New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-04-28
Coneresslonalr

HorsE Notwithstanding DEBATE ON THE
pRrs1pgNT's ANNUAL MESSAGE. -.
nthe JIouse the proceedings of this days session
we've bv order confined TO general debate on the
Presidents annual message.
Nv Nicholson, of Delaware, was the first
snaakar' = He took strong grounds against the con-
sff;ss,tiaual amendment in regard to representa-
lion He coutended that the effect OF 1T would De
no destroy the Federal character Of the govern
nent to produce consolidation, and to subject the
peopie to the worst kind Of despotsn, that OF the
Constitutional majorities. There were no propriety
in IT. The States themselves were the best judges
as to what concerned the internal order and we'll
being.
He was followed by Mr.. Perham, who took di-
reetly an opposite view OF the question of recon
struotion. gjHe consideredit Of little Importance
whether the late rebel States were regarded as
dead, according to the views Of some members of
Congress. or as having had their functions sus-
pended according to the views of the President.
The great fact remained in either case that it was
the duty of Congress to provide for the establish
ment of State governments which should cores
pond with the provisions of the Constitution re-
curing Congress to guarantee to the States re-
publican form of government. -
This is about what Congress had been going 80 "
do for the last four years. with but partial success
It was the duty of Congress to see not Only .nss
new States, to be admitted, had such 10 Iorm III "
government hut to guarantee 1T TO the oia o1s .be
Also, III Gnefe were UOL toydi nIOh
South to fill the Offices some of the federai nerSes
Of the war should be appointed and toia y. .ahe a
part in the administrator Of the goSer,ndnS oaad hv m
the States which they had saeeu sN @ ~
their yalor In these states s,a 1ae exeeption and
disloyalty the rule. On whom devol'eo nov tne
duty of deciding whether the late reoei eta.es
were to be represented in Congresss NOT on the
executive No such power We NOV w ni ths
senate. acting independently OF each other; but
IA the law making power of the government. 1t
was the duty Of Congress to take the whole sub
iect into consideration, winch 1T IS now dong and
10 decide what guarantee should be required to
secure eaual and exact justice to all citizens and
10 nrevent the recurrence Of another rebellion.
This could be secured by such constitutional
amendments as could not iai to accomplish the
ohiect and on the ratification of such amendments
BY the late rebel States as a pledge of sincerity
and loyalty, he would allow them to be repre-
sented in Congress on an equal footing with the
other States. The guarantees we should require
were, s .sstsf5g tl .
dent calls them, should be deprived of all political
rights at least for the present, and at least unit
they shall have brought forth fruits meet for re
pentence; or until the loyal sentiments of tbs
States have become SO strong as to render then
powerless for evil. sa#a tssa5 @
2. That all the rights of citizenship, including
that of sura ge, shall be given to all loyal citizehs
irrespective of race or color
5. That the payment of the Confederate ant
State debts contracted in aid of the rebellion
should be prohibited, and also the payment by tht
nation or by States for emancipated slaves.
4. That the doctrine of secession should be re
pudiated and branded with everlasting infamy.
He quoted from the Nashville speech of Presi
dent johnson, delivered, he said, before his heai
had become giddy with power, and before South
ern rebels and Northern copperheads had led hin
captive at their will and he called upon the Presi
dent to cooperate with Congress in giving efIec
to the doctrines enunciated in that speech. The
Union members did not desire to have any confic
with the President, and would have none, excep
so far as the President repudiated the principles
that prompted him in 1864. For himself, he haC
only to swear that he would never consent, by his
vote, that the government of the country should
be taken from the loyal citizens, who had saved il
by their blood, and should be given to traitors.
Mr.. Miller next addressed the House on the ques
tion of reconstruction. He did not agree with the
doctrines enunciated on that subject by his col
(Mr. Williams), or by the able gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Shellabarger). For himself, he held
that rebellious action could not force State out
Of the Union. The Southern States, notwithstand
ing the rebellion, still remained part of the
Union. He would accord to the rebels no such
honor as success in taking eleven States out of the
Union, or in taking State out All the action OF
the Confederate government was gross violation
of right. The government had never been ad-
mitted into the family of nations. The Federal
people all its legal rights, as well as the rights OF
war. .ls Ia. .
John i. Thomas, Jr., next addressed the House
on the question of reconstruction He held that
Congress had full control over the whole subject.
The unseemly haste of the rebels to be admitted
to Congress on their own terms was only equalled
by their preeipitate action in leaving the halls of
Congress in 1861. They had then attempted to
break up by force of arms the government which
they would break up Tomorrow by political trick
cry, If they had the power. His own desire was
that the rebel States should have their representa-
tives in Congress; but at the same time he was
Sc nsible of the duty he owed to the country and
to those loyal men of the South who had stood
true to the Union in the hour of peril. He be-
lieYed that the country was on the eve of q revo-
luton as partentous TO the next generation as the
recent rebellion had been to this. The very men
who had brought on the war Of rebellion were
striving to get back to places they had SO igno-
miniously deserted, in order that they might CON
troll the government which they had SO impiously
striven to overthrow. He believed the President
had made great and sad, and, he feared. fatal
mistake in the indscriminate manner in which he
had granted pardons. 1t was no wonder that the
red-handed traitors snch friends to the Presi
dents policy, because they saw that that policy
was to give them back all their rights, and place
them in power and possession of the government
as before they went into the rebellion. Ii the
Presidents policy was carried out it would not
only put the eleven Southern States in the
hands of rebels, but the time would not be
long before rebels would have complete control
of the government in all its departments. 1t was
no wonder that every rebel, from JEFF. Davis down
to every subaltern, including bushwhakers, jay
hawkers and gnerrillas, was an earnest and de-
voted admrer of the Presidents policy. 1t was
just the policy for them, because it was the only
one they could live by, and the one which they
profess, through their papers, to be ready to die
by.
Mr.. Smith was the next to address the House.
He proposed, he said, to discuss the present con-
diton of the States and the country, and the pro-
positions of the President and Congress. He held
that the secession ordinances were null and void,
and that all the acts passed by Congress in the
four years of war were based on the ground that
the rebel States were not out of the Union, and
could not get 1t of the Union. 1t did not follow
because the rebel States were admitted to the right
of representation they should be allowed to take
seats in the Senate and House. That had never
been asked by the President, or any other Loyal
man. What could Congress do contrary to what
late President Lincoln had been carried out by
President Johnson, and under it the Southern
States had formed their organization. How wal
that policy to be changed, or what change wa!
there to be made in it? H}
Mr., Scotield asked if it made any difference
whether man who had been engaged in the re
bellion was admitted as representative, or mar
who had not been engaged in the rebellion, bu
who would vote exactly as the ex-rebel woult
vote. s# t
Mr.. Smith replied that he did not see how that
difficulty could ever be avoided, Mr.. Smith then
referred to the question Of conflict between the
President and Congress. He asked why, if the
President had no power to do what he had done
Congress had not undone it,, and done something
that would be better. What was Congress goine
to do in its place State governments must exist