Mr. PAINE. I have no authentic information of that fact, but I think the expectation might be justified by the 2nd section of this [Laughter] Sir, I was about to say that the Gentfrom Ohio [Mr. SPALDING] might well say to the Gentfrom Pennsylvania, [Mr. Steve Ns:] “Pirst cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thousee clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye.” I thank the Gentfrom the Cadiz district of Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM] for yielding me a portion of his time. Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, the 2 bills now pending before the House, and which I have moved to commit to the ComReconstruction, are, 1st the bill introduced by the Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] without the sanction of any committee, and by way of substitute for the bill originally reported by the ComReconstruction; and the other is the bill reported from the ComTerritories by my colleague, [Mr. As HLEY] In all that I may say today, Mr. I do not wish to be understood as seeking to enforce upon the House any plan of my own. I desire merely to call the attention of the House to the attempts made by these 2 measures to induce the House to depart from what has hitherto been agreed upon by the ComReconstruction; what has hith erto been done and sanctioned by the 39th Congress; what has hitherto been done and sanctioned by the people through the public press, in their primary assemblies, at the ballot box, and finally what is now being done, and conclusively done, by the people of the organized States through their legislative as semblies. Neither, sir, do I intend to be under stood, in anything I may say here today, as attempting to limit by any poor words of mine the sovereignty and power of the people of the U.S. to take such security as, in their judgment, they may deem effectual for the future safety of the Republic and the protection of the rights of all the people of the republic. It is because I insist upon that right of the people a right that belongs alone to the people, and which can be exercised effect ively only by the people that I oppose the legislation contemplated by the honorable Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. STEveNs] and by my colleague, [Mr. AshLEY] While there are many, and, in my judgment, weighty objections to these bills, that just stated is not the least of them. I challenge these bills today, in the presence of the HoRep and in the presence of the nation, as a substantial denial of the right of the great people who have saved this Republic by arms to save it by fundamental law e law emanating from the people, law resting upon the sovereign will of the people alone, law beyond the power of this Congress or of any subsequent Congress by mere legislative enactments to repeal or in any manner limit or restrict. Standing upon this proposition of the right and duty of the people to settle for themselves this great question, which involves the future of the nation, the life and stability of American institutions, I ask the House to consider what has been done thus far upon the subject of restoration and the public safety by the ComReconstruction, by the Congress by which that committee was appointed, and after them by the people themselves? 1st, sir, that committee, reflecting, as I believe, the will of the House and the Senate as well as the judgment of the people of the organized States of this Union, came to the conclusion that there was no future safety for the Republic, no security against a future rebellion similar to that which has recently rocked the continent and filled all good men in this land and in other lands with fears of the failure of this great experiment of republican government, but by incorporating in the Constitution itself such a provision as would protect in all the hereafter the rights of every citizen and every State by the combined power of the whole people. To that end that committee prepared an article of amendment to the Constitution of the U.S., and submitted it to the consideration of this House and of the Senate. That article of amendment is substantially that all persons born in this land, within the juris diction of the U.S., without regard to complexion or previous condition, are citizens of the Republic; that no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the U.S.; that no State shall deprive any person of life or liberty or property without due process of law; that no State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws; that representation hereafter among these States shall be apportioned according to the whole number of representative population in each; that those who have vio ated official oaths to support the Constitution of the U.S shall be ineligible to any office, civil or military, State or national, until such disability shall be removed by act of congress; that neither the U.S. nor any State of this Union shall ever assume or pay any debt contracted in aid of the late rebellion or make compensation for slaves; and that the debt contracted in defense of the nation's life shall be forever inviolable; and crowning all with the grand, comprehensive grant of power; that the Congress of the U.S shall be authorized by appropriate legislation to enforce this provision. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today filled with the conviction, as strong as knowledge or that light which comes direct from heaven, that the future safety of this people depends in some sort }. the incorporation into their Constitution of that great amendment. If it had been there from the beginning, you never in my judgment would have been troubled with the laterebellion. Now, it is attempted to be said here, and elsewhere, too, that it was not the conclusion of the JtCom on Reconstruction of the Senate and the HoRep that this amendment was to be made the basis of reconstruction. I beg leave to remind the House and to remind the country that that was the very conclusion to which that committee did come, and which they reported to the House and Senate. As evidence of this, sir, I refer to the bill which was reported by order of that committee, and as a substitute for which the Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. STEVess] has interposed the bill which is powpend;ing before the House. That committee reported at the last session a bill together with the constitutional amendment, and which bill is as follows: “Abife by the Senate and HoRep res of the U.S.A. in Congress assembled. That whenever the above recited amendment shall have become part of the Constitution of the U.S., and any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the same, and shall have modified its constitution and laws in conformity therewith, the Sens&Reps from such State, if found duly elected, and qualified, may, after having tCaoknegnrethsse required oaths of office, be admitted into as such. “SEC. 2. Abife:, That when any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the foregoing amendment to the Constitution, any part of the direct tax under the act of August 5, 1861, which may remain dueandho in such State, may be assumedand paid bysuchState; and the payment thereof, upon proper assurances from such State, to begiven to the secyTreasury of the U.S., may be postponedfor a period not exceeding ten yearsfrom and after the passageof this act.”