120 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



lay before this House all the acts of insurrection, 

 resistance, or opposition to the laws of the United 

 States, committed in each of those counties at any 

 time after the 20th of April, 1871, prior to the date 

 of his proclamation of martial law, giving the char- 

 acter of the offences, the facts relative thereto, and 

 the names of the offenders so far as ascertained. He 

 is further requested to lay before the House any 

 cases of resistance to the execution of the process 

 of the civil courts, or the officers either of the United 

 States or of the State of South Carolina, by any 

 of the citizens of any of the counties in which the 

 guarantees of constitutional liberty have been an- 

 nulled by his proclamation aforesaid since the pas- 

 sage of the act of April 20, 1871 , aforesaid ; and that 

 he give the names of all of said citizens who have 

 been arrested or imprisoned under and by virtue of the 

 authority conferred by his proclamation, with the 

 violations of law with which each is charged, and 

 the dates at which it is alleged they committed the 

 offences for which they were so arrested and im- 

 prisoned ; and that he give this House full informa- 

 tion as to all the statements of fact on which he 

 acted on issuing his proclamation aforesaid, giving 

 the names of his informants, their statements when 

 made to him in writing, and the substance of them 

 when made verbally, so that this House can deter- 

 mine what steps are necessary to restore to the 

 citizens of the counties aforesaid, and especially to 

 those who are not guilty of offences against the 

 United States, the equal protection of the laws with 

 the people oi other portions of the country, under 

 the forms prescribed by the Constitution of the 

 United States. 



The resolution was referred to the joint 

 committee on the condition of the late insur- 

 rectionary States. 



In the Senate, on the same day, a similar 

 resolution was offered by Mr. Blair, of Mis- 

 souri, and laid over. 



Mr. Blair, on the next day, asked the Senate 

 to take up his resolution, saying: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, this resolution contemplates that the 

 President shall lay before the Senate an ac- 

 count of the manner in which he has executed 

 the extraordinary authority devolved upon 

 him by Congress. I understand that large 

 numbers of citizens have been arrested for 

 alleged crimes in the State of South Carolina, 

 in the counties designated in the President's 

 proclamation, and that of all those arrested 

 nine-tenths were arrested for alleged crimes 

 committed before the passage of the act of 

 Congress of April 20, 1871, giving the Presi- 

 dent this authority. I have seen statements 

 in the papers of the names of the parties, and 

 of the crimes alleged to have been committed 

 by them, which prove to be the same incidents 

 or circumstances in regard to which the Com- 

 mittee on Outrages in the Southern States 

 have examined witnesses, and those circum- 

 stances all occurred prior to the passage of 

 the act under which the President proclaimed 

 martial law, so that these parties have been 

 arrested for offences, or alleged offences, com- 

 mitted anterior to the time when the Federal 

 courts had any jurisdiction whatever, and an- 

 terior to the time when tlie authority was 

 conferred upon the President " 

 t Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said : " On the ques- 

 tion of taking up the resolution at this time, 



I desire to say a single word. Jt occurs to me 

 that the substance of this resolution was pret- 

 ty well answered yesterday by the President's 

 message. But, aside from that, it seems to 

 me this resolution can be much more intelli- 

 gently discussed after we have the report from 

 the investigating committee in regard to 

 Southern outrages. For that reason I shall 

 vote against taking it up this morning." 



Mr. Blair: "In reply to what has fallen 

 from the Senator from Indiana, I will say that 

 the President's message does not give us any 

 of the information asked for in this resolution. 

 The resolution asks for a detail of the names 

 of the parties arrested, the crimes alleged to 

 have been committed by them, and the time 

 at which they are alleged to have been com- 

 mitted, none of which facts the President gives 

 us in his message. The President states in 

 his message that the testimony taken before 

 the committee on Southern affairs amply sus- 

 tains him in his proclamation of "martial law. 

 I do not know how the President got that in- 

 formation. Certainly, he could not have got 

 it by any report from the committee. Nob6dy 

 was authorized by the committee to make any 

 such report to the President. As a member 

 of the committee, I can give my opinion that 

 the facts elicited by that examination did not 

 justify the proclamation of martial law, and I 

 suspect that I know more about the facts eli- 

 cited before the committee than the President 

 himself. There was no authority given by the 

 committee to any* one to submit those facts to 

 the President, or to make any report to him. 

 And while I am not surprised that the Presi- 

 dent .should have exercised the authority given 

 to him, as his education and his genius are 

 arbitrary and look to arbitrary measures, I am 

 astonished, sir, at the servility of Congress 

 in submitting the rights of all citizens of this 

 country to his discretion, and depriving them 

 of the guarantees of the Constitution. And I 

 think, sir, that it becomes us, after having given 

 him that authority, at least to ask him to show 

 us the manner in which he has exercised it." 



The Vice-President : "The question is on 

 the motion of the Senator from Missouri." 



Mr. Blair called for the yeas and nays, and 

 they were ordered; and, being taken, resulted 

 yeas 11, nays 45 ; as follows: 



YEAS Messrs. Blair, Casserly, Cooper,, Davis of 

 West Virginia, Johnston, Kelly, Saulsbury, Steven- 

 son, Stockton, Tipton, and Vickers 11. 



NATS Messrs. Alcorn, Ames, Anthony, Bore- 

 man, Brownlow, Buckingham, Caldwell, Cameron, 

 Chandler, Clayton, Conkling, Corbett, Cragin, Ed- 

 munds, Fenton, Ferry of Connecticut, Ferry of 

 Michigan, Frelinghuysen, Gilbert, Hamlin, Harlan, 

 Hitchcock, Howe, Logan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill 

 of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Patterson, Pome- 

 roy, Pool, Kamsey, Kice, Eobertson, Sawyer, Scott, 

 Sherman, Spencer, Sumner, Trumbull, West, "Wil- 

 son, "Windom, and Wright 45. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Carpenter, Cole, Davis 

 of Kentucky, Flanagan, Hamilton of Maryland, 

 Hamilton of Texas, Hill, Kellogg, Lewis, Pratt, 

 Schurz, Sprague, Stewart, and Thurman 15. 



So the motion was not agreed to. 



