29C 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



than it is applied to our own children. If, in obedi- 

 ence to the general principle that all aid and direction 

 is weakening to human beings, we are ready to cast 

 our own offspring at a tender age upon their own re- 

 sources, we may think it wise to deal with like Spar- 

 tan severity with the freedmen, of whom so many are 

 children in character when not children in years. 

 We must lend leading strings to these babes of lib- 

 erty, and, would we have them go alone, see that they 

 do 'not dash out their own brains before they learn to 

 walk. * 



Imploring the blessing of God on the nation, the 

 freedman, the country's cause ; and the President of 

 the United States, we are, with profound respect, 

 your Excellency's fellow-citizens and fellow-country- 

 men. 



STEPHEN COLWELL, Pres. of Joint Committee. 



EDWARD ATKINSON, ) 



GEORGE CABOT WARD, V Secretaries. 



J. M. WALDEN. 



FRANCIS GEORGE SHAW, President National 

 freedman's Association,, of New York. 



HENRY WARD BEECHER. of New York. 



HENRT W. BELLOWS, of New York. 



GEORGE CABOT WARD, of New York. 



C. R. ROBERT, of New York. 



STEPHEN COLWELL. of Philadelphia. 



J. WHEATON SMITH, of Philadelphia. 



ELLIS YARNALL, of Philadelphia. 



FRANCIS R. COPE, of Philadelphia. 



ADAM POE, President " Western Freedman's 

 Aid Committee" of Cincinnati. 



EDWARD HARWOOD, of Cincinnati. 



LEVI COFFIN, of Cincinnati. 



J. M. WALDEN, of Cincinnati. 



J. M. FORBES, ofoton. 



EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston. 



Mr. Eliot : " I now ask the Clerk to read the 

 message of the President of the United States." 

 The Clerk read as follows : 



To the Senate and 



House of Representatives of the United States. 



Herewith I fay before you a letter addressed to my- 

 self by a committee of gentlemen representing the 

 Freedman's Aid Societies in Boston, New York, Phil- 

 adelphia, and Cincinnati. The subject of the letter, 

 as indicated above, is one of great magnitude and 

 importance, and one which these gentlemen, of known 

 ability and high character, seem to have considered 

 with great attention and care. Not having time to 

 form a mature judgment of my own as to whether the 

 plan they suggest is the best, I submit the whole 

 subject to Congress, deeming that their attention 

 thereto is almost imperatively demanded. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



December 17, 1863. 



Mr. Eliot: " That letter of the President was 

 written in December, 1863. Nearly one year 

 before that time, in January, 1863, 1 offered the 

 first bill upon this subject, establishing a Bureau 

 of Emancipation, which was referred, as gen- 

 tlemen will remember, to a select committee, at 

 the head of which, I think, was Judge White, 

 of Indiana. That committee was prepared to 

 report a bill, but having the charge of the bill 

 concerning Missouri and one or two other bills, 

 they were prevented from doing so. 



" The bill was again offered at the next session 

 of Congress, and stands No. 1 upon the Calen- 

 dar. It was referred to a committee, and re- 

 ported again as House bill No. 51, and it now 

 comes up for action from the committee of con- 

 ference. Since January, 1863, we have been 

 endeavoring to mature some legislation on this 

 subject." 



Mr. Wadsworth, of Kentucky, said : " What 



is the object of the thirteenth section of tl*e 

 conference report ? " 



Mr. Eliot: "I will explain that to the gentle- 

 man. After the House had passed the confis- 

 cation act it went to the Senate for its sanction. 

 An honorable gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. 

 Maynard, called upon some of his friends on this 

 side of the House and stated that there was a 

 provision in that act which he thought would 

 be retroactive in its operation, and desired that 

 it should be amended. In order to amend it he 

 offered a single explanatory resolution, provid- 

 ing that the part of the act to which he referred 

 should not be retrospective. That resolution 

 was passed by the House and sent to the Senate. 

 While the resolution was in the Senate the con- 

 fiscation act was before the President for his 

 examination, it having passed the Senate. Be- 

 fore it came back from the President, for rea- 

 sons which the gentleman will not perhaps want 

 me to occupy the time of the House in detailing, 

 it was found expedient in the Senate to amend 

 the explanatory resolution which had gone to 

 them from the House by adding to it the clause 

 which is referred to in this thirteenth section ; 

 that is to say, the clause which limited the op- 

 eration of the confiscation act to the life of the 

 parties who owned it when confiscated." 



Mr. Wadsworth : " I merely want to know 

 if that limitation would be repealed if this report 

 is adopted." 



Mr. Eliot: "Most certainly. This thirteenth 

 section repeals the last clause of that explana- 

 tory resolution, and will leave the confiscation 

 act in the same condition in which it was when 

 it left this House and went to the Senate." 



Mr. Ganson : " I desire to ask the gentleman 

 whether, if that repealing clause is kept in thia 

 bill, it will not insure a veto from the Execu- 

 tive ? I understand that the Executive would not 

 approve the original joint resolution upon the 

 ground t'hat it violated, in his opinion, the Con- 

 stitution, and the explanatory resolution was 

 adopted to meet his objection to the original 

 resolution. Now, if this repealing clause is put 

 in here, and the Executive has not changed his 

 mind as to what the Constitution means, it will 

 insure the veto of this bill." 



Mr. Eliot: " The inquiry of the gentleman is, 

 whether in case this bill goes to the.Presiden 

 as it is, it will not be vetoed. I think it wiL 

 be signed. The gentleman from New York has 

 progressed very greatly since July, 1862." 



Mr. Ganson : " I desire to know whether the 

 President has progressed upon this subject 

 also." 



Mr. Eliot: "The President is always pro- 

 gressing in the right direction. I call the pre- 

 vious question." 



The question was put ; and it was decided in 

 the affirmative yeas 64, nays 62, not voting, 

 56; as follows: 



TEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ashley, John 

 D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Boutwell, Boyd, Broom- 

 all. Ambrose W. Clark, Cobb, Cole, Dawes, Deming, 

 Donnelly, Eckley, Eliot, Frank, Griniiell, Hooper, 



