Mr. SAULSBURY. Mr. President, since I have been a member of this body, questions relating to the institution of slavery how so frequently come before it, and I have mingled in he debates upon those questions so often, that I had determined when came to take my seat in the body this winter not to participate again in debates upon them. But, sir, we were told the other day by the honorable Senfrom Illinois, who has this bill in charge, [Mia TnnnsvLL] that there was a necessity for including my State within the operations of the Freedmens Bureau; and as my State is, according to the provisions of the bill and the decla rations of that honorable chairman, to be included within it, I must crave the indulgence of the Senate while for a few minutes I examine some of its provisions. The language. of the honorable Senator was: “It is necessary. Mr. President. to extend the Freedmens Bureau be and the rebel States in order to take in the State o Delawaro. the loyal State of Delaware, I am ha pyto say. which did not engage in thiswicked rebellion and it is necessaryto protect the freedmen in that State as well as elsewhere; and that is the reasonfor extending the Freedmen s bureau beyond the limits of the rebellious States.” On the 3d of March last the Congress of the U.S. passed an act entitled “ An act to establish a Bureau of Freedmen and Refu ees.” It was not deemed necessary then, alt ough war raged in the land, to extend the operations of this bureau to any other States than these which were denominated States in revolt. But, sir, as success has crowned the efforts of the persistent friends of the negro race their ag gressive movements have become more rapid and more extensive. Mr. President, although the Freedmens bureau, as originally established, was only intended according to its provisions, to extend to the States that had assumed to secede, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact what a great, what an extensive bureau it has become in the country. I shall enter into no computation of the cost which the country has already incurred in the support of that bureau. Onething we know, that 100s and 1,000s of the negro race have been supported out of the Treasury of the U.S., and you and I and the white people of this country are taxed to pay that expense. For the 1st time in the history of this country has the thing occurred, that the great mass of the people have been taxed to support in idleness a class who are too laz or too worthless to support themselves. Sir, look around upon these galleries at any time of the day, and you see the beneficiaries of this Freedmens Bureau crowding our galleries and listening to the debates of this body. How many of the honest, hardworking, white young men of this country are there who can afford to come to the city of Washington, sit day after day, week after week, month after month, and listen to your deliberations? Sir, they cannot afford to do it, but under the protecting care of this Freedmens Bureau your galleries can be crowded with 100s of negroes every day listening to your deliberations, doing nothing to support themselves, but being supporte out of the taxes levied upon the white people of the country. Now, sir, the bill under consideration proposes to enlarge the powers of this bureau it goes enlarge them wonderfully. I think that I can demonstrate by mathematical calculation that this bill gives to the POTUS and to those intrusted with the discharge of its duties, the power of expendin at least $250,000.000. As I said the other ay, it may not be the intention of the friends of the bill that such an enormous expenditure shall be incurred, but we are to look at what may be the result of this bills going into operation, to ascertain what the expense may be, and not to consider that these intrusted with the discharge of its duties may not incur this expense. The 1st section of the bill extends the operation of the Freedmens Bureau throughout the U.S., and includes within its provisions all the States of this Union, instead of letting it be confined, as heretofore, to the States which were in revolt. Now, sir, I wish to show to the Senate and to the country what are the dangerous powers intrusted to this Freedmens Bureau, and to those who shall have the management of it. You will recollect, Mr. president, that the original bill provided for the appointment of one Commissioner with a salary of $3000, with the privilege of having under him clerks at a certain salary. This bill provides that there may be districts formed not exceeding 12 out of the whole number of States in the Union, and that “ there shall be an asst commissioner for each district with like salary.” That, as I stated the other day, would amount to the sum of $36,000. It provides, also, that these 12 districts may be subdivided by the POTUS so as to make the sub districts within the whole limits of the U.S. one for each county or arish in the U.S. he number of counties in the U.S. is 1878 I believe, as corrected by my friend, the Senfrom Kentuck, exc usive of the 2 new States recently a mitted. There being, then, thatnumber of counties in the U.S., and this bill giving to the POTUS the power to appoint an agent for every one of those counties at a salary of $1,500 each, there would be an expenditure of $2, 817.000. Then there are 72 clerks of asst commissioners which this bill provides for, at $1 200 each, and the would amount to $86, 400. Then 3758 clerks of agents, (for the bill gives the power to appoint these asst commissioners, these agents, and clerks for them) would amount to $4, 607, 600, making the cost under this billto the people of the U.S. for officers alone $7, M,000. What a may ificent bill this would be for a presidential election. With all these a encies appointed by the Executive of the U.S. interested in his reelection, or in the success of the candidate of the party of which he might be a member, what a powerful political engine it would be to o crate upon such an election. But, sir, this is not all the excase that will be incurred by this bill. Another section requires that there shall be 3 million acres of land assigned in certain States in the South for these freedmen, and, mark you, the negro is a great favorite in the legislation of Congress, and the bill provides that it shall be “ good land.” No land is to be provided for the poor white men of this country, not even poor land; but when it comes to the negro race 3 million acres must be set apart, and it “ must be good land” at that. Iknow that the bill provides that this land shall be rented to the negro; but those of on who have observed the thrifliness and skifl with which the negro population manage their agricultural operations, Will find that when Sambo comes to pay his rent his rent will be pretty much like the rent of the individual who, when his landlordealled upon him for his 1/3rd of the produce of the farm, said, ” Sir, I did not produce a 3rd.” He will raise nothing to pay the rent. I estimate the rental value of those 3 million acres of your land at 5 dollars per acre, and the free negroes of the country are to be entitled to $15,000,000 more in the way of rental of lands; for no one can suppose that their benevolent and faithful friends of the Republican party will ever collect any rents from them, least of all that any such rents will ever be received into the Treasury of the U.S. The bill provides that these 3 million acres shall be in allotments of fort acres each and each freedman is to have a arm of good land of 40 acres; and you do not Ptopoa 1866. 363 to put the negro upon his little farm of 40 acres without a house to live in, because your bill provides in another section that they shall be provided with shelter. Then, after having given him 40 acres of, good land to live upon, what will it cost to buil a very moderate dwellinghouse, with necessary out cases, for this favorite of the legislation of Congress? Not less than $300, because the negro race now think, at least, that they areequal to the white race, and they have a right to believe, considering the legislation of Congress and the laudation which we hear every day of them, that they are a little better. The erection of these buildings will require an additional expenditure of $22, 500,000. Sir, the time was when it was said that a white man, provided he behaved himself, was as good as a negro; but, looking at the legislation of Congress and the tone of the public press of the northern States, I think we shall have to come to the conclusion that even if the white man does behave himself, he is not quite as good as the negro, for you find no bills introduced in Congress to furnish homes and houses to the white men of this country, whether poor or rich. But, sir, this is not the only expense. You say in this bill that these negroes shall be furnished with provisions, medicines, &c. When you look around upon your own galleries and see the free negroes who are living out of the bounty of the hreedmens Bureau sittin here every day witnessin your deliberations, o you suppose that the freedmen contemplated by this bill are oing to work when others who are living out off the Freedmens Bureau are witnessing every day the proceedings of Congress? Certainly not. I estimate, then, that to these 4 million freedmen you would have to give the small sum of 50 dollars each; and that would be a very small sum. This would require a further expenditure of $200,000,000. Your bill does not stop there; but this enfranchised race must be schooled; and your bill provides that there shall be schoolhouses, ay, and asylums, too, erected for them. I suppose that of the freedmen of the U.S. there will be nearly a million, including the children and those who are grown, who need schoolin, and whom it willbe necessary to edu cate; an mark you, the extent of the supplies is left discretionary with the Commissioner; he may expend this money at his discretion. Well, sir, how mun pupils will there be, and how many school cases will be required? I suppose, 1st, there will be amillion upils, young and old, of this whole race; an I suppose it would cost 20 dollars each to school them. That would take $20,000000. I suppose it would take 30,000 schoolhouses, and your bill authorizes the buildingof these houses, and that each school will cost $300. Here is an additional item of expense amounting in the aggregate to the sum o $9,000,000. Then, after the negro has his house built for him and his 40 acres of land allotted to him, he has not the means, you tell us, of irovidin for himself; his farm must be stoclked, an your bill, under the clause for “furnishing the necessary provisions, ” gives the power to stock it. What will that cost? I suppose it will cost $300 to each of the 75,000 farms, which will amount to the further trifling sum of $22, 500,000. Thus, sir, we see that the amount of expend iture authorized under the provisions ot, this bill, or the loss to the Government under it, may be no less than $295,000,000, and cannot reasonably be supposed to be less than $250,000,000. These, briefly, are some of m objections to this bill; but it is coupled with another bill which we are told is to be passed as soon as this shall have been carried through the Senate. That is a bill (No. 61) “ to protect all persons in the U.S. in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication.” The power to pass this bill, I suppose is claimed to exist under the 2nd clause of the act amend atory of the constitution abolishing slavery, that section providing that Congress may, by appropriate legislation, carry that amendment into etfect and now, sir, here comes the most dangerous bill of the two. It declares: “That there shall he no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among the inhahitants of any State or Territory of the U.S. on account of race, color, or previous condition of sliivery; but the Inhabitants of every race and color, Without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, exceptas a punishment or crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall have the same right to make and enforcecontracts, to sue, beparties and give evidence, to inherit. purchase, lease, sell, hold, and conveyreal and personal property and to full and equal benefit of all laws an proceedingsfor the security of personand propert, and shall besubject to like punishment, name. an penalties, and to noneother, anylaw. stututc. ordinance. regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.” For the 1st time in the history of the legislation of this country it is attempted by congress to invade the States of this Union, and undertake to regulate the law applicable to their own citizens. The authority to enact such a law is claimed under the 2nd section of the act providing for the amendment of the constitution. Can it be possible that any person can conceive that under that section such an extensive power as that now claimed is act ually given? By it Congress was authorized “by appropriate legislation” to carry the amendment into effect. What was the amendment? An amendment abolishing the status or condition of slavery, which is nothing but a status or condition which subjects one man to the control of another, and gives to that other the proceeds of the foriners labor. Cannot that amendment be carried into effect, and the status of freedom established, without exercising such a power as this? I say here, as I have said before, that when that constitutional amendment was under consideration in this Chamber, there was no friend of the measure who claimed or avowed that such a power as this existed in Congress under it. his bill go"es on and provides for the punishment of Any person who under color of any law. statute. ordinance. regulation. orcustom, shall subject or rnuse to be subjectedany inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured or protected by this act or to different punishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person having at any time been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason o his color or race, than is prescribedfor the punishment of white persons.” It declares that that shall be a misdemeanor, and shall subject the party so offending to a fine not exceeing $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. It then by its provisions gives the power to commissioners, to be appomted by the court, to cause to be arrested, and to appoint agents who may cause to be arrested any persons who shall violate its provisions, an it rewards each commissioner, the number of whom is to be increased, with a fee of ten dollars for every case he shall hear, and every agent who shall cause an person to be arrested is to receive the sum of 5 dollars for his trou ble, and other additional costs if he shall incur any. When the fugitive slave law was under discussion because there was a provision in it giving to the commissioner a fee for his decisions under that law a wonderful clamor was raised throughout the coun by gentlemen who are now in favor of this bi l in reference to the horrid provision of the fa itive slave law in this respect. But, sir, the ugitive slave law had reference to negroes and this bill to the punishment of white men. This bill provides that the determination of questions arising under it, and under the bill establishing the Freedmens Bureau, shall not be heard and determined by the State courts, but shall be taken from the State courts and givan to the district courts bf the U.S. This bill authorizes the or rest and imprisonment of any and every white man in the U.S. who may be charged with the violation of any right attempted to be secured by it to a negro, and offers a bount of 5 dollars to any miserable wretch who 5 all make the arrest. Can infamy in legislation go further? One only ste, and this bill takes it, for it denies it tria to the accused in the courts of his State. But to return to the bill to enlarge the powers of the freedmens Bureau. What are the arguments presented in favor of thisbill? I have heard none attempted, exceptby one Senator, upon this floor, and that was the hon orable Senfrom Illinois, [Mr. TltUMIlULL.] The Senfrom Illinois argues the right to make the appropriation contained in this bill from the fact that we have made appropriations for the Indians on the ground, a so, that this class of people has been thrown upon us by the results of the war, and are incapable of protecting themselves; and he claims for it authority under that provision of the constitution which gives Congress the right to declare war, to raise and support armies, and to maintain a navy. He says it is not designed for times of peace, butthat it is a branch of the War Dept, and is meant only for times of war; and we are told by that honorable Senator that the war has not ceased, although hostilities have ceased; and he quotes in support of that view the declaration of the honorable AttyGen of the U.S., who admits, in the opinions he gave, that hostilities have ceased, but says the war has not ceased. I should like toinquire what is war but a state of hostilities; and if a state of hostilities does not exist how can there be war? Is it a war of words? I thought war meant the meetin in deadly array upon the field of battle; an I never had the idea before that it was possible for a war to exist between 2 nations or 2 peOple when there were in fact no hostilities. But, sir, the POTUS, the highest executive officer of your Government, as said to you in a message delivered here that the war has ceased and that civil government is now in operation in all the seceded States. Even this bill, whatever may be the theories of some of the members of the dominant party, treats all the States that assumed to secede from the Union as existing members of the Union, and proposes to legislate in a different manner for States, which the bill upon its face admits to be States in the Union, from what it does in reference to, other States in the Union. When was it ever heard of before that the Congress of the U.S. had, in reference to some States of the Union they admitting them to be States in the Union, more comprehensive legislative power than they had in reference to other s? I they be States in the Union, how does it happen that they are States with unequal rights and unequal privileges? Do we hear of an such thing as that in the constitution of the U.S.? Is any such sentiment as that to be found in the writings of any of the founders of the Government? o, sir; it is a modern doctrine. The waris to be considered as continuing for certain purposes and for none other; the States are to e considered as in the Union for certain purposes, and not in the Union for other purposes; and it was foreshadowed yesterday in the speech of the honorable Gentfrom Massachusetts [Mr. wlLSON] that when he procured additional guarantees and when the objects and aims of the party of which he is so distinguished a leader shall; be more fully accomplished, then these States are to be represented in this Chamber and a general amnesty proclaimed. Sir, if the States which assumed to secede be States in the Union, as is contemplated by this bill itself, where have you the right to exclude them from an equal representation on this floor? The constitution of the U.S. declares that each State shall be entitled to 2 Senators in congress. If, then, they be States in the Union, what right is there in this body to exclude them from representation? N oue whatever. I pass by, therefore, the argument of the hou orable Senator, that this legislation is to be jus tified under that provision of the constitution which gives to Congress the power to declare war. Sir, your constitution never did give to Congress the power to declare war against any State of this Union, and when the word is used and the power named in the constitution, it is meant only to apply to the power of Congress to declare war agains ta foreign Power. 5:64 U J I anuany 2. 3, But, sir, the honorable Senator says that the war continues because the POTUS has refused to make proclamation that there shall be an end to the suspension of the writ of habeaa corpus. If that be true, then it is in the power of the POTUS to continue a war simplyby withholding a reclamation declaring at the suspension of the writ of habeascorpus no longcrpxists“ The argument is not worthy of a serious answer, however respectable and learned the source from whence it comes. But as I havementioned that matter, I will take occasion to repeat what I have said before, that the former POTUS, in my judgment. never had at any time any authority to sus)end the writ of habeascorpus. It is true the ongress of the U.S. passed an act authorizing him to sns end it, but that was delegating a power to the POTUS whch could only be exercised by themselves. But. sir, if this war has not ceased where is the evidence of its continuance? Does ahostile foot tread the soil of the U.S. today? Is there an armed foe within all your borders? Not one. Peace is within all our borders. Your foes have been subdued, have submitted and calmlyacquicsce in the will of the victor. When in reorganizing their State governments unrea sonable and unwarranted exactions were made of them by the executive authority they yielded to them Without a murmur, and performed every act which they could reasonably suppose would be required of them. Still, sir, they are met in this and the other Hall of Congress with a refusal to allow their articipationin legislation, notwithstanding tiiey are subjected to taxation, the worst species of tyranny, and which led to and justified our great American Revolution; and we are modestly told that they are to give further and irreversible guarantees for their good behavior in the future. If such a guarantee be the nting by them of the elective franchise to the negro race, I frankly say that whatever they may do, if I were placed in like circumstances, I never would give it. We were told by the honorable Senfrom Massachusetts [Mr. Wilson] yesterday that the party in power have a great mission to perorin, an those who were opposed to its objects and its aims had only to stand out of the way and let it accomplish its purpose. He referred to the fact how the Whig party had gone down under this modern spirit which actuates the party to which he belongs, how the Democratic party has been overthrown, and how his party is now on the high road to success. He told us f the Wonderful things that it has accomplishe. He told us that it had lifted and raised this country in the eyes of all Chris tian people to the very heights of heaven in 7 comparison to the position which it sustained before. Sir, what has his party done? This party of esterday, with no record except during the ast 5 or 6 years, when it came into power, found a united country extending from ocean to ocean, and from the frozen regions of the north to the sunny plains of the south. It found the Government administered at an expense to the people of this whole country of only some 60 or 70 million dollars. It found peace, happiness, and contentment every where. No foreign nation insulted your flag. NO foreign minister said to your SecyState on to your President, ” Send a ship of war, and put on board one of our vessels 2 men Whom you have wrongfully taken from them.” There was no sound of arms within the limits of the whole country. This Republican party succeeded to power, and what has occurred? The foresaw that their policy, if pursued, would end to a temporary, if not a null disruption of the American Union. They had the power in their hands to prevent the eifusion of a single drop of blood. They were besought by the people, North and South, East and West, to prevent the effusion of blood. They were dea to all the calls of their countrymen, and they, uniting with men whose passions their course had aroused, plunged this country in all the horrors of a civilWar. Nearly a million of your countrymen, North and South, have fallen a sacrifice to the trinm h and the success of the principles of the epublican party, and a debt of $4000,000,000 now weighs own the indust of the American people. Every house has enclothed in mourning; every eye almost has been dimmed with tears. That has been the penalty that the American people have paid for the success and the triumph to which the Senator alluded. Sir, that is not all that his party has done. There is not a constitutional right of the people of this country that his party has not invaded, either through its Executive or its Congress, or some one of its Depts or branches. Sir, be it spoken to the credit of the Democratic party, that while it was in power, no man howeverhumble, within the limits of the U.S. was ever arrested or tried except according to law; no single newspaperwas ever suppressed; no domicile of the liumblest citizen was ever invaded. All these violations of the constitutional rights of the people of the States have taken place since the ascendency of the party to which the Senator belongs to poWer. But, Mr. President, I am not surprised that the honorable Senator should profess to have no unkind feelings toward the southern people. I am not surprised that he should be willing, not only in die kindness of his heart, but in the coolness of his judgment, to grant a general amnesty when he can receive a few more ar antces. Secession is not a doctrine of southern origin, and well may the Senator feel no unkindness for pupils, those who believed in it. Where did secession have its origin? In the South? No, sir. If an exePOTUS from the Senators own State is a credible witness, there existed within the limits of his own State, and of his own dear NewEngland, which I shall not attack, for it is not my province to as an unkind word against any of the States oft is Union, and I do not presume to do sobut iJf ohnQuincy Adams be a credible witness, there existed, as far back as 1803 and 1804, a design among leading men in the section of count from which the Senator comes to dissolve this nion; and he affirmed as lately as 1828 that that design had gone so far as that its advocates had a edupon a military leader, and that in case o civilWar the power of GreatBritain was to be invoked to aid them. In further proof that the doctrine of secession is not of southern origin, the honorable Senator has only to consult the records of the debates of Congress in 1811, and he will find there that when a bill was presented to the Congress of the U.S. for the admission of Louisiana into the Union, Josiah Quincy, from his own State, avowed upon "the floor of Congress that the passage of tiiat bill would absolve his section of the Union from any obligation to remain in it. Sir, while the recollection of the Hart ford Convention continues it is well that the men of NewEngland should not too harshly judge secessionists. Massachusetts has not been alone in favoring this doctrine. Another one of the free States of this country has produced a bright and shining light in the law, who has also declared in favor of the right of secession. I refer, without troubling the Senate with a citation from the book, to Mr. Rawles Commentaries on the constitution of the U.S., in which he distinctly avows the right of a State to secede. I only allude to these facts to show that it was very natural for the Senfrom Massachusetts to express the opinion that he did not wish the effusion of any more blood, because the very doctrine from which the war has resulted, with the cooperation of other doctrines of which the Senator is the advocate, had their orin in his own section of the country. One other remark, and I shall trouble the Senate no longer. It is sup need by the honorable Senfrom Massachusetts, and those who cooperate with him, that the Democratic party of this country has gone down in the dust, and that his party is to continue in the future as in the past 4 years, in lpower. The honorable Senfrom Kcntuc y [Mr. yesterday, referring to that remark, GreUmTHinRdIcEA the Senfrom Massachusetts that in the last presidential election the Democratic candidate received 1800,000 votes. and, sir, when you recollect against what the Democratic party had to contend bayonets in Maryland, bayqnets in Delaware, ba onets in Kentucky, bayonets in Missouri, and te Treasury of this countryI ask you if it is not reasonable to suppose that had that party been free from such opposition as this it would have succeeded in that contest? But, sir, pass your presenLbills, pass your negrosuffrage bills, carry out your doctrine that the negro is not only the equal, but the superior of the white man, and is to be supported at the expense of the white man, and I have no doubt that the Democratic party, which the Senator supposes to be i (lead, will rise again, and that this Hall, and the Hall of the other House, will be filled with the members of that party. One word to my Democratic friends. What is their duty in this emergency? It is to stand fast and firmly by their principles and to their party organization, to be true to themselves, and their course will meet with the approval of their own judgment in the future, and will be crowned with success.