CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



177 



for the fact that I hnvo been assailed by forger- 

 ies and ful>< -hoods hciv without the least foun- 

 dation in the world. When I see things run- 

 ning us calmly, as glibly, and as triumphantly 

 as the principles I advocate do now, I am con- 

 tent t<> MI >till nnd see the hand of the Lord. 

 I am not compelled to labor now. Formerly 

 AVO had a little something to do, but now 

 \ve ma\ sit still, in perfect calmness, and see 

 how right and justice will work themselves 



out. 



" I say to you, Mr. President, that it will not 

 be one month from to-day before any man who 

 claims that ho is not a radical here will wish 

 to God ho had been. I understand very well 

 that, from the President of the United States to 

 the copperhead and the sympathizer, the radi- 

 cals are sought to be put down, but you ought 

 to have found out that it requires hard wrest- 

 ling to put them down. You have not the 

 force you used to have to contend with them ; 

 and, as I said before, you do not seem to be 

 capable of learning any thing. 



"I tell you we are triumphant. The people 

 are impatient ; the people are ahead of any of 

 us, but I do not intend that they shall be of me 

 if I can help it. On the great principles of jus- 

 tice and right for which I have always con- 

 tended in this body, I have always intended to 

 be ahead of the great mass of the people, but 

 they have overtaken me, and are now threaten- 

 ing to go ahead of me. If I could take another 

 advance I would do it ; but having grounded 

 myself on the granite of eternal truth, as I said 

 before, I do not see that I can get any further ; 

 that is my foundation, and I defy all opposition 

 to it. I do not care whether I am assailed by 

 Presidents and called a traitor, or by somebody 

 else ; I do not care who it is that assails me or 

 from whom the assault comes ; it does not shake 

 my nerves at all. I have seen tunes when a 

 man wanted more faith to believe in the trium- 

 phant justice of God than now. His course 

 with this nation has been so manifest for years 

 past that no man but an utter heathen can 

 doubt that the Almighty arm is bared in de- 

 fence of the principles we advocate. If now, 

 backed by the impatience of the people, who 

 are ready and eager for the contest on the issue 

 that is sought to be joined with us, we should 

 be backward, we should be the greatest cowards 

 on God's earth. But we are not ; and I say if 

 Presidents or kings seek to make opposition to 

 us, stand firm, my friends, and you that waver 

 had better go back a little." 



Mr. Dixon : " Waver in what? " 



Mr. Wade: "Waver in the determination to 

 :lo right and justice by all men. If you waver 

 upon that, and think by expediency you can 

 triumph, you are mistaken. You cannot do it ; 

 nobody can do it." 



Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, said: "I now 

 come to the resolution of the committee which 

 proposes to stop agitation and quiet the country 

 by declaring that eleven States shall not have 

 representation in Congress, or either branch of 

 VOL. vi. 12 A 



the same, until Congress shall have declared 

 such State entitled to such representation. 



*' Now, let us for one instant contemplate this 

 moat extraordinary proposition. la it not a 

 virtual setting aside or suspension of the Con- 

 stitution itself until Congress shall be moved to 

 declare it restored ? 



' That instrument declares that 



Representatives * * * shall 

 be apportioned among the several States which may 

 be included within this Union according to their 

 respective numbers, &c. 



" And by an act of Congress, of March 4, 18G2, 

 a certain number of Representatives, fifty-six, 

 were apportioned to the eleven States in ques- 

 tion, fixing by law their constitutional right in 

 this behalf. 



"The resolution before us sets all that at 

 naught, and declares that these States shall 

 have no representation at all till Congress shall 

 so decide. The Constitution further declares 

 that 



The Senate of the United States shall be composed 

 of two Senators from each State. 



"And this resolution declares that eleven 

 States shall have uo Senators at all till Congress 

 shall so decide. 



" Now, it is well to know whether Congress 

 or the Constitution is supreme in this respect. 

 We have been in the habit of thinking Con- 

 gress was but the creature of the Constitution ; 

 that its title to rule and legislate for the people 

 was under and by virtue of that instrument. 

 How, then, does it assume to disregard it ? Has 

 the Sabbath become greater than the Lord of 

 the Sabbath ? Has the stream risen above the 

 fountain, and the servant above his master? 



" But it is said these States have been in re- 

 bellion. Well, suppose they have ? Rebellion 

 is treason ; treason is a crime, and ought to be 

 punished. But can Congress inflict that punish- 

 ment? The Constitution says emphatically: 



No bill of attainder or ex, post facto law shall be 

 passed. 



" Now, if Congress were to pass this resolu- 

 tion, it would be both ; because it is a bill which 

 of itself inflicts this deprivation of right upon 

 the people of eleven States as a punishment 

 for their alleged treason, which is a species of 

 attainder known as a 'bill of pains and pen- 

 alties,' and which has been held to be included 

 in the prohibition of ' bills of attainder.' 

 Again, even if that barrier was not in the way, 

 there is another, equally impassable, lying in 

 this. Up until this time it has never been the 

 law of the United States that a community could 

 be punished at all en masse, either for treason or 

 any thing else, and if Congress were to attempt 

 it now as a punishment for crimes already com- 

 mitted, it would be null and void ; it would be 

 an ' ex post facto law,' and one expressly for- 

 bidden. 



4i The whole is monstrous, no matter in what 

 light it may be viewed. We have seen how 

 small a number of traitors there were even in 

 the worst parts of the South, and that after the 



