In addition to that, in Tennessee we headed our electoral ticket, as if to give unmistakable evidence of our devotion to the Union, and the reason why we sustained him, "National Democratic ticket. Instead of dissolving the Union, we intend to lengthen it and to strengthen it.'-Breckinridge." Where are his eloquent tones now? They are heard arraigning the Administration for what he conceives to be premature action, in advance of the law, or a slight departure from the Constitution. Which is the most tolerable, premature action, action in advance of law, a slight departure from the Constitution, (putting it on his own ground,) or an entire overthrow of the Government? Are there no advances, are there no inroads, being made to-day upon the Constitution and the existence of the Government itself? Let us look at the question plainly and fairly. Here is an invading army almost within cannon-shot of the capital, headed by Jeff. Davis and Beauregard. Suppose they advance on the city to-night; subjugate it; depose the existing authorities; expel the present Government: what kind of government have you then? Is there any Constitution in it? Is there any law in it? The Senator can stand here almost in sight of the enemy, see the citadel of freedom--the Constitution-trampled upon, and there is no apprehension; but he can look with an eagle eye, and, with an analytic process almost unsurpassed, discriminate against and attack those who are trying to manage your Government for its safety and preservation. He has no word of condemnation for the invading army that threatens to overthrow the capital, that threatens to trample the Constitution and the law under foot. I repeat, suppose Davis at the head of his advancing columns should depose your Government and expel your authority: what kind of government will you have? Will there be any Constitution left? How eloquent my friend was upon Constitutions! He told us the Constitution was the measure of power, and that we should understand and feel Constitutional restraints; and yet when your Government is perhaps within a few hours of being overthrown, and the law and Constitution trampled under foot, there are no apprehensions on his part; no words of rebuke for those who are endeavoring to accomplish such results.

The Old Dominion has got the brunt of the war upon her hands. I sympathize with her most deeply, and especially with the loyal portion of her citizens, who have been brow-beaten and domineered over. Now the war is transferred to Virginia, and her plains are made to run with blood; and when this is secured, what do we hear in the far South?

"The people of the Gulf States need have no apprehensions; they might go on with their planting and their other business as usual; the war would not come to their section; its theatre would be along the borders of the Ohio River and in Virginia."

Virginia ought to congratulate herself upon that position, for she has got the war. Now they want to advance. Their plans and designs are to get across into Maryland, and carry on a war of subjugation. There is wonderful alarm among certain gentlemen here at the term "subjugate." They are alarmed at the idea of making citizens who have violated the law simply conform to it by enforcing their obedience. If a majority of the citizens in a State have violated the Constitution, have trampled it under foot and violated the law, is it subjugation to assert the supremacy of the Constitution and the law? Is it any more than a simple enforcement of the law? It would be one of the best subjugations that could take place if some of them were subjugated and brought back to the Constitutional position that they occupied before. I would to God that Tennessee stood to-day were she did three months ago.

Mr. President, it is provided in the Constitution of the United States that "no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay." The State authorities of Tennessee, before her people had even voted upon an ordinance to separate her from the Union, formed a league by which they transferred 55,000 men, the whole army, over to the Confederate States for the purpose of prosecuting their war. Is it not strange that such a palpable violation of the Constitution should not be referred to and condemned by any one? Here is a member of the Union, without even having the vote taken upon an ordinance of separation or secession, forming a league, by its commissioners or ministers, and handing over 55,000 men to make war upon the Government of the United States, though they were themselves then within the Union. No one seems to find fault with that. The fact is, that in the whole progress of secession, the Constitution and the law have been violated at every step from its incipiency to the present point. How have the people of my State been treated? I know that this may not interest the Senate to any very great extent; but I must briefly refer to it. The people of a portion of that State, hav ing devotion and attachment to the Constitution and the Government as framed by the sires of the Revolution, still adhering to it, gave a majority of more than twenty thousand

say:

These are some of the wrongs that we are enduring in that section of Tennessee; not near all of them, but a few which I have presented that the country may know what we are submitting to. Since I left my home, having only one way to leave the State, through two or three passes coming out through Cumberland Gap, I have been advised that they had even sent their armies to blockade these

They had fifty-five thousand men and $5,000,000 to sustain them, the State authorities with them, and made the declaration that they intended to hold the State though they should be in a minority. This shows the advance of tyranny and usurpation. By way of showing the Senate some of the wrongs borne and submitted to by that people who are loyal to the Government-who have been deprived of the arms furnished by the Government for their protection-withheld by this little man Harris, the Governor of the State-I will read a few paragraphs from the address:

"It has passed laws declaring it treason to say or do any thing in favor of the Government of the United States or against the Confederate States; and such a law is now before, and we apprehend will soon be passed by, the Legislature of Tennessee.

"It has involved the Southern States in a war whose success is hopeless, and which must ultimately lead to the ruin of the people.

"Its bigoted, overbearing, and intolerant spirit has already subjected the people of East Tennessee to many petty grievances; our people have been insulted; our flags have been fired upon and torn down; our houses have been rudely entered; our families have been subjected to insult; our peaceable meetings interrupted; our women and children shot at by a merciless soldiery; our towns pillaged; our citizens robbed, and some of them assassinated and murdered.

"No effort has been spared to deter the Union men of East Tennessee from the expression of their free thoughts. The penalties of treason have been threatened against them, and murder and assassination have been openly encouraged by leading secession journals. As secession has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the minority in East Tennessee, nothing better can be expected of the pretended majority than wild, unconstitutional, and oppressive legislation; an utter contempt and VOL. II.-Doc. 35

vent Johnson from returning with arms and munitions to place in the hands of the people to vindicate their rights, repel invasion, and put down domestic insurrection and rebellion. Yes, sir, there they stand in arms, environing a population of three hundred and twenty-five thousand loyal, brave, patriotic, and unsubdued people; but yet powerless, and not in a condition to vindicate their rights. Hence I come to the Government, and I do not ask it as a suppliant, but I demand it as a Constitutional right, that you give us protection, give us arms, and munitions; and if they cannot be got there in any other way, to take them there with an invading army, and deliver the people from the oppression to which they are now subjected. We claim to be the State. The other divisions may have seceded and gone off; and if this Government will stand by and permit those portions of the State to go off, and not enforce the laws and protect the loyal citizens there, we cannot help it; but we still claim to be the State, and if two-thirds have fallen off, or have been sunk by an earthquake, it does not change our relation to this Government. If the Government will let them go and not give us protection, the fault is not ours; but if you give us protection we intend to stand as a State, as a part of this Confederacy, holding to the Stars and Stripes, the flag of our country. We demand it according to law; we demand it upon the guarantees of the Constitution. You are bound to guarantee to us a republican form of government, and we ask it as a Constitutional right. We do not ask you to interfere as a party, as your feelings or prejudices may be one way or another in reference to the parties of the country; but we ask you to interfere as a Government, according to the Constitution. Of course we want your sympathy, and your regard, and your respect; but we ask your interference on Constitutional grounds.

The amendments to the Constitution, which constitute the Bill of Rights, declare that “a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Our people are denied this right secured to

nitions of war to enable a down-trodden people to defend themselves, will not only give us that privilege, but will join us and help us in the work. The people of Kentucky love the Union; they love the Constitution; they have no fault to find with it; but in that State they have a duplicate to the Governor of ours. When we look all around, we see how the Governors of the different States have been involved in this conspiracy-the most stupendous and gigantic conspiracy that was ever formed, and as corrupt and as foul as that attempted by Catiline in the days of Rome. We know it to be so. Have we not known men to sit at their desks in this chamber, using the Government's stationery to write treasonable letters; and while receiving their pay, sworn to support the Constitution and sustain the law, engaging in midnight conclaves to devise ways and means by which the Government and the Constitution should be overthrown? The charge was made and published in the papers. Many things we know that we cannot put our finger upon; but we know from the regular steps that were taken in this work of breaking up the Government, or trying to break it up, that there was system, concert of action. It is a scheme more corrupt than the assassination planned and conducted by Catiline in reference to the Roman Senate. The time has arrived when we should show to the nations of the earth that we are a nation capable of preserving our existence, and give them evidence that we will do it.

I have already detained the Senate much longer than I intended when I rose, and I shall conclude in a few words more. Although the Government has met with a little reverse within a short distance of this city, no one should be discouraged and no heart should be dismayed. It ought only to prove the necessity of bringing forth and exerting still more vigorously the power of the Government in maintenance of the Constitution and the laws. Let the energies of the Government be redoubled, and let it go on with this war-not a war upon sections, not a war upon peculiar institutions anywhere; but let the Constitution and the Union be its frontispiece, and the supremacy and enforcement of the laws its watchword. Then it can, it will, go on triumphantly. We must succeed. This Government must not, cannot fall. Though your flag may have trailed in the dust; though a retrograde movement may have been made; though the banner of our country may have been sullied, let it still be borne onward; and if, for the prosecution of this war in behalf of the Government and the Constitution, it is necessary to cleanse and purify the banner, I say, let it be baptized in fire from the sun and bathed in a nation's blood! The nation must be redeemed; it must be triumphant. The Constitution-which is based upon principles immutable, and upon which rest the rights of man and the hopes and expectations of those who love freedom throughout the civilized worldmust be maintained.

Doo. 130.

THE PEACE PROPOSITION. THE following is the Peace Proposition, offered by Mr. Cox, of Ohio, in the House of Representatives, on the 29th of July, 1861: Mr. Cox. I ask leave to offer the following resolution:

"WHEREAS, it is the part of rational beings to terminate their differences by rational methods, and inasmuch as the differences between the United States authorities and the seceding States has resulted in a civil war, characterized by bitter hostility and extreme atrocity; and although the party in the seceded States are guilty of breaking the national unity and resisting the national authority; yet,

"Be it resolved, First. That while we make undiminished and increased exertions by our navy and army to maintain the integrity and stability of this Government, the common laws of war, consisting of those maxims of humanity, moderation, and honor, which are a part of the international code, ought to be observed by both parties, and for a stronger reason than exists between two alien nations, inasmuch as the two parties have a common ancestry, history, prosperity, glory, Government, and Union, and are now unhappily engaged in lacerating their common country. Second. That, resulting from these premises, while there ought to be left open, as between two alien nations, the same means for preventing the war being carried to outrageous extremities, there ought also to be left open some means for the restoration of peace and union. Third. That, to this endthe restoration of peace and union on the basis of the Constitution-there be appointed a committee of one member from each State, who shall report to this House, at its next session, such amendments to the Constitution of the United States as shall assuage all grievances, and bring about a reconstruction of the national unity; and that, for the preparation of such adjustment and the conference requisite for that purpose, there be appointed a commission of seven citizens of the United States, consisting of Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, Millard Fillmore, of New York, Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, Martin Van Buren, of New York, Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, and James Guthrie, of Kentucky, who shall request from the socalled Confederate States the appointment of a similar commission, and who shall meet and confer on the subject in the city of Louisville on the first Monday of September next. And that the committee appointed from this House notify said commissioners of their appointment and function, and report their action to the next session as an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, to be proposed by Congress to the States for their ratification, according to the fifth article of said Constitution."

Mr. Washburne, (interrupting its reading.) I

Mr. Cox. I move to suspend the rules to enable me to introduce it.

The reading of the resolution was resumed and completed.

Mr. Potter. I wish to ask the gentleman from Ohio if he is willing to insert, among the proposed commissioners, the name of James Buchanan? (Laughter.)

Mr. Cox. No, sir; not at all. I call for the yeas and nays on the motion to suspend the rules.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

to assume authority not granted when Congress is in session, with power to grant all needed authority. The Constitution makes ample provision for its own maintenance, and this rebellion can be put down in pursuance of the Constitution. Among other things, that instrument declares that Congress shall have power to declare war, to make rules concerning captures on land and water, to raise and support armies, and make rules for their government; to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union and suppress insurrection, and to make all the laws necessary for carrying

The motion was not agreed to.

The question was taken, [on the motion to suspend the rules,] and it was decided in the negative-yeas 41, nays, 85.

Doc. 131.

REMARKS OF MESSRS. TRUMBULL AND CARLILE

When

also authorizes a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion or invasion, whenever the public safety requires it. war is declared, or the militia called forth to execute the laws of the Union, or to suppress an insurrection, whatever is necessary to accomplish the just ends of the war, or of calling forth the militia, may be lawfully done. With the declaration of war, or the calling forth the militia to execute the laws or to suppress insur

MR. TRUMBULL said: The object of this bill is to confer certain powers on the military authorities in cases of insurrection and rebellion, and to regulate, as far as practicable, by law, the exercise of such powers; to provide for putting down this rebellion in a constitutional and legal manner. The rebellion having arisen during the recess of Congress, imposed on the President, who is sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, and whose duty it is to see that the laws are faithfully executed, the necessity of exerting his whole constitutional power to preserve the Constitution from overthrow and the Government from destruction. It may be that in the exercise of this high duty the President has assumed authority and done acts which no positive law directly authorized, but whatever he has done which was necessary to preserve the Constitution and the Government from destruction till Congress could be convened and act, was not only not forbidden, but proper and right. On the great principle of self-defence and self-preservation, I am prepared to justify the Administration for all it has done to save the republic from the blow which wicked rebels were aiming at its very life, and which, unless warded off, might have been fatal to its existence. In such a case I care not whether I can find in strict law the precise warrant for what has been done. The great law of self-preservation overrides all others, and at such a time it is enough for me that the Administration has acted in good faith for the safety of the State, without unnecessary encroachments on the rights of the citizen. When Congress meets, it becomes its bounden duty to clothe the Executive with all the powers necessary to save the Government from overthrow.

necessarily and lawfully follow. How far it is necessary to destroy the persons of enemies or rebels, or to ravage and lay waste their country, must depend upon the necessities of the case, to be judged of by the political and not the judicial power of the Government. The Government is to decide when that which amounts to a rebellion exists, and to interfere to suppress it with all the incidents to such interference. The Supreme Court of the United States expressly says, in the case of Luther against Borden, 7 Howard 45, "Unquestionably a State may use its military power to put down an armed insurrection too strong to be controlled by the civil authority. The power is essential to the existence of every government, and essential to the preservation of order and free institutions."

Mr. Carlile (Va.) moved to strike out the eighth section, which provides that the military commander cause suspected persons to be brought before him and administer the cath of allegiance, and on his refusal to take the oath he may detain him as a prisoner. He said, giving great power to the military commander might do great injury. Men were disposed to aid this effort to overthrow the Government and pay no attention to the oath. He was free to say, if he should be so unfortunate as to be taken prisoner by the enemies of his country, and could only preserve his life by taking the oath, and if he believed it his duty to his country and family to preserve his life, then he should not regard the oath as a binding obligation, morally or legally. He contended that the President is justified in what he has done in suspending the writ of habeas corpus. It was rebellion to overthrow republican institutions to preserve any peculiar institution. In regard to arrests, he said there were to-day many of