CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1872). 



139 



fications as to holding office should be consid- 

 ered, 145 ; this is a safe and sound measure of 

 public policy, 146 ; amendments rejected, 146 ; 

 other amendments to except members of* Con- 

 gress moved, 147; rejected, 147; amendment 

 not to remove legal disabilities, 147; rejected, 

 147 ; amendment to limit the backward effect 

 of the bill, so as not to validate the election of 

 any person at the time ineligible, 148 ; agreed 

 to, 148 ; bill reported to the Senate, and the 

 civil-rights amendment renewed, 148 ; the 

 amendment is the most flagrant violation of 

 the Constitution that has ever been proposed 

 in the Senate, 148 ; these amendments are cal- 

 culated to defeat the bill, and they are voted 

 for by those heralded as friends of amnesty, 

 149 ; the amnesty bill should be a proper one, 

 149. 



Slavery in its original pretension reappears 

 in this debate, 149 ; extent to which the equal- 

 ity of the slave has been recognized, 149 ; this 

 is not enough, 149 ; the denial of any right is 

 a wrong that darkens all the rest, 149 ; rights 

 denied, 149 ; two excuses show how groundless 

 is this pretension, 149 ; the first excuse is sim- 

 ply misrepresentation, 150 ; the other excuse 

 finds equality in separation, 150; vain to argue 

 that there is no denial of equal rights when 

 the separation is enforced, 150; without the 

 amendment, the original civil-rights law is im- 

 perfect, 150 ; unite now in an act of justice to 

 a much-oppressed race, 150 ; duty to these 

 millions is foremost, 151 ; strong reasons why 

 it should be united with amnesty, 151. 



Some suggestions respecting this amend- 

 ment, 151 ; it declares all citizens entitled to 

 the equal enjoyment of the privileges of inns, 

 churches, etc., 151 ; no one desires this, 151 ; 

 it imposes penalties for any violation of this 

 equal enjoyment, 151; churches and cemete- 

 ries established exclusively for each color should 

 remain so, 152 ; who is to collect the penalty 

 of a whole congregation ? 152 ; enormous pen- 

 alties, 152 ; is the amendment within the con- 

 stitutional power of the Government ? 152 ; it 

 should be properly amended, 153 ; no sound 

 principle is sacrificed by granting amnesty, 

 153 ; this amendment is an unfriendly act, 153. 



In the House, the rules suspended to put 

 upon its passage a bill to remove legal and po- 

 litical disabilities, 153; features of the bill, 

 153, 154 ; bill passed, 154. 



In the Senate, the House amnesty bill taken 



up, 154 ; last bill of the House, the most liberal 

 one, 154 ; this is not the best recommendation 

 of the bill, 154; the point of order, 155 ; why 

 not vote on the amendment to the other bill ? 

 155 ; no men more undeserving of amnesty can 

 be found, 155; the first bill should be pro- 

 ceeded with, 155 ; the question of order, 155 ; 

 one half a bill passed by the requisite vote, and 

 the other half not passed, 156; the amend- 

 ment has never been referred to a committee, 

 156 ; under what clause of the Constitution is 

 it brought forward? 156; difference between 

 privilege and protection, 156; what says the 

 constitutional amendment? 157; this amend- 

 ment is a plain usurpation of power that does 

 not belong to Congress, 157; the fourteenth 

 amendment, 157; any proposition to grant 

 universal amnesty is a violation of the spirit 

 of the amendment, if not its letter, 158 ; what 

 is amnesty? 158; expediency is the principal 

 argument in its favor, 158; you cannot con- 

 ciliate the authors of the rebellion, 158; put 

 the question on the ground of high principle, 

 158 ; troubles may occur from decade to de- 

 cade, 159 ; I want peace with the South on 

 correct principles, 159 ; grant universal am- 

 nesty, and the next step will be to pension the 

 rebel soldiers, 159 ; if the authors of the re- 

 bellion are to become your companions on this 

 floor, shall not the Confederate dead become 

 the companions of your soldiers in Arlington ? 

 159; why have we had this impassioned de- 

 nunciation of amnesty this morning? 160; only 

 account for it in oneway, 160; beginning of 

 the great campaign of 1872, 160 ; how is the 

 rebel debt to be paid in the face of your four- 

 teenth amendment? 160; at a loss to under- 

 stand this Administration and its supporters, 

 160; throwing a tub to the whale, 161; the 

 source of the language " appropriate legisla- 

 tion," 161 ; what is appropriate legislation ? 

 161 ; the argument strikes down every State 

 government in this Union as completely as if 

 every State constitution were annihilated, 162 ; 

 what is the argument? 162; I protest against 

 any such interpretation, 162 ; is there no such 

 thing as State rights? 162; this is the same 

 old speech which has often been heard in the 

 swamps of Indiana, 163. 



What is the whole meaning of this question ? 

 163; it is the experience of all civilized na- 

 tions that the completest amnesty is the best, 

 163 ; can it be said that the rebellion has gone 



