134 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



not profess to rely wholly upon any report that 

 may be made by a committee of the other 

 branch of Congress. We are here acting inde- 

 pendently of that body, I hope, upon our own 

 responsibility to our constituents ; but I sub- 

 mit that if we are to follow in the footsteps of 

 the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, 

 if we are to take as tlie law and gospel the 

 mere majority report of that committee made 

 in the case of Mr. Hill, of Georgia, we certainly 

 should follow without question the unanimous 

 report of the committee with reference to this 

 subject. 



" The Legislature, as I said, wrongfully and 

 unlawfully expelled the colored members, thus 

 committing a revolutionary act, and in conse- 

 quence of that expulsion the State has not been 

 represented in the Senate of the United States, 

 and the anomalous spectacle was presented of 

 a State being represented in one House and 

 not in the other during the Fortieth Congress. 



"Since that time there has been no election 

 in the State of Georgia for members of the 

 Forty-first Congress; and the Committee of 

 Elections, of which the distinguished gentle- 

 man from Wisconsin (Mr. Paine) is chairman, 

 reported but a short time since that the per- 

 sons who had served in the Fortieth Congress 

 as members from the State of Georgia, and 

 who now claimed seats in this Congress upon 

 the same certificates, ought not to be admitted 

 to seats in this Congress. Now, I ask gentle- 

 men what is the object of passing'this bill when 

 there are no members-elect to this Congress 

 from the State of Georgia ? I will tell them 

 why. It is upon the theory of those who are 

 urging this bill, that the admission of these 

 gentlemen to the Fortieth Congress is to go 

 for nothing, like the drink which Eip Van 

 Winkle took. That is the view. Although 

 they served in the Fortieth Congress, voted 

 and drew their pay like any other members of 

 that Congress, and very likely gave casting 

 votes frequently for the passage or the defeat 

 of bills, that is all to go for nothing, and they 

 are to be allowed to come back here, be sworn 

 in, and take their seats as members of the 

 Forty-first Congress. 



"The argument of the gentleman from 

 Massachusetts (Mr. Butler) in favor of this bill 

 is that it is not fair that these colored men who 

 were expelled for a time from the Legislature 

 should not have the enjoyment of their offices 

 for the two years for which they were elected. 

 Now, when those men were reseated in the 

 Legislature, as they have been, of course they 

 drew pay for their entire term. According to 

 that argument a man who-hasbeen duly elected 

 to Congress, but whose seat is contested, and 

 who fails to receive a certificate of election, 

 and therefore does not obtain his seat till the 

 last session of the Congress, should be allowed 

 to hold over into the next Congress in order to 

 enjoy the full term of two years for which he 

 was elected. Or, he might go into the next 

 Congress, and begin de novo, blotting out en- 



tirely his service in the previous Congress, on 

 the ground that he did not enjoy a full term in 

 the old Congress. That is the argument of the 

 gentleman. It is very well understood what 

 this bill is for. It is to prolong the tenure of 

 office of certain gentlemen in the State of Geor- 

 gia, and it might as well be so entitled as any 

 thing else. That is the object of the bill. 



" I feel, in regard to this matter, having known 

 something of it, having been on the Reconstruc- 

 tion Committee from the first till now, and hav- 

 ing watched the course of events and persons, 

 as well as of governments in those States I 

 feel as certain as I could be, without having the 

 sworn testimony before me, that the passage 

 of this bill prolonging the term of office of 

 those men who now control the State of 

 Georgia, authorizing Governor Bullock to ap- 

 point all the judges again, to commence de 

 now, and putting the power of the State in his 

 hands, would be an outrage upon the people of 

 the State of Georgia. I believe it is only in 

 the interest of a few people who desire to per- 

 petuate their reign that they may put money 

 in their purse." 



Mr. Beck, of Kentucky, said : " Mr. Speaker, 

 this much I desire to say, dangerous as was 

 the avowal of the gentleman from Massachu- 

 setts (Mr. Butler), that he intended by this 

 bill to give a new lease of power to the Gov- 

 ernor, the Legislature, and the present State 

 officers of Georgia, revolutionary as was that 

 announcement, it is as nothing compared with 

 the other avowal of a purpose which I knew 

 the radical leaders of the Republican party 

 were rapidly approaching. 



" That avowal of the gentleman was in sub- 

 stance that he wanted to pass this bill as a pre- 

 cedent, to show to the people of this country 

 that Congress has the right to exercise the 

 same power over any State, no matter where, 

 that in its opinion does not properly protect 

 life, liberty, and property, within its borders ; 

 that Congress claimed the right to seize that 

 State by the throat and compel it to do what 

 Congress chooses to say it should do. He 

 pointed to the State of Tennessee, and an- 

 nounced that if his friends would stand by him 

 he would seize her as he was now proposing 

 to seize Georgia. 



"I knew that the more radical men of the 

 Republican party were rapidly approaching 

 that point. But this is the first time that I 

 have ever heard the purpose deliberately 

 avowed upon this floor. It required a bold 

 man like the gentleman from Massachusetts 

 (Mr. Butler) to avow it now, and it is well that 

 it has been avowed ; it is well for the country 

 now to understand it. It is not particularly 

 because the Republican party want to retain 

 power in the State of Georgia that this bill is 

 to be passed, but because they want a princi- 

 ple established which will authorize Congress 

 to seize any State, no matter where, that does 

 any thing that Congress may think is wrong 

 in the treatment of the citizens of that State 



