Mr. YATES. At the beginning of the session I took the ground that already by the Constitution of the U.S., as amended, every man in the U.S., without regard to color or caste of any kind, was a citizen, and I offered a resolution to that effect, based upon the fact that by the constitutional amendment we had abolished slavery within the U.S and in all the Territories subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., and required Congress, by appropriate legislation, to enforce that provision of the amendment. I ofiered my resolution declaring what seemed to be an admitted fact by Senators of distinguished ability. that all constitutions, laws, and regulations of any State or Territory of the U.S. which conflieted with this amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. were null and void. I took the ground that this being the fact, Congress should resort to the mode prescribed and required by the amendment, to “appropriate legislation, ” to enforce that provision of the Constitution. I assumed the position that that amendment did not confer freedom upon the slave, or upon anybody, without conferring upon him the mu niments of freedom, the rights, franchises, privileges that appertain to an American citizen or to freedom, in the proper acceptation of that term. I took the ground laid down in the decision of the SCOTUS in the Dred Scott case, (which certainly was a hard rule by which I should be governed,) that when this amendment passed t to freedman was no longer a member ol a subject race. He became by virtue of the amend rncut one of the people, one of the bodypoli tie, and entitled to be protected in all his r|ghts and privileges as one of the citizens of the U.S. The deductions drawn from the decision in the Dred Scott case were irre sistible. The great Senfrom Massachusetts [Mr. SUMNER] said the highest compliment ever paid to me in my life that in view of the principles laid down in that decision I had assumed an unanswerable position. I took the ground that the former slaves in every State of the U.S., being made free by this amendment, occupied precisely the same position with any other part of the body politic, that a son of a colored man born in the state of Wisconsin under the broad aegis of this amendment to the Constitution, had the same rights that in son had. I maintained that by this amendment to the Constitution, and by the romises of Abraham Lincoln made in his proc amation of emancipation, the for mer slave should be maintained in his freedom; that being like any other man, and not unlike him in any respect, under this amendment to the Constitution, he had the same right, the same inherent, if you choose, God given right; and further, if he had not that right naturally or civilly or politically, he, by his heroic valor, his prowess upon many a glorious battle field, where he had fought side by side with ourown brave sons and brothers, had become entitled to it. I took the ground which I maintain today that suffrage is the only remedy for the evils by which we are surrounded. It is the only thing that can kill secession, the only thin that can divide the South or introduce a loya element there which will be a counterbalancing force, the only thing which will secure us a loyal representation from the South and a loyal people in the South. I further held that ifwe went before the Amer ican ople without indirection or disguise upon this iiioad proposition, we should sweep a large unajority of the northern States, we should carry some of the southern States, and we should establish this country upon the solid foundations of permanent eace and happiness. Mr. President, I iave therefore sent to the Chair the amendment which, with the consent of the honorable chairman of the committee, I am allowed to propose; an amendment which says that nothing in the sections which we are about to adopt shall be construed to mean that the rights, franchises, and privileges already secured by the Constitution of the U.S. to any American citizen shall be im aired or in anywise affected. such an amendment can do no harm. Ifthe power for which I contend does not exist in the Constitution now, these words can at the worst be regarded but as surplusage; while the 1000s and the 100s of 1,000s of the American people who this day believe that the power does exist there, the 100s of 1,000s who believed it to exist there even before this amendment, like my friendfrom Massachusetts, will the more readily support the amendments which the committee have reported when they see and when they feel assured that there is noting in the amendments which will deprive the citizen of rights already uarantied by the Constitution of the U.S. Believingns I do can lawyer, believingin my heart that under the constitutional amendment aboLishing slavery within the U.S. every inhabitant of the U.S. (excepting unnaturalized foreigners whose case is reg ulated by the Constitution) is as free as I am, and entitled to the same rights and privileges that I am, I have sent to the Chair the amendment which I desire to propose, so that there shall not be even a color for any judicial decision proposing to deprive men of rights which are already gum untied by the recognized law. Mr. President, if the Senfrom Pennsylvania who sits by my side [Mr. Cowan] were here, I would say to him that it is not radicalism that I fear. My fear is not that this congress will be too radical; I am not afraid of this Congress being shipwrecked upon any proposition of radicalism; butI fear from timid and cowardly conservatism which will not risk a great people to take their destiny in their own hands and to settle this great question upon the principles of equality, justice, and liberality. That is my fear. So far as my position is concerned, it is unchanged; my convictions are the rather strengthened, and if I had it in my power to day, I would write it in plain words uponthe face of the Constitution, plain as the stars a on the sky, not in tortuous and hard to be uner stood propositions, but I would write in the fundamental and unchangcable law of the land, that the Declaration ofAmerican Independence was a verity, that all menrwere created equal; and having the powers which this congress now has, I would prove my belief by may ring that Declaration a reality. If this Congress of the U.S. could adjourn on the 4th day of Jul, 1866, havin accomplished this great resultht would be he greatest epoch in the annals of time. At the termination of such a war as this, with its might y events, signalized by its grand armies and its greater issues, and by the blazonry of the great achievements of our sons upon so many glorious battle fields, after so much blood and so much treasure had been spent, I could hope that the Congress of of the U.S. would come up to the grand results that are taught by the events of this war, and by the emer encies by which we are surrounded, and proclaim the true principle and the only principle upon which this government can live. I am true to the theory of my Government. I believe, I religiously believe, that the strong common sense of all the people, of the op ulacc, of America is the sa ration of the government of the U.S. My distinguished friendfrom Wisconsin, [Mr Doom n n.5] and he is really my friend, claimed that he was the saviour of our party because he had prevented the issue of negro suffrage from being made in the State of Wisconsin last fall. Sir, a man who could claim to be the instrument of conferring these great and inalienable rights upon his fellow men might with some propriety claim to be the saviour of his party and of his country. Does the Senator remember the gallant regiment from the State of Wisconsin, 1,000 strong, who went out and bore u our fin amid the storm and thun der of ball e? An he call himselfa saviour of the country because he has been the instrument in the hands of Providence of preventing them from exercising the right of suifragel Sir, his comparison of himself with our blessed Saviour was true in only one respect that I know of, and that is that he will most certainly be crucified. If, on the other hand he could have come forward and said, “ I stood by you; you were true to your country in the hour of its calamity and its affliction; we called you to the help of the Government; you came and stood by us in the hour of our calamity;” if he had made a sacrifice of himself in such a glorious act of humanity and human liberty, (if sacrifice it could be called,) it might not be considered blasphemy to compare iimself to Him whose mission upon earth it was to 'Iproelaim liberty to the captive, to break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free. Not so much of a victory was that in Wis' consin. The honorable Senator said with an air of triumph that negro suffrage had been beaten by 9,000 votes. Look at it. After 200 years of foul oppression, of accumulated prejudice against a race, when politicians dare not asscrt their opinions, at the very 1st election in the State of Wisconsin negro suffrage lacked only 9,000 votes, according to his statement, of being carried; and I am prepared to believe that with his powerful in uence it. would have been carried triumphantly. Mr. President, we may legislate on this question of suffrage. we may attempt by indirection to find direction. We know what we want and what we have got. Suffrage is upon us. Colored men vote in Wisconsin today under the authority of legal decisions. Iowa has boldly proclaimed by a majority of her citizens that she is for suffrage. Connecticut ined upon her last vote. Even in the slave ‘tates, Tennessee and Texas are on the verge of suffrage; and before these resolutions shall have passed the Congress of the U.S. suffrage, in 5 its of all of our legislation, will be an accomiished fact. 4 million people set free in this country will override all political platforms and opposing forces. 750,000 voters loyal and true to the Union must and shall be bad in favor of the preservation of this Government and the principles of human liberty. It is to me the strangest thing in the world that while we deny to 4 million loyal men men who have been loyal under all circumstances, who have been true to the country everywhere, in war and in peace while we deny to them the rights of American citizens, we are prepared to extend all privileges to the men who have tried to destroy and to ovep throw the Government. There is no propri cty, there is no good taste in such yearnings over rebels and traitors, while we deny right and justice to our friends. We listened to the Senfrom Pennsylvania [Mia COWAN] a day or 2 ago, and he seemed to think that to deprive a man of the right to hold an office was the highest punishment that could possibly be inflicted upon him; and he supposed a most aifectin case, but a case which i is utterly impossible, that my friendfrom Michigan had been a traitor, and that he wanted to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and his wife and children would gather around him and say, “Why cannot my bus band or my father he a Senator? He is as great as any of those men there; why cannot he be a Senator? Simply because he has not the right to hold an office. It is a punishment; it is the mark of Cain upon his brow; it is the wolf head upon his brow. He has no right to be a Senator; otherwise my husband or my father would be in the Senate as well as other people.” Sir, let us suppose another case. Here is a.man, Winder, or Dick Turner, or some other notorious character. He has been the cause of the death of that boy of yours. He has shot at him from behind an ambuscade, or he has starved him to death in the Andersonville prison, or he has made him lie at Belle Isle subject to disease and death from the iniasma by which he was surrounded. When he is upon trial and the question is, “Sir, are you gui y, or are you not guilty?” and he raises his blood stained hands, deep dyed in innocent and patriotic blood, the Senfrom Pennsylvania rises and says, “For God’s sake do not deprive him of the right to go to the Legislature.” The idea is that if a man has forfeited his life, it is too great a punishment to deprive him of the privilege of holding office. But I stated that I should make but a very few remarks, and I now come to the oint which is more interesting to all of us, an that is, stran e as it may seem, with these views in my min, and while I subject myself to the criticism of my distinguished friendfrom Indiana, [Mr. Huxniiiexs] I shall support these propositions. They are not such as I approve. hey do not come up to the stand point which I have set for myselt. I think that Congress has failed to come u to the stand point of the people in this re ar; but, at the same time, as I cannot get the position for which I have so earnestly contended, I will sit nietly by, as I have sat quietl by, and taket e next best proposition that I can get. I believe in the good common sense of my friendfrom Maine [Mr. FESSENDEN] who says that if he cannot et the best dinner he will take the next best; if he cannot get the best proposition he will take the next best proposition. I have a good deal of faith like that of my friendfrom 0 i0; and while I would not state the proposition quite so broadly as he does, yet I always feel perfectly safe when I am in the hands of a good Republican Union party; and I would rather trust to the wisdom of the Senfrom Maine and the collective wisdom of the Senators by whom I am surrounded than to stand foolishly by myself and assert that I was the only man in the world who understood this question. I only act upon a principle that the Senfrom Indiana and inyselfand all of us not upon here every day. We propose to amend propositions, and if those amendments fail we go for the proposition itself, notwithstanding our amendments are not adopted, notwithstanding the bpsdt thing is not in it; and that is my position to ay. 7 There are other oints in these constitutional amendments to which I will not refer, except to say that my judgment approves of them. I am for the exclusion of traitors and rebels from exercising control and power and authority in this Government until they have shown fruits meet for re entance. lam for the repudiation of the rebe debt. I am against compensation for slaves, as I am against compensation for any other rebel property. But above all there is in the 1st section a clause that I particularly form. It is this: All personsborn in the U.S., and subject to the jurisdiotion thereof.are citizens of the U.S and of the Stateswherein they reside. And then it goes on to provide that their rights shall not be abridged by any State. We have here, in the Constitution of the U.S.A., a guarantee which protects us from future judicial tyranny such as we have experienced under the decisions of the Supreme Court. We have a declaration as to who are citizens of the U.S. If this amendment of mine could be adopted, that in the constitutional amendments which we submit we do not propose to conflict with any rights which have been heretofore guarantied by the fundamental law, the Constitution of the U.S., I should be still more satisfied. But, sir, there is another feature in this prop position, and that is that although we do not obtain suffrage now, it is not far 05‘, because the grasping desire of the South for office, that old desire to rule and reign over this Government and control its destinies, will at a.very early day hasten the enfranchisement of the loyal blacks. While gentlemen upon the other side of the Chamber are oppose to these measures as too radical, I am opposed to them, so far as I might present points of opposition, because they are not radical enough. At all events, therefore, we have the medium between extremes; we have moderation. If we do not meet the views of the Radicals on the one hand, nor the views of the pro slavery Democracy upon the other, we at a levents have the medium, the moderation which has been agreed upon by the collective wisdom of the American Senate. I am glad that I can go before my constituents and say that in the whole history of the world there never were such terms of moderation and of magnanimity proposed to a vindictive foe as by these resolutions which have been reported by the committee of 15.