CONGRESS, U. S. 



281 



this matter, and renders necessary some action 

 on the part of Congress, looking to a change of 

 that policy." t 



Mr. Blair, of Missouri, replied : " I infer 

 quite the contrary from the sentiments ex- 

 pressed by the President in his annual message. 

 Whatever Mr. Cameron, or any other officer, 

 may have done, I take what the President 

 says to be at least an indication of his policy 

 and lie is at the head of the Administration." 



Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, said : " The gentle- 

 man from Indiana charges pretty clearly that 

 the Administration favors the line of policy in- 

 dicated by the order under consideration. If 

 the gentleman knows that President Lincoln, 

 by any act or word communicated to this 

 House, or spoken out of it, is in favor of it, I 

 would like him to point to it now. I assume 

 to say, however, that the Administration has 

 had no hand, directly or indirectly, in the 

 order of Gen. Halleck, or in shaping the policy 

 which is in the general line of that order, as 

 construed by my colleague. I am inclined to 

 say this from watching tolerably closely the 

 acts of the Administrati6n, and reading, toler- 

 ably carefully, all that the President has said 

 on the subject. I do not hesitate to say that 

 the Administration is in no way complicated 

 with the policy indicated in this order. I do 

 not assume to say that the President is opposed 

 to or in favor of it ; but I do say, that no action 

 of this Administration has induced that order, 

 and that, in my judgment, the Administration 

 will not indicate such a general policy." 



Mr. Blair, of Missouri, again said : " I think, 

 Mr. Speaker, that when the Congress of the 

 United States shall itself have indicated a pol- 

 icy on this subject, and shall have passed a law 

 justifying the Administration in taking such 

 and such grounds, it will be time enough for us 

 to censure the Administration or to censure 

 others for not following the policy laid down 

 by us. Up to this time no such policy has been 

 indicated by Congress." 



The resolution was subsequently laid on the 

 table : yeas, 76 ; nays, 64. 



On the next day Mr. Blair, by permission, 

 read the following from Gen. Halleck : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE MIBSOTTEI, ) 

 ST. Louis, December 8, 1S61. } 



MT DEAR COLONEL: Yours of the 4th instant is just 

 received. Order No. 3 was, in my mind, clearly a 

 military necessity. Unauthorized persons, black or 

 white, "free or slaves, must be kept out of our camps, 

 unless we are willing to publish to the enemy every- 

 thing we dp, or intend to do. It was a military, and 

 not a political order. 



I am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in 

 regard to fugitive slaves, which my superiors may 

 give me, and to enforce any law which Congress may 

 pass. But I cannot make j'aw, and will not violate it. 

 You know my private opinion on the policy of confis- 

 cating the slave property of the rebels in" arms. If 

 Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I shall 

 enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of 

 rebels and their property is as well set out in Order 

 No. 13, issued the day your letter was written, as I 

 could now describe it. 



Hon. P. F. BLAJE, Washington. 



The resolutions offered by Mr. Eliot, of Mas- 

 sachusetts, and others, were then taken up. 

 (See p. 276.) Mr. Eliot, after explaining the 

 resolution, , said : " Our President may act, our 

 commander-in-chief, within his province, and 

 the officers under him in command may act, 

 and I believe are called upon to act, by every 

 consideration of humanity and of patriotism. 

 And, coming from the commonwealth I repre- 

 sent, in part a State which has performed no 

 small service in this war I call upon you to aid 

 me in giving such expression of the judgment 

 of this House as shall command respect. I am 

 not here to boast of the bravery or the patriot- 

 ism of Massachusetts soldiers. In their name 

 and in their behalf I pray you to call upon the 

 military arm to strike that blow more effective 

 for peace and for freedom than armies or vic- 

 tories can be, and convert the slave, which is 

 the power of the enemy, into the free man who 

 shall be their dread. So shall the sword inter- 

 vene for freedom ! If I have read the history 

 of Massachusetts aright, that is the interven- 

 tion her fathers contemplated ! " 



Mr. Steele, of New York, replied : " There 

 is a consideration, in my judgment, in opposi- 

 tion to these resolutions which we must heed, 

 and that is this : that, whether right or wrong, 

 a very large majority of the soldiers of our 

 army are opposed to this anti-slavery agitation. 

 Is it possible that these extreme measures are 

 to be forced through Congress simply for the 

 purpose of showing the sense of Congress upon 

 this question, when gentlemen opposite tell us 

 there is no need of any such laws ? And do 

 you suppose it can be done without demoraliz- 

 ing our army ? These men have been educated 

 all their lives in the idea that this agitation of 

 the slavery question was unprofitable, and that 

 it was likely to produce the very state of things 

 which now exists ; and they believe whether 

 right or wrong, they religiously believe that 

 the unnecessary agitation of this slavery ques- 

 tion is the sole and only cause of all our trou- 

 bles. Now, sir, let it be understood, let it be 

 read in our camps, that this war is prosecuted, 

 as has been more than intimated by the gen- 

 tleman from Massachusetts, for the extinction 

 of slavery, and I tell you, gentlemen, whether 

 you believe it or not, the power of our army is 

 paralyzed." 



Mr. Conway, of Kansas, said: "To retain 

 slavery under existing circumstances, in our 

 body politic, would, in my judgment, evince 

 the very worst kind of folly or wickedness. 

 To eliminate it forever should be the unwaver- 

 ing determination of the Government. Never- 

 theless, the Administration refuses to heed such 

 counsel, and persists in regarding the institu- 

 tion as shielded by such constitutional sanction 

 as it is not at liberty to infract. The Presi- 

 dent, in his recent message to Congress, refers 

 only incidentally to the subject ; and indicates 

 no policy whatever for dealing with the mo- 

 mentous question." 



On the results of the war he said : " The sue- 



