CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



159 



are or are not in such a situation that they may 

 come hero and govern (because when 

 they como hero they come as rulers), but if 

 somebody else is to settle that question for us, 

 all that Congress has to do is this : when a 

 chooses to go out of the Union and make 

 war upon it, it is to provide the means to legis- 

 late ; when the State has been conquered and 

 ia ready to come back again, it is to inquire of 

 somebody else whether the State is in a condi- 

 tion to como back, and is to take the men who 

 are sent here, and who may como hero with 

 credentials from a military governor appointed 

 by the President, without a word except to in- 

 quire as to their qualifications. I supposed that 

 jSenators were somewhat in the nature of rep- 

 resentatives of the people, although selected by 

 the Legislatures of the States; that Senators, 

 like Representatives, were sent here for the 

 purpose of guarding the interests of the people, 

 and although other officers were chosen for 

 specific terms and exercised for the time greater 

 power, that after all the protection of this Gov- 

 ernment must be found in its Congress ; that 

 public opinion was represented here, the public 

 wishes were represented here, the rights of the 

 whole people were guarded here, the money 

 of the people was taken care of here I mean 

 in Congress, taking both Houses together and 

 that, in fact, all the essential powers of the 

 Government, all that was to be done lies at the 

 very foundation, every thing that was necessary 

 in order to protect our form of government re- 

 publican, and to save the liberties of the coun- 

 try, rested in the faithfulness of the Senators 

 and Representatives of the United States, and 

 in their power to judge of what was necessary 

 in order to constitute and regulate their own 

 bodies. But, sir, if this is not so, if they are 

 confined simply to a mere question of papers, 

 to a mere question of credentials, to simply 

 taking the opinions of others as to who are en- 

 titled to seats in this body, so far as States hav- 

 ing the right to send them here are concerned, 

 then I consider that we are reduced to be mere 

 creatures of circumstance, nothings, nobodies ; 

 at any time we maybe overwhelmed; at any 

 time we may lose our power ; at any time we 

 may cease to bo that check, which the Consti- 

 tution intends wo should be, upon the Execu- 

 tive of the United States, and upon the other 

 branches of the Government ; at any time wo 

 may lose all of which we have been so justly 

 proud with reference to our own condition as 

 assigned us by the Constitution of the United 

 States. Senators will pardon me, I hope, for 

 speaking at such length upon that subject. 



"I believe that the President is a friend of 

 his country. I believe that he is a patriotic, 

 devoted citizen ; that he would do nothing to 

 injure any of its institution;/ under any circum- 

 stances if he was aware, while doing it, of what 

 he was doing. I believe, however, in reference 

 to this matter that he has spoken unguardedly. 

 His feelings in relation to the admission of Ten- 

 nessee particularly, and these other States, have 



liirn beyond what I believe in calmer 

 moments and on duo consideration he would 

 bo willing to go ; far beyond what he himself 

 on a calm review would find it in hit* power to 

 stand by. This part of his message in not well 

 considered. 



"Mr. 1'n-i-lent, I think it will not be dis- 

 puted by anybody, not even by the Senator 

 from Maryland and I call his attention to it 

 that this country has been in a state of war, 

 decidedly in a state of war, war according to 

 the books, war in its worst acceptation, war in 

 the very strongest meaning of the term, with- 

 out any limitation or qualification. If we have 

 been in a state of war, the question arises and 

 it is a very simple one, and I think this whole 

 thing lies in a narrow compass is there any 

 dispute as to what are the consequences of war? 

 What are the consequences of successful war ? 

 Where one nation conquers another, overcomes 

 it without qualifications, without terms, without 

 limits, and after a bitter contest succeeds in 

 crushing its enemy, occupying its enemy's ter- 

 ritory, destroying its posts, what are the con- 

 sequences? The Senator is perfectly fatnilar 

 with the writers on international law. Let 

 him rend the chapter in the book under my 

 hand upon 'Acquisitions by War.' Is there 

 any thing more certain than that the conqueror 

 has a right, if he chooses, to change the form 

 of government, that he has a right to punish, 

 that he has a right to take entire control of the 

 nation and the people, that he has a right to 

 exact security for the future, and such security 

 for his own safety as he may demand ; that all 

 these rights arc his, with only the limitation 

 that he shall not abuse them and conduct them 

 in a manner contrary to humanity, in the ordi- 

 nary acceptation of the term ? " 



Mr. Johnson : " What is the book? " 



Mr. Fcssenden : " Vattel. The principle, 

 then, is settled. Those are the consequences 

 of successful war. We are told that we did not 

 wage a war of conquest. Certainly we did not. 

 Congress said precisely what it meant at the 

 time it stated that this war was not waged 

 for any purpose of subjugation. It was not 

 commenced with any such idea, but if it follows 

 that subjugation must como in order to accom- 

 plish what we .desire to accomplish and what 

 we must accomplish, it is not our fault. If 

 subjugation becomes necessary, although that 

 was not the idea with which the war was com- 

 menced, who can complain? 



" Now, is there any more dispute as to the 

 next proposition, that the consequences of civil 

 w:ir are precisely the same? Is there any 

 writer who does not lay it down distinctly that 

 where a civil war, in the proper sense of the 

 term, has existed, the consequences of that civil 

 war, so far as the rights of the parties are con- 

 cerned, are precisely the same that they are in 

 other cases ? If compelled to carry on the con- 

 test upon the same principles as we are by 

 the law of nations and to treat it in all re- 

 spects as a war between two independent na- 



