CONGRESS, U. S. 



241 



are to be taught by a strong hand that they are 

 to pay the same regard to the Constitution and 

 laws as commoner people are forced to render 

 to them. These men believe that they have a 

 right to declare themselves out of the pale of 

 legitimate Government whenever it shall suit 

 their interests to do so, or whenever it shall be 

 in accordance with the lead of their passions 

 to do so. We, the people of the North, of the 

 loyal States, and all who act with the North, 

 intend to educate these men in a different doc- 

 trine ; and if we shall eventually be forced to 

 bring them into subjection abject subjection 

 to the Constitution of the United States it will 

 be their fault, and not ours. 



" Now, sir, an army will be needed upon the 

 southern coast. Every foot of the southern 

 coast will have to be threatened ; and perhaps 

 every foot of the southern coast will eventually 

 have to be invaded. An army will have to be 

 started upon the nearest southern frontier here, 

 and it will have to be marched until it shall 

 meet the army threatening the coast ; and per- 

 haps it will be necessary it is well for gentle- 

 men from the southern States to consider 

 whether it may not be necessary to leave the 

 track of the chariot wheels of war so deep on 

 the southern soil that a century may not oblit- 

 erate it. I am not willing to stint the Govern- 

 ment either in men or money. I am deter- 

 mined, so far as my influence, and my voice, 

 and my vote, will go, to make this war an 

 effectual one a terror to evil-doers for all time 

 to come ; so that, when the Constitution and 

 Union shall be reestablished, they shall have a 

 permanence which shall satisfy all true lovers 

 of liberty/' 



Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, said that the mem- 

 ber from Pennsylvania did not conceal his pur- 

 pose ; he tells the country that it is the purpose 

 of the eighteen northern States to reduce the 

 southern States to abject submission. 



Mr. Hickman replied : " I believe my re- 

 mark was at least I intended that it should be 

 this : that our intentions are to bring the dis- 

 loyal to submission or acquiescence. I under- 

 stand that to mean submission to the binding 

 obligation of the laws. That is what I mean. 

 "Whether it shall be necessary to go further 

 "lan that, is for the gentlemen who occupy the 

 jsition of rebellion to determine." 



Mr. Yallandigham, of Ohio, offered the fol- 

 >wing proviso : 



Provided, further. That before the President shall 

 have the right to call out any more volunteers 1 thau are 

 already in the service, he shall appoint seven commis- 

 sioners, whose mission shall be to accompany the army 

 on its march, to receive and consider such propositions, 

 if any. as may at any time be submitted from the Ex- 

 ecutive of the so-called Confederate States, or of any 

 one of them, looking to a suspension of hostilities and 

 the return of said Mates, or any one of them, to. the 

 Union, and to obedience to the Federal Constitution 

 and authority. 



On a division, there were only twenty-one 

 votes in its favor : 



16 



In the Senate, on the 26th of July, Mr. John- 

 son, of Tennessee, offered the following resolu- 

 tion : 



Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has 

 been forced upon the country by the disunionists of 

 the Southern States now in revolt against the consti- 

 tutional Government and in arms around the capital ; 

 that in this national emergency Congress, banishing 

 all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect 

 only its duty to the whole country ; that this war is 

 not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppres- 

 sion, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, 

 nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with 

 the rights or established institutions of those States, 

 but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Con- 

 stitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and 

 to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, 

 and rights of the several States unimpaired ; that as 

 soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought 

 to cease. 



Mr. Polk, of Missouri, proposed to amend it 

 so as to read : 



That the present deplorable civil war has been forced 

 upon the country by the disuaionists of the Southern 

 and the Northern States ; that in this national emer- 

 gency, &c., Ac. 



This was voted down by ayes, 4; noes, 33. 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, thus expressed his 

 views of the object of the war : " I trust this 

 war is prosecuted for the purpose of subjugating 

 all rebels and traitors who are in arms against 

 the Government. "What do you mean by ' sub- 

 jugation ? ' I know that persons in the south- 

 ern States have sought to make this a contro- 

 versy between States and the Federal Govern- 

 ment, and have talked about coercing States 

 and subjugating States ; but, sir, it has never 

 been proposed, so far as I know, on the part of 

 the Union people of the United States, to subju- 

 gate States or coerce States. It is proposed, 

 however, to subjugate citizens who are standing 

 out in defiance of the laws of the Union, and to 

 coerce them into obedience to the laws of the 

 Union. I dislike that word in this connection. 

 In its broadest sense I am opposed to it. If it 

 means the war is not for the purpose of the sub- 

 jugation of traitors and rebels into obedience to 

 the laws, then I am opposed to it. I trust the 

 war is prosecuted for that very purpose." 



Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, explained the 

 resolution in these words : " The resolution 

 simply states that we are not waging a war for 

 the subjugation of States. If the Constitution 

 is maintained and the laws carried out, the 

 States take their places and all rebel citizens 

 must submit. That is the whole of it." 



Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, declared that he 

 was for subjugation, in the sense in which that 

 word was ordinarily received. He did not 

 mean its classic meaning. He knew its literal, 

 classic meaning was to pass under the yoke, 

 ub juga. He proposed to pass nobody under 

 the yoke ; but in the ordinary and popular ac- 

 ceptation of that term he used it, that is. that 

 ah 1 the people of the United States shall submit 

 to the laws and Constitution of the United 

 States everywhere. 



Mr. Fessendeu, of Maine, said: "I do not 



