CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



127 



Mr. Brooks fnrthor said : " But they voted for 

 Speaker of the House, and were permitted hero, 

 as the record *lu>\vs, to vote for Speaker, though 

 the point was first made by the gentleman from 

 lYniisvlvania (Mr. Stevens), and then with- 

 drawn. 



" J do not choose longer to occupy the atten- 

 tion of the House, but before I sit down I pro- 

 pose to move, as an amendment, that the hon- 

 orable gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. May- 

 nard) be allowed to present the credentials of 

 the members from Tennessee, and that their 

 names bo put upon the roll." 



Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said : " I make 

 the point of order that that amendment is not 

 in order, not being germane to the original 

 motion." 



The Clerk: "The Clerk considers that a 

 good point of order, and rules out the amend- 

 ment." 



Mr. Stevens : " I now call the previous ques- 

 tion." 



The demand for the previous question was 

 then seconded, and the main question ordered 

 and agreed to. 



The House then proceeded to vote viva wee 

 for Speaker, with the following result : Whole 

 number of votes cast, 175; necessary to a 

 choice, 88 ; of which Mr. Colfax received 139 ; 

 Mr. Brooks, 3G. 



The Clerk announced that Schuyler Colfax, 

 one of the Representatives from the State of 

 Indiana, having received a majority of all the 

 votes given, was duly elected Speaker; where- 

 upon Mr. Morrill and Mr. Brooks conducted 

 Mr. Colfax to the chair, when he addressed the 

 House as follows : 



" Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: 

 The reassembling of Congress, marking, as it 

 does, the procession of our national history, is 

 always regarded with interest by the people for 

 whom it is to legislate. But it is not unsafe to 

 say that millions more than ever before, North, 

 South, East, and West, are looking to the Con- 

 gress which opens its session to-day, with an 

 earnestness and solicitude unequalled on similar 

 occasions in the past. The Thirty-eighth Con- 

 gress closed its constitutional existence with 

 the storm-cloud of war still lowering over us ; 

 and, after a nine months' absence, Congress re- 

 sumes its legislative authority in these council 

 halls, rejoicing that from shore to shore in our 

 land there is peace. 



" Its duties are as obvious as the sun's path- 

 way in the heavens. Representing, in its two 

 branches, the States and the people, its first 

 and highest obligation is to guarantee to every 

 State a republican form of government. The re- 

 bellion having overthrown constitutional State 

 governments in many States, it is yours to ma- 

 ture and enact legislation which, with the con- 

 currence of the Executive, shall establish them 

 anew on such a basis of enduring justice as will 

 guarantee ah 1 necessary safeguards to the people, 

 and afford, what our Magua Charta, the Decla- 

 ration of Independence, proclaims is the chief 



' of government protection to all men In 

 their inalienable rights. The world should 

 witness, in this great work, the most inflexible 

 fidelity, the most earnest devotion to the prin- 

 ciples of liberty and humanity, the true- 

 triotism, and the wisest statesmanship. 



"Heroic men, by hundreds of thousands, 

 have died that the Republic might live. 'Ihc 

 emblems of mourning have darkened White. 

 House and cabin alike. But the fires of civil 

 war have melted every fetter in the land, and 

 proved the funeral-pyre of slavery. It is for 

 you, Representatives, to do your work as faith- 

 fully and as well as did the fearless saviors of 

 the Union on their more dangerous arena of 

 duty. Then we may hope to see the vacant 

 and once abandoned seats around us gradually 

 filling up, until this hall shall contain Repre- 

 sentatives from every State and district ; their 

 hearts devoted to the Union for which they are 

 to legislate, jealous of its honor, proud of its 

 glory, watchful of its rights, and hostile to its 

 enemies. And the stars on our banner, that 

 paled when the States they represented arrayed 

 themselves in arms against the nation, will 

 shine with a more brilliant light of loyalty than 

 ever before. 



" Invoking the guidance of Him who holds 

 the destiny of nations in the hollow of His 

 hand, I enter again upon the duties of this try- 

 ing position, with a heart filled with gratitude 

 to you for the unusually flattering manner in 

 which it has been bestowed, and cheered by 

 the hope that it betokens your cordial support 

 and assistance in all its grave responsibilities. 

 I a in now ready to take the oath of office pre- 

 scribed by law." 



Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, having served 

 longest as a member of the House, was desig- 

 nated by the Clerk to administer to the Speak- 

 er-elect the oath prescribed by law ; which 

 was done in the following form : 



I, Schuyler Colfax, do solemnly swear that I have 

 never voluntarily borne arms against the United 

 States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I 

 have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, 

 or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hos- 

 tility thereto ; that I have neither sought nor accept- 

 ed nor attempted to exercise the functions of any 

 office whatever, under any authority or pretended . 

 authority in hostility to the United States ; that I have 

 not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended 

 government, authority, power, or constitution within 

 the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And 

 I do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge 

 and ability, I will support and defend the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States against all enemies, foreign 

 and domestic ; that I will bear true faith and allegi- 

 ance to the same ; that I take this obligation freely, 

 without any mental reservation or purpose of eva- 

 sion: and that I will well and faithfully discharge 

 the duties of the office on which I ain about to enter. 

 So help me God. 



Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, offered the following 

 resolution : 



Beached, That the following-named persons are 

 hereby declared to be officers of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives for and during the Thirty-ninth Coffgress, 

 and until their successors are duly qualified: Ed- 



