Mr. CULLOM. Mr. Speaker, in the commercial arena, the man o business who does not often post his books is not regarded by his fellowmen as very sure of success. In accordance with that rule, as applied to men in the commercial world, itwas announced a few days ago upon the other side of the House, by the Gentfrom Kentucky, Dir. Hann 1xc] "that it was time a little posting was done.” Unlike, however, the wise man in the commercial arena who posts his own books, and learns to a fraction his own commercial status and his relation to those around him, the gentleman seemed willing to pass silently over the record of himself and his party, and with a zeal only equaled by his bitterness, undertook to post the records of the Union party of this " country, against which the gentleman and his party have been so stubbornly opposed for the ast 5 years. But, sir, as the gentleman proclaimed to this House and the country that it was time a lit tle posting was done, I thought with him; and let me tell the gentleman and his political friends that the great Union party which has stood by the nations flag and borne it aloft amid the fierce storm of war, are always willing that the books should be posted, and the great measures of the party, for the support of which they have received the unmeasured abuse of Cf8li0la8nd their sympathizers, held up to the ins ection of the patriotic millions of this land. e are not the men, sir, to shun such an examination. The party which has shaped the policy of this nation since the election to the residency of the great martyr to the cause of liberty, and which has never turned its back upon the Government in its contest with treason and rebellion, and which has procured the recognition of the great principles of freedom throughout the land, has no cause for alarm when it is proposed to spread before the world its political record. Sir, we are willing that the items of the account shall be called over the long columns added together, a balance sheet struck, so that the people may see at a glance how the matter stands and may I call upon the loyal peeple to hold to strict accounta ility the party who is the debtor, as appears from a posting since the beginning of the aceursed rebellion. For a lono series of years prior to the election of Mr. Lincoln, the gentlemans party was in power and had possession of all the Depts of the Government; we had a Democratic President, a Democratic Congress, and a Democratic judiciary. and, sir, when the Union party sent a President to this capital to take upon himself the hightrust confided to him, he found a country divided, a southern confederacy formally established h a secession of a part of the States from the nion, and a new government organized with a distinguished democrat presiding over it at another capital in the State of Georgia. Sir, when the Union party took possession of the various Depts of Government, treason, avowed and secret, infested all the high places of trust and honor, and had scattered its deadly poison among the people until Union and liberty had almost perished away. And when the President, elected according to the forms of the constitution, in pursuance of his oath had announced to the country that he could do no less than possess and hold the preperty of the Government and enforce the laws, if necessary, by force; all about us we heard the cry that such declarations were an necessary and only calcula d to excite the southern heart. and, sir, when that good man from the kindness of his heart determined to supply the starving garrison at Sumter with bread, eaceably if he could, but forcibly if he must, that sameparty again sent up the wail, Do not undertake to send bread to that starving band ofheroes; if you do, you will bring war upon our peaceful heads. But, sir, the Government did make the effort to feed the little band of patriots, and although the shot and shell of traitors had riven them from the fort before the messenger of mercy reached them, yet, thanks to Him who rules the destinies of men and nations, they came out with flying colors, beating drums, and amid the booming of their own cannon; and from that hour the spirit of patriotism stirred the hearts of the people, and today we can stand in these capito alls of a saved country, redeemed from the thralldom of treason and oppression. Sir, let me remind gentlemen as we run over the items of the account and turn the historic leaves age by page, that in the legislatures, in the alhite house, all over the land: prior to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, we heard the oftre sated declaration that it wa unconstitutiona to wage a war against the rebels, because, as the gentlemans party by its president said, ” You cannot coerce a State.” The people of the seceded States, as individuals, as Federal Officeholders, as States, in all and every capacity in which they lived and moved and had their being, were organizin rebellion against the national Government on national constitution; and yet that party, in possession of all the depts of the Government, by their Presi ent, told the people of this country, that notwithstanding secession was wrong and rebellion a crime, yetwe cannot help it, because the States are committing these outrages and crimes, and there is no authority under the constitution to coerce a State. The great seal of State allixed to the crdinance of secession protected the people of the State in their conspiracy to overthrow the Government, notwithstanding each man alone and combined with all the rest was daily violating the statutelaw of the Government, and committing the greatest crime known to the law in any countrythe crime of treason. But, sir, I will not dwell here. The loyal people of this country soon saw the shallowness and rottenness of such theories, and when the party now in power took possession of the several depts of the Government, these clogs which were dragging the nation down were thrown 05, and the people. lead on by the great Union party, enunciated the old doctrine that the people could not commit treason, organizeinsurrections and rebellions, and secede from the Union at will, either as individuals, States, or combinations of States, and any attempt to do so would be resisted by all the power of the Government. When the Union party by its Chief Executive asserted that this nion could not be dissolved at will, and that any attempt to do so would be promptly met, the war began, and I need not tell this House with what relentless fury it was waged for 4 years. be old doctrine of nullification and State sovereignty had recovered from the staggering blows it received in 1813;and 1833 from the determined and heroic Jackson; and as it was nurtured into strength by the Administrations of Pierce and Buchanan, supported by fhc gentlemans party, it bid defiance to any national authority, and performed the quiet task of dissolving the Union by secession ordinances, and the erection on a part of the fragments of the old Union what they decreed should be a new confederacy, having for its cornerstone the divine institution of slavery, as they pleased to term it. I But, sir, to confine my remarks to a discussion and review of events as they occurredsince the coming into power of the Union party. When the war began the great business of the Union loyal people was to save the life of the nation and crus out all its enemies. in the judgment of that party it became necessary to pass laws for the enrollment and draft, if nee be, of soldiers to light the battles of the Union. As a war measure the Union party believedit right and necessary to authorize the confiscation of the property of rebels; to proclaim the freedom of all the slaves in the rebellious districts; to allow the colored man to shoulder the mus ket and help the Government hold up the banner of the Republic. It became necessary, in the judgment of the party, to suspend the privilege of the writ of abeascorpus. It was thought wise and just to abolish slavery in the District of Colum ia; to repeal that abominable fugitive slave law; and, finally, in the latter half of the 19th century, after the nation had given its best blood and treasure, contending against: foe blinded by the love of human slavery, it was thought proper to amend that great charter given to us by our fathers, whereby slavery should be forever pprohibitedwithin the jurisdiction of the U.S. Sir, all these great measures were originated and perfected by the Union party of this country for the sake of the Union, for the cause of humanity, and for the establishment of the American Government upon the solid foundations of justice. Who is there in all the loyal North to stand up today in the light of a saved nation and a free country, and say that these measures were not right? The man who believes in the DeclarIndep, that all men are born free and equal: and are entitled to life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and in the kindred sentiment, “Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you, ” can have no remorse of conscience over the repeal of the fugitive slave law, the abolition of slavery in this District, or in the complete ratification of the amendment abolishin slavery throughout the land. But as post the books may I turn a leaf and learn the position of the gentlemans party as these measures, one by one, came before the country? They said they were opposed to the war because they said we had no power to coerce a State, that this Government could only be maintained by peaceable means, under the administration of which 1/3rd of the States had already seceded. They were opposed to the passage of a law providing for a draft to fill up the depleted ranks of our Army in the field, because they said we were making a des potism of the Government, and the liberties of the people were thereby taken from them. They were opposed to the policy of confiscating the property of rebels during the war, because they sai such laws were unconstitution al. They were opposed to the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeascorpus, because they said that men were ruthlessly dragged from their peaceful homes and the freedom of speech and of the press was denied, and personal liberty destroyed. They were o posed to the repeal of the fugitive slave law ccause they deSired not to further a grnvate the southern heart by refusing to stand guard for the southern slave driver and stop the panting negro yearning for his freedom as he sought the land of protection to him. They were opposed to the proclamation of the President setting the slaves all free, because they said we were making the war a war against slavery, and not awar fortho Union. They were opposed to the policy of allowing the black man to take his place in the Union Army and help our heroes to beat back the rebel horde, because they said our gallant men would thereby be disgraced. They were opposed to the adoption of the constitutional amendment prohibiting the existence of slavery in our and, because they said we were thereby taking away the vested rights of the people to their slaves. Sir, those measures, originated and adopted by the Union party, and ratified by the loyal people, and o posed by the party to which the gentleman belbngs, have all passed into history, and under their operation and influence the life of this great nation has been purified and saved. But, sir, we are charged with being false toour professions, and do not disclose to the people our real political designs. In what have we Seen false or hypocritical? oiWe declared we were for crushing the rebellion by force of arms, and we have done it. By plain legislative actiOn we abolished slavery in this District. We repealed the fugitive slave law, and in doing it we sought to deceive no man. The proclamation of the President freein the slaves in the rebellious States was plain and simple, so plain that the oor downtrodden negro. unlettered and blin as he was, (taught the spirit and sense of the immortal paper, and with cart full of joy and gladness, and songs of gratitude upon his lips, was ready to defend the nation sojustly ruled by his great deliverer., The amendment to the constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery within the jurisdiction of the U.S. had no secret meaning, and was designed to accomplish the great object declared by its terms. o Sir, I have given you the main items of the account as they occur in the official records of the country, though not in the order of time in which they were written and I am willing to rest the matter in the hands of loyal people to decide. The people know well the historyof the great struggle through which we have been passing, and the relative position of the political parties, and they will be slow to believe that the Union party or its leaders have been false or hypocritical in their political action in shaping its policy or announcing its declarations of principles. But, sir, the great question is, what is the condition of things today in our land, and what is our duty as Representatives of this Congress, under our sworn and registered obligations to our country, to the constitution, to humanity, and before God, who controls the destinies of men and of nations? The rebellion in its organized form is put down, the armies of the rebellion have surrendered, the flag that once waved in eace over the capitals of all the States of the nionagain floats in triumph, with no hand even in l the lately rebellious States that dare to molest it. The power of the nation has been ving dicated, the problem of civil liberty has been solved, the doctrine of nullification has rightly been trampled in the dust, and today we find ourselves, as the Congress of the U.S., charged with as great responsibilities as legislators as has rested upon any Congress since the formation of the Government. We find among us 4 million free colored v people. What shall be dbne with them? Shall we turn aside with indifference and pander to a morbid prejudice against a portion of the human race because of color? Sir, I shall not. Over 160,000 of these men have borne arms in defense of the Union; they came forward at the call of their Government. It is much to say their Government, when I refer to those who were slaves; but, sir, they called it their Government, and never has the instance been heard of during all the dreadful night of gloom and rebellion where one of them, old or young, bond or free, ever turned his back upon the American flag, or betrayed the cause of his count. Wet86them among us, with these facts starin us in the face, and the nation is called upon y all the principles of gratitude, right(i "and justice to see to it that the are protecte in all their natural and civil rights. It remains for this Congress, the 1st since the close of the rebellion and the ratification of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, to say whether we shall show ourselves eraven cowards and fail to protect these people, or whether we shall meet the responsibiiity and deal justly. But, sir, as we come forward with measurel of protection to these helpless people we are met again by that same negative part, which has long been a party of no ativeI rat or than a party of allirmative prinnciples, and the cry is that we have no power under the constitution to pass such a law as has passed this and the other House of this Congress known as the Freedmens Bureau bill. But, sir, that bill has become a law, as Itake it for granted the Executive will sign it, and when we pass thatother bill now int House, giving to all men, without regard to color, their civil rights under the law, we shall have done but simple acts of justice, and the doing less would be a dereliction of duty for which we should justly be called to account. We find ourselves opposed again in the senate of the U.S., and among the peole, by that same party as we present the bill which I have just referred to for their support; and when we come again with a measure declaring that if the elective franchise is denied to any persons on account of race or color that then the people of that race or color shall not be counted in the basis of representation, again we are met by the gentleman and his party declaring that our purpose is to overturn the Government and violate the constitution because we desire to amend it in the mode prescribed by its terms. But, sir, the Union party has a mission to perform, and in spite of all opposition of Gentlemen who are ond of the ancient order of things, when liberty of speech was abridged, and the bludgeon used to silence the voice eloquently pleading for the oppressed of the land, they will move steadilyon to the accomplishment of the great ends of justice, for which Governments are formed, and should be maintained; the fires of liberty are lit anew in the hearts of the people, old traditional prejudices are passing away, and the “ Union and liberty, one and in separable, now and forever, ” is again the watch word among the patriotic sons of America; Mr. Speaker, do not mean to disrevard the constitution of my country. I regard it as the greatpalladium ofonr liberties. Iam for a close observance of all its wise provisions; it was the work of wise and patriotic men. It will stand as a peerless monument to the memo of our fathers who made it, surpassiii the Wisdom of any former time; and we should hesitate long before doing an act of doubtful constitutionality. But let us not refuse to perform a great moral and political duty, and then, to protect ourselves from the just exocrations of the people, dig up some vague doubt as to the constitutionality of the measure we opposed. But, sir, there is another great question before us which ifwe would, we cannotturn aside. The rebellion in its Organized form is over; and the question now is, what shall be done with that portion of our country lately under its wicked control? In the language of the lamented Lincoln, “We all agree that the seceded States are out of their proper practical relations with the Union, ” and that our object is to get them into “their proper practical relations” with the Union. It is hard, Mr. Speaker, to talk about this question without admitting the fact that they were practically out of tha Union. They were out of their properrelations with the Union because as State organizations they had seceded from the Union so or as they were able. They were out of their properpractical relations with the Union because the eo 10 of the rebellious States had all or nearlyal openly rebelled against the Union. For 4 years the whole power of the people in the rebellious States was used in wagin war against the Union with a ferocit unparnficled in the histor of civilization. o use the language of the Chief Justice of the U.S. in his letter to the President on the 12th of October last, the seceded States were declared by the executive and legislative Depts of the national Government to be in rebellion, and their relations to the Severnment broken, and, sir, that broken relation continued until the power of the national Government became greater than the power of the people of the States in rebellion. ie people of pthe rebellious States attempted to destroy the Union by the separation of a part of the States from the Union, and by the timetion upon the ruins of the old Union of another government in its stead. They failed to accomplish theirdesign; their ordinancesof secession; ktheir resolving themselves out of the Union; their attempt to fight themselves out of the Union, all ailed, and in spite of all their ef forts to get out, the loyal people of the nation kept them in. No State can y an act of its own sever its connection from the nion. A State may forfeit its right to representation; its people may all commit crimes against the laws and constitution of the Government; the properrelation of the State to the Government may be broken by the insurrections and rebellious of the people, yet the State is not out of the Union so as to lose the jurisdiction to the Government over it until all the balance of the people of the Union consent to let her go, or until a successful rebellion takes her out in spite of the efforts of the Government to keep her in. But, sir, when I say this I do not mean to be understood as defending the theor that the Congress has no right to take hol of those States and people and examine their political condition most thoroughly. Isay that, although these rebellious States arein, territorially, the Union, and cannot get out by any act of theirs, yet by their rebellion they have forfeited their right to representation in the Halls of congress, and placed themselves where the national Government can determine at will when the shall resume again their original position! on have a voice in the legislative halls of the nation. Sir, the very 1st act of rebellion was in the States passing their ordinances of secession, declaring their connection with the Union at an end; their acts of secession were followed up by confederating together in the formation o another government, and in the adoption of such measures as in their judgment would aid in the permanent establishment of that government. All the officers of state in each of the States operated together to destroy the old and build up a new government upon its ruins. By State legislation and State proclamations and State military orders, men, money, and credit were given to the organization which had for its object the dissolution of the Union by the separation of the seceded States. For 4 years the proper relation of these States to the Union was cut 06 by their separate and combined action and yet we are told by Gentlemen that after all this, after the nation has staggered undertheload of debtand been sorely oppressed with taxes, after it has witnessed the sacrifice upon the battlefield and in the Libbys and andersonvilles of 3 quarters of a million of her brave sons struggling with the armies of the rebellion, and after the last tragic act of the bloody drama is consummated, and the civilized world is startled as the Chief Executive is stricken down as with the dagger of n Brutus by the hand of a hired assassinI say after all this, we. are told that these people, fresh from all these scenes of carnage, are defiantly to take their places ain in our national councils, and the loyal people of the always loyal States by their lawfully constituted Sens&Reps have no constitutional power to tell them to stop one moment until we can look beyond their certificates. many of which are signed by newlymade Governors With rebel straps upon their shoulders and pardons in their pockets, and learn whether their States are now loyal or still cherishing that same spirit of rebellion and fiendish barbarity which o ar acterized them in the struggle to destroy the nation. Sir, before we admit these States to full fel lowship again, have we not the constitutional right to stop and inquire whether they mean to come here and by political management to do what they have not been able to doatbteymt pt a use of the sword?, But. a few months ago, sir, while the honor able gentlemen now on this floor, who were its members of the last Congress, were sitting in these Halls voting, to defray the expenses of the war, 1,000 million dollars, the deafening sounds of the thundering artillery still rang in their ears, as it told the monrnfiil story that another sanguinary battle was We are still voting money, sirra, gainng. authorizing loans, making more stringent the revenue laws, and taxing all the ener ies of our intellects to raise money to pay the soldier yet in the field, and to pay the interest ii on the war debt as it becomes ue. Thousands ofourgal Iant volunteers are still in the field, pleading to be permitted to return to their loved ones at home, but are kept in the service in these rebellious States because their presence is necessary to maintain order and roteet the loyal people. Sir, is it to be the policy of this Government to keep a standing army on duty in the South, and at the some time open the doors and be stow upon its people ful political rights in the Government? Even in the State of Tennessee, which sends distin uished gentlemen, some of whom I personally now, and believe they are loyal men, is now patrolled by national soldiery; and we are told by the Governor that their removal would result in the expulsion of their Legislature, and death or banishment from the State of all the active loyal men. Brownlow says:, i it. em. forcldsgrhtiiilsl norloniiio Tennahhtthsee legislature would at once be dispersed by a rebel mob. A. J. Fletcher, the SecyState, says: "Indeed. if the military was withdrawn now the Legislature could not reassemble, nor would the governor, or any loyal Governor, be safe for asingle day.” This is the testimony of 2 State officers of that State. Can it be, sir, that we are compelled by our constitutional obligations, or by any reason or law, to admit to representation a State in such condition?, Sir, if we have not the rightful power to control this question, then our Government is a sham, having no inherent power to protect itself, and treason and death will soon paralyze every vital function of its unnatural existence. The plain, libertyloving people, sir, do notso read and interpret the constitution. They believe that when our fathers made that immortal instrument they made it broad enough to give protection to those who stood by it and to enable the loyal people to prevent its estruction. I believe that Congress has the full power of reconstructing the rebellious States. When I say this, I make no quarrel with the course of. our President in regard to the part he has per. formed in attempting to reorganize and govern them since their armies surrendered. What he has done he did as an experiment and with patriotic motives, believing it to be for the best, and to be the wisest course he could pursue. These governments are merely temporary, dictated by the President, and founded upon no civil authority, State or national, but are the result of the judgment of the President in the absence of Congress, and enforced or set aside by the military power whenever deemed necessary by military commanders under the direction or sanction of the President as Commander inChief. Theyare, in fact, substantially military governments taking the place of the civil governments which were displaced, being in the interest of rebellion. If such is the fact, of which there can be no doubt, where is the authority for saying that the men, styling themselves He Representatives and Senators, sent here by a military government established by the POTUS in his own mode and manner, without consulting the laws or State governments as they existed at the close of the rebellion, are entitled to seats upon this floor? I rimunable, sir, to discover that there is any legal or constitutional provision requiring us to admit them; and it ehooves us to move exceedingly carefull asW8 perform the work of reorganizing these v. States and see to it that we do not fritteraway the golden opportunity of placing the Government upon a basis of just and right principles which, if rigidly adhered to by the people in the future, will be a sure guarantee against any more rebellions. If the people of the rebellious States are still disloyal, there is no provision of the Constitution entitling them to representation in the congress of the U.S. If it is true that we are required to patrol those States with an army to protect the loyal white men and poor freedmen and to suppress treason, where is the propriety of admitting them to representation 1 I read, Mr. Speaker, in the constitution of my country that “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members.” I read that “ Congress shall have power to lay and eollect taxes. duties. imposts and excisesto pay the debtsand provide for the common defense an general welfare of the U.S. ” Iread in the constitution that the U.S shall Union a RFG. These, sir, are some of the plain provisions of the constitution, and are intended as safe guards to the perpetuity and purity of the Republic. Under them, I am sure we are not required to admit Representatives from States not republican in form nor grant representation to a disloyal people. The “general welfare" of the country, by such a magnanimous proceeding, would not be very eatly subserved. When the people of the U.S. declared to the world that they made the constitution “ in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, remote the enernl welfare, and secure the lessings of iberty to themselves and their posterity, ” they did not realize that those sublime declarations were all glittering generalities, and that under the constitution so ordained the recognition of rebellious States to full fellowship in the Union was calculated to form a more perfect Union, to establish justice, promote the general welfare, insure domestic tranquillity, or secure the blessings of liberty to the people. Sir, I will not dwel longer upon this subject; the proposition is too plain that when the people of a State rebel against the authority of7 the national Government, so that its properpractical relation to the Government is broken, the right of rercsentation of such State by its rebellion is destroyed, and the State can be held to its obligations to the Union and restored to the privilege of representation when in the judgment of the sovereign Government it may be safe so to do. I do not desire to deal harshly with these States or any fallen enemy. Rather would I turn from the scenes of rebellion and barbarity which have been enacted by those engaged in the attempt to overthrow the Republic, and look a on a brighter, better scene as we commence the great work of rebuilding upon the scattered ruins of those once prosperous States. I shall not be guided in my action as a legislator by mafee or reven e. But, sir, I cannot forget the 1,000s o brave and llant men who laid down their lives inthe terrible struggle that the notion might live. I cannot forget that 4 long years were required to crush out the cause less, wicked rebellion against the best Government in the world. Sir, I cannot forget that night in April last when that great man, so fitly styled the saviour of his country, was murdered by a fiend, pushed on by the maddened exasperation of a dying robelion. Sir, I perhaps feel as keenly the result of that last tragic act as any man upon this floor. Abra ham Lincoln, a martyr for the cause ofliberty and patriotism, murdered bytraitors, now slee s in the bosom of my own State and city; the patriotic sons of the Prairie State will closely guard his honored remains and as we proceed in the performance of our responsible duties, let us stand by that old maxim, “Let justice he done thouvli, the heavens shall fall. ”