CONGRESS, U. S. 



303 



tinguishing slavery altogether, and entire eman- 

 cipation. Others tell us, no ; that would be 

 the destruction of the Union if you attempt to 

 do it. Which is loyal? Which is disloyal? 

 It depends upon opinion. Each may be equally 

 conscientious ; and it follows not that either 

 one or the other is disloyal to the Government 

 because he may differ as to the means or the 

 propriety of the mode hi which this war ought 

 to be carried on. 



" I mention these facts to show how dangerous 

 it would be to introduce, as a qualification not 

 prescribed by the Constitution, the question of 

 loyalty." 



'Mr.' Trumbull, of Illinois, followed in reply, 

 saying : " The Senator from Delaware takes 

 the broad ground that in no case where a per- 

 son presents himself here with credentials reg- 

 ular upon their face, can the Senate refuse to 

 admit him to be sworn as a member of the 

 body ; and he goes so far as to say that if he 

 were a convicted felon, still he must be sworn 

 in as a member of the body. If then in any 

 conceivable case it were possible that a man. 

 could be so degraded or so disloyal that he 

 ought not to be admitted to a seat here, if he 

 were a negro even with credentials, on the 

 principle laid down by the Senator from Dela- 

 ware, he should be sworn in as a member of 

 this bod}-." 



Mr. Bayard : " No, sir ; not on my prin- 

 ciple. He must be a citizen of the United 

 States to be sworn in as a member of this 

 body." 



Mr. Trumbull : " That is a matter of fact. 

 I suppose you will inquire into that. Will you 

 determine that by inspection ? " 



Mr. Bayard : u That is a matter of qualifi- 

 cation." 



Mr. Trurabull : " Ah ! then you will de- 

 cide, will you ? You will look beyond the 

 credentials to find out whether lie is a black 

 man. That is the very point to which I wish 

 to bring the Senator from Delaware. Well, 

 sir, suppose Jeff. Davis is commissioned by the 

 Governor of Mississippi to-day as a Senator. 

 The Senator from Delaware will swear him in 

 as a member, and go into an investigation 

 whether he will expel him afterward ; and 

 Beauregard and Johnson and all the confed- 

 erate traitors now in arms against the Govern- 

 ment, and ready to blow up the Capitol of the 

 country yes, sir, a spy sent here to blow up 

 the building in which you sit, and you knew it, 

 and bringing credentials from a traitor who is 

 acting as Governor of Mississippi is to be ad- 

 mitted to a seat here to set fire to the powder 

 that is to blow up the Capitol ! Such a mon- 

 strous doctrine, it seems to me, was never ad- 

 vocated in any deliberate body. Have we no 

 power to protect ourselves ; no power to pre- 

 serve the Government ? Why, sir, under this 

 doctrine, traitor Governors may send a third of 

 the members of this body here, and how will 

 you expel them'then? " 



Mr. Bayard, in reply, said : " It is a very 



easy matter to refute the argument of an op- 

 ponent if you choose to misstate his position, 

 whether it is done intentionally or unintention- 

 ally. I never pretended to say, where the cre- 

 dentials alone were regular, that in all cases 

 the party was admitted. I said that, unless the 

 objection went to the authority to appoint or 

 the credentials, that the party was always ad- 

 mitted. 



" Now, the honorable Senator said : Would 

 you, if a man came here, a convicted felon, with 

 a regular appointment by the proper authority, 

 and with the record of conviction before you, 

 admit him ? My answer is : Yes. The Con- 

 stitution of the United States, not for him, but 

 from respect to his State and its appointing 

 power, authorizes him to be sworn in ; but the 

 next moment that protection which the body is 

 entitled to against infamous members, to my 

 mind, would justify me in turning round and 

 expelling him from a seat in the body. I 

 would admit him because it is not left to you 

 to decide in the first instance who shall be 

 elected or sworn in. You have a right to super- 

 vision over your members afterward in every 

 respect ; but you must pay that much respect 

 to the appointing power, the State which he 

 represents, as to suppose they would not elect 

 a disloyal, improper, or infamous man to a seat 

 in this body. You therefore admit him, and 

 you admit him because the majority has no 

 right to guard against that, for the Constitution 

 leaves it in the States." 



The credentials were referred to the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary, by the following vote, 

 and after much debate on subsequent days on a 

 report of the committee, Mr. Stark took his seat. 



YEAS. Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Chandler, Col- 

 lamer, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, 

 Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Johnson, 

 King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Potne- 

 roy, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trum- 

 bull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson 29. 



NATS Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Carlile, Kennedy, 

 Latham, Nesmith, Pearce, Powell, Rice, Saulsbury, 

 and Thomson 11. 



The purpose of conducting the war in such 

 a manner as to destroy slavery, was brought 

 out in the following debates, and was followed, 

 at a later period of the session, by active meas- 

 ures for its abolition, and the emancipation of 

 slaves. 



In the House, Jan. 6, Mr. Conkling, of New 

 York, offered the following resolution : 



Whereas, on the second day of the session, this House 

 adopted a resolution, of which the following is a copy: 



" Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested, 

 if not incompatible with the public interest, to report 

 to this House whether any, and if any what, measures 

 have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the 

 disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff;" 



And whereas, on the 16th of December, the Secretary 

 of War returned an answer, whereof the following ia 

 a copy : 



WAR DEPABT.VF.XT, December 12, 1861. 



SIR : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 

 a resolution of the House of Representatives calling 

 for certain information with regard to the disastrous 



