Page images
PDF
EPUB

That is the object of the Senator. And my present object is to bring Emancipation under the rule of Congress, so that it shall no longer depend on the Proclamation of the President. I am unwilling that Emancipation shall depend upon the will of any one man, be he Senator or President. I would place it under the highest sanction which our country knows. If I could, I would place it at once under the shield of the Constitution; but that failing, let me place it under that other safeguard, an Act of Congress. I am sure the Senator cannot differ with me. But the Senator, whose experience here certainly does not compare with that of others, assures us that this measure cannot pass the other House. Sir, by what intuition has he arrived at that knowledge? I have no means of knowing that. On the contrary, if left to draw my conclusion from what has already occurred, I say, unhesitatingly, it can pass the other House. The Senator forgets, that, when it reaches the other House, it will not be as a bill, to go through its three different stages,but as an amendment to a House bill, subject only to one stage of proceeding, with one vote. I tell the Senator it can pass the other House. It only requires that the Senate should send it there. Let us will it, and it can be done; and I do entreat the Senator from Missouri, who I know is pledged so strenuously to the cause of Emancipation, not to fail it at this hour.

-

[ocr errors]

The amendment of Mr. Sumner was lost, Yeas 11, Nays 21. The bill, as amended by the substitute of Mr. Brown, then passed the Senate, Yeas 26, Nays 3. The House of Representatives disagreed to the substitute, and asked a conference. The Senate, on motion of Mr. Wade, receded from the substitute, Yeas 18, Nays 14, - and so the bill passed both Houses; but it failed to receive the approval of the President of the United States.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF LITERATURE AND ART;

ALSO OF MORAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON A BILL CREATING THESE TWO
ACADEMIES, JULY 2, 1864.

JUNE 30th, Mr. Sumner asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in the following bill, which was read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and ordered to be printed.

A BILL to incorporate the National Academy of Literature and Art, and also to incorporate the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That S. Austin Allibone, Pennsylvania, William C. Bryant, New York, Frederick E. Church, New York, George W. Curtis, New York, Richard H. Dana, Massachusetts, John S. Dwight, Massachusetts, Ralph W. Emerson, Massachusetts, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Connecticut, Oliver W. Holmes, Massachusetts, Henry W. Longfellow, Massachusetts, James R. Lowell, Massachusetts, George P. Marsh, Vermont, Hiram Powers, Ohio, William W. Story, Massachusetts, George Ticknor, Massachusetts, Henry T. Tuckerman, New York, Gulian C. Verplanck, New York, William D. Whitney, Connecticut, John G Whittier, Massachusetts, Joseph E. Worcester, Massachusetts, their associates and successors, duly chosen, are hereby declared to be a body corporate for the study and cultivation of the ancient and modern languages, letters, and the fine arts, by the name of the National Academy of Literature and Art.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That George Bancroft, New York, Henry Ward Beecher, New York, Horace Binney, Pennsylvania, Robert J. Breckinridge, Kentucky, Edward Everett, Massachusetts, Thomas Ewing, Ohio, Henry W. Halleck, Army of the United States, California, Samuel G. Howe, Massachusetts. Charles King, New York, Francis Lieber, New York, J. Lothrop Motley, Massachusetts, John G. Palfrey, Massachusetts, Wendell Phillips, Massachusetts, Alonzo Potter, Pennsylvania, Josiah Quincy, Massachusetts, Henry B. Smith, New York, Jared Sparks, Massachusetts, Robert J. Walker, District of Columbia, Francis Wayland, Rhode Island, Theodore D. Woolsey, Connecticut, their associates and successors,

duly chosen, are hereby declared to be a body corporate for the study and cultivation of history, and the sciences which concern morals and government, by the name of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sci

ences.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall consist of not more than fifty ordinary members, of whom not more than ten shall be elected in any one year; that nominations shall be made and elections held at the regular annual meeting only, and that no nomination for any kind of membership shall be acted upon until it shall have been before the Academy for one year, and shall have been considered by a committee.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall have power to make its own organization, including its constitution, by-laws, and rules and regulations; to fill all vacancies created by death, resignation, or otherwise; to provide for the election of foreign and domestic members, what number shall be a quorum, the division into classes, and all other matters needful or usual in such institutions, and to report the same to Congress.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That each of these National Academies shall hold an annual meeting at such place in the United States as may be designated, and, whenever thereto requested by any department of the Government, shall investigate, examine, and report upon any subject within their respective provinces: it being understood that the actual expense thereof, if any, shall be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the Academies shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.

July 2d, the Senate, on Mr. Sumner's motion, proceeded to consider this bill. Mr. McDougall, of California, said: "This attempt at aggregating all power in the General Government tends to destroy the positive exercise of the power of local institutions. . . . . The Senator from Massachusetts. . . . undertakes to present this and other conterminous things as a policy, so as to wipe out the lines of the States and make one grand empire. That may be his policy. I have seen it indicated from various quarters. It is revolutionary. . . . . I have not the right to promote such a corporation; he has not the right to promote such a corporation."

Mr. Sumner replied briefly.

HE answer is very simple. I have in my hand the Statutes at Large, containing what was done by the last Congress. Here is "An Act to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences," approved March 3,

1863, setting forth the names of eminent, not to say illustrious, men of science in our country, and constituting them an Academy of Sciences. It will be remembered that this Academy, during the present winter, met in this Capitol; that one or more of our committee-rooms were set apart for them; and I know that many Senators and gentlemen of the other House took great interest in their meetings. This Academy is devoted to the cultivation of the sciences properly so called.

MR. MCDOUGALL. Will the Senator permit me to interrupt him?

[blocks in formation]

MR. MCDOUGALL. There may be some questions about which the Senator and myself may not understand each other exactly. Of course we have the right to incorporate an institution in the District of Columbia, that is local to the District, by virtue of our general powers of legislation over it; but that is not within the sphere of this legislation, as I understand.

MR. SUMNER. The Act of Congress to which I refer is general in terms; it is not limited to the District; it is a national act to create a National Academy: and the bill before the Senate simply proposes to apply the same principle to gentlemen engaged in the cultivation of literature and art, also to gentlemen engaged in the cultivation of history and those sciences which are connected with morals and government. In the designation of the two academies I have respected the example of France, which is the country that has most excelled. in academies of this kind. I believe the Act of Congress is sufficient as a precedent. I do not think there

can be any just constitutional objection; and I am sure that the association, if once organized, would give opportunities of activity and of influence important to the literature of the country. I hope there will be not question about it.

Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, wished to call up a bill from the House of Representatives, relating to certain half-breeds of the Winnebago Indians. "There is no chance of the pending bill passing the House of Representatives. What, then, is the use of taking up time with it here?" Mr. Morrill, of Maine, wished to introduce a bill to provide for the Washington aqueduct. Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, thought that "at this stage of the session it was a little too late to be engaged in making a close corporation of mutual admirers," and he moved to take up a bill providing for the education of naval constructors and steam-engineers. The last motion prevailed.

« PreviousContinue »