292 



CQNGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



And that he be also requested to inform the Senate 

 whether he, or others acting under his authority, did 

 not require, as a condition to reunion, the acquies- 

 cence of said persons mentioned in said resolution, 

 or of the public authorities of the so-called confed- 

 erate States, in the abolition of slavery in said States ; 

 and also, whether he, or those acting by his author- 

 ity did not require as a condition to negotiation that 

 the said confederates should lay down their arms. 

 And that he be requested to inform the Senate fully 

 in reference to every thing connected with or occur- 

 ing in said conference or conferences in relation to 

 the subject-matter of said conferences. And also 

 that he be requested to state whether or not an armis- 

 tice was not asked for by Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, 

 and Campbell with the view to prepare the minds of the 

 Southern people for peace ana reunion of the States. 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, objected to 

 the amendment, saying: "I object to the 

 amendment of the Senator from Delaware, and 

 on this simple ground : to my mind it is not re- 

 spectful to the President ; it is in the nature of 

 interrogatories addressed to an unwilling wit- 

 ness. I believe that, in the relations between 

 the Senate and the President we hare only to 

 express to him our desire that he should com- 

 municate to us what in his opinion he can with- 

 out any injury to the public interests. I be- 

 lieve that he will make a full and frank com- 

 munication ; and I believe I do not go too far 

 when I say it is well known to many Senators 

 that the President is ready to do it ; perhaps I 

 might say that he desires to do it. I think, 

 therefore, there should be no delay in making 

 this call upon him in order to give him that op- 

 portunity. The amendment as presented by 

 the Senator from Delaware, I admit, does con- 

 flict with the resolution, but I presume the Sen- 

 ate will not be disposed to adopt it ; there is no 

 occasion for it." 



Mr. Saulsbury replied, saying: "Mr. 'Presi- 

 dent, nothing was further from my intention 

 than to offer any disrespect to the President of 

 the United States. It never occurred to me 

 that the amendment could bear any such con- 

 struction. Inasmuch as the original resolution 

 requests the President to communicate the con- 

 versations that occurred in that conference, I 

 wish every thing that occurred to be made 

 known. I have been informed that an armis- 

 tice was requested by those Southern commis- 

 sioners ; and if that be a fact, the country ought 

 to know it. I have been informed also that 

 that request was refused. If that be so, the 

 country has as much interest in knowing that 

 fact as in knowing any other." 



Mr. Sumner: "Let us vote it down." 



The amendment was rejected, and the 'reso- 

 lution was adopted. The reply of the President 

 will be found in ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1864, 

 page 713. 



On the same day, in the House, the following 

 resolution was adopted : 



Retained, That the President be requested to com- 

 municate to this House such information as he may 

 deem not incompatible with the public interest rela- 

 tire to the recent conference between himself and the 

 Secretary of State and Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, 

 ml Campbell, in Hampton Roads. 



The reply of the President to this resolution 

 will be found in ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1864, 

 page 710. 



In the House, on Febuary 2d, the Committee 

 of Conference relative to the bill to enact a 

 Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, made a report, 

 consisting of a new bill. 



Mr. Eliot, of Massachusetts, on presenting 

 the report to the House, said : " This bill pre- 

 sents to the House no new proposition. Sub- 

 stantially, every provision contained there will 

 be found, I believe, either in the provisions of 

 the House bill or in the provisions of the Sen- 

 ate bill. Many of them are combinations of 

 features of both bills." 



Mr. Keman, of New York, in opposition, 

 said : " In my judgment experience shows that 

 the policy proposed to be inaugurated by this 

 bill will not accomplish the benevolent inten- 

 tions of its promoters toward these people. 

 They are a very numerous class of persons; 

 and the policy of this bill seems to be to regu- 

 late, control, and govern this large class of per- 

 sons by a code of laws, under the name of regu- 

 lations, which regulations are to be made and 

 administered by an appointee of the President 

 and the Senate called a commissioner. Lands 

 are to be assigned and leased to them. There 

 are to be superintendents to regulate their em- 

 ployment and wages, decide their controver- 

 sies, and pay the surplus of their earnings, 

 over and above expenses, into the Treasury of 

 the United States. In my judgment this policy 

 . will hot work out satisfactorily any such social 

 problem as that presented by the colored popu- 

 lation of the Southern States. You will not be 

 able to really benefit this class of persons by 

 placing them by the hundred thousand under 

 the guardianship and subject to the control of 

 a commissioner who is to make regulations for 

 their government, and by his agents manage 

 and control them. Some other mode of deal- 

 ing with this question must be devised, if there 

 is to be any effectual, benevolent, or economi- 

 cal action in reference to this class of persons. 



"Again, where and to what consequences 

 will this policy lead ? According to this bill 

 the Government, by a bureau like that of agri- 

 culture, is to take charge of people by the hun- 

 dred thousand in States of this Union, and be- 

 come their guardians, and regulate them by 

 special provisions and regulations to be made 

 by an appointee of the President. Does any 

 man believe that we will succeed in benefiting 

 this really suffering class by any such measure 

 as this ? 



"But I particularly desire to call the atten- 

 tion of the House to the twelfth section of the 

 bill, which, if this bill is to pass, I trust will bo 

 stricken out. I earnestly hope there will be 

 no further legislation by Congress to subject 

 civilians to trial and punishment by military 

 commissions. 



" This twelfth section provides that the 

 superintendents, clerks, and all others con- 





