Mr. BINGHAM. I thank the honorable gen; tleman [Mr. HIGBY] for yielding me the floor, and I hope it will be the pleasure of the House to exten the time, as Is iall not be able in the 15 minutes allowed me by the gentlemans courtesy to present properly my Views of the important question before us. stand ere this day impressed with the belief that amendments to the constitution of the U.S. are imperiously demanded by reason of the changed condition of the country. If the loyal people who have by arms saved the republic shall not insure its safety by laws as we 1, then I fear in vain have the bravest and the noblest and the best of its sons gone down in itsdefense amid the tempest and the shock of battle. Unless this Congress, charged as it is, like the 1st Continental Congress, with the care of the liberties of all. shal perform the duty enjoined upon it, and send to the people l866. N 429 the necessary constitutional provisions and guarantees for the future safety of the republic, I apprehend that there are men now within these walls who may learn, when it is too late, that the ballot in the hand of the conspirator is more dangerous to the safety of the the public than the bayonet. If the amendment reported by the JtCommee of the 2 Houses, or that proposed to be substituted by my honorable coleague, [Mr. Sensxcz] be all that this House proposes to do in this regard, then I can only say for myself that l tremble for the future of my country. But is it all that this House proposes to do? Have gentlemen for otten that but the other day this House, with singular vunanimity by all the votes, I believe, that it can command save sixsent to the Senate a proposed amendment to the constitution, which, however informally. exressed, is intended by the authority of the whole people to declare by the organic law that neither the U.S. nor any State of this Union shall ever assume or ay an debt or liability contracted or incurre in ai of the late rebellion, or which may here after be contracted or incurred in aid of any rebellion against the U.S.? Does it not suggest itself to the mind of every gentleman now within the hearing of my voice that the safety of the Republic requires that not simply that amendment shall pass into your constitution, but that there should be added to it the provisron that no State in this Union shall ever lay one cent of tax upon the property or head of any loyal man for the purpose of paying tribute and pension for li e to those who rendered service or receivedwonnds in the prosecution of this great, unmatched, and atrocious rebellion against your country? Does it not occur also to the considerate minds of gentle men that it would be well to place the turther limitation upon these several States, if they are to be restored to their equal position in the union of the States, as I trust they are to be at no distant day, that no State in this Union shall levy tribute upon its people for the purpose of indemnifying, in whole or in part, any rebel against losses or damages incurred either in the prosecution of the rebellion or inflicted on rebels in its suppression? I ask gentlemen to consider that, as your constitution stands today, there is no power, express or implied, in this Government to limit or restrain the general power of taxation in the States and are gentlemen, admitting this fact as it is now stated, to be true, to sit here an deliberate for one moment whether it is necessar to place such a limitation upon these States ift ey are to be restored, and especiall if they are to be restored on the basis claime by Gentlemen on that side of the House who oppose this amendmentrestored with the governing power in every one of the 11 rebe States in the hands of the very men who but yesterday waged war against the life of the Republic? 4 at, sir, even that amendment, desirable as it is, islyet not all that, in in mind, the safety of the epublic requires, an our duty and our oaths alike enjoin upon us to present to the people. Why, sir, may be a lowed to say crc, Without violating any rule of this House, that the JtCommee of 15, represent in both branches of Congress, do not themselves consider that the have wholly discharged their duty in this beha f to the country. It is not for me to say here what they have done, or to anticipate what they may do in the premises, further than to an that I doubt not they will discharge their whole duty. But I may say that the committee has under consideration another general amendment to the Constitution which looks to the grant of express power to the congress of the U.S. to enforce in behalf o eve citizen of every State and of every Territory in the Union the rights which were guarantied to him from the beginning, but which guarantee has unhappil been disre arded by more than one State of this Union, cfiantly disregarded, simply because of a want of power in Congress to enforce that guarantee. I do not doubt, air, that if the committee shall succeed in presenting in fit and proper form this proposed amendment to the constitution, it will receive the assent, I might almost say, of 1 every gentleman in this House. Why should it not? I understand very well, Mr. Speaker, that there are gentlemen for. whom I have the profound est respect, not only for their great attainments, but for their generous and patriotic motives who contend, against all past constructions and all past experience, that the Congress of the U.S. has the power, implied necessarily, to enforce all the guarantees of the constitution. In my judgment, unless some such general provision as that to which I have reerred be adopted, it is in vain that you hope for future safety or future peace in the country; and I beg leave to sayto gentlemen who reason in the manner I have indicated, and therefore seek to evade the discharge of this great duty incumbent upon us, that, notwithstandin the respect to which their opinions are entitle, the contiIed construction of every Dept of this Government, legislative, executive, and ju dicial, from that day on which Washington, for the 1st time, before God and his country, took the oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the U.S., ” has conceded that no such poweris vested in the Federal Government. Gentlemen will pardon me for further reminding them of the special express powers of the constitution, and that the general express grant is that Congress shall have power to make all laws necessary and proper for carry in into execution the foregoing powers and all 0t ier powers vested by this constitution in the Government of the U.S or in any Dept or officer thereof. In what I have said upon the limitations of power, I do not express my own Opinion, butthe opinions of others and the uniform construction. Sir, your constitution declares that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law; yet, in support of what I have just said on the necessity o an additional grant of power, allow me to remind the House of the fact that this highest right which pertains to man or citizen, life, has never yet been protected, and is not now protected, in an State of this Union by the statute law of the U.S and if tomorrow, sir, your President, because of his slzlpposed fidelity, and I might add of his real 6 eity to his duty, insofar as I understand his position, crossed the line ofyour exclusive jurisdiction in this District into the State of Maryland, into the county of Charles, and were to be there set upon by the whole body of the community and murdered, for no fault of his, but simply because of his supposed fidelity to his duty, your GOvernment is powerless by law to avenge his death in any of our civil tribunals of justice and this resn ts from the accepted construction that this Government has not the power by law to enforce in the States this guarantee of life. I repeat then, sir, in view of the facts stated, that it is well for the Representatives of the people to consider that in passing this amendment they take but one step toward the attainment of the object sought to be attained by all the several propositions proposed, to secure to each citizen and each State alike their equal rights in the Union. Mr. Speaker, touching this and all other amendments to the constitution, by giving them my support, I do not subject myself to the gratuitous imputation of the Gentfrom llinois [Mr. ARSUALL] who spoke yesterday, of a want of reverence either for the constitution or its illustrious founders. I beg leave, at all events, to say, with all possible respect for that gentleman, that I do not recognize the right of any man upon this floor, who was a representative of that party which denied the right to defend the constitution of his country by arms against armed rebellion, to become my accuser. In seeking to amend, not to mar, the constitution of the U.S., we ought to have regard to every express or implied limitation upon our power imposed by that great instrument. when gentlemen object to mending the l constitution, when they talk sneeringly about tinkering with the constitution, theyt o not rememberthat it is one of the express provisions of that instrument that Congress shalrhave power to propose amendments to the Legislatures of the several States. DO gentlemen mean by the logic to which we have listened for the past 5 days on this subject of our right to amend, that we are not to add anything to the constitution and that we are to take nothing from it? I prefer to follow, in this supreme hour of the nations trial, the lead of a wiser and nobler spirit, who by common consent was called while he lived “t o Father of his Country, ” and, now that he is dead, is still reverenced as “the Father of his Country, ” and to be hailed I trust by the millions of the future who are to people this land of ours as “ the Father of his country.” In his Farewell Address, his last official utterance, Washington used these significant words, which I repeat today for the consideration of gentlemen: “The basis of our political systems is the right of the peopleto make and to alter their constitutions of government.” We propose, sir, simply to act in accordance with this suggestion of Washington. We propose, in presenting these amendments. to a ter, in so far as the changed condition of the country requires, the fundamental law, in order to secure the safety of the Republic and furnish better guarantees in the future for the rights of each and all.