Mr. VOOltHEES. I return to the House my acknowledgments for the favor they have extended to me. Sir, more than one 10th of the taxable property of the U.S. demands and has otained in the hands of a favored class freedom from assessment. The enormous capitalist who has invested all his means in the bonds of the Government thus relieves the principal of his vast estate from taxation. He eels no concern for the movements of the taxgatherer except as he goes forth and returns to him with the interest on his bonds, which the hands of honest toil pour into his coffers. Is this “equal and exact justice to all men, and exclusive privileges to none?” It is claimed, however, by the friends of this moneyed monopoly that the bonds of the Government are a sacred obligation and must not be touched; that they were purchased by their present holders out of pure patriotism, and that theirfreedom from assessment is but a proper token of the nations gratitude. Patriotism was said by the great Dr. Johnson to be the last refuge of a scoundrel. It is now made the refuge of wealthy non-tax payers, who convert their taxable property into Government securities, in order to evade their honest obligations. The idea that they have made these purchases from other than the ordinary motive of pecuniary profit only rovokes contempt. They bought at a heavy discount, owing to the condition of the currency. They paid about 50 cents on the dollar, and now fold them at par, and receive interest at their ace. But it is said that when these bonds were thrown upon the market there was a guarantee that they should not be taxed. Is an act of Congress at the last session a guarantee that another and a different one on the same subject will not be passed at this? Do we live in the days of the Medes and Persians, when it was an offense punishable with death to propose to change a law once enacted? Does any man of sense predicate his business transactions on such a theory? Did the capitalists who are now to be so tenderly relieved from taxation make their investments innocently supposing that an everlastingperpetuityattached toth legislation of this most versatile, fluctuating, 51d change able body? If they did, it is very wonderful how men of so little intelligence could have so much money. No, sir, they calculated all the risks of profit and loss, and every contingency of the future, as closely as Shylock did on the Rialto, assured in any event that their ventures would come home to them like richly freighted argostes after a prosperous voyage at sea; still better pleased, however, if they could have judgment forever on the inhuman bond which ives them freedom from assessment and exacts in their favor the pound of flesh nearest the heart of the toiling multitude. I have listened to appeals in favor of this class, on account of their timel and selfsacrificing services, until I have a most imagined that we dwelt in a new Arcadia, where such a thing as selfinterest was unknown. They loaned moneys on good securities and high rates of usance, and therefore the dusty, weary plow man in the field must ay their taxes for them, and be thankful to Go for so sweet a privilege! Yes, and even the soldier, crippled in the shock of battle, with the old flag over his head, returning home to find poverty and want at his hearth stone, must hear these speculators of Wall street hailed as the saviors of the country; and likewise without a murmur scutile hard with the world, perhaps on crutches, to pay their debts as well as his own. The nations grati tude takes a strange turn at this point. It lav ishes its gills, its garlands, and its favors on the moneychangers of the temple, and causes the defenders of the Government at the can nons mouth to pay tribute to their monstrous greed. Sir, there are few parallels in the wide annals of all the nations of the earth to such frightful injustice and inequality; and wherever they are found the peep e have been at last avenged upon their extortionate oppressors. The patricians of Rome, an aristocracy founded upon wealth, at different periods ound the plebeians, who labored at home an bore arms in the field, with debt and unequal taxation; but there was always a point at which the elements of revolution darkened the sky, and the privileged classes were compelled to yield to the untitled millions. State and Church in France had for ages loaded their favorites and parasites with riches and honors, and the peasantry with burdens, until the frenzied insanity of 1790 burst forth, and the whole fabric of government and of human society was involved in one common conflagrafion and ruin. Sir, there is but one pathway of safety and honor for Governments to pursue in their domestic policy. They must administer justice to their citizens in the spirit and the letter of equality; and there is no instance in the history of nations where class legislation, and legalized monopolies have not overthrown the prosperity of every interest, and destroyed public liberty. I therefore indorse the policy of the Presidents annual message on this great and vital question. Sprung from the loins of the people, they will greet him as their champion is life has been a battle in their behalf against privilege and oppression, and he has shown that in his proud eminence he has not lost for them his ancient love and care. Declmation on the dignity of labor in the abstract is a cheap indulgence. We listened to it a few evenings since in this Hall. from the eloquent lips of one whose soft hand never did an hours toil, and who preaches a fashionable gospel at 10,000 a year. But labor finds its true dignity when its rights and interests are defended in high places y one who has felt all its privations and sufferings, and knows by experience “the simple annals of the poor.” Let the public debt he paid, but let it be paid honestly and by all. advocate no repudiation, but I advocate equality iu striving to meet its terrible demands. ts exactions will be sufficiently soreeven when the whole wealth of the land is brought to the receipt of custom. It will be more intolerable than the requirements which the Egyptian masters laid upon their Hebrew slaves, if only a portion of the people have to meet it all. implore this congress, then, to accept these wise recommendations of the Executive. Adjust the presenttariff so that the whole labor of the country shall no longer be taxed on the necessaries of life for the benefit of a single section. Repeal the law by which a favored class obtains freedom from assessment. Bring the accumulated wealth of the country to the aid of the poor in aying the national debt. Do these things, anii you will lift cruel and gallipg burdens from the shoulders of honest labor, and convince the country that yOn have some regard for an equality of rights and privileges among American citizens as well as between the different races in our midst. Mr. Speaker, I have thus far reviewed and discussed, as I understand them, the leading features of the domestic policy of the Executive. The success of some portions of this pol icy remains wholly with the future. Upon the leading measure, however, of a restoration of the States to union and harmony, an important chapter in history has already been written. Has it been a success or a failure? I have tried it; by the high standards of right, justice, constitutional law, and precedent. I submit ttnow to another test, on which it is bitterl assailed by those who yet claim to be the on y friends of the Administration. Those who perform their duties of friendship toward the President by malignant denunciations of his policy are now engaged in impressing the public mind with the belief that he has accomplished nothing worthy of acceptance by the people. The Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. Srsvnxs] pronounces his lau of restoration impracticable and untenable. He not only spea s for himself on this point, but also for everybody else. He says that “ very few now consider" the administrative position a tenable one. An arrogant Senator in the other end of the Capitol pronounces the whole thing a fraud. a white washing process. by which sins and crimes are connived at and hid from the public gaze. adventure us members of this House have crowded themselves into the presence of the Executive, and with exquisite delicacy assured him that, with their constituencies, they think his plan of restoration not likely to give success to is administration, and that, after an uninterrupted trial of 7 months, his efforts to reor nize the rebel States and restore them to the Tuition must be recognized as a failure. Then with profuse protestations of true friendship they modestly ask him to step quietly to one side, not to lift a finger of interference, not open his lips in remoustrance, while they smash to pieces all his wellordered plans, and kick to the ground with their Vandal feet his almost completed structure of Union and peace. Sir. this class of dissatisfied spirits is to be found in every age. It is composed of boding birds of evil omen. It is their mission to destroy, not to build up. The borer in the trees of the forest, the worm in the heart of the flower, the wolf in the farmers sheepfold, the tiger in the travelers encampment bv night, all pursue their trade of destruction and mark their career with ruin. But no useful thing ever grew from their labors and like these beings in the animal world, created to destroy, so there are unhap y members of the human family, who never beheld the fair and beautiful creation ol anothers wisdom without an irresistible longing to strew the earth with its broken fragments. To them I make no up cal in behalf of that policy which has cleare away the wreck of s gigantic fraternal war, laid anew the foundations of government throughout an extent of country more vast than the most powerful king doms of Europe, revived confidence and hope in the breasts of a despairin people and won for its authorthe respect an admiration of the civilized nations of both hemispheres. Imaks my a pen] to the disintereste, impartial and enli tened masses of the country, without regar to lines of party distinction. They have witnessed the patient labors of the President, and since this Congress convened they have beheld their grand fulfillment. Those wandering stars from the azure field of the flu, those discontented Pleiades that shot mad y from their spheres, have one by one reillumed their rays at the great center of light and of glory The whole land we t when the beautiful sister hood was broken. he wail of the heartbroken over the pallid face of the beloved and untimely dead is not more full of anguish than were th0 hearts of those who love their fellowwnatt when many of our most brilliant planets denied the law of gravitation and struck defiantly out upon orbits of their own. The sword that was drawn by all Christian hands, more in sorrow than in an er, han peacefully in its scabbard on the wa l. Eac section has its reminiscences of sublime devotion, of grief, and of glory. These are the brave hearts dearest treasure, and until The good knights are dust" they will be hallowed as the devotee hallows the rites of his religion. Butpeaceunderthepol icy of the Executive is celebrating “hervictories no less renowned than war.” The shmtngsyrn hole of the revoltedrace are over our he State after State, kindly assisted by the sternalhand of the President, comes to ta e its place beneath its ancient coat of arms. They cluster around these vacant seats that have so long invited them in vain. They are welcomed by the President as Israels greatest king wel comed the warlike son of Ner, whose standard had waved twice 4 years in rebellion. Let Congress imitate his example and mark the opening of the new year as an era of perfect reunion and a season of universal Joy. “Let oblivions curtain full” upon the doleful tragedies of the st. Bury the auimosities of a civilWar. Ta e no counsel from their baleful whisperings. Hate is the basest principle of human action. They who have made laws and ruled nations upon motives of vengeance are the monsters whom all history curses with an unbroken voice. The long and deadly proscriptive lists of S lla and Marius, Tiberius, and Clodius, gave the names of their victims to the compassion and sympathy of the world, while an immortality of in amy clings unceasingly to those who took private revenge in the name of the public good. Charity for the errors, the follies, and the crimes of the whole family of imperfect man is the leading virtue in the breasts of law ivers and rulers. Those who have been guidedby its sweet, angelic influences constitute the glory of the firmament in the annals of mankind. Cyrus, Scipio, and Washington command the love and venerution of ages more by the forbearance, magnanimity, and clemency of their characters than by the renown of their military achievements. The savage chief may strike his enemy prostrate and powerless at his feet. It is an attribute of divinity which lifts him up and makes him a friend. When Pericles paused upon the opening threshold of eternity, and in is dying moment reviewed the events of his great life, he consoled his parting spirit and rested the chief glory of his reign upon the fact that he had never caused a citizen of Athens to sheds tear. From this hour may this Government dry up the tears of its citizens! May no more hearts be wrung with the gloom of the prison or the anguish of death! May the 2 sections meet again as kindred and friends! The angel of concord will then stir the healing waters for them both; and renewing their glorious youth together, the future of the American Union will be filled with the love and praise of all its citizens.