CONGRESS, U. S. 



247 



provided that whenever hereafter, during the 

 existence of the present insurrection against 

 the Government of the United States, any per- 

 son held to labor or service under the laws of 

 any State shall be required or permitted, by the 

 person to whom such labor or service is due, or 

 his legal agent, to take up arms against the Uni- 

 ted States, or to work or be employed in or about 

 any fort, navy-yard, armory, dock-yard, ship, 

 or in any military or naval service, against the 

 Government of the United States, or as the ser- 

 vant of any person engaged in active hostilities 

 against the United States, then the person to 

 whom such labor is due shall forfeit all claim to 

 such service or labor, any law of any State^ or 

 of the United States, to the contrary notwith- 

 standing ; and, in case of a claim for such labor, 

 such facts shall be a full and sufficient answer. 



Mr. "\Yickliffe, of Kentucky, said : " I desire 

 to ask the chairman of the Committee on the 

 Judiciary whether it is the design of this bill to 

 confiscate the property of citizens in persons 

 described there where they may be found at 

 labor of any description which can be connect- 

 ed with war, except the carrying of arms? Sup- 

 pose my negroes I being a national man and 

 a Union man are taken without my leave and 

 against my consent, to drive teams and carry 

 provender to the rebel army : are my negroes 

 to be confiscated ? " 



Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, answered : " I will 

 state in reply to the inquiry of the gentleman 

 from Kentucky, that this bill is drafted the 

 original bill as well as the substitute in such a 

 manner as expressly to preclude such a con- 

 struction ; because both the original bill and 

 the substitute limit the penalties prescribed to 

 such persons as are engaged in. this rebellion by 

 their own act" 



Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, said : " Now, let me 

 ask the gentleman from Ohio whether the Sen- 

 ate bill does not apply to all slaves who may 

 be owned by persons now in this rebellion, and 

 to their services in any wise used in aiding this 

 rebellion, without limitation ? " 



Mr. Bingham : " I state, unhesitatingly, that 

 the Senate bill does no such thing, for it has 

 limitation that such services must be by 

 the direct act of the owner himself; by the di- 

 rect act of the owner, or by the act of his agent 

 or employee." 



The substitute was rejected by the House, 

 and the question recurred on the Senate bill. 

 To this Mr. Bingham offered an amendment, 

 " limiting the operation of the bill to the pres- 

 ent insurrection." 



The fourth section of the Senate bill was then 

 read as called for. It was as follows : 



TThenever any person claiming to be entitled to the 

 service or labor of any other person, under the laws 

 of any State, shall employ such person in aiding or 

 promoting any insurrectio'n, or in resisting the laws 

 of the United States, or shall permit him to be so em- 

 ployed, he shall forfeit all right to such service or 

 labor, and the person whose labor or service is thus 

 claimed shall be thenceforth discharged therefrom, any 

 law to the contrary notwithstanding. 



Mr. Burnett : " The use of a slave, by author- 

 ity of the owner, in any mode which will tend 

 to aid or promote this insurrection, will entitle 

 that slave to his freedom." 



Mr. Bingham : " Certainly it will." 



Mr. Burnett: "Now we understand each 

 other. I ask the gentleman whether this bill 

 is not to be construed by the executive authori- 

 ties of the Government ? " 



Mr. Bingham : " No, sir; I undertake to say 

 that this provision is like many others now 

 standing upon our statute-books subject to judi- 

 cial decision. It is simply an act which may 

 become the subject of adjudication in the courts 

 as between the owner of a person so employed 

 and the person so claimed." 



Mr. Burnett : " That is what the gentleman 

 says, but does it not mislead the House ? On a 

 certain state of facts to be assumed, and they 

 are to a certain extent set out in the bill, then 

 the contingency occurs upon which the slave is 

 entitled to his freedom. "Whenever that ques- 

 tion is settled by judicial procedure hereafter, 

 the slave sets up the fact that he was used in 

 any way " 



Mr. Bingham : " By his master." 



Mr. Burnett : " Or with his consent, or the 

 consent of his agent, in any mode whatever, 

 then that negro is entitled to his freedom." 



Mr. Bingham : " Yes, sir." 



Mr. Burnett : " Then, that amounts to a 

 wholesale emancipation of the slaves in the 

 seceding or rebellious States." 



Mr. Bingham replied : " I undertake to say 

 that no just court in America will ever construe 

 this fourth section, if it becomes a law, to the 

 effect that, because it happens that citizens of 

 the United States residing in a seceding State 

 hold slaves, this law amounts to an emancipa- 

 tion of their slaves. I deny that that was the 

 intention of the law, or that it will bear any 

 such construction by a court of justice. I as- 

 sert, further, that the very words of the statute 

 eschew any such construction. By the express 

 words of the act it is limited in its effect to 

 those persons who themselves, by their own 

 direct acts, for the purpose of overturning the 

 powers of the Government, employ, or consent 

 that others shall employ, the services of their 

 slaves to that end. Does the gentleman com- 

 plain that the Congress of the United States 

 shall provide by law that any person owning 

 slaves within his own State of Kentucky, who 

 shall feloniously employ them in insurrection 

 within his own State against the combined au- 

 thority of the United States and of the State of 

 Kentucky, for the destruction of his own life, 

 or the lives of his kindred and friends, shall be 

 so tenderly cared for, that he shall not forfeit 

 his control over his slaves ? I aver that a traitor 

 should not only forfeit his slave, but he should 

 forfeit his life as well. A traitor justly forfeits 

 both life and property." 



Mr. Burnett followed : " The gentleman pro- 

 pounds to me the question whether I am will- 

 ing that the slaves shall be used against the 



