CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



m 



the c. immunity, iiml that tho others conn tod for 



nothing. I do nt >ay that 1 holij this doctrine, 



imr Urn- m\-clf an extreme man; but it was 



hrld l.v u'ciitleinen all around me, and it was 



heM l.\ ih' l.iU 1 President of tho United States. 



:HI\V the doctrine seems to be, that tho 



is composed of disloyal men and traitors. 



<ioro wholly tho loyal element in all tho 



1 we are hurrying to introduce these 



disloyal men among US. 



Mr. Speaker, why is it that we are so anx- 

 ious to proclaim universal amnesty? Is there 

 duller that somebody will be punished? Is 

 any fear that this nation will wake from 

 its lethargy, and insist upon punishing, by fine, 

 by imprisonment, by confiscation, and possibly 

 by personal punishment, some of those who 

 have murdered our brothers, our fathers, and 

 our children ? Is there any danger that such a 

 spirit will bo raised in this nation, a spirit which 

 sleeps only hero, and which no other nation ever 

 before allowed to slumber? If there is such 

 danger, if some punishment is dreaded by these 

 men, does not this proposition protect them? 

 The President has already, as far as he is able, 

 pardoned these rebels, and restored to them 

 their property which we confiscated by tho act 

 of 1862, and he has done it in defiance of law. 



" Last Saturday, a gentleman came to me 

 from Alexandria, with one of the judges there, 

 and told me that a gentleman had obtained 

 some $17,000 worth of property under a sale 

 by the United States of rebel property, but the 

 rebel owner had come with the pardon of the 

 President, and the order for the restoration of 

 the property in his hand ; an ejectment suit 

 had been brought, and beyond all question a 

 recovery would be had. Sir, as far as I can 

 ascertain, more than $2,000,000,000 of prop- 

 erty belonging to the United States, confiscated 

 not as rebel but as enemy's property, has been 

 given back to enrich traitors. Our friends 

 whose houses have been laid in ashes, whose 

 farms have been robbed, whose cattle have 

 been taken from them, are to suffer poverty 

 and persecution, while Wade Hampton and his 

 black-horse cavalry are to revel in their wealth, 

 and traitors along the Mississippi valley are to 

 enjoy their manors. Sir, God helping me and 

 I live, there shall be a question propounded to 

 this House and to this nation, whether a por- 

 tion of the debt shall not be paid by tho con- 

 fiscated property of the rebels. But, sir, this 

 prevents it all. This is helping the President 

 to take from the people that which belongs to 

 them, and giving it to confederate traitors. 



" Now, sir, I have only a word or two more 

 to say. If there is an order of a committee of 

 conference, in two hours a bill can be framed 

 and reported to this House free from all these 

 difficulties, free from all this extraneous mat- 

 ter, which shall protect every loyal man in the 

 Southern States and do no injustice to those 

 who are disloyal. But, sir, pass this bill and 

 you open tho flood-gates of misery yon dis- 

 grace in my judgment the Congress of the Uni- 



ted States. I do hope some effort will to mad* 



to protect without cmlaii 



Mr. IJlaiiic, of Maine, Hail : 1 shall direct 

 if to calling the attention of the House to 

 the precise purport, object, and H 

 fifth section of the proposed substitute of tho 

 Senate, and to ascertain whether it i- << 

 tho objection which the gentleman from I'i-un- 

 >\ hania (Mr. Stevens) and the gentleman from 

 Massachusetts (Mr. Boutwell) have alleged 

 against it. 



"In the first place, it demands of the people 

 of the rebel States that they shall form a con- 

 stitution of State government conforming in 

 all respects to tho Constitution of the United 

 States. Next, that after that constitution is 

 formed it shall bo submitted for ratification to 

 all the male citizens of the State, without any 

 regard to race, color, or previous condition of 

 servitude ; no one is to be excluded from voting 

 unless the convention which frames the consti- 

 tution shall do as Tennessee did, disfranchise 

 some of the citizens for treason and rebellion. 

 Just the same authority, and just the same 

 mode of exercising that authority, is conferred 

 upon these ten States that Tennessee possessed 

 and exercised. And I reply to the gentleman 

 from Tennessee (Mr. Stokes) by saying that Con- 

 gress no more guarantees nnder this bill the 

 right of any rebel in any State to vote than did 

 Congress guarantee to the rebels in Tennessee 

 the right to vote. 



" Then, after the State constitution shall have 

 been framed by the convention, submitted to 

 the people, and adopted by the votes of all the 

 male citizens, except such as may be disfran- 

 chised by reason of participation in rebellion, 

 it must be submitted to Congress for examina- 

 tion and approval. And being brought here 

 for examination and approval, I submit that 

 what the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 

 Stevens) and the gentleman from Massachu- 

 setts (Mr. Boutwell) have said is mere bugaboo 

 and scarecrow, because th inquest is left in 

 our hands, plenary and absolute. And that in- 

 quest goes to every fact and every circumstance 

 connected with the formation of the new con- 

 stitution. If in the judgment of Congress any 

 State constitution presented to it for examina- 

 tion and approval shall enfranchise rebels and 

 endanger the stability of the State government 

 by permitting it to fall into the hands of rebels, 

 Congress I assume with all confidence will not 

 approve it. But that question is one for tho 

 Fortieth Congress or some other to determine; 

 and, as a member of the Fortieth Congress, 

 speaking for myself alone, I am not afraid to 

 trust the subject to their decision. 



" After the constitution shall have been ap- 

 proved by Congress, what then? I wish to call 

 the attention of the House to the fact that the 

 constitutions of these States are to be examined 

 separately and not all together. And if tho new 

 constitution of the State of Arkansas, for in- 

 stance, shall be approved by Congress, then 

 her people are to elect a Legislature under that 



