Mr. POMEROY. Mr. President, in speak in g on this resolution I must speak of the conflict and the triumph. Great events come and go with the slow, measured tread of centuries. But all events, great and small, are of “Him who seeth the and from the beginning.” The events of our own day and time are unsurpassed, whether viewed in the light of the history of our own country or of other lands. No age or country has been exempt from periods of turmoil and conflicts, for all communities which have ever aspired to have a name among nations have passed through, each for itself, periods of trial and of conflict. Our world has been little else than a theater of conflicts since the day discord appeared in Eden, which then and there, for the 1st time, committed man to rebellion and disturbed the harmony of creation. But the rest conflicts which have most disturbed man nd, and occupied by far the largest share of history, have been in the main one and the same. Although assuming diversified forms, appearing and disappearing at near and at remote periods, and among all nations, coming and going, amidst successes and defeats, still, I say, in the leading features and main characteristics they have been one and the same. For amid all the contentions of parties, ancient and modern, of our time and of all time, the great concen trating and controlling element has been for freedom on the one side, and for despotism upon the other. Of this conflict and is triumph I propose to speak. reedom and despotism, I admit, have appeared under different forms, partaking always of the type of the civilization of the age, some timesmental, called tyranny of the mind, producmg a despotism of ideas and opinions. 2nd then. again, tyranny of the body, claiming ownership of man, producing human slavery. This has been the “ conflict of ages, ” reaching back forever, and forward, also, to our own time, in some form extending to all nations and among every tribe. This conflict, at fie period, has seemed to sleep, and the world was said to be at eace. But before a rest could be realized an enjoyed contentions would spring up. offenes would come, for human society has been as restless as the troubled ocean, whose waters never sleep. Now, what have been the teaching of events, and what the lessons of history, if they have not given concurrent. testimony that no great wrong and injustice can beput permanently to rest? All the natural elements of the universe are against it; and no attribute of Omnipotence can take sides with it. There must be a war between right and wrong, liberty and despot ism, freedom and slavery, or justice has a did cated the throne and God left His universe. Compromising with injustice decides nothing, settles nothing. To attempt it in this way is to take sides with it. It is in itself restless and aggressive, making war upon the right; a disturber of the peace, an apple of discord, and in its very nature a restless sea; and no whisers of coca, by whomsoever uttered, can allay its trou led waters. Oppression and despotism in some form have been reduced to a system more or less odious, of organized violence an outrage upon man kind. In this sense the “whole creation has groaned and travailed in pain until now.” Men have always been ready to arraign themselves on the one or the other side of the issue, securing a despotism to be indulged in by the few, while submission and slavery have been meted out to the million and at the moment when power was thought to be safely installed at the head of a despotism, the returning surge of the popular will would shake the pillars of the throne, or some divine decree would write in finger marks its doom upon the walls of the palace. All testimony concurs in saying that war has been the rule, and peace the exception, in hu man society. Degrees of civilization may vary the time and temper the form of every conflict, still, never c an ng the law, that the wrong cannot rest, so that the records of the past reveal more of war than peace. More money has been spent, and more energies wasted in destroying men than in saving them. There is an irreconcilable as well as “irrepressible conflict” between liberty and despotism, freedom and slavery; it has always existed, and exists today. It has always been and will be chief disturbing element to the harmony of nations and to the peace of the world. Slavery is older than civilization, older than any written history. But I have no purpose to refer to it for an great period in the ast, but simply to state the fact, in the light of the conflict ofarms, from which we have just emerged, and draw from its lessons some reasons why we should never again temporize or compro mise with slavery, either in substance or in shadows. Why not now be thorough and do full justice, not byim lication and indirection, but direct. open, an conclusive, so that the destruction of slavery shall include all its supports and all its legacies? The slow, weary way which this nation has traveled in its conflict with slavery need not be recounted. These steps have made up the history of the last quarter. of a century, and the highway to civilization and national freedom, has been found at last to be “by the way of the wilderness and the Red sea, ” and yet all the while freedom has been “marching on, ” and still onward, at one period slow, and then impetu ous, and always irresistible. But the path way of freedom has been strewed with many wrecks. Some efforts seem to deserve success that did not find it. Not every struggle has been a triumph, neither in this country nor Europe, for its proess among the nations can even now be trace along a weary and endless pathway by the blood of the martyrs, by the scpulchers of the prephets, with here and there on y monuments to their memories. It has nevertheless been a highway for the nations, and defeats in one land have been only the steping stones to the temple of liberty in use or. The establishin of an independent republican government in his country was commenced by men who came with more of a purpose to get rid of Oppression than to found an empire of freedom. But there was a divine Hand that led them, and a divine purpose to be accomplished, which even those good men did not realize. They had had the discipline of adversity, with stripes and imprisonment, in which they learned to hate oppression and to love liberty. They were driven about in the mother country as if infected with some incu rable and contagious disease; sent from England to Holland, from city to mountains, from prison to death. Thus, as in a furnace blast, was God preparing to cast the pillars of this nafionl "This was the vine out of Egypt: He drove out the heathen and planted it." It may be asked, why was this magnificent continent held back from discovery and settlement for so many years? Why, but for a purpose? and what purpose more grand or subime than to preserve it fresh and ure from all the conflicts and despotisms of the Old World, and to consecrate it for the purposes of freedom, where, after the strife of 3 cen turies and the triumph of slavery over the bal lotbox, the courts, and the Constitution. there shonldbe broughton the great contest of arms, culminating in this the great“ conflict of ages, and producing the 1st grand national triumph of freedom over slavery, liberty over des potism. For what other purpose, I repeat, was this American continent held back for so many long ages? For 1,000s of years it had been adapted and ready for cultivation; its mount ains towered in splendor; its waters rolled in majestic and navigable rivers; its prairies teeminglwith the richest verdure lay stretched out to the setting sun with soil rich as the val leys of the Nile. But for long ages no mount ains smiled upon civilization; no waters turned the wheels of industry or floated the commerce of labor; and the soil yielded only the luxu riance of forests or weeds of neglect. Here sle t the wealth undiscovered, the resources on developed of the millions that wereto be. Why, I ask again, was all this hidden from other eyes, and only revealed in these later times but for the grand final settlement and overthrow of slavery in the greatest conflict of arms ever witnessed, from which we are now so gloriously emerging amid the wonder if not admiration of the world. Mr. President, the elements of the contest and triumph in this country seem to sustain some relations to each other. For an expe rience and observation of 20 years of strug gle has taught me that the triumph of freedom over slavery was absolutely essential to the success of this experiment of free government and it is a most noticeable fact that the institutions in controversy here were planted the very same year. For 1620 is no more memo rable for the landing of pilgrims than for the landing of slaves. For while the one came out of the Mr. Flower holding up the Bible and the s ellmgbook as the foundation of strength, he other came up the James river, Virginia, holding out its chains and fetters! These were the symbol of the 2 systems, and were settled, I repeat, upon this American continent the very same year. It had, as I hinted, been reserved as a theater where could be acted on a most may ificent scale the great slave drama of centuries. The platform for the exhibition has proven to be the grandest of the world, and its results most auspicious. for mankind. For this terrible attempt at revolution, in the form of rebellion, has now secured the basis of free government for an example if not an inheritance of all nations. Upon the hundred battle fields of this war have been fought out the liberties of mankind. The representatives of all the nations stood shoulder to shoulder in the ranks of the Union Army, and the blood of all nations mingled together in the death conflict; and the anxious and patriotic of all civilized nations have wept and rejoiced with us. This victory is not simply American, it now belongs to man kind, and its blessed results shall be a legacy to the race. The fathers planted the principles of a free Government here 2 and a half centuries ago. They planted, as I said, upon a virgin soibin this western hemisphere, where their eyes lrn red in golden sunsets and the day faded in opel They founded Government upon some new and quite original principles, and in the elements of its structure is found the true idea of the “republican form" for which the General Government went surety and became the “guarantor” for each State to the whole U.S. I am thankful they did not attempt to patch up the old Confederation into a Union fora national Government. That had independencies, but no unity and poweras a Government. and, too, they did not attempt to reconstruct upon the ruins of a decayed ynasty, or to sandwich in between despots and serfs. No, sir, it was equality of rights and duties among the people, the Whole people, man as man, that lay at their foundation. That was good seed sown upon good ground. It had the rain and the sunshine, the night and the day, the pure light of heaven, and the free breath of mountain air, coming down from some of its loftiest summits, near to where God dwells, and the pure snows are eternal. Slave had a milder climate and a better soil. Indeed, in some respects it had superior advan tages to freedom. It had a central position in the country, and soon secured power and influence in the Government. Freedom took a high northern latitude, contended with a hard sorl, long, consuming winters, barren rocks and bills; but labored on in the midst of difficulties and tr iumphimY over all obstacles, quarried its gran ite into goId, and skimming its frozen waters, sold the products in southern markets. The early settlements were made amid the old forests of centuries which towered in magnificence, and the wilderness before them was as broad and dangerous as the ocean that murmured behind them. It took a cen tury for these pioneers to ascend the Alle ghanics, and another to awaken to civilization and to life the sleeing valleys of the Ohio and the Mississip i. lint this 3rd century has opened half the continent, placed the pioneer in the midst of the Rocky mountains, and given us the golden States of the Pacific. Thus these 2 institutions, freedom and slavery, undertook the work of possessing and subduing the continent; an “ by their fruits e have known them.” Freedom, taking the path of empire westward, with her loyalty untarnished, and with her literature and her religion has given a distinctive character to her progress across the continent, planting all the way monuments of its civilization upon the banks of every stream, beside the lakes of the great Northwest, in the valleys of the Missis sippi and the Missouri, and amid the everlasting mountains which are piled beyond them, and over them even to the shores of the peace ful Pacific; everywhere has this basis of her strength been laid in that Christian civilization which recognized the equality and rights of all men. Slavery, on the other hand, “dragged its slow length along, " degrading labor, dethroning manhood, prostitutin" womanhood, impoverishing the earth, an polluting the air; so that it has borne mingled wails of agony and tears of anguish and this picture deep f) ened often by the very drapery of (Ice air. This institution has, from the beginning, been the chief disturbing element in our social and political system. Especially during the last 25 years it has put on power and as sumed everything, and introduced to our pol ities the most infamous and dangerous dogmas ever taught in any political circles. It resisted the Confederation in 1797, and opposed the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1798 and, what was worse, over afterward perverted its meaning. Georgia and SCarolina refused to come into the Union until there had been secured 3 compromises for slavery: 1. The 3/5ths representation in congress. 2. The slave trade until 1808. 8. The rendition of fugitive slaves from the other States. Slavery began with a majority of the States in its interests. got a recognition, I am sorry to say, in the Constitution itself. The fathers gave it a place there, but, thank God, they left it without a name. But it grew into strength, always a unit for itself, and finally was able to make and control Presidents and Cabinets, shape our legislation at home, and our diplo macy abroad among the nations and the de mand for compromise lines, as in 1820, or their repeal as in 1854, was never rejected. Slavery triumphed everywhere in elections, in congress, in the Supreme Court, in every Dept of the Government, in the Navy and in the Army, on the sea and on the land, unchecked everywhere until it was undertaken upon the soil of my own State; and there only after the struggle of 3 years and the disgrace of 2 Administrations was the thing successfully met and vanquished. That Kansas record I regard as a forerunner of the late rebellion; a pocket edition of the same work. Mr. President I now come to the conflict and the triumph of arms produced by the rebellion of 1860 61. Now, sir, let me inquire, what occasioned the rebellion of 1860 and 1861? For what was the attack upon the Government and the Union made? and who made it? Who were the ene mies of free government? Who had predicted and planned our overthrow? Sir, the opposition to free government was inherent in slavery, could not have been avoided, and on ht to have been antincipatd. It is more of a wonder that it was delaye than that it was produced. It had threatened the life of the nation for 20 years. It could not live as one of the institutions of a free Government. Its existence was only intended to be temporary, and was given only a reluctant recognition in the Constitution. Still it should be remembered that the fathers constructed Government amid the storms of the Revolution, and had neither history or exerience to shine upon their work. They could not tell more than other men what the years would bring forth; but trusted, I have no doubt, that it would fade away and become extinct before the light of that freedom which should rise high, and still higher, and become perfect in a more perfect day. Why, I ask again, was the blow aimed at such a Government, and the old flag of the Union left trailing in the dust? I answer once for all. It was slavery. In 1860 it was found that the Government could not be further prostituted to the extension ofhuman slavery, and when found indisposed for that purpose it was to be thrown off, and then slavery plunged us into a 4 years war, drew from us our blood and treasure in rivers. It left halfa million young men dying upon battle fields; starved to death 50,000 more in the prison houses of the South; and at last. as a crowning act, struck out the life of the President and left the nation in tears while the whole civilized world paid tributes of mourning. Here, then, I repeat, was the cause of the great rebellion; not originating in the election or defeat of anyone man, as President or VEEP, but it was the culminating point to which have tended the teeming events of a half century; no one of which could have been sufficient of itself, but combining with the antagonisms of all previous issues about slaver, made the occasion of the 1st election of Mr. Lincoln the long threatened hour, and their own soil became their chosen battle field. Thank God, the da did at last come by the 1st blow being struc in the interests of slavery. It was to be that the offense must come from that quarter. The; blow at liberty must of course be struck by slavery; and, by the same necessity, the blow at the heart and life of slavery, to be significant as well as effective, must be dealt by its own bloody hand; and whoever writes the history of its death struggle must begin and end by declaring that the rebellion was the suicide of slavery. Freedom might, I think, have been justified in striking a blow of resistance to the rig gressions of slavery long, long years ago, but did not, when territory was purchased and the Treasury drained for its payment. It might have said no, but did not, when Indians were hunted with hounds, sacriticed, and removed for the pro ugationof slavery, and $200,000,000 spent in isgruccful Indian wars. Freedom might have made resistance, which it did it not, when Texas was seized for slavery and Mexico was warred upon for the same purpose. Free dom might have held back both the purse and the sword, (it had the votes to do it) but it did not, when, as in 18.34, the great landmarks of freedom were obliterated by one stroke of the pen and slavery became nationalized, and at the same time the Supreme Court prostituted to its power and to its interests. Freedom might have echoed back that. divine decree of Omnipotence to the ocean wave, “Thus far shalt thou come, but no further; and hero shall thy proud waves be stayed, ” but no voice was potent enough in Congress to carry the vote, and no arm could hold back the executive approval, and so the struggle was carried to the Territories. Now, sir, I ask, can we, standing upon such an eminence and in the face of nll the nations, do less than complete the work given us to do 7 The soldier, wearied of long marches and hard fighting, has laid aside his musket and his uniform. The prisioner, wasting away in southern prison houses, has been restored to the home of family and friends. The dead, laid aside hastily in rude and unmonumented grave s, are now decently buried; and, as far as possible, the name has been snatched from oblivion, and hereafter to be honored as one only is who dies for his country. Now, the missions of mercy to our Army and Navy in those organized charities that have been unsurpassed are closing up their books, and committing their records to the judgment of mankind. Sir, when the soldier was mustered out congress was mustered in, and there is thrown uion us the work of securing and perpetuating tevictories of the battle field. In 2 bills already passed this Senate, something has been done and had. What is now proposed is to make it al unrepealable byingrafting into the Constitution itself security for civil and political rights in the spirit of the framers of that instrument, and as a guarantee of republican governments for all time to come. Vhy not then make itcomplete and indisputable by such an amendment as shall leave no chance for evasion perversion, or uncertainty? This is the golden opportunity, which comes but once in the lifetime of individuals, or of the country. This is the forming and molding period, and the stamp now given to the organ rzed form of both sentiment and law will remain and bear that impress, it may be, forever. Why then temporize or compromise? Instead of leaving anythmgin doubt or uncertainty, why not give it perfection and completeness in one act, and not leave even the possibility of disfranchisement or inequality to be again enacted into law? The resolution of the JtCommee is as follows: Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several Stateswhrch may be includedwithin this Union accordingto their respectr vo W6; numbers, countinlr the whole number of personsrn/ eachState. excluding Indians not taxed: Provide That whenever the elective franchise shall be demo or abridged in any State on account of race or color all personsof such race or color shall be excluded from the basisof representation. That does allow in a certain contingency just what now exists under the Constitution every iniquity of the old slave code to be again if framed into law. If that is allowed in any contingency to men smarting under the defeat of their cause and loss of their slaves, still living in open day before their own eyes, what can we expect but that if there is a constitutional allowance they will embrace it, making the legal status of those slaves and their pos terity even worse than before? If violence and robbery must be enacted to “organize, ” as they call it, “the labor of the South, " let it be done outside the Constitution, or under the old form and construction, and not under its amended provisions. For, say what you will, if that resolution becomes part of the Constitution, and a State chooses to relinquish a portion of its congressional representation, it may then under this regenerated Constitution not only disfranchise the freedman but legislate him again away from the ballot box, the court room, and the school room. This amended Constitution will be then made the instrument of this injustice, and nothing will be left the black man whose loyalty through all the vicis situdes of our struggle was unfaltering, and even prophetic, adorning him amidst treason, about him as a crown of glory, but again to be legislated away from the rights of his manhood, not only, but also from the fountains of learning, literature, and religion, dooming him once more and forever to the grave and hope of the brute. It is not sufficient to tell me that they can do it now under the Constitution as it is, for that is the very thing I would avoid. It is the change that I am seeking. It is the change that is de manded, for no matter what men may say, the heart of the American people is not so dull as not to perceive that 2 fitths more of representation added to the South is too great a reward for treachery and treason. It cannot be acquiesced in uncomplainingly if 16 more members of Congress shall be added to the southern Representatives while they cast actually less votes than before. Who ever heard before this of a conquered people making more out of a contest than the conqueror? What other people ever were so rewarded for rebellion? and those who insist upon no change must defend and maintain this monstrous in justice. For my part, I denounce it, and will never be reconciled to such an increased Representation with no increase of voters and this injustice is the more apparent when we remember that this increase of representation is obtained while the true, loyal black man is allowed no vote and no voice. What kind of compensation is that for all his long years of fidelity to our old flag? What an answer to his earnest rayers for his freedom and our trium h! what a reward for his faithful nursin an kind treatment of our Union soldiers an prisoners l Oh, the very statementof such propositions is its own answer. It cannot be that rebellion is now to be rewarded and loyalty punished. Are the enemies of the Union to wield hereafter the strength of their ownnumbers and the strengthof the freedmillions beside? Then, indeed, have we fought without success, and victories of the field are lost to the nation by the inefficiency of Congress to transfer their triumphs over the enemies of the Union.into the laws of the Union. The soldiers will have succeeded; Congress will have failed and surrendered. I said thatwhen the soldier was “mustered out” congress was “ mus tered in;” and the victories of the battle field are now to be preserved or lost and nothing is made certain in reorganizing civil societ that is not secured in the fundamental law. was then for an amendment to the Federal Constitution, and for that form of amendment which is most likely to produce the resultl aim "“evate, rnyamely, securing justice and equal rights to citizen in the land; and I mean all the rightsenjoyed by any American citizen. There is no Justice short of this, and hence no safety, no security. The resolution introduced by the Senfrom Missourion this side of the Chamber, and ably sustained by him in a most convincing argument, is of the 2 the most complete, and if its force could be secured by any statute, which we have not now a right to ass, might be, perhaps, unexceptionable. ere it is: “No State, in prescribin the unliflcations requi site for electors therein, shall iscriminate against any personon account of color or race." and what is the penalty if they do? Ah! there is the weak point. If a State does make a “ discrimination on account of race or color, ” where is your remedy? v But what is law, or constitution even, with no penalt? Supposing that the reorganized States shouldyneglect or refuse toingraft this provision in their statutes, or, in spite of it, should make such qualifications for the elective franchise as they have always had, what remedy have we I What remedy have the colored people? What appeal can the make successfully when once the States shall have been admitted to full fellowship in the reorganized Union I We shall only have added 2/5ths to their representation in Congress, with less loyal voters than ever before, if, indeed, there can be found a white loyal constituency at all! With such a result I ask, what has been ained by the war, and who are the gainers? ot the loyal men of the South, for the have lost all. ot the black man, surely, or without his rights of manhood he had better remained a slave; for with a master the self interest of his owner was some security to the slave. But to be outlawed and outraged and no protection in statute or interest as property, then, I repeat, “ the last state of that man is worse than the 1st.” It is addin insult to the long injury of centuries to give tIiem the shadow of liberty without the substance, to invite them to freedom and not give the guarantees. such ne lect violates the ledge of the nation given by the commander in Chief of the Army and Navy in that immortal proclamation of emancipation, in which it was said that “this nation would maintain the freedom of the slave.” Now, then, [ask how can the freedom of men he maintained under our form of Government when there is left out unprotected a whole race. it may be a majority, without one of the constitutional safeguards of personal freedom? and what are the safeguards of liberty under our form of Government? There are at least, under our Constitution, 3 which are indispensable 1. Every man should have a homestead, that is, the right to acquire and hold one, and the right to be safe an protected in that citadel of his love. If he can have no title to real estate, as in these old slave States they have again enacted this into law, how can he have a homestead? 2. He should have the right to bear arms for the defense of himself and family and his homestead and if the cabin door of the freedmen is broken O an and the intruder enters for purposes as vile as were known to slavery, t on should a well loaded musket be in the and of the occupant to send the polluted wretch to another world, where his wretchedness will forever remain complete; and 3. He should have the ballot, for he has no security short of it. With that in his hand he is respected and smiled upon at least one day in the year, the election day. On that day and all the days of the nsning year he will be treated as a man, fOIfilG then is a man among menl and where the balance of power may be in the hands and votes of black men, each party, to secure that power, will vie with each other to maintain every right and mete out full justice to the men who have this power. The ballot is his weapon of defense an offense. It will work out the regeneration of his race, secure their elevation, education, and a full de veloed manhood and why should all this not e made secure? Are white men so weak that they need legal protection? Must the black man be kept doWn by legal inequalities? Is he so sure to win in the race of life that he must run under the accumulated weight of ignorance, prejudice, and law. No, sir, nol we need no protection, and if we did, we ought not to have it. If they are an “inferior race, ” then we need not fear, we shall survive, and our elevation above them will forever remain unapproachable. If there is no inferiority in natural rights and gifts, then why make them in Constitution and law? Why not let the track be clear, the burdens equal, and the race of life open and unobstructed to all? and when there shall have been as many centuries of freedom enjoyed as there have been of slavery endured, then, and not till then, can we begin to decide questions of inferiority or of superiority. I repeat, that to start with, every person should have the safe ards of law weighed out inequal and exact balances, and the homestead, temusket, and the ballot are entirely indispensable. Mr. President, the constitutional amendment that would be entirely unobjectionable I fear cannot pass. I do not know as we need one. This nation, although severely disciplined, has not yet reached the point of giving to all men their rights by a suffrage amendment; 3/4ths of the States are not ready and any patchwork, an “step toward it” (as said the chairman of the committee) which does not reach it, I fear to take. Because but one opportunity will ever be afforded us to step at all; and lost opportunities are seldom repeated. The golden moment of exacting what was just and equal for all men in the rebel States by executive power and influence passed, it may be, during the months of April and May last. That opportunity was afforded in the surrender of the rebel forces, and in the power and influence our cause obtained in the assassination of our Chief Magistrate. One thin could then as well have been demanded as sent er. Where all rights were forfeited in rebellion, no terms were or could he insisted ii on. Men who lose all, and are condemned O all, are in no position to demand: it is only suitable for them to receive. I would not inflict deation or in equality, much less would I allow caste, proscription, or servitude. The power that could inaugurate civil government where governments had failed, or had been usued and destroyed, could give just such form of government as the Constitution prescribes as republican, or as the enlightene convictions of man kind would justify. If one qualification for voting could be prescribed, so could another. If a portion of the people worth over $20,000 could be disfranchised, then another portion, “not knowing where to lay their heads, could be enfranchised by the same executive power. For, as a question of power, is it any more of an exercise of power to make a voter than to unmakc one? If one qualification could be urged and enforced, then could 2, 3, and all. At that moment equal and exact justice could have been secured to all loyal men, and exact punishment or disfranchisement could have been allotted to the disloyal and all just men and just Governments the world over would have approved the act. With this weapon of government fored of ballots, they had once not only been rea.ers of the eace and liable to ordinary indictment, but ha actually warred upon the General Government and dealt heavy blows at the very life fountain. Would it have been a cruel or unheard of punishment to have disarmed such offenders, or gone one step fni ther and taken security for good behaViorin the future? Acting for the millions yet to live, what could have been demanded less than the complete restoration to rights of that race so long enslaved but now and forever to be free? Sir, there is a law of compensations in this world whether we enact one or not. There is one handed out to us from eternity whether we ever read it or not, and is legible in every passing event, whether we can see it or not. That fatal shot which was fired at Sumter, was aimed at liberty and a free Government. It has, nevertheless, been returned and lodged in the very heart of slavery. They have desolated their own homes and countrymen, putting out forever the fires of their own hearth stones. Those who robbed the poor slave are now themselves made desolate. Fortunes amassed by unpaid labor have disappeared in a day. Those who coined gold out of the blood and tears of the corhave been made naked and destitute as the king of Babylon while dieting upon grass. Oh, there is poetic, if not divine justice, in bringing to the oppressed his freedom and to the oppressor his rum. Mr. President;, we are just emerging from a war. Yes, sir, a war; I will not belittle it or mistake it by calling it simply an insurrection or a rebellion. It was 11 States in one confederation, united and organized underone controlling head, inspired with the same spirit and animated with the same hopes and one surrender surrendered all; not only all the men and all the property and arms of the rebels, but all there was at issue between the contending Governments and all they went to war about. It was all surrendered in the surrender of Lee and Johnston, and all became property orpersons of the U.S. Now, I ask, it we conquered in this late war, why are not we entitled to the rights of conquerors? and why must not the other side accept the duties of the conquered? Now, sir, what are the rights of a conqueror? and especially what are their rightsin the hour of their triumph? I apprehend they are not unlike the rights of an individual under the common law when his life is attacked. If I am assaulted by a highwayman, by a man armed and determined, my 1st duty is to resist him, and if necessary, use my arms also. If he persists with violence, my next duty is to prostrate him, and then to disarm him and while pros trate and disurmed, it is also equally my duty to take such security from him or from those allied to him as my own safety and the peace of the community will justify; and I have no right to stop short of that. Now, sir, I repeat that this war was a blow at the heart and life of this nation; and we at 1st resisted it by surrounding the Government with bayonets for defense. The assault was repeated and continued. We then prostrated the assassins and proceeded to disarm them; and now here we are, hesitating about the security and some of us propose to take none at all; and others propose only that conditional security that still leaves all in the hands and at. the will of the assassins; to leave with them all the elements of security. If suffrage in the rebel States is now placed in the ban 3 of only those who voted before, what reason can anyone give why they will not vote. again to make war on the U.S. when the times and occasion shall promise success more certainly? Does an inability to prosecute longer the war and a surrender on that account change the character or purpose of the people engaged in it? When did exhaustion or defeat ever eradicate the conscientious convictions of a greatpeople, struggling, as they supposed, for their rights and their liberties, deluded though they were? No, sir, no. Little or nothing has been gained; and we shall have little or nothing to show for the blood and the treasure, the agony and the tears which have flowed, if no manhood has been achieved and no equality secured. If the leading and voluntary rebels are not disfranchised and all loyal men enfranchised, and that made secure in law, then have we taken no security and nothing has been gained. The soldiers triumphed and made ever battle field historic and glorious. We shall have surrendered, basely surrendered; and the golden opportunity to crown with the free mans bal ot a redeemed race will have gone from us forever. I think I know and feel somewhat of the responsibilities of this hour. These responsi bilities are upon us. They cannot be laid aside or transferred to another. The fathers have gone to their rewards, and posterity sleeps. We, the men of today, must make our triumph secure or lose all, and plant the pathway of coming generations with thorns. We must do it! Not only for the safety of the republic and for the faith of the nation ledge in the emancipation proclamation, but or justice to that race which have waited and prayed and labored with undying hope for our and their deliverance. It will have come at last for them and for us, if they are allowed to vote on the side they rayed and fought. I have no more fears of their voting for slavery and Democracy “ twin sisters, so nnlovely in their lives, and in death not divided” than I had of their fighting for the same. But the proposition before the Senate may be thought to be one more of apportionment and representation than of suffrage; and here I will say, that some change, either in the law of suffrage or in the Constitution, is imperative, and demanded by a change of condition for 3 million people. It is bad euoughfor 5 to count 3 in the representation, as was established by law while they were slaves, but to add 2/5ths more, while.the chattels are changed into free men, is a monstrous injustice which cannot be tolerated while the Government remains republican. It would then become a burles ue upon republicanism, and can never, and oug it never, to be acquiesced in. I hesitate about giving my support to the proposition of amendment reported by the committee because 1. It is not in harmony with any other provision of the Constitution of the U.S. The inequality of the representation recognized by the Constitution as it now stands relates only to slaves; nowhere does it allow the free man, bein a citizen, to be disfranchised and outlawed.This proposition is to allow a State, upon a contingency which she may make or choose, not to regulate the franchise as to age, residence, and sex, butto disfranchise and destroy rights held to be sacred by all men; and such powers are now for the 1st time to heingrafted upon the Constitution of the U.S. It is making revision in the fundamental law that colored, men may fight for the Government, be taxed for the Government, but shall go unrepresented and disfranchised forever. Sir, if that crime is to be perpetrated upon any race for no fault eftheir own let it be done in violation of the Constitution and againstthe supreme law. such an amendment is against the declared purposes of the Constitution, and in its spirit unconstitutional. If that instrument is now to be amended, with all the lights of our history and experience thrown upon it, it should be truly a “step forward, ” but my most solemn conviction is that this is a step backward. It could not have received the sanction of the fathers, who had never known a “ slaveholders rebellion;” why should it receive ours? It is not enough to tell me that colored men are now disfranchised; that they have always been so; that the loyal States do the same thing, and still their representation is allowed in Congress and in the Electoral College and everywhere. To all thatitis a sufficient answer for me to say that what has been is not now, nor is the same to be the his toryfof the future. while slaver lasted, slave laws were a necessary result. lhen slavery wanted whips and fetters the East could manufacture them for the market; and when they wanted a public sentiment made for their support they always found some willing tool to giiifover a “Sout side view;” and when they wanted the fugitive slave law executed for the sake of makinga humiliatin demonstration of their overseerism, they foun some judges and some marshals and some commissioners ready for the work and while slavery lasted, and hung like a cloud over 1/2 of the country, it is not strange that its shadow should fall more or less heavily upon the other half and the degradation of a race in one end of the country found plenty of sympathizers in the others. Hence, I say, that it does not stop my mouth to tell me that they are now disfranchised, and still counted in the ratio of representation. WhatI lead for is, that with the fall of slavery, may fal also all its connections, all its supports, and all the inequalities among citizens. I am not a stick ler tor the form of the law, I care more for the substance, I want the result, I am contented with any laudable means. I prefer to unite with those who seek the one result with myself rather than divide and any result for the better, secured by a constitutional amendment, must be an alleviation for the Constitution itself pa if anticipating such a result has provided or it. 2. Have we made loyalty secure in the sece ded States if on] a portion of the men vote, and especially if that disfranchised portion be of the ranks of the truly loyal? The disloyal acquiesce, but do not love the power that pros trated them. Is it in man to hug to his bosom the instrument of his death? It is said that only bears will do that. Are we not expecting too much when we expect at once their loyalty and devotion? If their cause has fallen, are they the ouesto uphold ours? Does not “ misery love company” so well that they would rather now see both destroyed, and they then stand as our equalsin reconstruction? If their wounded soldiers and widows go unpensioned will they vote and be taxed to penston ours? If their currency is worthless, will they maintainfaith in ours? If their bonds are repudiated, will they make secure ours? Having been terribly thrashed out do you suppose they will now pay for the whips? Mr. President, some security is.needed and must be had. We are at in trust of this great estate, a d what will the heirs say when they come to emand their rightful legacies? Will it be any answer to tell them that we trusted all to those who had just gone into hopelcss bunk ruptcy, and gave up the old homestead and the so vent heirships to wasteful, profiigate, and abandoned creditors? Whoever before this heard of such wicked infatuation? such trust ees must speedily be settled with or the estate is ruined. Oh, sir, by all the vows we made in the dark hours of our trial, by all the memories of the fallen, by all the gratitude we owe the living, and fort e hope of millions who are yet to live, let this security be now demanded; and let us take nothing short of it. Sir, I now come to inquire if a constitutional amendment, securing what is so desirable, can be passed by the requisite votes in Congress, and then adopted byt rec 4ths of the States. I confess, sir, to great doubts. The form reported by the committee will, I doubt not, Qcure as large a vote and as many States as any other which has been named. But if no form can receive the constitutional majority, are we help less and hopeless? I trust not. I do not believe that the equal justice we plead for all loyal men is now, an is to be, held by men and States who will not yield it. The hope of the freedmen is not surrounded by such a cloud. There is no extremity in the case, for the last constitutional amendment embraced all, gave the most ample powers, even if they did not exist before, or, after having secured the freedom of all men wherever the old flag floats, it provided that Congress might “ secure” the same by “appropriate legislation.” What more could it have said? and who are better judges of appropriate legislation than the very men who 1st passed the amendment and provided for this very case? Sir, what is “ appropriate legislation” on the subject, namely, securing the freedom of all men? It can be nothing less than throwing about all men the essential safeguards of the Constitution. The “ right to bear arms” is not plainer taught or more efficient than the right to carry ballots and if appropriate legislation will secure the one so can it also the other and if both are necessary, and provided for in the Constitution as now amended, why then let us close the question by congressional legislation. If the (States, by putting these powers and provisions into the Constitution, have authorized legislation, then let it be done. Sir, for more than 5 years in this Senate I have voted for every measure that {ended toward human freedom and impartial films; and now, I hope, we shall not part company. have supported, before, measures which I deemed incomplete, in the hope that others more complete would follow; and should I vote for this amendment of the Constitution it. will not be because I think it can ever become art of the fundamental law, but rather because it aims at that which is undeniably of great importance,equalizing representation, and is intended by the distinguished committee which reported it in whom I have the very highest confidence as a measure necessary to complete the long contest about American slavery and it is certainly time such a result was reached and by supporting this measure, let it be distinctly understood, Iain not precluded from supporting every other proposition which tends to the same result. The proposition to place representution upon voters, being citizens of the U.S., will be. I suppose, considered, and upon that resolution ls iall offer some reasons or its passage by the Senate, and in favor of its approval by the States. The basis of strength in a Government, whether civil or military, is in the number, the virtue, and the intelligence of the able bodied men. Those who fight and save the Government should be represented, and vote the measures for its perpetuation. I prefer to do nothing by indirection and I do not believe we should do indirectly what we ought not and have not the powerto do directly. I prefer to say directly what the amendment of the Senfrom Missourisays, or, what is better still, to enact that into law, and if any appropriate legislation is allowable under the late amendment, this law of direct enfranchisement of all men is most appropriate and to thisgresult, after all, we must come. Let us not take counsel of our fears, but of our hopes; not of our enemies, but of our friends. I remember those who have persistentl resisted every measure against slavery on for freedom which has been proposed fora quarter of a century. They opposes the efforts to secure the Territories to freedom. They opposed emancipation is this District. They ridiculed the emancipation proclamation, and held up their hands in horror when it was proposed to put a musket in the hands of the by aek men to enable them to strike the redeeming blow of their own freedom. They resisted day after day the late amendment to the Constitution, and ironounced even the war for the Union a “failure.” But, sir, like the inevitable decrees of destiny, it has all come to pass, and the contest and the triumph have been in our day and time. Thank God, we have lived to see it and to take part in it, and now have the responsibility of closing it. By all the memories which cluster about the pathway in which we have been led; by all the sacrifices, suffering, blood, and tears of the conflict; by all the hopes of a freed country and a disenthralled race; yea, as a legacy for mankind, let us now secure a free representative Republic, based upon imartial suffrage and that human equality may O clear in the DeclarIndep. To this enter tainment let us invite our countrymen and all nations, committing our work, when done, to the verdict of posterity and the blessing of Almighty God.