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prisoners shall not vote, but that he who starved them shall? Dare you say that this Government_shall_punish its friends and reward its enemies? Dare you contend that four million loyal citizens shall be outlawed and trampled under foot and allowed to perish because our enemies are exasperated against them on account of their friendship for us, and at the same time ask enfranchisement for our enemies so that they may destroy our friends, menace our liberty, and embarrass our finances? Dare you deny liberty to the loyal and claim power and freedom for the disloyal? In politics as in law, if you join issue on a false plea you will lose your cause. It is false to say we are not in favor of impartial suffrage; and if we make that issue we shall be defeated. But it is true that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and if our enemies dare join issue with us on these great principles we are sure of an overwhelming verdict from a loyal and liberty-loving people. Suppose we declare that when the rights of man are freely acknowledged and made secure, that we are in favor of amnesty and mercy for our enemies; dare our opponents say they are for vengeance and blood? Suppose we say that we are contending for justice, and when that is secure our enemies shall enjoy all the civil and political rights of American citizens; dare our opponents say that they shall not enjoy those rights? Suppose we rise to the true grandeur of this great contest and declare that we mean justice, humanity, liberty, and Union; dare our opponents say they mean wrong, oppression, secession, and slavery?

Let me appeal to the people of the South to cease contending for wrong and injustice, and learn to do right and love mercy. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." Men of the South, put not your trust in modern Democracy. "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves.' Have you not heard enough of their vain-glorious boasts of power to aid you? Did they not encourage you to rebel and promise you aid and comfort in your struggle to overthrow the Government, and did they not desert you in the hour of your greatest trial? Were they not invisible in war as they had been invincible in peace? Do you desire to be betrayed into another conflict with the overwhelming forces of liberty and union? Have not your efforts to destroy the Union and trample upon equal rights been sufficiently disastrous? Do you desire your homes to be again visited by war, pestilence, and famine? Has not the work of destruction satisfied you that there is a just God who takes vengeance on the oppressor and him who denies mercy to the poor and friendless? Think not that modern Democracy can shield you from the terrible retribution that awaits you if you longer deny the inalienable rights of man. A just God has declared oppression and wrong shall depart from the land, and the loyal millions who stand by the Union will execute His commands. For a time the arts of demagogues and the cohesive power of public plunder may seem triumphant, yet they do but seem. The same grand sentiment that rallied the loyal North to strike for liberty and union will still inspire the heart and nerve the arm to finish the work so gloriously begun. The little spring from which first gushed the waters of liberty has become a mighty torrent, sweeping slavery and oppression to destruction. Modern Democracy is but the flood-wood that maddens the rushing waters but cannot stay the flood. Regard not this floating trash but heed the loyal fountains from whence the torrent flows. Attempt no further obstruction of its course, but let it do its work and wash the crime of slavery from a land sacred to freedom. Attempt not impossibilities.

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The chains of bondage are broken, the shackles have fallen from the limbs of the slave, and no earthly power can rob him of enfranchisement and liberty, the birthright of an American citizen. Engage not in this wicked

work, for the avenging hand cannot be stayed from those who stil oppress. In such a conflict your own liberty is in jeopardy, and destruction and devastation threaten your country. Men of the South, let by-gones be by-gones and join in the glorious work of enfranchisement. Let your afflicted country have repose from this fearful strife. Give the ballot to the black man and retain it for yourselves and your posterity. The ballot is a gracious boon and none the less precious because enjoyed by the poor as well as the rich, the black as well as the white. It is the only guarantee of liberty. Is liberty less sweet when secured by all mankind? I appeal to the South in the name of the Father of the Revolution, in the name of justice and humanity, in the name of peace and union, and in the sacred name of Christianity itself to grant the ballot and receive the cordial friendship and fellowship of the brave and generous people of the loyal States. Let it be distinctly understood that if the evils of confiscation, disfranchisement, and military despotism come upon the South it will be because she refused to hear the truth from her friends, and refused to aid them to give her peace, but trusted to her enemies and those who would barter away her liberties in the vain hope of obtaining power for themselves.

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the evils that threaten our country, hoping that an all-wise Providence may avert the pending

storm.

I have no disposition to find fault with the committee on reconstruction. I realize the difficulties which they have been called upon to encounter. That they have acted a noble part in their efforts to harmonize conflicting opinions no one has any just reason to doubt. I rejoice in the manner in which the report is presented and the liberal spirit manifested by the committee toward those who are anxious to aid in the perfection of their plan. I hope for good results when debate shall have terminated and final conclusions shall be presented to a generous public. I cannot believe that if Congress should finally reach the conclusion that the late rebels must be supreme in their local State governments, that they will then adopt measures to exasperate those whom they trust with the life, liberty, and happiness of the black man. If the generosity of the South is to be the only guarantee of a precarious existence that is to be secured for the negro, it is cruelty to him to enrage his master-for master he will be-with aggravating legislation. If you leave him in the lion's mouth do not exasperate the lion, but appease him if possible. If you have no means of security admit the South at once and extinguish the hope of liberty in the breast of the negro, and let him make the best terms he can for his hopeless

life.

The President's plan is by far the best, if Congress only aggravates and enrages the South but fails to eradicate the acknowledged evils. The President, according to Mr. Seward, is willing to take votes as a basis of representation, which differs but little from, and I think is an improvement upon, the report of the committee in that regard. He also wishes the confederate debt and claims for emancipated slaves repudiated. If nothing better can be done, let Congress take any plan that will end the conflict; but if we have princi

affirm and vindicate them. It will be time enough to say the States will not adopt a just plan when that experiment has been tried and failed. If we are to be defeated, let us fall with our face to the foe. I have no ambition to die in an irregular or guerrilla war. My motto is civilized warfare or a square surrender. The country will not justify a distinction without a difference. If there is no difference on questions of principle there ought to be no further cross-purposes between Congress and the President. The world will brand us as factionists,and our efforts as a struggle for partisan power, if we rely too much on expediency.

Sir, my mountain home and the bold pioneers with whom I have passed all the days of my manhood, and whom I know well, call for no more blood, no more desolation, no more widows and orphans, no more accumulation of debt, but they hope for peace, union, and liberty for all. My constituents love the country and the whole country. There is no State in the Union that is not the native land of many citizens of Nevada. Their home is in the far-off mountains, but their affections cling to every village and hamlet in. America. We have lived together upon the shores of the Pacific for near twenty years. The good and bad fortunes of a miner's life have been common to us all. We have learned to appreciate and respect men from all sections, and our destinies are so in-ples, as we profess to have, it is our duty to terwoven in our common pursuits and common interests that the continuance of this unnatural conflict disturbs and mars the happiness of all our people. Nevada advocates everything for security, nothing for revenge; everything for political safety, nothing for partisan power. Her prosperity depends to a great extent upon friendly and cordial relations among her citizens. The restoration of the South will bring peace and happiness to Nevada, and I should not represent her if I were not zealous in that work. I deny that blood, confiscations, disfranchisement, and military despotism is any part of the platform of the Union party to which I belong. If to be a radical means to thirst for human blood, love human misery, and hate mercy, then I am no radical. If to be a radical means to love the Union, the Constitution, and the free Government of the fathers, to do justice to all men and respect the rights of all, then I am a radical. I know not what others may do, but as for me I shall labor honestly and zealously to secure the adoption of any plan which offers any hope of peace and union on the principles of justice and human-emancipated slaves on the one hand, and uniity. I shall not despair until a plan looking to revenge and partisan rule shall have been adopted; a plan based on the worst passions of our nature shall have been sanctioned by this Congress, and then I shall lose all hope of any good results from our deliberations. I appeal to Senators to consider this momentous issue in the light of reason and Christianity, to be charitable for the sins of our common humanity, to deal justly, and love mercy.

I shall first offer my resolutions for amnesty and suffrage as a substitute. If I fail in that, I shall ask that they may be submitted as an alternative proposition, and if I am still unsuccessful, I will vote for the plan of the majority so long as it is a better plan than that of the President. But when Congress shall have committed itself to a platform which means either disunion or despotism, I shall await in despair

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I hope the Senate will pardon the frankness with which I have attempted to express my views. Let amnesty and suffrage be submitted, and allow each State to act separately, and if the South adopt it, the North must; and if the North does, how can the South refuse? It is safe to say she will not jeopardize her peace and security in any such way. Let the plan embody civil rights, impartial suffrage, and repudiation of both rebel debt and claims for

versal amnesty and restoration of rebels to civil and political rights on the other hand, and the country will finish the work. And when it is

done it will be well done.

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. WILLIAMS in the chair.) The question is on the amendment to the joint resolution proposed by the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. WADE.] IS the Senate ready for the question?

Mr. HOWARD. I suggest that the discussion be postponed until to-morrow, and I make that motion, that the further consideration of this subject be postponed until to-morrow at one o'clock.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is it in order to move to strike out the third section as it stands now without offering a substitute for it? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Such a motion would be in order.

Mr. JOHNSON.. I make that motion. Mr. GRIMES. The question will stand, then, on that motion?

Mr. JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

ing Office, in strict accordance with the terms of the joint resolution of May 19, 1864, and in order to save unnecessary expense, to consolidate and eliminate therefrom, under the superMr. HOWARD. I hope the vote will be vision of the Superintendent of Public Printtaken on the motion to postpone the furthering, such superfluous matter as will not affect consideration of the joint resolution until tomorrow at one o'clock.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. SHERMAN. I have prepared a constitutional amendment, or rather an amendment to the proposition of the committee of fifteen, which more nearly meets my own idea than any proposition that has been made, and at the suggestion of others I submit it and ask that it be printed. I do not say that I shall offer it, because I desire to vote for that proposition which will combine the greatest strength, but as this expresses more nearly my own individual idea than any other, I will ask that it be printed.

Mr. GRIMES. Let it be read.

The Secretary read the proposed amendment, as follows:

Strike out sections two and three, and insert as follows:

Representation shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union according to the number in each State of male citizens of the United States over twenty-one years of age qualified by the laws of such State to choose members of the most numerous branch of its Legislature, and including such eitizens as are disqualified for participating in rebellion.

Direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to the value of the real and personal taxable property situated in each State not belonging to the State or to the United States.

The proposed amendment was ordered to be printed.

BOUNTY TO INDIAN REGIMENTS.

Mr. WILSON. I move to take up the joint resolution (S. R. No.. 87) to provide for the payment of bounty to certain Indian regiments.

The motion was agreed to; and the joint resolution was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. It requires the Secretary of War to cause to be paid to the enlisted men of the first, second, and third Indian regiments the bounty of $100, under the same regulations and restrictions as now determine the payment of bounty to other volunteers in the service of the United States.

The joint resolution was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION.

Mr. WILSON. I now move to take up the joint resolution (S. R. No. 86) to provide for the publication of the official history of the rebellion.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the joint resolution. In order to insure the publication in proper form, and at the least possible expense, of the reports and orders of commanding officers, and of all correspondence by telegraph or otherwise, and of all other documents of every description relating to the late rebellion, accumulated in the archives of the War Department since the 1st of December, 1860, as authorized by the joint resolution entitled "A resolution to provide for the printing of official reports of the operations of the armies of the United States," approved May 19, 1864, this joint resolution authorizes the Secretary of War to appoint a competent person to supervise the publication at the Public Printing Office, who is to receive a compensation for his services not to exceed $2,500 per annum, to be paid monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, but this compensation is not to be paid for a longer period than two years from and after the passage of the resolution.

It is to be the duty of the person so appointed, with the advice of the Superintendent of Public Printing, to prepare in a proper manner for publication the manuscript of the documentary history of the rebellion, sent and to be sent from the War Department to the Public Print

the completeness and historical value of the whole; and he is to make regular reports of the progress of the work to accompany the report of the Public Printer to Congress; and the printing thereof is not to be commenced until a complete revision and arrangement of the manuscripts shall have been made.

Mr. WILSON. There is a report accompanying the resolution from the Committee on Military Affairs, which states the facts of the case perhaps with more brevity than I can state them now, and I should like to have that report read.

The Secretary read the following report, submitted by Mr. WILSON on the 18th instant:

The Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom was referred Senate resolution No. 86, to provide for the publication of the official history of the rebellion, having had the same under considcration, respectfully report:

That they recommend the passage of the joint resolution without amendment. During the first session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress a joint resolution was passed, and approved by the late President, providing for the publication at the public expense of the "reports of commanding officers, all correspondence by telegraph or otherwise, and documents of every description, in relation to the existing rebellion, to be found in the archives of the War Department since the 1st day of December. 1860." The object of the resolution was to perpetuate the proud record made by the armies of the Republic in their efforts for the maintenance of the Union, and to furnish a means for historical reference and professional instruction, by the compilation and publication in a compact, convenient, and permanent form of what may be termed the official military history of the rebellion.

The war for the suppression of the rebellion being still in progress at the time of the passage of the resolution, the War Department, owing to the pressure of public business and the unavoidable incompleteness of the official records during the continuance of active operations in the field, was not able to carry out its provisions immediately. Since the return of peace, however, the work of compilation has been commenced and pushed forward as expeditiously as circumstances would allow.

Under the broad terms of the resolution all that the War Department is required and authorized to do is to furnish verbatim and literatim copies, arranged in chronological order, of every report, dispatch, letter, and other documentary paper relating to the rebellion on file in its various bureaus, for publication to the Public Printer. Although no exact estimate of the quantity of matter which the latter is called upon to print at the public expense under the law as it now stands can be made, it is evident from what is already in his hands that it is so vast, and in part of such doubtful value, as to call, on economical and other grounds, for amendatory legislation.

It is believed safe to assume that, with the comprehensive scope of the resolution, it will require a large number of volumes to comprise all the matter compiled and to be compiled by the War Department, which will make the total expense of the whole series, inclusive of the engraving of the maps accompanying the reports, amount to several hundred thousand dollars. Upon due investigation the committee have come to the conclusion that a large saving of this sum can be effected without defeating the object of the resolution. There is much matter, especially among the reports, that can be properly left out without doing injustice to any one or impairing the completeness of the publication. Ofthe many hundreds of maps of different size and merit, the engraving of all of which would requiré a vast outlay, a great number could be entirely omitted or consolidated. By proper condensation and elimination tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved.

Nor is this the only feature of the proposed work susceptible of improvement in the opinion of the committee. The form as well as the substance of the matter to be printed needs a thorough revision. Owing to the fault partly of the authors and partly of the copyists, many of the reports are not in a condition to be incorporated in an authoritative publication that is to form an authentic record of the deeds of the loyal armies, and find its way as such into every library at home and abroad, and mold

the judgment of history. Bad grammar, misspelling of geographical names, and of names of distinguished officers, and other shortcomings, should be eradicated from the manuscript before it passes into the hands of the printer.

It has also been found that the method of compilation followed under the orders of the Adjutant General is not in accordance with the terms of the resolution. It directs that the reports and all correspondence, by telegraph or otherwise, be arranged and published in "chronological order." The Adjutant General has only transmitted so far, to the Public Printing Office, reports of commanding officers, which he desires to be printed in a succession of volumes, to be followed by another containing the correspondence. As required by the resolution, the reports and correspondence pertaining to the same subject should

be grouped together. It is obvious that the plan of publication adopted by the Adjutant General, if carried out, would seriously detract from the value of the volumes as a convenient means of reference, inasmuch as the orders, dispatches, letters, &c., of the War Department and commanding officers often form the key to an intelligent understanding of the operations to which they relate.

Again, the resolution requires that an index be prepared to each volume. The Adjutant General proposes to prepare a general one after the publication of the whole series. The effect of this deviation from the prescribed plan would be to render reference to the several volumes during the progress of publication a source of annoyance and perplexity. In the opinion of the committee a special index should accompany each volume, and a general one the series. In order to insure the publication of the official military history of the rebellion in proper form, and at the least expense, the committee have deemed it best to recommend that the Secretary of War be authorized to procure the services of some competent person of ability and literary experience familiar with such work, whose duty it shall be to prepare the matter furnished by the War Department in the stated manner for the printer, and to supervise the printing of it. And for this purpose they recommend the passage of the accompanying resolution. They are confident that the small outlay of public money it authorizes will be a very economical investment and result in a large saving to the Treasury.

Mr. WILSON. I will briefly say that a resolution was passed two years ago providing for It is the publication of these official papers. a great undertaking, and it will cost several hundred thousand dollars. For the credit of the country, the work should be very carefully prepared. Besides that, if it is properly prepared, it will not cost more than two thirds as much as it will if it is printed on the plan provided by the present law. If the work is to be of real historical value, if it is to be any credit to the country, it should be well edited. It will make somewhere from thirty to fifty large volumes. The present plan is very defective indeed. In the first place, the documents and papers themselves are defective, with names misspelled, and are not well arranged. All this should be corrected. If we are to publish this work at all, it should be carefully prepared before it is put to press.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Do you mean to publish all the reports?

Mr. WILSON. Yes, sir; all the reports. Then there are several hundred maps that accompanied these reports. It will not be necessary to publish all those maps in order to illustrate the work, because many of them are almost duplicates of others. You want a revising mind over the whole. Whoever is to do this work should have some help, and I suppose the Department may detail clerks under him to do that kind of work. The work has to be done now in the Department.

Then there is another thing about it, and I am rather surprised at it. It would seem reasonable that whatever concerned one portion of the country or one army-General Sherman's army, for instance, in its movements and marches, all the public papers and telegraphic dispatches and reports in regard to it-should all go together because they illustrate each other; and so with the army of the Potomac; and so with all the other great military move

ments.

Under the old resolution, the telegraphic dispatches and the reports are to be published separately, so that in order to understand them one has to read all these works. Then there is to be no index to the volumes until they are completed, and then a general index for the whole. Every volume should be indexed, and the subjects should be divided into their proper departments, so that any person wishing to learn about any of the movements of any of the armies under any of the generals would have it at his finger ends, all perfect, with the telegraphic dispatches, reports, and maps, and an index for the whole.

Now, sir, this is a simple proposition that some person shall be employed by the Secretary of War, at an annual salary of $2,500, for two years, to supervise and arrange this work. I believe it will save one third of the expense that would otherwise be incurred under the present plan. If it is carried on under the plan already ordered, the work will cost from $500,000 to $750,000. I believe that the expenditure of his $5,000 will not only make

this work such a one as we ought to have, if it is put in the care of a competent man, but it will save $150,000 or $200,000. I have not a doubt of that.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Would it not save more not to publish any of these things?

Mr. WILSON. The Senator from Maine asks if it would not save more not to publish || any. That is very true; but my judgment is that these reports and papers ought to be published, and published at the earliest possible day. They are of great historical importance. They should be properly edited and go into our libraries and before the country for the information and instruction of our own people, and as a historical work. We have already ordered them to be published. Congress has passed a resolution providing for their publication; and a large amount of them are in the printing office now. The Superintendent of Public Printing has been holding back for some weeks in order to see if anything is to be done here on this subject. If not, he will commence the publication, imperfect as it is, and I believe nearly every page will have a defect upon it unless we put it under the eye of a competent man. I hope, therefore, if we are to have this work published at all, that the Senate will see to it that it is properly edited, and that it is a work worthy of the country.

Mr. GRIMES. I move to strike out in the sixth and seventh lines of the first section the words, "and of all other documents of every description relating to the late rebellion." This proposition is a very comprehensive one. As the resolution now reads, it says:

That in order to insure the publication in proper form, and at the least possible expense, of the reports and orders of commanding officers, and of all correspondence by telegraph or otherwise, and of all other documents of every description relating to the late rebellion, accumulated in the archives of the War Department, &c.

That includes the muster-rolls and all sorts of communications of every kind and description. Certainly the Senator does not propose to have published everything in relation to deserters, applications to have a man pardoned for desertion, court-martial proceedings, &c.

Mr. POMEROY. What is the force of the word "otherwise," there? That includes all the rest. You ought to strike out the word

"otherwise."

Mr. GRIMES. No, sir. The language is, "all correspondence by telegraph or otherwise." That, I suppose, was intended to relate to the correspondence between officers in command of departments and divisions, and so on, and the War Department; but the words in the sixth and seventh lines that I have proposed to strike out would include every conceivable thing, it seems to me.

Mr. JOHNSON. I think this proposition ought to go to the Committee on Printing. The honorable member from Massachusetts seems to suppose that it will only cost some four or five hundred thousand dollars, but in all human probability it will cost one or two millions. It will cost a great deal more than that if these words are not stricken out. suggest to my friend from Massachusetts whether we had not better ascertain in some way what would be the probable cost of a work of this description.

Mr. WILSON. I will say to the Senator that on the best information I can gather it will take from thirty to fifty volumes to complete this work.

Mr. GRIMES. How large volumes?

Mr. WILSON. Good-sized, large volumes. Different estimates as to the number of volumes are made by those who have made some examination into the subject; and it will cost of course to publish any number of them several thousand dollars a volume. If we allow the work to go on and be completed according to the existing law, it will cost from five hundred thousand to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This proposition will reduce it down at least one third in expense and make a perfect work of it. I am willing, however, to strike out these words, or modify it so that

nothing will be published that is not a part of these reports.

Mr. JOHNSON. I suppose, whether these words are stricken out or not, that all the reports and all the correspondence made by the confederate army would be included. They are all in the War Office now. So far from its costing half a million dollars, I think it will cost some two or three millions before we are done with it. The honorable member's estimate, which he says he has made after as correct information as he could get, is not altogether as accurate, perhaps, as ought to be relied on. He says it will take from thirty to fifty volumes, leaving a margin of some twenty volumes. That is not much of an estimate.

Mr. WILSON. I will say to the Senator that it is simply an estimate. It is all that can be made. In the first place it is a guess, after such information as we could get. In regard to the number of volumes, some persons who have looked into the subject very carefully think the work will make fifty volumes; at any rate, all think it will make from thirty to fifty. Some of these reports are not yet in. There are a number to come in that are yet in the course of preparation.

Mr. JOHNSON.

1864?

What is the resolution of

Mr. WILSON. That resolution provides for the publication of these papers.

Mr. JOHNSON. Everything? Mr. WILSON. Yes, sir; everything pertaining to these reports.

Mr. JOHNSON. I think we had better stop that.

Mr. WILSON. This resolution provides for having them properly arranged. I think if the amendment proposed by the Senator from Iowa is adopted, it makes it very simple, and if we shall want to publish more hereafter, it can be done.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I did not know really, until I heard this resolution called up to-day, that a resolution had been passed for the publication of these reports. I believe it is the first time in the history of any country-I do not know that that is any objection to itwhere the Government has undertaken to publish immediately everything connected with a long war. My idea is that the time has hardly arrived yet to make such a publication, and that if we were to publish these papers at all, we ought to proceed in a very different mode from that which is suggested. In the first place, there ought to be competent persons to make a selection from this mass of papers of what is to be published. Everybody can see that under this general publication order, with nobody, in fact, to control it, it will go to an interminable length, and that we shall be pub lishing a vast amount of material that is not of the slightest use in the world. An undertaking of this sort ought to be deliberate, and ought to be carefully provided for, in my judgment, if you undertake it at all. My notion is, generally, that it would be as well to leave the whole of them to be looked over by historians who will write the history of these events, and put in what it is necessary and advisable that the world should know. But if you want everything published for everybody to look at and search out what may be good and what may be useless, the better way is to proceed deliberately about it; have some competent persons appointed to make the selection; to edit the papers, in point of fact; to select that which ought to be published or is worthy of publication; to arrange it under its proper heads, with reference to specific campaigns and specific movements, and put everything that belongs to one subject together; and that is a work of time and labor, and ought to precede any attempt to print the papers.

Now, as far as we have gone it is perfectly manifest that the whole labor has been thrown away and is worse than useless, because full of mistakes; and mistakes will be just as likely to follow under the resolution now proposed, though not to the same extent. Some money

has been expended, though but a trifle in comparison to what this must cost. I think it would be better to reconsider the whole matter, to repeal the resolution of 1864, which is imperfect in itself, covers too much ground, leads to mistakes, and leads to no valuable results, and if then it is determined by Congress to publish these papers, to proceed as other people proceed who want to make papers valuable, to have them edited by competent persons and arranged so that the work may be something worth giving to the public. In that way you will accomplish two objects: in the first place you will cull out from the great mass what is good for something, and you will have that in a readable shape, and you will save a vast deal of money. But evidently to pass this resolution now on the statement of expense that my honorable friend from Massachusetts gives, is, to my mind, absurd. A margin of from thirty to fifty volumes is a very large one even for a guess. It shows manifestly that for anything my friend knows it may be a hundred. Mr. WILSON. No.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Well, you cannot state the number. I have heard these papers described as being there by the cart load, and you cannot tell what number of volumes they will make. Clearly, if you get a publication of fifty volumes of the events of this war and the papers connected with it, without having the work edited, without having the subjects selected, without having the papers arranged, without having them properly indexed, nobody would give anything for the fifty volumes in his library, because he could not find what he wanted in them. He might just as well go to the War Office and hunt over the papers there to ascertain what there was that was good for something to be used.

Instead of passing this resolution in any shape, my judgment would be that we had better stop where we are, and repeal the resolution that was passed at the former Congress; and if you then decide to begin, begin a great work, (because it will be a great work,) as experience has proved the only proper method; let it be undertaken by competent persons as a work of time and not of hurry; and give to the people of this country at the end something that will be worth having, and will in a measure pay for the immense sum that we must expend in accomplishing it. In the present state of our finances I should rather hope the whole thing might be deferred to a better opportu nity; but of that the Senate will judge. But if we are to undertake it, let us do it like sensible business people, and not push all this matter in a mass into the printer's hands to be published at vast expense, and to be good for nothing after we have got it.

Mr. WILSON. I agree with the Senator from Maine entirely; and the object of the committee in reporting this resolution is to have the thing properly done, if done at all. On the 19th of May, 1864, the Senate passed a resolution "to provide for the printing of official reports of operations of the Army of the United States." I will read this resolution, so that Senators may understand precisely what the law now is:

"That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, directed to furnish the Superintendent of Public Printing with copies of all such correspondence, by telegraph or otherwise, reports of commanding officers, and documents of every description in relation to the existing rebellion, to be found in the archives of his Department since the 1st day of December, 1860, to the present time, and during the continuance of said rebellion, which may be, in his opinion, proper to be published with said correspondence, reports, and documents, which shall be published in their proper chronological order.

SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That the Superintendent of Public Printing shall cause to be printed and bound (in addition to the usual number) ten thousand copies of such correspondence, reports, and documents, in volumes of not exceeding (as near as may be) eight hundred octavo pages each, which shall be distributed by the Secretary of the Senate as follows, to wit, five hundred copies to the War Department, one complete copy to each State library of every State in the Union, and five complete copies to public libraries in each congressional district of the United States, to be designated by the Representative of the present Congress from such district; and of the remaining copies three thousand shall be for

the use of members of the present Senate, and six thousand for the use of members of the present House of Representatives.

"SEC. 3. And be it further resolved, That it shall also be the duty of the Secretary of War to cause a complete index of the matter contained in each volume to be prepared and inserted therein.

"SEC. 4. And be it further resolved, That all resolutions adopted by either House of Congress, at its present session, directing the printing of any of the correspondence, reports, or documents, as above contemplated, be, and the same are hereby, rescinded."

This resolution rescinded all the orders made for publishing documents, and made this general provision.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I wish to make one other suggestion. I understand that we are in possession of a large mass of the confederate reports.

Mr. WILSON. They were not here when we passed the resolution of 1864.

Mr. FESSENDEN.. If these papers are to be published they ought to be arranged by subjects; and all that we have of the confederate documents on the same subjects ought to be printed in juxtaposition, so that the whole subject-matter might be seen.

are to report a proposition arresting the publi-
cation and authorizing the Secretary of War to
appoint a proper man to prepare the work, and
let a report be made at the next session of what
they desire and about what it will cost.

Mr. SUMNER. We have already in our history had some experience by which we may be taught on this question. Senators have seen in their libraries, certainly in the Congressional Library, the large volumes known as the American Archives, of which there are portions of several series. When that series was commenced it was intended that it should embody all the papers, military and diplomatic, and also leading articles in newspapers, relating to the origin of our Revolution and the war of independence. The collection proceeded to the year 1776, under the editorship of Peter Force, of this city, a gentleman as competent, I suppose, as any person who could have been selected in the whole country, but it was subject to the final revision of the Secretary of State. Finally, when Mr. Force had prepared a volume for 1777, and all his papers were collected and laid before the Secretary of State, at that Mr. WILSON. That is what we want to do. time Mr. Marcy, the latter gentleman refused Mr. ANTHONY. I think that the docu- to give his assent to the further publication of ments in the archives of the War Department the volume, and you have that collection, origiare not yet in a condition to be published. I nally ordered by a joint resolution of Congress, think it is much better that the work should suspended at the year 1776, and primarily bebe prepared, or at least that very considerable cause Mr. Marcy did not feel willing as Secreprogress should be made in it before the pub-tary of State to give his final assent, as required lication is commenced, because otherwise we by the resolution, to its publication. That is may repeat the same experiment that has just our experience with regard to one very imporbeen made. This resolution provides for some tant portion of our history, the war of indecompetent person at a salary of $2,500 a year pendence; the documents are not yet published to undertake it. It would be the life-time in one connected series; I do not know that of a man to do that work; it would take twenty they ever will be. And now, sir, it is proposed men to perform that work as it ought to be to publish another series, which will be perhaps performed, and I think it ought to be per- more expensive even than that of the war of formed. I think that there should be a history independence. The series of the war of indeof the war prepared from the documents in the pendence, as you will observe, embraced newspossession of the War Department and from paper articles in America and England illusthe rebel archives; and I would suggest that trating the contest, and that of course gave to this resolution be recommitted to the Commit- it a much larger size and development than the tee on Military Affairs, and that they report a series now proposed. plan for the prosecution of the work; and when the persons intrusted with this work shall report that they have made sufficient progress it will be time enough to commence the publication.

Mr. FESSENDEN. In the mean time we ought to suspend the resolution already passed. Mr. ANTHONY. Yes, sir. If this resolution be recommitted to the Committee on Military Affairs they can report a plan for the preparation of the work, which should precede for some time the commencement of the publication; and in that resolution we can provide for the suspension of the work now going on. I fancy there is nothing doing on it now; but I do not know. This matter does not belong to the Committee on Printing, and I do not wish to interfere with it.

Mr. WILSON. I certainly have no objection to that suggestion; but the object of the committee was to do precisely what the Senator from Maine and the Senator from Rhode Island, and I suppose the Senator from Iowa, desire; that is, if this matter is to be published at all, that it shall be well arranged and made a perfect work. We cannot tell, I assure the Senate we have not the means to tell, and I do not believe any committee of the Senate can possibly tell precisely how this should be done, but we wanted to put it in the hands of a competent man to make out a plan and see that the work is done according to a good plan. I have no objection certainly to arresting the publication of the present work, to repealing the present law, and letting the Secretary of War appoint a proper man or a number of men if necessary and let them report a plan at the next session of Congress and how much it will probably cost and give us all the facts of the case. If that is thought best, I have no objection to the recommitment; but the object we had in view was to prevent the publication of this vast mass of documents without any arrangement, imperfect as they are sent to the printing office. I have no objection to a recommitment, with the understanding that we

But, as I have said, it is now proposed to begin another series. I would simply suggest that we may well consider whether it might not be advisable for us to complete the original series, and to illustrate the war of independence before we enter upon the work of illustrating this recent more terrible conflict. But, sir, suppose we do undertake the latter work, then I think all the suggestions that have been made, particularly by the Senator from Maine, suggesting caution, requiring care and editorship, of infi nite importance. I agree with that Senator absolutely when he says the whole collection will be of very little value, it will be trivial, if it is not well edited, well arranged, and then

well indexed.

Mr. FESSENDEN. the worse it will be.

And the larger it is

I

Mr. SUMNER. Of course, the larger it is
the worse it will be. Then Senators say that
we must find a competent man. Who is the
competent man? I do not know him now.
dare say he would come to light, perhaps, if we
went about with a candle after him; but the
competent man to gather together all this mass
of documents and to put them in order, and
then to make a proper and analytical index,
would be a very rare man. He must be a man
without any of the turbulent ambition that
belongs to politicians; he must be disposed to
quiet, willing to live at home with his books
and his papers, and give himself day and night
to serious toil. That is the character of man
that you would require. I do not know where
he could be found.

Mr. JOHNSON. You might find him in
Boston.

Mr. SUMNER. In Boston if anywhere, per-
haps. [Laughter.] But then I do not know
him there, I am free to say.

Mr. FESSENDEN. Resign, and take charge of it yourself. [Laughter.]

Mr. SUMNER. My friend says I should resign and accept it. I do not know but that that is the best thing I could do, [laughter,]

but then I should despair of getting through with the work.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I would agree to serve as your clerk.

Mr. SUMNER. Then the work would surely be done. [Laughter.] All this brings us to the conclusion that what we do should be well considered and laid out in advance. I think, therefore, it is important that the resolution should be recommitted, that we should have the benefit of all the information we can get from the Department on the subject, and, if possible, provide in advance the method and the arrangement and the way in which the col lection should be indexed. As much should be done in advance as possible. Now, sir, we may get some instruction on this subject from what they are doing in other nations. At this moment the Emperor of France is engaged in the publication of all the writings of his uncle, the Emperor Napoleon. That work has already proceeded to fourteen or fifteen quarto vol umes, very elaborately edited, the purpose being to bring into the collection every scrap, military, diplomatic, or personal, which can be found proceeding from the late Emperor of France, the first Napoleon. That is done under special editorship. Some of the very first men in France are engaged as a committee in superintending it. Now, if we shall undertake our work, I think we ought certainly to do as well by it as the Emperor of France does by the work of his uncle.

Mr. HENDERSON. Having looked at the legislation on this subject, I desire to ask a question. I find that after the passage of the joint resolution referred to by the Senator from Massachusetts an act was passed in June, 1864, the second section of which provided "that the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint some competent person to edit the printing of the official reports of the operations of the armies of the United States." Now, I understand that this is further legislation on the same subject. I rose to ask whether the Secretary of War had gone to any expense in securing the services of any person to superintend this publication. I find, also, in the Army appropriation bill for 186465, passed June 15, 1864, an appropriation

for copying official reports of armies of the United States for publication, $5,000." I presume that was in furtherance, also, of this same resolution, passed in May, 1864.

Mr. JOHNSON. Has the Senator that resolution before him?

Mr. HENDERSON. Yes, sir. Mr. JOHNSON. Will the Senator be kind enough to read the second section?

Mr. HENDERSON. The Senator from Maryland asks me to read the second section of the resolution of May, 1864. It is in these

words:

"SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That the Superintendent of Public Printing shall cause to be printed and bound, in addition to the usual number, ten thousand copies of such correspondence, reports, and documents, in volumes of not exceeding (as near as may be) eight hundred octavo pages each, which shall be distributed by the Secretary of the Senate as follows, to wit, five hundred copies to the War Department, one complete copy to each State library of every State in the Union, and five complete copies to public libraries in each congressional district of the United States, to be designated by the Representa tive of the present Congress from such district; and of the remaining copies three thousand shall be for the use of members of the present Senate, and six thousand for the use of members of the present House of Representatives."

Mr. JOHNSON. I should like to know if the yeas and nays were called upon that.

Mr. HENDERSON. I think the best disposition, perhaps, that can be made of the resolution now pending is not to amend it, as suggested by the Senator from Iowa, but to make it a simple provision repealing what has hitherto been provided for.

Mr. GRIMES. It is proposed to recommit

it with that view.

Mr. HENDERSON. I have no objection to that course. I was about to remark that the mere orders of the department commanders at the city of St. Louis have been recently published by Mr. O'Fallon, who was an assist

ant adjutant general at St. Louis during the whole time. He has done it as a private matter of his own, and his work is a very valuable one. Those orders of the department commanders at St. Louis alone, leaving out the reports, make some four or five large volumes.

Mr. ANTHONY. It would take five hundred volumes for the publication, according to the original resolution.

Mr. HENDERSON. This book, as I say, makes four or five volumes, although it contains none of the reports of the commanders to the War Department, but simply the orders issued by the commanders. The whole work, under the resolution as it now stands, would certainly be not less than four or five hundred volumes. We ought not to proceed with such a work. As it now stands, it would include every telegraphic dispatch that came over the wires, and all correspondence, not only the reports of the commanders, but the report of every subordinate commander to his superior. Most of the members of Congress to whom it is provided that the book shall be delivered after it has been published will cer tainly be dead before the publication is completed.

Mr. WILSON. The work is to be a much larger work, of course, than was supposed at the time it was ordered. It was ordered two years ago, and it is much larger than was supposed at the time. The law to which the Senator has referred authorizes the Secretary of War to appoint a proper person, but no person has been appointed. It has been prepared in the office.

Mr. JOHNSON. Was not Dr. Lieber appointed?

Mr. WILSON. No; he was appointed to take care of the rebel archives and examine those.

Mr. GRIMES. Under what law?

Mr. JOHNSON. I thought under this law. Mr. WILSON. I understand Dr. Lieber has care of the papers that were captured at Richmond and in the confederate States, and that there are a large amount of them. I do not know under what law it is, but he is appointed and is arranging those papers. The second section of this resolution is intended to modify the original act so that a great deal of the matter may be eliminated and left out. I think, however, the best disposition we can now makę of the subject is to recommit it, according to the sense of the Senate, and have the matter acted on more fully.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator make a motion to recommit?

Mr. WILSON. Yes, sir.

The motion was agreed to.

HOUSE BILLS REFERRED.

The following bills from the House of Representatives were severally read twice by their titles, and referred as indicated below:

A bill (H. R. No. 466) erecting the Territory of Montana into a surveying district, and for other purposes-to the Committee on Public Lands.

A bill (H. R. No. 616) for the relief of Lucinda Gates-to the Committee on Pensions.

ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED.

ator from Kansas wants to call up a bill that I think ought to be disposed of.

Mr. RAMSEY. I insist upon my motion. The motion was agreed to; and after some time spent in executive session the doors were reopened, and the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
THURSDAY, May 24, 1866.

The House met at twelve o'clock m. The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

PREVENTION OF CHOLERA.

Mr. ELIOT. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to report from the Committee on Commerce a joint resolution (H. R. No. 116) to prevent the introduction of the cholera into the ports of the United States, with the amendments of the Senate thereto; and I ask the concurrence of the House in the amendments. No objection was made, and the report was received, and the amendments of the Senate

were concurred in.

Mr. ELIOT moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendments were concurred in; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

LYING-IN HOSPITAL.

Mr. WELKER, by unanimous consent, reported back, from the Committee for the District of Columbia, bill of the Senate No. 167, to incorporate the Women's Hospital Association of the District of Columbia, with several amendments.

The amendments were agreed to. The bill was then ordered to a third reading; and it was accordingly read the third time and passed.

Mr. WELKER moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

The title of the bill was then amended so as to read, "An act to incorporate the Columbia Hospital for Women and Lying-in Asylum."

LUCINDA GATES.

Mr. TAYLOR, by unanimous consent, reported from the Committee on Invalid Pensions a bill for the relief of Lucinda Gates; which was read a first and second time.

The bill was read at length. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to place the name of Lucinda Gates, widow of the late Horace Gates, of Franklin, Vermont, on the pensionroll, at the same rate of pension during her widowhood, from the death of her husband, as was allowed her by special act approved July 4, 1864.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time and passed.

Mr. TAYLOR moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

MONTANA A SURVEYING DISTRICT.

Mr. STROUSE, by unanimous consent,

A message from the House of Representa-reported back from the Committee on Terri

tives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced that the Speaker of the House of Representatives had signed the following enrolled joint resolutions; which were thereupon signed by the President pro tempore:

A joint resolution (H. R. No. 116) respecting quarantine and health laws; and

A joint resolution (S. R. No. 74) providing for the acceptance of a collection of plants tendered to the United States by Frederick Pech.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

Mr. POMEROY. I move to take up Senate bill No. 233.

Mr. RAMSEY. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. Mr. HENDRICKS. I hope not. The Sen

tories House bill No. 466, erecting the Territory of Montana into a surveying district, and for other purposes.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time and passed.

Mr. STROUSE moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid

on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

INDIANA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. On motion of Mr. BIDWELL, the Committee on Agriculture was discharged from the further consideration of the petition of the trustees of Indiana Agricultural College, asking a modification of the laws of Congress

donating lands for said college, and the same was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

AGRICULTURAL BUREAU.

Mr. BIDWELL, by unanimous consent, made an adverse report upon a resolution in regard to the expediency of removing the Department of Agriculture to one of the western States; which was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

PLANTS DONATED BY FREDERICK PECH.

Mr. BIDWELL, by unanimous consent, reported back from the Committee on Agriculture Senate joint resolution No. 74, providing for the acceptance of the collection of plants tendered by Frederick Pech, with a recommendation that the same do pass.

The joint resolution provides for the acceptance of the plants, and appropriates $300 to enable the Commissioner of Agriculture to procure suitable cases for their protection.

The joint resolution was read the third time and passed.

Mr. BIDWELL moved to reconsider the vote by which the joint resolution was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

JOHN MOORE, DECEASED.

Mr. MYERS asked and obtained leave to withdraw from the files of the House the petition and papers in the case of the representatives of John Moore, deceased.

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.

Mr. GARFIELD demanded the regular order of business.

The SPEAKER stated the morning hour had commenced, and the House resumed the consideration of House bill No. 613, to continue in force and amend an act entitled "An act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees," and for other purposes.

The pending question was upon the motion of Mr. ELIOT to recommit the bill.

Mr. ELIOT. Mr. Speaker, I had substantially concluded yesterday the remarks which I proposed to make to the House in presenting this bill for their consideration. And unless some gentleman upon this or the other side of the House desires to say something in regard to it, I will call the previous question.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ELIOT] to withdraw his call for the previous question that I may offer an amendment.

Mr. ELIOT. I will hear the amendment read.

Mr. STEVENS. I desire to offer an amendment to the sixth section of this bill, which provides that upon the expulsion of these freedmen from the Sea Islands the Government shall purchase lands for them at a rate not to exceed twenty-five dollars an acre. Now, that is more than I think the Government can well afford to do down there, when we own the lands there, forfeited under the act of 1862. This land has already been taken possession of, and I deny that there is power in any officer of the Government to restore it to its former rebel owners. I therefore desire to amend this section by striking out all after the words "the Commissioner shall," and inserting the words " fuse to surrender the same to them, they being forfeited to the United States by the former belligerent owners, and duly allotted to the freedmen."

"re

Mr. ELIOT. I cannot yield for that amendment, and I will state why. If it be correct in point of law, as my friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. STEVENS] supposes, that the lands which have been assigned to these freedmen under General Sherman's order have been so forfeited that they now belong to the United States, then there will be power, without purchasing any lands under this section, to allot to the freedmen such of these lands as may be needed. If, on the other hand, there shall appear that the law is not as my friend supposes, unless this

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