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361 



section that will be effective. Let us strike out 

 this section, and then afterward we can supply 

 its place with a section making it the duty of 

 the President to issue this proclamation, if you 

 propose to give the thirty days' notice. I 

 would free the slaves of all who shall continue 

 in arms after the passage of the act. That 

 would be my proposition ; and I cannot con- 

 ceive how it is, when these men are with arms 

 in their hands, as the Senator from New Hamp- 

 shire said, shooting our brothers and our sons, 

 that we can insist upon holding their negroes 

 in their possession to enable them to shoot our 

 eons and our brothers. I think we ought to 

 make that section imperative." 



Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, objected to the 

 bill on grounds of expediency: "I suppose 

 there is no gentleman upon this floor who is 

 not now of opinion that the President may, if 

 he chooses, under the pressure of a military 

 necessity, make such proclamation as is con- 

 templated in this section ; and I suppose further 

 that there is no one here who believes that 

 under any circumstances other than a pressing 

 necessity he would order and direct such a 

 proclamation to be made. 



" I may say further, Mr. President, that I am 

 exceedingly sorry that at this stage of the busi- 

 ness we seem to be tending toward a rock 

 upon, which, in my opinion, we shall inevitably 

 and fatally split, and that very soon, for I think 

 if there is one truth well established in tho 

 world it is that our guide in constitutional 

 legislation is the will of the people I mean of 

 the majority. What are we doing here to-day ? 

 Laws are proposed, the operation of which is 

 to be confined to the Slave States. A number 

 of those States are represented in this Chamber 

 by loyal men, men of approved loyalty and 

 patriotism. What are they here for? They 

 are here to let us know what the will of the 

 people is in those States where these laws are 

 to operate. 



" Now, Mr. President, it is not a question 

 whether the opinions and beliefs of that people 

 are in accordance with our views. Suppose 

 them to be erroneous opinions and erroneous 

 beliefs, and having for their end, aim, object, 

 and purpose to sustain a mischievous and dan- 

 gerous system, yet, sir, we cannot disguise the 

 fact that they do exist there, and for my own 

 part. I cannot relieve myself from the obliga- 

 tion to respect them. How is it in the North ? 

 We of the majority forget here that we do not 

 represent the whole people of the North. We 

 do not represent the opinions and the beliefs 

 of all the people of the Free States upon this 

 subject. We forget that there is another and 

 a powerful party all through the North every- 

 where who are utterly and totally hostile, if 

 we are to be allowed to take the ordinary indi- 

 cations of public opinion, to this system of legis- 

 lation, this system of congressional emancipa- 

 tion and liberation, no matter under what shape 

 or form you disguise it. Well, how are we to 

 maintain ourselves with one half of the people 



of the Free States against it ; and I think the 

 gentlemen who represent the border States will 

 say to us that their people are unanimously op- 

 posed to it. Under these circumstances, it does 

 not matter to me a particle what my opinions 

 may be, what my belief may be. We are here 

 to legislate for the people. We are here, in the 

 first place, to stand upon the Constitution, be- 

 cause the Constitution is paramount, and no 

 matter what the will of the people might be, 

 if the will of the whole people were in favor 

 of any particular project which is unconstitu- 

 tional, it is our duty to throw out that project 

 and discard it ; but where the legislation is 

 constitutional, and within the purview of that 

 instrument, then our next guide is the will of 

 the people. Now, I ask Senators who come 

 from the Free States, do you believe, do you 

 suppose that you can get along here and sup- 

 press this rebellion by disregarding what these 

 gentlemen from the border States tell us ? " 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts : " We have so 

 far." 



Mr. Cowan : " The Senator from Massachu- 

 setts says we have so far ; and where are we 

 now ; how far have we got ? We have gotten 

 so far that oftentimes the heart of the patriot 

 despairs. And do we strengthen ourselves by 

 violating the opinions and the beliefs and feel- 

 ings of these men? Are we making them 

 friends ? I think it is exceedingly unkind to 

 the representatives from those States here. 

 What right have we to drive away from the 

 Senators from Virginia the friends who have 

 stood about them in these dark hours ? What 

 right have we to do the same with the Senators 

 from Missouri, or the Senators from any bor- 

 der State ? Is that proper treatment? I would 

 defer to those gentlemen as to all things re- 

 lating to their own States, and as to all laws 

 which are to operate on their own people. 

 Upon what presumption do we decide that they 

 are not interested in putting down this rebel- 

 lion ay, even more than we are ? I should 

 like to know from the honorable Senator from 

 Massachusetts how he comes to know better 

 than they do how to put down this rebellion." 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, replied : " I 

 take it that some of us have studied this ques- 

 tion quite as long as the Senator from Pennsylva- 

 nia, or gentlemen of the border States ; that we 

 have looked into it quite as minutely, and that 

 we have a right to our opinions. I see no 

 reason why I should give up my opinions to 

 those of any gentleman from the border States. 

 I do not know anything in the history of this 

 contest, from the time it opened in the attack 

 on Fort Sumter up to this time, in the advice 

 we have received from gentlemen of the border 

 States, whether we have followed it or not, 

 that entitles their opinions to any more weight 

 than the advice received from any other portion 

 of the country. I think the history of this war 

 shows that if we have failed anywhere, it has 

 been because too much deference has been 

 paid by the Government, and by Congress, to 



