013 786 440 A • peiimalife« pH8.5 / E 668 . V62 Copy 1 POLITICAL DISABILITIFS. SPEECH HON. GEOKGE VICKEES OF ]M^VRYLA.ND, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 15, 1872. r>y',..,..,.^(vV WASHINGTON: F. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, RErORTERS AND PRINTERS OP THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS. 1872. mil, iiiM>'"""i'' POLITICAL DISABILITIES. The Senate having under consideration the bill (11. R. No. 380) for the removal of legal and political disabilities imposed by the third section of the four- teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States — Mr. VICKERSsaid: Mr. President : It is not my purpose to fol- low the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Sum- ner] in the remarks which he has made, be- cause his amendment is not only not germane to the subject-matter properly before the Sen- ate, but is BO palpably unconstitutional that I consider it unnecessary to make any comment upon it. He undertakes, by this amendment, absolutely to forfeit chartei's granted by the State governments, as well as by the national Government. It is so clearly unconstitutional in its prominent features that I shall not now consider it, but shall proceed to speak on the subject before the Senate, which is the bill granting relief from political disabilities to the southern people. Mr. President, the causes and influences which produced the war should not be judged entirely by its tragedies and results ; neither "^nuld the character of it be described as a '-" the ordinary sense of destroying one (iuv- nt to erect another upon its ruins ; to set aside or displace one set of rulers to substitute others ; not of the character of the revolution in Mexico and other South American republics ; not such as that which occurred in England and in France, which cul- minated in the dethronement and execution of their kings. I am not to be understood as jus- tifying or approving secession, for I mourned over it as for lost children ; but I am endeavor- ing to state the southern view of the charac- ter of the conflict as a truth of history without a gloss ; and I do this with a view of bringing the mind to a proper consideration of the cir- cumstances and the condition in which we are now placed, that from this stand-point we may the more plainly see and perform our duty to the country, to the southern people, and to ourselves. It will not be denied that the South not only believed that the Federal Government was one of limited and specific powers, but that the Constitution had been violated in the refusal by several of the States to surrender fugitives held to service, and by the imposition by the Government of high protecting duties on im- portations for the benefit of sectional inter- ests. These were some of the complaints and allegations of that section; The people were educated politically in that faith, and for many years these subjects, and the attempts to pro- hibit them from carrying slave property into the Territories, were frequently and ardently discussed in Congress, in their State Legisla- tures, and in public assemblies. At one period the doctrine of nullification had obtained such a strong hold upon the public mind of the South as to hold the peace of the country in a state of vibration. It may not be altogether unprofitable to revert to the teachers and teach- ings of the fathers of the Constitution, and their contemporaries and successors, upon mat- ters of such gravity. When the subject of the adoption of the Con- stitution was before the conventions of tlie different States, it was contended by some of the ablest and most eloquent opposers of it that the Confederation was sufficient for all necessary and essential purposes; that it had united us in our struggles for liberty, and had furnished men and means to conduct the war to a glorious termination ; that patriotism and a sense of common danger were ties strong enough to bind the States against a common enemy, and that they needed no other politi- cal organization for defense or progress ; that Switzerland was a confederacy consisting of dissimilar governments; that that republic had stood in its integrity for four hundred years, though several of the individual republics which composed the confederacy were democratic, others aristocratic ; and that they had, thus con- stituted, braved the power of France and Ger- many during that long and eventful period — this they had done in the neighborhood of powerful nations, headed by ambitious and warlike monarchs; that our country, separated by the expanse of ocean from the Old World, with its anti- republican kingdoms and empires, and each State possessed of republican insti- tutions, could certainly, under such advantages, maintain a confederacy for all useful and defens- ive purjioscs. They were unwilling to make any further surrender of political power ; and those who did so took every precaution, as they be- lieved, to limit and specify the powers of the Constitution, and to preserve the sovereign and reserved rights of the States against all encroachment and invasion. It was conceded by the writers of the Fed- eralist, and by others of eminence, that it was to be a Government of delegated and specific powers. The practical question afterward arose, how v/ere the States to be protected against encroachments by the administrators of that Government; each being sovereign, within its own jurisdiction and powers. Alexander Hamilton said in the seventy-eighth number of the Federalist, "There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised is void. No legislative act, there- fore, contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal ; that the servant is above his master ; that the Representatives of the people are superior to the people them- selves." Mr. King, of Massachusetts, after- ward of New York, is reported to have said in the Convention, " It was of the nature of a commission given by the several States for performing acts of a general nature, which no one State was separately competent to do." In 1792 the Federal and anti-Federal parties were more distinctly organized, growing out of the construction of the Constitution in refer- ence to the extent of the Federal powers, and which have ever since been the subject of earn- est and serious discussion and contention. The power of the Federal Government soon became a subject of controversy. So early as 1794, General Washington, then President, sent a message to Congress upon what was called the whisky insurrection, in which he stated that oombinatious to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States, and upon stills, had from the time of the commencement of those laws existed in some of the western parts of Penn- sylvania. The peace of the Union being again disturbed, Mr. Madison, in 1812, in a message to Congress, stated that a secret agent of the British Government was employed in certain States, more especially at the seat of govern- ment in Massachusetts, in fomenting disaffec- tion to the constituted authorities of the nation, and in intrigues with the disaffected, for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws, and eventually, in concert with a British force, of destroying the Union and forming the eastern part thereof into a political connection with Great Britain. In 1814, when it became necessary to raise troops for the defense of the country. Governor Strong, of Massachusetts, said, "The Govern- ment of the United States is founded on the State governments and must be supported by them. In the arrangements of the different powers the State governments are, to many purposes, interposed between the Government of the United States and the people." "The State Legislatures are the guardians, not only of individuals, but of the sovereignty of their respective States, and while they are bound to support the General Government in the exer- 6 State and the General Government ; but I am speaking of the early tutilage of the people by the great leaders of the party, enforced, as before stated, by some of the prominent Fed- eralists of New England at the critical periods of the embargo and the war, and I ask Sena- tors, after such lessons from such eminent tutors, whether so much astonishment should have been excited at their natural results ? But, coming down to a later period, I pre- mise that the Constitution of 1787 recognized the existence of slavery as an institution pro- tected by its provisions, and entering into the numerical apportionment of representation in the House of Representatives. To secure the owners, the following is a portion of the fourth article: " No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." Mr. Madison, in the fifty-fourth number of the Federalist, correctly stated that "the Federal Constitution there- fore decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of property." But in August, 1852, the honorable Sen- ator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] in a speech delivered in this Senate, possibly the first great speech of the Senator after he took his seat in this body, in commenting upon the Constitution, and especially on that portion of it relating to this domestic institution, cor- rectly quoted the language of one of the ori- ginal amendments to that instrument,that ' ' the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respective])^, or to the people," and the Senator justly added that stronger words could not be employed to limit the power under the Con- stitution, and to protect the people from all assumptions of the national Government, and added, "Its guardian character commended it to the sagacious mind of Jefferson, who said, * I consider the foundation corner-stone of the Constitution of the United States to be laid upon the tenth article of the amend- ments,' " which tenth article is the one just before quoted by the Senator in reference to the reserved power of the States. With his usual emphasis, and to make more emphatic this constitutional maxim, he super- adds, " Beyond all question the national Gov- ernment, ordained by the Constitution, is not general or universal, but special and particular. It is a Government of limited powers. It has no power which is not delegated." And in further comment upon this interesting and momentous subject of relative constitutional power, which the honorable Senator from Mas- sachusetts seems to have studied with so much diligence, he repeats substantially his former argument forthe purpose of impressing it upon the mind of the Senate ; and to convince Sen- ators of his ardency and sincerity in announc- ing constitutional views and opinions, he said, " To the nation were delegated high powers, essential to the national interests, but specific in character and limited in number. To the States and to the people were reserved the powers, general in character and unlimited in number, not delegated to the nation or pro- hibited to the States. The integrity of our political system depends upon harmony in the operation of the nation and of the States. While the nation within its wide orbit is su- preme, the States move with equal supremacy in their own. But from the necessity of the case the supremacy of each in its proper place excludes the other. The nation cannot exer- cise rights reserved to the States ; nor can the States interfere with the powers of the nation. Any such action on either side is a usurpation." How analogous in sentiment, if not in ex- pression, is this language with that used by Senator Hayne in his great discussion with Mr. Webster, and who said, "When any State is brought into direct collision with the Fed- eral Government, in the case of an attempt by the latter to exercise unconstitutional powers, the appeal (to the people) must be made by Congress, (the party proposing to exert the disputed power,) in order to have it expressly conferred, the exercise of such authority must be suspeuded. Even in cases of doubt, such an appeal is due to the peace and harmony of the Government." And he [Mr. Sumxer] quotes the language ofthemessage of President Jackson, which said, " I regard an appeal to the 6 State and the General Government ; but I am speaking of the early tutilage of the people by the great leaders of the party, enforced, as before stated, by some of the prominent Fed- eralists of New England at the critical periods of the embargo and the war, and I ask Sena- tors, after such lessons from such eminent tutors, whether so much astonishment should have been excited at their natural results? But, coming down to a later period, I pre- mise that the Constitution of 1787 recognized the existence of slavery as an institution pro- tected by its provisions, and entering into the numerical apportionment of representation in the House of Representatives. To secure the owners, the following is a portion of the fourth article: *' No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." Mr. Madison, in the fifty-fourth number of the Federalist, correctly stated that "the Federal Constitution there- fore decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of propertj'." But in August, 1852, the honorable Sen- ator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumxer,] in a speech delivered in this Senate, possibly the first great speech of the Senator after he took his seat in this body, in commenting upon the Constitution, and especially on that portion of it relating to this domestic institution, cor- rectly quoted the language of one of the ori- ginal amendments to that instrument, that ' ' the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respective!}', or to the people," and the Senator justly added that stronger words could not be employed to limit the power under the Con- stitution, and to protect the people from all assumptions of the national Government, and added, "Its guardian character commended it to the sagacious mind of Jefferson, who said, *I consider tlie foundation corner-stone of the Constitution of the United States to be laid upon the tenth article of the amend- ments,' " which tenth article is the one just before quoted by the Senator in reference to the reserved power of the States. With his usual emphasis, and to make more emphatic this constitutional maxim, he super- adds, " Beyond all question the national Gov- ernment, ordained by the Constitution, is not general or universal, but special and particular. It is a Government of limited powers. It has no power which is not delegated." And in further comment upon this interesting and momentous subject of relative constitutional power, which the honorable Senator from Mas- sachusetts seems to have studied with so much diligence, he repeats substantially his former argument for the purpose of impressing it upon the mind of the Senate ; and to convince Sen- ators of his ardency and sincerity in announc- ing constitutional views and opinions, he said, " To the nation were delegated high powers, essential to the national interests, but specific in character and limited in number. To the States and to the people were reserved the powers, general in character and unlimited in number, not delegated to the nation or pro- hibited to the States. The integrity of our political system depends upon harmony in the operation of the nation and of the States. While the nation within its wide orbit is su- pi'eme, the States move with equal supremacy in their own. But from the necessity of the case the supremacy of each in its proper place excludes the other. The nation cannot exer- cise rights reserved to the States ; nor can the States interfere with the powers of the nation. Any such action on either side is a usurpation." How analogous in sentiment, if not in ex- pression, is this language with that used by Senator Hayne in his great discussion with Mr. Webster, and who said, "When any State is brought into direct collision with the Fed- eral Government, in the case of an attempt by the latter to exercise unconstitutional powers, the appeal (to the people) must be made by Congress, (the party proposing to exert the disputed power,) in order to have it expressly conferred, the exercise of such authority must be suspended. Even in cases of doubt, such an appeal is due to the peace and harmony of the Government." And he [Mr, Sumnku] quotes the language of themessage of President Jackson, which said, " I regard an appeal to the source of power, in cases of real doubt, and ■where its exercise is deemed indispensable to the general welfare, as among the most sacred of all our obligations. Upon this country, more than any other, has, in the providence of God, been cast the special guardianship of the great principle of adherence to written constitutions." But the Senator from Massachusetts, fol- lowing up the train of vigorous thought upon the most vital subjects, that of constitutional power, and the redress and remedy for its ex- ercise and infraction by congressional usurp- ation, and looking to the logical sequel of his positions, naturally referred to the distin- guished writers and profound statesmen of his country. Prominent among them was Thomas Jefferson, who in 1798, uttered words of solemn import. The Senator therefore said as a con- clusion to his last words, which I have quoted, "These principles were distinctly declared by Mr. Jefferson in 1798 in words often adopted since, and which must find acceptance from all parties, 'that the several States composing the United States of America are not united upon the principles of unlimited submission to the General Government ; but that by com- pact under the style and title of the Constitu- tion of the United States and of the amend- ments thereto, they constituted a General Gov- ernment for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite poivers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government, and that ichcnso- ever the General Government assumes undele- gated powers, its acts are unauthorized, void, and of no force. ' ' ' Not voidable by an applica- tion to the courts or to any other tribunal, but ipso facto void, and of no force or effect. Mr. Jefferson understood the import and power of the words which he used, and adopted the strongest and most effective that his vernacular could furnish to give point, clearness, and effect to the idea which he wished to convey. In the Virginia resolutions of 1798, prepared by him, he declared that the Federal Govern- ment " was not made the exclusive and final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discre- tion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers, but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress." The Kentucky resolutions of the succeeding year not only i-e.isserted the right of the States to judge of infractions, but that nullification was the right- ful remedy. And Mr. Madison said that where resort can be had to no common superior, the parties to the compact must themselves be the rightful judges whether the bargain has been preserved or violated. President Jackson seems to have carried the doctrine of the right to judge of the Constitu- tion further than Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Madi- son, in their published opinions. The Sen- ator from Massachusetts in his memorable speech, to which I have alluded, said, "And here I adopt with entire assent the language of President Jackson, in his memorable veto, in 1832, of the Bank of the United States. To his course was opposed the authority of the Supreme Court, and this is his reply, ' If the opinion of the Supreme Court covers the whole ground of this act, it ought not to control the coordinate authorities of this Government. The Congress, the Executive, and the court, must each for itself be guided by Its own opin- ion of the Constitution. Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others. It is as much the duty of the House of Repre- sentatives, of the Senate, and of the Presi- dent, to decide upon the constitutionality of any bill or resolution which may be presented to them for passage or approval, as it is of the supreme judges when it may be brought before them for judicial decision. The author- ity of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive, when acting in their legislative capacities, but have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve.' " The Senator added, that with these authoritative words of Andrew Jackson he dismissed the topic. Before the conclusion of the Senator's speech he declared that he would not obey the fugitive slave law. That conclusion was a legitimate corrollary of the speech, and of the alleged right personally to judge of the 8 constitutionality of an act of Congress, and any other conclusion would have been a non sequiliir. Mr. Webster, in u speech at Capon Springs in 1851, said, "It is written in the Constitu- tion, ' No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.'"' He goes on to say: "That is as much a part of the Constitution as any other, and as equally binding and oblig- atory as any other on all men, public or pri- vate. And who denies this? None but the abolitionists of the North." lie further stated in that speech, and in that connection, "I have not hesitated to say, and I repeat, that if the northern States refuse, willfully and deliberately, to carry into eflect that part of the Constitution which respects the restora- tion of fugitive slaves, and Congress provide no remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe the compact. A bargain cannot be broken on one side and still bind the other side." To sustain the power of the States, and in opposition to the views taken by the advocates of Federal power, and of a reference of all disputed questions between the States and the Federal Government, it was contended by the former that there were cases in which infrac- tions of the compact or Constitution might be palpably made by ihe General Government, of which the Federal courts could not take jurisdiction. For instance: suppose Congress should, under its power of taxation, levy an almost indefinite tax upon the jieople for the purpose of distribution among works of inter- nal improvement ; or, suppose after such ex- tensive taxation. Congress should appropriate the money to the establishment of presses, churches, ttc, or for any other unconstitutional object, the courts could not take jurisdiction in such cases. Mr. Madison, in his report of the Virginia resolutions of 1708, said that there might be instances of usurped power which the forms of the Constitution might prove ineffectual against, infractions, dangerous to the essential rights of the parties to it; and in further argument upon this point, that great man said, "However true, therefore, it may be that the judicial department is, in all questions submitted to it by the forms of the Constitution, to decide in the last resort, this resort must necessarily be deemed the last in relation to the author- ities of the other departments of the Govern- ment; not in i-elation to the rights of the parties to the constitutional compact, from which the judicial, as well as the other depart- ments, hold their delegated trusts. On a»y other hypothesis, the delegation of judicial power would annul the authority delegating it; and the concurrence of this department with the others in usurped powers might sub- vert forever, and beyond the possible reach of any rightful remedy, the very Constitution which all were instituted to preserve." The honorable Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Sumner] had doubtless drank deep at the fountains of constitutional wisdom and construction thus opened by the sages of the country and the fathers of the Constitution before he made the memorable speech in 1852 to which I have referred. It is well known that Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, and other renowned statesmen of the South, im- bibed and proclaimed the Madison and JefiPer- son doctrines of 1798 and 1799; and in all the mutations and conflicts of parties in the South from that period, a large majority of the people of that section entertained the same views. During periods in the history of the country they were not always prominently presented and made the subjects of comment and controversy, as well because the course of events did not make it necessary, as that they were well understood to be the theory and groundwork of a political organization in the South upon great constitutional ques- tions. Although in 1832, when a crisis exi-^ted and had almost culminated in civil war, and though the distinctions of Democrats and Whigs existed among them, the great majority of those party divisions believed either in nullification or se- cession, however divided they might have been in opinion upon the expediency or present propriety of resisting the laws. They believed in the right of one or the other remedy, but 9 many of them doubted the expedienc}' of its attempted exercise at that eventful period ; but their children and grandchildren were instructed and educated, politically, in the principles of Government and constitutional law whicli had been transmitted by the early statesmen and fathers of the Ilepublic. While the country remained in tranquil- lity and the laws wcra respected no one ever dreamed of imputing disloyaltj' or a want of patriotism to the generous and gallant people of the South. They furnished the great staple, cotton, by which foreign goods to a great extent were purchased, the balance of trade maintained, and the country jireserved from financial embarrassment by a drain of the precious metals ; they consumed immense quantities and values of domestic fabrics, and contributed largely to the industry, com- merce, and prosperitj' of the country ; their views of the Constitution, its checks, and guards ; its powers, restraints, and prohibi- tions ; its limited character, nature, and rela- .tion to the States; and their reserved rights and sovereign capaci'ies, never were imputed to them in any light of disparagement, in any possible sense. Their opinions were honestly and firmly maintained. When in 1812 war was declared against our first and only antagonist, in defense of the interest and honor of the country, it was their voice which made the demand, and their bono and muscle that were freely offered in sacrifice upon its altar. No braver people ever stepped forth to main- tain the honor of the flag, the dignity of the Government, the rights of the sailor, or the Union of the States against domestic treason and foreign force and machinations. In the Mexican war their blood and treasure were freely given and expended, and they were always held as a free and ready offering whenever the country needed the one or the other. From the election of Mr. Adams in 1821, and the latitudinarian views of the Constitution then expressed, and the increased duties on im- ports, which began to excite the jealousy and alarm of the South, in what they deemed a tax upon one section to advance the interest of another, the subject of State rights, which had lain comparatively dormant, (except when revived by some supposed attempt to engage in works of internal improvement, or to increase duties on importations was brought into clearer notice and activity; the increase of import duties, and the ugilation of slavery in the Territories, gave full scope to the views and opinions of the South upon the nature, character, and powers of the Government. The m'ghty efforts of Mr. Websterand other great men who entertained different views upon the various subjects of the tariff, finances, rev- enue, and the Territories excited the public mind and produced immense agitation and much alarm for the safety of the Constitution and the Union. Parties were arrayed for years; intensity of feeling and action, ambi- tion, patriotism, sectional feeling, interest, and argument were aroused and brought into active and energetic use to maintain and obtain the administration of the Government. It resulted in the choice of a sectional Pres- ident in 18G0, the first ever elected as such, and this was unfortunately succeeded by an organized, conventional, formal secession or attempted withdrawal of eleven States from the Union. This, as they alleged, was in accordance with their views of constitutional right. Not in their view, as a measure of war or rebellion, but as a dissolution of the com- pact, a withdrawal from the partnership, and a willingness to adjust and settle all the rights, obligations, and responsibilities growing out of their former relation, by mutual and satis- factory arrangement and according to the prin- ciples of equity ; that the General Government could exist and continue its operations with- out them, as it did before Rhode Island and North Carolina, acting as sovereign and inde- pendent States, consented to give their adhe- sion to the Constitution. This was opposed on the part of the Govern- ment, and by those who entertained different sentiments and opinions upon its characterand duties, and the relation which existed between the States and the Federal Constitution ; they deemed thelatterindissoluble, and the States so inflexibly bound, thatthe people evenof eleven States — two more than formed the original Constitution — could not change their political relations and affinities, and must stand or fall by the power of the General Government. 10 Each claimed to be sovereign ; each had been trained to believe in their respective theories, and as no Government like ours had ever ex- isted, and history furnished no exainple or iu- Etruclion by which the great question mi^htbe solved, it v/as to be determined by the wager of battle. Peaceful efforts were proposed, tried, and failed ; the hopes and fears of the counh'y were aroused, and it was hoped that a good Providence would avert the calamity of war. But it came, with all its terrors and all its horrors ; it has passed into history, and its true character is to be written by an impartial historian, whose pen has not yet been formed. The history of reconstruction followed. The South made a great mistake in going into secession ; the North made a serious one by its plan of reconstruction. Many who sup- ported and sustained the Government through the whole period of the war, who stopped not to cavil at measures which they deemed ille- gal, because of t!ie end to be attained, hesi- tated, faltered, and withdrew their support at the plan of reconstruction. The feelings en- gendered by the war caused many to sustain those who advocated and prosecuted it for a considerable period, and who chose not to separate from them wiih vvrhom they had acted during the perils of the country, but every month that followed, and every new act of reconstruction, of disfranchisement, of disabil- ity, of degradation of States, lost friends to the Administration. This was jiereeptible to the dispassionate observer, and is the result of the influence upon the public mind of the spirit and genius of our institutions; of the history and tradi- tions of our country ; of its former greatness and unity of feeling ; of patriotism in peace and war; of a common ancestry ; of language; of general ideasof agreat and glorious future; of the union of feeling, of purpose, and of effort on the field of strife against a common foe, on the mountain wave, in the sanguinary conflict with a powerful adversary; and of a common hope of a speedy retura.to fraternal union and harmony. It found a lodgment in the hearts of men, of Christians, of friends, of philan- thropists. Thanks to the good and great Ruler of the universe, that even in our fallen state there remains that sense of charity, of benev- olence, of kindness, of forgiveness, of sympa- thy, and of friendship Vi-hich neither policy nor statecraft can eliminate or destroy! Why, Mr. President, so rejoiced was the heart of the nation upon the surrender of Lee and the return of tranquillity, that it forgot all the tragic scenes of the war, and looked only to the i^romising and delightful prosjiects and fruition of peace. My candid opinion is that if President Lincoln had lived to carry out his programme of reconstruction, or if his suc- cessor had been permitted to consummate what his predecessor had begun, we should now be a happy, a cordially united, and prosperous people ; and the Republican party stronger, with a more hopeful future. Every fresh at- tempt at reconstruction lias acted upon the party like the rebound of an overloaded gun upon its possessor. The idea of taxing the men of the South, and of enforcing every civil duty upon them, while disabling them by acts of Congress from the enjoyment of equal rights with the most humble and obscure, is not con- sonant with the genius of our Government nor with the spirit and temper of our people ; in fact, the idea is not American, it is exotic, and cannot be incorporated into our American system, nor made comj^atible with our views of civil liberty. The practice of calling the rebellion a Dem- ocratic rebellion, and of cha,rging the Demo- crats of the North with a want of loyalty to the Government, is in as bad taste as it is incon- sistent with the truth of history ; for it is known to all that with comparatively few exceptions the Whigs and Democrats of the South went into secession and supported that cause, while the mass or majority of them in the North sus- tained the Government with men, money, and arms. The fact must be patent to all who are not blinded or infatuated by jjarty spirit that without the aid of the Democrats of the North secession would have been successful. Now that the war has terminated successfully for the Government, it does not become those who supported it to taunt with disloyalty those who gave it as effectual aid as themselves, because they did not cooperate in subsequent legisla- tion which they deemed inconsistent with the principles and spirit of the Constitution. But it is alleged by some as a reason for 11 keeping up invidious distinctions in the South that they do not faliy accept and conform to the situation or new condition of things jiro- duced by the war and the legislation sub- sequent to it. Surely, no sensible man can expect that because the resistance to the Gov- ernment was suppressed, the South exhausted, conquered, and subdued, such a result could change the opinions of men on constitutional subjects. Physical force, bayonets, nor the sword ever changed an opinion ; the mental forces are superior to the physical ; the latter maybe controlled and modified by the former, but the operations of the mind and the con- clusions of the judgment are unaffected by the march or the conflicts of armies. If the South had procured foreign aid, or of itself had proved an overmatch for the Gov- ernment, would that have changed the opinions which prevailed in the North, and which Mr. Webster enforced and sustained with his great ability,asto the powers and faculties of the Fed- eral Constitution? They would have remained unchanged. The reason, the intelligence, of neither party, as to their respective theories, were altered ; but while this was so abstractly, yet practically and in all the relations which the southern States sustained to the Govern- ment, as established by the result of the war, they accepted the condition, submitted to the practical workings of the Constitution, so far as that they could not secede or break up the Union, or dissolve their connection with it, and would live peaceably and quietly under it. The great question presented, whether States had a right to secede, was determined by bat- tle and the conflict of arms ; the solution was practically made that States could not secede, and that the Union of the States should remain intact; the South made the issue, the North accepted it ; the verdict of arms was against the South, and to that conclusion, settled by a tribunal higher than the courts, and from which there is no appeal, they submit. What more can you expect? What more anticipate or hope for? You have triumphed ; the vic- tory is yours ; thefruitsof it should be equality, peace, harmony, prosperity. You have ad- mitted them to representation ; have raised the former slaves to the rights of citizenship ; the States, by the Constitution, have equal power, dignity, and honor. We are again one undi- vided people. ]■] pluribus timim is again our motto in form ; but how can it be in the sense and spirit of its original, which was the pride and boast of Washington, Adams, Jefferson. Madison, and others, by whoso wisdom and statesmanship the charter of our liberties was formed and preserved, if distinctions and in- equalities are kept up ? Let it not be said that this great right should be deferred because of some disorders in the South. After such a long and terrible conflict, which aroused for a time the passions and animosi- ties of men ; after such losses, privations, and sufferings, which a war only could produce, would you expect a sudden transition to quiet- ness, to order, and to law? Human passions require time to cool, to subside; human nature needs time with attendant auspicious circum- stances to become conformed to other condi- tions ; there is always an extreme or refrac- tory element in every community, sraall in comparison to the whole, yet of sufficient strength for a time to irritate and disturb the body-politic ; it assumes all forms and prac- tices all devices, despite the wishes for the good order and harmony of the community. But evil exists in the North, and in every section of the country; crimes of all grades and flagrancy are committed. Newspapers are freighted with their accounts, and the lov- ers of law and tranquillity are mourning over the depravity and disturbances which prevail; but these should not prolong a policy, wrong in its nature and inception, and which can only be productive of mischief in the future, as it has been of evil in the past. I have wondered at the facility and readiness with which com- parative tranquillity and order wore restored in the South, when it is recollected that, the war, in all its attributes of horror and destruc- tion, was brought to the homesteads of that gallant and once happy people. We should also view the subject from a southern stand-point, to be able to judge fairly and impartially. How different the treatment of the South has been from what the dictates of humanity and of sound policy prescribed, and how unlike the American character, which is marked by magnanimity and generosity. The bill author- izing the President to suspend the writ of habeas 12 corpus whenever he shall decide to do so is a plain and palpable infraction of the Constitu- tion, which declares that '"the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the ])ublic safety may require it." Rebellion is armed resistance to or an open and avowed renunciation of the authority of the Govern- ment. Invasion is a hostile entrance into the po.s- scssions of another, as of England by William the Norman, or of our own country by English troops in the days of our struggle for inde- pendence; but so cautious were the framers of the Constitution, and so strongly disposed to protect the liberty of the citizen, that they superadded the requisition of the "public safety," even incases of rebellion or invasion ; they did not intend to invest Congress with Ihe power of susi^ension iinless the peril and life of the Government required it. It was not any rebellion or invasion, or both, that should cause this latent and dangerous power to spring into action, for the term "public safety" means the safety and preservation of the Government. Congress alone can exercise this power when the emergency arises; they represent the States and the people, and their judgment on this subject is, in theory, the judgment of the country. This power cannot be delegated to another ; the discretion, consideration, and judgment of Congress cannot be transferred ; the crisis can only be judged by them, and no one man can constitutionally exercise the wis- dom, the prudence, the power of that body. As well might Congress delegate the war- making power to the President as the power to deprive the citizen of the right to this great writ, so indispensable to the enjoyment ^' of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness." The Supreme Court, in the case of Martin vs. Mott, in 12 Wheaton, laid down the rule in reference to statutes, and the reason is stronger and the rule more imperative when the Con- stitution gives a discretionary power to act. They said, " Whenever a statute gives a dis- cretionary power to any person, to be exercised Ijy him upon his own opinion of certain facts, it is a sound rule of construction that the statute constitutes him the sole and exclusive judge of the existence of those facts." It is a remarkable fact that in the history of our Government this great writ, so vital to the Republic, was never suspended till the year 18G3, in the Presidency of Mr. Lincoln. The country having passed through all the excite- ments of its political organization, of nullifi- cation, and of war, without a resort to this extreme and dangerous experiment, it was left to the party now in power to make the first inroad into the Constitution and this great safeguard of popular liberty. Mr. Jefferson was so jealous of the rights of the citizen, and so opposed to the exercise of arbitrary power, that he stated in his corre- sjiondence he was opposed to the suspension of this writ in any case whatever, declaring himself in favor of "the eternal and unremit- ting force of the habeas corpus laws," and asked the question emphatically, " Why sus- pend the writ of habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions?" Judge Story, in his Com- mentary on the Constitution, in writing on this writ, says, " It is therefore justly esteemed the great bulwark of personal liberty, since it is the appropriate remedy to ascertain whether any person is rightfully in confinement or not, and the cause of his confinement; and if no sufficient ground of detention appears, the party is entitled to his immediate discharge." He adds, "It would seem as the power is given to Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion or invasion, that the right to judge whether the exigency has arisen must exclusively belong to that body ;" and he refers to Chancellor Kent as entertaining the same opinion. In a time of profound peace, when the officers of the Government are respected and their functions performed in every section of the Union — nearly seven years after the war and the commencement of the work of reconstruc- tion, when taxes are levied and paid, and the courts sit in security, dispense justice to liti- gants, and execute their judgments — we find a portion of the South overrun by Federal sol- diers, which they are taxed to support ; private houses and families invaded; the citizen dragged away from his wife and children, and incar- cerated in distant prisons, without the common privilege of being informed of the author and cause of his arrest, and denied the right of habeas corpus, which is awarded to the com- monest felon. Such a course is subversive of all constitu- tional Government; it is destructive of civil liberty; strikes at the foundation of our insti- tutions, and sets up a dictator in the person of the President, clothing him with absolute power over the rights and liberties of the peo- ple, and if unrebuked will lead to a despotism infinitely greater than that exercised over our colonial existence. It was said by an eminent judge that the writ of habeas corpus is the angel of the Con- stitution; but it is now made the plaything of Congress and a puppet of the President. Our fathers would not, dared not, desired not, to violate the letter or the spirit of the Constitu- tion by the suppression of the writ and the oppression of the people. They estimated the value of the liberty of the citizen. They knew that without it life was intolerable and exist- ence a burden; but our present rulers and party in power, aided by a partisan judge, trample upon what is sacred and dear to the American heart. But I warn them against the smothered feelings of an outraged public, which may not always endure aggressions upon the Constitution and the personal rights of the people, but will, in time, rise in their majesty, and by constitutional means hurl them from power. Wrong will not always succeed or perpetuate itself. Mr. Webster, in his great speech at Bunker Hill, said, " If the true spark of civil and reli- gious liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be smothered for a time ; the ocean may overwhelm it ; mountains may press it down ; but its inherent and unconquer- able force will heave both the ocean and the land, and at some time or another, in some place or another, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven." We sometimes hear gentlemen talk of look- ing to the South for " works meet for repent- ance," and when they have proof of such they will be willing to exercise the required clem- ency! These terms are general, and I have not heard any definition of them. We are therefore left to conjecture what they mean, and to wait for a clearer explanation of thia misty and indefinite generality when used in a political sense. General Longstreet, who com- manded in the armies of the South, whose mili- tary skill and prowess won many a battle-field, and whose name seemed to be identified with success, did "work meet for repentance" by accepting a lucrative oSice in the custom-house at New Orleans. Whether that was the rule or the exception we have not been informed ; but the work most essential has been performed. Govern- ments have been organized under your recon- struction laws ; Executives and Legislatures have been elected, judges installed, and law administered, education provided for, and sal- utary laws in many instances enacted; indus- try meets with its reward, labor is resuming its wonted channels, a recuperative energy manifests itself among the people, and the sun of prosperity is beginning to shine as for- merly upon the efforts and enterprise of that region. What more or better evidences of "accepting the situation " is wanted to com- plete the picture? It is not to be supposed that any Senaior would expect a southerner who applies to have disabilities removed to do so in a cringing or supplicating manner, with loud professions of loyalty and with humiliating promises of obe- dience and submission. A man who would thus act would disparage his claim, and by truckling and affected loyalty detract from the dignity and bearing of an American citizen. When he comes in the spirit and manhood of a patriot and asks a removal of the restric- tions under which he labors, by that very act he recognizes your authority, accepts the con- dition, renews his loyalty and allegiance to the altered situation, acknowledges secession to be a failure, and asks to be reinstated in all his original rights and privileges, that he may render to the Government the aid which intel- ligence and patriotism might bring to restore itto itsoriginal, healthful, constitutional action and policy, that ils miEsion and beneficent results may be a blessing to the people. Congress expects good governments to be formed and well administered, and yet by its legislation it excludes many of the best citi- 14 zens of the South from holding office. It keeps open a wound constantly irritated and calcu- lated to produce dissatisfaction and discontent. You expect the public mind of the South to be composed when you apply a constant irri- tant. There are now, perhaps, forty thousand persons prevented from holding office by reason of the fourteenth amendment. By keeping up disqualifications and prohibitions you derogata from the dignity and equality of States. You admit them to representation, yet dwarf their choice, limit their volition, and impair their coordinate authority and character as States. The distinguished William Pinckney, of Maryland, in discussing the Missouri question and denying the authority of Congress to im- pose the restriction upon the introduction of slavery into the Territories, said in emphatic terms, "No man can contradict me when I say that if you have this power you may squeeze down a new-born sovereign State to the size of a pigmy, and then, taking it between finger and thumb, stick it into some niche of the Union, and still continue by way of mock- ery to call it a State in the sense of the Consti- tution. You may waste it to a shadow and then introduce it iuto the society of flesh and blood, an object of scorn and derision. You may sweat and reduce it to a thing of skin and bone, and then place the ominous skeleton beside the ruddy and healthful members of the Union, that it may have leisure to mourn the lamentable difference between itself and its companions; to brood over its disastrous pro- motion, and to seek in justifiable discontent an opportunity for separation, insurrection, and rebellion." Patrick Henry is admitted to have been one of the wisest and most eloquent members of the Virginia convention which adopted the Constitution, and of the whole country ; in ti-ue eloquence he was unsurpassed, if equaled; his patriotism was kindled by the fires of the Revo- lution, and burned with a bright and unsullied luster. He thought he saw In the Constitution of the United States, then proposed, the ele- ments of tyranny and oppression to the States ; warned his countrymen against its adoption, and in concluding one of the ablest and most eloquent speeches of his life, said, "Gentle- men may retain their oplnlou?, but I look on that paper as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people. If such be your rage for novelty, take it, and welcome ; but you never shall have my consent. My sentiments may appear extravagant, but I can tell you that a number of my fellow- citizens have kindred sentiments ; and I am anxious, if my country should come into the hands of tyranny, to exculpate myself from being in any degree the cause, and to exert my faculties to the utmost to extricate her." Senators, shall we not wipe out erery vestige of real or seeming oppression and wrong, every degrading distinction, every semblance of in- vidiousness, so that the people of this whole country may stand upon the broad foundation of equal laws and of equal rights, that the fears and predictions of the great Henry may not be verified in our experience, and that the pen of the historian may write of us in after years that we were the freest, happiest people that ever lived under the benign influence of the equality and dignity of States composing a Union of the whole ? Macaulay, in his History of England, said that according to the purest idea of constitu- tional royalty the prince reigns and does not govern. As our form of government is supe- rior to others, should it not be the aim and object of legislators so to conduct the affairs of State, to fashion and mold our laws, to lighten the burdens and multiply the advan- tages, that the General Government may be felt and known only in its salutary influences and operations, and thus secure the admiration and confidence of the people of the country? The justice and policy of removing the legal and political disabilities of southern citizens is so apparent, and they unite in urging it upon Congress with such a degree of force, that it seems more than strange to an impartial ob- server that it should be postponed for a single day. After the adoption of the fifteenth amend- ment, which placed the ballot in the hands of eight hundred thousand negroes, made citizens of the United States and eligible to office, it became a moral and political necessity to put the white population of the South upon the same basis of equality. The idea of giving to former slaves political privileges denied to their masters, and making them in that respect 15 superior to the latter, was a species of moral torture and injustice that finds no parallel in historj, and which shocks our sensibility and sense of justice. It is well known that during the war the col- ored population of the South adhered to the cause of their masters, supported their families, and by their labor and efforts in raising cotton and other products sustained to a great extent the confederacy. The aid and comfort which they gave to that government were voluntary and effectual ; they remained faithful to their owners, and there is no doubt if their services had not been required in the field they would have been cheerfully rendered in the camp. When in the last struggles of that government, and when its fate was too plainly sealed, the efforts to organize them into military corps were entirely successful. The attempt, therefore, to distinguish between them and the whites, on the ground of the loyalty of the one and the disloyalty of the other, is simply preposterous ; if loyal at all, if they understood what it meant, they were loyal to the South ; the cause of the master was their cause, and his success their subject of rejoicing. If it had not been so, insurrection and rapine, with all their untold consequences, would have occurred. To those who never held slaves the relation cannot be fully appreciated. There was a bond of union, of regard and attachment which brought the slave into a closer con- nection with his owner and his family; the children of each grew up together, and the mutual . acts of kindness and attention, the care and protection of the slave, in health and sickness, and their constant proximit}', produced a reciprocal feeling of confidence. Next to the interest which the master en- tertained for his family, he felt for his slave ; this was not of a sordid character, but that which grew out of the kindlier feel- ings of the heart. I speak of its general char- acter, and from my knowledge of its existence 'and realities. The relation itself made the slave loyal to his master and his cause. If you could submit to-morrow to the decision of the negroes of the South the question of general amnesty, without qualification, and abstain from any interference with their con- sideration of the subject, they would not hes- itate to decide it favorably. Why should Congress now delay to do what becomes its justice, honor, and magnanimity? The objection preferred by some that it would not be safe to do so is unworthy of a great and powerful people. No sensible man can affect to believe that the granting of amnesty to the comparatively few now laboring under legal disabilities could by possibility endanger the Government or injuriously affect the coun- try. They all enjoy the right of suffrage ; the right to hold ofiBce cannot injure any one ; the people who have the ballot should have the right to select the persons to be voted for ; by abridging that right, you impair the freedom and the privilege of the ballot. Universal suffrage exists but in name when you restrict its exercise to objects within circumscribed limits; you preserve the theory, while you suppress to that extent the enjoyment. If you would submit the same question to the Federal soldiers who served in the war, or to that portion of them who were engaged in battle, you would have a similar favorable expression. There is a magnanimity about the soldier, a generosity that belongs to the chivalry of his calling and the nobleness of his nature. Generally, the objection comes from those who were distant from the scenes of danger, or who participated only in civil affairs during the unhappy strife. These are the last to relin- quish their prepossessions or prejudices, and who brood longest over by-gone scenes. This may be in accordance in many cases with some peculiar condition of mental or moral consti- tution ; but it is surely not in consonance with the kindlier and nobler feelings of the heart, which lead to liberal and humane results. If you wish to conquer the prejudices of the South you can do it by kindness and gen- erosity. If you desire to obliterate the mem- ory of the past you can do it best by making pleasant and happy the prospects of the future. If you wish to restore harmony in feeling, in counsel, in cooperation, in efforts to build up the fortunes and j^rosperity of the country — to make us again a united and happy people — you can do it by the benign and gentler means and influences of confidence and amity. The esteem and friendship of others can never be 16 LIBRPIRY OF CONGRESS 013 786 440 fl secured by keeping alive unpleasant memories and a constant reminder of former differences. But remove all traces of them, and associa- j tions and reflections will spring up to cheer and brighten the prospect. If there is any- thing which a public man should surrender, it is animosity and prejudice. If, as an individ- ual, he should sutfer them to linger iti a sickly existence, as a statesman he should speedily sacrifice tbem ; remembering that be does not represent those feelings in the community, nor any part of it, but that he is the representative rather of the generous and nobler attributes of the nation — of peace, conciliation, dignity, and honor. He best represents the national will and the national heart when he reflects the sentiments of a genuine and lofty magnan- imity. It has been said that the subliraest word in our language is duty, and the most important, responsihilitij I that the man who has con- quered a nation is not great until he has con- quered himself, for true greatness is moral greatness and nobility of spirit; and that he who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himS'elf must pass. Let us rise to the moral grandeur of duty and respons- ibility, achieve a victory over our prejudices, over our memories of the past — our resent- ments, and spirit of retaliation — rise to the dignity and honor of our station, and to the exalted standard of pure and generous patriot- ism, forgetting ourselves and all our conflicts and differences in the love we bear to our fel- lows, equal in all the elements of true manhood to ourselves. It was said by an eminent his- torian that the true end of politics is to make life easy and a people happy. Let us verify in our history to day this adage of a wise man, and leave no blot upon the history of ourti'.Tif,--; by maiutaining distinctions among equals. You boast of having struck the manacles from the hands of the slaves, while you place them upon the mind, the volition, the freedom of the whites. Let us act up to the wisdom of statesmen, and while you proclaim the lib- erty of bondmen, pronounce the emancipation of our race; withdraw your military from southern soil and restore tranquillity and order. Suffer not the fleeting and unworthy influences of party to weigh down the mighty balancesof human rights, the immunities of the citizen and the demands of the nation; but in view of the humiliations, sufferings, and destruction of the past, looking ■with the prescience and hope of the patriot to the stupendous greatness and glories of a happy future, rise to the true character of our position, and restore to our people and the States equality, justice, conti- dence, and constitutional ritle, the secure and solid foundations of free republican institutions-! Can there be anything in the history of gov- ernments and of men higher, nobler, snb- limer than a great people, by their Represent- atives and Senators, obliterating all traces of proscription and bringing back into a common fellowship, into full communion and brother- hood, those who are "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," who speak our language, worship the same God, and seek to serve the same country ? Send, therefore, the white- winged messenger of peace, reconciliation, and hope to those who will contribute to our growth, unity, and prosperity. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS .11 11 11 li'i 'I' ' 013 786 440 A • penmalife® _TT O t*