656 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



chises them by hundreds of thousands, and degrades 

 them all even those who are admitted to be guilt- 

 less from the rank of freemen to the condition of 

 slaves. 



The purpose and object of the bill, the general in- 

 tent which pervades it from beginning to end, is to 

 change the entire structure and character of the 

 State governments, and to compel them by force to 

 the adoption of organic laws and regulations which 

 they are unwilling to accept if left to themselves. 

 The negroes have not asked for the privilege of vot- 

 ing ; the vast majority of them have no idea what it 

 means. This bill not only thrusts it into their hands, 

 but compels them, as well as the whites, to use it in 

 a particular way. If they do not form a constitution 

 with prescribed articles in it, and afterward elect a 

 Legislature which will act upon certain measures in 

 a prescribed way, neither blacks nor whites can be 

 relieved from the slavery which the bill imposes 

 upon them. Without pausing here to consider 

 the policy or impolicy of Africanizing the southern 

 p_art of our territory, I would simply ask the atten- 

 tion of Congress to that manifest, well-known, and 

 universally acknowledged rule of constitutional law 

 which declares that the Federal Government has no 

 jurisdiction, authority, or power to regulate such sub- 

 jects for any State. To force the right of suf- 

 frage out of the hands of the white people and into 

 the hands of the negroes is an arbitrary violation of 

 this principle. 



The bill imposes martial law at once, and its 

 operations will begin so soon as the general and his 

 troops can be put in place. The dread alternative 

 between its harsh rule and compliance with the 

 terms of this measure is not suspended, nor are the 

 people afforded any time for free deliberation. The 

 bill says to them, take martial law first, then deliber- 

 ate. And when they have done all this measure re- 

 quires them to do, other conditions and contingen- 

 cies, over which they have no control, yet remain to 

 be fulfilled before they can be relieved from martial 

 law. Another Congress must first approve the con- 

 stitutions made in conformity with the will of this 

 Congress, and must declare these States entitled to 

 representation in both Houses. The whole question 

 thus remains open and unsettled, and must again 

 occupy the attention of Congress, and in the mean 

 time the agitation which now prevails will continue 

 to disturb all portions of the people. 



The bill also denies the legality of the governments 

 of ten of the States which participated in the ratifica- 

 tion of the amendment to the Federal Constitution 

 abolishing slavery forever within the jurisdiction of 

 the United States, and practically excludes them 

 from the Union. If this assumption of the bill be 

 correct, their concurrence cannot be considered as 

 having been legally given, and the important fact is 

 made to appear that the consent ot three-fourths 

 of the States the requisite number has not been 

 constitutionally obtained to the ratification of that 

 amendment, thus leaving the question of slavery 

 where it stood before the amendment was officially 

 declared to have become a part of the Constitution. 



That the measure proposed by this bill does vio- 

 late the Constitution in the particulars mentioned, 

 and in many other ways which ! forbear to enumer- 

 ate, is too clear to admit of the least doubt. It only 

 remains to consider whether the injunctions of that 

 instrument ought to be obeyed or not. 1 think they 

 ought to be obeyed for reasons which 1 will proceed 

 to give as briefly as possible. 



In the first place, it is the only system of free gov- 

 ernment which we can hope to have as a nation. 

 When it ceases to be the rule of our conduct, we 

 may perhaps take our choice between complete 

 anarchy, a consolidated despotism, and a total dis- 

 solution of the Union ; but national liberty, regu- 

 lated by law, will have passed beyond our reach. 



It is the best frame of government the world ever 

 saw. No other is or can be so well adapted to the 



genius, habits, or wants of the American people, 

 ombining the strength of a great empire with un- 

 speakable blessings of local self-government, having 

 a central power to defend the general interest, and 

 recognizing the authority of the States as the 

 guardians of industrial rights, it is "the sheet-anchor 

 of our safety abroad and our peace at home." It 

 was ordained " to form a more perfect Union, estab- 

 lish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, promote 

 the general welfare, provide for the common defence, 

 and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 

 our posterity." These great ends have been attained 

 heretofore, and will be again, by faithful obedience 

 to it; but they are certain to be lost if we treat with 

 disregard its sacred obligations. 



It was to punish the gross crime of defying the 

 Constitution, and to vindicate its supreme authority, 

 that we carried on a bloody war of four years' dura- 

 tion. Shall We now acknowledge that we sacrificed 

 a million lives and expended billions of treasure to 

 enforce a Constitution which is not worthy of respect 

 and preservation ? 



Those who advocated the right of secession alleged 

 in their own justification that we had no regard for 

 law, and that their rights of property, life, and 

 liberty would not be safe under the Constitution as 

 administered by us. If we now verify their asser- 

 tion, we prove that they were in truth and in fact 

 fighting for their liberty, and instead of branding 

 their leaders with the dishonoring name of traitors 

 against a righteous and legal Government, we ele- 

 vate them in history in the rank of self-sacrificing 

 patriots, consecrate them to the admiration of the 

 world, and place them by the side of Washington, 

 Hampden, and Sidney. !No, let us leave them to the 

 infamy they deserve, punish them as they should be 

 punished, according to law, and take upon ourselves 

 no share of the odium which they should bear alone. 



It is a part of our public history which can never 

 be forgotten, that both Houses of Congress, in July, 

 1861, declared in the form of a solemn resolution that 

 the war was and should be carried on for no purpose 

 of subjugation, but solely to enforce the Constitution 

 and laws, and that when this was yielded by the 

 parties in rebellion, the contest should cease, with 

 the constitutional rights of the States and of individ- 

 uals unimpaired. This resolution was adopted and 

 sent forth to the world unanimously by the Senate, 

 and with only two dissenting voices in the House. It 

 was accepted by the friends of the Union in the 

 South, as well as in the North, as expressing honestly 

 and truly the object of the war. On the faith of it 

 many thousands of persons in both sections gave 

 their lives and their fortunes to the cause. To repu- 

 diate it now, by refusing to the States and to the 

 individuals within them the rights which the Consti- 

 tution and laws of the Union would secure to them, is 

 a breach of our plighted honor for which I can imag- 

 ine no excuse, and to which I cannot voluntarily be- 

 come a party. 



The evils which spring from the unsettled state of 

 our Government wiU be acknowledged by all. Com- 

 mercial intercourse is impeded, capital is in constant 

 peril, public securities fluctuate in value, peace 

 itself is not secure, and the sense of moral and polit- 

 ical duty is impaired. To avert these calamities from 

 our country it is imperatively required that we 

 should immediately decide upon some course of ad- 

 ministration which can.be steadfastly adhered to. I 

 am thoroughly convinced that any settlement, or 



be unavailing, outmiscnicvous ; main win 

 tiply the present evils instead of removing them. 

 The Constitution in its whole integrity and vigor, 

 throughout the length and breadth of the land, is the 

 best of all compromises. Besides, our duty does not, 

 in my judgment, leave us a choice between that and 

 any other. 1 believe that it contains the remedy 

 that is so much needed, and that, if the coordinate 



