CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



277 



the committee goes beyond the formality of a 

 mere seal having upon it the effigies of Virginia 

 and the old motto of the Old Dominion, ' Sic 

 semper tyrannis." 1 Would the Senator from 

 Connecticut ignore the fact that under an act 

 of the Congress of the United States and the 

 proclamation of the President, old Virginia, and 

 the whole of it, is declared to be in insurrection 

 against the United States, and as a community 

 at enmity with them? He would ignore this 

 most important fact according to his construc- 

 tion, lie would forget entirely that there are 

 now standing upon the soil of the Old Dominion 

 half a million of armed men, testing the ques- 

 tion whether that old Commonwealth shall be- 

 long to the United States or to the counterfeit 

 confederacy instituted by the rebels. It strikes 

 me that that fact is one of some little signifi- 

 cance, one not to be lightly treated, and one in 

 the face of which we may well recoil from suffer- 

 ing her to be represented in this Senate." 



Mr. Foster : " If the honorable Senator will 

 allow me, I should like to ask him a question 

 right there, not to interrupt him. I should like 

 to ask him whether, if such be the relation be- 

 tween the State of Virginia and the United 

 States, the Senate is not ignoring that condition 

 of things when they admit a man to come into 

 the body, sit here by courtesy, present his cre- 

 dentials, recognize those credentials as proper 

 credentials, at least so far forth as to receive 

 them and refer them to a committee without one 

 word of comment? In what position do the 

 Senate of the United States place themselves 

 on this question if they do that ? " 



The President pro temper e : " The question 

 will be on the motion of the Senator from Mich- 

 igan to instruct the Committee on the Judiciary 

 in regard to the point suggested by him." 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said : " I un- 

 derstand this question to stand in this way: 

 the Congress of the United States recognized a 

 political government in Virginia, or a portion 

 of it, as the State of Virginia proper. On the 

 strength of that recognition men were admitted 

 into this Senate and into the other House. On 

 the strength of it we made West Virginia a 

 State and brought her into the Union, and she 

 is in the Union to-day. It seems to me, there- 

 fore, that we are bound by all our votes during 

 the last three years to consider the Governor 

 and Legislature of Virginia as existing." 



Mr. Willey, of West Virginia, further said : 

 "Sir, it is a fact, not only that the Senate 

 of the United States has recognized the exist- 

 ence of Virginia as a State, and her right to be 

 represented on this floor, but the executive 

 branch of the Government has done so, I imag- 

 ine; for I saw it stated in the papers the other 

 day that the Secretary of State had transmitted 

 the constitutional amendment for the abolition 

 of slavery to the Executive of Virginia, and 

 through him it was sent to the Legislature to 

 be acted upon, and that Legislature had acted 

 upon it and ratified the amendment. We shall 

 place ourselves in a singular position if we reject 



a gentleman who comes here accredited with a 

 certificate of election in due form, and repulse 

 him from our doors and refuse to allow him a seat 

 on the floor, when we have another member 

 representing the same State upon the floor, and 

 when the executive branch of the Government 

 recognizes the Virginia Legislature at Alexandria 

 as the true Legislature, and Governor Pierpoht 

 as the true and legitimate Governor of Virginia. 

 I trust that this matter will not be referred at 

 all, but that we will hold put the inducement 

 to the loyal people of Virginia to rally around 

 the loyal Legislature at Alexandria. 



" The Senator from Michigan said awhile ago 

 that we had shed too much blood to bring Vir- 

 ginia back into the Union and be humbugged 

 by proceedings like this. Why, sir, the very 

 object is to bring Virginia back into the Union; 

 and it strikes me there is no more available 

 and desirable means by which to bring her back 

 under the old flag, and to restore her to her 

 allegiance and place in the Federal Government, 

 than the very organization of the loyal people 

 around the loyal Legislature, under a loyal gov- 

 ernment and a loyal Governor, as fast as the 

 power of the United States can relieve the loyal 

 people of Virginia from the pressure of the re- 

 bellion." 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "I wish to sub- 

 mit to the Senate one or two considerations on 

 this subject, and I shall close my remarks by 

 submitting a motion that is not debatable. 



" The credentials presented to us purport to 

 show that this gentleman was elected a member 

 of this body on the 8th day of December last, 

 and they bear date on the 12th day of December 

 last. They have been held by him for more 

 than sixty days. Every intelligent man must 

 have known that the presentation of these cre- 

 dentials would give rise to debate, would involve 

 grave political questions about which there are 

 radical differences of opinion in this body and 

 throughout the country. The condition of the 

 State of Virginia, the condition of the rebel 

 States, the effect of the rebellion, all these mat- 

 ters are involved in the question now presented 

 to the Senate. This gentleman, holding these 

 papers, might at any moment have presented 

 them as a privileged question, and have stopped 

 all the business of this body until they were 

 disposed of, either referred or acted upon. Now, 

 I ask the Senator whether it is reasonable for 

 us at this period of the session to stop our de- 

 liberations when all the important bills of the 

 session remain unacted upon for the purpose 

 of considering this question? When this gen- 

 tleman has had these papers in his possession 

 for more than sixty days, when he had the 

 right at any day to present them and call on 

 us to decide the question raised by them, is it 

 reasonable, I ask, to present them at this pe- 

 riod of the session, and ask us to postpone all 

 the important business of the session for the 

 purpose of considering them? It seems to me 

 it is not ; and, therefore, without going into the 

 merits of the proposition, which is a very grave 



