States of this Union, in the endurance of outrages, wrongs, and oppressions, that they have suffered at the hands of that institution, and those who maintain the institution, and have suffered from their strong and enduring devotion to the General Government-to the institutions that our fathers achieved for us, and transmitted to us. I think I should not be at all mistaken in asserting that, for every slave that has ever been seduced from the service of his owner, by the interference of citizens of the Free States with the institution where it exists, more than ten free white men of the Free States of this Union have been outraged-every privilege of freedom trodden upon-every right of person violated by lawless mobs in the Slave States. We have borne all this uncomplainingly; we have borne it without a murmur, because we were willing to bear it-willing to make the sacrifice, for the sake of the glorious institutions that were the common property and common blessing of us all.

"Mr. President, we have not invited this war: the people of the loyal States of the Union are in no degree responsible for the calamities that are now upon the country: we gave no occasion for them. There is, in the history of man, no instance of so stupendous a conspiracy, so atrocious a treason, so causeless a rebellion, as that which now exists in this country; and for what purpose? What wrong had we ever done to the Slave States, or to the institution of Slavery? I have heard, in all the assaults that have been made on this Administration, no single specification of one injustice that they had ever suffered at the hands of the General Government, or at the hands of the Free States, or of the people of the Free States.

"Mr. President, I am not prepared to admit, either—as some gentlemen take pains to explain-that this is not a war of subjugation. If it is not a war of subjugation, what is it? What was it set on foot for, if it is not for the sole, identical purpose of subjugating the atrocious Rebellion that exists in the country?"

Mr. SHERMAN. "My friend will allow me?”
Mr. BROWNING. "Certainly."

Mr. SHERMAN. "My friend misunderstood my language. I said distinctly that it was not the purpose of this war to subjugate a State, a political community; but I will go as far as he or any other living man to uphold the Government against all rebellious citizens, whether there be one or many of them in a State. If nine-tenths of the people of any State rebel against the authority of this Government, the physical power of this Government should be brought to reduce those citizens to subjection. The State survives; and, I have no doubt, the State of South Carolina, and the State of Florida,

and the State of Virginia, will be represented on this floor long after the honorable Senator and I have filled the mission allotted to us."

I will not Mr. BROWNING. "I trust so. stop to deal with technicalities; I care not whether you call it the subjugation of the people or the subjugation of the State, where all the authorities of a State, where all the officers, who are the embodiment of the power of the State, who speak for the State, who represent the government of the State, where they are all disloyal and banded in treasonable confederation against this Government, I, for one, am for subjugating them; and you may call it the subjugation of the State, or of the people, just as you please. I want this Rebellion put down, this wicked and causeless treason punished, and an example given to the world that will teach them that there is a power in the freemen of this continent to maintain a constitutional government.

,

Why, Mr. President, it is just a struggle to-day-the whole of this fight is about that, and nothing else-whether there shall be any longer any such thing as government on this continent or not; and the very moment that the doctrine of Secession, the very moment that the astounding heresy of Secession, is admitted, in any sense or in any degree, government is overthrown; because, if there be any such thing as a right existing in a State to secede at any time at her will causelessly to dismember this Union and overthrow this Governmentthere is an end to all constitutions and all laws; and it is a struggle to-day for the life of the nation. They have assailed that life: we have not done it; and all that the Government has done, and all that the Administration proposes to do, is in necessary selfdefense against assaults that are made upon *** Now, the very life of the nation. Mr. President, one thing more. It is better that people everywhere should understand precisely what is going on, what has happened, and what is to happen. For one,

I should rejoice to see all the States in rebellion return to their allegiance; and, if they return, if they lay down the arms of their rebellion, and come back to their duty and their obligations, they will be as fully protected now, and at all times hereafter, as they have ever been before, in all their rights, including the ownership, use, and management of slaves. Let them return to their allegiance; and I, for one, am now for giving to the Slave States as fully and completely all the protection of the Constitution and laws as they have ever enjoyed in any past hour of our existence.

But, sir, let us understand another thing. As I have already said, the power

to terminate this war now is not with us. The power is with us, but not to terminate it instantly. We will terminate it, if it is not terminated, as it should be, by those who began it. But, sir, I say, for one-I speak for myself, and myself only, but I believe, in so speaking, I utter the sentiments which will burst from every free heart in all the Northern States of the confederacy that, if our brethren of the South do force upon us the distinct issue-'Shall this Government be overthrown, and it and all the hopes for civil liberty, all the hopes for the oppressed and down-trodden of all the despotisms of the earth, go down in one dark, dreary night of hopelessness and despair?' if they force upon us the issue whether the Government shall go down, to maintain the institution of Slavery, or whether Slavery shall be obliterated, to sustain the Constitution and the Government for which our fathers fought and bled, and the principles that were cemented in their blood-I say, sir, when the issue comes, when they force it upon us, that one or the other is to be overthrown, then I am for the Government and against Slavery; and my voice and my vote shall be for sweeping the last vestige of barbarism from the face of the continent. I trust that necessity may not be forced on us; but, when it is forced upon us, let us meet it like men, and not shrink from the high and holy and sacred duties that are laid upon us, as the conservators not only of government, but as the conservators of the eternal principles of justice and freedom for the whole human family.

"It is better, Mr. President, that we should understand each other; and I repeat, in conclusion, that, when the issue comesand if it comes-it comes because it is forced upon us; it comes upon us as a hard, unwelcome necessity-I trust we shall be found adequate to the emergency; I trust that our hearts will not fail us in the day of that terrible conflict--for it is to be a terrible one, if this war goes on. If rebellion does not recover of its madness-if American citizens will continue so infatuated as to prosecute still further this unnatural war against the best and most blessed Government that the world has ever known-this issue may be forced upon us. I say it is not true, as gentlemen have ventured to assert, that, if it were known by the people of the great Northwest that, in any possible contingency, this war might result in the overthrow and extermination of Slavery, they would no longer give their support to this Government. If it were known or believed by the people of the great Northwest that this Government should become so recreant to its duties as to shrink from meeting that great question, when forced upon us, in my

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opinion, they would descend in an avalanche upon this Capitol, and hurl us from the places we should be unworthy to fill.

"We do not desire this issue; we do not want this necessity; but we have no power to prevent it; and it is better that the people everywhere should understand that, if the necessity is forced upon us, our choice is promptly, instantly, manfully made, and made for all time-that we make the decision, and we will abide by the decision, to stand by the Government; and, if it does go down-if not only this nation, but the great brotherhood of mankind everywhere, is to witness that unspeakable and unheard of calamity of the overthrow of constitutional government here--let us go down in a manly effort to sustain and uphold it, and to sweep away the causes that brought upon us all this trouble." *

* * * *

Mr. Carlile, of Va., having demurred to these views, Mr. Browning rejoined, as follows:

"If he understood me as announcing any wish or any intention that this war should be a war waged against Slavery, he totally misapprehended my meaning."

Mr. CARLILE. "I did not so understand the Senator."

Mr. BROWNING. "For I took especial pains to say that I would rejoice to see this war terminated; and, if the institution still existed when it is terminated, I should be for giving it then, as we had always done heretofore, in the best faith in the world, every possible protection that the Constitution and laws intended it should have; but that, if the issue was forced upon usas it might be to make a choice between the Government, on the one side, and Slavery on the other, then I was for the Government."

Mr. SHERMAN, of Ohio. "I do not understand either the Senator from Kansas on my right, or the Senator from Connecticut, or the Senator from Kansas behind me, to say that it is the purpose of this war to abolish Slavery. It is not waged for any such purpose, or with any such view. They have all disclaimed it. Why, then, does the Senator [Mr. Powell] insist upon it? I will now say, and the Senator may make the most of it, that, rather than see one single foot of this country of ours torn from the national domain by traitors, I will myself see the slaves set free; but, at the same time, I utterly disclaim any purpose of that kind. If the men who are now waging war against the Government, fitting out pirates against our commerce, going back to the old mode of warfare of the middle ages, should prosecute this Rebellion to such an extent that there

there. Let there be no misunderstanding my position; I wish it distinctly understood; but, at the same time, I utterly disclaim that

in favor of giving the people--the loyal people-of the Southern States, every constitutional right that they now possess. I voted last Winter to change the Constitution for their benefit-to give them new guarantees, new conditions. I would not do that now; but I did last Winter. I will give them all the Constitution gives them, and no more.”

Mr. John J. Crittenden, of Ky., on the 19th, submitted to the House the following:

"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, 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 Government, and in arms

around the capital; that, in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged, on our part, in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights, of the several States unimpaired; and, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease.

out; and the House, on motion of Mr. Vandever, of Iowa, unanimously

"Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the Union, and the enforcement of the laws, are sacred trusts which must be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the country and the world the employment of every resource, national and individual, for the suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms.”

Mr. Andrew Johnson, of Tenn., on the 24th, moved in the Senate a resolution identical with that of Mr. Crittenden, so recently adopted by the House; which was zealously opposed by Messrs. Polk and Breckinridge, and, on special grounds, by Mr. Trumbull, who said:

"As that resolution contains a statement

which, in my opinion, is untrue, that this capital is surrounded by armed men, who started this revolt, I cannot vote for it. I shall say 'Nay.'

"I wish to add one word. The revolt was occasioned, in my opinion, by people who are not here nor in this vicinity. It was started in South Carolina. I think the resolution limits it to a class of persons who were not the originators of this Rebellion."

But the resolution was nevertheless adopted, by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Chandler, Clark, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Johnson, of Tenn., Kennedy, King, Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, Latham, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Saulsbury, SherWilson-30. man, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey,

NAYS-Messrs. Breckinridge, Johnson, of Mo., Polk, Powell, Trumbull-5.

This day, the Senate considered a bill to confiscate property used for

"And be it further enacted, That whenever any person, claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person, under the laws of any State, shall employ such person in aiding or promoting any insurrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States, or shall permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such service or labor, and the person whose labor or service is thus claimed shall be thenceforth discharged therefrom-any law to the contrary notwithstanding."

op

This proposition was advocated by Mr. Ten Eyck, of N. J., who had posed it two days before, in Committee, but who now urged its passage on the assumption that slaves had been engaged on the Rebel side in the battle of Bull Run. Mr. Pearce, of Md., earnestly opposed it, saying:

"It will inflame suspicions which have had much to do with producing our present evils; will disturb those who are now calm and quiet; inflame those who are restless; irritate numbers who would not be exasperated by any thing else; and will, in all probability, produce no other real effect than these. Being, then, useless, unnecessary, and irritating, it is, in my opinion, unwise." The vote was then taken, and the amendment adopted: Yeas 33; Nays -Breckinridge and Powell, of Ky., Johnson and Polk, of Mo., Kennedy and Pearce, of Md.-6. The bill was then engrossed, read a third time, and passed.

When this bill reached the House, it encountered a most strenuous and able opposition from Messrs. Crittenden and Burnett, of Ky., Vallandigham and Pendleton, of Ohio, and Diven, of N. Y.

Mr. Cox, of Ohio, moved (August 2d) that the bill do lie on the table; which was negatived: Yeas 57; Nays 71.

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Mr. Thaddeus Stevens closed a vigorous speech in its favor with this impressive admonition:

"If this war is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by rebels, with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be our friends, and to help us in subduing them. I, for one, if it continues long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it, let it horrify the gentleman from New York [Mr. Diven] or anybody else. That is my doctrine: and that will be the doctrine of the whole free people of the North before two years roll around, if this war continues.

"As to the end of the war, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the people-and I believe they are-there will be no bargaining, there will be no negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his organization, submitted himself And, sir, if those who have the control of to the Government, and sued for mercy. the Government are not fit for this task, and have not the nerve and mind for it, the people will take care that there are others who are-although, sir, I have not a bit of fear of the present Administration or of the present Executive.

"I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing might think politic; but I have spoken just what I the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen felt. I have spoken what I believe will be that, if this war is to continue, there will be Diven] will see it declared by this free nation a time when my friend from New York [Mr. that every bondman in the South-belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to against their masters, and to restore this them-shall be called upon to aid us in war

Union."

The bill was now recommitted, on motion of Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio; and an attempt by Mr. Stevens to reconsider this decision was defeated by laying on the table-Yeas 71; Nays 61. It was reported back next day from the Judiciary Committee by Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, so amended as to strike out the section relating to slaves-adopted on motion of Mr.