286 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



the earth never saw, and a naval power such 

 as England never aspired to be, and constitu- 

 tional liberty shall be buried amid the ashes of 

 that conflagration in which you have overcome 

 and destroyed your foes; then, sir, you will 

 have got a barren victory, and with all your 

 glory you will have but achieved your everlast- 

 ing shame." 



Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland, followed. He 

 said : " Mr. President, I do not know that I 

 could add one word to the remarks that have 

 been made by the Senator from New Hamp- 

 shire, if I felt so disposed. I do not rise now 

 for the purpose of entering into any debate 

 upon the propriety of this resolution, but simply 

 to express to the Senator from Illinois my 

 hearty thanks for its introduction at this time. 

 I believe it to be eminently proper and just. I 

 think that the condition of the country, and 

 especially of the loyal States, now demands 

 some investigation of this sort. Arrests were 

 made in the loyal States months ago that were 

 charged to have been made without the au- 

 thority of law. They were vindicated upon 

 the ground of public necessity. It was said 

 that we were then in the beginning of a great 

 rebellion; that the whole country was in a 

 state of alarm and terror, and that it was con- 

 sidered expedient and proper for the Govern- 

 ment to use all the means it could command to 

 suppress the insurrection, without reference to 

 the existing laws at the time." 



Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, moved to refer 

 the resolution to the Committee on the Judi- 

 ciary. 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, objected, saying : 

 " If there is a disposition in the Senate to make 

 any inquiry into these matters, let us know it : 

 and let us know it by a direct vote upon the 

 resolution. I want to know whether or not we 

 are fighting for the Constitution, and for con- 

 stitutional liberty regulated by law. I hope 

 the resolution will not be referred." 



Mr. Pearce, of Maryland, opposed the refer- 

 ence, saying : " I want to know what is the 

 ground upon which the Secretary rests this 

 power. I want to know whether it is anything 

 which we can find in the Constitution, directly 

 or by implication, or whether it is a fancy of 

 his, that in these troubled times there ought to 

 exist at the seat of Government a great, subtle, 

 vague, undefined power pervading the whole 

 country, reaching through all the ramifications 

 of the telegraphic system, which will enable 

 him, while seated in his office, by a dash of his 

 pen, to set the electric fire in motion, and to 

 order arrests at Cincinnati, at Chicago, at Bal- 

 timore, or even in Connecticut, where there is 

 no treason, but too much love of peace. 



" Sir, I do not believe in the necessity of any 

 such power, lawfully claimed or unlawfully 

 claimed. I do not believe that it is necessary 

 to the management of this war. I do not be- 

 lieve that it promotes the purposes of those 

 who desire to see this Union brought together 

 again an object of all others to me the most 



desirable if it be possible. I believe, on the 

 contrary, that it disaffects a great many good 

 and worthy men who desire to see the Union 

 restored. This, sir, I do know, that if there is 

 no power in the Constitution to authorize 

 these arrests, and if this body shuts its eyes and 

 closes its ears to all complaints on that subject, 

 the day is not far distant when the vital spirit 

 of a republican government will be entirely 

 gone from us. 



" Sir, I thank the Senator from Illinois, and 

 the Senator from New Hampshire, for the just 

 and noble sentiments they have expressed 

 to-day, and I shall lament in despondency and 

 grief if the Senate shall shrink from an inquiry 

 so obviously (to me at least) proper as this." 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "Sir, 

 when these arrests were made, by the authority 

 of the President of the United States, first 

 through the Secretary of War, and afterward, by 

 arrangement, through the action of the Secre- 

 tary of State, the loyal people of this country 

 were electrified ; they felt that they had a govern- 

 ment that was ready to exert its power to save 

 the country, and they rejoiced as they did when 

 Mason and Slidell were clutched from the deck 

 of a British vessel, and imprisoned at Fort War- 

 ren, under the direction of the Secretary of 

 State. The people of the loyal States have ex- 

 pressed, in every form in which they could make 

 their sentiments known, their approbation of 

 these arrests. 



" I should have no objection to the passage of 

 this resolution if it could do any good, but if 

 senators are opposed to these arrests altogether, 

 say so ; if they are in favor of these arrests, but 

 believe that this is not the proper mode, then 

 let them come into the Senate with a bill, and 

 I think we shall all vote for a proper measure 

 of that kind, and so arrange it that disloyal 

 persons may be arrested according to the forms 

 of law. That I think is the proper way; it 

 carries no censure, it implies no reflection on 

 any one ; but I think the adoption of this reso- 

 lution, especially after the remarks that have 

 been made here to-day, will be regarded as a 

 reflection upon the President and upon the 

 Secretary of State; and, if it is so understood, 

 traitors whose mouths have been closed during 

 the last four- or five months, will again open 

 their treasonable lips, and Jefferson Davis, and 

 the men who are supporting his rebellion, will 

 express their joy, if they do not vote their 

 thanks to the American Senate for thus reflect- 

 ing upon their own government." 



Mr. Trumbull again replied : " I have already 

 stated that this is not a resolution to censure 

 the Administration. Who makes it a censure on 

 the Administration ? Who seeks any such issue ? 

 The Senator from Massachusetts is trying to 

 make such an issue. I have quite as high a re- 

 gard for the Administration as he has. I stated 

 the object of the resolution. It is a resolution 

 of inquiry, and I have not even said that arrests 

 had been made ; but if there is no authority to 

 make them, and it is necessary they should be 



