The Northern Congress.
the Negro question again.
Debate on the confiscation bill.
Senate.
Mr. Davis, of
Ky., offered a resolution declaring that the war now carried on by the
United States of America should be vigorously prosecuted and continued, to compel obedience to the
Constitution and laws in the limits of every territory, and by all the citizens and residents thereof, and for no further end whatever.
On motion of
Mr. Sumner, of
Mass., the resolution was laid over.
On motion of
Mr. Wilson, of
Mass., the resolution asking the Military Committee to inquire whether any further legislation is necessary to prevent officer returning fugitive slaves, was taken up.
Return of fugitive slaves by Military officers.
Mr. Sumner, of
Mass., said he was glad that the
Senator from
Iowa, in his speech, called attention to the conduct of some officers concerning fugitives.
He said one General who lately made an order returning fugitives, was a native of
Massachusetts, and he (
Mr. Sumter) had used his influence to get him appointed.
If he had known that
Gen. Horker would have made such an order, he would never have tried to secure his appointment.
When a General falls in battle, some honor mingles with the feeling of regret, but where a General fails as
General Booker has failed, there is nothing but regret to be felt.
He referred to the order of
General Doubleday as a contrast, in which he did hero to his country.
He also referred to the case of
General McCook in the
West, and the
Provost Marshal of
Louisville, as a disgrace to the army.
He read an account of the oppression to which the blacks at
Louisville had to submit.
Mr. Davis (Ky.) asked where he got that account.
Mr. Sumner replied, from a newspaper in New York.
Mr. Davis said that there was no doubt of its falsity.
Mr. Wilson (Mass.) said he had abundant evidence of the disgraceful treatment of fugitive slaves by portions of the army.
Mr. Sumter also referred to the return of a fugitive from the camps of
General Buell and the order of
General Halleck excluding all fugitive from his lines.
He said this order was unconstitutional as well as absurd, and showed a deficiency of common sense and common humanity unworthy of a soldier.
Such an order would exclude all valuable information received from fugitives, as for instance the capture of New Orleans and the evacuation of
Fredericksburg.
Arrest and imprisonment of citizens.
Mr. Saulsbury (Del.) office an amendment to the resolution, providing, also, to inquire what further legislation is necessary to prevent the illegal capture and imprisonment of free white citizens of the
United States.
He referred to the number of persons taken from the
State of Delaware, who were seized by military authorities and dragged away to the
State of Maryland, and kept for a week or two, and then discharged, because no charge could be found against them.
These men belonged to a class who are deemed to be of no account, and whose interests are not cared for. They were, unfortunately, free white persons.
These men, who committed no offence were thus seized in violation of every law and right.
If the wrongs of negroes are to be redressed, he only asked that the same justice be merged out to white men. He asked nothing for men who were disloyal to the
Government, but would have them punished to the full extent of the law.
The morning hour having expired, the Confiscation bill was taken up.
Emancipation Urged.
Mr. Wilson, of
Mass., offered an amendment to the sixth section of
Mr. Collamer's substitute, authorizing the
President to make proclamation and tried the slaves of those who continue in rebellion for thirty days after the time of its issue.
After the passage of this act he said he was willing to confess that his chief solicitude was for the emancipation of the slaves of the rebels.
He was in favor of the confiscation of the property of the leaders, and the granting of an amnesty to the masses; but slavery was the cause of the rebellion and was the great rebel of the
Government.
He did not see how loyal men could be the friends of slavery.
Slavery had been for 30 years aggressive on everything good and free in the
Government.
He saw no soldiers sick or wounded or lying in the grave, but he felt that slavery had done it.
Slavery had been the murderer of these brave men. Slavery was the great enemy and the only enemy of this country, and today this criminal and murderer was trying to throttle the
Government and destroy its rational life.
Seeing and feeling all this, he would strike at slavery and destroy it if he could.
He thought Congress had the right to free the slaves of all rebels, and if it adjourned without putting such a law on the statute book, he believed they would be false and recreant to their country.
Slavery scoffed and jeered at the
Declaration of Independence, and derided the toiling millions of the
North as "mudsills."
It made its tools hate the people and the
Government, and wherever slavery was the strongest, there was the most disloyalty and the most harried of the
Government.
If we would have peace we must destroy slavery, which was the great cause of rebellion and disloyalty.
He believed he should go to the extreme verge of constitutional rights, and if he was in doubt, would give his vote in favor of his country and not in favor of slavery.--He had no doubts of the policy of this measure, for almost every measure in support of the
Government had been objected to because it would offend the rebels, and perhaps the men of the
Border States.
He was tired of all these objections.
As long as slavery stands, there stands our enemy, that can never love the
Government or be loyal.
Destroy it, and the love for the
Union and the
Constitution will return, together with a feeling of shame that men could have been so perverted by the monster, slavery.
A review of the Various confiscation bills proposed.
Mr. Morrill (Me.) said he proposed in a few words to attempt to analyze some of the proposed measures.
Some of the bills, like those of the
Senators from New York and
Ohio, are bills meant to effect something and to touch the rebellion, and are produced by men who mean to crush the rebellion.
The other bills are a class not intended to effect anything, and are produced by men who do not mean to do anything.
The bill before the Senate was calculated to strike directly at the rebellion.
The bill simply authorizes the
President to seize such an amount of property as he deems that military necessity requires for the safety and welfare of the United Sates.
Does anybody oppose this?
This is to be done, not for the purpose of emancipation, but for the suppression of the rebellion.--Who opposes that?
This bill is effective, and is designed for the present state of affairs.
The policy of the other bills is to do nothing to put down the rebellion, but somehow, after the rebellion is put down, to turn the nation into a criminal court for punishment.
This bill simply forfeits the property of a certain class of persons and the forfeiture is to be enforced by the
President only in the prosecution of the war and the suppression of the rebellion, and when it is suppressed, all power under the bill is at an end. But the substitute offered by the
Senator from
Vermont provides for the punishment for treason of every person who has taken up arms against the
Government.
Then it provides that the person so convicted shall be for ever disqualified from holding office, and then superadds the penalty that the slaves of such persons shall be freed.
The provisions of this substitute are much more sweeping than those of the bill reported from the
Committee.
The
Senator from
Vermont in his speech declared that we had no right to interfere with slavery, yet his bill authorizes the
President arbitrarily to free every slave in the country.
He then referred to the substitute offered by the
Senator from
Pennsylvania Mr. Cowan and contended that it was more sweeping than any other.
But, the fact was that these other bills are not intended to do anything.
Congress, the great war council of the nation, ought to have the manliness to take the responsibility and advise and counsel the
President, and not throw any responsibility on him.
Mr. Howe (Wis.) disclaimed any fear to act on the subject, but had voted to refer the subject to a select committee, because he thought it might simplify matters.
He did not believe that the passage of the bill would especially inflame the rebels or strengthen the friends of the
Government.
He was in favor of some confiscation act, but he could not say that he favored this act, for he had not had time to examine it.
Slavery not responsible for the War.
Mr. Davis asked to have an amendment read to the effect that the title to all property forfeited under the act shall vest in the persons or heirs of those who entered the service of the
United States during the rebellion, and have been killed or disabled, and in the Caton men whose property has been seized and confiscated by the rebels.
He said there were many
Senators whose chief object was to destroy slavery, no matter what else was done.
He contended at some length that the true
policy of confiscation was to devote the property according to his proposed amendment.
He denied that slavery was the cause of the war. He contended at some length that in fact the free States were responsible for the war of 1862, the war of
Mexico, and the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise.
If the free States had not brought slavery into Congress, we should not have had the present trouble.
The people of
New England had developed the mind to a great extent, but they were so smart and conceited as to think they can manage everybody's business, and, therefore, they were meddlers, and continually poking their noses into other people's bucket of swill.
He referred to the pledges of the Republican party, and said that if they passed this bill they would array the whole Southern people against the law. He was willing that slavery should take its chances of war, and willing that slaves should be confiscated like other property; but if the Senate intended to make war on slavery, then there will be only another war begun.
After further discussion, the Senate went into Executive session, and subsequently adjourned.
