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[573] the places of Hunter and Mason were filled by John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey,1 who appeared with proper credentials. On the same day
July 13, 1861.
John B. Clark, of Missouri, was, on motion of F. P. Blair, expelled from the House of Representatives as a traitor.

When a bill providing for the calling out half a million of men for the war was under consideration, on the 13th,

July.
Vallandigham offered a proviso that the President, before he should have the right to summon any more troops to the field, should appoint seven commissioners, who should accompany the army in its marches, with authority to receive from Jefferson Davis proposals looking to an armistice, or obedience to the National Government. The proviso was rejected, and the bill was passed. Two days afterward,
July 15.
Benjamin Wood, of New York, proposed that Congress should take measures for the assembling of a convention of all the States, at Louisville, Kentucky, in September following, to devise measures for restoring peace to the country. It as tabled, and on the same day, Allen, of Ohio (opposition), moved that when “the States now in rebellion” should desist, it was the duty of the Government to suspend the further prosecution of the war; and that it was not the object of the war to interfere with Slavery. This was ruled out of order, when Vallandigham offered a long series of resolutions, in tenor like his speech on the 10th, condemning nearly every important act of the President, in resisting the conspirators, as unconstitutional. These were tabled, and a bill, introduced by Hickman, of Pennsylvania, for defining and punishing conspiracies against the United States, was passed, with only seven dissenting voices. On motion of McClernand, of Illinois (opposition), the House pledged itself
July 15.
to vote for any amount of money, and any number of men, which might be necessary for the speedy suppression of the rebellion. This was passed with only five dissenting voices.2

A spirited and able debate arose in the Senate, on the 18th,

July.
by an addition to the bill providing for the reorganization of the Army, offered by Powell, of Kentucky, which declared, that no part of the Army or Navy should be employed in “subjecting or holding as a conquered province any sovereign State now, or lately, one of the United States.” Sherman, of Ohio, offered as a substitute a clause, declaring that the purposes of the military establishment provided for in the Act were “to preserve the Union, to defend the property, and .to maintain the constitutional authority of the Government.” , This was adopted, with only four dissenting voices;3 when Breckinridge moved as an additional amendment the substance of Powell's proposition, and the words, “or to abolish Slavery therein” --that is, in any State “lately one of the United States.” This was rejected; and the bill, as it came from the Committee of the Whole, was adopted. On the following day the venerable John J. Crittenden, who was now a member of the House of Representatives, offered a joint resolution, “That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the Disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt against the constitutional ”

1 They had been appointed by the Legislature of reorganized Virginia. See page 491.

2 Burnett and Grider, of Kentucky; Norton and Reid, of Missouri; and Benjamin Wood, of New York.

3 Breckinridge and Powell, of Kentucky; and Johnson and Polk, of Missouri.

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