011 895 797 .J pH8J E 440 .5 .B96 Copy 1 FORCE BILL. SPEECH l^ OF HON. HENRY C. BURNETT, OF KENTUCKY, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 26, 1861. The bill to autliurize tlie Presldoiit to call out the mili- tary force of the country, and to accept of volunteers in certain cases, being under consideration — Mr. BURNETT said: Mr. Spe.\ker: It is not my purpose to enter upon a discussion of the details of this bill. I re- gret to say, as was said by the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Pryor,] that I am persuaded the passage of this bill is a foregone conclusion. In- deed, from the moment of its introduction by the member from Ohio, [Mr. Stanton,] I have enter- tained no doubt it was the intention of the dom- inant party to pass it, and that nothing but the momentous consequences to the country which its passage must involve, deterred that party from a resort to the previous question, which stifles all debate. It would then have been passed without being printed, and without an opportunity to mem- bers on this side of the House to examine its pro- visions. It might have been as well thus if the party which is in a majority here had the nerve to consummate the system of rule which this bill proposes to inaugurate. The steps of unlicensed power should always be stealthy, and as secret as possible. Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, this bill proposes ■what is tantamount to a declaration of war. The gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Curtis] says this cry of war constitutes the whole stock in trade of this side of the Chamber; for that war, war, has been the refrain of evei-y speech made from the benches on this side; yet I think I can prove, even to him, if he will attend, that there is more of fact than fancy in the assertion that the passage of this bill means war on the slaveholding States, and that it -can mean nothing else. That gentleman said the principles of this bill had been spread upon our statute-books since 1793. This is an error in point of fact or construction. No act, like this under consideration, has ever received the sanction of an American Congress, or of any American Ex- ecutive. It contains leading principles which have appeared in no other law, especially upon the sub- J'ect of calling out the militia of the several States. t is by these new principles it must be character- ized, and should be condemned. The men who framed the Constitution neither j authorized nor contemplated the use of the mili-; ; tary power of this Government except in subor- dination to the civil authority. The history of : the Constitution, the language of the Constitution, I the proceedings of the first Congi'ess, abundantly |[ prove the fact I state; but especially is that fact j salient when it refers to the power of this Gov- j ernment over the militia of the States. If gen- ; tlomen will refer to the debat(;s of the Virginia I i convention, when that body was engaged in the [ discussion of the Federal Constitution, they will i see that when the clause authorizing a call upon , the militia of the States to suppress insurrection [and to repel invasion was under consideration, Patrick Henry assailed it upon the ground that it might be so perverted as to enable the Federal Gov- ernment to make war upon the States, and to call out ■ the militia to commit hostilities xipon the people of the several States. Mr. Madison repelled this idea. He said emphatically that this power could only j be used in subordination to the civil authority. He instanced the case in which it had been necessary to call out the militia of Virginia to break down a band of smugglers near Alexandria. In this discussion, Mr. Madison used an illustration most apposite to the case which calls forth this bill. He said, in the event that a State were disposed to renounce its allegiance to the Federal Government, this clause of the Constitution was so restrictive that it would afford a PROTECTioNioi/ie people who might take that course. When a proposition was made to authorize the Federal Government to make war upon a State, if necessary to the enforcement of the Federal laws, the convention which framed the Constitution expressly denied such power. The law which was passed by the first Con- gress — the law of 1792 — was framed by men who made the Constitution. It was wise. It provides for calling forth the militia in aid of the laws of the United States, only when the President shall be notified by a district judge that their execu- tion is opposed, in a State, by a combination too powerful to be suppressed by the force at the command of the marshal. What is that force.' The posse comitatus — the force of civil society. When that is too weak, then civil functionaries may call for aid, but not until then. The Presi- dent must then call first upon the militia of the State, and cannot call on the militia of any other Slate than that in which the combination makes front, unless the militiii of that State rcfiiSL' tool)ey orders. But this law expired by its own limita- tion; and besides, it was repealed in 1795, the noti- fication to the President by the district judge bcin^ dispensed with. The" principle was preserved, namely, that until the civil power is exhausted, the military arm of Government does not come into action; and, when it is invoked, it acts only so long as tht; exigency exists which required the civic authority to summon its aid to the due exe- cution of the civic function, lo which its subordi- nation is ever to he observed. To authorize a call upon the militia by the Pres- ident, in order to execute the laws in a Stiite, these conditions are necessary: 1. It must be to assist the civil power lo execute a taw of the United Slates. •2. It must be only when the civil power, after attempting to execute it, and fniVing, has exhausted the powero///if»iiars/jai, which is exactly the power of a sherifl' in a county. 3. It must be when such a law is obstructed bij a combination too powerful for the posse comitalus. The act of 1H07 authorizes the President to use the land and naval forces of the United States in all cases where it would be lawful for him to call forth the militia, and for the same purposes. Are not these grants of power sufficient? The bill now before the House proposes an ex- tension of these laws to a new object, namely , fo in- surrection against the authority of the United States, j This new object introduces a new principle into our system of Government, and it is to that I ob- ject—against that I protest with all the emphasis of which I am capable. The cases of insurrection provided for by existing laws, are cases of in- surrection in a State "against the government thereof;" against the State govei-nment; and upon the call of the Legislature of a State, or, in case it Ciinnot lie convened, upon the call of the execu- tive of the State, the President may call forth the militia of that Stale and other States, and may use the land and naval forces of the United Stales to suppress the insurrection. The object is to main- tain the lts:itimale municipfd sovereignty of the States where it is unable to maintain itself. But you now are asked to authorize the Presi- dent to use these same means in a Slate lo sup- press an insurrection against the authority of the United Slates. You have already these means in his hands lo execute the laws of the United Slates; but you are asked also for them to suppress an in- surrection against the authority of the United Slates! An insurrection by whom? By States .' Shall tlie President judge of the exigency; shall he determ- ine that in a State, not complaining, the authority of the United Slates is rebelled against; and shall he summon the militia of other States to sustain or vindicate the authority of the United States by marching in to such uncomplaining Slate? Suppose the Suite, through its Legislature, calls on him to summon the militia to put down this array as an insurrection against the government of the Slate: you will have laws on the statute-book authorizing Buch a call and requiring of him obedience to it. How will he execute both? li is jiluin that in such a ca."?e the authority of the United States, according to the view of the Executive, will over- ridethcsovereignty oftheState,and thathis power will be asserted by the troops he may choose lo accept under thisbill, though they come from otherStates, or may be (he soldiers of the regular Army of the United Slates! It is no more or less, sir, than an act of centralization — of consolidation, utterly destructive of the principles upon which this Gov- ernment was originally founded and upon which it has thus far rested. Mr. Hamilton, in his notions of Federal power, did never conceive a scheme as bad as this. In the hands of an ambitious leader, and in times of high party excitement, such a law as this would be a written warrant for the overthrow of the Con- stitution and the centralization of all power in the hands of the President of the United States. He may preach a crusade against the jieople of any State. Under such a law his myrmidons would invade a State, turn its Legislature out of doors at [the point of the bayonet, capture its executive, i overthrow its judiciary, quarter Federal troops I upon its people, and thus enforce his idea of tn- surrection against the authority of Iht United Slates'- The gentleman from Iowa is an educated soldier. It may be that he sees in all this military para- phernalia to be attached to the Presidenl's power, (already immense,) nolhing adverse to the prin- ciples heretofore recognized under the laws of our country; but, I submit to those whose ways have been in the paths of peace, and who have heard that the price of a people's liberty is eternal vigil- ance, whether this law is not the death-mark upon the already pallid features of a Government whose health has been wasted by the horrible doses administered by the hands of that political empiricism which, in its impatience, now pro- poses to substitute for stow poison tiiis process of sudden strangulation? Mr. Speaker, I warn you that the freemen of this country will never submit lo this law. When passion cools, they will look upon il with horror; attempt to execute it, and every true man in the States will resist it at every hazard, and to the last extremity. This act proposes to extend the action of the laws of 1795 and 1807 to a case of insurrection against the authority of the United Slates. Mr. CURTIS. This is not a bill to revive those acts. They are now in full force. This bill only amends those laws, by adding to them. I Mr. BURNETT. 1 understand. What I wish to learn is, what the gentleman means by " an insurrectio-n againsi the authority of the United States?" I confess I cannot conceive it, unless it has the elfecl upon which 1 have already com- mented, if this be the intention of the advocates of the bill, 1 want them to avow it publicly; and then I meet it promptly by saying it will be re- garded as a proclamation of war upon the soulherv Slates. 1 call upon the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Staw- ton] to look wliat powers this bill confers upon the President. Mr. STAN TON. I will answer the gentleman, if he desires it. Mr. BURNETT. Not at this time. The gen- tleman will have an opportunity; fori take it he 8 will have the floor in reply to the remarks made generally on the bill. I was saying that the gen- tleman should look what powers this bill confers upon the President. They are unlimited, Mr. Speaker, both over the Army and Navy; unlim- ited, because he is to judge of the fact of the ex- istence of insurrection; because he is the exclu- sive judge of the act of insurrection; because he is left to define what is meant by " the authority of the United States;" unlimited, because, when lie accepts tlie act and fact as bringing his case within the statute, he may receive as lai-go an army as he can collect, commission all its officers, from lieutenants of a platoon to lieutenants gen- eral, leaders of corps d'armec, and turn this coun- try into a vast military camp. This bill places at his disposal millions of men, brave and ready for military enterprise. They are to be his own creations, and hold their positions subject only to his will. If you authorize him to call them into active service, yoa also pledge the public faith and public treasure to their payment. The Pres- ident has no civil authority to which he is to look up as a subordinate. He is a law unto himself. Is he to be restrained by Congress? For thirty days after the meeting of the next Congress he ■will have this unlimited power. Until then, there will be no legal power to restrain him. Is there any probability he would then surrender the con- trol thus acquired .-' It may be this power would be surrendered by the elected President; but neither you, nor I, nor the American people know enough of him to con- clude with certainty even upon such a point; and surely with a legal right to raise, equip, organize, and officer such an army, and at his own discretion to launch it against the southern States, none of us can say that, willing as he mightbe to surrender the baton of the marshal for the insignia of the • presidential office, he would any longer have the power to do so. It is an odd experiment, a fear- ful experiment, and one which, according to every reasonable calculation to be drawn from the teach- ings of history, would eventuate in deeper civil commotions than those we have already expe- rienced, if it does not prove the grave of civil lib- erty in America. Congress will be adjourned on Monday next. Repose this vast authority in the hands of a man untried — heretofore measurably obscure — whose temper and appetites are un- known, and who can answer for the use to be made of this power before another Congress will be called together under the Constitution? This bill confers unbridled license upon the President to send forth armies to make war upon whom he pleases; to make that war as relent- less as passion, however malignant, or fanat- icism, however wild, may dictate. The homes of the people may be invaded by his soldiery; the country may be subjected to military authority, acting under the forms of law; and the peaceable citizen may be demoralized and debased, because his power of resistance may be ciit oft' by the force which Government throws into the hands of the President by this measure ! Yes, sir, members of the other side express well-feigned astonishment when we of this .side — desiring the peace and prosperity of the country, and seeking to recon- struct this Union, instead of rushing madly into conflict with its dismembered fragments — de- nounce this bill as the inauguration of an interne- cine war, with all its attendant horrors. We are taunted and jeered at when we strive to repress a collision at arms between bi-others. It in a decla- ration of war — a war which, if prosecuted, will be more fearful than any of the civil wars of which history furnishes a record. We denounce it, as every lover of the Union ought to do. Such a measure was never conceived of by the framers of the Constitution. They never dreamed that any such could be attempted by any subsequent Con- gress under the form of government which they organized. It invites public liberty to absolute sacrifice. Mr. Speaker, the House will pardon me while I look for a moment at the existing condition of the country, to ascertain the apology for this ex- traordinary proposition. There is no pretense of insurrection against the laws of any State; but there has been a withdrawal from this Govern- ment of six of the southern States, and this will be followed, probably, by the withdrawal of others. This measure points to this lamentable state of aff'airs, and proposes its correction by force. The States which have retired have re- sumed their sovereignty, and have, in the exer- cise of it, formed an association among themselves more agreeable than this, and in their judgment better adapted to the conservation of their social and industrial institutions. They have able men in their government — men who, but a few weeks since, were the counselors of this Government, and were regarded among its most brilliant orna- ments. It is certain they understand the theory of confederated republican government, and the bearing of a division of departmental power upon the public liberties. They have even adopted our own Constitution, to which they are accustomed, but with a reading upon which many of us insist as the true intent of that instrument. They hold out to us the olive branch of peace; they suggest negotiation for the practical settlement of disputed questions, and that we shall live apart from each other as friends, since we could not maintain that relation when dwelling together. Howis iheirproposal met? Gentlemen say they will not acknowledge their right of secession. I shall not stop to discuss the abstract right of se- cession. It is superseded by a practical fact, which stands before us in no questionable shape. Call it secession or revolution, or what you will, the pitcher has been broken at the fountain; its parts no longer cohere. It is useless to discuss amongourselves whether the southern States have done right or wrong in the stejjs they have taken. Their separation from this Union is a fact accom- plished, so far as their own will can influence its determination. The question recurs as a practical question, and we must meet it practically. Here are six mil- lion people, inhabiting the States which have with- drawn from further political connection with this Government; is it not advisable for us, better for ourselves and our posterity, to recognize the gov- ernment they have formed, as a friendly confed- eration ? In my opinion, this question should be i answered affirmatively. We should ;it once re- : reive ilioir commissioners, negotiate treaties with | them, and arrange nil subjects in whicii necessa- rily thcpe will be a coinmon interest. This is the ; policy of peace. On its adoption hang most mo- i mentous interests. The opposite policy is that of force. But, pass your force bills, and what will they amount to? Will they have a tendency to i reunite the States or the people? Nobody pre- j tends to believe it. i I have seen the reported speeches made by the President elect on his way here to be inaugurated to his high office. Some of these breathe the spirit of war: and I hear that, in private circles, '. he has told Kentucky to prepare for war. What fatuity ! What madness ! Admit that this Gov- ernment has a right to the forts which the south- ern people have captured: shall this country be drenched with fraternal blood to vindicate our title to property which we cannot expect to re- tain, and which the confederated States declare their willingness to nay for? Will you inaugu- rate such a war, under the bill of the gentleman from New York, [Mr. John Cochrane,] by send- ing vessels of war to blockade the southern ports? Mr. JOHN COCHRANE. Will the gentle- man yield to me for a moment? Mr. BURNETT. I decline to yield. Mr. JOHN COCHRANE. I want it under- stood the gentleman refuses to yield to me. 1 Mr. BURNETT. I take it for granted the gen- [ tieman from New York will obtain the floor, and I hope he will not interrupt me. Mr. Speaker, suppose you shut out commerce from the south- ern ports: is that any thing but war? Do gentle- men not understand that it will be treated at once as an act of war? They surely must; ^et they press nieasures like these, and still say they de- sire conciliation, and do not wish to involve the country in civil war. t Mr. JOHN COCHRANE. Under my great; uncertainty of obtaining the floor, I hope the gen- tleman from Kentucky will yield me the floor for one moment. Mr. BURNETT. I cannot yield. Mr. JOHN COCHRANE. I resist the con- clusions of the gentleman's argument, and deny his premises in tola. He confounds premises and - conclusions. j Mr. BURNETT. Sir, if your bill passes Con- ; gress, it will confound the peace and happiness of; your country. I Mr. JOHN COCHRANE. Thai is but an opinion, and the gentleman from Kentucky does not raise himself in my estimation by having uttered it. Mr. BURNETT. 1 wantall my time,aud I de- ■cline to turn aside for thesi- iriterruptions. While, •under the bill of the gentleman from New York,' [Mr. CociiiiAs'K,] you propose to enforce the col-i lection of revenui' in tin- seceded States, and thus to fill your national coders with the hard earnings of the southern pi-ople, whether ihey are willing or otherwise, another bill pniposes to deny to ■them postal facilities extended to the rest of the Republic. This system of measures gentlemen on the other side characterize as measures of peace -and conciliation! Deny them postal facilities; take the property you claim at the point of the bayonet; enforce duties at southern ports at the mouth of the cannon; and teach them that this is y owr frntemal ajfeclinn ! Deny to them the ad- vantages springnig from the Federal system, but impose upon them all its burdens and heavy charges, and tell them that this is peace and justice! The language of this system of coercive measures will be easily comprehended by the people to whom it is addressed. It speaks an indorsenientof opin- io*), frequently expressed by southern statesmen in these Halls, that they were prnJUable to the General Government, and had been beasts of bur- den, lo ! these many years. You will say to them that the duties they pay on their own consump- tion, and which comes from their pockets, are not compensated by the protection they receive; that their contributions towards the public expendi- tures are so disproportioned to their share of ben- efits received, that it is asking too much of you to let them depart in peace. Such, Mr. Speaker, are the olive branches which gentlemen propose to hold out to win back the South! Mr. Speaker, it was not my intention to digress from the bill which is under our immediate con- sideration; but I could not refrain from this glance at a system of measures of which it is but a part, and which, in its entirety, must make civil war in this once happy country the regv.lur order of business. You cannot act upon foreign ships, sub- jecting them to seizure and confiscation for visit- ing the ports of a people who have cut off their political association' with this Union, and expect anything but tear. If you think that, by the pro- posed measure, we avoid responsibility, and, by such specious device, will force the other party to take the initiative, though you may not err, still it must end in war; and therefore, whoever arranges the instrumentalities which shall produce the effect, will be held bound, before God and mankind, for the consequences. If you mean to raise armies, and march them across the Slates to recover the public property, and blood flows as a necessary effect from such a step, you must be prepared to accept whatever result may super- vene u]>on the circumstances. It is folly to say this is not coercion; the enlarging margin of dis- quiet and disaffection, the constantly widening gulf of anarchy and revolution which will be dis- closed, will prove the ]iopuhir interpretation of that now ami)iguous word in our language. Let me bestow a few observations upon the second section of the bill now before the Hous?. It violates not only the plainest teachings of the framersof the Constitution, but the express letter of the instrument. It authorizes the President to receive volunteers into the service of theGovern- mi'iit from any country upon the face of the earth. He may receive them individually, or in compa- nies, battalions, squadrons, regiments, or divis- ions; there is no restriction or limitation upon his powi^-. It violates the Constitution in authorizing the President to commission all the ofliccrs, from the highest to the lowest grade. Congress has power, by the fifteenth paragraph of the eighth sec- tion ofthefirstariide of the Constitution, "topro- vide for organizing, arming, mid disciplining the militia, anil for governing such jiart of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, rese?*Di?!o' to the States respectively the appoint- ment of the officers," &c. Congress may " raise and support armies," but the appropriation for that use shall not be for a longer term than two years. Does the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stanton] mean by this section to saddle upon the peopleof this country a standing army, whose numbers are only to be limited by the will of their constitutional commander-in-chief? If not, what does he mean by wrenching from the States a right of appointing the officers of their militia when employed in the service of the United States, and vesting this high power in thehands, notof Con- t grass, but of a single man? The political school to which the gentleman ■was formerly attached, made the Halls of Coif- , gress resound with diatribes on the tyranny which ! must follow the union of the purse and the sword in the hands of one person. One would have sup- i posed that the gentleman would have carried some of the maxims formerly learned into the new party j •of which he is one of the most conspicuous, and, | he will permit me to say, one of the ablest lead- i ers; yet, if he, an astute lawyer and experienced legislator, commences the preparation for his Pres- ident by breaking down the plainest mandates of the Constitution, in order to concentrate power in the hands of the Executfve; if he, a man of; peaceful inclination and avocations, has so far forgotten the rights of the States as to propose to ; wrest from them the command of their militia, when employed in the Federal service — if these ; things are done by Republicanism in the green i tree, what shall we expect in the dry ? Sir, our ■ militia has frequently been called into the service of the United States. The battle-fields of the i Union have illustrated their valor and endurance.] Does the gentleman draw from their past action ; the reasons why he refuses to trust the appoint- ment of the officers to the States? What is tiie reason; what can be tiie reason for this distrust' of the States and this usurpation of their most patent privileges, unless we are, under Black Re- i publican rule, about to enter vipon a scheme of centralization and consolidation? ! Mr. Speaker, I would to Heaven I had the power of eloquence to reach the hearts of gentle- i men on the other side of this Chamber. I recog- ! nize them as my countrymen, and I address them ; as my fellow-citizens. I deeply deplore the course they have taken — still more deeply that which j they propose to pursue. I have ardently desired | the perpetuation of the Union; the maintenance of ; the honor, the integrity, the connection of the ' States, and the equality of their citizens. I have the honor to represent, in part, a State whose loy- alty to this Government has not been questioned; j whose devotion to its interests and its honor will j compare, without the loss of credit, with those of her sister States. Her Representatives have been j constant advocates for Union and justice. On j your blood-stained fields, the lives of her gallant | sons have attested her devotion to the flag of our j common country. Through all these troubles Kentucky has practiced a signal forbearance, at- testing, by the tenor of her opinions, the most ardent desire to maintain the Union, and to see i peace restored to a now distracted sisterhood of States. The voices of her Representatives have been in consonance with their active and earnest efforts to procure the adoption of such measures as may establish concord, and secure peaceful solutions of all our existing complications. And it has been so with other slaveholding Rep- resentatives. The gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. BoTELER,] at an early day of the session, pro- posed the organization of the committee of thirty- three, with a view to an enlightened discussion of our difficulties, and to the ascertainment and se- curity of peaceful future I'elations. The Senators from Kentucky have both labored with zeal in the same cause. The border State committee, composed of gen- tlemen who desire Union and peace, agreed upon a proposition. A scheme of like intent was offered by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. Ether- idge;] but the other side would not permit them to be voted upon. Not only were the border State propositions rejected , but so has every suggestion the members from slaveholding States could make without dishonor and the absolute concession of political inferiority. Such has been the manner in which our over- tures have been met. On almost bended knees we have, from this side of the Chamber, petitioned gentlemen of the other side, who alone have the power to arrest the tide of disunion, by the adop- tion of such propositions as are consistent with our equality and justice, to present something for our consideration, likely to have the desired effect. This respectful request has been answered with " the proud man's contumely, the rich man's scorn. Not only have you refused to offer any thing here, but indignantly you have; elseiohere, scouted the propositions for compromise which assembled multitudes in my own State, of a party different from that to which I belong, have declared to be the minimum to which they would he driven. The southern people do not ask for concessions, they ask for rights, and plead for peace. Rights, Mr. Speaker, which are their inheritance from revolutionary sires; rights, which are theirs by toil and blood, wasted in building up this great partnership, of whose stock the free States now propose to become monopolists and sole directors; rights, which are theirs under the solemn adjudi- cations of the highest constitutional judiciary in the land. These rights were denied; these adju- dications have been spurned; these claims to a common benefit of diffusion for southern institu- tions, have been rejected. The answer to all has generally been, that the free States have the nu- merical and representative power, and must legis- late according to their own convictions of policy and ethics. By them it is pretended these are questions of liberty, of human rights, of con- science. With us, they are questions of consti- tutional compact, of contract, of equality, of inde- pendence. The southern people feel that in this Government they must be your equals, or must be vassals and provincials, hangers-on to your system, and only retained as " hewers of wood and drawers of water," for the profit to be made by their contributions to the support of the Gov- ernment you direct and control. I I cannot omit to dwell hero upon the Critten- ' dm resolutions, and their reception at tlie hands i of the dominant party. TJie resolutions are the I [)roduction of u Senator who has seen more of pub- ic service tlinn any other man at present in the i public councils — a man respected everywhere for i his pure patriotism and disinterested love of the j land of ins birth — a man of liberal talents and of! advanced years. Drawing; to a close of an illus- trious life, he bent all the energies of an exalted ambition to the consummation of this work of peace, and the deliverance of the Union from the ferils which environed it. No doubt he felt, what am frank to avow has been my own feeling con- etantly, that his resolutions fell short of the full measure of those rights which have been adjudged to exist for the people of the slavehnlding States. Still, as a means of quieting the agitation which threatened the pillars of our political fabric — as a •way of attaining the desired object, of removing the subject of slavery from Congress forever, and of excluding it from the arena of party politics — as a mode of reaching a finality upon a clangerous theme, and of restoring fraternal feelings between the people of this noble country, he lent his popu- lar name and gave his matured intellect in its most ardent efforts to secure their adoption. They met the approval of every individual upon this floor who had supported for the Presidency the candi- date of the Constitutional Union party. Every man here of the Democracy — of both wings of the Democratic party — would give them a candid and hearty support. These resolutions were tendered to the Senate. The Senator from Mississippi [Jefferson Davis] and the Senator from Georgia [Robert Toombs] announced in their places as Senators, that the passage of those nsolutions would stay the tide of the revolution whose waves were already wash- ing t^e base of the Capitol ; that they would pause and they would urge the southern people to accept the arrangement as a finality, and to stand by it, because, m some form, it would recognize the principle of equality. Popular meetings through- out the slave States indorsed and accepted this comprj)mise; and ma.sses of conservative men in the North memorialized Congress to accept them, and at least to send them to the people. How were they treated by the Republicans? Gen- tlemen on that side of this Chamber, who have taken any action in reference to the various meas- ures intended to secure conciliation, with a single cxcepti')n, have refused to assent to them. In the Senate they were superseded by Clark's amend- ment voted over them by Republican Senators en masse, by which the fiat declaration was made, as if in derision, that the provisions of the Consti- tution are ample; that it wants obedience rather than amendment; and that the extrication from our di/ficulties is to be secured by the enforcement of Ike lairs, rather than by concei'sions lo unreason- able demands. They seem to challenge the Bell men purticularly to .stand by the "Union, the ConstilutiDn, and the niforcement of the laws," as objects of primary desire which they had so eloquently held u|) lo the snulhern people, and which it wiiH now to be deemid unieasonable they Bhould Ko KDciii vi-ish to amend or change. The bill before the House is one of the ways I in whi<:h these Republicans propose " to enforce I the laws;" and it oflfers to the President an army ' of untold numbers, lobe marched, if he so desires, against a part of the American people! I Mr. CORWIN. Mr. Speaker I Mr.BURNETT. I cannot yield the floor. But, I what else.' When the Crittenden compromise went to the committee of thirty-three, it was re- [ turned to this House recommended in a report j signed only by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. Nelson,] though it was also recommended ; in another and separate report, signed by Demo- crats on the committee. Thisis the way in wkich : the distinguished Senator'sschcme of conciliation has been met. Now, the people of Kentucky kave pronounced in favor of that plan with re- markable unanimity. All political jiarties united 1 in its support, and their voice has been heard I through mass meetings. State conventions, and the Legislature. In obedience to my desire to I secure union and peace, I gave in my adhesion j to the Crittenden resolutions, even before they. j were presented to the Senate. I have been will- 1 ing to stand by them. I am so now. Let me refer for a moment to the report of the committee of thirty-three, or rather of the chair- man of the committee of thirty-three. I say the chairman, because I understand there is no report of the majority of that committee, and that no- ; body who was a member of that committee, ex- cept the chairman, is bound by the repdrt. That report, sir, stands in singular contrast with the i report from other members of the same commit- j tee, who are by everybody recognized as repre- i sentative men of the "Republican party. It is, by : itself, a most insuflicient and incomplete answer to the complaints of the South, but loses all its I force, as an index of political direction, when I <"ontrasted with the report made by other mem- ' bers of the committee. The honorable chairman will pardon, I am sure, the idea I express in speaking of those other members as representative men of their party. We all concede his exceed- ing ability, but do not regard him as a representa- ^ live man of the party in which he serves. Thia may be accepted as a compliment or not, as his own taste suggests. I only allude to my estimate to fix a fact in connection with his report, and to show the degree in which it will be received by the country. The report of the honorable chairman consists, first, of several reconmicndatory resolutions. If passed, these could be repealed on the first day of the next Congress. Second, of an amendment ! to the Constitution prohibiting congressional in- terference with slavery in the States where it now exists. This safeguard, by constitutional restric- I lion upon a power no man of sense has pretended I to exist under the Constitution as it is now writ- ten, is not a guarantee of a right, but rather op- erates as a limitation upon aright; because it pre- supposes the power to exist, the exercise of which it has become necessary lo restrict. We should be very thankful, however, for this mile,if it was given with good intentions, whatever may be its want of value. The southern people have not been in dread of an attempted exercise of such a power so much . as they have been indignant at the usurpation which seeks to deprive them of that common right to the equal use and benefit of the common terri- tory, acquired by the expenditure of their blood under the national flag, or of their money paid out of the national Treasury, and which the free States now seek to take exclusive possession of. This usurpation startled apprehension when it was accompanied by the threat issued some years ago by Mr. Giddinoj.s, of Ohio; namely, that the purpose and policyljf the party in the free States was to wall in the slave States with a cordon of free Slates; and when slavery was cribbed, or so confined that it could not expand, it would suffo- cate, or sting itself to death. What was then re- garded as the raving of a zealot, is now pro- claimed as the settled policy of a great political party, to be permitted to hold its course unchal- lenged, providing the promise is given not to abol- ish slavery in the States. It is, in the States, sub- ject alone to their sovereignty. They will know now to protect it, so long as it remains their will to permit it. Congress has no power to exert such authority. Nor will the South be likely to regard the pro- posal of the gentleman from Ohio as any great benefaction while he joins with the rest in out- lawing the property of the South from the Terri- tories, or proposing to escape a fair and manly acknowledgment of their rights by hurrying a country beyond a territorial into a State capacity, when he knows, or believes, as do all of his party, that the people who would thus be invested with the power to adopt a State constitution would probably, at this time, declare against slavery, be- cause the bulk of that same population has been unused to slave labor, and is itself somewhat col- ored in complexion. Mr. Speaker, itis, however, not to be overlooked that these views of the hon- orable member from Ohio are but his own proposi- tions; they have received no indorsement; but are met by the report of other members of the party who embody, in ipsisslmis verbis, as their report, iheamendmentoffered byMr.CLARKin theSeiiate, which, having been voted for by the Republicans over the head of the Crittenden resolutions, may be justly regarded as the Republican programme. That report denies that the southern people iiave sustained any grievance or suffer under any wrongs. They tlius maintain their party policy; and with the cry of "the Union, the Constitu- tion, and the enforcement of the laws," prepare to treat as rebels all who resist their construction of power, privilege, or right. How different from this settlement is that proposed by the Senator from Kentucky. True, his resolutions recur to a geographical line, upon one side of which there is an exclusion of slavery, but on the other a rec- ognition of its status, and the clear right ac- knowledged to the southern people to diffuse tlieir property over the United States territory south of the line, now held or to be hereafter acquired. The resolutions embody the principle of partition between equal partners — reciprocal rights, mutu- ality — and therefore are acceptable, though the exclusion of slave property from access to the northern territory, is an abridgment of right al- ready clearly possessed, and which has been sol- emnly adjudged by the Supreme Court. I have said I am and have been willing to take the Crittenden compromise resolutions as a pledge between us, and a compact of settlement to com- pose this strife. The people of Kentucky will be satisfied with it — men of all parties. It may mod- ify the course of the seceded States. It will stop the crevasse which is hourly enlarging, and through whose disintegrating sides the bitter waters of fra- ternal discord are momentarily flowing with in- creased velocity and volume. Popular assemblies have indicated the public se^se that these are fair proposals, wise and just measures, and politic under all the circumstances of the hour. If south- ern and western people will accept them, what good reason have northern and eastern men to decline ? They mean peace now, and justice, con- cord, and security, 'for the future. If these reso- lutions do notpass, what will be the use of attempt- ing to pass others .' The seceded States cannot accept less than this measure of right, and their brethren of the slaveholding States will not ask them, since they have withdrawn, to return to the Union unless there shall be manifested some spirit of justice towards the cause they represent. Gentlemen have exhibited strong desire to keep the border slave States in the Union, though the planting States have definitively and ultimately re- tired from this Government. How is this to be effected.' Not by unmeaning eulogies upon the loyalty of Kentucky. God knows, I do not, what she may have done to subject herself to praise from some of the same sources to which I allude; but she will not be apt to weigh praises in the balance with interests and rights. I cannot help saying, in reply to the many expressions of ten- derness for the border slaveholding States which I have listened to, that if gentlemen are sincere, they ought to desire to meet those States in a spirit of fair* ess. Unite with them on the Crit- tenden resolutions. Give us these, and you will ' restore union, peace, and good will. You will not j want a large standing army to coerce the south- j ern States, or a new squadron of steamers to j blockade their coasts, or a host of myrmidons to ' dig the grave of American constitutional liberty. But pass force bills; clothe your President with dictatorial powers; send your volunteer armies, with bristling bayonets, into the heart of the southern country, to give the first lessons in the service of Republicanism; continue to outlaw our property, and to put us under the ban of Govern- ment; and I tell you that, devoted as I know Ken- tucky to be to the Union, and anxious as are her sons to maintain the Constitution, she will thun- der back into the ears of Federal power that she does not hold the Union paramount to the Con- stitution, and that the Constitution she upholds is the instrument which was intended to secure to her citizens an equal participancy, with the citi- zens of other States, in the benefits of the com- mon Government. Let it not be supposed, sir, that Kentucky, loyal and true as she has ever been and is, does not measure her rights and the rights of her peo- ple with exactness, or that she will not assert them with becoming boldness at a proper time. She waits with calmness the deliberations of the constituted authorities of the country; and her heart is filled with the anticipations of the joyful news which will give renewed assurances of peace. i UlDKHtM ur uunorvtoo 8 011 895 797 ' justice, and union. I pray she may not be doomed to disappointment. I ask that you will hear the appeals we make. But if you pass these bills; if you tramp with vandal heel upon the Constitu- tion; if you robe the President of the United States in the mail of the warrior, and launch your serried columns against the homes of our sou»h- ern brethren,! think I may safely promise, in the name of old Kentucky, that she will stand by her guns, and that her sons will be found true to her historic fame, and " fit for honor's toughest task." MR. CRITTENDEN'S JOINT RESOLUTIONS PROPOSING CERTAIN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. Whereas sHrioiu and .ilariniii:; ilis-;iMisions have .-irisen between the northern and souihi'rn Scites, concerning the rights and security of the riyhts oi' the slaveholding States, and especially th<-ir rights in the eoninion territory of tlie United States ; and wluToas, it is eminently desirable and proper thattlioic dissrn-iions which now threaten the very existence of this LFnion, should be permanently quieted and settled by constitutional provisions, which shall do equal justice to nil sections, and thereby restore to the people that pe.ice and good will which ousht to prevail between all citizens of the United States : Therefore, Resolved hi/ tke Senate and Hotise of Representatiees of the United States of jimerica in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses eoncurrin;;,) That the following arti- cles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as amend- ments to the (Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of said Consti- tution, when ratilied by conventions of three fourths of tlie several States. Art. 1. In all the territory of the United States now held or hereafter acquired, situate north of latitude 38° 30', sla- very or involuntary servitude, except as a punisliment for crime, is prohibited, while such territory shall remain under territorial government. In all the territory south of said line of latitude slavery of the African race is herebv recog- nized as existing, and shall not be interfered witli "by Con- gress ; but shall be protected as property by all the depart- ments of the territorial government during its continuance; and wlien any Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as ('on|ence, intimidation, or reecae was cumniltlrd, and to recover froui it, with inter est and damages, the amount paid by them for said fugit^•e slave. And tlie said eomity, after it has paid said amount to the United States, may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the wrong-doers, or rescuers, by whom the owner was prevented from the recovery of hisfugitive slave, in lilte man- ner as the owner himself might have sued and recovered. Anr. 6. No future amendinent of the Constitution shall afl'ect the five preceding articles, nor tlie third paragraph of the second section of the first article of the Constitution, nor tlie tliird paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of said Constitution ; and no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with slavery in any of the States by whose laws it is or may be allowed or liermitted. And whereas, also, besides tliose causes of dissension embraced in the loregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States, there are others which come witliin the jurisdiction of Congress, and may be rem- edied by its legislative pow