250 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



CONNECTICUT. 



Constitution. Sir, these rebels, who have dis- 

 regarded and set at defiance that instrument, 

 are, by every rule of municipal and internation- 

 al law, estopped from pleading it against our 

 action. Who, then, is it that comes to us and 

 says, ' you cannot do this thing, because your 

 Constitution does not permit it? ' The Consti- 

 tution ! Our Constitution, which you repudiate 

 and trample under foot, forbids it ? Sir, it is an 

 absurdity. There must be a party in court to 

 plead it, and that party, to be entitled to plead 

 it in court, must first acknowledge its suprem- 

 acy, or he has no business to be in court at all. 

 I repeat, then, that those who bring in this plea 

 here, in bar of our action, are the advocates of 

 rebels. They are nothing else, whatever they 

 intend. I mean it, of course, in a legal sense. I 

 mean they are acting in the capacity of coun- 

 sellors-at-law for the rebels ; they are speaking 

 for them, and not for us, who are the plaintiffs 

 in this transaction. I deny that they have any 

 right to plead at all. I deny that they have 

 any standing in court. I deny that they have 

 any right to invoke this Constitution, which 

 they deny has any authority over them, which 

 they set at defiance and trample under foot. I 

 deny that they can be permitted to come here 

 and tell us we must be loyal to the Constitu- 

 tion." 



The bill was re-committed to the Judiciary 

 Committee, and on a subsequent day reported 

 back with a recommendation to strike out the 

 fourth section, and insert the following : 



That whenever hereafter, during the present insur- 

 rection against the Government of the United States, 

 any person claimed to be held to labor or service, un- 

 der the laws of any State, shall be required or permit- 

 ted by the person to whom such labor or service is 

 claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such per- 

 son, to take up arms against the United States, or 

 shall be required or permitted by the person to whom 

 such service or labor is claimed to be due, or his lawful 

 agent, to work or to be employed in or upon any fort, 

 navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or intrenchment, or in 

 any military or naval service whatever, against the 

 Government and lawful authority of the United States, 

 then, and in every such case, the,person to whom such 

 service is claimed to be due, shall forfeit his claim to 

 such labor, any law of the State, or of the United 

 States, to the contrary notwithstanding ; and when- 

 ever thereafter the person claiming such labor or ser- 

 vice shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be a full 

 and sufficient answer to such claim that the person 

 whose service or labor is claimed had been emploved 

 in hostile service against the Government of the United 

 States, contrary to the provisions of this act. 



This was adopted, and the bill passed. Ayes, 

 60 ; noes, 48. 



This extra session of Congress was closed 

 August 6th. Called at the time when the Pres- 

 ident's proclamation was issued summoning an 

 armed force to the aid of the Government, its 

 business was primarily to provide ways and 

 means for efficiently carrying on the military 

 operations thus commenced. This object was 

 met in a most liberal manner. Duties on cer- 

 tain imports were increased ; a loan of two hun- 

 dred and fifty millions was authorized ; the issue 



of fifty millions of Treasury notes, reissuable 

 as often as they might return to the Treasury, 

 was also granted ; taxes collectable at a future 

 day were also laid, with a guarantee that they 

 would be collected if needed. 



The repeal of the specie clause of the Sub- 

 treasury act, this departure from the established 

 policy of the Government in time of peace, 

 made the paper currency of the country at once 

 available for the uses of the Government, and 

 relieved the banks from the restraint which had 

 been held upon over-issues of their circulation. 

 The army was increased to almost any extent 

 the President might require. One bill alono 

 authorized the enlistment of five hundred thou- 

 sand volunteers. In short, every thing in tho 

 power of Congress was done to give strength 

 to the arm of the Government. The spirit and 

 opinions of the people expressed through their 

 representatives in Congress, as shown in the 

 preceding sketches, were of the most patriotic 

 and harmonious character, creating sanguine 

 anticipations of a bright, and prosperous, and 

 united future to the whole country. 



The position taken by the members from the 

 Southern States, that their constituents regard- 

 ed the election of Mr. Lincoln as a proof that 

 the people of the North had become so aboli- 

 tionized as to intend the destruction of their 

 domestic institutions, remained to be proved. 

 At the extra session, when the entire control of 

 Congress was placed in the hands of the North, 

 no decisive expression of Northern sentiment 

 on this point was manifested. 



CONNECTICUT. One of the Southern New 

 England States, bounded north by Massachu- 

 setts, east by Rhode Island, south by Long 

 Island Sound, and west by New York ; area, 

 4,674 square miles ; pop. in 1860, 460,147 ; wa- 

 tered by the Connecticut, Housatonic, Thames, 

 and their tributaries, and numerous smaller riv- 

 ers ; the State is divided into 8 counties, viz., 

 Hartford, Tolland, Windham, New London, 

 Middlesex, New Haven, Fairfield, and Litch- 

 field ; and into 4 congressional districts, each 

 comprising two counties, in the order above 

 stated. Its Legislature meets annually, and 

 consists of a Senate of 21 members, and a 

 House'of Representatives of about 260. This 

 State held its annual election for State officers, 

 and its biennial one for members of Congress, 

 on the 1st of April, 1861. It resulted in the 

 election of "William A. Buckingham, the Re- 

 publican candidate for Governor, by a majority 

 of 2,086, and the entire Republican State ticket ; 

 a large Union and Republican majority in both 

 branches of the State Legislature, and the elec- 

 tion of Messrs. D wight Loomis, and Alfred A. 

 Burnham, Republican members of Congress in 

 the 1st and 3d districts, and of Messrs. Jan IPS 

 E. English and Geo. C. Woodruff, Democratic 

 members of Congress in the 2d and 4th dis- 

 tricts. 



On the 15th of April Governor Buckingham 

 received the President's Message, calling for 

 75,000 soldiers and immediately issued a proc- 



