Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-03-07
Mr.. TrumbuII's Defense of his
Bill.

We ask all conservative and wellmean-
ing men, who cherish the belief that the
President was not about halfright in the
positions assumed in his veto message, to
read with careful and candid attention
the following summary of Senator Trum-
bulls defense of the Bureau Bill, after
the reception of the veto In Congress-
1t is from the Washington Chronicle:
L. That the bill itself was inspired by
the annual message of the President of
the United States, delivered to Congress
at the commencement of the present sess-
ion. That message, it WILDE remembered
expressed a desire upon the part of the
President to secure all men their rights,
and to protect the freedmen in all the
privileges guaranteed to them undo the
Emancipation proclamation ; and, In the
Judgment of Mr.. Trumbull, and thirty.
sic Senator's who voted ,oitk him for {. on the
25Mo of January, the provisions of this bill
were eminently calculated to accomplish
these objects.
II. That it was not, as the President
AYERS, an original measure, but simply an
amendment to the bill under which the
Freedmen's Bureau is now acting, and
which had the sanction of the Executive
himself, as well as the approval of the
great majority of the loyal people of the
country. As an amendment, it removes
many of the Objectionable features of the
Bureau as now organized, simplifying its
ramiications and making it more ethel-
emit.
III. That it was not intended as q per-
manent part of the administrative policy
of the GoVernment-one of its sections
expressly stating, on the contrary, that 1t
shall remain in force, until otherwise
provided by law" just as all other laws
of Congress are supposed to 10. The
wonder is that the President ever thought
of making such an objection to it as this.
No such idea ever entered the mind OF
any person who supported and voted Tor
it.
". That, instead of being an extrav.
agent and unnecessary expense to the
Government, it has indirectly saved US
millions of dollars which would otherwise
have been wasted.
V. That the Bureau did not contem-
plate feeding, clothing, and educating
the refugees and freedmen, but was rath-
er intended to assist them in doing all
these things for themselves.
VI. That, instead of it being designed
exclusively for negroes, more whites have,
in some sections and in many instances,
been benefited by il than blacks, and that
the proportion of whites still needing its
assistance is equal to that of the negroes.
VII. That there was an immediate
necessity for the passage of the bill, be-
cause the original act creating the Bureau
expires by limitation in the month OF
May, 1866.
VIII. That, instead of establishing
military jurisdiction over all parts of the
United States containing refugees and
freedmen, it simply extends it over the
officers and. employees of the Bureau
And that in accordance with the recon-
mendation of Gen. Grant. in his report to
the President of his tour through the
South, transmitted to the Senate with 8
message a few weeks ago, it makes the
- Bureau a part of the War Department OF
the Government.
TX. That the bill did not con template
the appointment of agents and other Oh.
icers in every county or parish, except
the president should, in his judgment,
deem such appointment necessary.
x. That what the President terms the
unconstitutional features of the bill, con-
ferring arbitrary powers upon the officers
of the Bureau, go no further than the
President himself and the officers OF the
army acting under him have already
gone; and that it is competent for Cen
eress to provide all rules and regulstioni
for the government of the army and ma
w. to which all are subject, from the
Commander+in- Chief to the humblest sol
der or sailor.
XII That, if the rebellion is in all re
spects at an end, the President is still ex
ercising the war power, snch as the sus
pension of the writ of habeas corpus, con
trary to the Constitution, which expressly
states that this shall only be suspended Il
time of invasion or rebellion ; and, Is VIC
have no invasion, and the writ Is not II
operation in q portion of the States, w
must nave q rebellion.
XII. That, according to the census o
1860. there were not four million of slave
in the Uuited States. and that instead o
a measure to feed, clothe and educat'
four millions of freedmen, the report o
Gen. Howard shows that at M time wa
there more than one hundred and forty
seven thousand persons under the care o
the Bureau, Atv-Ssusn thousand of s0hoA
,see White refugees.
% XIII. That, according to the s~orI
statement of Gen. Fisk before the Com
mittee on Reconstruction, of the twenty
Eve thousand persons fed by the Burea
in Tennessee, seventeen thousand fus hundre
soere White refugees.
XIV. That, instead of the freedmal
receiving protection from the civil Court
ofthe Southern States, and being secures
by them in his rights, these States v
almost without exception, ensete'
through their legislatures laws with re
ereneesto the freedmen as infamous an
oppressive as the black code of slavery.
XIV. Thst, &c the Presidents views n
garding the representation of the LAT
Rebel States in Congress are correct, the
all the legislation of the past Eve years
null and void.
Such were the main points in Senate
TrumbuiI's speech, set forth with unjust
al power and eloquenee.