain to be mistaken, that American liberty an union shall go hand in hand down the p of the ages. God speed the day! But it is a beautiful thing to be merciful, it is sl grander to do right. Disloyal practices, unjust legislation, oppression, and wrong must not again be the stepping stones to power. These local governments, in theirreconstruction, must be built on the eternal principles of right, or crumbling upon their own citizens, they may once more shake to their foundations the very pillars of the temple of liberty. The loyal men of the South, overborne during the rebellion and almost excluded now, demand it at our hands; common justice, a common country, cry aloud to us to be true. We have been merciful. Never did a nation behave more generously. We fought for the flag, for liberty, for law, for the Union. There was no rancor, no vengeance, not even retribution, only a holy love of country, an unswerving belief that our cause was just, that we were stewards for posterity and dared not betray our trust, that death was better than dishonor. Our merchant marine was swept from the seas by pirates, our prisoners were starved, guerrillas murdered our stragglers, arson was plotted for our cities. We met bitterness with dignity. We told our wrongs only that civilization might shudder at them. As cribing them all to the teachin s of slavery, we cared for the captives and sti ! pleaded for justice in the name of liberty. When the insurrection was crushed the rebels had little right to expect, and did not expect, to participate in the national councils for years. Their soldiers, brave in a bad cause, have no complaint now. Those who fought on either side understood this question fully. They felt the struggle, they knew what it was for, and neither side supposed that victory meant defeat. Our kindness did not end here. We saved their cities from the torch applied by their own Generals. Want stared them in the face; high and low, every age, sex, and condition received supplies from the Union Army. Desolation followed in the track of war; the rebellion had brought enfranchisement for white and black, and this great Government did its most generous deed in providin a Bureau for Refugees and Freedmen, that these suffering southern men and women, white and black, might be sustained till the right to labor and to receive the rewards of labor should be recognized; until confidence restored and business flowin in its accustomed channels, should render the dept needless. The committee on destitution and supplies, of Alabama, reported to their Legislature that in January of this year the Freedmens Bureau distributed 13,000 rations perday; “given alike to whites and blacks.” In September last the asst cemmissioner at obile reported rations issued on August I, 1805, to 3, 570 “destitute citizens, ” the list in September standing, 1,742 persons, “95%. of whom were rebels." The rations issued in January, 1866, in Arkansas were, 69, 532 to refugees, 11, 090 to freedmen; in SCarolina, 08,452 to freedmen, 4,563 to refugees. Mississippi, in February, received 1, 076 rations for refugees, 20,039 for freedmen. Kentucky and Tennessee, last August, 3, 777 for refugees, 3, 785 for freedmen and all this time every beneficence of the General Government has been gently extended over the South equally with the North. The courts are open; the postoffice brings us together once more; the local machinery of the States goes on undisturbed: trade and commerce are carrying new life to the southern capitals. With labor made honorable, capital and enterprise are developing the natural advantages and vast wealth of the South. We enact.rno differing code for the sections, but equal laws for all. If the military remain it is not our fault but rather use protection. GenlGrant says: " Idid not meetany one.either those holding places under the Government or citizens of the southern States. who think it practicable to Withdraw the militnry fro the South at present. The white and the black ally requirot eprotcction of the General goveut.", t. Sicaker, I appeal to the men of the oouth, fiotn Tennessee to the Gulf, whether I have not s oken trul. If I have, their tongues shoult blister be bre char,ing upon us a desire to oppress, or to deprive fliem of their rights. The northern leader who does so, after full knowledge of the fact, is lured only by the thirst for political ag randizement. His soul panteth a for it “as the hart panteth after the water brooks.” To reach it he would strike down the blood bought privileges of the people and scatter to the winds the fruits of a victory which vindicated before the world the dignity of labor and restored to a great nation its birthright. Let us see, then, whether, meeting in a spirit of kindness and mutual trust, the ound I have indicated is not one upon which 1 all can stand, President, Congress and people. The great change of which I have spoken is that from slavery to freedom. Slavery gone, its laws, its prejudices, and consequences should be buried forever. We are legislatin for man kind. If there be wrong, now is tie time to right it; if there be defects, this is the forum in which to remedy them; if doubts remain, the present is the hour to solve them. The craven may shift the responsibility, but civilization will hold us accountable for the performance of our whole duty. This change requires: 1. That no law of any State lately in insurrection shall impose by indirection a servitude which the Constitution now forbids. If it be answered that the 2nd clause of the amendment abolishin slavery gives congress power to enforce tiis result by appropriate egtslation, 1 reply that we do not choose to keep a standing army in the future to enforce acts of Congress, when we can prevent such legislation by the States. 2. That each State shall provide for equality before the law, equal protection to life, liberty, and property, equal right to sue and be sued, to in erlt, make contracts, and give testimony. Not one of the rebel States allows a negro to give testimony against a white man; several impose punishments which differ according to the color of the offender. The 2nd clause of the amendment asserts no power to remedy this; but even if it did, or if the bill to guaranty civil rights under another section of the Constitution confers the authority, we are not compelled to meet at every step a conflict of Jurisdiction, or punish innocent State officers for enforcing State laws which should be an nulled. To these 2 propositions Congress has been earnestly addressing itself in the testimony taken by its committee, as well as to the condition and conduct of the people of these States. In order to be fully informed of their legislation, the Senate on January 5, and again on Februa 27 of this year, requested information of the President in regard to their provisional governors. On the 6th of this month he transmitted a reply, and within a few days only this evidence has been published. Butthe war brought other results which should be embodied forever in the organic law by constitutional amendment. If not done now the golden opportsnity will be gone forever. congress has been conse ientiously endeavoring to present propositions which will do equal Justice to a l and forever settle the controversy. 2 such amendments passed this House. As to the justice of one there is no question. The other in some shape will, I have not a doubt, prevail during the present session. One is to declare by constitutional amendment that no part of the rebel debt shall ever be paid by tie U.S. Who will object to such a provision? It is of no force to allege that the States have already declared those debts void which they contracted in aid of the rebellion. What one Legislature has done another may repeal. The war debt of the Union must be sacred, that of the rebellion forever excluded. Article 6, paragraph one, of the Constitution, provides that V "All dohts contracted and engagements entered into beforethe adoption of this Constitution shall he as valid against the U.S. under this Constitution as under the Confederation." it is as appropriate now to exclude an ille gitimate obligation as it was then to provide for an honorable one. Let me on this point read the very excellent telegram sent by the President, November 5, 18155, to Governor Sharkey, of Mississippi, in relation to slavery: "The action of the legislature of Mississippi is lookedto at this timewathgreat interest.anda failure to adopt the amendmentwill create the belief that the action of the convention abolishin slavery will herenfter by the samebody he revoke. the argument is. if the convention abolished slavery in good faith. why should the Legislature hesitate to may O it a part of the Constitution of the U.S.?" While I favor this amendment, Mr. Speaker, candor compels me to say we may be safe without it. I hope it will be adopted. Yet, if every other guarantee were obtained, we might trust to the acts of the several Legislatures 1n reference to this question. But there is another amendment needed, involvinga vital principle, which was partially yielded because of slavery, and shoal now be reinstated. Under article 1, section 2, of the constitution " Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the severul States which may be included in this Union according to their respective numbers, winch shall be determinedby adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term ofyeurs and excluding Indians not taxed, 3/5ths of all other persons. Every one knows that this 3/5 ths clause was inserted because of the existence of sin very It was only passed after much debate an heated discussion in the Convention which adopted the Constitution; men like Butler, of SCarolina, General Pinckne, and others, insisting that “ blacks be include in the rule of representation equally with whites;" the same Charles C. Pinckuey who afterward in the SCarolina convention, urging the adoption of the Constitution, said: “We determined that Representatives should be apportioned among the several States by addin to the whole number of free persons 3/5ths of the slaves. We thus obtained a representation for our property." Mr. Randolph “urged strenuously that express security ought to be provided for including slaves in the ratio of representation. He la merited that such a species of property existed. But, as it did exist, the holders of it would require this security." it the other hand, Mr. King “thought the admission of them along with whites at all would create great discontent among the States having no slaves.” Gouverncur Morris “could nevera reetogive such encouragement to the slave tr e as would be given by allowing the southern States arepresentation for negroes, ” and did not believe Pennsylvania would agree to it. Mr. Gerry “thought property not the rule of representation; why, then, should the blacks, who were property in the South, be in the rule of representation more than the cattle and horses of the North?” Mr. Wilson said “he did not well see on what principle the admission of blacks in the proportion of 3/5ths could be explained. Are they admitted as citizens? Then why are they not admitted on an equality with white citizens? Are they admitted asproperty? Then why is not other property admitted into the computation? These were difficulties which hethought must be overruled by necessity or compro mise, ” and accordingly this “compromising expedient of the Constitution, ” as Madison terms it, this inequality, based upon wrong, was adopted, the same proportion entering into the basts of taxation and so from the foundation of the Government the South has had this unfair representation in the national councils. to make up for which a direct tax, only collected several times in our history, and which might well be repealed orits basis changed, has been nominally imposed on them in the same ratio. Slavery being dead, it becomes as at once to alter the representation based upon it. I ask it on behal of the North; in the cause of the Union which should never again be disturbed by a discussion of the question; in conformity with the representation adopted by the southern States themselves; and I ask that an amend ment embodyingit may be passed by Congress, even if not ratified, before any insurrectionary State is again represented here. 11is war prorns Hours. The whole number of Representatives in Congress is established by law at 241. The South under the next apportionment must either lose this representation on 3/5ths of the negroes, or gain 2/5ths and mount to power on the whole. Unless the ratio be altered the South will sin 12 members; those 12 members will be taken from the number we now have, equivalent to 24. If they are so gained, the vote of every white man in the South will be nearl equal to 2 at the North, and the rebellion will have produced for the former more power than the arch traitor JeffersonDavis, in his long years of plotting and fondest visions of aristoc racy ever compassed. Let the laboring man who has given his son to the country onder over this fact, and the Representative beware how he votes away the liberties of the people. rr IS rtnsurr 10 was muos. C. C. Langdon, elected to this House from the Mobile district. of Alabama, over his own signature says, admit the 22 Senaoters and 58 members from the South, “and the radicals cannot carry anything by a 2/3rd vote.” Yes, sir, even under the present 3/5 ths representation, and without t to gain which the next apportionment would fix, the radical Union men in Congress would be tied hand and foot by the representatives of those who, not man months since, stood in battle array, as they had done for 4 dreadful years, against the banner of their country. Self reservation dictates that for the sake of that nion they strove to destroy wc shall pass now whatever constitutional amendments are needed. Admit these 80 “ conservatives” 1st and the discussion may aswell be post poned indefinitely. rr is run. sosoiunu and soon. ron rm.som. Mr. Speaker, I want no law for the Soutl that is not to a ply equally to the North. I hear a great dea about taxation without representation. North and South there are human beings who are taxed without being represented. I assert that we have no right to take advantage of our own wrong; that where any class is excluded from the elective franchise we are not entitled to resentution for such excluded class. I vote for such a proposition. I would be willing, that having failed, to adopt the proposition of basing representation on voters, counting all as voters who habonce exercised the privilege, and lost it by rebellion or crime, and waiting for each census to add that part of the foreign population which is continually drifting into a voting one. But some such alteration becomes a vital necessity and why should the South complain? Mr. Madison, in No. 64 of the Federalist, aring in favor of the 3/5ths clause in the constitution, says: It may be relied that slaves are not included in the estimates of representatives of any of the States possessing them. They neither vote themselves norner case the votesof their masters. Upon what principle ought they to be taken into the Federal estimate of representationI In rejectingthomltogctber the Constitution would in this respect have followed the very laws which have been appealed to as the properguide." and trying, as it were, to stem the tide, he adds: "Let the caseof the slaves be considered. as it is in truth. a peculiar one." Very well; it is now alleged by the South that had the slaves been free they would have been counted man for man in the basis. Perhaps they would at that time, for in nearly every State the free negroes then had the right to vote. They voted for and elected a member of Congress in Tennessee as late as 1828. They took part in most of the State elections to the Constitutional Convention and the conventions to ratify the Constitution of the U.S and this argument would act as a two edged sword. But be the fact as it may, certain it is that in nearly every southern State the basas of representation for the State Legislatures omitted the important element of power which existed federal y. The Kentucky constitution of 1799, by proviso reenacted in 1850, made “qualified electors” the basis; that of Arkansas, fly ted in 1836, in force in 1861, " free whm) male inhabitants.” The Mississippi constitution of 1817 aprtions representation according to the number of “ free white male inhabitants.” The Louisiana constitution of 1812 based Representation upon “qualified electors, ” and it was not until 1852that this was altered to “the total population of each of the several parishes of the State.” That of Texas was based by the constitution “on the number of free population.” The Alabama. constitution, adopted in 1819, on the “number of white inhabitants, ” and Tennessee, by her constitution of 1796, revised in 1835, on “qualified voters.” The Missouri constitution bases representstion on “permanent free white inha itants.” In Virginia, where the rule was reversed, the State was racked with dissensions arising out of the unequal representation afforded by sla very to the tide water counties and those east of the Blue Ridge. Twice were conventions assembled, in 1830 and again in 1850, to rem edy the evil; but the slaver element was too powerful for the yeomen ofWestVirginia, who received scarcely enough concessions to keep them from separation till the rebellion came. In the convention of 1830, Mr. Baldwm, expressing the bitterness to which the contest had arisen, said: The eastern peopledemand, as we are told. only security, not for their personal rights, but for their property, and it is ranted by conceding representation according to oderal numbers in the Senate. They would sustain no pangsof humiliation by yiolding to the basisof white population in the House of Delegates and would soon become reconciled to the compromise. What do the western people demand? That equal representation which is to give protection not on y place to their property but to their persons, and them upon an equality with the ot or free men of the Commonwealth. Let the principle of Federal numbers, in whatever degree, heIntroducedinto both Houses, and the hardy coman of the west will never be satisfied. Thenalresu t will be ase paration of the State." Butthiswasduringslavery. Since the shackles have fallen, however, these States persistin excluding from their basis of representation those whom they exclude as a class from political privileges. Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, do so. Louisiana was restored to the white basis. In the late Alabama convention there was a struggle to strike it out, but the mount ains, ever the home of liberty, triumphed over the lowlandsand retained the white basis. Even aristocratic SCarolina. has abolished her rotten borough system and advanced rapidly to ward the right. Provisional Governor Perry, in his message to the SCarolina convention, well reminded them that “ 20 or 30 voters in one of the parishes whose population and taxation combined entitle it to only one member in the HoRep have the same representation in the Senate that 3000 voters have in Edgcfield district. Now that slavery is abolished a reformation in this respect is imperative, and must be adopted.” Surely what the South is doing at home can" not be far wrong when demanded here. Surely if the reduction in number of representatives from the South be urged as an o jection, the answer now is as perfect as in the early days of the Republic, that the States, small and large, have an equal voice in the Senate, and that the HoRep derives its power directly from the expression of the popular will. Mr. Speaker, in 1842 AndrewJohnson introducedhhe followipg resolution into the Tennessee Legislature: “Resolver! That the basis to be observedin laying the State otf into congressional districts shall be the voting population without any regard to the 3/5ths of the negropopulation.” r Last October, in conversation with George L. Stearns, since published, he still spoke up rovingly of the idea. If the same Andrew ohnson, now the Chief Magistrate of a great republic, will give this or some kindred plan his support in this trying juncture, I believe it will pass Congress as an amendment to the constitution and be adopted by 3/4ths of the States in a few months, and then, sir, these insurrectionary States, having conformed to the laws as I have stated, I for one am in favor of receiving from them such loyal Representatives as they may send, and binding up every wound. I know that rebellion is still rite in the hearts of many of the people; that the President still keeps the writ of habeascorpus suspended in the South; that the military cannot yet be removed with safety to its citizens; that the national airs are hissed, as was done in the theater at Mobile lately, the newspapers calling upon the general in command to forbid the performance of tunes calculated to annoy their citizens; that “no steamer below the mouth of the Ohio flies our flag, no hotel in the southern cities spreads it to the breeze;” and on the 21st of last month General Wood, commanding the Dept of Mississippi, was forced to issue an order that “the national flag shall be respected, ” that GenlGrant has suppressed newspapers in the South for disloyal sentiments; that the gray there continues more fashionable than “the blue.” This and much more might be adduced to prove that the “confederacy” is still odorous in the nostrils of the South. But I do not believe the asonthern heart can be changed in a day; perhaps not entirely in a generation. With liberty and equalityingratted by law and Constitution, accepting none who are disloyal, I am willing to trust to fraternity in the future. Distinguished men who now ask its exercise, I know, believe that power was conferred originally in the Constitution to regulate suffrage in the States. Without denying this, I assert that contemporaneous legislation and uniform custom have been the other way. I know, too, that still others claim this right under the late amendment to the Constitution, allegin that freedom made the negro a citizen and a part of “the people of the several States, " who, by section 2, article 1, of the Constitution, are to choose members of the HoRep. citizenship alone does not give the rights of an elector. The negro was a citizen before his fetters were burst. It is true, however, that all civil government in these States, recognized by the Constitution, being overturned, reverte to the people. The whole people, not the disloyal part of it only, had a right to beheard in its restoration. But this was not done. The Resident organized these southern governments, leaving this element out, and as education is needed to give it fitness, I am satisfied not to demand of the South a policy which my own State has not adopted, asking, however, of South and North, that a population excluded from voting shall not avail in any State for the purposes of representation. Some such plan as I have proposed and I shall be glad to accept a better one would prevent future rebellion against the Government and future wrong to the citizen. I ear nestly trust that Congress will soon be enabled to declare on what terms the insurrectionary States may have full communion with those which remained true and loyal. Indemnity for the past is impossible. The dead cannot be recalled to life. But security for the future is demanded; demanded by the sacred dust of the martyrs for liberty; de manded by the laboring masses South as much as North; demanded by the widow and orphan, widowed and orphaned to gratify the unholy ambition of infamous demagogues whose trea sonable crimes are still unpunished; demanded by the maimed and diseased who suffer from the conflict; demanded by every soldier and sailor who fought to preserve the Union won by.the Revolution, guarantied by the Constitution, and now cemented once again and forever by patriotic blood. lhat once obtained, and it need not be a question of many months, the U.S. will present asectacle of beauty and strength such as the world has never seen. Skilled in the part of war by the ordeal of battle, with a navy that has made us the astonishment of Europe, there is no fear of the future. Our commerce swells every sea and decks every shore. science has wrought for us its choicest won ders. New manufactures invite, South and North, the energy and capital of our citizens. The land is “flowing with milk and hone." The mountains teem with mineral wen th. Broad, beautiful rivers, bearing rich argosies to the ocean our veins and arteries are met and crossed by bands of iron, fresh bonds and ligaments to unite us; shortly it is hoped to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The wildest day dream of the enthusiast will soon be realized, for labor, vindicated and respected, has at once found its reward and its home in the regenerated American Union. RECONSTRUCTIOX ADMISSION OF TENNESSEE.