Mr. THAYER. The gentleman must excuse me. I must insist upon being allowed to proceed without any interruption. Now, Mr. Speaker, I am in favor of this measure, because I believe it is calculated to lift this great question out of that sluggish slough into which it has fallen by reason of the conduct of the POTUS in setting himself up in opposition to the will of the people upon this subject. We proposed one measure of reconstruction. The resident opposed it, although he had no constitutional authority or power to interfere. The question, therefore, remains not only unsettled, but apparently as far removed from settlement as it was at the adjournment of the last session. The President continues his machinations and his consultations; the rebellious States continue obdurate and defiant; Congress remains passive and inactive, and the country is as far as ever from the security and repose which it demands. We have adopted no measures which furnish even an initial point from which to start afresh in the settlement of the question at issue, which, if it ever be i.must be settled here, for only here can laws be made for the Government of the U.S. The measureunder consideration proposes to grasp the control of this great question, and to ja on to it, until it is finally determined and settled upon such terms as shall be agreeable to the people of the U.S., acting by their chosen RePresentatives in Congress. We will not submit to enter into treaty as equals with those who brought on the war, with those who initiated and brought upon the country the endless and innumerable calamities which follow in the train of the war. Without regard to any question of political casuistry, turning upon the question of States in the Union or States out of the Union, one thing let gentlemen depend upon, that the people, who do not appreciate these fine meta physical distinctions, will and do insist that this question shall be settled. not by the rebellious States, not by the POTUS, but by their own immediate RePresentatives, and upon such terms as they the people may through those RePresentatives dictate to a subdued and beaten enemy. Sir, nobody I suppose regards this bill as a reconstruction bill. It is not a reconstruction bill; but it is a bill the effect of which will be to assert within the rebel States the authority and supremacy of the U.S. It is a bill which will convince those people that they must submit to such terms as the loyal people of the U.S. through their RePresentatives in this body may choose to propound, and not to such terms as they may beg or buy from the POTUS It is of no consequence to this body what the POTUS thinks othis subject. This question is removed from his jurisdiction by the Constitution. It is a question above and beyond him. He has nothing to do with it. It belongs here. It is the people's question, and belongs to us as the agents and immediate RePresentatives of the peole. The bill under consideration proposes to assert the Presence and the living power of the U.S. in the region which was lately the scene of the rebellion. It does not proose, as I understand it, to do away with the local governments, to abolish the courts, (whether they have been established lawfully or unlawfully,) to reduce the people of that section, as has been said, to subjection to military despotism but it proposes to erect there an appellate power, strong and irresistible, to which the down trodden and persecuted Union men of the South may appeal from the injustice and the outrage of their enemies and perse cutors. It proposes to enforce everywhere in the southern States the authority of the U.S. It proposes to protect all men there in the enjoyment of their inalienable rights, and it proposes to do this by this means only until such laws can be made and such arrangements consummated as will place the future safety and peace of the country upon immovable foundations, and secure permanent protection and immunity from wrong to the loyal men in that region, who are now subjected to persecutions and wrongs for which they have no redress and against which they have no shield. No one contemplates that this shall be a permanent measure. It is of a temporary character and is demanded by Present exigen cies. Its object and aim is to guaranty Present protection and equal justice to the Union men of the South. It is to prevent assassination, murder, robbery, arson, banishment, and all that long catalogue of cruelties to which the Union men and the freedmen of the South are, as is shown by overwhelming evidence adduced before the committee which reported this bill, subjected, without remedy and without redress. It is impossible that we shall abandon them any longer to the cruel fate to which they have been subjected. This bill proposes to extend to them the only protection which we can at present give them. It proposes to protect them. the strong arm of power until they shall be protected by equal laws and just and impartial tribunals. Beyond this, the bill proposes no “opPression.” If it be “opPression ” to guaranty universal liberty and equality under the law, and to afford protection to those who have for their true allegiance been driven from their homes and many of whom have shed their blood in the cause of the Union, then this is opPressive. It is not opPressive in any other Sense. Sir, when the authority of the U.S. is once firmly established in that region, and when it is understood throughout the length and breadth of that country that the U.S. will protect from outrage all its citizens there, and that this question of reconstruction is to be determined and settled by the body to whom it belongs by the Congress of the U.S., and when that is acquiesced in, as it must be acquiesced in before any reconstruction can take place, the way to reconstruction will be swift and sure. But it is a point from which we can begin. The question is as it were, through the course being pursued by the President, floating away from us. We must reclaim it. We must lay hands upon it; and we must, in the name and on behalf of the loyal people of this country, hold on to it until it is settled upon our terms and at Sir, our dictation: this measure will be of brief duration and will be followed, as I am informed, by other measures, which will secure the permanent and peaceful restoration of these States to their proper and just position in the Union, upon their acceptance of such terms as are necessary for the future security of the country. When that is done, and when order is restored and permanent protection is guarantied to all citizens in that section of the country, this measure will be abrogated and abandoned. In the reconstruction which is to ensue it is not intended to ask them to accept anything which we will not accept ourselves. The same law, the same rights, the same powers, which belong to us will belong to them. We shall not seek to make one law for them and another law for ourselves. But we intend, at the proper time, when the authority of Congress to settle this question is once recognized, and when equal justice and equal protection is secured to all, to propose such terms as will insure uniform liberty, uniform justice, and uniform protection throughout the length and breadth of the whole land. Mr. Speaker, I yield for ten minutes to the Gentfrom Illinois, [Mr. HARDING]