->-'i:y> /:3!> !'■ >~3» > > 5> '>^^ :ij- Q ^•^::»:>'^^^ >^> j»^ > >o:>o> -^:>^x> ^::^ T>^^ .^::>^ >^ s>3> ^ J' > X>-") J. ~y> y y .. . 3:>' • > ">> > "^j • ■ . yr> ^ U > i? o 3> /^ i>-:>_j>j> _::> :>^jf ». _>^ ;t>. yy ^ ^ :>^^:>>^ o " 5> '* ^ .' > > :» > >i> .: (3 •%.-^'%-'%.'^'^<^'^'%.'m>'%'%-'%.-^^^'%><%.'^<%a) p I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, r >> > :> » ;> :>^ 'J> X>;> 3-J> 1> Js> v> ::> >> > > ^3> :J>^>> I UNITED STATES o/^flERICA. | ."**> 3l:>3>' ?3 3:) ^^L ''■•}' .'S" ^>i> .3> D;g^ y:' ^ -^ 33 3l> )>»-> >:'^ ^jfo 5^ ^>33 wy^'^:<^ ?.?> ^ ^< ^ J>^^ '.>»^ ^ J ^ J ,^>J> _J> > i-,» > > ^ -i>J> J^ a> -»,» .-.J > ,; >»!>. 3 33^ :> ^ > > ?>J> _J> >>i> J> > -> -> > > > > • > > 1 > > > >:> o > > > > > ■:>>■> ■ ■- ;>> > > ->^ > -■:i >> > J> > yy 3 '3'3 >> 3 > :> J> > > J. > ^]3 '. .13 J> > 5u> .3v^' '.' i^.-m^ J> 3 > > 55 5^ ,\- 3^>^ "^ *,V3^%S ' 3 >\> „3>j> -^^-^ K»':^S^'''^^^..-?.^. > > x>-.2>t> ^>^ ^^ ^> » _^^ > >A>>^j2>:^ 1 > ■-» ^ . )^^" '->y>::> ^ >2> 3 >> > > >^ > 3 1> 3^ >3) > i> ; th^ lt0n;5ttMi:tion of t\it $nu\t& ^t^tt$, . ■»i III I— SPEECH or TUB HON. J. COLLAMEE, SENATOR FROM VERMONT, IAaojs ix TUB SasATB Of taa (Jnitbo States, on tub 6tu day of Pebrdart, 186&. -L d"J FlK WASHINGTON, D. C. Pkintbo bt Wm. H. Moobk, 484 Elevemtb Stbbbt. 1865. 'II i\t gtcoitslruction of i\t Stctkb States, The Senate, being in Cimraittee of the Whole, and having under consideTation the joint resolution, (H. R. No. 126) declaring certain States not entitled to representa- tion in the Electoral College, Mr. COLLAMEIl said : Mr. President, I think any man must be exceedingly dull who would not have understood from the hints and remarks made this morning in relation to this topic that the Senate are very impa'ient for a vote. I do not blame them for l.eing im- patient. Bjt, rising as I do to reply to the speech of the honorable ^enator from Maryland, [Mr. Johnso.v,] delivered yesterda}-, I will not promise that I shall be able to gratify them with even my usual brevity. 1 will endeavor to be as brief as I can in justice to the subject. In the first place, Mr. President, there perhaps is due from me to that honorable Senator some little notice that I am not entirely insensible to what he has on this and other occasions permitted himself to indulge in in his remarks with resp'ct to my pro- fessional abilit}' and discernment. I have never made any re])ly to them, but at the same time 1 wish it to be understood that I am not entirely ungrateful or insensible to such remarks. I will merely say that the opportunities I have hi d to inform mjself in relation to the honorable Senator's high acquirements in his profession, his legal acumen, and the perspicuity of his logic have given me a very high apjireciation thereof. If I were to say merely that I reciprocate the sentiments he has expi eased, and entertain a sincere respect for his professional superiority as high as he entertains of mine, he might consider it at least but a questionable compliment; but I will add to it that 1 have as high an estimation, and even higher, of him than he has thought proper to express in relation to me. I think that ought to be saiisfictory. But, sir, after all, 1 could not out observe that the honorable Senator, when speak- ing in that manner, very courteously and very kindly, always accompanied it with an argument of great weight, coming from him, to show that the positions I took were wholly untenable. How much, therefore, the respect that is paid to my opinions is worth when accompanied by such sort of argument, he and other gentlemen can answer for themselves. Mr. President, the amendment which 1 have proposed has in it one very important feature, to which the gentleman has addressed himself; and that is, that the States which have been declared in a state of insurrection are incapable of exercising their privileges or their duties within this Government as integral parts of this Union while they continue in that situation, and that their restoration shall be either by an act of Congress or by the reception of their representatives liy the two Houses. That involves this point: whether Con^jress have anything to doin the matter in relation to the reorganization and re-establishment of these IStates. The Senator seems to think not; and he goes on to make some remarks which 1 will not attempt to repeat, but the substance of them is that they are States in the Union — I agree to that — and, being in the Union, if the hostilities cease there is an end of all action about it ; they are remitted to all their rights, and may exercise all their functions as integral parts of this Government without the consent of this Government one way or the other. There I dissent. The gentleman says that a war may exist without any decliration of war. I agree to that. He says that if Great Britain should wage a war upon us, and were in the exercise of that war, it would be a war though we had not declared it, nor they either. I grant it. He then says that if they should upon the whole surcease that war, with- draw their military force, and Parliament should declare that they were no longer in a state of hostility with the United States, that that would be an end of that war. There is exactly the point where we differ. That is exactly the point where we sepa- rate. I know that one party between two or more nations may make a war, but I say that both parties are required to make peace. If Great Britain were to actually levy war upon this country, besiege our cities, lay waste our coasts, capture our vessels, and then, wber; we ha^ undert-^ke-c to dof«?nd O'lrselre?; wjtb r-ome auccfess, ihey should withdraw from it, nnd declare to the world that there is peace between us, that would not be peace, nor would that war be ended. I insi.-t that boih parlies must agrt-e to the pece, and tiuit the surcease of ho^-tilitics by one side does not cud the war. Every n;iliwn undoubtedly has the right iu » state of war, when negoliating for peace, to iusi-t upon indemnity for the past and security for the future. If one party cau make a war and make a peace, when they please, without the consent of the other party, then neither of these rights of insisting upon indemnity for the past or security fur the future can any longer exist. I say that if Great ••tritaiu ind made such a war upon us, we would not be ol)liged to surcease our hostilities in defence of ourselves and the capture of their ve.-^sels because they ceased, until we had made a treaty which gives us indemnity for their having made that unjustifiable war upon us. There is the exact point where we sepiirate ; and it is in the application of that same point to tliis war and its analogies that we difler again. Bill the Senator sa_\s you cannot make war upon a State; they are now States in the Union, aiuJ if they surcease hoi^tiliiies you cannot prosecute the war. 1 am not insisting that if tlie^e people lay down their anus and return peaceably to their habi- tations, the ['resident can carry tlie war into tlieir houses. That is not. what I am talking about. I am talking about when and how the political status of these States is to be restored, and with whose consent it is to be restored. Is it true thixt the right to make war in this country consists in the right of the States to make war u}ion the General Government, but the United States cannot make war upon them? Is it their peculiar privilege and exclusive right to mnke war upon the General Government ? Canuot we do anytliing about it? Cannot we prosecute war ag.iiust iliem ? Is it their privilege 10 make wir on the United States as long as they have a n)ind to do £-0, and when they become satisfied they are not getting along very well, Ih'y have no'Jiing to do but to stop and begin it again when they please, remnv it when they have a iniud to do so, iuui it is all an ex parte proceeding, and the Government of the United states has nothing to do with it ? I cannot agree to any doctrine of that kind. but I desire to make a lew remarks on this sulgecl of making- war upon a State. I huve heard a great deal about that first and last. I do not kijow but I was to blame, wheu 1 first heard that doctrine brought forward by Mr. Jefferson Davis in the Senate,- for not correcting liira. He quoted from the remarks of Mr. Sherman, Mr. .Madison, and several other members of the Convention that formed the Consiituiion who stated that. They did state it; and .Mr. Davi> used to quote from them. 1 understood how that was then. It is true 1 did not at that time explain it. 1 did not sup[iose that other people would be misled liy it ; nor did I supjiose that my explanation would ever reach tlie community, and perhaps never reach the Senate. Tne remarks I am now making not only will uevi r be read and understood by the community, but will never be read and understood by half tiie Senate. But still 1 feel it my duly at this time, as that doctrine is repeated and'those quotations are again alluded lo, to make some explanation on that point. Mr. President, you will observe, and any gentleman who chooses to examine into it will find, that .Mr. Buchanan juit into his last message that same doctrine, and alluded to the vary quotations made by Mr. Davis. If you will read that messaj^e it will be perfectly ajjparent that that portion of it which says you cannut make war upon the Stales was interpolated into the message after it was drawn iip. I do not mean clandestinely; I mean interpolated by the President. It is obvious from its con- nection that it is so. I know that while that message must have been in a period of preparation Mr. Davis returned frotu bis excursion to Maine, where he had spent that ,'ummer; and tliat was the very ground and those were the very quotations which Mr. Davis had used in the Senate; and after his return here, as 1 think, it wtis put into that message at his suggestion. Now, sir, it would be recollected that the Articles of Confederation were never adopted by the people. They never were a constitution ; they were a league ; and it was declared in tluin that the Stales should retain and continue their sovereignty; that it was a leag'ie for the mutual defense of the States against foreign Powers. The States were represented in the Congress under the Confederation by their Legislatures appointing the delegates, and withdrawing them when they pleased, and that body had no power of making laws except on the single subject relating to piracy on the iiigh seas. They merely made requisitions on tlie States that lliey wanted so miudj money and so many men; and the States ;!gieed to turnish tliem, or did not furnish them, as they saw fit. It will be observed th it each State had but one vote in the Oo.igress of the Contederati(ni ; encli had the same weight. Wheu they came to get to'gvther in w Convontioa to form « new 0oDS State whose authorities sustained the insurgency, whether they were loyal or disloyal people. Tliat is the condition of things in a state of war in every country. It m y be the mis- fortune of the nainority ; but that is their unavoidable condition in tim • of war. This was declared to be a war with the whole inhabitants of that State. T .en it was that it took, in relation to our inhabitants, its true character and condition of a war, and a war between those States, made by them through their functionaries and the body of their people, against the General Government. Such being the slate of war, the question presents itself. When and ho»v is that war to cease, and when and how is the formal political status of the States which are engaged in.it, or tlie inhal)itants of those States, to be restored, and who is to declare It? The gentleman from Maryland has argued at much length to show that undtr the act of 18G1, if the hostilities on the part of the enemy stop, the President is com- pelled to stop hostilities on his part. I do not wish to make controversy about that. Wlut if he does ? I know that the Presiiient can withdraw all our forces from the southern States to-niorrow, if he pleases; he can withdraw nil our thips from off the coast and order them to the hwrhor of New York or Boston. I know that military operiilioiis may cease altogether by his act. I know he may pardon all crimes committed against !.b»? Uaiteri Sta.if9, including treason. That is his power, out, sir, does tbut alter the couditloa of the political status of those States iu their relationships to this General Governmeut? Suppose the hostilities entirely cease ; suppose the rebels throw down their arms and go home to iheir several habitations : there are in those States the functionaries of their government, their governors, tlieir legislatures, all organized in this revolutionary operation and carrying it on ; and is it true that they then have the right to send members to the Senate and House of Representatives, and if they have a right to send them, to demand their admission here, and we have nothing to say about it? Is it true that they may make war upon the General Government, cai'ry it along as far as they please, then stop it, and we are obliged to receive them, until they have had time to revive their powers or resolution and start again, and we can- not help onrselves ? Sir, are there not two sides and two parties to this war? It is the strangest war men ever heard of if it has but one side to it. 1 take it there are* two parties to this war : the several States who have made it on the one side, and the national Govern- ment against whom they have made it, on the other; and I suppose the two parties must participate in the restoration of peace and quietness, and their restoration to their former condition, or a condition wliere they can perform their functions within the Government as integral parts of tlie Union. It is for Congress to say when that state of things exist. Congress is not bound to receive their members, or to treat* thera as being regular, loyal, integral members of this Union because *they have sur- ceased fighting and surceased military operations, until we have seen a return to loyalty and an obedience to their allegiance and the performance of their fealty, a true restoration of themselves to their former condition of loyally and obedience ; and that must be for Congress to decide. That is the main and essential sentiment of iho amendment I have presented. Sir, when will, and wlien ought, Congress to admit these States as being in their nor- mal condition ? When they see that they furnish eviilence of it. It is not enough that they stop their hostility and are repentant. Tiiey should present meet fruits for repentance. They should furnish to us by their actions some evidence that the con- dition of loyalty and obedience is their true condition again, and Congress must pass upon it ; otherwise we have no securities. It is not enougli that they lay down tl:eir arms. Our courts shouiil be establislied, our taxes should be gathered, our duties should be collected in those States ; and before tliey come here to perform their du- ties or privileges again as members of this Union, they should place themselves in an attitude showing to us that they have truly taken that position, and we sliould pass upon it; and 1 insist that the President, making peace with them, if you i)lease, by surceasing military operations, does not alter their status until Congress passes upon it. The great essential thing now to insist upon, in my judgment, is that Congress shall do nothing which can in any way create a doubt about our power over the sub- ject. Indeed it is right to assert at the proper time that we' have that power ; and how, and when, and iu what manner we shall execute that power, is in the discretion of Congress. I*do not mean to occupy very much time with that; but one thing I have to say : I believe that when re-establishing the condition of peace with that people. Congress, representing the United States, has power iu ending this war as &ny other war, to get some security for the future. It would be a strange thing if it were not true that this nation, in ending a civil as well as a foreign war, could close it and make peace by securing, if not indemnity for the past, at least some security for future peace. I do not believe that Congress is stripped of that power in relation to this or any other war ; and here I do not wish to be understood as undertaking to as- Bert the existence of such a power without some warrant in the Constitution. The Coustit'ition has in it what is well known as the guarantee section, by which this Government guaranties to every State in the Union a republican form of govern- ment. Now, what is implied in that? Several things which are quite obvious. In the first place, that guarantee can only be kept and redeemed by preserving the States within the Union. We cannot carry out a guarantee to States on anj' other ground than by ha\ing and keeping them within the Union. That is necessarily iyiplied. In the next place that guarantee is to the States as Stites. It is a guaranlee to the State of North Carolina, for instance, that North Carolina, as a State, shall have a re- publican form of government witiiin this Union; not to be taken and split up and made into different States, but it is a guarantee to that ^tate as a whole >"»tate. Another thing is implied. That is a guarantee to the minority in a State. No man who will read .Mr. Madison's remarks upon the subject can be mistaken in that. The very natcre of ♦he thing implies thai. The njajority in a State can sb^pe their forn\ of • 7 goveniment as they please without any help from Congress; but the provision was in- serted from a fear that the minority might be overborne, especially, said Mr. Madison, in a slave holding State. The guarantee was therefore inserted for the security of the minority in a State, though there may be but one man there to redeem Sodom. Again, it is a guarantee from which the States can never discharge the United States. You may say that when they make war on us they discharge us from our obligation in the matter ; but that is impossible. That guarantee is not merely for the people of that State; it is a guarantee made for the security of all the States of the Union. I have a right as a representative from the State of Vermont to say that the State of Vermont insists that you shall keep North Carolina in the Union ; we formed it with her in it ; we had that guarantee, that she should be kept in with a republican form of government, and we have a right to insist on the redemption of that guarantee. Therefore I say no one State can discharge the United States from it. Such beingnot only the clearly-expressed guarantee but the plighted national pub- lic faith which we are bound to keep, let me put a case. Suppose in all candor that Congress had by experience become convinced that they could not sustain a State within tlie Union, with a republican form of government, holding slaves; suppose we bad tried it over and over, and we had beaten them and made peace with them, al- lowing them to keep their slaves, and they had repeated their rebellion over and over until every man became convinced that it was utterly impracticable and impossible to have a republican form of Government under such an aristocracy as that engen- dered and sustained ; and suppose Congress in all candor and seriousness became convinced that we could nut keep this guarantee in relation to those States that hold slaves, and they, being at war with us, choose to lay down their arms or we beat them, disperse their forces, and a question arises about fixing the status of those States again, their political condition in relation to this Government, that is, in mak- ing peace ; I say that Congress has a right, if it is convinced in all candor, to say that in order to preserve our plighted public faith contained in that guarantee we will destroy and abolish that institution ; for we cannot keep our guarantee with- out doing it. Cannot Congress under the general provision of the Constitution make all laws proper and necessary to carry into eflfect the powers granted in the Consti- tution? Clearly. If that is so then Congress may, in fixing the status of these States, if they are convinced of the proposition 1 have just stated, make it one of the con- ditions of their again exercising their franchise as integral members of this Union, that they shall be placed in a position which will enable the Union to continue and exist. Such being my view, it remains for me to say a few words about what the Senator sSId yesterday in regard to the present probability of peace. I know nothing about that. I have no admissions to the White House, and no knowledge of proceedings there; but-I guess, after all, I have about as much as some members of the Cabinet, [laughter,] and you know a Yankee is allowed to " guess." I have but little expec- tation of any present cessation of hostilities, even. 1 have before remarked that I do not think the mere cessation of military operations is necessarily a peace, nior do I think the political status of these States is thereby re-established. 1 think it requires two parties to make a peace. I know not what the President may do. I grant that the President may, if he sees fit, pardon all treason. He has that power. Whether he can really dispense with the operations of what is called the confiscation act, I do not know. I had but very little to do with that act, but I believe it provides for making confiscations by proceeding in rem, and trying a man without notice to him. I do not understand much about such proceedings, nor exactly know how far they may go. But it seems to me that, before the President can reestablish these States in the Union, performing the functions of loyal States within this Government and integral parts of it, somehow or other the action of Congress will be needed. That is the very point we have now in discussion, the very point I am after. I think it does need the action of Congress. How will he get rid of that confiscation law by any action of his own ? I surely do not know. Then a law has been passed with his approval declaring that persons who have been engaged in this rebellion are ineligible to appointments to office in this Government. I do not know but that per- haps he may get them in without having that law repealed by Congress, but I cannot tell how. So in whatever aspect you look at the case it is evident that no reestablish- ment of the former condition of things can take place without the action of Congress. There are many other acts of similar character which stand directly in the way of deing what the Senator from Maryland thinks can be doae by the President. Pat an 8 end to the hostilities, and there, he enys, is the end ; the States are in, nnd we hare tothing to do with it ; and he cannot support a resolution wiiich declares that we have to do with ill I e&y we have to do with it ; we are the other parly in the war, and I think we must participate in the re-establishment of peaceful relations. The power exisiting in Congress in the re-establishment of peaceful relations to ennex such conditions as are necessary to our preservation and life, another question arises, when and how and in what manner you will exercise the power. Wiil you ever exercise it at all? Will you ever annex any such conditions? We are told by the papers, which seem to be very hungry for peace, and to be crying " Peace, peace, when there is no peace," that there is no need of saying anything more about the condition to which I have adverted, because the Senate and House of Representatives have passed a constitutional amendment, and that will accomplish the i)urpose. If I were entirely convinced that we could not sustain a republican government in these States and keep them within this Union in any other way than by having the insti- tution of slavery abolished, and I was inquired of whether I would insist upon that as a prerequisite and condition precedent to their re-establishment, I would say this : if I was perfectly convinced, fully satisfied in my own mind, that the constitutional amendment referred to would be adopted by the constitutional number of States, that would remove the occasion for the exercise of any such power on the part of Con- gress, but I do not know how that will be. That is a matter which lies in the future. Neither 1 nor any other man can tell when and how and in what manner it will take place, or whether it will ever take place at all. While things remain suspended in this condition I reserve to myself the right of exercising this power which 1 think in the extreme Congress constitutionally possesses. In what manner 1 shall exer. ise it will depend upon the occasion as it shall present itself. It will dcjjend upon their desire to restore their former condition, how far they have returned to loyalty and al- legiance, how far they have so shaped their institutions as to furnisii security for the future that the peace would be kept. All these matters would have to be examined 'qIo in each case a^ it presented itself. ^>:> > )32> ^ o O _:> :> :>. ) i?^l> _:>:>> ^->' >>^Op»^^ ^ ^ ■>:s> o ^ > >) : J>^3> :> 3 :> 0> :)>^^ 1^ 3. s 3^ ^ .i> ■ ■ > >j 'ja» ■ > ^ > ^-:» >J > _j ^ :) ' :■:> 3 3 .33:), > ■ :> 3) , 3> > ' ^ > > > > >j >> » i>> >-> ^ >'^ >:■) 3' ^i>3^:^ I>3>3 3^ J ^^^ ^l ^m.^^ -3 »2> J y-y ^^ ^>3> y ^ >'>^ 3j^ > ^^^^>^ »-, yjjt 2> > >> > :3> » 33 .3) >,-.2^ '^3 >» -)J>3>> 3:) 3 >v ^^» 3 •<> > >':3te,, ^^5^^f ^ i> ^ j> :> > 3 :> i» > ^>:> :i^:D22 ^: ^ 3b >^3IL> :S>> J> _XX> .^ J>u> JDr 2 >:> J>i35 3' 2> >^X> ^X> I>^ ^^^ ^^ 3) o:5>i :>j> ^.:^^ .?>.^ >/^ ^ ^ ^^^- > ^>:) "«~5> ^^ X ^-^"s!-^^*-* ^^ ^ ? ^^.^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ys> ^ 5 K:>'y^ ^3^ ;> > > > -> ?3-?-3 .-?^ X>^ > ' •, y ^-^^ >-