Mr. KELLEY. Mr. Speaker, from the same source I draw one more illustration of the ridiculousness of the position assumed by those who claim that we are in a state of peace, and that the POTUS o: not, therefore, to protect the Union men and other citizens by the military power of the Government. My correspondent says: “In 1865a freedman named Lewis Warren was arrested in Sampson county, on, a criminal charge imprisoned, tried, and acquitted., He was confine in nearly 5 months. The charge of jo. fees, and the cost of the suit, ($125,)were charged to him after he had been proven innocent before the court and acquitted; and to pay these costshe wassold by the sheriff, upon the order of the court, for 3 years, to one Simon Peter Hobbs, of Sampson county, for whom he labored faithfully for 13 months and 18 days. He then escaped, and is believed now to be concealed by certain well known Union men in Johnson, county, who, at their own peril, are. the liberty of a man whose innocence has been vindicated even before a rebel court.” Mr. Speaker, in taking leave of NCarolina I turn to Texas. I have a picture of things in that State taken from the NewYork Tribune of last Friday morning. It Presents a condition of things quite as bad as that in SCarolina, as reported by the committee over which the gentleman, from Maine [Mr. PIKE] Presides, quite as bad as that reported as exist:ing in Louisiana by the committee whose bill we passed today. When gentlemen shall have heard they will be able to judge whether Texas is at peace or war or in a state of siege. It is as follows: “Qne of the 1st, acts of the Legislature was to ahbadolbisehentheelejcutdeidcijauld, gdeiss: trtichtes aindmwihniicshtra Union of the law dws aasn restored entirely to rebels; Large grants of omade to rebel soldiers. The rbeoidniteesrmofe rebels were brought from other States for and an act passedto remove the bodies of Union soldiers from the State cemetery. Conthriertsysional districts were created by which counties for them piluerspaopsearotfwperreevpelnatcing d itnhe the elescatimonedoifstarincyt rmeajencttoing Congress who could take the test, oath. In the constitutional amendment,0ctober 13, the Legislature adopteda report which declared the action of Congress to be a nefarious conspiracy.’ ‘crafty and iniquitous legislation, ” malignant.” Labor laws were framed which practically reduced the freedmen to slavery, and were found so monstrous that the Freedmen's Bureau refused to admit their authority. In brief, the Legislature of Texas, animated by the old spirit of slavery directly beelnlioconu, draidgendothing for loyalty and order, but that reign of violence which is now driving Union men from the State and making itnhe Texas roiessssmeraflsl, aTnhdeou U.S. military force tection Union men and freedmen are at the mercy of rebels r 100s of cases of outrage haye been of these we will quotea few furnished by unquestionable authority. “In the spring of 1866 a son of Jonathan Lindley was murdered in Bell county; his murderers were arrested the military, and in to escape 2 of them dwinegrtehkeiltlreodo, pist, aisnsdaMidrb. yLiMndaljeoyr.Carnp Nnotveer, mcobmer Lindley was arrested for murder and placed in jail. Through his counsel he applied to General Heintzelman for protection h, iasffiUrmniionng pthriantcihpiisesli.fe General Heintzelman laid the facts before Governor Throckmorton, who replied, Noyember, 17: “I apprehend that Mr. Lindley is in no danger from rash violence in Bell county. I shall write to the authorities of that county on the subject, and, imPress the neces of a strict compliance with the law and the confidence expressed by Major General Heintzelman in their regard for law.' Solemn assurances were given by the authorities of Bell county that Lindley should be odoepaslt with justly. Near the end of November the in the neighborhood were sentto the frontier to protect the people of Texas from Indians, and on the night of December 3 a mob of about 30 entered the jail, murdered, old Mr. Lindley, his son, sat nrdanagneorther inmate of the jail, who was an entire to the Lindleys. In this case not even the interference of Governor Throckmorton was a protection. It is an instance of the gruelty of trusting to the civil courts the lives of Union men; the folly of believing that Texas rebels respectany authority but that of the bayonet. “We believe that for almost everyday of the past 6 month sa murder of a Union man or a negro might be cited. But the cases which we quote are sufficient to show the condition of the State. On the 21stof October, in Grayson county, 4 men rode up to the House of a freedman, named Daniel Wheat, arrested him for some pretended offense, and shot him before hSiusmopwtnerd, oTorri.nitTyhecmouunrdtye, raersfrweeerdemnaont awrraesstbeudr.neInd caoliuvnet in, December, and several killed. In Chambers by in the same month, a Union man was beaten 2 men till he, was senseless, and his house robbed. An order for, their arrest was issued, but the outlaws snatched the warrant from the sheriff, tore it to pieces, and defiedhis power. Edmund parjms and ‘Mat. Howlin, 2 freedmen, were shot internatvlyisfro county in December., bTyh, ewihr it murder e, arspwpearre not arrested. At Prairie Lea, December8, a negro was mpausb, liineslyteawdhoipfpMedastfeorr TChoollmingas.a Oyonunthge rle5btehl, at the same place, a bottle of whisky was demanded of a negro, and upon his refusal to give it he was shot The murderers were known, but the civil au refused to arrestthem. Prairie Lea is 40 Iniles from any military post, and it is the common amusement of the rebels, mounted on horses, to chase the freedmen through the streets and shoot Never, ’ says a trustworthy correspondent of the Freedmen's Bureau, Fo the case of a Union man, “in the days of slavery hast here been known itshteinwtrhoengnso, rththeeoausttreargnec, othuentoipepsoref s Texans thtaotwnaorwd tehxe .negroes. They are now moredowntroddenand rutally treatedthan he has ever known them during his residence here, which has been ever since 1833. They have no rights whatever that are respected; and he has related to me instances of cruelty, wrong and violation of all law toward them which would make your heart bleed. His own freed negroes have returned to him and be sought him to receive them to his otceacrtion as his slaves, that they might have some cruelly administers eadytsh, tahnaitt tehveer laws ahs:ist, hnaotw negroes who have cultivated lands rented from someof the white men, after growing finecrops and having them laid by for the harvest, have been deprived of every thing upon some pretext sought by the landlord to lin ". which would terminate, in the most abl rwuittahlouptunaishdmolelanrt of ofrth the negro rahned hhaisd dbies. stetomwpetd upon the crop; I, could not pretend to at: murder addoewsnc:ripatniodnthoefroeuistrnaogteas, nfraogment cold blood beud reau or an officer to whom these people can appeal for redress.” “This description correctly applies to every district in Texas of which the U.S. troopshave not control. In Harrison county bandsof organized trwobebnetyrs spelyuennder whites and blacks, alike, and in no safety for noetghreorecsoour nlotyieasl, imn ethna.tF district the thneorertihs emrennpaarretnooft Taxiadsfowre the aveabeosrt, imanodnryetmhaatinthine afreeteudal slavery. Freedmen who dare to bring suits to recover wages due are frequently whipped, and many of those who at the close of the year were paid were afterward robbed. "Unless protection can be afforded cfrooumnty, the military, ’ writes a Union man in Caldwell “assassination will soon become the order of the day.” Panola county was in November, probably is, controlled by organized robbers whom the civil authorities dared not attempt to arrest. Thus the catalogue of crime continues; but we have said enough, If have said nothing e;wbeurtetheexycaerpetitohnearluclaes; easnwde though January few reports from Texas during the month of we believe that the number of murders is not, diminishing, and the condition of probably growing worse.” the State Mr. Speaker, the condition of things I have thus fully attempted to portray prevails in a greater or less degree throughout the whole district in which civil government was overthrown. It is to remedy it that we propose to pass this bill and divide it into 5 militar districts. If we have no right to redress such wrongs and establish government where none exists the bill should fail. If we are thus pow erless there is an end of the matter, and we ought to proceed to other business. on what theory is our right and power to do. denied? It is said ten States exist there and that we have no right to interfere thus within the limits of States. The Gentfrom Massachusetts [Mr. BANKs] said: “He believed that the States lately in rebellion were still States. They had been made States by the action of the people and of the General Government, and they could never cease to be States until the general Government had consented to that condition, That consent had never been given.” I am never surprised to hear such assertions from the other side of the House, but when Massachusetts raises her voice in behalf of the doctrine of State rights and asserts that a State is immortal or indestructible, and that the confederated States are still States of the Union, wherefore we have no right to interfere for the protection of Union men within their limits, I feel called to make my protest. Sir, a State is not immortal. It may be dissolved by a sovereign convention of the people called together to modify the constitution, but which should refuse to adopt any, and the people accept the result. The people of a State, and with the people its organization, may be swept away by the act of God. A conqueror may crush out a State and annex or absorb. its territory. The history of nations, from the dawn of civilization till today, shows that empires, kingdoms, and States are as evanescent as human life. States of the Union are destructible, and the confusion on this point, as to whether certain States are in the Union or out of it, arises from the fact that gentlemen consider that which is a complex question as a simple one. A State consists of territory, peo: le, and political organism. The territory of Texas belongs to the U.S.; the territory of Louisiana and of Florida belongs to the U.S.. It was all acquired by purchase. We paid for them out of the common Treasury. Florida we bought of Spain, Louis iana of France, and Texas we bought with the gold and blood of a war with Mexico. The soil belongs to the U.S., and the people who are on it owe their allegiance to the government which exists in conformity to the Constitution of the U.S., which has. decreed to be the supreme law of the all Ol. The territory could be taken from us but by successful war. Passing by the right of conquest, the allegiance of the people might be transferred with the soil. Bit those who at. tempted to transfer this territory to a foreign confederacy failed. The soil belongs to our country and the allegiance of the people is due to our Government. In so far they are still in the Union. But there was, as I have said, another thing that entered into the organization of a State. Over the soil and over the people was a thing known as a constitution; in one instance of Texas, in another of Louisiana, and in a 3rd of Florida. Those constitutions contained lig aments binding them to the Union. The 4th and 6th articles of the Constitution of the U.S. show how States are bound to the Union and interwoven with each other. We are to surrender fugitives from justice, and public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of each State are to be accredited in all others. There are many provisions by which the States are bound. I. in a Union. They have direct relations to the Union through the courts, the customhouses, the postal system, and in divers other ways. The insurgent States were overthrown, and if they were not out of the Union, to borrow a figure from that distinguished son of Maryland, Fred. Douglass, they had got the Union pretty thoroughly out of them. There were within the limits no U.S. courts, the judges of their courts took no oath to support the Constitution of the U.S. as it provides, no U.S. laws were in force there, and judgments in favor of our fellow citizens were of no effect. Fugitives from our justice, after poisoning our wells and dissem inating disease among us, flew among them, and our indictments against them were not recognized by any of their Governors. There were no States then known or related to the Union, nor are there any there now. The territory is ours, and the rebellious people having been conquered by our armies are subject to our control. We are bound to guaranty them a RFG. There are no States there, and if we would execute the law which this, House adopted today we must pass this bill providing for a military government over them, so that our Army may E. safety to the agents designated by that ill, to those who through the long period of the war cherished a love for the Union, when they dared not avow it, and to those who, the Union, followed its flag and periled their lives on bloody fields in its behalf. Sir, this was in accordance with the views of Abraham Lincoln. General Weitzel made an arrangement by which the members of the Virginia Legislature were to meet at Richmond, and got Mr. Lincoln's consent to their visiting that city. But when it came to the President's ears that they were not to go there as private citizens but as legislators he canceled his order and prohibited the assemblage. It was the yiew of AndrewJohnson, exPressed in my hearing and in a conversation in which I participated, to General Gantt, of Arkansas. He then rejoiced that 8 months must elapse before Congress was to come together, as during that time it would be his duty simply to secure peace and order through the military power to the people of that broad district then embracing Tennessee, and that during those 8 months, while they would have no civil government, they would ascertain the end and true foundation of government and come to understand the people of the North; while the people of the North would come to know them better, and we would all be better able to estimate the capacity of the negro for freedom and our duty to him. This was immediately after Wilkes Booth had invested him with the Presidential office, before he had yet of the Presidential Mansion as an occupant, and while he was yet the guest of the Gentfrom Massachusetts [Mr. Hooper] and holding executive levees in the Treasury building. Then, if his words might be believed, he had no thought save that the Government having crushed the armies of a powerful belligerent, it was his duty as its executive head and Commander in Chief to hold the territory until the lawmaking or treaty making power could exercise its functions and determine what should be the future condition of the conquered territory. It continued to be his view until a later day. When GenlSherman made his ill advised peace with General Johnston he reannounced it. On the 22d of April, the day on which the terms of that arrangement were brought to the President, he, after consulting his Cabinet, set the agreement aside, assigning 9 reasons therefor. Those reasons were utterly inconsistent with the idea that there were or could be States in that territory until the lawmaking power, which is Congress, should have exercised its functions. Some of those reasons are as follows: “3. It undertook to reestablish the rebel State governments that had been overthrown at the sacrifice of many 1,000 loyal lives and immense treasure, and placed the arms and munitions of war in the hands of the rebels at might be used as sootnheaisr rtehsepaercmtivieescoafpitthaels U.S. which were disbanded, and used to conquer and subdue the loyal States. “4. By the restoration of rebel authority in respective their States they would be enabled to reestablish slavery.” It formed no basis of true and lasting peace, but relieved the rebels from the Pressure of our vic tories and left them in condition to renew their efforts to overthrow the U.S. Government and subdue the loyal States whenever their strength was recruited and any opportunity should offer. Mr. Speaker, I might add to these the clause in the proclamation establishing the socalled civil governments in NCarolina, in which he declared that all civil government had been overthrown by the violent revolutionary force of the people. But, sir, my hour is almost spent, and I must hasten to a conclusion. And in doing Iso ask gentlemen not to regard this as a measure of reconstruction, but as a measureessential to the execution of the bill we passed today, and of similar bills for other parts of the insurrectionary district. I appeal to them by the adoption of this bill, pure and simple as it came to us, with the sanction of the committee of 15, to o: security to every Union man in the South or avenge his wrongs, and to allow those who now are held in constrained hostility to the Government of their fathers to avow a desire for peace at the end of a long and disastrous war. Not alone do I make this appeal; from 1000s of graves come ghostly voices chiding us with having invoked men to our aid and then shamelessly and pitilessly handing them over to the unrestrained malice of revengeful ene mies whom they had aided us to conquer. The widow and the orphan cry to us not to disgrace their country and the 39th Congress by leaving them unprotected in communities which exult in the fact that it has taken the lives of their husbands and fathers for their devotion to our country and cause. The passage of this bill or its equivalent is rejo by the manhood of this Congress to save it from the hissing scorn and reproach of every southern man who has been comN. to seek a home in the by ways of the orth, from every homeless widow and orphan of a Union soldier in the South who should have been protected by the Government, and who despite widowhood or orphanage would have exulted in the power of our country had it not been for the treachery of AndrewJohnson. In God's name, men of the 39th Congress, do not interweave your names ignominiously with his by betraying the Union men of the South and surrendering nearly 1/2 of the country to rebels whose power your armies crushed.