CONGRESS, U. S. 



261 



republic, "William the Silent, I think he was 

 called, after losing his armies, his treasure, his 

 finances, and every thing but his own indomita- 

 ble courage and his Christian faith, counselled 

 his followers again to rally and again to strike 

 for freedom, they asked him, 'Have you se- 

 cured any alliances ? Are there any of the po- 

 tentates and Powers of the earth that you 

 could associate with, that will aid you in the 

 struggle in which you propose to engage 'i ' 

 Ilis answer was, ' Yes ; I have allied myself 

 to the King of kings, and in His strength I in- 

 vite you to go to battle.' Sir, that is the posi- 

 tion and the only position this nation can occu- 

 py. If we cannot do that, if we cannot pnt 

 away from as the great sin and the great crime 

 which has separated us not only from the sym- 

 pathies of the Christian world, but from the 

 blessings of the God of the Christian world, 

 then indeed is our cause hopeless and our strug- 

 gle desperate. 



'But, sir, whenever unconditionally and 

 without equivocation we come up to the mark 

 and place ourselves on the high standard of 

 Christian duty, and resolve that despite of all 

 extraneous circumstances, of all doubtful con- 

 tingencies, of all questions of expediency, we 

 will place ourselves firmly upon the everlasting 

 rock of duty and our action shall be in accord- 

 ance with our conscientious convictions, then, 

 and not till then, will that pillar of cloud by 

 day and fire by night which led the chosen peo- 

 ple from the house of bondage to the land of 

 promise, be ours. Then we shall indeed and in 

 truth be worthy of our genealogy and our his- 

 tory. Then the snblime teachings of the Pil- 

 grim fathers who left every thing behind them 

 that they might come hither and plant in this 

 wilderness a temple of liberty, and throw wide 

 open its doors for the oppressed of earth to 

 enter and be at rest then will all that be re- 

 alized. Then without shame, without reproach, 

 and without apology, we can stand in this nine- 

 teenth century, soldiers of the new civilization 

 and of an old Christianity, going forth to battle 

 with every impulse of our hearts and every 

 purpose that we entertain in full accordance 

 with the best wishes and hopes of the good on 

 earth and of the God in heaven ; when we take 

 this position and take it firmly and ably, then and 

 not until then shall we triumph ; then and not 

 till then shall we see the beginning of the end/' 



Mr. McDougaU, of California, followed, SMV- 

 ing: " I thought when I came here that the 

 business of the Federal Congress, the business 

 of the Executive of the Federal Union, the bus- 

 iness of this Government, was by the exercise 

 of its full power to put down the rebellion ; but 

 what has been the fact? From the tune I 

 took my place here until this day, until these 

 last ten minutes, hardly a quarter of an hour 

 has passed that has not been occupied by dis- 

 cussing the status of negroes in the southern 

 confederacy. Our home policy, our finances, 

 our legitimate business, our foreign relations, 

 nave all been ignored. 



I, as I said on rising, do not propose to discuss 

 this question here : my argument is an affirma- 

 tion that we have no business with meddling 

 with so grave a question of fundamental and 

 elementary law while we have a war to main- 

 tain for the purpose of reestablishing the Re- 

 public. I have from the first protested against 

 the continuous discussion of this question not 

 belonging to armies, not belonging to forces, 

 but belonging to a sentiment or opinion which 

 could not be made use of for any legitimate 

 purpose hi the controversy before us. I have 

 asked the Senators on both sides of the Cham- 

 ber to assert the strength of the Republic 

 and compel obedience to the Constitution and 

 the laws, and so I shall say as long as I occupy 

 my place in this Chamber ; but I protest 

 against occupying the time of the Senate of the 

 Republic of Xorth America entirely in discuss- 

 ing subjects that have nothing to do with the 

 reestablishing of the Republic that has been 

 disintegrated by hostile forces having no faith 

 in the system as it exists/' 



Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, following, said: 

 " Ought not the people deliberately to consider 

 any proposition for an amendment of the Con- 

 stitution ? Ought it not to be considered more 

 deliberately than any ordinary measure of gov- 

 ernment or of administration? Sir, what is 

 our condition ? TFe are in a state of war. The 

 minds of the people are greatly excited. They 

 come to conclusions now not so much upon re- 

 flection and argument and reason as they do 

 upon the passions of the hour. I ask Senators 

 whether a time like this is favorable to consid- 

 er amendments of the organic law 1 



"I ask Senators in what condition, are Ala- 

 bama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, 

 Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, 

 Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, to consider 

 amendments to the Constitution? Is this to 

 be their Constitution as well as ours ? Is this 

 to be a Constitution for Louisiana as well as 

 Indiana, for Florida as well as Xew Hamp- 

 shire ? Then, sir, if it is to be their great law 

 to which they will owe allegiance and render 

 obedience, shall they not be in a condition to 

 consider so important an amendment before it 

 is proposed to them ? " 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, answered: "If 

 those States are not in a condition to partici- 

 pate in the amendment of the Constitution, as 

 is contemplated by this joint resolution, whose 

 fault will it be ? Can a party in that attitude 

 take advantage of his own fault, of his own 

 wrong ? " 



Mr. Hendricks said: "I ask the Senator, is 

 it not to be their Constitution as well as ours, 

 and must not this amendment be considered by 

 them and acted upon by them, so as to secure 

 three-fourths of the thirty-five States, before it 

 becomes a part of the Constitution? " 



Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, replied: "If those 

 States were voting and were in favor of the 

 amendment, they would vote for it and would 

 be satisfied with it, if it were adopted, and if 



