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for his efforts in this direction the thanks of the insurance companies of Boston.
He spoke briefly for taxing receipts for passengers, but not for freight;1 for a higher duty on whiskey and tobacco;2 a lower duty on salt;3 and the exemption of paper from tax as a tax on books.4 In later sessions he sought reductions in the internal taxes, and particularly the repeal of the income tax,5 and in that of 1871-1872 proposed the entire abolition of the system, which in his view had then come to be a political machine.6
This session was the most remarkable of all the sessions of the Congress of the United States.7 The duties of Congress at this time were extraordinary in novelty and variety.
It reorganized and supported a great army for the suppression of the greatest of rebellious, and a navy for the protection of our commerce and the blockade of our entire coast.
It confronted at the beginning a foreign war threatened by Great Britain.
It exhibited wise statesmanship no less than capacity for war. It
1 May 24, Congressional Globe, p. 2333.
2 May 22, Congressional Globe, pp. 2283, 2315; May 27, Globe, p. 2367.
3 June 5, Congressional Globe, p. 2579.
4 May 23, June 5, Congressional Globe, pp. 2317, 2579.
5 March 17, 1868, Congressional Globe, p. 1918; April 7, 1870. Works, vol. XIII. pp. 370-374. June 22 and July 1, 5, 1870, Globe, pp. 4709, 5095, 5100, 5236.
6 Dec. 11, 1871, March 21, 26, and June 4, 1872, Congressional Globe, pp. 45, 1856, 1857, 1977, 4216.
7 To various miscellaneous matters not mentioned elsewhere, Sumner gave attention during the session,—speaking in favor of a bill restoring without salvage property to loyal owners which had been captured by the rebels and afterwards recaptured, and giving his opinion against the policy of prize-money in any case (June 30, 1862, Works, vol. VII. pp. 148, 149); in favor of creating the rank of admiral without increased pay (July 2, 1862, vol. VII. pp. 150, 151); in favor of treating a majority of the senators elected and holding seats as a constitutional quorum without counting the vacant seats of senators from the seceded States (July 12, 1862, vol. VII. pp. 169-175; see vol. IX. pp. 489-492); in favor of the substitution of linen paper for parchment in the enrolment of bills, with a sketch of the use of parchment from early times, and a statement of the superior conveniences of paper now generally adopted in the States (May 16, Works, vol. VI. pp. 510-521; he recurred to this subject April 17, 1867, Congressional Globe, p. 849: Jan. 27, 1871, Globe, p. 775; and Feb. 20, 1874. Globe, pp. 1664-1667): against the extension in hearings before committees of the common law rule exempting a witness from testifying if the answer would criminate himself (Jan. 22, 1862, Works, vol. VI. pp 290-292); against a five minutes limit to speeches in secret sessions of the Senate (Jan. 27 and 29, 1862, Works, vol. VI. pp. 293, 294); in favor of having the country represented at the International Exhibition in London, Jan. 31, 1862. Works, vol. VI. pp. 295-292); against regulating Congressional mileage in the army bill (Feb. 6, Works, vol. VI. pp. 299, 300); in favor of an inquiry as to the treatment of Union officers and soldiers killed at Manassas (April 1. 1862, Works, vol. VI. pp. 439-441); and making a report in favor of assisting by a loan Mexico in her resistance to foreign intervention, then threatened by England, France, and Spain (Feb. 19, 1862, Works, vol. VI. pp. 365-375). Other subjects to which he gave attention were claims of consuls for indemnity, the transportation of foreign mails, the proper number of staff officers, and the discharge of State prisoners.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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