CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



175 



when a Covi-rnincnt wages war as against its 

 own citi/ens, in) matter what may In- tin; form 

 , ernm.-nt, 1-e it monarchical, bo it im- 

 j'cria', IK- it deiiiorratir. the result is the same. 

 If it carr'u -; on war airainst its own citizens it 

 may, it' tin- war is earned on to n successful 

 termination, punish the men who have been 

 .1 in it; but the country remains; no 

 to tho country is obtained by conquest 

 "Whatever right it hnsJn such a contingency is 

 the ri-rlit with which it started. That original 

 right was suspended by force of arms; tho 

 arms subdued, the suspension ceases, and the 

 Government stands as it stood when the war 

 originated, having but the one country under 

 tho one Government; and whatever may be 

 the form of government, if it carries on the war 

 to a successful result, all that it has a right to 

 do is to punish the individual parties who have 

 been concerned in tho opposition to its author- 

 ity. 



" Now, I suppose, and my friend from Maine 

 supposes, and we all, perhaps, suppose that tho 

 rebellion had no just foundation ; but a great 

 many people in the United States, even in the 

 loyal States, thought that it had. There was 

 no injustice, in my opinion, perpetrated by the 

 North upon the South that could not have been 

 corrected, if it was unjust, by tho fair adminis- 

 tration of the Constitution of the United States; 

 but a great many thought that the time had 

 come when safety to themselves demanded a 

 separation. They have paid the penalty of tho 

 error, and now they are before us asking us, 

 through the proper constituted authority of the 

 country, to pardon the error ; they are before 

 us now pledged, if we can take the testimony 

 of their leading men holding high official sta- 

 tion, to abide by the result of the trial to which 

 their doctrine of secession and of slavery has 

 been submitted. They stand before you now 

 admitting that their hopes are centred in the 

 Union, that their safety is there to be found, 

 and there only, and they ardently implore you 

 to suffer them to come again into your midst, 

 share your duties, participate in your trials, join 

 their counsels to your own for the purpose of 

 making tho country even greater than it was 

 in any time of the past. 



" Now, what do you say by this resolution ? 

 ' You must be kept out until Congress shall by 

 law declare that you ought to bo admitted.' 

 When is that to be? I am no prophet; but if 

 the signs of the times are to be relied upon, 

 that is to bo just when Congress shall think 

 proper; and when they will think proper, and 

 why they will think proper, and what condi- 

 tions they will annex, is all now in tho womb of 

 time. Are they to be kept out until that mat- 

 ter is settled by Congress? They will be if 

 you pass this resolution and it is observed. Is 

 it right ? I heard it on this floor when I had 

 formerly tho honor of a seat in this body, and 

 I heard it in conversation from time to time, 

 sometimes angrily, sometimes socially, 'The 

 Southern men cannot bo driven to separation,' 



and I heard it from others that the Northern 

 men could not be driven into hostility as against 

 them. Tho error of both has been '. 

 AVI i at sort of rebellion have wo had ''. 

 greater than tho world has ever be-fore wit- 

 nessed. You have cru.-hod it. Now, what do 

 you propose to do? Vattel tells you, treat 

 t IK in kindly and then you will have peace; 

 treat them unkindly, deal with them as unequal, 

 treat them oppressively, and the time for a re- 

 newed struggle depends only upon their be- 

 coming convinced that they have a reasonable 

 chance to make a renewed struggle successful ; 

 and if what you propose to do shall lead to de- 

 lay, which I suppose may bo the consequence 

 of it, you will find that the people in the loyal 

 States will be divided. They are now asking 

 why is it, when not an arm is raised against 

 the authority of tho Government, that we have 

 not peace ? Why is it that on the contrary we 

 have every day increased agitation ? They see, 

 a great many of them, that one means of hav- 

 ing peace and quiet is to take the States back, 

 to give them all the rights which the Constitu- 

 tion secures to them, to set the citizens of the 

 States at work. Do this, let them be satisfied 

 that they have tho protection of the Govern- 

 ment of the Union, as well as the protection of 

 their own States, and tho South soon will again 

 blossom like the rose ; her wealth in the past, 

 great as it has been, will prove to be as nothing 

 compared with what it will be in the future ; 

 and my life for it I think I am warranted in 

 so saying from my knowledge of the character 

 of the men my life for it, let them participate 

 in all the rights which the Government was 

 intended to secure to all, and so far from the 

 country being imperilled, its increased strength, 

 its enhanced power, will date from that happy 

 day." 



Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, said: "Two pur- 

 poses, it seems to me, are intended by this .reso- 

 lution ; or at least two results are likely to be 

 secured by its adoption in its present shape. 

 The first is to have a congressional declaration 

 tlxat the States themselves, as States, have been 

 in rebellion. The second is to make the im- 

 pression upon the country that these States are 

 only to be brought back into the Union again 

 by an act of Congress. I do not believe in 

 either of these propositions. The States have 

 not been regarded as in rebellion. That has 

 not been the language of the Executive procla- 

 mations ; it has not been tho language of Con- 

 gress in it? legislation in regard to the insurrec- 

 tion. The phraseology has heretofore been, 

 ' States, the inhabitants of which have been de- 

 clared to bo in rebellion.' Certainly, the State 

 of Virginia was one of the most prominent 

 States in this rebellion. The weight that she 

 brought to the cause when she seceded, and the 

 power which she brought to the army during 

 the war, made her a very conspicuous member 

 of the Southern Confederacy that was attempted 

 to be established. Yet all of Virginia was not 

 regarded as in rebellion. Some of tho counties 



