Mr. COWAN. Mr. President, underthe constitution of the U.S., an instrument which we all upon entering this Chamber swore to support, maintain, and observe and that oath presume we mean to keep; at least the country looks upon us to kctiyiit this Government has certain powers. e 1st class may be said to be municipal. Under that class it cannot be pretended, I think, by anybody that we have any authority whatever to create a bureau, whether for freedmen or free men, whether for black men or white men, or men ofany other particular color in anyof the States. We have no right to select outfrom the citizens of Pennsylvania, if you please, or the citizens of NewYork, any particular class of men and withdraw them from, the operation of State laws and put them within the peculiar control and protection of such institutions as we may create here for their benefit. I think, sir, that I may as that there is no lawyer in the country, throughout the length and breadth ofit, who would ever contend that we have that power delegated to us by the American people under the Constitution of the U.S., which constitution, I say again, we have all taken asolemn oath to support and maintain. We have another class of powers under the same constitution which are not municipal in their character, but which enable us to deal with people who are not in obedience to the laws oft ecountry who are not acknowledging our supremacy in that behalf. Those have been called here war powers, or rather belligerent rights against a belligerent o erating as such againstus. Now, I presume suppose nobody pretends other wrsethat the color and and upon which we placed the Freedmens ureau was that of a belligerent right; that a portion of the U.S. had occupied or taken that position against us, and enabled us by that means to bring into pla upon them those rights which are denominatedybeqligerent. If that be true, (and I suppose it cannot be controverted very well? then the operation of this bureau could law ully apply only in that rtion of the Union which was in an attitude of belligerency against the U.S. My amendment simply proposes to confine it there. I do not undertake to decide by my amendment whether that attitude is still maintained by those States; I do not believe it is; but Iam very certain that the loyal States of this Union are not by any means at present within the grasp of the war powers of this Government, and for one am ctermined to resist here and everywhere any attempt whatever to put the iron hand of this Government upon any State which has not been in rebellion, and to give belligerent rights as against the peaceful people who rely upon the provisions of their constitution. Sir, what is tyranny? Is it not usurped rights, or rather t ngs which are alleged to be rights and usurped upon the ground of necessity? lhere never was any tyranny in the World which did not set up illllte as strong a plea for necessity as is set up rere. But that isnot the question. This is not a Government in which there is any room for the play of fancy or for the play of a desire for (IOmHllOD. This is a Government of law, and if there is anything in the world which contra distinguishes it from all other Governments on the earth, it is that it is a Government by law and a Government of law; and whoever undertakes to assert a power or exercise an authority under it, is bound to put his finger upon the law which authorizes it. If we undertake to assert an authority here, or exercise a power, we are bound to show by the organic law, the constitution, from whence we derive it. Where, then, is the authority given in the constitution to establish a Freedmen s Bureau in Maryland or in Pennsylvania? Let me suppose, for instance, that somebody had proposed this thing ten years ago; is therea man in the Union that would not have been aroused instantly to resistance and indignation at such a usurpation on the part of the General Government or on the part of Congress? Nobody can doubt it; nobody can deny it. Then, sir, I should like to know how this war, how the suppression of this rebellion, has changed the relations which existed between the loyalStates and this Government. Are the powers of the General Government enlarged by the exercise of its belligcrent rights in putting down the rebellion 7 If that he so, if we enlarge the power of the government as against the loyal people every time we exert it to put down a rebellion, or to meeta foreign enemy, then we maybe overrun at last. Mr. President, if this Freedmens Bureau is to exist at all, if it has any color of authority in the world, it is only that color which it derives from the fact that we occupy a belligerent attitude toward the States lately in rebellion, and not because we have authority by municial enactments to carry our tribunals there and interfere in their internal olice regulations. The Senfrom Massachusetts says, however, that we must keep up with the spirit of the age, that it is onward, and that there are certain great ideas which must be carried out, and which will be carried out, and accordin to his notion he and his people are determined to carry out. Well, sir, that is all in the future. There are a great man people who live outside Jf the Commonweal of Massachusetts, and there are a rest many people, I think, who i live within that Commonwealth who are not exactly prepared to indorse all the revolution ary measures which are introduced into this Congress, and which are supposed to have their origin there. As I understand, there are not less than sev enty amendments to the constitution of the U.S. prosed and now pending in the 2 branches o Congress. Whoever heard before that that was such a defective instrument thatit needed tobe amended and thatched all over with these modern crudities, one after another, which are not considered so as to enable them to sustain a moments examination. We were of opinion heretofore that that constitution was a very respectable instrument, that it was ver well concerted, and that it provided above a thin else for the preservation and maintenance of human liberty according to the most approved forms yet, sir, now it seems that it has to be amend in every direction! I say Mr. Presidentand I happen to Represent here as many people as eitffer or both of the Senators from Massachusettsthat the people of Pennsylvania, at least, are opposed to this whole batch of amendments, from one end to the other. The constitution was to them sacred; it had preserved and protected themit had given them prosperity unparalleled for a period of 75 years, and they are for reserving it; and they are not for venturing t cmselves upon this sea of experiment and this flood of innovation whichisto end nobodyknows where. It is very easy, Mr. President, to deal in Generalities; it is very easy to propose measures; but we have to look back at the practical exe rienee of the ast in order to determine that the are to be eneficial for the future. ow, we are told the most impossible things in the world. We are told that the Constitution and the laws made under it and the machinery for the proper administration of those ws are not adequate to the protection of freedmen; and we are told gravely that the Legislature of Louisiana, in some extraordinary way not at all made clear or defined, have provided that at the end of the year the laborer is to be at the mercy of the hirer. How? Has the Legislature of Louisiana declared that a contract for the performance of labor can be specifically performed, and that you can compel specific performance in her courts? If she has such a law (and that is the only way I know by which the laborer can be put at the mercy of the hirer in a contract for labor; it is the only possible and conceivable way apart from slave such law is clearly void, and there is no posible difficulty in ohtaining a remedy for it an where and every where. The SCOTUS is sitting here or that purpose today, and the freedman is just as much entitled to the benefit of its protection, as I read the laws, as if he were a man of the fairest complexion and of the brightest Saxon mold. But, Mr. President, we are treated to general ities a l the time constantl. There is nothing specific here; there is noting fixed; there is nothing tangible; thereds nothing definite; and I venture the assertion that when the law complained of is brought here it will be found that there is a complete remedy under this much abused constitution, which is now to require 70 amendments in order to make it conformable to the new state of things which has beenb ught about by the last war! Mr. President, I am not of that opinion. I am for holding fast to that which has been approved and which has approved itself, and I am opposed to any of these innovations, to any of these new things. I am o posed to any precedent which may hereafter iie exercised to the deprivation of any man of his liberty or any State of. her rights, and I wish to be distinctly understood here that I am in favor of State rights the lawful, legitimate rights of States; and States have rights as well as the Union has rights. I am not in favor of all those things which were claimed as State rights by certain people in the Union, but I am in favor of those rights which belong legitimately to the States, and which have never been denied to them, and upon which, in my judgment. depends the individual liberty of the people of this country; and whenever they allow this General Government or this Congress to absorb unto itself and to swallow up and annihilate these particular State rights, then, Mr. President, the Virtue, the essential virtue, of the constitution is gone; then the merit of the fabric has disa peared, and it has gone away in that ver i rection which was redicted long ago by those who warned us ofithe tendency o power to consolidate and to grasp. I say that if anybody in the southern States, no matter what his color or complexion may be, is improperly treated there is a remed; and here let me say that I am opposed to to distinctions that are now taken between our)cople. Why should we legislate partly for the black man and partly for the white man? The very fact that such a question is mooted, the very fact that it is started here in the Senate of the U.S., is an acknowledgment that there isa difference and a distinction between the people of this country which requires such a giscrimination on the part of the Government, and is fatal to the claims on the part of the advocates of negro suffrage and negro equality. The honorable Senfrom Massachusetts says that all men in this count must be equal. What does he mean by equa? Does he mean that all men in this country are to be 6 feet high, and that they shall all weigh 200 pounds, and that they shall all have fair hair and red cheeks? Is that the meaning of equality? Is it that they shall all be equally rich and equally jovial, equally humorous and equally happy? What does it mean? Does he mean that they shall allequally come to the Senate or the U.S., that they shall all equally sit in the HoRep, that they shall all equally hold o cc? Wh, Mr. President, if that is the equality that the honorable Senator is aiming for, it will be a very long while before it is realized. What is meant by equalit, as I understand it, in the language of the DeclarIndep, is that each man shall have the right to pursue in his own way life, libert, and happi ness. That is the whole of it. this not that he shall be an elector;it is not that he shall receive the especial favors of the communitdy in any way; but it means that if he is assaile by one stronger than himself the Government will protect him to punish the assailant. It means that if a man owes another mone the Government will provide a means by which the debtor shall be coin elled to pay, if it is not barred by the statute of limitations or some other legal contrivance of that kind; that if an intruder and trespasser gets upon his land he shall have a remed to recover it. That is what I understand y equality before the Iaw. It is not that everybody shall be a Senator and distinguished as my honorable friendfrom Massachusetts may be, because that is not in the nature of things. There is a large amount of work that has to be done in this world that has to be done by exceedingly humble instruments, and if the instruments were not there the work would not be done. For instance, if all men were to be as learnedas my friendfrom Massachusetts, who would black boots and curry the horses, who would do the menial offices of the world? and if they were not done I should like to know how we could live at all. This world, Mr. president, after all is said and done, is pretty well arranged, in my judgment, and always has been. lhc imaginary evils that people see in the distribution of wealth and mt e distribution of honors and all that kind of thing are not nearly so oppressive as they may be made out to be in the warm and glowing imaginations of those who see fit to champion their victims. Now, Mr. President if the Freedmens Bureau is necessary at all, where is itnecessa, to come back to the question raised by this amendmentl It is certainly not necessary in Massachusetts. I should be ashaped if Massachusetts had not the means within herself, the means of police, to administer her laws, and to administer them so as to give to all citizens within her borders that liberty, that broad and comprehensive liberty, which is secured by the constitution and the amendments thereto and I say, Mr. President, that if the day comes that Pennsylvania cannot and does not afford to all men, of every color, clime, and condition, of every tonme and language, all these securities, I should be ashamed to represent her upon the floor of this Senate. How it may be in may land I am not prepared to say; but certain y I cannot but believe that in Maryland today, or in Kentucky today, or in Missouri today, the poor, the oppressed, the injured, have redress the same as heretofore; and surely I think I may aver that same of WestVirginia, at the least. Are the rights of these States to be in vaded? Is another tribunal to. be thrust in there? Is another power to be intruded upon themin order to o what? To do what it is alleged they have neglected to do, and which of right they ought to do. The Senfrom Massachusetts says “we are right.” Who ever acknowledged they were wrong except very great people indeed? I have always found that the greater the man was the more readily he acknowled edthat he was wron; and the less he was the more pertiuaIcionsly he insisted that he was right. [Laughter]. do not know whether I am right or wrong; do not undertake to assert it positivel, as against everybody else. I think so; and suppose that that is all the honorable Senator can say for himself; at least, that is all I intend to acknowledge to be the force of his assertion. I think, Mr. President, that it is rightto preserve the frame of Government as nearly as we can which was bequeathed to us by our ances tors; which was wrung out from a superiorpower by their force and their sacrifices in the revolutionary war, and which was made up and constructed by men, in my judgment the very 1st men in that or any other age. want to preserve that as nearly as I can, and wh? Because it has been effectual in securing the end for which itwas designed. It is true it did not provide for the enormous increase of slavery which afterward affected about half the republic, but, thank God, we are now rid of that; that is now gone; and if there was one obstacle, in the way 2 years ago, and which looked as though it were insurmountable to one who desired therestoration of this Union, it was slavery. We made war to compel obedience to the constitution and the laws, and if the insur gents had laid down their arms at any timeduring the struggle, what would have resulted? No new powers to the Government; we should have acquired no new rights by suppressing the rebellion, any more than we should have acqpired new rights by a policeman arresting a t ief or a constable arresting a murderer. We should have returned (:o insianti to the statu quo ante helium, and slavery would have risen again in the eye of the law as potent and as legalas ever it was. That was the fear on the part of all patriots; that was the difficulty, and that difficulty is now removed. Now, we are told of other s; and I should like to know where these difficulties are to end. We have made the negro free. Was not that a great thing? The world clapped its hands in abundant rejoice in, and all good people sang hosannas everywhere, whether they understood the question exactly or not. [Laughter.] But what next? After the negro is free we are told that he cannot protect himself; we must do something for him. Well, what more must we do? We must give him a vote. What good will that do him? It will only multiply the chances ofhis having his head broken at the polls in contact with a much stronger race than c is. [Laughter]; Thac would e about the result o that; an if we give him avote tomorrow, what then? Why, helpless, feeble, as nature made him, in the face of the strongest, most rapacious, hardestbargaining race on the earth. What more must you do for him? You must allow him to hold office. A vote, of course, is a mere induction to the exercise of power. The power is in the office. Then the must hold office; and is he any better naegtrebr that? What good would an office do to a negro in our society and in our country? An office is valuable to a man, an office is sought after, because it confers social distinction, high social privileges, and power and authority among men. Vould office confer that upon the negro? Mr. President, that is one of the cruclest propositions that could. possibl be made. It is crowning with flowers the victim for the sacrifice. It is inscribing over the cross an empty title. when n on that same cross the victim is crucified. at is office without social rights and social distinction? Nothing, nothing. I should like to know where this is going to endthis insane crusade to try to do something which it is not in the nature ofthingsto do? stand here the friend of the negro, just as much his friend I trust as any other man upon earth; but he who comes to me and undertakes to tell me that this is the same kind of man that I am and that we are generally, and that he isa white man, and that his hair is straight, and that his legs and feet are as well made as those of my honorable friendfrom Maine, whom I see before me, Mr. Moanii. i.] I do not believe aword of it. [Laughter in the galleries], which was checked byt e PresidingOfficer.] When he undertakes to tell me that all differences and all these distinctions that are so plainly marked upon the whole face of the man, his color, his form, his disposition, his everything, amount to nothing, that it is a mere prejudice, and is to be swept away by half a dozen debates and the reading of half a dozen reports from certain abolition societies, I distrust the judgment of anybody who comes upon such an errand. it is not true, it never will e true, it never can be true. The honorable Senator says he is right. Yes, I should say he is right in the face of an an tipathy that never sleeps, that never dies, that is inborn, down at the very foundation of our natures, and which will tell today, tomorrow, some da, in spite of all attempts to the contrary. ct, then, the friends of the negro, and I am one, be satisfied to treat him as he is treated in Pennsylvania, if you please; as he is treated in Ohio, if yoii lease; as he is treated everywhere where people have maintained their sanity upon this question. I use the word “sanity with an exact appreciation of what it means. It means that state of mind which takes all the circumstances into consideration, and does the best while surrounded by them. Now, Mr. President, if, as I said before, a Freedmens Bureau is absolutely necessa and it can only be justified upon the gran of absolute necessity it is only nce cssa in those States which have been lately in rebelion, and to extend it beyond, and to make it operate or to make it possible that it could Operate on other States, is to open the door to an innovation and to form a precedent for a usurpation that may hereafter cost the life of this Republic.I hope, therefore, that my amendment will be adopted, and that whatever we may do in this respect we may at least not violate the fundamental law of this land, that we may not trample directly upon the Constitution and its plain provisions with regard to e rights of the several States.