180 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, said : " I offer 

 as an amendment what I send to the Chair, 

 and call the previous question upon the reso- 

 lution and amendment." 



The amendment of Mr. Dawes was read, 

 as follows : 



Strike out all after the resolving clause, and insert 

 the following : 



That a joint committee consisting of seven Senators 

 and fourteen Kepresentatives be appointed, whose 

 duty it shall be to inquire into the condition of the 

 late insurrectionary States so far as regards the exe- 

 cution of the laws and the safety of the lives and 

 property of the citizens of the United States, with 

 leave to report, at any time during the next or any 

 subsequent session of Congress, the result of their 

 investigation to either or both Houses of Congress, 

 with such recommendations as they may deem ex- 

 pedient ; that said committee be authorized to em- 

 ploy clerks and stenographers, to sit during the re- 

 cess, and to send for persons and papers, to admin- 

 ister oaths and take testimony, and to visit at their 

 discretion, through sub-committees, any portions of 

 said States during the recess of Congress ; and all 

 expenses of said committee shall be paid out of the 

 contingent fund of the Senate, upon vouchers ap- 

 proved by the chairman of said committee. 



Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, said : " I de- 

 sire to say that the reason why this resolution 

 should be debated is this : it is charged upon 

 us that there are no outrages at the South, and 

 therefore it is quite necessary that we should 

 have this committee to clear the skirts of the 

 Southern people-; it is quite necessary that we 

 should have this committee in order to instruct 

 the Republican party and the loyal people of 

 the country how this matter stands. Upon 

 that question I deem, for one, that the public 

 mind is sufficiently instructed to know that 

 there is legislation necessary. But, if it is not, 

 we have got a report from a committee of the 

 Senate. We have members here from every 

 State in this Union who can tell us how these 

 things are, and here upon this floor we can 

 investigate the matter better than we can else- 

 where. 



" Now, let us see what will happen if we ap- 

 point this committee and send it down South. 

 If the state of things exists that I believe exists 

 there, no man can come before the committee 

 without fear of his life. If he should come 

 before the committee and tell the truth about 

 the Ku-klux outrages, the moment the com- 

 mittee was withdrawn that moment he would 

 be run out of the country, and if he testified 

 to any thing it would be shown that he was a 

 vagabond because he had run away ; whereas 

 the Democratic party could bring every Demo- 

 crat in the South before this committee, and 

 they can testify to their version of the story, 

 which the committee, a Republican committee 

 with a Republican majority, will be bound to 

 report as the state of things in the South. 

 They will be bound to report it, because they 

 cannot get any thing else. They will pile up 

 before you and the country that evidence. I 

 think the Democratic party did wisely, and they 

 are pretty wise, when they voted on Wednes- 

 day to establish this committee. And here 



is a singular spectacle, that without debate, 

 except such as is prayed for in all the terms of 

 entreaty that can be put to my colleague to get 

 five minutes to say so much without debate, 

 without examination, for it has not been de- 

 bated in either House, on a question upon 

 which the Republican party is divided, at least 

 in the middle on this floor for there are plenty 

 of gentlemen here to overcome the supposititious 

 majority the resolution is to be forced through 

 by the aid of Democratic votes, and then it \vill 

 be followed, as the former resolution was, by 

 a motion to adjourn sine die, so as to cut off 

 every other legislation." 



Mr. Dawes: "Mr. Speaker, this is not a 

 question of side. It is one that commends 

 itself to the serious deliberation of every mem- 

 ber of this House on either side. And he who 

 attempts to make party capital of it, who puts 

 party position before his country in the con- 

 sideration of this the gravest of all questions 

 that meet us here at the threshold of this 

 Congress, comes short, in my opinion, of the 

 full measure of his duty. And he, sir, who 

 insists on some particular measure, who comes 

 here and says aut Ccesar aut nulliLS, will fail, 

 in my apprehension, of working out the prob- 

 lem which is forced upon this Congress, whether 

 or not out of all the debris and disintegration 

 of the rebellion we are competent fully to re- 

 build this Union. 



" Sir, I cannot feel that when we come to 

 discuss the question of peace, of life and death, 

 in ten or eleven States of this Union, we ought 

 to talk about the question whether we are 

 Democrats or Republicans, whether we are 

 working with one side or the other. I mar- 

 vel, sir, at the mind that can find food in these 

 days from such husks as that. 



" Sir, it is possible for us, in my opinion, 

 with such a committee as these two bodies are 

 capable of forming from the ablest and most 

 impartial members of both branches of both 

 political sides, to enter calmly and deliberately 

 into an investigation not only of the questions 

 of fact alleged and denied on the one side and 

 on the other, but of those other questions which 

 trouble all thoughtful men. What is the rem- 

 edy for this evil in this diseased state of the 

 public mind, in this unsettled and inflamed 

 condition of the people in the Southern States? 

 What is the remedy? What are the facts and 

 what is the remedy ? I am satisfied, sir, that 

 such a committee can be selected, from both 

 sides of this and the other branch of Congress, 

 as shall command the respect and confidence 

 of the country, and as shall give the assurance 

 that it goes forth, not in the interest of any 

 party, but in the interest of the country alone." 



The question was taken on agreeing to the 

 amendment offered by Mr. Dawes ; and it was 

 decided as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Acker, Adams, Ambler, Archer, 

 Arthur, Banks, Beck, Bigbv, Biggs, Austin Blair, 

 James G. Blair, Braxton, Bright, James Brooks, 

 Bumntou, Burchard, Caldwell, Campbell, Carroll, 

 Comingo, Conger, Cook, Cox, Crebs, Critcher, Cross- 



