Northern Congress.
In the
Federal Senate on the 27th inst., the resolution to give immediate attention to all war communications of the
President, and limiting debate to five minutes, was taken up, and after a warm discussion laid over.
The special order, the case of
Mr. Bright, was taken up, and
Mr. Latham of
California, addressed the Senate at length against his expulsion.
He urged that the public opinion of to-day is not the public opinion that existed March 1st, 1861, when the letter was written by
Mr. Bright, introducing
T. B. Lincoln to
Jefferson Davis,
President of the Southern Confederacy.
He examined the state of affairs here at the time of the writing of the letter, and asked would the Senate have expelled the gentleman from
Indiana had the letter been found on
Lincoln's person before he left the city?
Such he held would not have been the case.
as on the 2d of March they listened to
Wigfall's speech, and subsequently, on the 8th March, a resolution offered by
Mr. Foster, of
Conn., to the effect that as
Wigfall had declared himself a ‘"foreigner,"’ &c, he be expelled, was laid over, and on the 12th referred to the Judiciary Committee, where it was allowed to sleep.
This showed the spirit which then prevalled here, and if
Mr. Bright knew the designs of the Secession leaders, others knew them as well, and
Mr. Sumner and others were as guilty as he was in allowing
Davis Toombs,
Iverson, and the rest to go out unarrested.
Mr. Latham also referred to the fact that
Mr. Davis, of
Ky., in his speech the other day, pointed to
Mr. Bright's having sustained
Breckinridge as an evidence against him, and declared that he himself was one of the 200,000 who voted for that gentleman; and the gentleman from
Tennessee, (
Mr. Johnson,) now so strong a Union man, did the same
Mr. Davis interposed, and asked, did the gentleman from
California mean to say that he subscribed to the same principles as
Mr. Breckinridge, the
Virginia doctrine of States's Hights?
Mr. Latham said he did not mean to be diverted from his subject in this way, but declared that he was among the first who took ground against the doctrine of Secession.
Mr. Davis said the doctrine of States' Rights, now called Southern Rights, was the great cause of our troubles.
Without disposing of the subject, the Senate went into Executive session, and old not adjourn till after five o'clock.
House of Representatives--On motion of
Mr. Stevens, the
House went into Committee of the Whole on the state of the
Union, (
Mr. Blair, of
Missouri, in the chair,) and took up
House bill 224, making appropriations for the support of the military academy for the year ending the 30th of June, 1862.
Mr. Menzies, of
Kentucky, proceeded to reply to a speech delivered a few days ago by
Mr. Stevens, of
Pennsylvania.
He said the disunionists of
Kentucky were worse than the rebels of the revolted States, because they used their endeavors to turn the
State over to the rebels.
Mr. Wickliffe, of
Kentucky, desired to know if the gentleman said that the
Government had the right to enlist slaves in the army.
Mr. Riddle replied that the gentleman might call them slaves, but he (
Riddle) did not. They as men could be enlisted.
He was one of those who believed that there was a force now at work which would strike out slavery.
Mr. Sheffield, of
Rhode Island, said he was somewhat surprised to hear the views expressed by the gentlemen who has just spoken, (
Mr. Riddle,) also those expressed the other day by the chairman of the Committee of ways and Means, when he announced that extraordinary doctrine that this
House had the power to pass enactments for the emancipation of the slaves that are held under the laws of all the States of this Union.
He would put down this rebellion by fighting it down.
He would move on the army, and as the army moved, he would capture the slaves, and put them in the rear of the army and keep them until the end of the war, and then deal with them as circumstances would seem best.
He was no appologist for slavery; it was a curse.
He would put down this rebellion, let it cost what it may.
The Committee then rose, and reported the bill to the
House, and recommended its passage, The bill then passed.
