CONGRESS, U. S. 



227 



Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, 

 and they are hereby, instructed to prepare and report 

 to this House a bill for a public act to confiscate the 

 property of all persons holding any office whatsoever, 

 either civil or military, under the government of any 

 Stati- of the United States or the so-called Confederate 

 - of America, who have taken up arms, or shall 

 hereafter take up arms, against the Government of the 

 United States. 



Ou the next day Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, 

 offered the following resolution : 



Besotted, That, in the judgment of this House, it is 

 no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United States 

 to capture arid return fugitive slaves. 



It was objected to as being out of order, and 

 not a part of the business to which the extra 

 session was confined. This was overruled by 

 the Speaker, and the resolution adopted. Ayes, 

 93 ; noes, 55. 



In the Senate, on the 10th, the following 

 joint resolution was offered to approve and 

 confirm the acts of the President previous to 

 the commencement of the session : 



Whereas, since the adjournment of Congress, on the 

 4th day of March last, a formidable insurrection in 

 certain States of this Union has arraved itself in armed 

 hostility to the Government of the' United States, con- 

 stitutionally administered ; and whereas the President 



the United States did, under the extraordinary 

 xigencies thus presented, exercise certain powers 

 and adopt certain measures for the preservation of 

 this Government that is to say : First. He did, on 

 the loth day of April last, issue his proclamation call- 

 ing upon the several States for seventy-fire thousand 

 men to suppress such insurrectionary combinations, 

 and to cause the laws to be faithfully executed. Sec- 

 ondly. He did, on the 19th day of April last, issue a 

 proclamation setting on foot a blockade of the ports 

 ithin the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 



oridg, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Thirdly. 



e did, on the _:7th day of April last, issue a procla- 

 mation establishing a blockade of the ports within the 

 States of Virginia and North Carolina. Fourthly. He 

 did, by order of the '27th day of April last, addressed 

 to the commanding general of the army of the United 

 States, authorize that officer to suspend the writ of 

 habeas corpus at any point on or in the vicinity of any 

 military line between the city of Philadelphia" and the 

 city of Washington. Fifthly. He did, on the 3d day 

 of May last, issue a proclamation calling into the ser- 

 vice of the United States forty-two thousand and 

 thirty-four volunteers, increasing the regular army 

 by the addition of twenty -two thousand seven hun- 

 dred and fourteen men, and the navy by an addition 

 of eighteen thousand seamen. Sixthly. He did, on 

 the k>th day of May last, issue a proclamation author- 

 izing the co'mmander of the forces of the United States 

 on the coast of Florida to suspend the writ of habeas 

 corpus, if necessary. All of which proclamations and 

 orders have been submitted to this Congress. Now, 

 therefore, 



lie it resolved by the Senate and House of Represent- 

 'fthe United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That all of the extraordinary acts, "procla- 

 mations, and orders, hereinbefore mentioned, be. and 

 the same are hereby, approved and declared to be in 

 all respects legal and valid, to the same intent, and 

 with the same effect, as if they had been issued and 

 done under the previous express authority and direc- 

 tion of the Congress of the United States. 



Mr. King, of Xew York, offered the following 

 amendment : 



Prc-ridtd, That within six months after the consti- 

 tutional authority of the United States Government 

 shall be re-established, and organized resistance to 

 such authority shah 1 no longer" exist, the standing 



army shall be reduced in its organization to the foot- 

 ing in rank and numbers authorized by law on the 1st 

 day of July, 1861. 



Mr. Latham, of California, said : " So far as 

 the exigencies of the country were concerned, 

 making it necessary to order out the military, 

 he believed that the volunteer force of the 

 country would have been sufficient and ample 

 for such exigencies. So far as the proclamation 

 suspending the writ of habeas corpus between 

 the city of Philadelphia and Washington city is 

 concerned, he had as yet heard no reason for 

 that extraordinary measure. He was not pre- 

 pared to indorse blindfold every thing the Gov- 

 ernment might do." 



Mr. Hale, from New Hampshire, hoped the 

 amendment would be adopted. ''There was 

 no single feature of the great movement that 

 had taken place in the loyal States that had 

 given him greater and more unalloyed satis- 

 faction than the generous rallying of the peo- 

 ple, with blood and treasure, at a moment's 

 call ; demonstrating the great truth upon which 

 every republican Government must rest now 

 and forever, that there was no great necessity 

 for standing armies here." 



Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland, said : " While I 

 am prepared to sustain the Administration in 

 all just and constitutional measures for the 

 maintenance of the Union and for the resto- 

 ration of peace, I cannot go quite so far as to 

 indorse all the propositions laid down in this 

 joint resolution. I allude especially to the 

 fourth proposition in regard to the suspension 

 of the writ of habeas corpus in the State of 

 Maryland. As one of the Representatives of 

 that State, I desire to say in all sincerity to the 

 Senate that, to-day, I am not informed of the 

 reasons upon which this writ has been sus- 

 pended in any particular case in the State of 

 Maryland. In my judgment, there was no im- 

 mediate necessity for it. The State of Mary- 

 land is to-day, and was before the military oc- 

 cupation of that State, entirely within the 

 control of the civil authorities of the State. 

 We are here to-day with a representation in 

 Congress for the maintenance of the Union and 

 the preservation of peace, elected by a larger 

 majority than has ever been given heretofore 

 in that State. Six Representatives in the other 

 House have been elected by a vote very nearly 

 approaching to twenty thousand majority out 

 of seventy thousand votes cast. The Executive 

 of that State, holding the power of the State 

 entirely in his hands, was fully able at all times 

 to suppress any insurrectionary movement with- 

 out the aid of the military power of the Gov- 

 ernment ; and yet all this was done without his 

 ever being called upon. I now say to the Sen- 

 ate and the country, in entering my protest 

 against the action of the Executive of the na- 

 tion in that particular point, that I conceive it 

 to have been without any necessity whatever, 

 and without the warrant of law itself. If vre 

 are to maintain the Government intact ; if we 

 are to maintain the principles of the Govern- 



