CONGRESS, U. 8, 



287 



the gentleman from Pennsylvania of the right 

 of conquest, does the successful conquest of 

 eleven States vest the President with sovereign 

 power in the St. 



Mr. Stevens : " I will interrupt the gentleman 

 one moment to correct him. My position wa., 

 that the sovereignty was vested in Congress." 



Mr. Wadsworth : " That was the position I 

 assumed. I said there was no sovereignty in 

 this country but in the sovereign mass, and 

 that they had vested a portion of that in the 

 States, and a portion in the United States, to 

 be exercised by Congress. "We seem, then, to 

 agree. I was only inveighing against the pres- 

 idential plan, and contended that the gentle- 

 man himself should lend his weighty support 

 to overthrowing that plan, and all who plant 

 their feet upon the neck of.popular sovereignty. 

 By his own principle Congress should under- 

 take to settle the fate of eleven States. I pre- 

 fer that Congress should do it. Woe worth 

 the day when the American people consent 

 that that portion of the sovereignty which 

 they delegated to the States shall, by the acci- 

 dents of fortune, or the malice of men, be 

 vested in one man, and he the holder of the 

 sword and the purse. But it is plain to 

 any man who recurs to first principles, that 

 none of these consequences follow. These 

 States are in the Union, and there is no power 

 short of successful revolution that can drive 

 them out of it; and, Mr. Speaker, it is no 

 longer worth while for men of intellect and 

 courage to deny the fact rebellion, double 

 damned as it is, has been met on our part and 

 confronted with revolution ; a revolution of 

 ,the Federal Government against the States, of 

 the rulers against the people, the sword against 

 privilege, of power against liberty. 



" Sir, this is a much larger business, develop- 

 ing by the logic of events, than African slave- 

 ry. We have got far beyond that. In this 

 very act which you propose to amend, there 

 are the seeds of ruin that stretch beyond all 

 questions of African slavery. You have heard 

 it proclaimed that it rests upon the right of 

 conquest, the obliteration of eleven therefore 

 of thirty-four States. "What, then, is in truth 

 the real issue before the country? It is a 

 question whether revolution shall go on, or 

 whether the American people shall arrest it. 

 "What a spectacle does it present in this the 

 nineteenth century! A revolution of power 

 against the people, of the ruler against the 

 masses, of the Executive and the army, if I am 

 to believe its representatives on this floor, 

 against the people. Shall the Executive of the 

 United States have these vast powers confided 

 to him ? Shall we consent that by the con- 

 quest of Louisiana and ten other States he has 

 become lord paramount in that country, the 

 sovereignty of this people vested in him to be 

 parceled out to his sworn adherents, and we to 

 furnish our blood and money to support the 

 ten men against the ninety ? " 



On motion of Mr. "Wilson, the words " except 



during his life " were stricken out, and tho 

 words " contrary to the Constitution of tho 

 United States " inserted in their place in tho 

 resolution. On the 5th of February it passed 

 the House by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, ' 

 Arnold, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, 

 Blow, BoutweU, Boyd, Brandegree, Broomall, Am- 

 brose W. Clark, Freeman Clarke, Cobb, Cole, Cres- 

 well, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Dawes, 

 Deming, Donnelly, Driggs, Eliot, Farnsworth, Fen- 

 ton, Frank, Garfield, Gooch, Grinnell, Higbv, Hoop- 

 er, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, John 'H. Hub- 

 bard, Hulburd, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Keller, 

 Francis W. Kellogg, Orlando Kellogg, Loan, Long- 

 vear, Marvin, McBnde. McClurg, Mclndoe, Samuel 

 F. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, iTaniel Morris, Amos 

 Myers, Leonard Myers, Norton, Charles O'Neill, Orth, 

 Patterson, Perham, Pike, Pomeroy, Alexander H. 

 Kice, John H. Rice. Edward H. Rollins, Schenck, 

 Scofield, Shannon, Sloan, Smithers, Spalding, Ste- 

 vens, Thaver, Tracy, Upson, Van valkenburgh, 

 Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Wil- 

 liams, Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge 83. 



NATS Messrs. James C. Allen, Ancona, Bailey, 

 Augustus C. Baldwin, Jacob B. Blair, Bliss, Brook's, 

 James S. Brown, William G. Brown, Chanler, Clay, 

 Coffroth, Cox, Cravens, Dawson, Dennison, Eden, 

 Edgerton, Eldridge, Finck, Ganson, Grider, Har- 

 ding, Harrington, Benjamin G. Harris, Herrick, Hoi- 

 man, Hutchins, William Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Ker- 

 nan, King, Knapp, Law, Lazear, Le Blond, Long, 

 Mallpry, Marcy, McDowell, McKinney, Middleton, 

 William H. Miller, James R. Morris, Morrison, Nel- 

 son, Noble, Odell, John O'Neill, Pendleton, Pruyn, 

 Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, 

 Robinson, Rogers, James S. Rollins, Ross, Scott, 

 John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Strouse, Stuart, 

 Thomas, Yoorhees, Wadsworth, Webster, Whaley, 

 Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Win- 

 field, Fernando Wood, and Yeaman 74. 



The following is the resolution : 



That the last clause of a "joint resolution explana- 

 tory of ' An act to suppress insurrection, to punish 

 treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the 

 property of rebels, and for other purposes,' " ap- 

 proved July 17, 1862, be, and the same hereby is, so 

 amended as to read: " nor shall any punishment or 

 proceeding under said act be so construed as to 

 work a forfeiture of the estate of the offender con- 

 trary to the Constitution of the United States : Pro- 

 vided, That no other public warning or proclama- 

 tion under the act of July 17, 1862, chapter ninety- 

 five, section six, is or shall be required than the 

 proclamation of the President made and published 

 by him on the 25th dav of July, 1862, which procla- 

 mation so made shall be received and held sufficient 

 in all cases now pending, or which may hereafter 

 arise under said act." 



In the Senate on February 17th, Mr. John- 

 son, of Maryland, from the committee on the 

 judiciary reported back the joint resolution of 

 the House, with a recommendation that it do 

 not p:. 



On June 27th Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, 

 cffered the following as an additional section 

 to the bill to establish a Freedman's Bureau : 



And be it further enacted, That the last clause of a 

 joint resolution explanatory of an act to suppress 

 insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize 

 and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other 

 purposes, approved July 17, IS'32, be, and the samo 

 is hereby, repealed. 



Mr. Trumbull said : " The object of the amend- 



