318 



CONGRESS, IT. b. 



mies ; but is it just, is it fair and honest to the 

 whole people, that the loyal, the true, the pa- 

 triotic, the Union-loving shall be called again 

 and again to volunteer and to shed their blood 

 in defence of the flag, and to find martyrs' 

 graves upon the battle-field, while the disloyal, 

 the traitorous, and the sympathizers with trea- 

 son refuse to go into the army, and remain at 

 home to denounce every measure of the Ad- 

 ministration calculated to suppress the rebel- 

 lion?" 



Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, followed, saying : 

 " The Senator from Maine has announced a 

 principle here which I welcome with my whole 

 heart, as it is about the first distinct enunciation 

 of it I have heard in the Senate of the United 

 States since I have had the honor of a seat 

 here. I was particularly gratified with it. It 

 was this, that every citizen of this Republic 

 owes to its Government the utmost of his abil- 

 ity for the maintenance of the Government 

 during this war, whether of money or of per- 

 sonal service. It is not a matter of choice, but 

 it is a matter of duty. It is a debt due, and it 

 ought to be paid, and the Government, as the 

 agent of the whole people, ought to insist on 

 the payment of it. I am glad to hear that doc- 

 trine. It is a very late day to proclaim it. 



" But now, sir, if this is a correct principle 

 and I do not think it will be controverted here 

 when it is once stated as clearly and as forcibly 

 as it has been by the Senator from Maine this 

 follows, that whether you want an army of five 

 hundred thousand or five million of men, it is 

 the duty of every man to contribute to the 

 composition of that army equally in proportion 

 to his ability. How shall that be done ? The 

 Senator from Indiana has argued that the most 

 popular if not the most equitable (I think he 

 said the most equitable) way of doing it was 

 to leave it to the choice of every man whether 

 he would become a soldier in that army or not. 

 Now, I must differ from that proposition. I 

 do not think it is the most equitable, and I do 

 not think it is the most popular method of rais- 

 ing an army. "We have seen both methods 

 tried, and that has proved the most successful, 

 I am very willing to admit, so far ; but it has 

 had the most thorough trial ; the latter method 

 has not had a thorough trial by any means, not 

 even a fair one." 



Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, expressed his 

 views as follows : " Mr. President, it is not to 

 be disguised that the burdens in this war upon 

 the people of this country consist in two things : 

 one is in rendering personal service, and the 

 other is in paying money. Now it is at- 

 tempted to separate these things altogether. 

 The men who are of that age and ability to be 

 subject to the performance of military duty 

 and capable of it, owe their services to the 

 Government ; and as many of them as the Gov- 

 ernment needs should be called out, and they 

 should render the service. All that is very 

 well; I find no fault with it; but let us see 

 how it works. 



" Here you repeal all essential bounties ; yon 

 say to the men between twenty and forty-five 

 years of age, ' You owe duties to this Govern 

 ment by the way of service, and you shall ren 

 der them ; ' and another thing you say, too, 

 ' You shall render them without the rest of us 

 who should pay money, paying much of any 

 thing to you.' It will not do, say gentlemen, 

 to go on giving bounties; it will be so expen- 

 sive that we cannot do it. What is it, then ? 

 Essentially that we will put the whole duties 

 upon the men between twenty and forty-five 

 the duties of rendering service without any 

 compensation, without our contributing any 

 thing. I do not like that. I prefer to bear 

 my part of what shall be an honorable and fair 

 bounty to these men. Almost any of them can 

 earn infinitely more at home than we pay them. 

 Can you expect that people are so patriotic that 

 they are more willing to be shot at for twenty 

 dollars a month than to stay at home and re- 

 ceive fifty dollars for common labor ? Is it a 

 reasonable request ? Not at all. Now, I say 

 that in the form of bounties, or in the form of 

 pay (and it is not very material to me which, 

 though I believe bounties will quickest fill the 

 army), we should take measures to fill up the 

 ranks. I am willing that the Government 

 should fill the army by offering these bounties. 

 I do not like the idea of saying, in this bill, 

 ' You may continue the bounties to enable you 

 to fill up your quota, but you shall not do it 

 after the 5th of January.' What if the Exec- 

 utive finds that the army is being filled up rap- 

 idly, and will, under these laws, fill up rapidly, 

 and he chooses to extend the time for the 

 draft? Should he not have that privilege? 

 Should not the influence of such a law be upon 

 the people to enable them to fill up their quota ? 

 I think so." 



The amendment of Mr. Grimes failed. Va- 

 rious other amendments to the bill were con- 

 sidered. Meantime a deficiency bill, appro- 

 priating $20,000,000 for bounties already due, 

 was passed in the House and sent to the Senate, 

 where it was passed at once. While under 

 consideration Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, 

 said : " I tell you, sir, our conscription act has 

 done more to raise and elevate the sentiment 

 of this nation than any other act we have 

 passed. When that act was passed, you had a 

 wild, unreasoning prejudice against using a 

 black man to fight the battles of our country. 

 But when people who were filled with these 

 prejudices saw that they must go themselves, 

 and bare their bosoms to the shot and shell of 

 the enemy, they learned that the black man's 

 blood was no more sacred than their own, and 

 that they would as soon have a black man stand 

 up and fight the battles of the country as to do 

 it themselves. The most popular thing to-day 

 is to crowd black men into our armies. Sir, 

 there would be a shout of joy throughout the 

 nation in which our whole people would partici- 

 pate, if the intelligence should go out to them 

 that we had a quarter of a nuJlUon black men 



