world atrocities so monstrous as to defy all definition, and which nothing but the hot incubation of the slave power, as the ripe fruit of its two hundred years of diabolism, could have warmed into life. Sir, he has done everything, by the help of his confederates, that an incarnate demon could do to let loose "the whole contagion of hell," and convert his native land into one grand refuge of devils.

Mr. Speaker, the pardon of a criminal so transcendently guilty would be an act in itself strongly partaking of treason against the nation. It would be at once a monstrous denial and a frightful mockery of justice. Do you plead for mercy to the great confederate assassin? I refer that plea to the Father of Mercies, who, I believe, only pardons on condition of repentance; and as yet I have heard of no rebel leader who even professes penitence for his crimes. Sir, I repudiate, as counterfeit, the mercy which can only be exercised by trampling justice under our feet, while it forgets both justice and mercy to the millions who have been made to mourn through stricken lives by the human monsters who plunged our peaceful country into war. The loyal people of the nation demand that they be dealt with as criminals. For myself, I would not have a civil trial for the leader of a belligerent power, which has maintained a public war against us for years, The nation cannot afford to submit the question of the right of a State to secede to a jury of twelve men in one of the rebel States, and a majority of them traitors, under an implied alternative that if they fail to convict, the Government itself would stand convicted of half a million murders. After the nation has established its right to exist by a four years' war, it cannot put that right on trial by a jury of its conquered enemies, or any earthly tribunal. Sir, let Jefferson Davis be tried by a military court, as he should have been, promptly, at the time other and smaller offenders were dealt with a year ago. Let him have the compliment of a formal inquiry to determine what the whole world already knows, that he is immeasurably guilty. And when that guilt is pronounced let the Government erect a gallows, and hang him in the name of the Most High. I put aside mercy on the one hand, and vengeance on the other, and the simple claim I assert, in the nation's behalf, is justice. In the name of half a million soldiers who have gone before their Maker as witnesses against the deep damnation of their taking off;" in the name of our living soldiers, who have waded through seas of fire in deadly conflict with rebels in arms; in the name of the Republic, whose life has only been saved by the precious offering of multitudes of her most idolized children; in the name of the great future, with its procession of countless generations of men, whose fate to-day swings in the balance, awaiting the example you are to make of treason, I demand the execution of Jefferson Davis. The gallows is the symbol of infamy throughout the civilized world, and no criminal ever earned a clearer right to be crowned with its honors.

Sir, I ask why the Constitution should be mocked when it demands his life? What right have the authorities of the Government to cheat the halter out of his neck? Not for all the honors and offices of this nation, not for all the gold and glory of the world, would I spare him if in my power; for I would expect the ghosts of three hundred thousand murdered soldiers to haunt my poor, cowardly life to the grave. As I have said already, the punishment of the rebel conspirators is a necessary part of the work of suppressing the rebellion. Their treason was deliberately aimed at the cause of free government on earth, and they are justly to be classed among the guiltiest wretches whose crimes ever drenched the earth in blood. Every one of them should have a felon's death. The grave of every one of them should be made a grave of infamy, and the cause they served should be pilloried by all the ages to come. Sir, if you discharge the confederate chiefs because of the very magnitude of their work of carnage, you offer a public license to treason hereafter. You ll

say to turbulent and seditious spirits everywhere that they have full liberty, when it may suit their convenience, to levy war against the nation, and that while it may lead their deluded followers to wholesale slaughter, they shall be allowed to escape. You say that although the nation participated in the hanging of John Brown as a traitor, for the crime of loving liberty"not wisely, but too well," that same nation, which has copied John Brown's example in emancipating slaves by military power, shall turn loose upon society the hideous monster who waged war to establish and eternize a mighty slave empire on the ruins of our free institutions. And you speak it in the ear of the nations as your deliberate estimate of the value of free government, whose very life is the breath of the people, that the bloody conspirator who seeks to destroy it by the hand of war is undeserving of punishment, and consequently innocent of crime.

Mr. Speaker, can we, dare we, hope for the favor of God in thus confounding the distinction between right and wrong, between treason and loyalty, and forgetting that government is a divine ordinance, whose authority can only be maintained by enforcing obedience to its mandates? I speak earnestly, because I feel deeply, on this question of the punishment of leading traitors. The grand peril of the hour comes from the mistake of the Government on this point. During the war our deserters and bounty jumpers were executed. Our brave boys, overcome by weariness, who fell asleep at their posts as sentinels, were shot. A year ago the miserable tools of Davis and Lee, selected for their infernal deeds because of their known fitness to perform them, were summarily tried and hung. But in no solitary instance has treason yet been dealt with as a crime. Pardon, pardon, pardon, has been the order of the day, as if the Government desired to make haste to apologize for its mistake in fighting traitors, and wished to reinstate itself in their good opinion. Beccaria, in his celebrated Essay on Crimes and Punishments, says that clemency is a virtue which belongs to the legislator, and not to the executor of the laws; a virtue which ought to shine in the code, and not in private judgment. To show mankind that crimes are sometimes pardoned, and that punishment is not the necessary consequence, is to nourish the flattering hope of impunity, and is the cause of their considering every punishment inflicted as an act of injustice and oppression. The prince, in pardoning, gives up the public security in favor of an individual, and by ill-judged benevolence proclaims a public act of impunity."

Dr. Lieber says that "every pardon granted upon insufficient grounds becomes a serious offense against society, and he that grants it is, in justice, answerable for the offenses which the offender may commit, and the general injury done to political morality by undue interference with the law." With these wise and just sentiments the President of the United States, on accepting his high office, perfectly agreed. He declared that mercy to the individual is often cruelty to the State. He said that "robbery is a crime, murder is a crime, treason is a crime, and crime must be punished." He said that "treason must be made odious, and traitors impoverished," and he reiterated and multiplied these declarations on very many occasions which were offered him for weeks and months following his inauguration. He repeatedly referred, approvingly, to his past record, covering declarations in favor of hanging the leading traitors, in favor of dividing up their great plantations into small farms for honest and industrious men, without regard to color, and in favor of breaking up the great aristocracy of the South, and compelling the rebels to "take the back seats in the work of reconstruction." For a season the whole loyal country was electrified by the clear ring of his words, while rebels were as completely palsied and dumb. They understood the new President quite as little as his loyal friends. They expected no quarter, and studiously sought their pleasure in the will of the Executive. They would have

assented gladly to any terms or conditions of reconstruction dictated by him, including even negro suffrage. Having staked all on the issues of war and lost, they felt that they were entitled only to such rights as the conqueror might see fit to impose.

Sir, this golden season was sinned away by the President, and that systematic recreancy to his pledges and record which has marked his subsequent career, has brought the country into the most fearful peril. The responsibility is upon him, and it must be measured by the magnificent opportunity which the situation afforded him for an easy solution of our national difficulties, and at the same time a solid and permanent reconstruction of the South. "No important political movement," says a famous English writer, was ever obtained in a period of tranquillity. If the effervescence of the public mind is suffered to pass away without effect, it would be absurd to expect from languor what enthusiasm has not obtained. If radical reform is not, at such a moment, procured, all partial changes are evaded and defeated in the tranquillity which succeeds." These are suggestive and solemn words, and the reflection is a very sad one that the nation to-day would have been saved and blest, if the President had heeded them. He disobeyed the divine command to "execute justice in the morning," and did not even remember the heathen maxim, that "the gods themselves cannot save those who neglect opportunities." Sir, while I dislike the occupation of an alarmist, I must say that I have seen few darker seasons than the present since the first battle of Bull Run. The President has not kept the faith. He has not favored the hanging of a single rebel leader. He has not made treason infamous, nor impoverished traitors. He has not favored the confiscation of rebel estates, and their distribution among the poor. He has not required traitors to take the back seats in the work of reconstruction. He has not cooperated with Congress in placing the governing power of the South and of the nation in the hands of loyal men. He has not shown himself the "Moses' of our loyal colored millions in leading them out of their grievous bondage. He has done the opposite of all these. The Richmond Times, the leading organ of treason in Virginia, says that "in his course toward the mass of those who supported the southern confederacy the President has been singularly magnanimous and wisely lenient. Nine tenths of those who for four years, with unparalleled gallantry upheld the confederacy, have long since been unconditionally pardoned. The cabinet officers who counseled the president of the confederacy, the congressmen who enacted those stringent conscript and imprisonment laws which kept up our armies, and many distinguished generals of the confederate armies, have either been formally pardoned, or been released upon parole, and no one dreams that they will ever be molested in person or estate. The military bastiles of the country, with one exception, have long since been thrown open, and the distinguished confederate officers who were confined in them have been restored to their friends and families." And these Virginia traitors who thus dama our President by their encomiums openly demand the unconditional release of Jefferson Davis from prison. Judging the President by the logic of his policy thus far, the demand will be complied with. When he decided, nearly a year ago, against the trial of Davis by a military court, he virtually decided that his treason should go unpunished; for no jury of southern rebels would ever find a verdict of guilty, and the trial itself would only be an insult to the nation. Jefferson Davis, I doubt not, is to be restored to his family and friends, and the argument of consistency demands it at the hands of the President.

Robert E. Lee, whose spared life has outraged the honest claims of the gallows ever since his surrender, is running at large, perfectly unmolested and safe from all harın. Black with treason, perjury, and murder, guilt

ier by far than the Christless wretch who obeyed his orders in starving our soldiers at Andersonviile, he his way goes in peace, while the Government, in this monstrous and appalling fact, confesses to the world that treason is unworthy of its notice. He is president of a Virginia college, and teacher of her youth. He visits Washington, and tenders his advice to our public men about the work of restoring the Union. He goes before the reconstruction committee and gives his testimony, as if an oath could take any possible hold upon his seared conscience; and all that can be said is, that his unpunished crimes are doing precisely as much to make the Government infamous, as the Government itself has done to make those crimes respectable. The Legislature of Virginia indorses him as a fit man for Governor, and the champions of this proposition visit our Republican President, laud his principles and policy, and take the front seats in the house of his friends.

The vice president of the southern confederacy is likewise at large, and has been elected He also a Senator in Congress from his State. visits Washington, and gives his testimony before the joint committee of fifteen. Like the other leading traitors, he very naturally "accepts the situation," because he could not do otherwise, but he shows not the smallest token of penitence, says the rebels were in the right, and seems wholly unconscious of his real character as simply an unhung traitor, whose advice and opinions we shall only accept at their value. Leading traitors are not only. pardoned by wholesale, but they hold nearly all the places of power and profit in the South. They are made Governors, judges, postmasters, revenue officers, and are likewise frequently chosen to represent their cause in Congress; and the President, our distinguished Secretary || of the Treasury, and the Postmaster General, have all openly trampled under their feet the law of Congress requiring a test oath, in order that rebels might fill these oflices, and on the false pretense that loyal men could not be found qualified to fill them in a country which furnished more than forty thousand loyal white soldiers during the war. As might naturally be expected under this system of reconstruction, loyal men are more unsafe in the revolted districts now than they were before the war, while the condition of the negroes in very many localities is more pitiably deplorable than that of their former slavery. So intense and wide spread is the feeling of hostility to the Union in these regions that loyalty is branded as both a crime and a disgrace, while even Wilkes Booth is regarded as a martyr, and his pictures hang in the parlors of southern gentlemen" whose children are called by his name.

Nor am I surprised at the audacity of the rebel leaders. Neither do I complain, or blame them. They do not disguise their real character and opinions, because they have been made sure of the executive favor. With the President resolutely on the side of Congress in this crisis, a very different exhibition of feeling and policy would have been developed in the South. The danger now at our doors would never have appeared. The prospect of another bloody war to complete the work which we supposed already accomplished would never have alarmed the country. The President has deserted the loyal millions who crushed the rebel cause at the end of a conflict of four years and joined himself to that very cause which is now borrowing new life from the fertilizing sunshine of his favor, reasserting its old heresies, and renewing its treasonable demands. This is at once the root and source of our present national troubles, the prophecy and parent of whatever calamity may come. The President not only opposes the will of the nation, the policy of the nation, as expressed through Congress, but he brands as traitors before a rebel mob leading and representative men in both Houses, who are as guiltless of treason as the great majority with whom they act. Not content with the good fellowship of the men who began the war and fought us with matchless

desperation to the end, he unites with them in branding loyalty itself as treason, while he employs the power and patronage of his high office in rewarding his minions, and opposing the very men who made him their standardbearer along with Abraham Lincoln, in the faith that his loyalty was unselfish and sincere. In fact, every phase of the presidential policy, as latterly displayed, confounds the difference between loyal and disloyal men, and gives aid and comfort to the rebels by mitigating or removing the just consequences of their crimes. Mr. Speaker, this policy, utterly fatal to the nation's peace, as I have shown, must be abandoned. The Government cannot wholly undo the mistakes of the past, but it can do much for the future, and save the loyal cause, if the people, who see the threatened danger, will set themselves to work so resolutely as to compel a change. In God's name, let this be done. Let the people speak, for the power is in their hands, and if faithful now, as they proved themselves during the war, justice will prevail. Let them thunder it in the ears of the President that the nation cannot be saved, nor the fruits of our victory gathered, if in the settlement of this bloody conflict with treason right and wrong are confounded, and public justice trampled down. This is the duty of the loyal millions; and here lies the danger of the hour. It is just as impossible for the country to prosper if it shall sanction the present policy of the Executive, as it is for a man to violate a law of his physical being and escape the consequences. The demands of justice are as inexorable as the demands of natural law in the material world; and the moral distinctions which God himself has established cannot be slighted with the least possible impunity by individuals or nations. There is a difference, heaven-wide, between fighting for a slave empire and fighting for freedom and the universal rights of man. The cause of treason and the cause of loyalty are not the same. Perjury is not as honorable as keeping a man's oath. The black flag of slavery and treason was not as noble a standard to follow as that of the stars and stripes. The leading traitors of the South should not have the same honorable treatment and recognition as the patriot heroes of the Union. The grandest assassins and cut-throats of history should not defraud the gallows, while ordinary murderers are hung. Jefferson Davis should not have the same honorable place in history as George Washington. Benedict Arnold was not the beau ideal of a patriot, nor was Judas Iscariot "a high-souled gentleman and a man of honor," nor even "a misguided citizen of his country who engaged in a mistaken cause.

The green

mounds under which sleep our slaughtered heroes are not to have any moral comparison with the graves of traitors. The "throng of dead, led by Stonewall Jackson," are not to contribute equally with the noble spirits of the North to the renown of our great Republic." Truth and falsehood, right and wrong, heaven and hell, are not mere names which signify nothing, but they pertain to the great veracities of the universe; and the throne of God itself is immovable, only because its foundations are justice.

Mr. Speaker, I now move that this resolution be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. On that motion I call for the previous question.

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered.

Mr. HARRIS. I would like to make some remarks in reply to the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. JULIAN.]

The SPEAKER. The House is acting at present under the operation of the previous question.

Mr. HARRIS. I ask the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. WILSON] to withdraw the call for the previous question.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I cannot do that. The motion to refer the resolution to the Committee on the Judiciary was agreed to.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was referred; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

The SPEAKER. The next business in order is the call of States and Territories in inverted. order, commencing with the Territory of Montana, for the introduction of resolutions.

MONTANA TERRITORIAL LIBRARY.

Mr. McLAIN presented a joint memorial of the Territorial Legislature of Montana, asking Congress for an appropriation for a terri torial library, and for other purposes; which was referred to the Committee on Territories, and ordered to be printed.

ANNEXATION TO IDAHO.

Mr. McLAIN also presented a joint memorial of the Territorial Legislature of Montana, protesting against a joint resolution asking for the annexation of a certain portion of said Territory to the Territory of Idaho; which was referred to the Committee on Territories,and ordered to be printed.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN NEBRASKA.

Mr. HITCHCOCK introduced a bill appropriating certain proceeds of internal revenue in the Territory of Nebraska, for the purpose of erecting a penitentiary and completing the capitol in said Territory; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Territories, and ordered to be printed.

CONSTRUCTION OF WAGON ROAD.

Mr. HITCHCOCK also introduced a bill to provide for the construction of a wagon road from Columbus, Nebraska, to Virginia City, in Montana Territory; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.·

MAIL ROUTES IN NEVADA.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, presented resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Nevada in favor of the establishment of a daily mail between the city of Austin, in the county of Lander, and Silver Peak, in Esmeralda county, in that State; which were referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, also presented resolutions of the Legislature of Nevada in Springs, in said State; which were referred to favor of a weekly mail from Ione to Crystal the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.

BRANCH MINT IN NEVADA.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, also presented resolutions of the Legislature of Nevada in relation to the building of a United States mint in Carson City in said State; which were referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

resolutions of the Legislature of Nevada in Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, also presented relation to the trial of Jefferson Davis; which were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

SALE OF MINERAL LANDS.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, also presented resolutions of the Legislature of Nevada on the subject of the sale of mineral lands; which were referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed.

CLAIMS FOR HORSES.

Mr. WHALEY introduced a bill in relation to claims for horses turned over to the United States; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

JUDGMENTS OF COURTS-MARTIAL.

Mr. BIDWELL submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be requested to inquire into the propriety of providing

by law that hereafter whenever any person subject to the Rules and Articles of War shall be tried by courtmartial for any alleged offense, and the finding of the court shall be that the person tried is not guilty of the charge or charges against him, the president and judge advocate or recorder of the court shall give a written certificate of acquittal to the accused, who shall then be released from arrest or confinement.

INTERNAL REVENUE FRAUDS.

Mr. HIGBY. I offer the following resolu tion, upon which I demand the previous question:

Whereas it is alleged in responsible public journals and elsewhere that in the enforcement of the revenue laws at the custom-houses in Boston and New York, and the adjustment of claims for the violation thereof, frauds have been committed upon the United States, and parties involved in said alleged violations; and whereas it is in like manner alleged that similar frauds have been committed in the enforcement of the internal revenue laws, and in the adjustment of claims for the violation thereof in said cities: Therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee on Public Expenditures be instructed to investigate all such alleged frauds, and that for that purpose they be authorized to send for persons and papers, and, if necessary, to

sit during the recess of Congress, at such place as they shall deem most economical and efficient, and by such number, not exceeding three, of said committee, as they may deem advisable.

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered; and under the operation thereof the resolution was agreed to.

Mr. HIGBY moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was adopted; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

CLAIMS AGAINST VENEZUELA.

Mr. DRIGGS submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to furnish this House with a list of the claims of citizens of the United States now pending in the United States legation at Caracas against the United States of Venezuela with a brief indication of the causes of complaint, and the reasons why payments have not been enforced during a long series of years, and what measures are necessary to bring these long-deferred claims to a speedy close.

Mr. DRIGGS moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was adopted; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

ST. JOSEPH MISSOURI.

Mr. LOAN introduced a bill declaring St. Joseph, in the State of Missouri, a port of delivery; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Com

merce.

ST. LOUIS WHARF.

Mr. BLOW introduced a bill to allow the extension of the wharf at St. Louis, Missouri; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. The SPEAKER. The morning hour has expired.

RECONSTRUCTION.

Mr. STEVENS. I am instructed by the joint committee on reconstruction to report a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The joint resolution was read a first and second time. It is as follows:"

A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses concurring.) That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

ARTICLE.

SEC. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise shall be denied to any

portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to the whole number of such male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age

SEC. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress and for electors for President and Vice President of the United States.

SEC. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid

of insurrection or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor.

SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that this joint resolution be postponed until Tuesday of next week after the reading of the Journal, and be made the special order for that day, and from day to day until disposed of, and that it be printed.

Mr. NIBLACK. I desire to inquire whether this report of the committee on reconstruction is intended to supersede the special report lately made in reference to the State of Tennessee; or whether that special report is to be first considered and disposed of before this shall be reached.

Mr. STEVENS. This does not supersede that; if the House shall choose, that special report can be taken up at any time. I move that the joint resolution just reported be made the special order for Tuesday of next week after the reading of the Journal, and that it be printed.

Mr. ROSS. I have no objection to this being made the special order at the time indicated, subject to the prior consideration of the tariff and revenue bills, if they come up previously.

The SPEAKER. This must be made a special order or not; it cannot depend upon a contingency.

Mr. ROSS. Then I object.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to suspend the rules for the purpose I have named.

The question was taken; and upon a division there were-ayes 89, noes 20. Before the result of the vote was announced, Mr. ANCONA called for the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The question was taken; and it was decided in the affirmative-yeas 107, nays 20, not voting 56; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, Baker, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Buckland, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling. Cook, Cullom, Darling, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, Abner C. Harding, Henderson, Higby, Holmes, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Kelso, Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, MeClurg, McKee, MeRuer, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Orth, Paine, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Plants, William II. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, Rollins, Rousseau, Sawyer, Schenck, Shanklin, Shellabarger, Smith, Spalding. Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Burt Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Wentworth, Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge-107.

NAYS-Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Coffroth, Dawson, Eldridge, Finck, Grider, Aaron Harding, James M. Humphrey, Latham, Marshall, Niblack, Nicholson, Ritter, Ross, Strouse, Taylor, Thornton, and Winfield-20.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. James M. Ashley, Baldwin, Barker, Broomall, Bundy, Chanler, Culver, Davis, Denison, Dixon, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Farquhar, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Hale, Harris, Hart, Hayes, Hill, Hogan, Hooper, Demas Hubbard, Edwin N. Hubbell, James Humphrey, Johnson, Jones, Kasson, Kerr, Ketcham, Le Blond, McCullough, McIndoe, Mercur, Myers, Newell, Noell, O'Neill, Patterson, Pomeroy, Price, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Raymond, John H. Rice, Rogers, Scofield, Sitgreaves,

Sloan, Starr, Taber, Trimble. Van Aernam, Robert T.

Van Horn, Welker, and Wright-56.

So the motion to suspend the rules was agreed to, two thirds voting in the affirmative. During the roll-call,

Mr. THAYER said: My colleague, Mr. O'NEILL, is detained from the House in con

sequence of indisposition; he is paired on all political questions with my colleague, Mr. RANDALL

Mr. ANCONA said: My colleague, Mr. JOHNSON, is paired with Mr. HOOPER, of Massachusetts.

The result of the vote was announced as above.

The question was taken upon postponing the further consideration of the joint resolution till Tuesday of next week, after the reading of the Journal, and making it the special order for that day, and from day to day until disposed of; and it was agreed to.

The joint resolution was ordered to be printed. Mr. STEVENS. I am also instructed by the joint committee on reconstruction to report a bill to provide for restoring the States lately in insurrection to their full political rights.

The bill was read a first and second time. It is as follows:

A bill to provide for restoring the States lately in insurrection to their full political rights. Whereas it is expedient that the States lately in insurrection should, at the earliest day consistent with the future peace and safety of the Union, be restored to full participation in all political rights; and whereas the Congress did, by joint resolution, propose for ratification to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, an article in the following words, to wit:

ARTICLE

SEC. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in cach State, excluding Indians not-taxed. But whenever, in any State, the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age.

SEC. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress, and for electors for President and Vice President of the United States.

SEC. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor.

SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem bled, "That whenever the above-recited amendment shall have become part of the Constitution of the United States, and any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the same, and shall have modified its constitution and laws in conformity therewith. the Senators and Representatives from such State. if found duly elected and qualified, may, after having taken the required oaths of office, be admitted into Congress as such.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That when any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the foregoing amendinent to the Constitution, any part of the direct tax under the act of August 5, 1861, which may remain duo and unpaid in such State may be assumed and paid by such State; and the payment thereof, upon proper assurances from such State to be given to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, may be postponed for a period not exceeding ten years from and after the passage of this act.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the further consideration of this bill be postponed till Wednesday of next week, after the reading of the Journal, and be made the special order for that day, and from day to day until disposed of, and be printed.

Mr. ELDRIDGE. I object.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the rules be suspended for that purpose.

The question was taken; and two thirds vot ing in the affirmative, the motion was agreed to. The bill was accordingly postponed until Wednesday of next week, after the reading of the Journal, and made the special order for that day, and from day to day until disposed of, and was ordered to be printed.

Mr. STEVENS. I am further instructed by

the same committee to report a bill declaring certain persons ineligible to office under the Government of the United States.

The bill was read a first and second time. It is as follows:

A bill declaring certain persons ineligible to office under the Government of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That no person shall be eligible to any office under the Government of the United States who is included in any of the following classes, namely:

1. The president and vice president of the confederate States of America, so called, and the heads of departments thereof.

2. Those who in other countries acted as agents of the confederate States of America, so called.

3. Heads of Departments of the United States, officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, and all persons educated at the Military or Naval Academy of the United States, judges of the courts of the

United States, and members of either House of the Thirty-Sixth Congress of the United States who gave aid or comfort to the late rebellion.

4. Those who acted as officers of the confederate States of America, so called, above the grade of colonel in the army or master in the navy, and any one who, as Governor of either of the so-called confederate States, gave aid or comfort to the rebellion.

5. Those who have treated officers or soldiers or sailors of the Army or Navy of the United States, captured during the late war, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the further consideration of this bill be postponed until Thursday of next week, after the reading of the Journal, and be made the special order for that day, and from day to day until disposed of, and that it be printed.

Mr. ELDRIDGE. I object.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of making it a special order for Thursday week next.

Mr. ELDRIDGE demanded the yeas and nays, and tellers on the yeas and nays. Tellers were not ordered, and the yeas and nays were not ordered.

The rules were then suspended. The bill was ordered to be printed, and made the special order for Thursday week next, after the morning hour.

Mr. STEVENS. I am directed by the committee to say that it is designed, as soon as the testimony is printed, that a short report will be made by the committee in furtherance of the objects now reported.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to report from the Committee on Appropriations a bill making appropri ations for the uses of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, for the fiscal year commencing January 1, 1866, and that it be referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and made the special order for to-morrow after the morning hour. Mr. ROSS. Is that report in order? The SPEAKER. The committee have a right to report for commitment, but not for

action.

The bill was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, ordered to be printed, and made the special order for to-morrow after the morning hour.

CONFISCATION.

Mr. STEVENS. I present a substitute for House bill No. 63, to double the pensions of those who were pensioners by the casualties of the late war, and to pay the damages done to loyal men by the rebel government and rebel raiders, and to enforce the confiscation laws so as to pay the same out of the confiscated property of the enemy, and move that it be printed. There was no objection, and the substitute was received and ordered to be printed.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent to submit the following resolution calling for information:

Whereas the House did, by resolution dated March 5, 1866, request the President to inform them how many pardons had been granted by him, to whom, and for what offenses, and how much forfeited property had been restored to rebel owners, and to whom, to which no answer has yet been returned: Therefore, Be it resolved, That the President be requested at

his earliest convenience to communicate said information, as it is needed for the purposes of legislation. Mr. ROSS. I object.

LIQUOR IN THE CAPITOL.

Mr. GRINNELL. Mr. Speaker, my colleague, [Mr. PRICE,] who has been called away, desired I should move, which I do, that he be excused from further service on the committee

of conference in reference to the sale of liquor in the Capitol.

The motion was agreed to; and the Speaker appointed Mr. GRINNELL to fill the vacancy.

Mr. WENTWORTH. Mr. RANDALL, of Pennsylvania, stated to me that he would be absent to-day, and I move that he be excused from further service on the same committee. The motion was agreed to; and the Speaker appointed Mr. DAWSON to fill the vacancy.

Mr. ELIOT. I move to suspend the rules for that purpose.

The question was taken; and there were, upon a division-ayes 72, noes 28.

So the rules were suspended, two thirds voting in the affirmative, and the Committee of the Whole was discharged from the further consideration of House bill No. 492, being the river and harbor bill.

The House proceeded to consider the bill, which was read in full.

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS.

Mr. BRANDEGEE, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to withdraw from the files of the House the papers in the case of Marchant & Co., and P. Rosecrans, leaving copies of the

same.

PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL FRY.

Mr. BLAINE. Will the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ELIOT] yield to me a moment?

Mr. ELIOT. Yes, sir.

Mr. BLAINE. I hold in my hand a letter from Provost Marshal General Fry, which I ask to have read at the Clerk's desk for the double purpose of vindicating myself from the charge of having stated in debate last week what was false, and also for the purpose, which I am sure will commend itself to the House, of allowing fair play to an honorable man in the same forum in which he has been assailed.

The SPEAKER. It requires unanimous consent to have it read. Is there objection?

Mr. CONKLING. I infer that this has some reference to me. I shall make no objection provided I may have an opportunity to reply to whatever the letter may call for hereafter.

Mr. STEVENS. I hope this will be postponed until we get through this bill. I object to interrupting it in this way.

Mr. BLAINE. I move to suspend the rules to allow it to be read.

The SPEAKER. The House is now engaged in the consideration of a bill brought up under a suspension of the rules; it cannot, therefore, suspend the rules to consider another

matter.

RIVER AND HARBOR BILL-AGAIN.

Mr. ELIOT. The Committee on Commerce have deemed it to be their duty to offer this bill at this time for the consideration of the House and for their favorable action, and, as

they believe, for the promotion of the common welfare. The Constitution of the United States empowers it, the people demand it, and the necessities of the public require it. We ask for the expenditure of money and we believe that it can be shown that every dollar of appropriation asked for will, if judiciously applied, return thirty-fold into the Treasury of the United States. The time has come when loyal people look to Congress for help in the direc tion of this bill. During all the war the Committee on Commerce have persistently refused to report any bill on this subject although pe titions have been before them time and again. And the people have been content; they have been expending life and treasure to save the life of the nation. The work of war has called them from their homes. That work has been well accomplished and thoroughly. And now from every loyal section of the land petitions have come up demanding the action of Congress in behalf of works where the highest industrial interests of the country are involved.

Mr. Speaker, I do not propose at this time to discuss the rightful power of Congress under the Constitution to legislate in this manner. It would seem as though that question ought to be deemed settled. It has been discussed for many years by the ablest men who have represented their various constituencies upon this floor and in the Senate. Whatever theorists may say, I believe that it is certain that the practical common sense of this country demands and will receive but one solution.

Perhaps, however, I may say, in reporting this bill, that the Committee on Commerce have been guided somewhat by the principles of a resolution which obtained the sanction of this House nearly twenty years ago, to which I will refer. On the 21st, of December, 1847, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. WENTWORTH] offered the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the General Government has the power to construct such harbors and improve such rivers as are necessary and proper for the protection of our Navy and of our commerce, and also for the defenses of our country."

The principle of that resolution covers the appropriations called for in this bill, and I find while on the vote taken on the resolution the names of Jacob Thompson and others of that class are recorded in the negative, that besides the names of several gentlemen who are here upon the floor who are recorded in the affirmative, there were three not here who gave to that resolution, and to the principle of the resolu tion, the authority of their distinguished names. I refer to John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson, all of whom sustained the resolution in the terms which I have read.

Nearly forty years ago Mr. Webster emphatically gave his opinion, which he said had been expressed some twenty years before that time, in favor of the general power of Congress, and of the policy of its exercise by the Government. I hold in my hand an extract from Mr. Webster, which I will read. It is as follows:

Congress has power to regulate commerce, both internal and external, and whatever might have been thought to be the literal interpretation of these terms we know the construction to have been, from the very first assembling of Congress, and by the very men who framed the Constitution, that the regula tion of commerce comprehended such measures as were necessary for its support, its improvement, its advancement, and justified such expenditures as piers, beacons, and light-houses, and the cleaning out of harbors required. Instances of this sort in the

application of the general revenue have been frequent

from the commencement of the Government. As the same form, precisely, exists in relation to internal as well as external trade it was not easy to see why like expenditures might not be justified when made on internal objects. The vast regions of the West are penetrated by rivers to which those of Europe are but as rills and brooks. But the navigation of those noble streams, washing as they do the margin of one third of the States of the Union, was obstructed by obstacles capable of being removed, and yet not likely to be removed but by the power of the General Government. Was this a justifiable object of expendi ture from the national Treasury? Without hesitation I have thought it was. A vast chain of lakes, if it be not more proper to call them a succession of inland seas, stretches into the deep interior of this northern part of the continent, as if kindly placed there by Providence to break the continuity of the