January 9, 1865

THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.

There can be no doubt of the legal power of the Goverr ment to use the negro. Slaves are either persons or property, or both combined. Whether they maintain to the Government either relation solely, or both combined, the relation implies duty and liability. As persons they may be called into the service; as property they may be taken, subject m both cases to the question of the liability of the Government under the Constitution to compensate the owner for the service and labor as for property taken for public use. I opposed their use on the grounds of expediency, sound policy, and public safety. From my own stand point some of my arguments .and apprehensions have been answered by the event and some have not. But the rebellion is answering them all. The South will put him directly in the ranks, and have long been doing it indirectly by putting him to such uses as would enable a larger proportion of the whites to carry arms than otherwise could do so. If he may be used to fight in the cause of the rebellion and anarchy, and violence, and to fasten the chains upon the remainder of his own race may not we who fight for order and a nation cease our objections to using him on our side? The spectacle of an army of slaves, to be emancipated at the end of their term, if they survive the perils of war, arrayed in deadly conjflictagainst the sons and soldieisof the Republic, fighting, bleeding, dying, to effect the double object of establishing a government of which the fundamental principle is the light of a part to destroy the whole, and of which one of the chief aims is to perpetuate the slavery of the race now called to its help; a man, a father, standing amid the fires of war to rivet bonds upon his own race and blood, and kindred, it may be forcing chains that shall hang forever upon the limbs and clank forever in the eais of his own offspring, is a sight so offensive to Deity, and so revolting to humanity, that I would prevent it by all the means allowable to a Christian people. I would do it by inviting the slave to fight for a Government that would secure freedom to him and his race forever, depriving him of all motive and interest for fighting for our enemies, imbuing him with the highest motives to fight for us, and with every motive and reason to doubt and distrust, and it may be to abandon with arms in his hands a dynasty that proposes to do so great a wrong. But the matter may adjust itself. The result of all the examples of the use of servient classes in war, and they have been used freely 111 nearly all the Governments where there have been dominant castes, show an entire incompatibility between military service and servile labor. To the slaves of Greece and Rome, the serf of Russia, and the villetri of England, the South will now add the other example of the Alncau slave in America.

NOW AND THE FUTURE.

We will accept the inevitable meaning of passmgevents, loolcdesfiny in the face, deal with facts as they are, smooth the rough points on a new road, and not kick against the pneks. Twenty years, or much less, after slavery is gone, the country will be more prosperous without it than with it, and while many will continue to condemn the illegality of some of the measures that led to its destruction, few, I think, will then be found to daplore the fact of its death. It is the process of change that irritates and really injure? the community. But the change is coming without and against our seeking. Then if it be possible let us order it for the best in a political and economical view. Emancipation is now the true economy in Kentucky. Right or wrong the Government lias taken lier able bodied slaves for the service, and will continue to lake them, leavingthe women and children on our hands for support. Being deprived of the benefits of the system must we cling to its burdens? If there is a part of that population yet desirable as laborers, consider whether emancipation is not now the "only means left of secui ing their services, and whether this being refused or deferred they will not all leave, with the hope of procuringfreedom elsewhere and whether upon the whole a! reasonable hire is not better for both parties, the negro feeding and clothing himself, paying his own doctor's bills, with all the stimulus to industry andeconomy springing from the compensated labor system?

Labor is like any other thing of value; it "is worth whatit costs and will cost whatitis worth, and will find its commercial level. It is therefore impossible m the nature of things that slave labor can be cheaper than free. An able bodied man in fair times would readily command 1 200 The interest on that at ten percent is $120. His food, clothes, and medical attention would not be worth loss than $120 more, in all $240. How much more would free labor cost? With the disadvantage on the part of the master, that the slave may die or run off, and will surely wear out, while his cash value might have been made a permanent investment in something else.

Our lands will increase in value, our roads will multiply, and we will have a great commercial emporium in our own State. I will not stop to argue these advantages, but only point to other States, and younger States, to verify the belief. I repudiate the absurd doctrine that slave labor is the foundation of a higher type of civilization. Commerce, roads, manufactures, agriculture, science, arms, the census do not say it.

LEGALITY OF TIIE AMENDMENT.

It has been urged that as slavery was m existence when the Constitution was framed, and was by that instrument recognized and guarantied, it thus became a vested interest, and that it is incompetent by subsequent amendment to divest that interest, especially m States refusing to adopt the amendment; and that it is incompetent for the General Government in any form to regulate domestic and State institutions. To my mind this is a singular misapplication of legal reasoning. The argument is based on the extremest point of State lights, State sovei eignty, compact, league, &c. It is well known 1 (Jo not belong to that school. Jt is applying to the constitutional, fundamental legislation of the people, acting in their sovereign capacity, the same rules and limitations which do apply to statutory enactments and to the legislative" powers of Congress as delegated and limited by the people. This is in the nature of an original compact of government, springing from the source of all power, the people. It is competent for them to construct a Government as they please. Surely, in theoriginal instrument, orcontract, they could have declared all slavery abolished. The contracting power is inherent in them, and they have pointed out the mode by which the instrument may be amended. Itis equally competent to do by amendment what might have been done by original compact. 1 f it was competent to declare that three fifths of the slaves should be represented in this House, it was equally competent to declare that none of them should be or that they all should be. It is not a question of construction or of legislative power. The argument I am combating would limit the power of the people in framing a Government. It would deny to the people of a State the power to alter a fundamental law once made and interest acquired undent. I have not a particle of doubt as to the competency and finding effect of the amendment when ratified by the requisite number of States. The Constitution is but a law, the law of original institution by the people, as distinguished from an enactment of Congress. They made it and they can change it. It they can change the tenure of office or enlarge or restrict the elective franchise, they may prescribe what shall be property and what shall not. Is it not better to satisfy this demand for this one amendment than by the aggravation of a refusal provoke the calling of a convention that may overhaul and remodel and possibly disfigure our entire constitutional fabric?

PEACE BETWEEN" TIIE RACES.

Tfce system of slavery, as 1 have observed it in Kentucky, wears none of those traits of cruelty and brutality that have been pictured on the northern mind. The household of kind master and contented slave has something of advantage and attractiveness in it. But the' content, the quiet, and the mutual confidence have passed away. 1 need not stop to tell- why. We all know. It is palpable that so long as the war continues slavery will continue to tumble to pieces. When the war is over and the freed slave returns to intermix with the others, the institution could only be preserved in the form of a modified state of war, resulting at last in open war between the races. Who so, simple as to want for a slave a man who has borne 1 arms as a soldier under a promise of freedom for his services? Who would undertake to keep in subjection a family of slaves constantly exposed to the influence of the returned freedman who had learned confidence, sagacity, and boldness in the school of war? It cannot be, it will not be, and we had as well prepare to preserve the peace between the races. I look for the large slaveholders who have had numerous and expensive families left on their hands soon to become the mostmgent. emancipationists from motives of economy and justice to themselves. I will not now stop to discuss the final destiny of the black man. I expressed myself clearly and at length on that subject last session, and have seen no cause to change my mind.

Mr. Speaker, I have done what I deemed best for my immediate constituents, for my whole State, and for the nation. If I am condemned it will be with the proud consciousness and sweet satisfaction that I have emancipated myself from the unmanly fear of censure and saved myself the embarrassments of a false position. If my vote be the means, in this close contest, of determining this greatquestion and thereby in some measure assisting in the restoration of peace, 1 will be more than compensated for any sacrifice I may have made. If it be a virtue to emancipate four million slaves, I claim not the credit. Their bonds were broken by the blind rage of their masters; and if it be a crime or an error, I say we have only smoothed the pillow of a dying man, and substituted law for violence. And when it is ended it will be written of the institution and its mistaken friends, as one of the most charming historians has said of one of the greatest disturbers of the peace of Europe in the seventeenth century, who fell in his own house, under the halberds of his own men, who solately were obedient to his every nod:

Tims Yniion 5tcni foil, not because he was a rohel, but ho became a rebel because he tell. Uufomm ue in hie that be made a victorious party btf enemy, and still moie unfortunate m death that the eaiw; party survived him and wrote his lu lor

Mr, MORRILL. Mr. Speaker, if the vote on this question had been taken on Saturday, I should have said nothing, and to day 1 intend only to occupy a few minutes in what may prove a fruit; less attempt to obtain something more than a mere party vote in behalf of a measure which will mark an era in our history, and should enlist the couhai favor of every lover' of the gre it principles upon which our Government was v founded. It is no occasion for passion, but the times call for direct and unequivocal action. Every vote will explain itself, with no aid from any other, and will admit of no commentary.

There is a reluctance upon the part of a portion of this House to even propose, for the subsequent action of the people, this amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that to mi: is surprising. There is not the smallest doubt of the constitutional power or of the legal regularity of the proceedings contemplated. Any objection must, therefore, apply to the merits of the measure and not to the measure itself; to the end and not to the means.! How can any man, educated in any of the schools of party to be found in our country, be opposed to the utter and complete extinguishment of slavery? There is no party whose creed is not fundamentally thoroughly hostile to this most deservedly hated institution, and none which could not, consistently with all its theories of good government, hail with joy its final obliteration, unless it be within the now contracted limits of the so called confederate States. Can it be that gentlemen are unwillmgeven to allowthe people of all the States to pass upon this proposition? For that will be the whole extent of our action, or merely to give the people an opportunity to show whether two thirds of all the States will decide that there arc reasons of sufficient gravity to induce them to adopt the amendment. This question will c nme up. It is only a question of time. When it does come before the people will gentlemen then be prepared to take the stump against it? if not, the harmony of the record had better now be provided for.

I remember a party, existing in the North as well as the South, who were but recently notafiaid to tamper with the Constitution, butwere clamorous for an opportunity by which further guarantees were to be secured to slavery, and can such a party now logically refuse to concede the same opportunity by which further guarantees to liberty shall be secured and by which the question of slavery may be forever put at rest? I ask that the people shall have the right to reach this question once and, as I hope, forever. Let us take the chances even with all the votes of the former slave States included. Do gentlemen of the free North intend to do battle for slavery after the slaveholders themselves have abandoned or are ready to abandon it? I do not believe that is the attitude they desire to assume here or on the page of that remarkable history we are now making, wherein it should be the ambition of all, if they cannot obtain honorable notice, at least to escape the scorn of posterity by a voluntary disappearance from the public gaze.

But it is said that this question of slavery is one of the reserved rights of the States which we must not touch. It may be a proved traitor, pirate, and murdeier, but is still too sacred to be touched by military or even civil authority! I concede that there are many rights reserved to the States, yet if it were the conviction of two thirds of the States that any one of these rights would be more safely or more wisely exercised by the General Government who shall deny their power to surrender any «ueh right to the control of the United States? jjut slavery is a wrong; so lecogmz ed by the whole civilized world; and cannot claim immunity as a right. There is now practically but one amendment to the Constitution which w<^ are not at liberty to make and that relates to n w hoi ly different subject, namely," No State without ns consent shall he deprived of itsequal Kuifmge in the Senate." Anything else than this is as much an open question a s it would be if we were now at work framing a Constitution for the first time for a free people.

In all the agitations which the question of slavery has from time to time forced upon the country, tlio lustiest upholders of the domestic institutions of the South, while denouncing what, they styled unconstitutional mterk ienco have claimed for themselves the e u extremest doctrines of democracy, according to the philosophy of JelFoiaon; and also that, if living iu slave States, they would be abolitionists; and if they could constitutionally reach the question they would not, fail to maintain the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence Now, the time has come when the sincerity of these declarations will he tested. Now, the time has come when we shall see how many we tr a name having no valid title to it. Here is a chance to show whether we are for or against slavery jn the abstract. I feel sure some at least will stand the fire and come out like lefined gold. There aie some who will set aside party and vote accord mg to the dictates of the manhood with which God endowed them. These will not keenly calculate whether a little more sacrifice is necessary m order to endear them to some paity now in rebellion by which the ascendency of their own political associates may be hereafter secured. They may believe that for such an object no party in the North is in a condition to make further expenditures for such an object. That course has proved a very exhausting process, and the most extravagant demand cvei made in this direction, being a vote against this amendment, if complied with will prove bootless and may much better he declined. It is by no means certain that the dominant party of the South, when the repentant rebels aie again: brought under the old Hag, will be of the malignant States right or secession stripe, and in that I case'the conciliation proffered here m behalf of! slavery would prove stale and unprofitable. The true Union men arid the poor whites of the South' will hereafter prove a power that will be heard; from.

A rebellion that fails leaves no place for its leaders. These, if not banished by Government,] are driven into obscurity by the people they have unworthily misguided.

However ready gentlemen may be to welcome back such chiefs as Davis, Slidell, and Mason, they will never have the opportunity, for these and all such as these will be kept in suait jackets at home, or they will more likely skulk away to such congenial courts as that of Maximilian I or Pedro 11.

If it had not been for the disclosure of the diabolical purpose of slavery to destroy our Government, the people of the United States would doubtless have tolerated the institution wherever States chose to continue and shield it until the density of population should have made the soil too valuable to support anything but freemen.

But since this disclosure we should be cowards, after having witnessed its power for evil, after the countless treasure and priceless blood we have expended m the struggle, for our own preservation if we were to surrender our grip upon the throat of the monster and thus permit him to recover strength to repeat the atrocities of the last four years upon those who will succeed us. We owe it to ourselves and the world to close up this quarrel so that it can never be reopened.

If it can be closed by a constitutional provision, what fairer mode can be devised r Certainly rebel slaveholders who have waged a war ofunexatnplod inhumanity and ferocity to break the Constitution ciuinotcomplain that we should by peaceful and proper means attempt to mend it.

It is sometimes asked whether the Constitution as it was could have been adopted if it had been foreseen at the time an umendmentlikc this would ever be proposed; and iu) reply it might be asked, if the growth and the past and present history of slavery could have been foreseen, whether iu that case the Constitution as it was could have been adopted? This proves nothing, save that the wot Id moves and is not precisely m the condition now it was then. Then slavery was expected speedily to die out, and Madison, and many other southern n men in Congress, sought to cripple it by taxing the introduction of slaves, which, under the Constitution, could not be prohibited until lb 08 When 16 J8 arrived the law was already on the statute book to interdict the further introduction of slaves at the first possible moment. We all know Madison, in diafung the Constitution, studiously avoided any words that would furnish to future generations evidence that slavery had ever existed in the young Republic. He at I'Msf honestly looked forward to the time when it would all disappear, leaving iiu blot behind. Nobody foresaw how it would disappear, and perhaps no one expected in the hour ot its most colossal growth, and protected by fresh and impregnable secut ities, that it would commit sun ide J hit that is its taw. it haped into the lied Sea, atid, like Pharaoh and his host, it will be d owned —a fate that would make the morning stars of our Constitution sing for joy; and shall any of us mourn and refuse to be comforted?

To what, end should slavery be continued? Manifestly only that one half of the slave States may breed and sell their slave stock to the other half In one half of the slave Ste es that was the only way in which slavery could be made productive. 1 may be mistaken, but 1 believe this to have been so; and it has been far from creditable to us as a nation. I do not wish to deprive any State of legitimate prosperity, and llieie is not one slave State which, ten years after slavery shall have been abolished, will not have more taxable wealth than they ever dreamt d of before.

It is urged with some vehemence, if not eloquence, by the gentlemen from New York [Mr. IjHooks] and fiurn Ohio [Mr. Cox] that we should first send commissioners South offering terms of peace on the basis of the Constitution as it was, and then, if that shall he refused, as they know very Well it Would be, they do not exactly promise a homogeneity ju the North, butthey intimate that the rebels would uo very naughty to reject such a proposal, and they might venture to tell them that their project of independence would fail. They do not say that even then they would continue Grant, Sherman, and Thomas in the field, or vote for this amendment. In all seriousness, did not the rebels break with us when they had the Constitution us it was? How, then, could; they come back and accept now whattheygirded up their loins to fight against? This would sadly militate against the idea of the gentleman from .New York, that eight million people could not be conquered. But the signs of the times show that tlus proud people have been humbled and more than half conquered. They would noWgivd up slavery to save their own necks from the common doom of rebels. General Sheridan has quieted the rebel army of the Shenandoah; General Thomas has annihilated the army of the Tennessee; General Grant bides his time, abundantly sure of his prey; and General Sherman marches where he pleases through the empire State of the South, and the people of Savannah, twenty thousand strong, not more wise or more ready than the people of scores of other southern cities? under the call of their mayor, have resolved that the war, so far as they are concerned, is at an end. They urge the State to follow its exdmple.

Let me record the voice of the citizens' meeting in Savannah: f< Whereas by the fortunes of war and the surrender of the city by the civil authorities, Savannah passes once more under the authority of the United States; arid wheieas we believe that the interests of the city will be bp«t subserved and promoted by a full and hee expression ot ourvww in )elatmn toourpreseuteonditjon: Wetherefofe ihe people ot Jfavannah iu full meeting assembled lo hereby

Iletolvr, 1, That we accept the position, and in the language ot the President of the United States, seek to have peace by laying down our arms and submitting to the national authority under the Constitution,' i leaving all questions which remain to be adjusted by the peaceful means of legislation, conference, and votes.'

"Rcsohcd, '2. That, laying aside all difteicncesand burying bygones m ilie grave ot the past, we will use our best endeavors once more to bring back the prosperity and eoinmeiee we once enjoyed. u Resolved, l 3 That we do not put ourselves in the position or a conquered eitv asking terms of a conqueror, but we claim the immunities and privileges contained m the proclamation ami mts as e of the President ofthe United States.-, and m all the legislation of Congress in reference to a people as we are; and while we owe on our pai t a strict obedience to the laws of the United States, we ask the protection over our persons, lives, and property j >oco<;mzcd by tho c huvs,'

I'• Rcsoh-rd, 4, That we respectfully request his Excellency the Governor to call a convention of the people of Ueoigu, by any con tmitional means' in his power, to give ilium an nppoitumly of voting upon the question whether they wi h the war between the two sections, of the country to continue.

Resolved, 5, That Major General Sherman having placed as military commander of this po t Bngadier General Coaly, who has, by bio mbanity as a gentleman and his uiiiloim kindness to our ciu en done ali m his power to protect them and their property iiom insult and mjuiy, it is the unanimous desire ot all present that he be allowed to remain m his present position, and that for the reasons above stated the thanks ot the citizens are hereby tendu d to linn and the ofheeis under his command.

Rcsoli cil, fi, That a o lu .al copy of the e ic o utions be to the President of the United States, the Govi rnor ot CJi oimo, C( General Mieiman, and to each, the mayots> of Au u ta Columbus, Macon, and Atlanta."

There is no halting about this. They are willing to come hark now and upon the terms proclaimed by the President. The leading rebels will have a different and more selfish policy, but one far less acceptable to the people.

The organs of JetT. Davis at Richmond announce that the time iias come for them to save themselves by giving up slavery. They propose to put the negro into the last ditch rather than go there them seives They will throw this Jonah overboard if France and England will only guaranty to them a separation from us. If the people of the South do not at present love us, they have at least learned to respect us. Theieis little danger to be apprehended by us from foreign rivals who having usked their hate will not risk their love.

To show that the rebels themselves are at last conscious of being on the road to ruin, f give an extract from a late copy of the Richmond Sentinel, as follows:

We think that our late reveiscs have done much toward preparing the lmrul* of om people for the most n extreme oacriiice it they shall be adjudged necessary uj to the success ot <>m cau e And m truth they are imt Micririees at all when compared with our situation. If subjugated, it is a question Hinplv whether we shall tj give forour own uses or whether the Yankees shall take for theirs. Subjugation means emancipation and eontiscatioru

'•All on i servant* and all om property yielded up to assist in the h ien e of our country would mean no more, but it would be t ai moif1 glorious to devote oni means to our success than to lo e them as spoils to tin* enemy, Oursituauon, too, stripped ot our property but master of iliegovniu< nt, would be infinitely better than it despoiled by the enemy and weaung his bonds."

That this i* not the sentiment of a single editor only, 1 will give a portion of the comments of the Richmond Enquirer upon the article, a part of which I have just read, showing that even in the rebel capital they are almost persuaded to be Christians, but not quite. The Enquirer If we have given to our contemporary a broader interpretation than ilio writer designed, we do not believe we have misrepresented the determination of our people. The consequences of emancipation would fail upon the unfortunate negro, and God would hold responsible those who had forced upon us the act. It is one of necessity, not choice; an act taken against our judgments and our convictions, but to save us from the horrors of a prolonged war and the disgrace, ruin, and destruction involved in the success of our enemy.

"If France and England will enter into a treaty with thc e confederate States, recognizing our nationality and guarantying our independence upon the abolition of slavery iu all these States, rather than continue the war we should be prepared to urge the measure upon our readers. We believesuch a proposition would be favorably received and acted upon by those nations, and it ought to be made to them."

Will it be any greater hardship to aslc them to give up slavery and remain with us, possessed and possessing all the rights which wc claim for ourselves? This is all we propose to do. They do not now even ask any other nation to assume a protectorate over them until they have rid themselves of the loathsome institution, and are we so accustomed to its vile contact that we are willing to exhibit less self respect less fear of being crocked, than is claimed by and accorded to the dynastic Governments of the Old World?

Gentlemen need not fear that there will not be subjects enough for party differences if the subject of slaveryshall be forever extirpated. They may, however, make up their minds that the proslavery party of the world is past II resurrection. Its leaders have made it ignominious, and it is in a minority that will diminish without pity at every successive rally. When the heat of the tropics is no longer able to warm it into life the North will nurse it in vain.

What a spectacle do we present! Here the Congress of the United States are debating whether slavery shall have a longer lease of life or not, when it has only just been barely frustrated in the attempt to take the life of Congress itself, and would do it now if its power equaled its will. Can it be that the last Swiss Guard in the defense of slavery shall prove to be from the free States in Congress assembled? Here men from free States, always freemen and theoretically abhorring slavery see the slaveholders of WestVirgmia, Missouri, and Maryland, (to say nothing of Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee,) abolishing slavery, and yet hesitate to allow the question to be placed before the people lest they should be stigmatized as abolitionists 1 If a vote in favor of the amendment to the Constitution, by which slavery may be forever abolished, secures to any man that stigma it can have no terrors for those who have been Republicans, for such a vote is expected of them as an ordinary duty, and, if feared by any one who has not been a Republican, let him find courage to adopt the badge of distinction, and he may, to thediscoinfituie of his revilers, use and wear it as a most trusty weapon to cleave his way through the world to honor and troops of friends.

Mr. ODELL. Mr. Speaker, the interest I feel in the important measure now under consideration is my apology for occupying t e attention of the House at this time. My belief is that no question of equal importance has ever occupied the attention of the country. I am certain that during the period i have been honored with a seat upon this floor no question has arisen in which my constituents have so deep an interest. The eyes uf the world are now turned in anxiety to see the result. If the proposed amendment to the Constitution as it passed the Senate shall receive the vote of two thirds of the members of this body, as required by the fifth article of the Constitution, and shall then be ratified by the people, its immediate effect will be to liberate from bondage three million seven hundred and forty eight thousand three hundred and ninety three human beings, as shown by the census of I860, securing to them the blessings of freedom. Its influence will not only reach the negro, but will affect for good the future destiny of the white race North and South. The material interest of three hundred and forty five thousand five hundred and thirtyfour slaveholders will be of course affected, and it is a statistical fact that of this number two hundred and seventy five thousand six hundred and eighty one persons own less than ten slaves, and of this latter number seventy six thousand six hundred and seventy own a single slave, showing that the interest is not of such extent as many at the North have heretofore been led to suppose. I cannot but conclude from the best light I can obtain, that the operation of this measure will be most beneficial to the non slavcholding white population of the southern States. When these poorer laboring classes shall no longer have to contend with and struggle against and be degraded by slave labor, then, and not until then, will they come into the enjoyment of blessings such as are now fully enjoyed by the honest, toiling, working men of the North.

When labor shall be free at the South, then will it command and have the respect which is itsjust due. Then will millions of the white men of the North participate and share in the blessings thus secured. The masses of our native and foreignborn laborers, now toiling in the severer climate ot the North, will be invited to enter upon these newly opened fields for their industry and occupation. The now hidden resources of the States south will be developed by the brain and muscle of the northern laborer.

The existence in our country of antagonistic systems of labor has brought upon the nation the terrible calamity of a wasting civil war, with all its desolations. It has cost the country the lives of hundreds of thousands of its best and bravest sons, and has wasted her material resources.

The day has come when this conflict of laboris to end and the question is forced upon us by the South. They alone are responsible for it. The question of the world now is, shall the great free North, with its higher and more widely extended civilization, yield to the South and its evilsgrowing out of its system of labor? The day is past and, forever gone when more than twenty million northern born freemen, represented upon this floor now, will be controlled by the men of the South with not one third their numerical strength. As certain as the North and South are now engaged in a struggle for military supremacy, so certain is it that slavery must fall and die.

The destruction of slavery is the legitimate fruit of the rebellion. It was predicted by leading minds both North and South before the war began.

Its death blow was inflicted by the South when it opened its rebel batteries upon Fort Sumter. When the national flag was assailed, then began the overthrow of slavery as a natural consequence.

That slavery is dead is an admitted truth. So said my friend and colleague at the last session of Congress. Others upon both sides of this Chamber have admitted the same fact; and the press of the land has been reiterating the same statement since the rebellion began.

It is an accepted truth, both North and South, that the peculiar institution is gone, with or without restoration.

Now, I am in favor of givingit a constitutional burial; not by the irregularity of a proclamation by the President, of doubtful constitutionality even in his own mind, as he has frequently admitted, and which was conceded by the late Baltimore convention that renominated Mr. Lincoln, when they proposed this amendment to the Constitution as one of the planks of their platform, which was accepted by him in his letter of acceptance of their nomination. He and they both have thus expressed doubts as to the proclamation. And hence we have this more legal way of disposing of the evil before us.

Again, it cannot be put out of the way by the uncertain and irregular Army orders of our generals in the field in command of our armies. They all deal with slavery in harmony with their own peculiar views.

The Constitution gives to the tv o Houses of Congress the only legal and certain authority, the only constitutional method of ending and putting away forever an institution that has only brought us trouble and discord at home and reproach and dishonor abroad.

Let the evil now be removed in accordance with the provision s of the Constitution. Then it will be done effectually, legally, and in a manner to command the respect of the nation, of the men that are directly interested, and also of the civilization ^f the world.

I am aware that able men upon this floor have objected to this action, they claiming that the provisions of the fifth article of the Constitution does not admit of this construction. In my mind I find no difficulty. The power referred to I am satisfied is ample.

Story on the Constitution, volume three, page 688 says

"A Government which, in its own organization, provides no means of change, but assumes to be fixed and unalterable, must, after a while, become wholly unsuited to tiie circumstances of the nation; and it will either degenerate into a despotism or, by the pressure of it«? inequalities, bring on a revolution. It Is wise, therefore, in every Government, and especially in a republic, to provide means for altering and improving the fabric of government as tune and experience, or the new phases ol human affairs may render proper, to promote the happiness and safety of the people. The great principle to be sought is to make the changes practicable, butnottoo easy; to secure due deliberation and caution; and to follow experience rather than to open a way for experiments suggested by mere speculation or theory."

If I were in doubt upon the subject I have only to refer back a short period in our national history and there see the record of my own party upon this question of amendment, and upon the subject of slavery, and in the light of this record and history my way is plain.

Much has been said and written in regard to the compromise measures introduced by the distinguished, patriotic, and lamented Mr. Crittenden in the Senate. We have been wont to charge upon the Opposition the responsibility of the failure of these resolutions; we have affirmed if the Republican members of the Senate had accepted them we would not have been involved in this unhappy struggle. I am not quite sure of that. I incline to think that at that time treason was deep down in the hearts of the southern leaders. But it might have been even so. I refer to it only to show at that time it was not thought by the men of my party that the Constitution could not and ought not to be amended upon the subject of slavery. Reference to the action of the Senate will show that every Democrat North and South voted for these resolutions, which provided for several amendments relating to this vexed question of slave labor.

Again, the House will remember the famous Corwin resolution, which in its provisions was to amend the Constitution, fastening slavery upon the country for all coming time. That passed by the required vote in both Houses, after weeks of .debate, the Democratic members all voting for it. That amendment was as follows:

No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."

This clearly recognizes the right to amend; if not, why was such action recommended, and why did Democrats vote for it?

If gentlemen will refer to the debates of the Thirty Sixth Congress they will find there recorded very many resolutions offered by Democrats, and voted for by them, proposing to amend the Constitution, and all referring to slavery.

With this party record my conclusion is, that if it was constitutionally right for the men of the true faith in that day to thus vote for an amended Constitution upon this subject, it is highly proper for me to do so now in the light of the experience of the past four years. If the Constitution could be amended legally continuing slavery, it surely may be for its destruction. The action of the South in their rebellion has not commended them to me for any special acts of grace or forbearance. Their treason to their country is only equaled by their treachery to the Democratic party. Personally I have feelings upon this subject toward the men of the South for their treason as a Democrat that no men of the Opposition have a right to indulge in.

The Democratic party had been their faithful defenders. We were and had been their friends through evil and good report. We had stood by them m all their interests. More than this, we have yielded our own convictions and prejudices to theirs. As we met them from time to time in our national conventions it was only to submit to new demands made upon us to favor, strengthen, andextend their system of slave labor. To secure peace and harmony these demands were acceded to. The steadily increasing pecuniary interest of the slaveholders gave them power, and led them, iii the love of gain, to depart from the teachings and principles of the fathers upon this subject. With the modern slaveholder it was no longer an evil to be endured for a while, but a blessing to bo perpetuated through all future time. From our present stand point the error of thus having yielded to the slave power of the South is clearly seen by the nation and more keenly felt by the Democratic party. I need not say to the intelligent men who surround me that if the party North had resisted this encroachment upon the religious belief and northern sentiment forced upon us by the South the war now waging would never have been inaugurated. Better far for our country and the race had we exerted our power and manhood at an earlier period in our history.

By many it is believed that a time of war is not opportune for amending the Constitution under which we have had such unparalleled prosperity. Upon this point 1 have a clear, unerring guide in my conscience, which tells me in a clear and distinct voice that in war or peace, in sunshine or storm in prosperity or adversity it is bestforindividuals and nations to do right. My inquiry upon this point is simply in that direction. I have ever believed slavery wrong. The North have always believed it. None can scarce be nowfound who will claim that slavery is now, or has ever been, other than an evil. Hence, with these convictions, if I live until the day when the vote upon this measure shall be taken my name will be recorded in the affirmative.

The past history of our country clearly illustrates the effect of the system of slave labor. We have but to contrast the growth and advancement of the States South with the North, to mark the progress of each section, as shown by the census, in religion, education, agriculture, mechanical arts, and especially in material wealth. The results given are most conclusive.

The South by rebellion has absolved the Democratic party at the North from all obligation to stand up longer for the defense of its 44 cornerstone." They are now using the very system which this amendment proposes to abolish for the overthrow of our Government founded on the broad principles of right, justice, and humanity. In their prosecution of the war against us, the master is compelled by the laws of their congress to place his slaves at the disposal of the military authorities for our destruction. The time is at hand when in for greater numbers this class will be used against us as indicated by the discussions now going on at the South.

We have information that is credible and must be believed, that the authorities at Richmond are now ready to liberate their slaves, and are willing to abolish an institution for which they began this war that they may the more certainly insure our overthrow and destruction by securing foreign aid and recognition.

Shall we consent to present the strange spectacle to the world that we of the North have no interest in the question of freeing the slaves when the men most interested are willing to do it?

With these facts before me i have no question as to my duty. We had better far at this time break down the force and physical power of an institution that is being used for our destruction by our enemies.

Again, why should northern men representing upon this floor northern constituencies, hesitate to permit such constituencies to vote for the freedom of slaves, when southern men, representing slaveholders, ask us to rid them of this evil?

Another objection urged against the passage of this initial measure is that the slave States are not represented upon this floor. It is no fault of mine that their seats are vacant. The North has no responsibility in that matter. Their seats are vacant because they were occupied by men faithless alike to their country and their party; who represented States which chose rather to rebel against their Government than to enjoy the rights and blessings it guarantied to them. The country and the party have a just cause of complaint againstthe treason and the traitors that have vacated these seats. Had the representatives of the South stood firm in their allegiance to the Government and submitted to its laws and been governed by its wise provisions, we of the North would have been spared far greater evils than will ensue to the South as a consequence of the proposed amendment if it should be constitutionally adopted. I fully believe that the debts due from the South to the North alone, which by the legislation of the southern States it has been made a penal offense to pay, are more than equal to the value of all the slaves held in southern territory. In addition let the blighted hearts, desolated homes, and the debtburdened people of the North vindicate this statement.

Mr. Speaker, the effect of this action by this body is only in its operation to submitto the people, to your constituents and to mine, sir, the proposition of amendment of the Constitution. It remains for them to decide it by their suffrage. We shall then all have with them an opportunity of expressing our opinions upon the question at the ballot box I know of no good reason why I, as a Democrat, believing in the right of the people to rule, should arrogate to myself, in my position as a Representative, the exclusive right of a voice upon this subject. They have, under our Constitution, an equal right with myself; and I will notdepiive them by my action of the privilege of exercising; it.

Mr, Speaker, 1 am fully aware of the fact that my position and intended action upon this allimportant question will not be in accord with my friends upon this side of the Chamber. I yield to none of them in my attachment to the party with which I have ever acted. I cherish as fondly as any the memories of the great and good men that have been its standard bearers and many of whom have passed away; and I have as much confidence in its future, as a power for good in the government of this great nation, as any man in the country. Yet 1 believe this thing of slavery has lifted its hydra head above the Government of my country. It has been for years a dead weight upon our party. And the time, in my humble, judgment, has now come when as a party we ought to unloose ourselves from this dead body. We ought no longer to consent to be dragged down by its influence. We ought to accept the fuels of history as they are transpiring around us, and march on with the world in its progress of human events.

The times now favor, and th i way is open for the great Democratic party to turn its back upon the dark past and its eyes upon the bright future.