LEGISLATIVE, ETC., APPROPRIATION BILL.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. House bill No. 605 is before the Senate, and the Senator from New York is entitled to the floor.

Mr. CONKLING. Mr. President, if every Senator has counted those pension bills he will be in a condition, I hope, to receive the remaining suggestion which I was going to make in reference to the superintendent of statistics in the State Department. The Senator from Nevada, [Mr. NYE,] I think, has, as I have, an old-time acquaintance with the incumbent of this place, and I inquired of that Senator a moment since if he knew how long it was since this gentleman had been within the District of Columbia, or in the city of Washington, and he mentioned an occasion two years ago on which he knew of his being here, and mentioned some other information which had been given him in regard to him, as to where he usually was, which, if he deems it worth while, he can state to the Senate. He did not state to me particularly what it was. I was unable to remember any occasion so recent as that when I had known of the presence of the incumbent of this place at the seat of Government. I have known of his being elsewhere. I do not mean "elsewhere" in the sense in which that word has been employed sometimes in Congress. [Laughter.] But I have known of his being at a distance from the capital, and therefore I ventured to inquire of the Senator from Massachusetts in what orbit, geographically or astronomically, this official moved when he performed his functions. I think it very clear that he does not discharge the duties of this office in Washington, nor is he, in the language of accredited envoys, .6 near the Government of Washington" in any sense, diplomatic or otherwise. On the contrary, I think the fact is that he is habitually at least six hundred miles, as the mails and the people usually go, from the place at which this office is attributed to him.

Mr. President, when we consider that we have a Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department, and when we consider the state of this Bureau of Statistics, if bureau it be, when we consider its somewhat peripatetic character, it seems to me very hard to conclude that the Committee on Appropriations was called upon to say that a considerable sum of money, the amount necessary to pay the salaries of the chief officer and of an assistant, one clerk of the third class, should at this time be appropriated from the Treasury.

I now come, Mr. President, to a point at which I am admonished to stop, lest I make some suggestion in respect to economy or retrenchment. I think, if I go further, I may say something which will be on the confines of that question, and that "gives me pause." Without venturing a suggestion of that kind, without intimating that the Treasury is not bubbling over with money, and without doubting that we are bound "diligently to inquire and true presentment make" of every place where we think a little more money might advantageously or comfortably be used, it occurs to me that this particular point is one of the least tenable of all those I have heard recently suggested upon which we could manage to get rid of a small sum.

On

the contrary, I think, without any time to reflect, I could suggest a great many ways in which this money could be thrown away in a manner more justifiable and more plausible than this.

Upon the whole, then, Mr. President, and having the fear of the Senator from Massachusetts all the time before my eyes, and with the trepidation and self-examination which arises from that fact, I think that, having agreed to this report as a member of the committee, I shall put the best face on it and stand up here boldly and vote (if we are allowed to vote upon these provisions relative to the State Department) that a Secretary of State, an Assistant Secretary of State, and a chief clerk, a proper man suitably paid, are enough to squeeze

through and take the chances for the time being of conducting the foreign relations of the Government; and when it shall turn out that it is necessary to have a lawyer in Mr. Smith's place, if they can get a good one, and there is really use for him, I shall then follow the Senator from Massachusetts in voting for the appropriation which may be necessary; and when we are not able to take a sufficient account of stock in the State Department, without having a Bureau of Statistics there, or a Bureau of Statistics floating somewhere else in space on the spinning disc of some planet or other, if it is not there, then I shall follow the Senator from Massachusetts in voting for that, too; but as I stand with the chairman of the committee near me and looking at me occasionally, I hardly see how I can retreat from agreeing to this report; and upon the whole, with all the courage I have, I shall stand up and vote when my name is called to try the experiment once of reducing a little the expenditures of the State Depart

ment.

Mr. DIXON. Mr. President, the Senator from New York [Mr. CONKLING] spoke of the luxury of listening to the debates of this body when led by the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. SUMNER] and the Senator from Maine, [Mr. FESSENDEN.] It is always a luxury to me to listen to the Senator from New York; and seldom have I ever enjoyed a greater array of illustration or a more boundless profusion of vocabulary than that Senator has to-day indulged in. He began by telling us what an ancient soothsayer had said, though I do not know who that soothsayer was.

Mr. CONKLING. I beg the Senator's pardon. The soothsayer to whom I referred was born and died on the 23d of April, and that day was not a very distant day, looking back by centuries. I did not say that he was an ancient soothsayer by any means.

really does desire to play the economist, as it is pretty evident to my mind that he does, here is an opportunity for him. He has been here now I think about a year, and I bave heard him discuss a great many subjects, but I think economy is his theme. As to the final result of all, he comes down to that; that is the refrain, "economy." If he wishes to economize, let me tell him what he can do. Let him take the hint which I have already given. This very bill provides an appropriation of $33,000 for clerks of committees of this body-private secretaries to Senators. The honorable chairman of the Committee on Appropriations took great pains to insert in italics an appropriation of $2,200 for a clerk to the Committee on Appropriations. I do not say that it is not necessary.

I know the other House of Congress originates all these appropriation bills, and we have only to receive them as they come from there; but probably a clerk is necessary to that committee at an expense of $2,200. It struck me, however, that when the chairman of that committee was depriving the President of the United States of a secretary he might have been willing to do a little clerical work himself; but still I do not say, nor do I believe, that a secretary or clerk for the Committee on Appropriations is improper. I only allude to it as showing what he deems necessary.

Then there are three other committees that have $2,200 clerks; and then there is a sweeping appropriation of $25,000 for clerks of committees of this body, and pages and carryalls. But let me tell the Senators that those pages and carryalls are paid for out of another appropriation for "miscellaneous items," and the $25,000 will all go for clerks, and that will not be sufficient to pay them, because there are about twenty committee clerks with a salary amounting to $1,800 a year, in addition to the $2,200 clerks.

Mr. WILSON. No, they are paid by the

Mr. DIXON. The Senator referred to a soothsayer; and he illustrated his argument, as he nearly always does, with historical illustra-day. tions. Then he spoke of what Mr. Burke had said, and gave us his definition of patriotism or loyalty. I supposed he was going to give us Dr. Johnson's definition, too.

Mr. CONKLING. That was "the last refuge of a scoundrel," you know.

Mr. DIXON. I supposed the Senator was going to give us that, too. Then he made other allusions, and finally the Senator charged me with having interfered with this debate, and informed the Senate who Mr. Smith was. When I heard that charge, I supposed of course I must be mistaken, but I had no recollection of it. I have known many gentlemen of that name; but who this particular individual is I cannot say.

But the Senator attacked me with his usual severity-it would have been severe but for his good nature-because I had ventured to intimate to the Senate that I thought there was a better place, a more seemly and more becoming place, for economy, here in this body, than to deprive the President of the United States of two or three clerks. I found in the bill a provision that the President should be stripped of some of his clerical aid, and I ventured to say upon that proposition something which did not seem to commend itself to those advocates of economy of whom my friend from New York is the leader and the chief. I find that they always take some impracticable scheme of economy, and after having advocated it he sits down in utter despair because he is unable to advance his scheme. I thought that if there was a real, sincere desire to economize the expenses of the Government, it would be more fit, more seemly, on the part of the Senate to cut off the clerkships of some of the committees of this body that never meet. I ventured to say so, not thinking that I should be attacked as I have been by my friend from New York, though in a manner which actually makes it almost agreeable to me, so extremely amusing and interesting is that Senator that to be his victim is almost a pleasure. If that Senator

Mr. DIXON. This is really an abuse; and it is not a small matter, though it may be small in amount. Take the Committee on Contingent Expenses of the Senate as an example. When I had the honor of being chairman of the committee I never thought of having a clerk. The Secretary of the Senate is the clerk of that committee; but now you have given it a separate committee clerk. The Secretary of the Senate presents his bills to the Committee on Contingent Expenses, and he keeps the records himself. But now you have appointed a clerk to that clerk-a clerk to the Committee on Contingent Expenses of the Senate! It is a very useful and convenient thing to my friend from New Hampshire, [Mr. CRAGIN.] deserves it; I agree he ought to have a private secretary furnished to him; but I do not think he ought to vote against one for Andrew Johnson after having received one for his sole benefit; it is for nobody else's.

He

Again, take the case of the Committee on Manufactures, of which I am a member. It is highly proper that my friend from Rhode Island, [Mr. SPRAGUE,] the chairman of that committee, should have a clerk for the committee. The labors of that committee are arduous. True, we have thus far deferred them, and we propose to do so until the end of the session. They have been so arduous that we have not been able yet to surmount the infinite Alps that rise before us. We have not commenced or undertaken to do anything, though, of course, we shall undoubtedly do something. Our clerk is there.

I do not know why my friend from New York does not attack this abuse. It is not because he does not know it. Ignorance can never be pleaded by him as an excuse in regard to any abuse under this Government. I have wondered whether it is not possible that he may look forward to the time when, having been in the Senate as long, perhaps, as I have been, he may be a chairman of a committee and have a clerk himself. I cannot say but that that is

He

the reason of his silence on this matter. may be waiting for the time when he shall be chairman of a committee. I cannot suppose that he has overlooked this matter.

I confess, Mr. President, that I think the attack upon the clerical force at the Executive Mansion is very small business; and I wonder at it in view of the fact that the Senate thinks it proper to give to nearly every Senator who has been here two or three years a private secretary.

Mr. EDMUNDS. We give one to the President.

Mr. DIXON. But here are twenty-four private secretaries to do the legislative business of twenty-four Senators; and does the Senator suppose that the whole executive business of this Government is to be performed by the President of the United States with four secretaries? He has no more secretaries than he needs. I care nothing about the question whether he shall be deprived of one or more secretaries. I cannot positively say that he needs all that assistance. If the honorable chairman of the Committee on Appropriations will say that there are too many, more than are needed, I shall defer to this opinion; but I ventured to say to him that I thought we might begin nearer home, and I repeat the saying, notwithstanding the speech of my friend from New York.

I think that if my friend from New York is really sincere in his desire to make himself the champion of economy, as it is evident he intends to do, if he wishes to present himself to the country as the man who on all occasions, no matter what they may be, in season or out of season, shall stand up here and oppose every appropriation which shall be extravagant, there is the place for him to begin. In my judgment he will then have the credit of attacking an abuse here in this very body. But no, silent as the grave, that silver tonged eloquence of his is never heard upon anything here. Not a word has he to say as to the question whether private secretaries shall be furnished to Senators; but when Mr. Peshine Smith, a very respectable gentleman I have no doubt, or when some one that nobody ever heard of, is in question, then we hear the voice of my friend from New York.

He ventures to attack me and the party to which I belong, of which he says I am a leader. That party is a unit almost in this body, very small. He can attack me, and he can attack the President, who seems to have very few friends at this time here in this body. Would it not have been better, I ask my friend in good faith, for him to attack a real grievance and then to acquire the credit and honor he desires. Coming from the great State of New York, he might lead in this great foray on the expenses of the Government. Nobody is better qualified. I will not dwell upon his capacity; we have had examples enough to know all about it; but if the Senator would follow my advice on that subject, although of course I cannot be considered capable of advising him, and attack a real abuse, I think he would acquire more credit than he otherwise will do.

Mr. TRUMBULL. Mr. President, we have just listened to two very interesting speeches, which will undoubtedly lead to many more upon the same subject; and as there is no probability of getting through this bill to-night, and there is an important measure which ought to be acted upon, I hope the Senator from Maine will not object to my moving to postpone the further consideration of this bill until one o'clock to-morrow, with a view to proceeding to the consideration of the veto message. Let us dispose of the Arkansas question.

Mr. SUMNER. I suggest that we get a vote on this proposition.

Mr. TRUMBULL. That is the very thing you cannot do.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. It is plain enough that if I yield to all propositions for delay I shall never be able to pass an appropriation bill. At the same time, if it be the

40TH CONG. 2D SESS.-No. 211.

pleasure of the Senate to proceed to the consideration of the bill which the Senator from Illinois has in charge, the importance of which I acknowledge, and there is a probability of finishing it to day, so that I shall not have the interruption to-morrow, I shall not object. Is it the purpose of the Senator to finish that bill to-night?

Mr. TRUMBULL. I hope we can do so. Several SENATORS. Certainly.

Mr. SUMNER. I would ask my friend, the Senator from Maine, if we cannot have a vote on this pending proposition?

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine. I will allow this bill to go over informally for the purpose of taking up the bill referred to by the Senator from Illinois.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be passed by informally if there be no objection. No objection being made the bill is passed by.

REPRESENTATION OF ARKANSAS-VETO.

The Senate proceeded to reconsider the bill (H. R. No. 1039) entitled "An act to admit the State of Arkansas to representation in Congress," with the President's objections thereto.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill, the objections of the President of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding, on which the ques tion must be taken by yeas and nays.

Mr. DAVIS. Mr. President, it is not my purpose to enter into a lengthy discussion of the bill and veto message which are now under consideration. It is a short bill, but I think there was never so much iniquity concentrated in a bill of this extent.

The bill does not purport to be a bill to admit Arkansas as a State into the Union, but it provides that the State of Arkansas shall be entitled and admitted to representation in Congress

as one of the States of the Union upon the following fundamental condition that the constitution of Arkansas shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted." That is the whole of the bill. The proposition is that the State of Arkansas shall by this bill be admitted to representation in the Senate and in the House of Representa tives. Where does Congress derive any power to pass such an act? What provision of the Constitution authorizes this legislation? Arkansas is either a State in the Union or she is not a State in the Union, but a Territory. If she be a State in the Union she is entitled to representation in both Houses of Congress by the express provisions of the Constitution, and neither Congress nor any other power has the authority to deprive her of that right. If Arkansas is not a State in the Union I suppose the theory of the gentlemen who deny that proposition must be that she is a Territory of the United States. If she be a Territory, then an enabling act ought to be passed to authorize her people to form a State constitution with a view to her admission into the Union as a State.

Now, sir, if there be any other theory which covers the case of Arkansas, my mind has not yet comprehended it, nor have I heard it suggested by any one. Upon either of these hypotheses, I ask the question, Has Congress any power whatever to legislate upon the subject in the form of this bill? If you resort to constitutional power, there is as much power in Congress to abolish the government of the State of Maine which my honorable friend before me [Mr. MORRILL] represents with so much ability in part in the Senate, and then to pass a law to admit the State of Maine to representation in the two Houses of Congress after having excluded that representation from other States. Is Congress omnipotent? Has Congress powers outside of the Constitution and that are not

delegated by the people of the States in that instrument? I suppose not. If that be true, then where is the power of Congress first to abrogate and destroy the State government of Arkansas, and then to pass laws for her reconstruction, prescribing who of her people shall vote and who shall not vote, and who shall be elected to office and who shall not be?

If I understand the facts aright, Arkansas some thirty years ago was admitted as a State into the Union. According to my recollection, she never changed her constitution from the one under which she originally became a State; but of that fact I do not speak with confidence. If she changed it, it was but once, and some years before the rebellion broke out, and she never made any amendment of her constitution when she went into secession or during the war. That State called a convention, and that convention passed an ordinance of secession, and the State became a quasi member of the southern confederacy; and, if I am correctly informed, the constitution identical in all its provisions with that which existed in Arkansas before the rebellion continued to be her constitution throughout the whole of the trouble.

What, then, is the condition of Arkansas. She went into the rebellion with a constitution approved of either tacitly or expressly by Congress, and under which she had continued to be a inember of the Union for a great number of years. She made no change in that constitution. In the course of time the rebellion was put down by force of arms, and it found Arkansas in possession of the same constitution under which she had lived as a member of the United States for many years. But by a convention of her people called after the suppres sion of the rebellion, rescinded her ordinance of secession, passed a resolution in which she renounced the right of secession, and the Legislature ratified the thirteenth amendment of the constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States. More than this, she repudiated her public debt contracted during the war, and her convention abolished slavery within her borders. She has been by various acts passed by Congress recognized as a State of the Union. The Supreme Court has heard cases coming up from Arkansas, as one of the United States, before and since the rebellion. The President by many acts, in the appointment of marshals, collectors, and other United States officers in Arkansas, has recognized that State as one of the States of the Union.

Here, then, is a State that never changed its constitution and form of government, but did attempt to secede from the Union and to attach itself as a member of the southern confederacy adhering to precisely the same constitution and government which it had previously possessed, and when the rebellion was suppressed rehabilitating itself under the same constitution as a member of the United States and accepting the conditions that were suggested by the executive department of the Government of the United States; and then being recognized by the official acts of Congress, of the Supreme Court, and of the President of the United States as a member of the Union, and electing Senators and Representatives to Congress, and sending them up with their credentials of election, and asking that they be admitted to represent her as one of the United States.

Sir, I have now in my desk the Governor's commission of three Senators in Congress from that State, who were elected by her Legislature after she had thus been recognized by the Government of the United States in all its departments as a member of the Union. Two of these commissions have not yet expired. These men presented themselves at the bar of the Senate some two or three years ago, and exhibited official evidence of their having been chosen as Senators from that State, and demanded, as their right and the right of the State, that they should be admitted to their seats. Now, to my mind the simple act of duty and of the soundest policy was then for the Senate and House of Representatives to have permitted the members

of the two bodies who came here from that State to take their seats. All the other States that had been engaged in the rebellion took the same course as Arkansas, sent up their Senators and Representatives, and complied with the same conditions to reestablish proper relations with the Government of the United States. All that was necessary to have now a perfect union of all the States, and their full participation in all their rights under the Government of the United States, was simply for the two Houses to have admitted their Senators and Representatives.

Mr. President, I do not believe that Congress had any legitimate power to take a contrary course. Congress for the last two or three years has been engaged largely in abolishing State governments, in denying to them the admission of their representatives in the two Houses of Congress, in excluding the presidential functions and power from these States, and superseding it by the power of Congress, represented by the General of the armies and his subordinates, and expelling the courts, United States and State, and superseding them by military tribunals.

Mr. President, all the legislation of Congress in relation to the southern States and their reconstruction, as it is termed, has to been the most flagitious usurpation of power. There is not a shadow of authority for it in the Constitution. But, Mr. President, I am not going extensively into this subject. I rejoice to think that the terrible reign and rule of radicalism draws to a close, and the restoration of the Constitution and the Union, of law, order,|| and liberty, approaches in the distance, and before another year has passed away will have composed the passions engendered and healed the wounds inflicted by the great civil war and made us again one people. Before the formation of the Constitution each State was a distinct and independent political sovereignty and possessed of all the powers of a nation. The people of the several States voluntarily formed the Government of the United States by relin. quishing a portion of their sovereignty and powers and organizing them into a common government by a written Constitution. instrument forms a limited Government, without any original, but wholly of delegated powers; and has, and can have, no powers whatever but those which are vested in it by the express language of the Constitution, or its necessary implication; and all the sovereignty and powers of which the people of the several States did not divest themselves and embody in the common Government by the Constitution, were both by implication and the words of one of its provisions, reserved by the States and people respectively. Among those retained is the sovereign and exclusive power of each State to make and alter at pleasure its own constitution and form of government, and manage its own internal and domestic affairs in any manner that does not conflict with the Constitution of the United States.

That

The Constitution and Government of the United States may be dissolved and brought to an end by the consent of the people of the several States, or by successful revolution; and it exists in perpetuity until terminated in one of those modes; but the States, with their governments, exist in absolute perpetuity, with the power and right of self-government in their people, under the Constitution of the United States, which they can never alienate or forfeit, and of which they cannot be divested but by conquest or revolution.

The most essential constituent of this sov ereign and reserved power of self-government by the States is the right to confer upon or to withhold suffrage and all other political rights and powers from any portion of their people who did not possess them when the constitution was adopted.

Congress has no constitutional or rightful power whatever to invest the negro population of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Ark

ansas, Louisiana, and Texas with the right of suffrage, or any other political right. Congress has no constitutional or rightful power whatever to abolish the governments of those States formed by their people who pos sessed the political power of the several States at the time; or to substitute provisional military governments in their stead; or to authorize a part of the white people and the negroes of those States to form other governments for them; and the governments set up, or about to be set up, by the usurped power of Congress, through the instrumentality of their negro population, and the General and Army of the United States, and by the detrusion of the President and the Supreme Court, are utterly null and void.

The free white people of the United States will not allow the ignorant and stolid negroes of those ten States, and the white adventurers who managed them, to appoint a President. The electors chosen under the authority of the spurious and burlesque governments recently set up in those States, backed and supported || by whatever power, will not be counted in the next presidential election.

I will present this position in a more striking point of view. There are in all the States three hundred and seven electoral votes. The Radical party and their candidate, General Grant, and the Army, will not suffer the legitimate governments in the teu southern States to choose electors; and those chosen by their negro governments, numbering seventy, being excluded, will leave two hundred and thirtyseven, and one hundred and nineteen will be required to elect a President. The conservative candidate will probably receive the electoral vote of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, making an aggregate of one hundred and thirty-eight.

If the Radical candidate were to receive the vote of all the other States, which is not prob. able, excluding those chosen by negro govern ernments, he would have ninety-nine electoral votes, or thirty-nine less than the conservative candidate; but add to the vote of General Grant the seventy electors chosen by the negro gov ernments of the southern States, and it would make one hundred and sixty-nine votes, thirtyone more than the conservative candidate. In this way the negroes of the ten southern States would not only defeat the efforts of the white people of the United States to elect their Presi dent, but would appoint a President for them in flagitious violation of the Constitution. This grand enterprise of fraud, force, and usurpation cannot succeed. The candidate for the presidency who receives the majority of the electoral votes chosen by the free white men of the United States will be constitutionally and de jure the President, and they will see to it that he shall be de facto.

Ambitious, bad, and reckless men will be met and foiled at the threshold of their further scheme to force negro suffrage on the other States, at a more convenient season, by the agency of a President and members of Congress chosen by negro governments, constructed partly for that purpose.

Those governments are no more obligatory upon the white people whom they oppress, or to be respected by all good and true citizens, than if they had been set up by the Emperor of France or the Queen of Great Britain; the power that foisted them upon an erring, gallant, subjugated, penitent, but proud and protesting people, was no less alien and illegitimate for that purpose. Those governments must be heaved off from their crushed victims, or their enslavement will be the precursor of the fate of all the other white people of the United States. So many of them cannot be enslaved, and the others continue long to be free; but they must be delivered from slavery, and freedom for all be provided with better guaranties.

Prudence and their own safety, as well as justice, magnanimity, and fraternity call upon

the yet free and patriotic people of the other States to rescue their race and kindred of the southern States from the degrading and galling chains of political slavery to negroes. The work has begun and is progressing; and when it is completed it will be for their enfranchised brothers in the full restoration and enjoyment of all their constitutional liberties, rights, and powers, to decide for themselves whether or not they will confer on the negro population of their respective States any or what extent of suffrage.

The Caucasian is the highest type of man, and its vast and rapidly increasing numbers in the United States recoil with instinctive disgust and horror from the idea of amalgamation with the negro, the lowest race, and the national weakness and degradation it would produce; the examples of Mexico and the countries of South America powerfully confirm the teachings of their irrepressible instincts.

This white race is also fully impressed with this truth, that if five millions of negroes are allowed to dwell in one third of the States, if there is to be any permanent peace between the races, the negro must occupy that lower and subordinate position in which he was placed by their Creator. Their entranchisement from personal slavery, and their investment of all civil rights, are not incompatible with the welfare of either race. But wholly incapable of any well ordered self-government as the negro is, in any condition from primitive barbarism to any stage of civilization which he can attain, his association with the white man in the exercise of political power would introduce a great disturbing element, and be productive of various and grave disorder and evil; and with his efforts to obtain social equality would produce conflicts that would result in the destruction of the negro, or his expulsion from the country, or his reduction to a quasi slavery. It would be wisdom for the African race who inhabit our country, tc ask the white race to guaranty to them equal civil rights, and to decline, expressly and wholly, political rights and social equality. Upon this platform the negro would generally find in the white man a kind and protecting friend; but on that which he now occupies, and to which he has been beguiled by false friends, he will always be confronted by a superior race and a stern and conquering foe.

But besides sweeping away forever from the people of the southern States the worst gov ernments that now exists in the civilized world, governments which organize both despotism and anarchy, the true, good, and brave men of the United States have other and most important work to perform. They have to restore our mixed system of State and national Governments, as the foremost men of all this earth made it; each State having equal rights with all the others, and the exclusive and recognized sovereign power to make and alter at pleasure its own constitution and form of government, and to manage its own domestic affairs in har mony with the Constitution of the United States; and the Government of the United States to be restricted to the regulation of affairs between the United States and foreign Governments, and among the several States, and to be supreme within the sphere of its constitutional powers.

The liberties of the people are founded upon the States, the exclusive power of their people to make their own governments and laws upon their reserved sovereignty and rights; and the stability, strength, and security of the whole system is imparted by the due execution of the powers with which the people of the several States invested the General Government by the Constitution. In our vast country liberty can be secured only by the States, their governments, and the inviolabilty of their reserved sovereignty and rights; peace, stability, and strength only by the Government of the United States, administered in conformity and subordination to the Constitution. The adjustment of powers, which the Consti

tution made between the States and the United States, has been essentially, almost fatally, disorganized by the Radical party. The diflicult but imperative duty of every true and enlightened patriot is to combine and struggle together until it is restored.

They have to crush out the fell spirit of radicalism from the whole land. They have to gather up and reconstruct the broken fragments of the Constitution, and restore in harmony, authority, and power our great charter of government and liberty. They have to erect other defenses against the encroaching and usurping tendencies inherent in Congress, and to restore the Presidency and the Supreme Court to the possession and exercise of the important powers and functions which that dominating department has, for the time, wrested from them. They have to take additional guarantees that the Governments of the United States and the States shall move without collision in their respective orbits, as described by the Constitution; and that the Supreme Court shall always promptly execute its great conservative power of deciding questions of conflict of jurisdiction between them. They have to recover those priceless rights and liberties of person, property, self-government, and pursuit of happiness which are the chief ends of our scheme that have been temporarily betrayed and overthrown by the faithless sentinels and guards charged with their watch and defense, and devise more securities for their enjoyment against the assault of internal enemies and the perversion of power by governmental officials.

I have given but a sketch of the great and most interesting work that has to be undertaken by all our countrymen who are worthy of their heritage of liberty and constitutional government. Until it is performed they have no stable government, no liberty, no security of person or property. The accomplishment of this work is their present, continuing, deathless, immortal mission, passing from sire to son. Let every true man give to it, if needful, all the days of his life; and if in that time it is not completed, let him bequeath his part of the progressing work to his children, and to his children's children, as the most sacred and precious of all trusts.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill, the objections of the President of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding.

Mr. HOWE. I wish to state that the Senator from Maine [Mr. MORRILL] and myself have paired with the Senator from Connecticut, [Mr. DIXON.] The Senator from Maine was obliged to leave the Senate Chamber on account of ill health. If he were here, he and I would vote in the affirmative, and the Senator from Connecticut in the negative.

The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted-year 30, nays 7; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Harlan, Howard, Morgan, Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Patterson, of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Wilson, and Yates-30

NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Davis, Doolittle, Hendricks. McCreery, Patterson of Tennessee, and Saulsbury-7.

ABSENT-Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Cameron, Cattell, Dixon, Drake, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Henderson, Howe, Johnson, Morrill of Maine, Morton, Norton, Vickers, and Williams-17.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. On this question the yeas are 30, and the nays 7. So (two-thirds of the Senators present having voted in the affirmative) the bill is passed, and having been passed by a similar vote in the other House, has become a law, the objections of the President of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding.

HOUSE BILL REFERRED.

The joint resolution (H. R. No. 306) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to remit the duties on certain articles contributed to the National Association of American Sharp-shooters, was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. CONNESS. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive busi

ness.

Mr. HOWARD. I move that the Senate adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

MONDAY, June 22, 1868.

The House met at twelve o'clock m. The reading of the Journal of Saturday's proceedings was, by unanimous consent, dispensed with.

The SPEAKER. This being Monday, the first business in order is the call of the States and Territories for bills and joint resolutions for reference to their appropriate committees, not to be brought back into the House by a motion to reconsider, commencing with the State of Maine.

REGISTRY OF VESSELS.

Mr. PIKE introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1285) to repeal an act concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels, approved December 21, 1792, and for other purposes; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

DRAWBACK ON SHIP-BUILDING MATERIALS.

Mr. LYNCH introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1280) to allow drawback on articles used in the construction of vessels; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Commerce.

FUNDING THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Mr. KELSEY introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1287) to provide for funding the national debt and for taxing the interest-bearing bonds hereafter issued by the United States, and for other purposes; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. KELSEY. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the Committee of Ways and Means will consider and report on this subject without delay.

SAMUEL P. TODD.

Mr. ROBINSON introduced a joint resolu tion (H. R. No. 301) relative to the claim of Samuel P. Todd, deceased; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

SCHENECTADY AND ST. LAWRENCE RAILROAD.

Mr. MARVIN introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1288) to aid in the construction of a railroad for military and postal purposes through the wilderness of northern New York, from Schenectady to the St. Lawrence river; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

OPENING OF A NEW INLET.

Mr. HAIGHT submitted a memorial of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, and several thousand citizens of the eastern portion of said State, asking Congress for an appropriation to open an inlet from the head of Barnegat bay to the Atlantic ocean, on the New Jersey coast, for the preservation of life along the coast, to facilitate commerce, and to protect Government property from the encroachments of the sea; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

EDMUND W. WANDELL.

Mr. WOODWARD introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1289) for the relief of Edmund W. Wandell; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

APPRENTICES IN NAVY-YARD SAIL LOFTS.

Mr. O'NEILL introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1290) relative to indentured apprentices and apprentices under instructions in the mechan. ical shops and sail lofts of navy-yards; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

MARY HASSETT.

Mr. STOKES introduced a joint resolution (H. R. No. 302) for the relief of the heirs of Mary Hassett, of the State of Alabama; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee of Claims.

RELIEF FROM POLITICAL DISABILITIES.

Mr. COBURN introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1291) to provide for the relief from disabilities of certain persons who have been engaged in rebellion; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, and ordered to be printed.

INDEPENDENCE OF CRETE.

Mr. SHANKS introduced a joint resolution (H. R. No. 303) for the recognition of the independence of Crete; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs:

By unanimous consent the joint resolution was ordered to be printed in the Globe, as fol lows:

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, &c., That the civilization of this age calls for the most liberal forms of government among men; that it is the privilege and the duty of this Government to foster in every just and proper way the rise and progress of free institutions wherever the people are competent to maintain the same; that the people of Crete having shown by their long suffering and Christian forbearance, by their fortitude, by their devotion and their heroic defense of their homes, their country, and their religion, that they are competent to maintain a free government, it is the duty of the United States to recognize them as free and independent.

ANDREW J. GRAY.

Mr. HOLMAN introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1292) to increase the pension of Andrew J. Gray; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

COAL-TAR AND GAS-LIGHT COMPANY.

Mr. INGERSOLL introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1293) to incorporate the Washington and Georgetown Coal-Tar and Gas-Light Company; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia.

CITIZENS' GAS COMPANY.

Mr. INGERSOLL also introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1294) to incorporate the Citizens' Gas Company; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia.

WILLIAM J. COTTY.

Mr. BENJAMIN introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1295) granting a pension to William J. Cotty, late of the twenty-first Missouri infantry; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

POST ROUTE IN IOWA.

Mr. LOUGHRIDGE introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1296) to establish a post route from Buckingham, Iowa, to Laporte City, Iowa; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

OCEAN TELEGRAPH CABLE.

Mr. COBB introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1297) to grant the right to lay and land an ocean telegraph cable; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

MENDOCINO RESERVATION.

Mr. HIGBY presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking that the Mendocino reservation be abandoned and the land reopened for preemption; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

SURVEY OF LANDS IN CALIFORNIA.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking an appropriation by Congress for surveys of public lands in said State; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations. HARBOR OF SAN DIEGO.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the

Legislature of the State of California, asking aid from Congress to improve the harbor of San Diego, in that State; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

NATIVE GRAPE BRANDY.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking Congress to remit or reduce the tax on native grape brandy; which was referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

INDIAN DEPREDATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking that steps be taken by the General Government to ascertain the losses suffered by citizens of the State in late Indian depredations and making indemnity for the same; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

PROTECTION TO FOREIGN-BORN CITIZENS.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking Congress to demand of foreign Governments full and ample protection to our foreignborn citizens while temporarily residing under those Governments; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

MAIL ROUTE IN CALIFORNIA.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking for the establishment of a mail route in said State; which was referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking Congress to grant the same aid in lands and subsidies to the southern Pacific railroad as have been granted to the Union and Central Pacific railroads; which was referred to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad.

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of California, asking Congress to allow the State to invest in unencumbered, productive real estate the proceeds of the one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land donated to the State by Congress for the construction of an agricultural and mechanics' arts college; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor.

NAVIGATION OF THE COLORADO RIVER.

Mr. HIGBY also presented a resolution of the Legislature of the State of California, asking Congress to aid Captain Trueworthy, of San Francisco, to perfect the navigation of the Colorado river, in the Territory of Arizona; which was referred to the Committee on Com

merce.

LAND DISTRICTS IN CALIFORNIA. Mr. JOHNSON introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1298) to transfer the counties of Sierra and Nevada from the Sacramento land district to the Marysville land district; which was read a first and second time, and, with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

SETTLERS UPON THE PUBLIC LANDS.

Mr. WINDOM introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1299) conferring certain rights on settlers on the public lands of the United States; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

ENTRIES UNDER HOMESTEAD LAW.

Mr. WINDOM also introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1300) authorizing repayments in cases of illegal entries under the homestead law; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

RAILROAD GRANT.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Nevada, introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1301) to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Humboldt to the Colorado river; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and ordered to be printed.

INDIAN TREATIES.

Mr. TAFFE introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1302) to regulate treaties with Indian tribes; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

MAIL ROUTES IN NEBRASKA.

Mr. TAFFE also introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1303) to establish certain mail routes in the State of Nebraska; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

REMISSION OF DUTY.

Mr. HOOPER, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1304) to remit the duty on a meridian circle imported as a present for the Astronomical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

ISLANDS IN GREAT MIAMI RIVER.

Mr. MUNGEN introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1305) to repeal an act relative to islands in the Great Miami river, approved March 2, 1868; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. MUNGEN also introduced a joint resolution (H. R. No. 304) to suspend action by the General Land Office under the provisions of an act relative to islands in the Great Miami river, approved March 2, 1868; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

MONITOR AND MERRIMAC.

Mr. GRISWOLD introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1306) allowing prize money to the officers and crew of the Monitor for the fight with the Merrimac in Hampton Roads, March 9, 1862; which was read a first and second time, and, with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

TRANSPORTATION OF UNITED STATES MAILS.

Mr. TWICHELL introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1307) in relation to the transportation of United States mails by railroad companies; which was read a first and second time, referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

The SPEAKER. The next business in order, during the remainder of the morning hour, is the call of the States for resolutions, commencing with the State of Indiana, where the call rested at the expiration of the morning hour on Monday last. No resolution was offered from Indiana.

BRIDGES ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI AND OHIO.

Mr. RAUM introduced a joint resolution (H. R. No. 305) in respect to the construction of bridges over the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; which was read a first and second time.

The question was upon ordering the joint resolution to be engrossed and read a third time.

Mr. RAUM. I call the previous question on the joint resolution.

The joint resolution, which was read, provides that hereafter all bridges to be constructed, and in process of construction, over the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, shall be made with unbroken and continuous spans, and the span of any such bridge covering the main channel of the river shall be five hundred feet in length in the clear.

The question was upon seconding the previous question; and being taken, upon a division, there were-ayes 40, noes 44; no quorum voting.

Tellers were ordered; and Mr. RAUM, and Mr. TRIMBLE of Kentucky, were appointed.

The House again divided; and the tellers reported that there were-ayes 46, noes 62. So the previous question was not seconded. Mr. TRIMBLE, of Kentucky. I desire to discuss this joint resolution.

The SPEAKER. The joint resolution,

giving rise to debate, goes over under the rule.

Mr. RAUM. I ask that the joint resolution be printed.

The motion was agreed to.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Indefinite leave of absence was granted to Mr. VAN AERNAM.

COMMEMORATION OF UNION DEAD.

Mr. LOGAN submitted the following resolution, upon which he called the previous question:

Resolved, That the proceedings of the different cities, towns, &c., recently held in commemoration of the gallant heroes who have sacrificed their lives in defense of the Republic, and the record of the ceremonial of the decoration of the honored tombs of the departed, shall be collected and bound, under the direction of such person as the Speaker shall designate, for the use of Congress, and that a sum not exceeding $1,000 be appropriated for this purpose out of the contingent fund of the House.

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

Mr. LOGAN moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was agreed to; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

DAILY HOUR OF MEETING.

Mr. NEWCOMB. I submit the following resolution, and upon it call the previous ques

tion:

Resolved, That this House will meet at eleven o'clock a. m. during the remainder of this session, and that there shall be two morning hours each day, when it does not conflict with the present orders of the House in relation to the tax bill.

The SPEAKER. The latter part of this resolution in relation to morning hours requires unanimous consent or a suspension of the rules. A majority vote can fix the hour of meeting. Mr. NEWCOMB. Then I move that the rules be suspended.

The SPEAKER. The rules cannot be suspended during the morning hour.

Mr. NEWCOMB. Then I modify my resolution so that it shall provide only that the hour of daily meeting for the remainder of the session shall be eleven o'clock a. m.

Mr. MAYNARD. I suggest to the gentleman to modify his resolution so as to provide for evening sessions instead of meeting at eleven o'clock.

Mr. NEWCOMB:

We can do both.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I am willing to meet at eleven o'clock until the tax bill shall have been disposed of. But after that we will have very little important business to attend to; and if we have too much time we will be left a prey to all sorts of schemes to rob the public Treasury.

Mr. NEWCOMB. There is a great mass of business before the committees in which the public is interested, and which has not yet been reported.

Mr. BENTON. I move that the resolution be laid upon the table.

The motion was agreed to.

OSAGE RIVER IMPROVEMENT.

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

Resolved, That the Committee on the Public Lands be, and hereby are, instructed to inquire into the expediency, utility, and public policy of making a liberal grant of land, including the vacant land along the course of the Osage river in the State of Missouri, for the improvement of said river.

Mr. McCLURG moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was agreed to; and also moved that the motion to reconsider belaid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

THE PUBLIC DEBT.

Mr. LOUGHRIDGE. I submit the following resolution, and upon it I call the previous question:

Resolved, That in the opinion of this House the interests of the country require that the public debt should be reorganized and reduced to a simple and uniform system, more easily understood by the people