PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



619 



.roe of pardons to persona who hod boon prominent 

 ion, ami (In- fi-cliui; of kindliness and con- 



. i'..u.i:.--.(, ,1 I \ the I 



:.-il through tin- Northern press, hud the 



effect t<> render whole coujinunitle* forgetful of the 

 !,,. had committed, defiant toward the I ' d- 



irnt. inn! regardless of their duties 

 Tin- conrihatorv measures of the Government 

 DO to have 'been met even hall' way. The 

 ud defiance exhibited toward the United 

 li circumstances, is without u par- 

 allel in tin- history of the world. In return for our 

 ve only an insulting denial of our 

 In return lor our kind desire for the re- 

 Miniptioh of fraternal relations we receive only an 

 i iis-uiuption of right and privileges long 

 forfeited. The crime we have punished is 

 paraded as a virtue, and the principles of rcpubli- 

 :icnt, whieli we have vindicated at so 

 a cost, are denounced as unjust and op- 



V I'. 



11 we add to this evidence the fact that, although 

 luis been declared by the President, he has not, 

 to this day, deemed it safe to restore the writ of 

 habeat corpvt, to relieve the insurrectionary States 

 of martial law, nor to withdraw the troops from 

 localities; and that the commanding general 

 an increase of the army indispensable to the 

 preservation of order and the protection of loyal and 

 well-disposed people in the South, the proof of a 

 condition of feeling hostile to the Union and danger- 

 ous t<i the Government throughout the insurree- 

 tionarv States wi.nld seem to be overwhelming. 



Witn such evidence before them, it is the opinion 

 of your committee 



I. That the States lately in rebellion were, at the 



i the war, disorganized communities, without 

 vetnincnt, and without constitutions or other 

 liy virtue of which political relations could 

 c.\ist between them and the Federal Govern- 

 ment. 



II. That Congress cannot be expected to recog- 

 nize as valid the election of men from disorgan- 

 ized communities, which, from the very nature of 

 the case, were unable to present their churn to repre- 

 sentation under those established and recognized 

 rules, the observance of which has been hitherto 



red. 



III. That Congress would not be justified in ad- 

 mitting such communities to a participation in the 

 government of the country without first providing 

 Mich constitutional or other guaranties as will tend 

 to secure the civil rights of all citizens of the Repub- 

 lic, a just equality of representation, protection 

 against claims founded in rebellion and crime, a tern- 



. exclusion from the right of suffrage of those 

 who nave actively participated in the effort to de- 

 stroy the Union, and the exclusion from positions of 

 public trust of at least a portion of those whose 

 i rimes have proved them enemies of the Union, and 

 unworthy of public confidence. 



Your committee will, perhaps, hardly be deemed 

 excusable for extending tnis report ftrrtnef, but inas- 

 much as immediate and unconditional representa- 

 tion of the States lately in rebellion is demanded as 

 matter of right, and delay and even hesitation is 

 denounced as grossly oppressive and unjust, as well 

 as unwise and impolitic, it may not be amiss again 

 to call attention to a few undisputed and notorious 

 facts, and the principles of public law applicable 

 thereto, in order that the propriety of that claim 

 may be fully considered and well understood. 



The State of Tennessee occupies a position dis- 

 tinct from all the other insurrectionary States, and 

 has been the subject of a separate report, which 

 your committee have not thought it expedient to 

 di.-turli. Whether Congress shall see lit to make 

 that State the subject of separate action or to include 

 t in the same category with all others, so far as 

 sonccrns the imposition of preliminary conditions, 



it is not within the province of this committee cither 

 to drterminc or advise. 



To a.-cei tain whether all the so-called Confederate 

 " are entitled to be represented in 

 f i oiigress," the essential inquiry is w 

 ili. 1 1- is in any one of them a constituency qualified 

 to bo n-|>n--. nt'-d in Congress. The question how 

 rsons claiming scuts in either House possess 

 the credentials necessary to enable them to rep- 

 : a duly qualified constituency is one for the 

 consideration of each House separately after the. 

 preliminary question shall have been finally deter- 

 mined. 



We now propose to rcstato, as briefly as possible, 

 the general facts and principles applicable to thu 

 States recently in rebellion. 



r'ii>t. The seats of the Senators and Representa- 

 tives from the so-called Confedt rate States became 

 vacant in the year 1861, during the second session of 

 of the Thirty-'sixth Congress, by the voluntary with- 

 drawal of their incumbents with the sanction and by 

 the direction of the Legislatures or conventions of 

 their respective States. This was done as a hoptile 

 act against the Constitution and Government of the 

 United States, with a declared intent to overthrow 

 the same by forming a Southern Confederation. 

 This act of declared hostility was speedily followed 

 by an organization of the same States into a con- 

 federacy which levied and waged war by sea and 

 land against the United States. This was continued 

 more than four years, within which time the rebel 

 armies besieged the national capital, invaded the 

 loyal States, burned their towns and cities, robbed 

 their citizens, destroyed more than 2;<0,GOO loyal 

 soldiers, and imposed an increased national burden 

 of not less than $3, 500, 000, 000, of which seven or 

 eight hundred millions have already been met and 

 paid. From the time that those confederated States 

 thus withdrew their representation in Congress and 

 levied war against the United States, the great mass 

 of their people became and were insurgents rebels 

 traitors ; and all of them occupied the political, 

 legal, and practical relation of enemies of the United 

 States. This position is established by acts of Con- 

 gress and judicial decisions, and' is recognized re- 

 peatedly by the President in public proclamations, 

 documents, and speeches. 



Second. The States thus confederated prosecuted 

 their war against the United States to final arbitra- 

 ment, and did not cease until all their armies were 

 captured, their military power destroyed, their civil 

 otlieers, State and Confederate, taken prisoners or 

 put to-flight, every vestige of State and Confederate 

 government obliterated, their territory overrun and 

 occupied by the Federal armies, and their people 

 reduced to the condition of enemies conquered in 

 war, entitled only by public law to such rights, priv- 

 ilege-, and conditions as mipht be vouchsafed by the 

 conqueror. This position is also established by 

 judicial decisions, and is recognized as sound by the 

 President in public proclamations, documents, and 

 speeches. 



Third. Having voluntarily deprived themselves of 

 representation in Congress, for the criminal purpose 

 of destroying tin Federal Union, and having reduced 

 them>elvcs by the act of levying war to the condition 

 of public enemies, they have no right to complain of 

 temporary exclusion from Congress, but, on the con- 

 trary, having voluntarily renounced the right of rep- 

 ;:tion and disqualified themselves by crime 

 from participating in the government, the burden 

 now rests upon them, upon claiming to be reinstated 

 in their former condition, to show that they are qual- 

 ified to resume Federal relations. In order to do 

 this, they mu>t prove that they have established, 

 with the consent of the people, republican turms of 

 government, in harmony with the Constitution and 

 laws of the United States, that all hostile purposes 

 have ceased, and should give adequate guaranties 

 against future treason and rebellion guarantie> 



