CONGRESS, U. S. 



353 



for universal emancipation ever before attempt- 

 ed in the world ; nay, I think it equivalent, if 

 carried out, to a virtual liberation of the whole 

 four millions of slaves in the Union. 



" But what is to be the effect of it upon the 

 war ? Will we be stronger after it than before ; 

 or will we find we have doubled the number 

 of those in arms against us ? They have now 

 no cause of war ; will not this measure furnish 

 them one, and one they think more just and 

 holy than any other ? Let the loyal men who 

 know them also answer this question. I will 

 abide their answer, and submit again that no 

 deliberative assembly in the world ever before 

 sat in judgment upon an issue of such magni- 

 tude. 



" Not content, however, with this, those who 

 favor this bill seem determined to bewilder and 

 blind us still more by an additional project of 

 greater magnificence and, if possible, of greater 

 difficulty ; and that is, in the duty it imposes 

 upon the President, in the third section, of pro- 

 curing a home for these emancipated millions 

 in some tropical country % and of transporting, 

 colonizing, and settling them there, if they de- 

 sire to go, with guarantees for their rights as 

 freemen ; and this is all provided for in a sec- 

 tion of a single sentence of nine lines ! Surely, 

 sir, we must have been recently transported 

 away from the sober domain of practical fact, 

 and set down in the regions of eastern fiction, 

 if we can for a moment entertain this proposi- 

 tion seriously. Do the advocates of the scheme 

 propose to confer upon the President the gold- 

 making touch of Midas ? One would think the 

 universal menstruum of the philosopher's stone 

 had been at last discovered. Certainly, nothing 

 short of the ring and lamp of Aladdin, with 

 their attendant genii, would enable us in our 

 present condition to assure the President of 

 his ability to enter upon such a task, unless, 

 indeed, it is conceived the Treasury note is of 

 equal potency in this behalf. It" so, the sover- 

 eign of the tropical country and the transporta- 

 tion companies ought to be consulted in regard 

 to the legal tender clause. I suppose it is not 

 expected that the exodus can be supported on 

 the way by quails and manna ; and yet, I am 

 free to say, it will need the miraculous inter- 

 position of Heaven quite as much as did that of 

 the Israelites of old. 



" But to return : At a time when every energy 

 of the country is put in requisition to suppress 

 the rebellion ; when we are in debt equal to 

 our resources of payment, is it not strange that 

 this scheme, which would involve us in a cost 

 more heavy than even the present war, should 

 be so coolly presented for our consideration, 

 and urged to its final consummation with a 

 kind of surprise that any one should oppose 

 it ? It is certainly due to ourselves, if not to 

 the country, that we should not be in haste 

 about engaging in such gigantic schemes. 



" Then there is a further consideration in- 

 volved in this bill, of still greater moment than 

 even those I have already glanced at ; and that 

 VOL. II.-23 



is, its direct conflict with the Constitution of 

 the United States, requiring us, indeed, should 

 we pass it, to set aside and ignore that instru- 

 ment in all its most valuable and fundamental 

 provisions ; those which guarantee the life, liber- 

 ty, and property of the citizen, and those which 

 define the boundaries between the powers del- 

 egated to the several departments of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



" Pass this bill, sir, and all that is left of the 

 Constitution is not worth much. Certainly it 

 is not worth a terrible and destructive war, such 

 as we now wage for it. And it must be remem- 

 bered that that war is waged solely for the 

 Constitution, and for the ends, aims, and pur- 

 poses sanctioned by it, and for no others. 



"I am aware, however, that some think the 

 Constitution is a restraint upon the free action 

 of the nation in the conduct of the war, which 

 they suppose could be carried on a great deal 

 better without it, &c. Now, sir, I have no 

 hesitation in saying that no greater mistake 

 ever was made in the world than is made by 

 such people. 



" I am, therefore, opposed to this bill, to all 

 and' every part of it, except the last two sec- 

 tions, which, although not free from objections, 

 yet these are not of such a serious character 

 but that I could give my assent to them." 



Mr. Morrill, of Maine, followed. He thus ex- 

 pressed his views of the power of Congress: 

 "Assuming now the state of the nation to be 

 that of general internal hostility; and that, 

 being so involved, it possesses the power of 

 self-defence, it is still important to inquire in 

 what department of the Government this au- 

 thority is lodged. Happily this is no longer an 

 open question. The supreme power of making 

 and conducting war is expressly placed in Con- 

 gress by the Constitution. ' The whole powers 

 of war,' says the Supreme Court of the United 

 States, in Brown vs. The United States (1 

 Cranch), ' are vested in Congress.' Surely all 

 will agree there is no such power in the judi- 

 ciary, and the Executive is simply ' Commander- 

 in-Chief of the Army and Xavy ; ' all other 

 powers and duties, not necessarily implied in 

 the command of the military and naval forces, 

 are expressly given to Congress. Congress de- 

 clares war ; grants letters of marque and re- 

 prisal ; makes rules for captures on land and 

 water ; raises and supports armies ; provides 

 and maintains a navy ; makes rules for the 

 government of land and naval forces ; provides 

 for organizing, arming, and disciplining the mili- 

 tia, and for governing them in actual service ; 

 and is thus invested, in the language of the 

 court, ' with the whole powers of war.' 



" In the contingency of actual hostilities the 

 nation assumes a new and extraordinary char- 

 acter, involving new relations and conferring 

 new rights, imposing extraordinary obligations 

 on the citizens, and subjecting them to extraor- 

 dinary penalties. 



" There is then, sir, no limit on the power 

 of Congress ; but it is invested with the abso- 



