Mr. FESSEXDEN. It will be noticed, Mr. President, that in the extract which has been read there are very serious charges made. One is that there is an effort being made to concentrate all power in a few, and that that power is lodged in the hands of a sort of central committee, and the words which immediatcly follow furnish a sufficient indication of what the President meant. I think the POTUS could hardly have considered with care the nature of the resolution under which we have been acting as a committee of this body; he could hardly have looked at its history, and hardly have understood its mean ing. Let me read that resolution and state its history, for it is very singular that he should charge that all the authority of deciding upon the credentials of members of the HoRep and of the Senate has been taken from the House and the Senate and referred to this committee. The resolution, as it came from the HoRep originally, was in these words: “That aJtCommee of 15 members shall be appointed. 9 ofw om shall be members of the House and 6 membersof the Senate. who shall inquire into the condition of the Stateswhich formed the so eulled confederate States of America and re port whether they or any of them. are entitled to be representedin either House of Congress." and then followed the words which I will now read: “With leave to report ntany time, by bill or otherwise: and until sue report shall have been made. end finally actedon by Congress.no member shall be received into either House lrom any of the said socalled confederate States: and all papers relatin to the representationot suid States shall be reterre to the said committeeWithout debate." That was the original resolution. When it came to be considered in the Senate it was not deemed very desirable at that time to interfere with those questions which might be said to belong to either House, and the last part of the resolution was stricken out, so that the resolution as it finally passed stood in this way: “That ajointcomrnittce of 15 members shall be appointed, 9 ol whom shall be membersof the House and 6 membersof the Senate. who shall in nire into the condition of the Stateswhich formed t ose eiilled confederate Statesof America and re port whether they, or nay of them, are entitled to be representedin either House of Congress.” What was that? Simply the appointment of a JtCommee in this unexnmped condition of the country, with a war of 4 years (in which 11 States had been engaged against the U.S.) just closed, after all the expenditure of blood and treasure that had been made in the country, at the 1st meeting of Congress which occurred after actual hostilities in the field had ceased—for what purpose? O inquire into the condition of those States and report whether they were entitled to representation. That simple provision for acquirin information in order to enable the House an the Senate to judge understandingly upon this important question affecting themselves has been represented by gentlemen and by news Eaers as assuming authority which did not e ong to Congress. I have nothing to say in this connection with reference to the Presi dent. I am speaking now of the complaints that were made of that resolution, a simple res olution to inquire into the condition of those States and report whether Representatives and Senators cond be admitted lrom them. Sir, in this Were we doing anything more than our duty? Was it not advisable? It was not a sin lo question relating, as we understood it, to the credentials of members. It was believed that at the Very foundation of the whole question of the admission of members lay this great whether the condition. of. those Staten l was such as to render the admission of those members safe. I have had this extract from the Presidents speech read simply to show what everybody must admit with regard to it. The last paragraph of the extract that I sent to the Chair and had read, is this: "I am freeto anyto you. as your Executive, that I am not prepared to take any such position. I Hill“ in the Senate in the very inception of the rebellion that States had no right to go out and that they had no iower to go out. That question has beensettled. an I cannot turn around now and wire the liodireet to all I professto has done in the last 5 years. can do no such tly I say that when they comply with the Constwgh (i. when they have given sulficient eviderms and sir loyalty and that they can be trusted, w; “er afieldobedienceto lbe law, I say extend to theiiiL ght hand of fellowshipl and let peaceand union“be stored." So say I, and so say all. When they do that let these consequences follow. There is no difference on that point. The President himself, instead of saying anything different from us, says when they have complied with these conditions then they ought to be admitted. He himself in his speech makes that n preliminary to examining the question of credentials to see whether men come here properly accredited. Lest gentlemen on the other side should have failed to notice this sentence, let me read it. again. It is peculiarly expressive: “I so that when they comply with the Constitution when they have given sufficient evidence of their loyalt and that they can be trusted, when they yic do)edicnec to the law, I sayextend to them the right hand of fellowship and let peace and union be restored.” That, it seems, is a matter into which some body hns a right to inquire. I should like to know if the Congress of the U.S. have not a right to ask these very questions and be satisfied upon them before they admit men as Sens&Reps in the several bodies which constitute Congress. If Congress have a right to inquire, (and I agree with the President entirely on the subject.) what have we done more than to inquire? When Congress appointed this committee with power to examine into the condition (for that is all there was of it) of these socalled confederate States and report whether they were in a fit condition to be represented by Sens&Reps, what did we do more than simply to endeavor to carry out precisel what. the President has laid down in his spee as preliminary to the admission of Sens&Reps? I state this in order that the country may understand what all this noise has been about in reference to the appointment of this committee. But the President undertakes to say that legislative power has been granted to this committee; that the powerof legislation which congress possesses—he calls it “the power of legislution "—over the question of the admission of Sens&Reps has been passed out of the hands of Congress and given to a central power.