304 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



ment as a republican form of government by 

 the recognition of the State in all its depart- 

 ments and the admission of all its national 

 representatives. It is made the duty of the 

 Government of the United States, not of Con- 

 gress ; and I desire to call the attention of the 

 Senator to that, because it bears upon his as- 

 sumption for Congress of power which does 

 not belong to the Executive. It is not alone 

 the duty of Congress to guarantee a republican 

 form of government to the people of the several 

 States; the extent of that guarantee is not 

 limited alone to the means which Congress 

 may employ ; but the words of the Constitu- 

 tion are 'the United States shall guarantee.' 

 Hence every department of the Government is 

 equally bound ; and Congress being the legis- 

 lative branch, of course participates to a greater 

 extent in the discharge of that duty." 



Mr. Clark: "I do not wish to interrupt 

 the Senator to ask any question not entirely 

 agreeable to him, but I desire to ask of him 

 whether if the Government be overthrown in 

 any one State by the people of that State, it is 

 not the duty of the Government of the United 

 States to restore that to its republican form 

 even if a majority of the people in that State 

 are opposed to the republican form." 



Mr. Carlile : " The fact of my being here, I 

 think, should be an answer to the Senator's 

 question. The people of each State of this 

 Union have, by becoming parties to the Con- 

 stitution, bound themselves by that compact ; 

 and they have not the right to overthrow the 

 State government which recognizes that obli- 

 gation by any power short of that which 

 results in success; but if they are able to 

 prevent the United States through its power, 

 from enforcing this provision of the Constitu- 

 tion, then I suppose they can do it, but other- 

 wise not." 



Mr. Clark : " That does not quite meet the 

 question. They have not the right to over- 

 throw, that is very clear; but suppose they 

 actually have done it, have overthrown, then 

 the question I desire to put is whether it is 

 not the duty of this Government to restore it." 



Mr. Carlile: "How, though? By pursuing 

 the authority conferred upon the United States, 

 not by creating a new government, not by 

 restricting them in the exercise of any one 

 prerogative that belongs to them, not by sep- 

 arating one of their local limbs of sovereignty 

 that belonged to them and bringing them into 

 the Union amputated, with the badge of ine- 

 quality and degradation placed upon them, as 

 you placed upon the so-called State of "West 

 Virginia." 



Mr. Clark: "Then will the Senator allow 

 me to inquire, if it becomes necessary, in order 

 to restore that government, to set up within 

 that State a provisional government, is not the 

 power clearly given to Congress or the United 

 States Government to set it up ? Does he not 

 recognize the decision of the Supreme Court 

 that when a power is given all the reauisites 



to its exercise are given, if not absolutely pro- 

 hibited by the Constitution ? " 



Mr. Carlile: "It is not essential to this 

 argument for me to answer the Senator from 

 New Hampshire ; not that I am not disposed to 

 do it" 



Mr. Clark : " I do not desire an answer par- 

 ticularly." 



Mr. Carlile : " Or that I cannot dp so ; but 

 the Senator from New Hampshire will bear in 

 mind that what I called his attention to in the 

 opening of this argument, was the second sec- 

 tion of this bill which does propose a pro- 

 visional government as a war measure, and to 

 last only while the rebellion remains; but it 

 does not propose to exercise any governmental 

 power except what is exercised through its 

 appointee as governor, until after military re- 

 sistance shall have been suppressed." 



Mr. Clark : "I understand that entirely. I 

 understand that the people are to be held by 

 this provisional governor until the rebellion is 

 subdued, and this is to be the provisional means 

 of bringing back the old form of government." 



Mr. Carlile : " I should like to ask the Sen- 

 ator from New Hampshire to tell me how one 

 Federal appointee, called a governor, is to hold 

 a State which your armies have as yet been 

 unable to hold." 



Mr. Clark : "He is to hold it by means of 

 the army until the rebellion is entirely done, 

 the same as we have held Tennessee." 



Mr. Carlile : " You have no authority to 

 appoint a governor or any civil officer in that 

 State, unless you are compelled to resort to 

 military power to carry out your constitutional 

 obligations and to remove the obstacles which 

 are in the way of the exercise of civil authority 

 through the agents of the people themselves, 

 which they have established by virtue of their 

 existing government. No such power is given 

 under any provision of the Constitution ; none 

 could have been given without your entirely 

 changing the whole character of this Govern- 

 ment, which is based upon the fundamental 

 principle that the military power shall always 

 be subordinate to the civil. One of the bright- 

 est spots in the character of the Father of his 

 Country, is the fact, that during our revolu- 

 tionary struggle, he ever maintained the su- 

 premacy of the civil power ; and so highly was 

 that estimated by the Congress that received 

 from him his resignation as Commander-in- 

 Chief of the armies, that the President, Thomas 

 MiiBin, who was instructed to make the ad- 

 dress, alluded to it in the most 'flattering and 

 complimentary terms : 



Called upon by your country to defend its invaded 

 rights, you accepted the sacred charge before it had 

 formed alliances, and while it was without funds or 

 a Government to support you. You have conducted 

 the great military contest with wisdom and fortitude, 

 invariably regarding the rights of the civil power 

 through all disasters and changes. 



" I regret, sir, that truth compels me to say 

 that such a speech could not be made now to 



