CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



181 



of the Senate, and the experiment has been 

 tried often enough for us to understand per- 

 fectly well that if this amnesty amendment is 

 passed and adopted the civil rights hill will be 

 put uDon it, and then the friends of amnesty 

 will again vote against the whole bill, as they 

 have done repeatedly. As I am anxious to 

 secure the passage of this bill, which we have 

 been engaged upon for two or three days, I 

 hope it will not be loaded down in such a way 

 as past experience shows will kill it. I there- 

 fore hope that the friends of this bill in regard 

 to elections will vote down this amendment." 



Mr. Trumbull: "I hope not. The Senate 

 has never been full when we have taken a 

 vote upon amnesty. The votes have been ties 

 frequently. There are several members pres- 

 ent who were not present before, and if those 

 in favor of amnesty will stand by it we can put 

 amnesty on and carry it, and can keep what is 

 called civil rights, or in other words the social 

 equality bill, off." 



Mr. Edmunds : "It will be very easy, I can 

 tell my friend from Indiana, to get out of the 

 difficulty that is suggested about embarrassing 

 the two measures by having them together, 

 because I have no doubt it is the intention of 

 the Senator from Illinois, or some other Sen- 

 ator, the moment this amendment is agreed 

 to, to move to strike out the first part of the 

 bill, and then we shall have amnesty alone, 

 and that he thinks everybody will go for. He 

 has not shown such a very strong admiration 

 for this election bill during the discussion we 

 have had upon it as to lead me to suppose that 

 he is desiring to strengthen it by this move- 

 ment of amnesty. So that I should advise any 

 Senator who really believes in the election bill 

 and wants to have it become a law, however 

 much he may be in favor of amnesty, to keep 

 the two measures separate, when we can take 

 care of them both. 



Mr. Robertson said : " I hope the Senator 

 from Illinois will not persist in this amend- 

 ment. To be consistent I shall have to vote 

 against it. I have been the consistent friend 

 of amnesty for over three years ; but to at- 

 tach it to a bill which requires only a ma- 

 jority to pass would jeopardize both meas- 

 ures. I voted against attaching civil rights to 

 the amnesty bill for the simple reason that I 

 did not think the amendment germane to the 

 bill. For the same reason I propose to vote 

 against this amnesty amendment to this bill, 

 as much as I am in favor of amnesty. I hope 

 that the friends of amnesty will not vote to at- 

 tach it to this measure, it not being germane 

 to the bill." 



Mr. Sawyer, of South Carolina, said : "I 

 rise for the purpose of asking a question which 

 I would like to have some Senator who is 

 versed in parliamentary law and other law 

 answer. Suppose that the amnesty bill is at- 

 tached to the bill now pending as an amend- 

 ment, and that it passes both Houses of Con- 

 gress and goes to the President, and the Presi- 



dent sees fit to veto it : I want to know if the 

 amnesty part of the proposition will not never- 

 theless be the law ? " 



Mr. Edmunds : " I say no, for one." 



Mr. Sawyer : " It is not necessary at all for 

 the President to sign a bill granting relief from 

 disabilities ; that part of it is not necessary to 

 go to him ; but the amnesty bill is put upon 

 this bill ; it passes ; it goes to the President ; 

 he chooses in consideration of something in 

 some part of the bill to veto it ; I want to 

 know if the relief of disabilities is not, under 

 the terms of the fourteenth amendment, still 

 effected?" 



Mr. Trumbull: "In reply to the Senator 

 from South Carolina, I will say that it is my 

 opinion that it would be effective. I do not 

 think a bill removing political disabilities need 

 go to the President at all. I thought it was 

 very improper, as the Senator from Indiana 

 says, to unite a two-thirds bill with a majority 

 bill, and I gave that as one of the reasons for 

 my course previously ; but unfortunately a 

 majority of the Senate did not agree with me, 

 and they decided that it was proper to put 

 together, and the Senator from Indiana has 

 helped to put together, legislative bills and 

 bills removing disabilities. Now, when he re- 

 turns upon me and says that this is inconsist- 

 ent with my action, I have only to say that I 

 am conforming to the regulations of the Sen- 

 ate. The Senate has decided that these bills 

 may go together. Of course I have to con- 

 form in business to the rules adopted by the 

 Senate." 



Mr. Sawyer: "Now, Mr. President, I am 

 for amnesty. I believe it important to the in- 

 terests of this country that the disabilities 

 under which a large portion of our people 

 labor shall be removed. I am for the civil 

 rights bill. I believe that the colored man 

 should have the same right to the privileges 

 which belong to citizens of the United States 

 as the white man. I will go as far as the 

 farthest in securing those rights to the colored 

 man ; but I am not to be induced to vote to 

 couple together measures, one of which can be 

 pass'ed by a mere majority and the other of 

 which requires a two-thirds vote, by the threat 

 of being held up to the country as opposed to 

 amnesty and opposed to civil rights." 



The Vice-President : " The question now re- 

 curs to agree to the amendment of the Senator 

 from Illinois (Mr. Trumbull), as amended by 

 adding the second section of the House am- 

 nesty bill." 



Mr. Trumbull : " I move to amend the pres- 

 ent amendment by adding to it the amend- 

 ment just offered by the Senator from South 

 Carolina." 



The Vice-President: "The Senator from 

 Illinois moves to amend the pending amend- 

 ment by adding the so-called civil rights sec- 

 tions moved by the Senator from South Caro- 

 lina." 



Mr. Trumbull : "It is known that I am op- 



