Mr. SHANKLIN. Mr. Speaker, since I have had the honor of a seat on this floor I have been a silent but I hope a not inattentive observer of the passing events in this House. I would have rejoiced if I could consistently have remained silent. consistently with the duty which I owe to myself and to an intelligent and patriotic constituency who have so generously confided their interests to my care. I would prefer to continue a course which would have been mest congenial to my feeling. But when a measure of such great and vital importance to my native State, which I have the honor in part to represent upon this floor, and to 11 other States in this Union that have no Reprsentatives herea measure intended to o er ate peculiarly upon my Sum and those. o ers. without a voice here, for the doors of thI shall have been closed and barred against them, I feel that I would be criminally recrcant to my own duty and my responsibility to my constituency if I remained silent or failed to enter my solemn protest against the passage of this measure I do not intend, as many gentlemen who have preceded me in this debate have seen proper to do, to launch out into the wide field of party and political discussion. I design to confine myself cloaely to the subject which is before us now for consi oration. The bill under consideration proposes to extend the provisions ofan act of the last Congress, which establishes the Freedmens Bureau in the War Office of this Government. According to the provisions of that act of the last session the jurisdiction of this bureau was confined to the States which had been in rebellion. It was stated to be a necessary war measure, and according to its own limitations it was to exist and continue so long as that war should continue, and for 12 months after its expiration. This bill proposes to extend the operation of this bureau for an indefinite period of time, and not only to extend the time of its operation, but also to add to its present powers the most alarming powers that have ever been suggested by any man upon any subject in a free republican Government. According to the provisions of the bill now under consideration, the POTUS is to have the right to appoint, by and with the advice of the Senate, 12 asst commissioners of the Freedmens bureau. That is, he is to have the right to lay off the whole country into districts, not to exceed 12 in number, and to appoint an asst commissioner for each one of these districts and it is further proposed that in each of those 12 districts subeommissioners may be appointed equal to the number of counties or parishes in that district. I do not know how many counties there are in all the States of this Union; I have under stood, however, that there are 1870. If there be that number of counties in the whole Union, then, according to the provisions of this bill, there may be appointed 1870 sub commissioners, in addition to the asst commissioners and the chief Corn missioner. According to the provisions of the bill, the chief Commissioner of this bureau is to have the right to employ ten clerks. Each of the 12 asst commissioners is to be authorized to employ 6 clerks; and each of the sub commissioners, numbering in all 1870, is to be authorized to employ 2 clerks. Do you not see, sir, what a host of Officers are proposed to be created by this measure, extending all over the U.S.? iere are to be 1870 sub commis sinners, and more than 3700 clerks. This is not all. The billprovides that the SecyWar shall issue rations and clothing, and supply medical attendance to these freedmen. 130w many quartermnsters, how many commissaries, and how many clerks are to be employed in this way, no human being can tell. Lhey may number 1,000s. Under the provisions of this bill, officers may be cre ated to the number of10,000 or 20,000, or even 50,000, if party necessities require it. All these officers are to have good salaries. The chief Commissioner is to receive $3,000 perannum. The 12 asst commissioners are to have, I believe, about $2, 500 a year. The sub commissioners are to be paid at a rate not exceedin g $1, 600 a year. These various clerks are to receive some $1, 200 a year. It is provided that the salaries shall not exceed i one sums; but whoever knew an instance in which the largest amount of salary allowed bylaw was not paid? Then, as these freedmen are to have medical attention, how many physicians or surgeons will be employed to attend to the tbur million freedmen and refugees 1 No human being can now tell. Now, Mr. Speaker, what is to be the jurisdiction of the vast array of officers to be created by this bill? In the 1st place, they are to have jurisdiction and control over 3 million acres of “good land” in the States of Florida, Ala bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. It must. be “ good land.” Poor land will not do for those “American citizens of African descent” to live u on. The poor land of the mountain and the illside must be appropriated to the poor white laborer. This favorite race, the negroes, must have good land. These 3 million acres of land are to be divided into tinms or lots not exceeding fort acres and set apart for the use of these free men. In addition to that, this bill provides that the POTUS, through the SecyWar and the Commissioner of the Freedmens Bureau, may purchase any additional amount of land wherever the operations of this bureau may extend, for the purpose of providing homes for the freedmen. Thus. Mr. Speaker, there is no limit to the amount of land that may be controlled and managed by this bureau. Again, the bill authorizes the purchase of land for the erection of schoolhouses and other institutions necessary for the freedmen. If school houses be erected, you must have preachers or teachers and no doubt those. political preachers who have covered the land) during the war will be the favored recipients of these uppointments. You must provide for them, on they willdoubtless be sent. to those schoolhouses to teach those freedmen. What will they teach them? I suppose that in the 1st place they will teach them to spell a little and read a lit tle; and then I suppose they will be taught a little of the Lords will and a great deal of the wiles and wickedness of the devil. But these 4 million freedmen are to be taught their duty and what is that. great duty? In the 1st place, they must be taught to hate the people among whom they live with all the hatred of their nature. That is an important matter to teach themto hate those who had been their masters, and with whom they had lived. Next in importance, they must be taught by these political reachers to vote the whole Abolition or Republican ticket. Now, Mr. Speaker, these are important matters to operate for party purposes; but they are expensive matters to the count, which is already borne down with debt. What will all this machine cost the Government of the U.S. if it be put into fullnnd successful operation with 1,000s of officers all with rich salaries? My colleague who sits on my left, today estimated the cost of this machinery when put into operation, at $10,000,000 01 annum. I am satisfiedmy friend did notcip or this out according to the republican rules. If he had he would have may c it ten times ten million dollars when this bill goes into o cration. I saw a calculation which was may e by a distiu ished Senator, and according to that calculation it will cost the Government of the U.S. to put this gigantic machinery into operation more than $260,000,000; and if it is put into operation with all of its appen dages and paraphernalia, perhaps $250,000,000 would be made note for the purpose. But we are to d that 3 million acres of land are to come under the operation of this bureau; and there is something in the bill about the manner of ascertaining the value of the rent. for the land. Now, does any man who knows anything about the character and habits of the negro whon left to himself so pose one dollar of money raised from these lisnds will ever reach the Treasury of the U.S.? Why, sir, it will stop between the negro who enjoys the land and the Treasury of the U.S., and find its way into the pockets of the vampires who are sucking the lifeblood of the nation. Never a dollar of money will reach the llreasu of the U.S. Mr. Speaker, what will be the cost ifthis bill provides that these negroesl beg pardon for using the word negro as it is not fashionable, but freedmen shall be fed and clothed? What is it to cost to feed and clothe them? Can any man tell me? Some of these men I know are disposed to work if left to themselves. They are honest men and disposed to work for a living, but man more have no such disposition. These lazy an worthless men will ather around the Freedmens Bureau to be fe and clothed, and those who are disposed to work, seeing these men who they know to be inferior to themselves, taken care of, fed and clothed and housed, will ask why they should not also enjoy the beneficence of the Government. The effect of this measure upon the negro populationand I speak from my knowledge of the negro population will be to paralyze their energy, destroy their industry, and make them paupers and vagabonds. Mr. Speaker, I have only given the outlines of the powers and jurisdiction and extent of this gigantic monster called the Freedmens Bureau shall now call your attention. to the reasons assigned for the creation of this monster, and they are few; its creation is a violation of the constitution, every principle of the constitution of our fathers. I have heard no gentleman attempt to justify the creation of this Bureau from that constitution of the U.S. They refer to the 2nd section of the amendment to the constitution. When the question of the ratification of the amendment to the Constitution was up in my State, those who were opposed to it opposed it upon the ground that it would be construed to give power to Congress to legislate on the subject. hey told us our suspicions were unfounded, and that the 2nd section gave no such powers to the U.S.; that it was only intended to carry out and secure to the negro his personal freedom, such as all the free negroes then enjoyed; that they and the friends of the amendment was as much opposed to negro equality or negro suffrage or to confer ring the power on Congress to extending these privileges to the negro, as those that opposed the amendment; that the section was not susceptible of any such construction and under that protest they induced 1,000s to vote for the amendment, believing that by freeing the negro they would exclude from the Halls of Congress that exciting question. What is thenext argument in favor of the creation of this unrestricted, dangerous mon ster 7 It is the necessity ofit. It is said that here arcfour million ignorant and helpless negroes that have been thrown upon the country by this war who cannot provide for themselves, and that something must be done. There is a necessityl Whether it is a military necessity or a moral necessity I do not know, but a necessity of some kind for the protection and support of these people and the honorable chairman of the committee who reported this bill says it is necessary to protect these people against the prejudice and ntred of those who have been their masters. I would say to the gentleman that he knows nothing of the feelings of these men toward that unhappy class when he supposes that the masters entertain any feelings of hostility or unkindness to that unfortunate race. They have compassion upon them. That feeling of friendship and kindness which grew up during their servitude is not obliterate by the act of emancipation at all. I speak as one who was born an reared among slaveholdeis and among slaves and I spea what I know when I say that though there may be exceptional eases, yet, as a general thing, there is no feelin of hostility upon the part of the masters towar this unfortunate class, but, on the contrary, a degree of sympathy and of kindness that is unknown to or not understood byg the people of the North. I can say to that gentleman furthermore, that so far as regards an feeling of prejudice or hostility being create by the act of emancipation, it is not toward the negro, but toward that class of fanatical abolitionists of the North who have come down among the negroes in the southern country, and by promses, persuasions, and misrepresentations gave demoralized the negroes, who were a contented, quiet, and peace able class heretofore, well fed and well clothed. These abolitionists have rendered the negroes not only worthless, but through the demoralizing influences of the fanatical abolitionists the peg? has commenced lying, stealing, and pil erig. We are further told, as another reason why this measure shall be adopted, that it is necessary to educate the negro, that he is in a state of ignorance and stupidity, and that as we are going to make him an American citizen, and that s eedily, it is necessary to educate him. Sir, I believe it is necessary to educate him; but is the machinery of this bill the appropriate means of doing so? Does it provide in the proper manner for his education? Why have this leion of officers there to superintend their contro I A few days ago, when a proposition was before the House to confer the right of suffrage in this District, he was then he (1up as a man of talent and of genius. He seemed to be intuitively educated and capable of exercising all the rights of the free man. But when it becomes necessary to create all these offices for party purposes, then the negro must. be degraded, unfit for anything, unable to take care of himself, so that he must be educated in order to be able to discharge the high and responsible duties of an American citizen. Mr. Speaker, as a principle of law I hold that no individual or party can avail themselves of the necessity which they themselves have cre ated by their own improper and unlawful act. It is a maxim of law that no man shall take advantage of his own wrong. Now, if this necessity has been created by the party who are urging this measure, they have no right to avail themselves of it. But how did that necessity s ring up? It sprung from the same source from which all our difficulties arose during the last 3 years of this war and that. was, involving the negro question in the prosecution of the war. There was no necessityI boldly assert it of drag ging that question into the war. I know some gentlemen thought it was necessary in order to put down the rebellion to destro the institution of slavery, but 1 deny it. I hold, and I think I can demonstrate it to the satisfaction of any impartial mind, that by draggin that question into the war you rolonged it andintensified it, and it has cost this nation the blood of 1,000siipon 1,000s of our citizens, and it has cost us millions of treasure. Not only that, but it has caused the desolation of a large portion of this country byvdragging into the issue the negro question. e have every reason to believe, from all the information we have, that at the outset of the war the southern people were divided and that a majority of them in most of the seeeding States were opposed to the acts of secession and opposed to towar; but, unfortunately for them, unfortunately for us, the military and civil power in those States was in the hands of men who wanted a separation of the Union, and the majority of the people were coerced and dragged into the war against their consent and will, and the Government of the U.S. was unwilling or unable to give to the people that protection and support which their condition required. Hence they were subjugated and controlled by the secessionists, while their sentiments were true and loyal to the GOvernment of the U.S and the flag of the country. But when this negro policy was inaugurated and at in force, then they saw a war made upon their institutions, awar upon their property and their homes, and they lost that zeal whch they had felt for the Government previous to that time; they were united to a considerable extent by the adoption of this policy, and the arm of the rebel government was strengthened. You divided public sentiment at home, and, to some extent, aralyzed our power to suppress this rebellion. f this war had) been conducted on strictly constitutional grounds the rebellion. in my judgment, would have ceased long before it did cease, and the country today would have been in peace, harmony, and prosperity. But, Mr. Speaker I will not pretend to discuss that subject further at this time. One gentleman said that it was necessary this bill should pass in order to educate these negroes in the southern States. The Gentfrom Minnesota, [Mr. DosxsLLY] a gentleman who comes from a State located in the northwest corner of creation, tells us that it is necessary that this bill shall pass in order to build up a great system of education in the South and yet he a gentleman who comes from a State where the track of the wild Indian and the buffalo is not yet obliterated by the march of civilization and if they were they may he succeeded by the track of the grave and philosophical ass, and I do not know that the world would gain much therebyrises in his place upon this floor and declares that the mass of the icople in the land of Washington, Jefferson, adison, Monroe, Marshall, Patrick Henry, Jackson, and Clay, who have shed more glOry and renown upon the American name and character, is semicivilized and barbarous, and that we are ignorant, and therefore we must disseminate schools there in order to educate its “ignorant and illiterate” population. He tells you that it is necessary that the General Government shall send to that benighted land their northern teachers to enlighten the people. Sir, we are told in Holy Writ that when Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness they became wicked and degenerate, and it was necessary to raise a brazen serpent in the wilderness, that whoever looked upon it might be healed of their maladies. Might we not ask this distinguished philosopher, who comes from a land where the great luminary of day shines but a few hours each da at some seasons of the year, to come and ta e a position upon the highest peak of the range of lleghany mount ains in the domain of my friends from WestVirginia, and hold himself 11 there, that these benighted pleople of the Sout might come and look upon im, and be relieved of their igno rance and stu idity? But, Mr. peaker, we are told that there is another reason why this bill ought to pass; that it on lit to pass as a punishment to those men who lave smned against the Government of the U.S. They have sinned. Sir, I have ever held in detestation the doctrine of secession. I have ever detested the acts of those men who plunged this country into revolution and war; but while I have detested that doctrine as a political heres, I have, at the same time, more detested an condemned as a political heresy the doctrine of abolition. But we are told that we must adopt this and kindred measures as a punishment upon these people for their sins. Well, we have nnished them. They have sinned, and sinus greatly, and we have nnished them, and nnished them severely. ehave drenched their land with the blood of their young men; we have deso lated their fields and burned their houses, and destroyed their cities and villages. We have brought them to terms; we have made them surrender their armies and ask pardon of this Government. Have we notdone enough? Have we not punished them for their sins, however great they may have been? The Gentfrom Indiana, [Mr. JULIAN] a few a is a o, in the discussion on the negro suffrage ill or the DistCol, said that he advocated that measure as a measure of retributive justice, as a punishment upon these people. e upon that occasion further stated, that Congress in this District had the power to punish by ballot, and there will be a beautiful oetic justice in the exercise of this power, so lbt it be applied.” There may be poetry, and music, too, to the ear of the gentleman in inflicting punishment upon an unarmed and hel less enemy; the cries of the old and decrepi men, the helpless women and children. But there is no such pleasure enjoyed by our brave and gallant soldier, who met the armed enemy on the field of battle. Ask your brave soldiers for what they fought the battles of their counry. They will tell you that those men had outraged their countrys honor and flag, and they have compelled them to surrender their political heresy; they have devastated their count; they have burned their cities and towns, and have inflicted full and complete punishment upon them and now these gentlemen, who during the war did not with arms undertake to unis these men, come up and propose to me e such legislation for their further punishment. and, now that the young and ab ebodied men of these States have been killed in battle by the 100,000, the old men and the women and children are to be punished by legislative enactment. We are told that these measures are necessary for the punishment of these peole and who are you going to numb? Will you kill a dead man? That, I, believe, was attempted on one occasion. We are told that Falstaff killed Hotspur after he was dead, and took the body on his book, and carried it off as proof of his valor. He was one of those prudent men who would rather kill dead men than undertake to kill live men with weapons in their hands and I suppose there will be about as much glory in punishing the decre it old men and the women and children in t cse southern States as there was in Falstaff exercising his prudent valor upon the lifeless remains of Hotspur. But Iwill consider more particularl the feat ures of this gigantic bill, with all its dangerous powers. By the 7th section it is provided that wherever any discrimination is made between the whites and blacks on account of color or race, these commissioners, with full military power and jurisdiction, are to take cognizance of it, and try all cases that may arise according to rules and regulations which me be prescribed by the SecyWar, undert c direction of the President. What cases are provided forby this bill as coming within the jurisdiction of these commissioners? All cases of discrimination mode by the laws of the State or by custom or by habit? and how are these commissioners to try these cases under rules which may be prescribed by the POTUS? How can the President prescribe rules for them, except by annullin the provisions of your constitutions and alig your laws, and the customs and habits of society, in regartl to color or race? The Commissioner isto wipe them all out by his own individual power, and there is to be no appeal from his decision and the 8th section of this bill provides that if anyone shall under any State law, ordinance, rule, regulation, custom or habit, deprive any portion of the community on account of race or color of any civil right or privilege, he shall be subject to arrest and brought be ore this tribunal, tried, and sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000, or to be imprisoned for 12 months, or both, at his discretion. There is to be no investigation before a jury, and no appeal from the decision of the Commissioner, who is to decide on exparte testimohy. Now, is that a free country where laws of this sort can exist? According to the literal construction of the provisions of this bill, you may inflict this punisment upon the judge of your State court, who has taken an oath to support the constitution of the State and enforce its laws. Any discrimination between a white man and a negro may be so punished. The discrimination may be in favor of the negro, as is the case in some respects under the awe of Kentacky. In that State if a white man commits a larceny he is punished by confinement in the penitentiary not exceedin 5 years, at the discretion of the jury. If the slave committed a similar offense he was punished by lashes not exceeding 39. The white man may be punished in the penitentiaryto agreater extent than the negro would be. If there is an discrimination by the laws of the State, and the jud. e observes the oath he has taken to support the constitution and laws of his State, he is subjected to the jurisdiction of this Freedmens Bureau, and may be fined and imprisoned without any possible chance for him to secure a trial by jury or to take an appeal from that. decision. In that freedom? Is that justice? No, sir, it is not. It is ty ranny, it is despotism of the worst kind, and should be condemned by every citizen thatloves justice or civil liberty. This bill is intended to operate upon States which have been in rebellion, and upon those border slaveholding States which stood like bulwarks between the rebels and the northern States during this antic war. The Gentfrom Illinois [Mr. Hum] has offered an amendment to this bill proposing to limit the jurisdiction of this Freedmens Bureau to the States recently in rebellion, and the 4 slave States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, which adhered to the Union. If these other States are exem t from the operations of this bill, why should Kentucky, Missouri, may land, and Delaware be included? Because lhcy have suffered more during this war than the more northern States? Because their fields, their villages, and theirtowus have been burned, and their people robbed and murdered? because every disaster attending the war has been inflicted upon them? Is this the reason the must be put under the jurisdiction of this Free mens Bureau? Is it fair, is it just, to subject them to this system of government? In placing them under the jurisdiction of thisbureau, is it the object to insult and humiliate the people of those States and degrade theirmanhood? It cannot be pretended that Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and many other of the northern States have not within their limits large numbers of freedmen and refugees. I have no doubt that there are in the State of Ohio today 50,000 of these people, and an equal number in the States otplndiana and Illinois respectively. Why are the free no oes in those States to be neglected and over ooked? Do they not stand as much in need of protection (if protection of these people is the object of the ill) as the freedmen in the State o Kentucky? Icontend that in Kentucky the free negroes are treated with more humanity and consideration than in the States I havementioned. Our laws in Kentucky are as favorableto the freedmen as the laws of either of those States. Our people are as kind, as liberal, and as just toward the freedmen as the people of the States I have named. My own State has sacrificed not less than 200 million dollars of property to maintain this Union, while many oft c northern States, and particularly NewEngland, grew rich from her manufactures during the war. Kcntuck has poured out as much blood to sustain the ag of the country as any other State of no greater poulation and for this is she to be insulted an degraded by the presence of atribunal more despotic than can be found in any civilized country upon the globe?. But, Mr. Speaker, there are 11 States that have no representatives upon this floor; and upon these t iis bill is designed particularly to operate. I ask whether it is just or magnanimous to impose upon those States a system of government like this without allowing their wishes to be heard in reference to the matter? Why not allow them to be heard? Why not give them an opportunity to plead their own cause, to represent their own most vital interests? I affirm, sir, thatin legislating for those States, or without allowing them any representation in these Halls, you are violating one of the cardinal principles of republican government; you are tearing down the main pillar upon which our whole fabric of Government rests; on are sowing broadeast the seeds of revolution and ruin. Mr. Speaker, if the object of gentlemen here is to restore harmony and peace and prosperity throughoutthe Union, why do they adopt measures thus insulting, tyrannical, and oppressive in their character? Is this the way to restore harmony and peace and prosperity? How can you expect to gain the respect and affection of those people by heaping upon them insult and injustice? If they have the spirit of their ancestors, you may crush them, you may slay them, but you can never cause them to love you or respect you; and they ought not while you force upon them measures which are only intended to degrade them. Let us rise to the spirit of true wisdom and statesmanship, and treat those people in a manner calculated to win back their a ection for the Union. Let us treat them with humanity and kindness, or at least with justice. I believe that they are anxious to perform in good faith the duties of American citizens if they be met in a proper spirit; but so long as such measures as negro suffrage, negro equality, and the Freedmens Bureau are t irust upon these people, you may expect no restoration of peace and brotherly love. By such unjust and tyrannical legislation on will only kindle the flames of discontent an help to renderareturn of our countrys former harmony and prosperty impossible.