206 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



worth, Ward, Wheeler, Windom, and Benjamin 

 Wood 57. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. 

 Allen, Anderson, Blair, Bliss, William G. Brown, 

 Freeman Clarke, Clay, Coffroth, Cravens, Creswell, 

 Dawson, Deming, Driggs, Dumont, Fenton, Grider, 

 Griswold, Hale, Hall, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles 

 M. Harris, Hutchins, Philip Johnson, William John- 

 son, Kalbfleisch, Kasson, King, LeBlond, Longyear, 

 McAllister, McBride, Middleton, Nelson, Perry, 

 Pruyn, William H. Randall, Rogers, Strouse, Voor- 

 hees, Webster, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, 

 Winfield, Fernando Wood, and Woodbridge 40. 



In the Senate, on December 14th, Mr. Chan- 

 dler, of Michigan, offered the following resolu- 

 tion, which was referred to the Committee on 

 Foreign Affairs : 



Whereas, at the commencement of the present re- 

 bellion the United States were at peace with the Gov- 

 ernments of the world, and upon terms of comity and 

 good will with Great Britain ; and whereas that na- 

 tion, before the arrival on her soil of our minister 

 accredited by the administration of President Lincoln, 

 precipitately acknowledged the rebels as belligerents, 

 thus recognizing their nag upon the ocean, without 

 which recognition it would have been regarded and 

 treated as piratical by all other powers ; and whereas 

 she then proclaimed perfect neutrality between a re- 

 public with which she had entertained friendly rela- 

 tions for upward of half a century, and its treasonable 

 subjects; and whereas numbers of her subjects, 

 wim the knowledge of her Government, commenced 

 fitting out British fast-sailing ships, loaded with mu- 

 nitions of war, for the purpose of running into our 

 blockaded ports to the rebels, thus furnishing them 

 the means of organizing and continuing the rebellion, 

 and without which it could not have sustained itself 

 six months ; and whereas, in addition to the above, 

 and with the knowledge of the Government, British 

 subjects and members of Parliament engaged in the 

 manufacture of piratical English ships, owned by 

 British subjects, manned by British seamen, and 

 sailing under British colors, for the purpose of burn- 

 ing, destroying, and utterly driving from the ocean 

 all peaceful merchant vessels sailing under the United 

 States flag; and whereas many private and unarmed 

 American ships have been burned and destroyed by 

 these pirates from British ports, thus causing great 

 loss and damage to the citizens of the United States : 

 Therefore, 



Resolved, That the Secretary of State be instructed 

 immediately to make out a list of each ship and cargo 

 thus destroyed, with a fair and separate valuation 

 thereof, and the interest thereon at the rate of six 

 per cent, per annum from the date of capture or de- 

 struction to the date of presentation, and that he be 

 directed to demand from the British Government 

 payment in full for all ships and cargoes destroyed 

 as aforesaid. 



In the House, on December 15th, Mr. Davis, 

 of Maryland, from the Committee on Foreign 

 Affairs, reported the following resolution, and 

 demanded the previous question on its adop- 

 tion: 



Resolved, That Congress has a constitutional right 

 to an authoritative voice in declaring and prescribing 

 the foreign policy of the United States, as well in the 

 recognition of new powers as in other matters ; and 

 it is the constitutional duty of the President to respect 

 that policy not less in diplomatic negotiations than 

 in the use of the national force when authorized by 

 law; and the propriety of any declaration of foreign 

 policy by Congress is sufficiently proved by the vote 

 which pronounces it; and such proposition while 

 pending and undetermined is not a fit topic of diplo- 

 matic explanation with any foreign power. 



It was laid on the table, by a vote of yeas 69 ; 

 nays 63. 



On the 19th the resolution was again con- 

 sidered. It was divided at the words " author- 

 ized by law," and the first division agreed to 

 yeas 11.8; nays 8: the latter part was agreed 

 to yeas 68 ; nays 58. 



In the House, on January 6th, Mr. Ashley, 

 of Ohio, moved to reconsider the vote by which 

 the joint resolution proposing an amendment to 

 the Federal Constitution, in reference to slavery, 

 was rejected. He said : 



" Mr. Speaker, if slavery is wrong and crimi- 

 nal, as the great body of enlightened and Chris- 

 tian men admit, it is certainly our duty to abol- 

 ish it, if we have the power. Have we the 

 power? The fifth article of the Constitution 

 of the United States reads as follows : 



The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses 

 shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments 

 to this Constitution, or, on the application of the 

 Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall 

 call a convention for proposing amendments, which, 

 in either case, shall be valid to all intents and pur- 

 poses, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by 

 the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, 

 or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as one or 

 the other mode of ratification may be proposed by 

 the Congress; provided that no amendment which 

 may be made prior to the year 1808 shall in any man- 

 ner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth 

 section of the first article ; and that no State, without 

 its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in 

 the Senate. 



" The question which first presents itself in 

 examining this provision of the Constitution 

 is, what constitutes two-thirds of both Houses ? 

 or, what, in the eye of the Constitution, is two- 

 thirds of the House of Representatives? Is it 

 two-thirds of the entire number of members to 

 which all the States, including the States in re- 

 bellion, would be entitled, if they were all now 

 represented, or is it two-thirds of the members 

 who have been elected and qualified ? 



" This question would have entered largely 

 into the discussion of the subject now under 

 consideration had not your predecessor, Mr. 

 Speaker, decided, and this House sustained him 

 in declaring, that a majority of the members 

 elected and recognized by the House made a 

 constitutional quorum. 



" It has, so far as the action of this body can 

 dispose of the question, been authoritatively 

 settled, and settled as I think it should have 

 been, by declaring that a majority of the mem- 

 bers elected and qualified constitutes a quorum, 

 and that two-thirds of a quorum can constitu- 

 tionally pass this amendment. The question 

 having been thus disposed of, I do not care to 

 make an argument in support of a proposition 

 thus authoritatively settled. 



"My colleague from the first district (Mr. 

 PBNDLETON), in a speech which he made at the 

 last session against the passage of this amend- 

 ment, raised the question as-to the constitutional 

 power of Congress to propose, and three-fourths 

 of the Legislatures of the States to adopt, an 



