CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



221 



ulaves having perished since the Federal oocupation 

 of the smaller moiety of this Commonwealth. This 

 is equal to fifty per cent, of the entire slave popula- 

 tion of the section of country embraced in the return. 



"Sir, that is the blessing which your legisla- 

 tion brings, or proposes to bring. That is the 

 kind of blessings which a proclamation of uni- 

 versal freedom brings to the slave. You take 

 him from a happy and contented home, enjoy- 

 ing all the necessaries of life, and you invoke 

 the 'pestilence that walketh in darkness, and 

 the destruction that wasteth at noonday,' to 

 deprive him of existence. 



"But, sir, it has been said, in reference to 

 the question of power, that the Congress of the 

 United States have the same authority to de- 

 clare the wives and children of negro soldiers 

 free that they had to declare the enfran- 

 chisement of the negro soldier. The power 

 to declare even the enfranchisement of the 

 negro soldier has not, so far as this debate 

 is concerned, been attempted to be shown; 

 but the remark has been made that Con- 

 gress has assumed to do it, and I presume, 

 having assumed to set the negro soldier free, 

 they may justly assume to set free the family 

 of the negro soldier. That, Mr. President, is a 

 mode of argument that never satisfies my mind ; 

 because a thing has been assumed to be done, 

 therefore.it has rightly been assumed. "What I 

 would like is for some friend of this measure, 

 before it passes this body, to show me upon 

 what principle the Congress of the United 

 States have the authority to pass the measure, 

 where they derive that authority. Do not tell 

 me that it is absolutely necessary, because there 

 are as many and perhaps more men in this 

 country who believe that it is not necessary as 

 there are who believe it is. Do not tell me that 

 humanity demands it, because, perhaps, there 

 are more men in this country who believe that 

 your policy is injurious and ruinous to the negro 

 race than believe it to be advantageous. 



" I deny, Mr. President, that the Congress of 

 the United States has the power to give freedom 

 either to the negro soldier or to the family of 

 the negro soldier. I say that we have not the 

 power, and no nation has the power, as an act 

 of war, to capture slaves. If they do capture 

 them, and put their own uniform upon them, I 

 deny that it is a rightful capture, or that the 

 right is sustained by international law." 



Mr. Davis of Kentucky, moved to amend the 

 resolution so as to make it read : 



The wife and children, if any he have, of any per- 

 son who may be hereafter mustered into the military 

 or naval service of the United States, shall, from and 

 after the passage of this act, be forever free. 



" I regard the resolution as unconstitutional, 

 and that it will be utterly null and void if 

 passed. In my opinion, it will not be worth 

 the paper upon which it is printed. I do not 

 hesitate to express my opinion that any court 

 of any intelligence or independence of principle 

 and action would declare it unconstitutional 

 and inoperative; nevertheless I propose this 



amendment, that the resolution may be in har- 

 mony with its professed objeck That object is 

 to promote enlistments. Of course, to make it 

 operate on enlistments that have heretofore 

 taken place cannot give it any effect to promote 

 enlistments." 



Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, opposed the 

 amendment, saying: 



" I do not propose to detain the Senate for 

 more than a moment ; but it is well known that 

 we now have in our army many of these sol- 

 diers, black men who were slaves, who have 

 been brought into the armies of the United 

 States, and who have proved themselves very 

 efficient soldiers generally. These men are an- 

 noyed continually by the reports and by the 

 knowledge that they have left their wives and 

 children at home slaves subject to the control 

 of masters. If we set free the wives and chil- 

 dren of these soldiers, as is proposed by this res- 

 olution, we leave them more free to fight the 

 battles of the country, and without much con- 

 cern for their wives and children they have left 

 behind them. 



" The resolution is for the purpose of pro- 

 moting the efficiency of the army, not entirely 

 for bringing new soldiers into the army, but for 

 the purpose of promoting the efficiency of the 

 soldiers already in the army." 



Mr. Wade, of Ohio, followed in favor of the 

 resolution. He said : 



" It is unnecessary, I think, at this stage of 

 our proceedings, to argue in the Senate the 

 constitutional question, because we have al- 

 ready passed upon our right to conscript and 

 enlist the slave. "We have already passed laws 

 on that subject, and I suppose no one proposes 

 now to back out of them. "What gave as the 

 right to do so, unless it was a military neces- 

 sity? I believe we placed it on that ground, 

 and I think it will stand upon that in a great 

 revolution like this, and stand the test of the 

 judgment of the world. Of course there was 

 no Senator here, and there was no individual 

 anywhere in the State that I ever knew any 

 thing about, who claimed that in time of peace 

 the General Government had a right to man- 

 umit slaves in the States. I know very well 

 that the party with whom I have long acted 

 were charged with such designs, but it was al- 

 ways denied ; and any such notion was never 

 attempted to be carried out, was never pre- 

 tended to be acted upon. But, sir, all that is 

 changed in time of war when the Government 

 itself is put in jeopardy. "When that is the case, 

 and we are endeavoring to defend the Govern- 

 ment from dissolution and destruction, the ne- 

 cessity of the case, in my judgment, must be the 

 measure of our constitutional right to proceed. 

 " The expediency of this measure, conceding 

 that we have the right to pass it, must be ob- 

 vious to everybody. Do gentlemen suppose that 

 you can enlist in the service of the United 

 States negroes who are slaves, that have any 

 regard for their wives and their children, when 

 they leave those wives and children in the hands 



