Daily Wabash Express, Volume 17, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 30 January 1868 — Page 2

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DATT.Y EXPRESS-

TKABB HAUTE, USNO-

Thursday JMornlng, January 30, 1888

The

SPSECH.

JHE POLITICAL ISSUE CLEABLT DEFINED.

The Guaranty of Republican Governments.

TO WHOM DOES THE

POWER BEI.OJTO?

The Claims of the JPt evident Demolished.

Character of the Governments Organized by Him.

constitutionality of the recon STRUCTIOJV ACTS.

The Reasons for Impartial Suffrage in the Soutii.

AN ELOQUENT |AND UN AN

SWEKABLE ABGUMENT.

Mr. PKEBIDENT If I had not been referred to by my honorable lrienil from Wisconsin (Mr, DOOLITTLE) in the debate yesterday I Bhould not desire speak on this question, especially at this time. I fear tbat I shall not have the strength to say what I wish to.

The issue here to-day is the same which prevails throughout the country, "which will bo the issue of this canvass, and perhaps for years to come. To repeat what have had occasion to say elsewhere, it i.« between two paramount ide.ns, each struggling for the supremacy. Ono is, that the war to suppress the rebollion was right and just on our part that the rebels forfeited their civil and political rigots, and can only be restored to them upon such conditions as the nation may prescribe for its future safety arid prosperity, Tho other idea is, that the rebellion was not sinful, but was right that those engaged in it forfeited no rights, civil or political, and have a right to take charge of their State governmets and be restored to their representation in Congress just as if thore had been no rebellion and nothing had occured. The immediate issue before the Senate now is between the existing State governments established under the policy of tho President, of tbn United States in the rebel States and the plan of reconstruction presented by Contyv ?!?.

When a surveyor first enter. anew territory be endeavors to ascertain tho exact latitude and longitude of a given ?pot, and from that can safely begin his survey and so will endeavor to ascertaiu a proposition in this debate upon which both parties are agreed, and start from that proposition. That proposition is, that at the end of the war, in the spring of 1865, the rebel States were without State governments of any kind. The loyal State governments exising at the beginning of the war had been overturned by the rebels tho rebel State governments erected during the war had been overturned by our armies, and at the and of tho war there were no governments of any kind existing in those States. This fact was recognized distinctly by tho President of the United States in his proclamation under which the]work of reconstruction was commenced in North Carolina in 1865, to which I beg leave to refer. The othore were mere copies of this proclamation. In that proclamation he says: '•And whereas the rebellion, which has been waged by a portion of the people of the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the Government thereof, in the most violent and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcomo, has in its revolutionary progress deprived the people of the State sf North Carolinia of all civil government.''

Here the President must be allowed to speak for his party, and I shall accept this as a proposition agreed upon on both sides that at the end of the war there were no government of any kind existing in those States.

Tho fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution declares that "tho United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." This provision contains a vast, undefined power that has nover yet boon ascertained—a great supervisory power given to the United States to enable them to keep tho States in their orbits, to preserve them from anarchy, rovolu* tion, and rebellion. The measure of power thus conferred upon the Government of tho United States can only bo determined by that which is requisite to guar antee or maintain in each State a legal and republican form of government. Whatever power, thorefore, may bo nec essary to onable the Government of the United States thus to maintain in each State a republican form of government is convoyed by this provision,

Now, MT President, when the war ended and these States were found without governments of any kind, tho jurisdiction of tho United States, under thi provision ol the Constitution, at once at' tached tho power to reorganize State governments, to use the common word, to reconstruct, to maintain and'guarantee republican State governments in those •States at onco ttttached under this pruvision. Upon this proposition there is also a concurrence of the two parties. The President has distinctly recognized the application of this clause of the Constitution. He has recognized the fact that its jurisdiction attached when those States were found without republican State governments, and ho himself claimed to aot under this clause of the Constitution. I will read the preamble ol the President's proclamation. •'Whereas tho fourth {[section of tho fourth article of the Constitution of the United States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State iu the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion and domestic violence and whereas the President of the United States is by tho Constitution made Commader-in-chi&f of the army and navy as well as chief civil executive officer of the United State*, and is bound by solemn oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States, and to take cato that the laws be faithfully executed whereas the rebollion which has bee a waged by a portion of tho people of the United States againBt the properly constituted authorities of the Government thereof in the most violent and revolting form, but who organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has in its revolutionary progress, deprived the people of the State of North

Carolina of aD civil government and whereas it becomes necessary jmd proper to cafiv oat and enforce the obligation of

thc

Sple oftha United States to the people of North /Carolina in securing them the enjoyment 0 republican form of government:'

[From the W»Bh ington Chronicle.]

SENATOR MORTOH'S

read

this, Mr. President for the pur-

poso oT showing that the President ofthe United States, in his policy of reconstruction started out with a distinct recognition of the applicability of this clause of tho Constitution, and that he based his system of reconstruction upon It» true that he recites in this proclamation that he is the Commander-in-chief of the army ofthe United States but at thesame time he puts his plan of reconstruction not upon the exercise of the military power which is called to its aid, .but on execution of the guarant the provided by the clause of the Constiution to which I have referred. He appoints a Governor for North Carolina and for these other States, the office being civil in its character, but military in its effects. This Governor has all the power of one of the district commanders, and, in fact, far greater power than was conferred upon General Pope or

General Sheridan, or any general in com mand of a district for it is further provided "That the military comanmder 0' the de partment, and all officers and persons in tho military and naval service, aid and assist the said provisional governor in carrving into effect this procclimation."

We are then agreed upon the second proposition, that the power of the United States to reconstruct and guarantee re publican forms of governmental once upplied when those States were found in the condition in which they were at the end of the war. Then, sir, being agreed upon these two propositions, we are brought to the question as to the proper form of oxercising this power and by whom it shall bo exercised. The Consti tution says that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." By the phrase "United States" here is meant the Government of the United Statea. The United States can only act through the Government, and the clause would mean precisely the same thing if it read ''the Government of the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.''

Then, as the Government of the United States j.s to execute this guaranty, tho question arisos, what constitutes the Gov emmc-nt of the United States? The Presi dent does not constitute the Government the Congress does not constitute the Government the judiciary does not constitute the Government: but all threo together constitute tho Government and as this guaranty is to be executed by the Government of tbc United States, it follows necessarily that it must be a legislative act, The President could not assume to execute tho guaranty without assuming that he was the United States within the meaning of that provision, without assuming that ho wiis the Government of the United States. Congress could not of itself assume to execute t.ho guaranty without assuming that it was the Government of the TJni ted State* nor could the judiciary without a like assumption. The act must be the act of the Government, and therefore it. must be a legislative act, a law passed by Congress, submitted to the President for his approval, and perhaps, in a proper case subject to be reviewed by the judiciary.

Mr. President, that this is nscossarily the case from the simple reading

the

Constitution seems to mo cannot be for a moment denied^ The President, In assuming to execute this guaranty himself, is assuming to be the Government of the United States, which ho clearly is not, but cnly one of its co-ordinate branches and, therefore, as this guaranty must be a legis Native act, it follows that the attempt on ibp part of tho President to execute the guaranty was without authority, and that tho guaranty can only bo oxeeutpd in the form of a law, first to be passed by Con stress and then to be submitted to the President for his approval and if he does not approve it, then to be passed over his head by a majority of two-thirds in each House. That law, then, becomes the execution ofthe guaranty and is the act of the Government of tho United States.

Mr. Presidont, this is not an open question. I send to tho Secretary and ask him to read a part of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Luther vs. Borden, as reported in 7 Howard.

The Secretary rend as follows: "Moreover, the Constitution oftheUni ted States, as far as it has provided for as emergency of this kind, and authorized the General Government to interfere in the domestic concerns of a State, has treated the subject as political in its nature and placed the power in the handa of that department. "The fourth section of the fourth article of tho Constitution of tho United States provides that the United States shall guarantee to every Stato in the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasions and upon the application of the Legislature or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot bo convened) against do mestic violence. "Under this article ofthe Constitution it rests with Congress to decide what government is the established one in a State, For, as the United States guarantees to each State a republican government, Con gress must necessarily decide what government is established in the State before it can determine whether it is republican or not. And when the Senators and Representatives of a State are admitted into the councils of the Union, the authority of the government under which they are appointed, as well as its republican character, is rccognized by tho proper constitutional authority. And its decision is binding upon every other department of tho Government, and could not be questioned in a judicial tribunal. It is true that the contest in this caso did not last long enough to bring the matter to this issue and as noSenator or Representatives were elected under the authority of tho Government of which Mr. Dorr waa the head, Congress was not called upon to decide the controversy. Yet the riijht to 'ecids is pi seed there, und not "hi the courts."

Mr. Morton. In this opinion of the Supremo Court ot the United States, delivered many years ago, the right to exe. cute the guaranty provided for in this clause of the Constitution, is placed in Congress and nowhere else, and therefore the necessary reading of tho Constitution continued" by the highest judicial authority which we have.

Mr. Johnson. Do you read from the opinion delivered by the Chief Justice Mr. Morton. Yes, air the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Taney. He decides that thip power is not judicial that it. is one of the high powers conferred upon Congress that it is cot subject to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, because it is political in Its nature. It is a distinct enunciation of the doctrine that this guaranty is not to be executed by the President or by the Supreme Court, but by the Congress of the United States, in the form of a law to be passed by that body and to be submitted to the President for his approval and should he disapprove it, it may become a law by being passed by a two-thirdv majority over his aead

Now, I will call the attention of my friend from Wisconsin to some other authority. As he has been pleased to refer to a former speech of mine to show that I am not quitn consistent, I will refer to a vote given by him in 1864 on a very important provision. On the 1st of July, 1864, the Senate having under consideration, as in Committee of the Whole, "a bill to guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped or overthrown a republican form of government," Mr. Brown, of Missouri, offered an amend* ment to strike oat all of the bill after the enacting clause and to insert substitute, which I will ask the Secretary to read.

The Socretary read as follows: "That when the inhabitants of any State have been declared in a state of insurrection against the'United States by proclamation of the President, by force and virtue ofthe act entitled. "An act farther to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," approved July 13, 1861, they shall be, and are hereby declared to be, incapablo of casting any vote for electors of President or Vice President ofthe United States, or of electing Senators or Representatives in Congress until said: insurrection in said State is suppressed or abandoned, and said inhabitants havci returned to their obedience to the Government of the United States, and until such return to obedience shall be declared by proclamation of the President, issued by virtue of an act of Congress hereafter to bo passed, authorizing the same."

Mr. Jjlottofn.H .Th| honorable Jjjenator from Wisconsin voted for that. in Committee of the Whole and on its final passago. I call .attention to tho conclusion of the amendment, which declares that they shall be— "Incapable of casting any vote for electors of President or Vice President of the United States or of electing Senators or Representatives in Congress until said insurrection in said State is suppressed or abandoned, and said inhabitants have re-* turned to their obedience tb the Government of the United States, and until such return and obedience shall be declared by proclamation of the President, issued by virtue of an act of Congress hereafter to be passed, authorizing the same '.

Recognizing that a state -jf war shall be regarded as continuing until it shall bo declared no longer to exist by the President, in virtue of an act of Congress to be hereafter passed. I am glad to find by looking &t the vote that the distinguished Senator from Maryland (Mr. Johnson) voted for this proposition, and thus recognized the doctrine for which I am now contending: that the power to execute the guaranty is vested in Congress alone, irfid that it is fur Congress alone to determine the status and condition of those. States, •and that the President has no power to proclaim peace or to declare the political condition of those States until he shall first have been thereunto authorized by an act of Congress.

I therefore, Mr. president, take the proposition as conclusively established, both by reason ar.d authority, that this clause ofthe Constitution can be executed only by Congress and taking that as established, I now proceed to consider what are the powers of Congress in the execution of the guaranty, how it shall be executed, and what means may oe employed for that purpose. The Constitution does not define the means. It does not say how the guaranty shall ba executed. All that is loft to the determination of Congress. As to the particular character of the means that must be employed, that, I take H, will depend upon tho peculiar circumstances of each case and the extent of the power will depend upon the other question as to what may be required for the purpose of maintaining or guaranteeing a loyal republican form of government in each State. I use the word "loye ®1," although it is not used in the Constitution, because loyalty is an inhering qualification, not only in regard to persons who are to fill public offices, hut in regard to State governments, and we have no right to recognize a State government that is not loyal to the Government of the United States. Now, sir, as to the use of nieans that are not prescribed in the Con-

sUtufion,

I call the rtUMitiorf VT IBS Sen

ate to the eighteenth clause of section oight of the first articlo of the Constitu tion of the United

htates,

mug the iiavo takot President diiiV egatos to the dred and fifty t^ thousand men. far greater than t? by Congress. In th? nesty he says:

which declares

that: "The Congress shall have power make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vosted by this Constitution in the Gov eminent of the United States or any de partment or officer thereof

Here is a declaration of what would otherwise be a general principle anyhow that Congress shall have tho power to pass all laws necessary to carry into exe cution all powers that are vested in the Government under the Constitution. As Congress has the power to guarantee or maintain a loyal republican govern ment in each State, it has the right to use whatever means may be necessary for that purpose. As I before remarked, the character of the means will depend upon the character ofthe case. In one case may be the use of an army in anothf-r case perhaps it may be simply presenting a question to the courts, and having it tested in that way in another case it may go to the very foundation of the Govern ment itself. And I now propound thiB proposition: that if Congress, after delib eration, after long and bloody experience, shall some to the conclusion that loyal republican State governments cannot be erected and maintained in tho rebel States upon the basis of the while population, it has aright to raise up and make voters of a class of men who hpd no right to vote under the State laws. This is simply the use of the necessary means in the execution of the guaranty. If we have found after repeated trials that loyal republican State governments—governments that shall answer tho purposo that such gov ernmentsare intended to answer—cannot be successfully founded upon the basis of the white population, because the great majority of that population are disloyal_ then Congress has a right to raise up a new loyal voting population for tho purpose of establishing these governments in the execution of the guaranty. I think, sir, this proposition is so clear that it is not necessary to elaborate it. We are not required to find in the Constitution a particular grant of power for tb is pur pose but we find a general giant of power, and we find also another grant of po.ver authorizing ua to use whatever means may bo necessary to execute the first and wo find that the Supreme Court of the UniseJ States has said that the judgment of Congress upon this question shall be conclusive that it cannot be reviewed by the courts that it is a purely political matter and therefore the determination of Congtess, that raising up colored men to the right of suffrage is a means uece-sary to the execution of that power, is a determination. which cannot tie reviewed by the courts, and Is conclusive upon the people of this country,

The President of the United States, as suming that he bad the power to execute this guaranty, and basing his proclamation upon it, went forwttrd in the work of reconstruction. It was understood at that time—it was so announced, if not by him self, at least formally by the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward—that the governments which he would erect during the vacation of Congress were lo be erected as provisional only that his plan of reconstruc tion and the work that wasto'be done under it, would be submitted to Congress for its approval or disapproval at the next sessioa. If the President had adhered to that determination I believe that all would have been well, and that the present state of things would not exist. But, sir, the Executive undertook finally to execute tho guaranty himself without the co-operation of Congress. He appointed provisional governors, giving to them unlimited power until such time as the new State governments should be erected. He prescribed in his proclamation who should exercise the right of suffrage in the election ot delegates. And allow me for one moment to refer to that. He says in his proclamation: "No person shall be qualified a9 an elector, or shall be eligible as a member of such convention, unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the President's proclamation of May 29, A. D., 1865" which was issued on the same day and was apart of the same transaction— "And is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force immediately before the 20th day of May, A. 3.. 1891." .Miius?. rfjiitatKr

ii:

The following classY excepted from the benefit mation— He then announced fourf persons"1. All who are or shall have tended civil or diplomatic officersA erwise-domestio or foreign agents, pretended Confederate government

13. All persons who have volur participated in said rebellion, and th1 timated value of whole taxable proj ^s ovor twenty thousand dollars."

And twelve other classes, estimati number at the least two hundred an ty thousand or three hundred thoi men, while the disfranchisement thi been created by Congress does not $ perhaps to more than forty-five th or fifty thousand persons at th« These provisional, governors, authority of the President,, conventions they were tions, and they tyere to they were toexercise being exercised byy dors under the re gress. After, formed the accepted ti lican in tho vot3 Legis| th ejr ^^0 vaet1 w'orda -uRtr^T'those Stato gov .^t^full life and activity with out'corisultation with or co-operation on the part of Congress.

Now, sir, when it is claimed that these governments are legal, let it be remem bored that they took their origin under proceeding instituted by the President of the United States in the execution of this guaranty, when it now stands confessed that ha could not execute the guaranty. But even if he had the power, let it be further borne in mind that those consti tutions were formed by conventions that were elected by less than one-third of the white voters -in the States at that time that the conventions were elected by small minority even of the white voters,and that those constitutions thus formed by very small minority have never been sub initted to the people of those States for rat ification. They are no more the constitu tions of those

States to-day than the consti

tutions formed by the conventions now in session would be if we were to proclaim them to bo the constitutions of those States without first having submitted them to tho people for ratification. How can it bo pretended for a moment, even admitting that the President had thepoW' er to start forwatd in the work of recon struction, that, those Stato governments are legally formed by a small minority never ratified by the people, the people never having had a chance to vote for them. They stand as mere arbi trary constitutions, established not by the people of the several States, but simply by force of executive power.

And, air, if we shall admit those States to representation on this floor and in the other House under those constitution when tho thiog sbnll hn-vc gotrbcyouti oar keeping and they are fully restored to their political rights, they will then rise up and declare that those constitutions are not binding upon them, that they never made, them and they will throw them off, and with them will go those provisions which were incorporated therein, declar ing that Hlavory should never ba restored and that their war debt was repudiated Those provisions were put into those con stitutions, but they have never been sane tioned by the people of those States, and they will cast them out a3 not being their act and deed as soon as they shall have been restored to political power in this Government. Therefore I say that even if he concedes that the President had the power, which he had not, to start forward in the execution of this guaranty, there can still be no pretense that those gov erum'ents are legal and authorized, and that we are bound to recognize them.

The President of the United States, in his proclamation, declared that those gov ernments were to be formed only by the loyal people of those States and I leave to call the attention of the Senate to that clause in his proclamation of re construction. He says: "And with authority to exercise, within the limits of said State, all the powers ne cessary and proper to enablo euch loyal people of the State of North Carolina to restoro said State to its constitutional re lations with the Federal Government

Again, speaking of the army: "And they are enjoined to abstain from in any way hindering, impeding, or die couruging the loyal people-from the or» ganization of a State government as hero in authorized."

Now, sir. so far from those State gov ernments having been organized by the loyal people, they were organized by the disloyal every office passed Into the hands of a iv,bel the Union men had no part or lot in those governments and so far from answering the purposo for which governments are intended, they failed to extend protection to thu loyal men, either white or black. The loyal men were murdered with impunity and I will tbank any Senator upon this floor to point to a single case in any of the rebel States where a rebul has been tried a:id brought to punishment by the civil authority for the murder of a Union man Not onr ca»e, 1 am told, can bo found.— Those governments utterly failed iu an swering tho purpose ol' civil government? and not only that, but they returned the colored people to a condition of quasi slavory they made them the slaves of so ciety instead of being, as they were before the slaves of individuals. Under various forms of vagrant laws tbey deprived thsm of the rights of freeman, and plaood them under the power and control of their rei el masters, who wore filled with hatred and revenge.

But, Mr. President, time rolled on.— Cjngris assembled in December, 1865 Ft a time it paused. It did not at once annul those governments. It hesitated At lavt in 1866, the constitutional amend raent, the 14th article was brought forward as a basis of settlement and recon struction: and there was a tacit under standing, though it was not embraced in any law or resolution, that if the Southern people should ratify and agree to that amendment, then their State govern ments would be accepted. But that amendment was rejected, contemptuously rejected. The Southern people, counseled and inspired by the Democracy of the North, rejected that amendment. They were told that they wore not bound to submit to any conditions whatever that they had forfeited no rights by rebellion. Why, sir, what did we propose by this amendment By the first section we declared that all men born upon our soil were citizens of the United States —a thing that had long been recognized by every department of this Government until tho Dred Scott decision was made in 1857. The second section provided that where a class or race of men were excluded from the right of suffrage they should rot be counted in the basis of representation—an obvious justice that no reasons* ble man for a moment could deny that if four million people down South were to have no sutfrage, the men living in their midst and surrounding them, and depriving them of all political rights, should not have members of Congress on their account. I say the justice of the second clause has never been successfully impugned by any argument, I care not how ingenious it may De. What was the third clause It was that the leaders of

,./ con-

.^position id every jpurned by

they had noth-

^gin the work of reselves and in Februa-

^rgss forthe first time anterthe execution of the guaranty

^vbfided for in thp Constitution by the passage of the first reconstruction law. A supplementary bill was found necessary in March, another ono in July, and I believe another is found necessary at this time but the power is with Congress.— Whatever it shall deem necessary, whether it be in the way of colored suffrage, whether it be in the way of military power—whatever Congress shall deem necessary in the execution of this guaranty is conclusive upon the courts, upon every State, and upon the people of this nation.

Sir, when Cougress entered upon this work it had become apparent to all men that loyal republican State governments could not be erected and maintained upon the basis of the white population. We bad tried them. Congress had attempted the work of reconstruction through the constitutional amendment by leaving the suffrage with the white men, and by leaving with the white people of the South the question as to when the colored people Bhould exercise the right of suffrage, if ever but when it was found that those white men were as rebellious as ever, that thoy hated this Government more bitterly than ever when it was found that they persecuted the loyal men, both white and black, in their midst when it was found that Northern men who had gone down there were driven out by social tyranny, by a thousand annoyances, by the insecurity of life and property—then it became apparent to all men of intelligence that reconstruction could not take place upon the basis of the white population, and something else must be dono.

Now, sir, what was there left to do? Either we must hold these people continually by military powor, or we must use such machinery upon such anew basis as would enable loyal republican State governments to be raised up and in the last and I will say Congress waited long, experience had to come to the rescue of reason before the thing WUB done— in the last resort, and as the last thing to bo} done, Congress determined to dig through all the rubbish—dig through tho soil and the shifting sands, and go down to the eternal rock, and there, upon the basis of the everlasting principle of equal and exact justice to all men, we have planted tho column of reconstruction and, sir, it will arise slowly but surely, and "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Whatever dangers we apprehended from the introduction to the right of suffrage of seven hundred thousand men, just emerged from slavery, were put aside in the presence of a great* er danger. Why, sir, lot me say frankly to my friend from Wisconsin that I approached universal colored suffrage in the South reluctantly. Not because I ad her* ed to the miserable dogma that this was the white man's Government, but bei cause I entertained fears about at once entrusting a large body of men just from slavery, to whom education had been denied by law, to whom the marriage relation had been denied, who had been made the most abject slaves, with political power. And as the Senator has referred to a speech which I made in Indiana in 1865, allow mo to show the principle that then actuated me, for in that speech I said "In regard to the question of admitting thefreedmen of tho Southern States to vote, while I admit the equal rights of all men, and that in time all men will have the right to vote, without distinction of color or raco, I yet believe that in tho case of four millions of slaves, just freed from bondage, there should be a period of paobation and preparation before they aro brought to the exercise of political power."

Such was my feeling at that time, for it had not then been determined by the bloodyexperier.ee of the«last two years that we could not reconstruct upon the bttsis of the white population, and such was tho opinion of a great majority of the people of the North and it was not until a year and a half after that time that Congress came to the conclusion that thero was no way left but to resort to colored suffrage and suffrage to all men excepL those who wore disqualified tyy the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Mr. President, we hear much said in the course of this debate, and through tho press, about the violution of the Constitu tion. It is said that in the reconstruction measures of Cougress we have gone outside of the Constitution, and the remark of some distinguished statesman of the Republican party is quoted to that effect. Sir, if any leading Republican has ever said so, he spoke only for himself, not for another. I deny tbe statement in toto. I insist that these reconstruction measures are as fully within the powers of the Constitution as any legislation that can be had, not only by reason, but by authority. And who are the men that are talking so much about the violation of the Constitution, and who pretend to be the especial friends of that instrument The great mass of them, only three years ago, were in arms to overturn the Constitution and establish that of Montgomery in its place, as were their Northern friends, who were aiding and sympathising in that unders taking.

I had occasion the other day to speak of what was described as a Constitutional Union man—a man living inside of the Federal lines during the war, sympathizing with the rebellion, and who endeav ored to aid the rebellion by insisting that every war measure for th® purpose of suppressing it was a violation of the Con stitution of the United States. Now, these men who claim to oe the especial friends of the Constitution are the men who have sought to destroy it by force of arms, and those throughout the country who have given them aid and comfort Sir, you will remember that once a celebrated French woman was being dragged to the scaffold, and as she passed the statue of liberty she exclaimed: "How many crimes have been committed in thy name and I can say to the Constitution, how many crimes against liberty, humanity, and progress are being eommiu ted in thy name by these men who, while they loved not the Constitution and sought its destruction, now, for party purposes, claim to be it* especial friends.

My friend from Wisconsin yesterday compared what he called the Radical party of,the Npgtb the radical* of the 'O. "nr s-wfW-u

the

senator,

of tho

acting in

rt%Hh the DSmocratwere Democrats during prayed for tbe succeBB of and Pendleton, and would lad to have voted for them ere Democrats before the war, who made tho rebellion.— _-ie radicals of^he South And, rfrom Wisconsin, "afterill the radicals. 'den of his speech yesterday was reconstruction measures of Conintended to establish negro su-

Sir, this proposition is without undation whatever. I believe it itated yesterday by the Senator from ois (Mr. Trumbull) that in every but two the white voters registered umbered the colored voters and the at in two States the colored voters umbered the white voters is owing simple accident that there aro more •red men in those States than there white men. Congress has not sought /establish negro supremacy, nor has it ,jCught to establish the supremacy of any 'class or party of men. If it had sought to establish negro supremacy it would have been an oasy matter by excluding from tbe right of suffrage all men who had been concerned in the rebellion, in accordance with the proposition of the distinguished Senator front Massachusetts (Mr. Sumner,) in hia speech at Worces, ter, in 1865. He proposod to exclude all men who had been concerned in the re* bellion and confer suffrage only on those who wore left. That would have established negro supremacy by giving tbe negroes an overwhelming majority iu every State and if that had been tho ob jeet of Congress it could have been readily done. But, Bir, Congress has only sought to divide the political power between the loyal and the disloyal. It has disfranchised some fifty thousand disloyal leaders, leaving all the rest of the people to vote. They have been enfranchised on both sides, that neither should be placed in the power of tho other. The rebels have the right to vote so that they shall not be under the control and power of the

Union men only, and the Union men have been allowed to vto so that they shall not be under the control and power of the rebels. This is the policy, to divide the political power among those men for the protection of each. Sir, tbe charge that we intend to create a negro supre macy or colored State government is without the slightest foundation, for it would have been in the power of Congress to havo easily conferred such supremacy by simply excluding the disloyal from the right of suflTage—a power which it had the clear right to exercise.

Now, Mr. President, allow me to consider for a moment the amendment offered by the Senator from Wisconsin, and upon which his speech was made, and see what is its effect I will not say its purpose, but its inevitable effect—should it become a law. I will ask the Secretary to read the amendment which tho Senator from-Wisconsin has proposed to the Senate.

The Secretary read as follows: Provided, nevertheless, That upoii ah election for the ratification of any constitution, or of officers under the same, previous to its adoption in any State, no person not having the qualifications of such State previous to the late rebellion shall be allowed to vote, unless he shall possess one of the following qualifications, namely: 1. He shall have Berved as a soldier in the Federal army for one year or more. 2. He shall have sufficient education to read the Constitution of the United States and to subscribe his name to an oath to support tho same or, 3. He shall be seized "in bis own right, or in the right of his wife, of a freehold of the value of $250.

Mr. Morton. Sir, these qualifications are, by the terms of the amendment, to apply to those who were not authorized to vote by the laws of the State before the rebellion—in other words, the colored men. He proposes to allow a colored man to vote if he had been in the Federal army one year, and he proposes to allow a rebel white man to vote, although he has served in the rebel army four yeais! He proposed that a colored man shall not vote unless he has sufficient education to read the Constitution of the United States and to subscribe his name to an oath to support the same whereas he permits a rebel white man to vote who never heard of A, and does not know how to make his mark even to a note given for whisky.— [Laughter.]

Again, sir, he proposes that the colored man shall not vote unless he shall be seized in his own right or in the right of his wife of a freehold of tho value of $250, a provision which, of course, would cut off nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand colored men in tbe South. The colored man cannot vote unless he has a freehold of $250, but the white robel who was never worth twenty-fivecents, who never paid poll-tax in his life, never paid an honest debt, is to be allowed to vote. Sir, what would be the inevitable effect of the adoption of this amendment? To cut off such a large part of the colored vote as to leave the rebel white vote largely in the ascendoncy and to put these new State governments there to be formed again into the hands of the rebels.— Sir, I will not spend longer time upon that.

My friend yesterday alluded to my endoraement of the President's policy in a speech in 1865. 1 never endorsed what is now called the President's policy. In the summer of 1865, when I saw a divis ion coming between the President and the Republican party, and when I could not help anticipating the direful consequonces that must result from it, I made a speech in which I repelled certain state ments that had been made against the President, and denied the charge that by issuing his proclamation of May 29, 1865, he had thereby left the Republican party I said that he had not left tho Republican party by that act. 1 did show that the policy of that proclamation was even more radical than that of Mr. Lincoln. I did show that it was more radical even than the Winter Davis bill of the summer of 1864. But, sir, it was all upon the distinct understanding that whatever the President did that hia whole policy or action was to be submitted to Congress for its consideration and decision and, as I before remarked, if that had been done, all would have been well. I did not then advocate universal colored suffrage in the South, and I have before given my rea sons for it, and in doing that I was acting in harmony with the great body of the Republican party of the North. It was nearly a year alter that time when Congress passed the constitutional amendment, which still left the question of suffrage with the Southern States, left it with tho white people and it was not

.. „NO

UUt

until a year and^a 'half after that time]

that Congress came to the conclusion that1

we could not execute the guaranty of the Constitution without raising up anew class of loyal voters.

And, sir, nobody concurred in that res suit more heartily than myself. I con fess (and 1 do it without shame) that I have been oducated by the great events of the war. The. American people have been educated rapidly and tbe man who says he has learned nothing, that he stands now where he did six years ago, is like an ancient mile-post by the side of a deserted highway. We, Mr. President, have advanced step by step. When this war began we did not contemplate the destruction of slavery. I remember well when the Crittenden resolution was passed delaring that tbe war was not prosecuted for conquest or to overturn the institutions of any State. I know that that was intended as an assurance that slavery should not be destroyed, and it received the vote, I believe, of every Republican member both hoosw of Congress bat «o»-or

trifTafew months after that time it waa found by the events of them thai we could not preserve slavery aai suppress the rebellion, but we most destroy slavery —not prosecute the war to destroy slavery, but destroy slavery to prosecute the war.

Which was tho better To stand by tho resolution and let the Union

go,

or itand

by the Union and let the resolution go? Congress could not stand by that pledge, and it was "more honored in the breach than the observance."

Mr. Lincoln:issuedjkisproclamation.of emahelpation, s4tUnj| "frwi the slaves of the rebels... It was dictated by tfee stern and bloody experience of the times. Mr. Lincoln had no choice left faim. "When we began this contelt no one thought we would use colored soldiers in the war.— The distinguished Senator sitting by me here (Mr. Cameron,) when in the winter of 1861 he first brought forward the propos siticm, as Secretary of War, to use colored soldiers, was greatly in advance of public opinion, and was thought to be visionary but as the war progressed it became manifest to all intelligent men that we mast not only destroy slavery but we must avail ourselves of every instrumentality in our power for the purpose of putting down tbe rebellion, and the whole country accorded in the use of colored soldiers, and gallant and glorious service they rendered. In 1864 a proposition was brought forward in thi3 body to amend the Constitution ofthe United States by abolishing slavery. We do not think that this is very radical now, but it was very radical then it was the great measure of the age, and almost of modern times, and it was finally passed an amendment setting free every human being within the limits of the United States. But, sir, we were very far then from where we are HOW. All will remember the celebrated Winter DaVis bill, passed in June, 1864, which took tho power of reconstruction out of the bands of the President, where it did not in fact belong before.

I refer to Mr. Lincoln but if that bill had passed it would perhaps have resulted in the destruction of this Government. VVe can all see it now, although it was then thought to be the most radical measure of tbe times. What did it propose? It is proposed to prescribe a plan, to take effect when the war should end, by which these rebel States should be restored. I refer to that bill simply to show how we have all traveled. It required but one condition or guaranty, on the part of the South, and that was that they should put in their constitutions a provision prohibiting slavery. It required no other guaranty. It required no equalization of representation no security against rebel debts, or against payment for cmancipa ted slaves: and it confined the right of suffrage to white men. But it was thought to be a great step in advance at the time and so it was but events were passing rapidly, and in 1865 the President came forward with his proposition, and I am stating what is true from an examination of the documents when I say that, but for the want of power with tbe President, his scheme in itself considered was far more radical than that of the Winter Davis bill but events were rapidly teaching the statesmen of the time that we could not reconstruct upon that basis.

Still, Congress was not prepared to take a forward step until the summer of 1866, in the passage of the constitutional amendment, which we now regard as a half way measure, necessary and vital as far as it went but not going far enough. That was rejected, and we were then compelled to go further, and we have now fallen upon the plan of reconstruction which I have been considering. It has been dictated by the logic of events. It overrides all theory, in the presence of the necessity for preserving the life of this nation and if future events shall determine that we must go further, I for one am prepared to say that I will go as far as shall be necessary to the execution of this guaran* ty, the reconstruction of that Republic upon a right basis, and the successful restoration of every part of this Union.

Mr* President, the column of reconstruction, as I before remarked, has risen slowly. It has not been hewn from a single stone. It is composed of many blocks, painfully laid up and put together, and cemented by the tears and blood of the nation. Sir, we have done nothing arbitrarily. We have done nothing for punishment—ayo, too little for punishment. Justice has not had her demand. Not a man has yet been executed for this great treason. The arch fiend himself is now at liberty upon bail. No man is to be punished and now, while punishment has gone by, as we all know, we are insisting only upon security for the future. We are simply asking that the evil spirits who brought this war upon us shall not again come into power during this generation, again to bring upon us rebellion and calamity. We are simply asking for those securities that we deem necessary for our peace and the peace of our posterity.

Sir, there is one great difference between this Union party and the so-called Democratic party. Our principles are those of humanity they are those of justice they are those of equal rights they are principles that «ppe«l to the hearts and tho consciences of men while on tho other side we hear appeals to the prejudice of raco against race. The white man is overwhelmingly in the majority in this country, and that majority is yearly increased by half a million of white men from abroad, and that majority gaining in proportion from year to year until the colored men will finally be but a handful in this country and yet we hear the prejudices of the white race appealed to to crush this other race, and to prevent this from rising to supremacy and power. Sir, there is nothing no ble, there is nothing generous, there is noth: ing lovely in that policy or that appeal How does that principle compare with ours? We are standing upon the broad platform of the Declaration of Independ ence, that "all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with cortain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We say that these rfghts are not given bylaws are not given by the Constitution,- but they are the gift of God to every man born in the world. Oh, sir, how glorious ij this great principlo compared with the inhuman— I mignt say the heathenish—appeal to the prejudice of race against race the endeavor further to excite the strong against tbe weak the endeavor further to deprive the weak of their rights of pro tection against the strong.

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