CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



217 



two-thirds having voted in the affirmative, the joint 

 resolution is passed." 



[The announcement was received by the House 

 and by the spectators with an outburst of enthusiasm. 

 The members on the Republican side of the House 

 instantly sprang to their feet, and, regardless of par- 

 liamentary rules, applauded with cheers and clapping 

 of hands. The example was followed by the male 

 spectators in the galleries, which were crowded to 

 excess, who waved their hats and cheered loud and 

 long, while the ladies, hundreds of whom were pres- 

 ent, rose in their seats and waved their handkerchiefs, 

 participating in and adding to the general excitement 

 and intense interest of the scene. This lasted for 

 several minutes.] 



Mr. Ingefsoll: "Mr. Speaker, in honor of this 

 immortal and sublime event, I move that the House 

 do now adjourn." 



The Speaker declared the motion carried, and 

 again the cheering and demonstrations of applause 

 were renewed. 



Mr. Harris, of Maryland : " I demand the yeas and 

 nays on the motion to adjourn." 



The yeas and nays were ordered. 



The 'question was taken ; and it was decided in 

 the affirmative yeas 121, nays 24; not voting 37. 



In the Senate, on Dec. 19th, the following 

 bill was reported as from the Committee of the 

 "Whole, without amendment. 



Be it enacted, &o., That from and after the passage 

 of this act, no person, by reason of color, shall be 

 disqualified from employment in carrying the mails ; 

 and all acts and parts of acts 'establishing such dis- 

 qualification, including especially the seventh section 

 of the act of March 3, 1825, are hereby repealed. 



It was passed by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Clark, Conness, 

 Dixon, Doolittle, Farwell, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Har- 

 lan, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane 

 of Kansas, Morgan, Pomeroy,. Ramsey, Sherman, 

 Sprague, Sumner, Van Winkle, Wilkinson, Willey, 

 and Wilson 26. 



NATS Messrs. Davis, Powell, Eichardson, Riddle, 

 and Wright 5. 



ABSENT Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Chandler, Col- 

 lamer, Cowan, Hale, Harding, Hendricks, Hicks, 

 Howard, Johnson, McDougall, Morrill, Nesmith, 

 Saulsbury, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, and Wade 18. 



It passed in the House without a division. 



On the same day, Mr. "Wilson, of Mass., moved 

 to take up a joint resolution, from the Commit- 

 tee on Military Affairs, granting freedom to the 

 families of colored soldiers. 



" Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, moved to refer the 

 resolution to the Committee on the Judiciary. 



Mr. Wilson opposed the motion, saying : 

 " The Committee on Military Affairs have three 

 times reported the substance of this resolution 

 in other hills. It simply provides that the 

 wives and children of soldiers of the Eepublic 

 shall be made free. The needs of the country, 

 more than justice or humanity, have weaponed 

 the hand of the slave. "We have enlisted many 

 thousands of them. They are to-day in the 

 trenches before Richmond and Petersburg, and 

 on the shores of the Carolinas ; and they keep 

 watch and ward over the Mississippi from Cairo 

 to the gulf. They are everywhere doing their 

 duty, and their whole duty, bravely and well. 

 Butler and Banks, Meade and Burnside, War- 

 ren and Hancock, and Lieutenant-General Grant, 



have all borne testimony to their fidelity, their 

 courage, and their services. Officers who have 

 served with the best regiments of the armies of 

 the East and of the "West, officers who have 

 fought in many battles, say that these colored 

 troops, for industry, obedience, courage, and 

 conduct, are surpassed by no troops in the ser- 

 vice of the country. The Government could 

 not dispense with their services without perilling 

 the cause of the country. 



" It is estimated that from seventy-five to one 

 hundred thousand wives and children of these 

 soldiers are now held in slavery. It is a burn- 

 ing shame to this country ; it is an indecency 

 for the American people to hold the wives and 

 the children in slavery of men who are perilling 

 their lives before the rebel legions. This meas- 

 ure of patriotism, justice, and humanity ought 

 to have been passed many months ago ; it surely 

 ought to have been passed early in the last ses- 

 sion. We have made the slave free when he 

 becomes a soldier. Whenever the slave enlists, 

 he is a freeman forever more ; and thousands 

 of them have enlisted since we passed that be- 

 neficent act. At least twenty thousand slaves 

 have enlisted since that act was passed giving 

 personal freedom to the slave who enrolls his 

 name on the muster-rolls of the country's de- 

 fenders. 



" The nation now needs defenders. For the 

 purpose of encouraging enlistments it is pro- 

 posed that the wife and the child of the slave 

 who will fight the battles of the country, shall, 

 like himself, be free. Heart, reason, and con- 

 science demand it. Self-respect and decency 

 require it. The right to do it is unquestionable. 

 There is no doubt, there can be no doubt, of the 

 right of the Government of the country to give 

 freedom to the man who will fight its battles, 

 or to give freedom to his wife and child to en- 

 courage him to fight. There is no doubt, there 

 can be no doubt, that the nation has the right 

 to encourge the slave to enlist, or to inspire him 

 to deeds of heroic daring for his country, by 

 making the wife he loves, and the children who 

 bear his name and inherit his blood, free ever- 

 more. That the freedom of wife and child will 

 encourage the husband and father to enlist none 

 can doubt ; that it will inspire the soldier to the 

 performance of duty, to deeds of heroism, none 

 can question. Wasting diseases, weary marches, 

 and bloody battles are decimating our armies. 

 The country needs soldiers, must have soldiers, 

 Let the Senate then act now. Let us hasten 

 the enactment of this beneficent measure, in- 

 spired by patriotism and hallowed by justice 

 and humantty, so that ere merry Christmas 

 shall come the intelligence shall be flashed over 

 the land, to cheer the hearts of the nation's de- 

 fenders, and arouse the manhood of the bond- 

 man, that on the forehead of the soldier's wife 

 and the soldier's child no man can write slave." 



Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, replied: "I do 

 not understand that upon this motion of refer- 

 ence the merits of the measure come up, nor 

 am I able to see the force of the argument of 



