CONGRESS, U. 8. 



259 



Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, said : " Sir, in a 

 State where everything was perfectly calm and 

 quiet, where there had been no attempt since 

 the commencement of this revolution to take 

 sides with the States in revolt, military were 

 sent on the day of the general election to every 

 voting place in the two lower counties of that 

 State except two. I state to the Senate and to 

 the country what I know to be true, and what 

 I can prove, that peaceable citizens were ar- 

 rested on the day of the election, and incar- 

 cerated in the common jail of the county, at 

 one place ; that at another voting place, peace- 

 able citizens, who were making no disturbance, 

 doing nothing illegal or improper, were arrest- 

 ed and placed in confinement in a room ; that 

 at another place, peaceable citizens, before they 

 arrived on the ground, before they had done 

 or said anything on the election ground, were 

 taken from their wagons and fastened up in a 

 house, and some of them deprived of their 

 right to vote. I state another fact which can 

 be proved: at another voting place, persons 

 were intimidated from voting, and others were 

 assaulted. At some voting places the inspec- 

 tors of the election were compelled to take 

 what they believed to be illegal votes ; at other 

 voting places, persons having a clear legal right 

 to vote were prevented from voting by the 

 military. 



"Now, sir, I do not say that the General 

 Government desires this to be done. Gen. Wool 

 left his headquarters, went to the town of Sea- 

 ford, in my State, and stayed there until after 

 the election. I believe, as far as Gen. Wool 

 was concerned, and as far as the election was 

 concerned at that place, there :was very little 

 wrong done nothing further than what wtmld 

 be the natural effect of having soldiers at a poll, 

 the natural intimidation which it occasioned. I 

 will state also that where there were regular 

 soldiers, under officers of character, there was 

 not generally so much wrong done as at other 

 places. But, sir, where Maryland home guards 

 were stationed, outrages of a gross character 

 were committed upon our citizens-. I want to 

 know and that is the object of this resolution 

 what were the reasons for the sending of 

 these men into the State of Delaware ; what 

 representations have been made to the General 

 Government." 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said: " I hope the 

 resolution will be adopted. I do not desire to 

 debate it ; but I desire the information. I think 

 we are entitled to it. The Government of the 

 United States having sent into the State of 

 Delaware, under the command of a major-gen- 

 eral of the army of the United States, some 

 three thousand troops, on the day before the 

 election, and distributed them throughout the 

 State a State which has at no time whatever, 

 either by her position, her course of conduct, 

 or the action of her people, offered any resist- 

 ance to the authority of the United States we 

 have a right to know the reasons for such ac- 

 tions. It may be, and probably it will be 



shown, that some of our own citizens, in the 

 heat of political excitement and partisan re- 

 sentment, have made improper, erroneous, and 

 false statements to the Secretary of War. If 

 that is so, we have a right to know it. We have 

 a right to know who those recreant sons of 

 Delaware are. The people of Delaware have a 

 right to know who it was that thus attempted 

 to cause civil strife and military rule to be es- 

 tablished in the State." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts : " I think it 

 were better that the resolution should be pass- 

 ed over ; and I therefore move that it lie upon 

 the table." 



Mr. Anthony, of Rhode Island, said: " Will 

 the senator from Massachusetts withdraw that 

 motion for a moment ? I was going to suggest 

 that the resolution be referred to the Commit- 

 tee on Military Affairs." 



Mr. Sumner : " I have no objection to that." 



Mr. Anthony: "I have no objection at all to 

 the information asked for being obtained; I 

 desire that it should be laid before the coun- 

 try ; but I think the resolution is not expressed 

 in such felicitous language as the senator from 

 Delaware usually employs. It seems to charge 

 all the matter that is to be inquired into upon 

 the Secretary of War, and the particularity of 

 the inquiries seems to imply that unless he is 

 pinned down to the exact point, he is going to 

 evade the inquiry. I do not think it is respect- 

 ful or proper. I would prefer that a resolution 

 should be offered inquiring generally into the 

 matter ; and if the Secretary should not reply 

 fully, then we should know, what the resolu- 

 tion now seems to assume, that he does not 

 mean to answer the inquiry ? " 



Mr. Saulsbury, in reply, said: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I offer this resolution asking information 

 of the Secretary of War. The proposition now 

 is to refer a resolution asking for information 

 from the Secretary of War to the Committee on 

 Military Affairs. Can the Committee on Mili- 

 tary Affairs give the information ? How can 

 you refer a resolution of inquiry, directed to 

 the Secretary of War, to the Committee on 

 Military Affairs? It is not to be supposed that 

 they are the persons who have sent soldiers 

 into the State of Delaware. I would prefer, 

 and I say so frankly to the Senate, if they think 

 we ought not to be furnished with this infor- 

 mation, that they meet the question fairly and 

 vote the resolution down." 



Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, followed, saying : " It 

 seems to me that a part of the information 

 sought for in 'this resolution is manifestly im- 

 proper. It not only inquires of the Secretary 

 of War whether he has done this thing, but it 

 requires an inquisition as to who instituted 

 these proceedings, who made the representa- 

 tions to the Secretary of War that induced him 

 to take this official action, if he did take it. It 

 is manifestly improper for us to go into any 

 such inquiry as that. Does the senator desire 

 to lay the basis here, or to furnish the testi- 

 mony for any number of judicial investigations, 



