CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



to afford protection to loyal people there, black 

 Lite; l-iit I am not. willing to force any 



such liill upon tin- people of tin- Southern 



. . hold out to them a prospect 



of an immediate plan for the restoration of civil 



governmeni 



" If you will analyze the votes on this ques- 

 tion in tlic House, if I may be permitted to re- 

 . that subject, you will find there is no 

 hope of any compromise, in a committee of con- 

 ference. We :iro told that the extreme radicals 

 of the House opposed the amendment, because 

 it. do,-s not -TO far enough. Every single Demo- 

 crat in tlio J louse, amounting to forty-two, 

 voted against it, because it goes too far. Gen- 

 tlemen speak of the prevailing public sentiment 

 in the House against the Blaine amendment. 

 How is that public, sentiment brought about, 

 and \vho entertains it? A vast majority of the 

 Radical Republican Union party favor the 

 amendment ; but by the union of a few extreme 

 radicals with the whole Democratic party en 

 masse, it is voted down. 



"Now, do you hope for any compromise? 

 The House stands simply upon a military bill. 

 The Semite, by an unprecedented majority, pro- 

 poses some plan and some time when civil gov- 

 ernment can bo restored. Now, sir, how are 

 you to compromise ? " 



Mr. Wade, of Ohio, said: "Mr. President, I 

 believe, with the Senator from California, who 

 spoke a while ago, that this is altogether too 

 grave a matter to be left at this stage of the 

 a to a committee of conference, a com- 

 mittee whose doings we are all of us unaware 

 of. What it may do, or forbear to do, is hardly 

 ever very well known to the Senate." 



Mr. Williams, of Oregon, said: "When I 

 prepared this bill it was my opinion that the 

 true policy on the part of Congress was to estab- 

 lish a military power in the South adequate to 

 the protection of loyal men, and when that 

 power was there made efficient, then to pro- 

 ceed with the business of reconstruction by the 

 necessary legislation; and I undertake to say 

 ihat you may pass as many laws as you please, 

 you may enact as many enabling acts as you 

 please, but they will be a dead letter upon the 

 statute-book unless military power is put in the 

 South to protect the loyal men in the exercise 

 of their rights under that legislation." 



Mr. Oonness : " All agree upon that propo- 

 sition." 



Mr. Williams : " I do not know whether all 

 agree upon it or not ; but these are my views, 

 and it was with that view that this bill was 

 prepared. 11 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, said : " I shall vote 

 to adhere to the amendment which the Senate 

 lias made. I consider that there is no sort of 

 importance in the original bill, and for that rea- 

 son I called the attention of the Senate to the 

 fourteenth section of the Act passed over the 

 "f the President on the 16th of July, 1866, 

 which provides for this military protection. If 

 the President docs not execute that law, what 



assurance have yon that he will execute a new 

 law any better ? " 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, said : " Mr. 

 President, in what the .Senator from Illinois 

 (Mr. Trumbull) has said with regard to tho 

 failure of tho President to discharge his duties 

 under existing laws, I entirely agree. He has 

 touched the case to the quick. It is impossible 

 not to see that the great difficulty of the pres- 

 ent moment springs from tho bad man who 

 sits in the executive chair. He is the centre of 

 our woes. More than once before I have re- 

 minded you of that saying of Catholic Europe, 

 that 'All roads lead to Rome.' So now do all roads 

 among us lead to the President. You can attempt 

 nothing which does not bring you face to face 

 with him, precisely as during the rebellion you 

 could attempt nothing which did not bring you 

 face to face with Jefferson Davis. I mention 

 this now, not to deter you, but for encourage- 

 ment. You have already conquered the chief 

 of the rebellion. I doubt not that you will con- 

 quer his successor also. But this can be done 

 only by strenuous exertion. It is no argument 

 against legislation that the President will not 

 execute it. Let us do our duty, and insist 

 always that he shall do his. 



" The Senator from Ohio (Mr. Sherman), co- 

 operating with the Senator from Illinois, 

 moves directly that the Senate insist upon its 

 amendment and refuse the conference com- 

 mittee asked by the House. I regret this mo- 

 tion simply because it seems calculated to en- 

 danger the bill, while it cuts off all reasonable 

 chance of further amendment. Do not forget 

 that, in order to act independently of the Presi- 

 dent, so as to avoid a ' a pocket veto,' you 

 must complete your work before midnight.". 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said : " With the con- 

 sent of my friend, I will state that I have no 

 doubt that, with moderation on the part of 

 both Houses, this measure can be passed with 

 the assent of both Houses, without any material 

 change, before ten o'clock to-night. There are 

 members of the House of Representatives who 

 desire one or two modifications, so slight that, 

 if the bill be now sent back to them on my mo- 

 tion, so that they can propose amendments to 

 our amendment, they can soon put our amend- 

 ment in a shape perfectly satisfactory to the 

 majority of the House, and thus the subject- 

 matter can be disposed of to-day. 



u I will further state, in explanation of the 

 remark I made a while ago, that I make my 

 motion not to throw this bill back to the House 

 in an offensive sense; that is not the way to 

 1 oblate ; because it is very easy to excite a 

 feeling of pride, of esprit de torps, between the 

 respective Houses ; but it is to send this amend- 

 ment back with our deliberate judgment that 

 it ought to prevail, and then let them propose 

 such modifications as are necessary to secure 

 the assent of the House to it. My impression is, 

 that, if it be sent back thus, it will be passed by 

 both Houses before ten o'clock to-nitrlit. 1 ' 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, further said: 



