The Portland daily press., 1864-03-11

hoi nav SASltCo III my JuuSuteut any TtInafK or
any feeling; and neither would this if it had not
been entirely misrepresented and misunderstood
from the beginning We all know that the white
troops are not all upon the same level. They
have received different amounts of bounty. If
remember rightly, the pay of those who first
entered the service was only eleven dollars a
month. 1t was afterwards raised to thirteen
dollars; but we have never had a proposition to
go back and pay those original soldiers their
thirteen dollars from the beginning. The boun-
ties our first troops received were the merest
triiie in the world and the most of them have
nearly served out their period of three years;
and there has been no proposition to put them
on an equality with those to whom we pay four
or five hundred dollars, and to whom the towns
are paying as much more. Ii this out-cry that
has been made for justice to the colored man is
to prevail to the extent proposed let us have the
same kind of justice for the white man, and 90
back and eqUalize everybody from the begin
ming. If that were proposed generally you
would perceive very soon where your Treasury
would be under such circumstances
Although am in favor of the proposition of
my honorable friend from Vermont, | hope he
will withdraw his amendment and take sepa-
rate bill upon which these special cases can be
put, because he has already seen that he has had
proposition after proposition put upon it, and
he will have, in whatever shape he chooses to
place it.
Mr. Collamer. If it is offered as a private
bill, the same amendments may be proposed.
Mr. Fessenden. A private bill can gather in
the cases, and then they can be understood, and
if it is sent to a committee they can put in that
bill all the cases which need correction, and they
will not be examined in the Senate merely loosely
and careessly. wish to see this bill carry out
its original idea, do that which should have
been done at first, place all the soldiers of the
Republic on an equality, and leave the questions
which have since arisen, leave the hard cases to
be taken care of ON their own merits as they
will be.
Sir, there is no sort of backwardness in the
Senate or in the House of Representatives to do
justice to our soldiers, whether colored or other
wise. There never has been the slightest hesita-
ton in any quarter. We have not only been
disposed to be just, but to be generous to them.
There has been no delay that should be com
planned of. To be sure, letters which we receive
say this thing is put off and delayed, and men
are suffering. They come from men who do not
understand the business of Congress. We can
not do all things in day. They have not yet
found out at the other end of the avenue that
things cannot be done in five minutes here be-
cause it very frequently happens that matters
which are under consideration for a month,
and put off until the last moment before they are
sent TO Congress, are sent with request that
they shall be passed through Immediately, for
there is great haste. Ii must be understood that
deliberative bodies necessarily require time, and
that with the amount of business that is before
us we cannot even do justice instantly to any set
OF men, Time is necessarily required for the
consideration of the measures presented to US.
Here Mr. Fessenden closed his remarks, but
Mr.. Sumner insisted that though the Mass. Col
ored regiments were enlisted qtfer the law limi-
ting the pay of such troops was passed, they
were legally entitled to the same pay as white
soldiers, and were not enlisted under the law of
'62 but of an antecedent statute, Mr. Fessenden
rejoined as follows.l
Mr.. Fessenden. The honorable Senator from
Massachusetts has a fashion of deciding rather
er cdtheirG, it strikes me, upon what is just
and what is unjust, and rather a fashion to
leave us to infer that he thinks everybody who
differs from him in opinion is disposed TO do in
justice. will not quarrel with him about his
style in reference to that matter. Every man
has his own fashion of presenting his own ideas,
but | address myself simply to his question of
law, on which wish to say very few words.
have had Il e KNOW rea d he must be
aware that there is simple rule of construc-
tion applicable TO all statutes; and that is, that
t he last one which is passed necessarily repeals
all preceding legislation that is inconsistent with
it to the extent of that inconsistency. There
might have been dozen statutes before we
passed the statute of July, 1862 on this subject;
and yet, if there was a specific provision in that
defining what should be done in q given case
whether it said anything about what preceded it
or not, it repealed that which preceded it which
was inconsistent with it. This Senator, appre-
hend, will accede to the correctness of that prop
osition.
In 1862 We passed law providing substan-
TALLY and in SO many words, that persons of
African descent might be enrolled into regiments
by themselves and mustered into the service of
the United States, and that such persons should
receive the pay of ten dollars month, specih-
cally | say that repealed everything preceding
which was inconsistent with it, so far as re-
ferred to that particular class which was thus
No other construction consistent
with the general rules of construction on such
subjects can be made.
Now, the Senator says that under the order is
sued by the Secretary of War to Governor An
drew he made no distinction. Sir, he was bound
to make one. lie says you may enlist voun-
teer regiments of infantry and artillery, and
you may enlist colored regiments of volunteers
if you please. Must he not have presumed that
Governor Andrew, the chief magistrate of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,, and an emf
nent legal gentlemen, too, must know the law,
and know that if he enlisted white men they
would receive the pay provided for white men,
and that If he enlisted colored regiments they
would receive the pay provided for colored regi-
mentsy Was he bound to sit down and write to
Governor Andrew, 'Y You will be pleased to note
that you must enlist these men according to the
laws of the land!" Yet the Senator would have
us infer that because he did not specifically in
struct Governor Andrew as to what the law was,
therefore Governor Andrew was at liberty TO
disregard it, and thus enlist these regiments
differently from what was provided by the law
Is that a correct rule to be applied even to the
construction of orders from the War Depart
ment or any other Department, And that is
my answer to all the Senator's argument ON
that subject. The Secretary of War was not
called upon to make distinction, because the
law made the distinction, and therefore he might
infer that the person to whom he gave the au-
thority would understand the distinction and
make it.
This is all unnecessary. | am noticontending
that these men should not be paid. ! have al
ready stated that in my judgement of the facts
stated they should be paid; and am willing to
pay them if the facts are made out; | think it
no more than just; but repeat what | before
said, that it is not necessary or proper when n
bill is pendeng providing forhnother specific OBJ
ject, an important one, one that we all desire,
establishing the principle, to avail youvself of
that particular place not only to bring in this
individual case but to cover very mnch more
which ought not, by the consent of everybody,
to come into the bill at all.
That is the position that assumed in regard
to it, and contend that it is correct position,
and stand to it now. | do not say that there
is any rule that is opposed to the introduction
of the amendment like that which was proposed
by the honorable Senator. but there is danger
in such legislation, which is introduced without
investigation by committee and under
standing of what il is, and put upon a general
bill which has been introduced by coiamittee.
We have all experienced the difficulties that
arise from it. A committee which has thorough
ly investigated the subject brings in a general