Mr. ORTH. Mr. Speaker, the rebellion, which so recently convu sed our, beloved country like an earthquake, has ceased, so far as it manifested itself in armed hostility, but, like the earthquake in the material world, its rever berations still remain. The ound on which We tread is unstead; we feel its motion; it may be only the undiiations which follow the shock, or it may be (which God forbid) the preme nitory symptoms of another visitation. Man cannot control the material forces of nature; these are beyond his wisdom and his power; but the virtue and patriotism of the American people may so control and fashion the political e ements of the country as to prevent a recurrence of the horrid scenes which are so vividly impressed upon our memories. The people, under our form of government. can only act through their agents, to whom for the time bein" they have confided the" power, and from whom they expect,c 1304 a right to expect, an honest, fearless, and patriotic discharge of duty. In the contest with treason on the field of battle they looked with confidence to the soldier, nor did they look in vain. The soldier met the resonsibility, and with steady tread, whether amid days of gloom and despondency or of brightening prospects, be pressed forward to the accomplishment of his mission. He felt that the eyes of the world were upon him; that the prayers of the good were offered up for his encouragementthat to fail in such a cause was to turn back the dial plate of time 100 years; hence be pressed on until victory, thorough and complete in allits arts, crowned his efforts, and the eagles of the epublic were everywhere in the ascendent. Eis work done and well done, the soldier returned to the ranks of the citizen, crowned with immortal honors and welcomed by the plaudits of the country. Now the work of statesmanship commences. The terrific contest has left its traces wide and deep; the foundations of society in the immediate theater of the war have been broken up; no such earthquake can shake the land and leave no marks of desolation; the shock has shattered and broken some of the majestic columns of our political edifice; their fragments are visible to our sight; but though turret and column have been disturbed, the grand old foundation of the fathers, laid strong and deep in the principles of universal freedom and humanity, stil remains, ready to receive a superstructure more beauti ful in design, more perfect in all its parts; a superstructure which it is the duty ofwiso states manship to erect. Upon the members of this House devolvesin a great measure this responsible work. We dare not shrink from the trust without incurring the just imputation of cowardice, and we cannot avoid this responsibility if we are true to those whose voices we speak on this floor. To gather up and repair the shattered columns, to erect the superstructure in unison with the great principles of the foundation, and to harmonize the whole with truth, with justice, with freedom, and with humanity in its broadest sense, is a labor equal if not superior to any ever committed to the wisdom and, patriotisin of man. If we succeed in this work each one of us can say, in the language of the Roman poet, “I have builded a monument more enduring than brass.” If we fail, it can with truth be said of us, “It were better we had not been born.” As in the case of the soldier the people look to us with confidence; like the soldier let us meet the responsibility, and amid days of gloom or of brightening prospects, press forward to accomplish our mission, feeling that the eyes of the world are upon us; that the praers of the good are offered in our behalf, an that a failure here will make of Vicksbur and Donel son, of the Wilderness and Gettys urg, mocking disasters; and the sacrifices of the Army, the Navy, and the people, will turn to bitterness and to woe. The people will not falter in this work however much we may falter. Our hesitancy, or blindness, or recrcancy, may postpone the final result, it cannot destroy it; or let me assure this House that a people whose bravery and sacrifices are the wonder of the world, will recover from our errors and mistakes as during the rebellion they recovered from other errors and mistakes, and will not cease their efforts until throughout the American Republic but one great law shall be known, recognized, and enforced for every citizen. RESTORATIONOF THE LATE REBEL STATES. We cannot for any great length of time continue in the anomalous condition we now occupy. Sooner or later these States must be restored to their practical relations in the Union. Our interest and our duty alike demand it. This Republic cannot remain long in its present dismembered condition, nor will it, in my opin iou, remain so for any great length of time. But We must remember that while time is measured by days in whatever pertains to individual man, it is measured by years in the growth, con“solidation, and perfection of nations. Make haste slowly" seems to be the voice of our people, for errors committed now may require ages to correct; and the builder towhom is intrusted his part of this “ restoration” must do his work in such a manner that when completed, not only himself, but the world shall be able to say “ tis well done.” Before the assemblin of Congress nothing had been done or could e done toward restoring the rebel States, except such action as the President might take under the war powers of the Constitution, and this was of course only provisional in its nature. It was his duty to protect the people of the rebellious States llafter their surrender) in their social and civil rights, so far as possible, by the establishment of military rule, and to a vise the people to initiate the process of civil government. Thus matters stood at the meeting of conss. the fresident had gone to the extent of is authority, and now Congress must take up the work and carry it forward to completion. No time was lost by either House in entering upon thiswork withacalm deliberation befitting its gravity. Every step taken was traveling in a new and untried path, the worlds history furnishing no precedent for our guidance; and hence the necessity for greater caution and circumspection. No time has been lost in collecting evidence and providingdata upon which to come to safe conc usions; and I venture to affirm that the croakers and maligners of this Congress will themselves be astonished at the magnitude of our work when our actions shall have passed into history. We have yet hardly had 90 working days, a more speck when compared with the time which was deemed necessary to establish our Government after the treaty of peace with GreatBritain; and the assertion is made in no spirit of arrogance that the work now devolving upon the Government is 2nd only in importance and difficulty to the work of the fathers. Whence comes this unmeaning and senseless clamor for speedy action? Does it come from the men who stood by the nation during the 5 long and bloody ears through which we have atfiast so triumphantly passed? No, sir! No! The clamor comes mainly from those whose hearts were not on the side of their country during the war, from those who in solemn convention at Chicago declared “the war a failure, ” who constantly voted against men and money to prosecute the war, who derided and scoffed at the soldiers, branding them on all occasions with the opprobrious epithet of “ Lincoln hirelings, ” who sent no cheer to the soldier in the field or in the hospital, and who were continually proclaiming “ on cannot connor the South. Who else are clamorous? The reconstructed, but I fear unrepentant rebels, anxious doubtless to be able soon to strike hands with their northern s mpathizers, who now, as during the war, are their willing champions. Congress has no difficulty in coming to the conclusion whose voice they should obey. Slowly, surely, deliberately we shall pursue our work, determined to do it right so far as we can, under the providence of God, perceive the right, regardless of clamor, abuse, or vitu peration. What Dept is vested with the power of reconstruction? The legislative branch of the General government is alone clothed with authority to recognize State governments. This is a proposition, in view of our constitutional and judicial history, so clear as hardly to admit of argument. The status or condition in which those States were left by the rebellion was tersely and trul stated by Tresident Lincoln, when he sai, “We all agree that the seceded States are out of their proper practical relations with the Union.” He never for a single moment entertained the dangerous dogma “ that those States" lost nothing by going into rebellion; that "the war being over, all that is necessary to complete the Union is to permit the late rebel communities to send their representatives to Congress, and no questions shal be asked.” This conven. ient doctrine might suit rebels and rebel sympathizers, but loyal men will never give it their assent. President Johnson, when called upon told: with reference to those States, soon after his accession to the executive chair, emphatically declared that the rebellion had deprived the people of the rebel States “of all civil government." I refer to the NCarolina proclamation, in which he uses this language: " Whereas the rebellion which has been waged by a portion of the people of the U.S. against. the properly constituted authorities of the Government thereof, in the mostviolentnnd revoltingform, but whoseorganized and armedforccshavenow been almost entirely overcome, has. in its revolutiona grogress, deprived the people of the State of No arolina of all civil government."