294 



CONGKESS, II. S. 



part of a great many people in the South to in- 

 sist that this war is to be a war for the eman- 

 cipation of their slaves, and there is a tendency 

 on the part of a great many people in the 

 North to insist the same thing. Now, sir, I 

 speak for Pennsylvania, the great State, the 

 Keystone State, which lies between these ex- 

 tremes, and where we think we can look upon 

 this question as coolly as it is possible for a 

 disinterested person to examine anything. I 

 say for her that she repudiates both these ex- 

 tremes. Her object, when she put her one 

 hundred and five thousand or one hundred and 

 six thousand men into the field upon which 

 this battle is to be fought, was not that. Her 

 object was .to vindicate the Constitution and 

 the laws, and to compel obedience to them 

 everywhere, uncaring consequences. If in the 

 flames of this war the chains melt from the 

 slave, it is not her fault. They who lighted up 

 the conflagration are alone responsible, and 

 upon them let the responsibility rest. The ob- 

 ject which she pursues is that one which I have 

 stated, and that one alone. She has always at 

 all times joined most heartily in indorsing that 

 amendment to the Constitution which was 

 passed here at the last session, and declared 

 that she desired to interfere in no wise with 

 the domestic institutions of any other State." 

 The resolution was agreed to. 



A short time after hostilities commenced be- 

 tween the North and the South, an order was 

 issued from the State Department, requiring 

 passports to be procured by all persons intend- 

 ing to depart to foreign countries. Persons 

 going to California were also included in this 

 order. It led to a call by Congress upon the 

 Department for an explanation. 



Mr. Latham, of California, offered the fol- 

 lowing resolution : 



Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested 

 to inform the Senate by virtue of what law, or for what 

 reason, passports are required of passengers going di- 

 rect from New York city to San Francisco, in California. 



He said: "Mr. President, this is simply a 

 resolution of inquiry, and I desire to state to 

 the Senate that, in offering it, I had no intention 

 to embarrass the Department of State. Neither 

 do I propose, by making the inquiry, to do 

 anything more than what I conceive is justice 

 to the people that I have the honor in part to rep- 

 resent upon this floor. The people of California 

 have a right to know why those of them, who 

 are going to the West and returning to their 

 friends in the East, are subjected to this impo- 

 sition. They have a right to know by virtue 

 of what law or for what reason it is done. I 

 say it is an imposition, because the people of 

 California are the only people in the Union 

 among the loyal States that are now paying for 

 the privilege of going to their home and of 

 leaving it. I do not know, sir, by what right 

 the Secretary of State can exact from the peo- 

 ple of the Pacific coast the taking out of a 

 passport ; any more than he can of the citizens 



of Massachusetts who want to leave that State 

 and go to the State of New York." 



On a subsequent day the Secretary of State, 

 Mr. Seward, sent the following letter to the 

 Senate : 



To the Senate of the United States: 



The Secretary of State has the honor to acknowledge 

 the receipt of the resolution of the Senate of yester- 

 day, requesting him to inform the Senate by virtue of 

 what law or for what reason, passports are required 

 of passengers going direct from New York city to Cali- 

 fornia. In reply, the Secretary of State has the honor 

 to remark, that the twenty -third section of the act of 

 Congress of the 18th of August, 1856, ordains, " that 

 the Secretary of State shall be authorized to grant and 

 issue passports, and cause passports to be granted, is- 

 sued, and verified in forei'gn countries, by such diplo- 

 matic or consular officers of the United States, and 

 under such rules as the President shall designate and 

 prescribe, for and on behalf of the United States." 



From the beginning of the insurrection there has 

 been reason to believe that citizens of the insurgent 

 States and agents of the insurgents have taken passage 

 in the steamers from New York to Aspinwall for dis- 

 loyal purposes, and especially for the purpose of em- 

 barking for Europe and elsewhere. Latterly, it was 

 deemed imperative for the public safety to endeavor 

 to check this practice. With this view, a few weeks 

 since, the Secretary of State directed that all persons 

 embarking in such steamers should obtain passports. 

 These instruments are by law required to be gratu- 

 itously furnished in this country, and in order that 

 travellers might experience as little inconvenience 

 and delay as practicable in obtaining them, the Sec- 

 retary of State authorized the despatch agent of the 

 Department at New York to furnish themlo loyal ap- 

 plicants in the same manner as if they should apply 

 to the Department itself. Complaints of the incon- 

 venience of the requirement, however, to travellers 

 to California, having reached the Department, the 

 regulation was for a time suspended ; but information 

 having been received that the suspension had led to 

 abuses which it was the original object of the regula- 

 tion to correct, it has been recently restored. 



The Secretary of State is well aware of the import- 

 ance of free communication between the Atlantic 

 States and the possessions of the United States on the 

 Pacific, and would, at all times, be reluctant in any 

 way to trammel that communication. It is believed, 

 however, that no loyal citizen will, under the circum- 

 stances, object to the temporary requirement of a 

 passport. When the order referred to was restored, 

 instructions were at the same time given to exempt 

 from the requirement that class of passengers among 

 whom dangerous conspirators against the Govern- 

 ment and the Union would not probably be found. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



WASHINGTON, December 19, 1861. 



It has been stated that the legislation of Con- 

 gress assumed an entirely new aspect at this 

 session. Much time was spent during the first 

 half of the session, in discussing resolutions, 

 which, although of no unusual importance, yet 

 served to develop the views of individual mem- 

 bers, to incite the ardent, to push forward the 

 timid, and secure the cooperation of a majority 

 for those strong measures which finally pre- 

 vailed. As is usual in a revolution or civil 

 commotion, while the vigor of a country is unim- 

 paired, the extreme champions of the move- 

 ment are at first successful. But when the ex- 

 haustion of the country intervenes, they are 

 supplanted by those hitherto regarded as timid 



