Mr. FESSENDEN. We cannot act on every thing at once. We have come now to the 5th of January, because Congress adjourned to meet on the 5th day of January, 1866. On the 5th day of January, 1866, when we met together the honorable Senfrom Massachusetts [MI SUMNER] submitted the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to: “ Remind That the POTUS he roquested, ifin his opinion not incompatible with the public interest. to furnish to the Senate copies of all papersor proclamations designating certain persons as provisional governors of States and an account of the salary if any, they muy have been allowed; the oaths. if any, they may have taken before cutering upon their duties. an if they did not take the oath of otheo prescribedby Congressfor officersof the U.S. then why they did not takethe same; also all instructions with regard to their duties and communications between them and the President, telegraphic or otherwise; alsocopiesof any communications in his possession from such personsto any convention or Legislative Assembly in their respect. ilvaewsSmtantrepso;ratlisneg copies of any constitution, articles or to have beenadoptedin such States, so far as the same affect the present condition of such States and the rights of persons therein.” On the 12th do of Januarya similar resolution in effect I do not know whetherit was in the same exact terms was offered in the HoRep by Mr. Raruosn, of NewYork, and passed. When that committee came together, what was the 1st thing they were to consider"? They were to consider what these States had done, what was their present condition, what were their Legislatures, what were their constitutions, an everything about them, as showing whether they were or were not in a condition to return. Where were all these papers? In the hands of the President and nowhere else. He had them and nobody else had them. On the 27th of February, only a few days ago, the information not having been furnished, the same resolution was renewed on the motion of the Senfrom Massachusetts, and again adopted by the Senate. I mayas well betray the secrets of the committee to a certain extent, so far as to say that the 1st thing the committee thought or said was, before proceeding to ascertain and come to a conclusion as to the condition of the States which lately composed the socalled confederate States, we must have a knowledge of these facts; we must have the constitutions; we must have a statement of what the Legislatures were, how they were composed, whether the members had taken the requisite oaths, and generally all the facts in relation to what had been done in or nizing the State governments. Let nobody undertakc to tell me that we could go on discharging our duty as members of that committee, to decide on the condition of these States, without knowing anything of what the States had done in the wayof organization. Was not that the very 1st question that we were to ascertain? Must we not see what their constitutions were? To ascertain these facts we must do one of 2 things: we must either send to Florida and Texas and all the other States and hunt up these papers, and then we could not get near the whole of them because they are in the hands of the President and only in his hands; or we should call on the President to give them to us. The President sent us an annual message in December, in which he said that he had appointed provisional governors and proceeded a certain distance in the way of reconstruction, and that he left the question of the admission of Sens&Reps to us. Did be send us any papers, any documents? Did be send us any information in relation to these States? He had it all. All the correspondence was with him. He had all the papers in his hands; he had all the telegraphic dispatches; he knew what these governors had done; he knew whether they 1nd taken the oath; he knew everything connected with the subject, for he had all the papers. What did he do in answer to this call of the Senate? Did he tell us that it was not consistent with the public interest that we should have these papers or have this information? No, sir; he said no such thing, but he simply kept quiet. From that day to this we have been waiting patiently, hoping that the President. who was so anxious to have us act on the subject, would furnish us the information that he had and that nobody else had in order to enable us to do so; but although 3 calls have been made upon him, one on the 5th of January by the Senate, one on the 12th of January by the HoRep, and again on the 27th of February by the Senate, we have not yet received this information. Was there no reason for desiring these doc uments? Let us look at a fact or two. Whom did the President appoint as provisional governor of SCarolina? I am not complaining of his appointment; I am speaking of facts; be appointed Mr. Perry, who, as we all understand was a judge under the confederate government I think that was the office he held. How do we know that he has been pardoned even? We have no proof of it. Look at Mississippi. What took place there? There were 2 candidates for Govern or, one a Union man and the othera General Hum hneys, cov ered all over with treason,who had, been fighting through the whole war in the confederate army, an had risen to the rank of a brigadier general. He was nominated on the other side, and the newspapers of the day stated (Mr. Sharkey can tell whether it is true or notl that Mr. Sharkey, the provisional governor there, gave notice in Mississippi that General Hum phreys was not an cligible candidate, and votes would be thrown away upon him, because he was not even nrdoned. He was a traitor who had receive no pardon, and yet we are told that he has since been pardoned. Do we know it? Have we any proof of it? Do we know anything about it? Has the President furnished us any information with regard to it? For aught we know today the man who signed the credentials of the Senators from Mississippi, if they are here, is an unpardoned rebel, a man who served during the whole war against us. I speak of these instances, not that I find fault with anybody. The President may have perfectly good reasons for withholding is information. He has not chosen to tell us that he had any reason or that he wished to with hold it; but although we called for it on the 1stdav that the Senate met alter the recess. the very day that we could by in our operations, from that day to this We lave not been able to obtain the information that lay at the foundation of our whole proceeding, that would enable us to ascertain the fact whether there was a constitution in any of those States, what it was, whether there was n Governor, whether he had been pardoned or not, and any facts in relation to its condition, all of which we ought to know, and all of which we must line wbefore we can proceedaday or an hour and yet gentlemen talk about delay, and say the committee have been delaying and not reporting, when the fact is that all the information is in the hands of the President. All these papers are with.him, and he, urging us, as I understand he does urge us, to act upon those credentials, will not send a single one of these papers and we can get them nowhereclse without takin double the time that has already elapsed, and then we could not get more than hall of them, because of course we cannot et all the tele graphic dispatches and other tings. L ow, with what face can any gentleman get up here and talk about the disposition of this committee to delay? With what face can anybody anywhere in this whole country charge us with a disposition to delay? We have been employing all the time we could get toactn on this question. What did we have to do? While we were waiting for these documents, waitin for these constitutions, waiting for evidence of the organization of these Legislatures, waiting for the facts which lay at the very foundation of the admission of Senators and lie Representatives, what have we been doing? We have 11 States to look Over. The Senate and HoRep have ordered as to do it. We must examine into the condition of them. There was but one other way in which to do it. What was that? To take testimony; and we have been constantly engaged in taking testimony. When the Senate has adjourned over Saturdays and Senators have gone to their own particular occupations or avocations, whatever they might be, that committee has been in session considering these questions, waiting for these documents, and in the mean time taking testimony, audit is divided into 4 subeommittees, who are takingtestimony every day in the week and trying to come toa conclusion; and the reason why we have not come to a conclusion is because we can only meet occasionally. All of us are busy about other things; we can meet but 2 hours in the morning, and on Saturdays we meet as we have met almost every Saturday for hours, anxiously studying over this matter and trying to arrive at the facts, and in the mean time here is all this information which we called for 2 months ago, lying where we cannot get at it, althon h we had called for it; and yet we are accuser of delay. Where haabeon the delay? Who has prevented our coming to arconolusion and proposing action?, Sir, I say this with no disposition to throw blame upon anybody, because there may be very good reasons why these documents have not been furnished; but it does not lie in the mouth of any man to say to us that we have been delaying when we have been at work week after week and day after day, parts of the committee all the time we could get, and begging for information upon which we could found a report and a conclusion to be given to the Senate and the HoRep; and I want the country to understand that it is not the committee whb have kept things back.Sir, I should not have alluded to the fact of this call having been made here had it not been that it became my solemn duty to defend my self, my own reputation as a man to whom the Senate has committed a trust, and the reputation of the gentlemen. connected with me to whom a trust has been committed, and who have been called upon to ascertain what to them was a most unwelcome matter and to assume a labor that added very much to the severe labors that were pressing upon thorn from other directions. While we are (lfilng ill"! l and laboring all we cs, n, and the subjects that we can report upon as fast as we can, and calling for information, for begging it, not only once, but twice and thrice, an not getting it, I cannot stand here quietly and take all the imputations that may come from any uarter as to a disposition to delay, and not show what the reason is why time has gone on and no action has been had upon this matter. Sir, I rose simply to these 2 points: to explain in the 1st place what I understand by this resolution, to answer the question which has been raised so far as I con(1 answer it in regard to the constitutionality of our action, show what I thought it necessary and advisable for the Senate and HoRep to do under the circumstances; and 2ndly, and more than all, to rid myself once and forever, as I hope, and the committee which I have the honor to represent, from these imputations that are cast upon them from one quarter and an other, by uewspapers and others, of not doing their duty and of elaving action upon asubject upon which they could not act sooner, and to show the reason why they could not act.sooner than they have done. Sir, it would gratify me if I had time and the hour was not so late to allude to some few arguments that have been adduced against the resolution, but I shall not open that matter again. I never make promises to make aspeech in the future, but perhaps the time may come when I may deem it proper to say something further upon the resolution pending in the senate for the amendment of the Constitution and other kindred to ics. Having done on the present occasion all that I deemed it advisable to do with reference to the particular. question now before us, and I hope set the committee right before the country with reference to its action, and shown how the delay has been brought about, I leave the question here.