Mr. ASHLEY, of Ohio. I suppose there is no one in this House who would claim or admit that the Government of the U.S. has any constitutional power to authorize or recognize the right of a majority of the people of a State to dissolve their constitutional relations with the General Government. So far as I am concerned, and the great body of the men with whom I act, we utterly deny it. But, sir, if the people of a State do the act, what then? Who is there to Prescribe the terms and conditions upon which these States shall be restored when these acts are consummated? Sir, I hold as my distinguished colleague [Mr. BINGHAM] holds, and as the great body of the Republican Union party hold, that the Government of the States under its Present Constitution can only exist where constitutional State governments are maintained, and that the sovereignty of the people of this country reposes in the people who reside in States which maintain constitutional State governments in practical relations with the national Government, and exists nowhere else. I hold that the people of a State may, and all know that 11 States did, in violation of the Constitution, dissolve their practical relations with the national Government. As an individual citizen may, in violation of law, commit crime, so may a political community, in violation of law, refuse or neglect to discharge their constitutional obligations. If they do this thing, I hold that the States which remain loyal must always rePresent the national sovereignty and have the right to dictate such terms as they may see fit to revolting States, and to compel the people of the States so violating the Constitution to accept those terms, or to remain during the pleasure of the conqueror in the condition in which we now find the late rebel States. No, not in such condition, but in such condition as the Congress which rePresents the nation may dictate. I have regretted to find, since this Congress came together, so many gentlemen here doing all they could to inflame the passions and prejudices of the great body of the people who were recently in rebellion in the U.S. I have regretted to find them forming alliances with rebels and justifying the POTUS, who has become the leader of a negative rebellion as hostile and as dangerous to the U.S., and I fear far more so than an open armed rebellion would be if he were at the head of it. I am anxious, and the great body of those with whom I act are to day most anxious, that the people who went into the rebellion (many of do honestly and 1000s of them reluctantly) should be restored to their practical relations with this Government upon the mildest and most merciful and forgiving terms which it is possible for us, a conquering people, to impose upon them, looking to our own safety, the stability of the national Government, and the rights of loyal citizens in those States.