THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION.

guished gentleman in the other end of the Capitol, who had also once been President of the United States, that martial law not only displaced municipal law and the law of nations, but destroyed the right of property; that is, the man who could proclaim it could confiscate that which by the Constitution of the United States is recognized as property, and protected and guarantied us such.

This Constitution, Mr. President, was adopted without a bill of rights. It was supposed probably by the convention of wise and patriotic men and heroes who adopted it, that no such thing was necessary, because, by the Constitution, there was no authority vested in the Government that it created, except that which was expressly delegated. But so jealous were the constituencies of those wise and patriotic men on this point that they were not willing that the Constitution should be adopted or become the permanent basis of Government without recommending amendments, which should constitute a bill of rights; and I call the attention of the Senate and the country to the fourth of these amendments:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirination, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized."

which that tendency should not be permitted to be carried out in practice.

More than that; while these acts have increased the power of the President on the one hand, they have taken away powers that belonged and were

Now, Mr. President, has the President any right to regulate commerce between the States or with foreign countries? Clearly not. And yet the commerce of the United States has been regulated since the 15th of April; and, in some instances, restricted so that it has been well nigh destroyed between the States of the Union. Claiming that the whole of the States are still in the Union, yet this power of regulating commerce has been exerted by the President for the purpose of crippling, restraining, and almost destroying commerce between the States that were unquestionably loyal and those that claim to have seceded. Now, sir, the claim that they have seceded does not mitigate the crime of the President; because he has done these acts, and at the same time has said that these States are still in the Union. If they have seceded legally, then they are foreign States, and by the same clause of the Constitution to which I have just now referred, the President has no right to regulate commerce between the United States and foreign Governments. If their secession be illegal, then the Constitution is still violated.

I say, then, Mr. President, while the Constitution of the United States provides that "the Congress shall have power ""to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons. I have called attention to the case of Merryman. We have only to look at that case, as it is stated by the Chief Justice in delivering his opinion, to see that this guarantee of the right of the security of the person of that man was trodden down without any authority of law. On the mere intimation of a military general, I believe up in Pennsylvania, he is seized, without any warrant, in the night time, and taken from his family, and put in prison in Fort McHenry; and that in the teeth of a constitutional provision which says that the right of the people to be secure in their persons shall not be violated. Sir, I un-States," and has given that power to Congress dertake to say that in the history of England, in the times of the Tudors and the Plantagenets, a case more flagrant than this cannot be found; and this is not a single case. It has occurred here in Maryland repeatedly. It has occurred in other places. It has occurred in my own State of Missouri, and, if newspapers are to be believed, it has very recently occurred in the case of my former colleague, (Mr. Green.)

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"The right of the people to be secure in their houses"-that has been violated also in the case of Merryman; it has been violated in cases in my own State. The sanctity of the home has been violated by the force of the bayonet, and the occupant taken from the midst of his family and hurried beyond the reach of the writ of habeas corpus. Said a British orator on this subject, a man's cabin might be so humble and so frail that the winds of heaven could whistle through it"— I am not using, I fear, the eloquent language in which he clothed the idea-" but the British King had no right to put his foot in it." Sir, these things have transpired under this provision of the Constitution that guaranties to the people the right of security in their houses as well as in their persons.

So, also, Mr. President, this other guarantee for papers and effects has been disregarded. I think I am not wrong when I say-if I am wrong, I have been misled by the public prints on the subject that under orders from the President of|| the United States, telegraphic dispatches have been seized in different parts of the country. Now, those dispatches were the private property either of the offices or the authors; and yet they have been seized, when the Constitution says that the people shall be safe in their papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. The scizure has been made without any warrant of law whatever. I have known an instance in my own State in which a search-warrant was prostítuted to the purpose of gathering up evidence to be used in a prosecution for treason on a charge that had been previously presented. So far as I

only, the President, notwithstanding this constitutional provision, has undertaken to regulate commerce between the States.

The Constitution of the United States again says that Congress shall have power to declare war. The President of the United States has involved the country in a war, notwithstanding this provision of the Constitution. The Constitution says that Congress shall have the power" to raise and support armies." The President of the United States has raised armies. The Constitution says that Congress shall have the power " to provide and maintain a navy.' The President of the United States has attempted to provide a navy. It also says that "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it," and that not even by the Congress of the United States. Yet the President has suspended the writ of habeas corpus. It says that "no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another." The President has by his own act, and without any regulation of Congress, blockaded ports, and not merely given a preference to some ports over others, but has actually suspended the commerce of certain ports entirely. The President of the United States has rendered" the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and efects," nulity, by infringing those rights without the warrant of law; and citizens have been deprived of liberty and property without due process of law.

a

These are instances of violation of the Constitution in which the President has assumed power to himself. The Constitution intended to limit the power of the President. It has put strict and stringent limitations upon that power, but these acts have had a tendency to increase that power, It is the nature of power, and especially executive power, to aggrandize itself; and the framers of this instrument intended that there should be limitations put upon the Chief Executive, by

tive and to the judicial departments of the Government, so that there has been a usurpation of powers that belonged to the legislative and executive branches of the Government.

Thus the balance of powers intended to be secured by the Constitution has been broken up. By the action of the President of the United States in holding Merryman in confinement against the decision of the Chief Justice of the United States, this has extended to a usurpation of the judicial power of the Government; and as that citizen stands still in confinement, unreleased and undischarged, one branch of the Government is brought into conflict with another branch of the Government. Thus it seems to me, with great respect to the President of the United States, that he has usurped the war power of the Government; he has usurped the power which belonged only to the Legislature, of raising and supporting armies, and of providing and maintaining navies; he has usurped the commercial power of the Government; and he has usurped the power to dispense with the writ of habeas corpus.

This joint resolution, Mr. President, proposes to approve and legalize these acts. I cannot, as an American Senator, give my consent to approve and legalize them. I cannot do it especially under the circumstances in which these acts have been done. I am one of those who believe that there was no occasion for them; and I still further believe that the occasion in which any extraordinary power may be exercised by the Executive is specially marked out by the Constitution; and as I would support and defend the Constitution, I cannot vote to legalize anything that in my judgment is in violation of it, in any respect whatever.

Mr. President, there are some other remarks that I designed to make. As I said at an earlier hour of the session, I did not desire to discuss this joint resolution to-day. I would prefer now to say what I have to say to-morrow; but if it is the purpose of the Senate to continue in session, I will still go on as well as I may.

Mr. POWELL. At the suggestion of the Senator that he prefers to conclude his argument tomorrow, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. The motion was not agreed to.

Mr. POLK. I wish, Mr. President, to call the attention of the Senate, for a short time, to some of the acts of the Administration in my own State since the 15th of April. The Legislature of the State of Missouri, during the progress of the last winter, provided for the assembling of a convention in that State on the 28th of February, at Jefferson City, the capital of that State. They proIvided in that act, that that convention should proceed to consider "the then existing relations between the Government of the United States, the people and governments of the different States, and the government and people of the State of Missouri; and adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to be demanded." That convention met, proceeded to the discharge of the duties that were devolved on them by this act of the Legislature, and at a subsequent period they adopted these resolutions:

"Resolved, That at present there is no adequate cause to impel Missouri to dissolve her connection with the Federal Union; but, on the contrary, she will labor for such an adjustment of existing troubles as will secure the peace, as well as the rights and equality of all the States.

"Resolved, That the people of this State are devotedly attached to the institutions of our country, and earnestly. desire that by a fair and amicable adjustment all the causes of disagreement that at present unfortunately distract us as a people may be removed, to the end that our Union may be preserved and perpetuated, and peace and harmony be restored between the North and the South.

"Resolved, That the people of this State deem the amendments to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Hon. JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, of Kentucky, with the extension of the same to the territory hereafter to be acquired by treaty or otherwise, a basis of adjustment which

will successfully remove the causes of difference forever from the arena of national politics.

"Resolved, That the people of Missouri believe that the peace and quiet of the country will be promoted by a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and this convention therefore urges the Legislature of this State to take the proper steps for calling such a convention, in pursuance of the fifth article of the Constitution, and for providing by law for an election of one delegate to such convention from each electoral district in this State.

"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this convention, the employment of military force by the Federal Government to coerce the submission of the seceding States, or the employment of military force by the seceding States to assail the Government of the United States, will inevitably plunge this country into civil war, and thereby entirely extinguish all hope of an amicable settlement of the fearful issues now pending before the country; we therefore earnestly entreat as well the Federal Government as the seceding States to withhold and stay the arm of military power, and on no pretense whatever bring upon the nation the horrors of civil war."

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS.

Mr. KENNEDY. With the consent of the honorable Senator from Missouri, I ask leave to make a motion to withdraw some papers from the files of the Senate.

Mr. POLK. Certainly.

Mr. KENNEDY. I move that Davidge Ridgely have leave to withdraw his petition and papers. The motion was agreed to.

Mr. BINGHAM. If the Senator from Missouri will allow me, I desire to make a motion to withdraw certain papers in a pension case from the files of the Senate, in order that they may be presented in the House of Representatives.

Mr. POLK. I will cheerfully allow the Senaator to make his motion, though I do not think that the customary courtesy which the Senate has been in the habit of extending on similar occasions has been extended to me. I yield to the Senator with great pleasure.

On motion of Mr. BINGHAM, it was Ordered, That Richard L. Gorton have leave to withdraw his petition and papers.

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

Mr. POLK resumed the floor.

Mr. WILSON. Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him a moment?

Mr. POLK. Always.

Mr. WILSON. On consultation with one or two Senators, I have thought that I would make a proposition to the Senator, as he seems to be very anxious to take until to-morrow to conclude his speech. I propose to let this resolution go over until to-morrow morning, with the understanding that we shall now take up the volunteer bill, go on with it, and finish it to-night, and let the Senator finish his speech on the joint resolution to-morrow.

Mr. POLK. I will accede to that proposition. Mr. WILSON. Then I move to postpone this resolution until to-morrow, so that we may now take up the volunteer bill.

The motion was agreed to.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. ETHERIDGE, its Clerk, announced that the House had passed a bill (No. 16) further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes; in which the concurrence of the Senate was requested.

ENROLLED BILL SIGNED.

The message further announced that the Speaker had signed an enrolled bill (S. No. 6) to refund and remit the duties on arms imported by the States; which thereupon received the signature of the Vice President.

THE VOLUNTEER BILL.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The next bill in order is the bill (S. No. 1) to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property, which is before the Senate as in Committee of the Whole.

The bill was reported by the Committee on Military Affairs and Militia with amendments; which were, in the first section, after the word "numbers," in line five, to insert" not exceeding five hundred thousand men," and in line eight to strike out "four" and insert "five;" so as to make the section read:

That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers, not exceeding five hun

dred thousand men, as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, enforcing the laws, and preserving and protecting the public property; and that the sum of $500,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, &c.

Mr. SHERMAN. I see that the amendment proposes to appropriate money. I suggest to the chairman of the Military Committee that that is not proper, but that it is better to confine the bill to the purpose announced in the title, and to leave the appropriation to originate in the House of Representatives. In addition to this objection, a general appropriation of $500,000,000 would be a great embarrassment to the Treasury Department. The appropriation ought to be in details, and will no doubt come to us in due form in proper bills from the other House. I therefore move to amend the amendment, if it be in order to do so, by omitting the appropriation entirely. Let that be provided for by bills to come from the other

House.

Mr. WILSON. Do I understand the Senator from Ohio to move to strike out? I think the motion is a proper one, and I shall consent to it very cheerfully, as I suppose we shall have the appropriations from the House of Representatives in bills which will fix the details.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The first question is on adopting the amendments reported by the Committee on Military Affairs. After that, the motion of the Senator from Ohio will be in order. The question now is on the amendment, to insert "not exceeding five hundred thousand men," after the word "numbers," in line five of section one. The amendment was agreed to.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The next amendment is, to strike out "four" and insert "five," in the eighth line of the first section; so as to make it read, "and that the sum of $500,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated."

Mr. HALE. Now the Senator from Ohio can make his motion.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The amendments of the committee must first be disposed of. The amendment was agreed to.

The next amendment was to add to the tenth section the following clause:

And when vacancies occur in any of the companies of volunteers, an election shall be called by the colonel of the regiment to fill such vacancies, and the men of each company shall vote for all officers as high as captain; and vacancies above captain shall be supplied by the votes of the officers above that rank; and the officers so elected shall be commissioned by the respective Governors of the States. Mr. COLLAMER. It seems to me, the words "in their respective companies" should be inserted.

si

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to; and the amendment, as amended, was adopted. The section, as amended, reads as follows: SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the general commanding a separate department, or a detached army, is hereby authorized to appoint a military board or commission of not less than three nor more than five officers, whose duty it shall be to examine the capacity, qualitications, propriety of conduct, and efficiency of any commissioned officer of volunteers, within his department or army, who may be reported to the board or commission; and upon such report, it adverse to such officer, and if approved by the President of the United States, the commission of such officer shall be vacated: Provided always, that no officer shall be eligible to sit on such board or commission whose rank or promotion would in any way be affected by its proceedings; and two members at least, if practicable, shall be of equal rank of the officer being examined; and when vacancies occur in any of the companies of volunteers, an election shall be called by the colonel of the regiment to fill such vacancies, and the men of each company shall vote for all officers in their respective companies as high as captain; and vacancies above captain shall be supplied by the votes of the officers above that rank; and the officers so elected shall be commissioned by the respective Governors

of the States.

The next amendment of the committee was to insert" and chaplain," in the fourth line of the eleventh section; so as to make it read:

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That whenever a regiment of volunteers shall be mustered into the service

of the United States, the colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, adjutant, quartermaster, and chaplain thereof, shall cach have the privilege of franking any letter from any person belonging, in any capacity, to such regiment, not weighing over two ounces: Provided, That each letter, in addition to the proper direction to the person to whom it is addressed, shall bear on the envelope the name and rank of the writer, whether of the line or staff or of the company, and desiguating, in each case, the letter of the company, the number of the regiment, and the State to which it beJongs: And provided, That the provisions of this section shall apply to all regiments of volunteers now in the ser

vice of the United States, and shall also apply to separate companies or corps, not having regimental organization, letters from any member of which may be franked by the commanding officer of such company or corps, under the regulations above specified: And provided further, That any person found guilty of any abuse or violation of the privileges of this section shall forfeit and pay a fine of twenty dollars for the first offense, and for a second offense he shall be liable to be tried by a court-martial, and subject to be cashiered or dismissed from the service by the judg ment thereof.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. LANE, of Kansas. I am directed by the Committee on Military Affairs to offer this amend ment, to be added at the end of section five:

Provided, That such of the companies of cavalry herein provided for, as may require it, may be furnished with horses and horse equipments in the same manner as in the United States Army.

The amendment was agreed to.

The section, as amended, reads:

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates, organized as above set forth, will, in all respects, be placed on the footing, as to pay and allowances, of similar corps of the regular Army: Provided, That their allowance for clothing shall be $3.50 per month, and that each company officer, non-commissioned officer, private, musician, and artificer of cavalry, shall furnish his own horse and horse equipments, and shall receive forty cents a day for their use and risk, except that, in case the horse shall become disabled, or shall die, the allowance shall cease until the disability be removed or another horse be supplied. Each cavalry volunteer who shall not keep himself supplied with a serviceable horse shall serve on foot. Every volunteer non-commissioned officer, private, musician, and artificer, who enters the service of the United States under this act, shall be paid at the rate of fifty cents in lieu of subsistence, and if a cavalry volunteer, twenty-five cents additional in lieu of forage, for every twenty miles of travel from his place of enrollment to the place of muster-the distance to be measured by the shortest usually traveled route; and when honorably discharged, an allowance at the same rate, from the place of his discharge to his place of enrollment, and, in addition thereto, the sum of $100: Provided, That such of the companies of cavalry herein provided for as may require it may be furnished with horses and horse equipments in the same manner as in the United States Army.

Mr.SHERMAN. I move to strike out all of the first section that appropriates money.

The Acting Secretary read the words proposed to be stricken out, as follows:

"And that the sum of $500,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry this act into effect."

Mr. SHERMAN. To avoid misapprehension, I will say that I do not doubt the power of the Senate to appropriate this money; but all appropriations ought to be made in specific sums for specific purposes; and no large appropriation of this kind ought ever to be made, in my judgment. No doubt bills will be framed on the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, in detail; and they will be sent to us, and when sent, passed; but no general appropriation of this kind ought ever to be made; there should be details.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. RICE. I wish to call the attention of the chairman of the Military Committee to this clause in section five:

"Provided, That their allowance for clothing shall be $3.50 per month."

I wish to ask him if that does not include the officers? Was it the intention to allow a commutation for clothing for officers in the Army? It never has been done. I presume the language has been drawn in this way by some inadver

tence.

Mr. WILSON. That is a point that has not, to my knowledge, been considered by the commit:ce; certainly I have not considered it. This portion of the bill was drawn up from the proclamation of the President calling some of those men into the field. The Senator may make any amendment he desires.

Mr. RICE. I propose, then, that it shall read: "The allowance for non-commissioned officers and privates, for clothing, shall be $3 50 per month."

Mr. LANE, of Kansas. It seems to me that that leaves the bill without any provision for placing these volunteer officers on the same footing with the regular officers as to pay. This sec tion does not allow clothing to the officers. The section reads thus:

"That the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, organized as above set forth, will, in all respects, be placed on the footing, as to pay and allowances, of similar corps of the regular Army."

There is no allowance for clothing to commissioned officers of the regular Army. If the sec

tion be amended as the Senator from Minnesota suggests, it will leave the volunteer officers without any provision in the bill placing them on the same footing as to pay with the officers of the regular Army.

Mr. RICE. The Senator is mistaken. This is a mere provision for commutation of clothing. That is all.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The Secretary will report the amendment.

The acting Secretary read the amendment as follows:

In section five, line five, after the word "that," insert the word "the ;" and after allowance," insert "of noncommissioned officers and privates ;" so that the proviso will read :

Provided, That the allowance of non-commissioned officers and privates, for clothing, shall be $3 50 per month. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. RICE. In section nine, line eight, after the word "of," I move to strike out "a captain of cavalry" and insert" those now serving in the regular Army;" so that the clause will read:

The chaplain so appointed must be a regularly ordained minister of a Christian denomination, and shall receive the pay and allowances of those now serving in the regular Army.

Mr. WILSON. I do not intend to oppose that' amendment. I am certainly willing that it shall be adopted. I wish simply to say, however, that a great pressure has been made upon me by persons deeply interested in the welfare of the volunteers to secure the allowance to the chaplains of the pay of a major of cavalry, instead of a captain of cavalry, as the bill provides. The argument is, that in the regular Army your chaplains have a fixed salary; that they are there permanently; whereas these chaplains brought into the volunteers come in irregularly; they do not know how long they will stay; they are put to some inconvenience; and therefore their pay ought to be larger. Many of them are not satisfied with the compensation provided for by the bill— the pay and allowances of a captain of cavalry. They want to get the pay and allowances of a major of cavalry. The Senator now proposes to place them on the same footing with chaplains of the regular Army, which will, I think, be some two or three hundred dollars less than the amount proposed in the bill.

Mr. FOSTER. How much will the whole salary be a year?

Mr. WILSON. Ten or eleven hundred dollars a year.

Mr. HALE. Are there not some perquisites? Mr. WILSON. Perquisites and all amount to about eleven hundred dollars.

Mr. RICE. I think the pressure the honorable Senator has mentioned is the very reason why we should vote for the amendment. I do not see

the necessity for chaplains being allowed forage and rations. They have very little duty to perform, comparatively with the regular officers of the Army; and, from the very nature of their calling, they are treated with the greatest kindness, not only by the officers, but by the privates; and every provision is always made for them. If this amendment should not be adopted, we shall have to increase the pay of the chaplains now in

the service.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. RICE. I have one more amendment. I know it may seem ungracious to offer it, but a sense of duty compels me to do so. I move to strike out the eleventh section, which confers the franking privilege on these volunteers. It must be obvious that with an army of four or five hundred thousand men in the field, it would take a very large appropriation to defray the expenses of carrying their mail matter. The privilege would be abused to a very great extent necessarily. I would have no objection to voting an allowance of money for each regiment to defray the expenses of postage; but when you allow them to frank packages of not more than two ounces, it will be seen that everything that could be divided into such packages would be sent by mail free.

Mr. WILSON. I hope the Senate will not strike out the eleventh section. I do not believe that it will add greatly to the aggregate expense. That these volunteers will write letters, I have no doubt. I have had abundant evidence of that, for I have been called upon to frank many thousands of their letters; and I have done it very freely,

and I will do it again, if necessary. But, sir, I think their correspondence, if permitted, will bring back to them many letters that will be paid for, and, on the whole, the expense will not be greatly increased, while it may be of immense advantage to the men to have the colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, adjutant, quartermaster, or chaplain, frank their letters. I do not believe the expense will be very great, and I know it will be a great accommodation to them. I certainly hope it will be retained.

Mr. COLLAMER. I have a word to say, concurring, as I do, in opinion with the Senator from Massachusetts. The fact is, that while the Army is situated in this vicinity, or in the neighborhood of any of our principal places, the expense of carrying the additional letters amounts to a mere nothing. I do not think it is adding to the expenses of the Post Office Department at all. The mail goes by railroad; we have contracts with the railroad companies. They give you a car, and it is immaterial to them whether you put in one ton or ten tons; they do not care anything about it. The contracts are made to carry the whole mail all over the country; and to put in more or less letters just now on account of the war, will not cost the Department anything. The expense amounts to nothing. If the Army shall move off into that part of the United States where the post, offices are discontinued, I do not know how they will get their franked letters into the mail. There will be no post office to put them into, and no mail to take them; and I do not know how the franked letters will burden the mail, when there is no way to get them into the mail; but as long as they stay within striking distance of a post office there will be more mail matter, but no more expense.

Mr. RICE. I will go as far as any one towards granting the soldiers every facility which may be requisite. The honorable Senator from Massachusetts speaks of their having called on him for his frank, and he says that he has given it cheerfully. They have also called on me for mine, but I must say to him that I had doubts as to my right to give the franks, and I consequently purchased envelopes with postage stamps upon them and distributed these to those who called upon me. I do not wish to be captious about this matter; perhaps I am wrong in pressing the amendment, and therefore, with the consent of the Senate, I will withdraw it.

Mr. SAULSBURY. I move, if it be in order, to strike out, in the fifth line of the first section, the words" five hundred thousand," and insert" two hundred thousand."

own brigade, and perhaps a brigadier general to command.

The

Mr. WILSON. I understand the reason why the Senator from New Jersey makes the motion; but I think if he will give the subject a moment's reflection he will see that it is not necessary to do it. If this were applied to the ninety-day men, to the militia first called out, whose general officers were furnished by the States, I think it would be very well, and I should not object to it; but here we are organizing the three-years force. brigades now authorized are to be composed of four or more regiments; and the object of making the brigades larger than they usually have been is to avoid the necessity of appointing so many brigadier generals. Here the President asks us to call out four hundred thousand men; and on the plan proposed, he might appoint one hundred brigadier generals-each brigade consisting of four regiments. We do not propose that the President shall have authority to appoint more than eighteen brigadier generals for that whole force. We propose that a brigade shall certainly have four regiments, and perhaps more. They have organized the brigades over the river consisting of four regiments. It is unnecessary that a brigade shall be from one State. I beg leave to say to my friend that they do not allow that to be so; they mix them up; they take the men from several States. The men are not brigaded according to the States from which they come; it is not the object; it is not the policy. It is not a good policy, and it ought to be discouraged. If the Senator's proposition applied to the ninety-day volunteers, where the general officer was furnished by the State, his argument would be good; but this bill does not apply to those men. The Federal Government appoints the general officers under this bill, and the State cannot appoint those officers; so I think the Senator will see that his amendment is unnecessary. I hope, certainly, he will not press it. It will not affect his State in the slightest degree. If he has one, two, or three good men in his State, of military talent and experience, and will go to the President, I think he can get them appointed. Now, I hope he will not press the amendment.

Mr. TEN EYCK. I will not press it merely with the idea which the gentleman seems to indicate, but he will pardon me for insisting that it be put to a vote. I am a very poor soldier, and of course not familiar with military affairs; but this thing struck me as being manifestly patent, so far as the people of my State are concerned, and I desired to submit my view to the Senate on the subject.

I have been informed that this matter of organ

Mr. SAULSBURY. I do not refer to the appropriation of money, but to the number of men.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator can make his motion after the bill shall have been reported to the Senate. The clause to which he refers has been agreed to in this form in committee, and it cannot be reached until the bill goes to the Senate.

Mr. TEN EYCK. I move to amend the bill, by striking out in section three, line six, the word "four," and inserting in its place the word "three;" so that the clause will read:

Each brigade shall be composed of three or more regi

ments.

I will state frankly, without attempting to make use of any comparisons, because I consider that every State has done nobly and well, that my desire is, that the State which I have the honor in part to represent, may have a brigade. I understand that by the organization of the regular Army, each brigade may be composed of two or more regiments. In this bill we have a very material alteration, requiring that brigades shall be composed of four or more regiments. New Jersey has seven regiments in the field now, raised in a short time, and she can soon have more, but by reason of existing circumstances she cannot get any more accepted. Though she is anxious to furnish more, she can obtain no assurance whatever that additional regiments will be received. I state frankly and openly, as I desire no concealment, and there is no disguise about it, that my object is, under existing circumstances, that my State, prompt and ready as she has been to enter the field, may have the opportunity of having her

the general of the division. In the regular Army the brigades are made up of two, three, four, or six regiments, according to the order of the general of the division. Now I do not want to preclude by law the general of a division from ordering a brigade to be made up of three regiments, if he sees fit, especially as he has the right now to compose a brigade of two regiments. We are departing now from the organization of the regular Army very materially. The raising of a brigade to four regiments would be a matter of no consequence to us, if that were all that was necessary. We would gladly raise four, or six, or ten, but "there's the rub." We cannot get the fourth regiment accepted, or the fifth or the sixth. It may not be an advantage to have these regiments all collected together. It may be found by experience to be beneficial that they they should be divided and cut up and absorbed in other commands; yet still I feel it to be my duty, knowing the feeling of the people of the State I represent, to bring this matter before the American Senate, and to ask of them, if we have any modest claim whatever, that they will pay some attention to our wishes.

Mr. WILSON. I will say to the Senator that my State has been called upon for sixteen regimonts, and will have in a few days in the field sixteen thousand three-years men. We have no brigadier general, and I do not suppose we are to have any. I have no doubt that we have regiments enough to make four brigades, without having a brigadier general.

Mr. COLLAMER. Did you not have Brigadier General Pierce?

Mr. WILSON. Brigadier General Pierce was one of the ninety-days men—one of those men ap

pointed by the Governor. The Governor sent the they were applicants for the position of first lieutenant. This is an abuse which should be rectified. We not only owe it to ourselves and to the country, but we owe it to the brave men whom they are to lead into action. To place thousands of brave men under incompetent, inexperienced generals, to lead them into action and sacrifice their lives, is murder of the most coldblooded and relentless chaarcter. The man who does it should be indicted and tried for murder. Incompetent men may be selected for other positions in life. For instance, they may come into the Senate or House of Representatives, or may Occupy the executive chair. Their blunders there are not apparent, and are not fraught with such consequences as they are in the Army, where men are to be led into action; where a single action may decide the fate of the country; where it decides the lives of thousands; and where everything perhaps may turn on a hair; where everything hangs on the intelligence of the officer who commands the column.

ninety-days men into the field, and sent their officers and generals with them. General Patterson and General Cadwalader belong to the force furnished by the States. The State of New Jersey has a general with her troops, but his time will be out at the expiration of the ninety days. This bill has no relation to the ninety-days men. This is the organization of the volunteers for three years or for the war. The President of the United States appoints the brigadiers and major generals. The bill provides that there shall be six major generals and eighteen brigadier generals for this enormous force. Now, instead of cutting up the brigades, the minimum of four regiments had better be put up to eight or ten. I assure the Senator it cannot in any way, directly or indirectly, affect anything that his State may do in regard to the matter. If his State sends three regiments or ten regiments into the field, they will be brigaded where the officers choose to brigade them, and his State may have a brigadier general or it may not. If they have got a good man, and they ask for his appointment, I suppose they will get him. I presume we all admit that we have not an overplus of military men in the country, and I think if anybody, in any State, will bring out a man of preeminent fitness, there will be no difficulty in getting a commission for him.

The amendment was rejected.

Mr. NESMITH. I offer this amendment, to be added to the fourth section of the bill:

Provided, That the President may select the major generals and brigadier generals provided for in this act from the line or staff of the present regular Army; and the officers 80 selected shall be permitted to retain their rank therein. I offer the amendment with great deference, considering the ability of the committee from which this bill has emanated; but in view of the circumstances which surround us, I conceive it to be my duty to offer some proposition of the kind. We must admit, that if it is necessary to prosecute this war, it should be done not only with vigor, but with ability. The experience which we have already had during the war, shows that we have been deficient in the matter of ability of general officers. The affair at Big Bethel, and that at Vienna, both demonstrate this point; and as the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs has suggested that the officer who commanded at Big Bethel, General Pierce, was only in for ninety days altogether, I would propose that he be let off whatever portion of his time remains unexpired. [Laughter.] I think he has done quite enough.

There are plenty of men who have been educated at West Point that have had great experience and would make excellent and competent generals, and who might, under the provision I have offered, be selected to command. It is not necessary that men should be old in order to command. The best campaign, I believe, that Napoleon made his campaign in Italy-was made when he was not over twenty-five years old. We may have undeveloped talent of that kind in our Army. We have had very bad success heretofore in developing it from civil life. I know it is an ungenerous task to say anything detracting from the merits of our gallant volunteers, or the men who have been selected to command them; but yet I deem it to be my duty, a duty which I owe to the country, to endeavor to provide some precaution in this matter that may prevent the disasters which are likely to result from armies being led by mere politicians, lawyers, preachers, or doctors.

The policy of selecting citizens to high military command, particularly of volunteers, seems to be predicated on the idea, in our Government, that it is more congenial to the tastes of the men who serve under them that their own neighbors and friends should be selected from civil life to command them. That, I apprehend, is a fallacy; I apprehend that it is a popular error, and one that will be dissipated as soon as the men are led into battle. I say that, however much men may be attached to a man in civil life, if he is selected as their commander, and he does not show the ability and competency to head them in action, their respect for him will cease; and however much they may detest a man who is a military tyrant, for whom they have no affection or sympathy in social, civil, or political life, when that man evinces capacity to command an army, every soldier will fasten to him; every soldier will re

love and devotion.

In my judgment, it is highly important that the troops-the brave men who volunteer to go forth to battle for the country-should be led by men of experience and ability. The profession of the soldier is not one in which a man can arrive at at perfection in a day. It requires education; not only the education of the school, but the peculiar education which is obtained in camp, by|spect him; and every soldier will follow him with active service. The amendment which I propose does not compel the President to select these offieers from the line of the Army; it leaves it in his discretion. As the law now stands, as I understand, the President has not this power; or, at any rate, if general officers are appointed from the line of the Army, they cannot retain rank there; and when the present service of the volunteers is dispensed with, those men of course will go out of service with the rest.

Inasmuch as there are a great many old officers who have served in the Army for years, and have experience, I think it is well that the country should avail itself of that experience, and place them in positions where it will be made available, and where the great military blunders which have already been perpetrated will not be likely to occur again. We do know that those blunders have occurred; we do know that the affairs at Big Bethel and Vienna both occurred from the ignorance, to say the least, of the officers in command -brigadier generals who had never set a battalion in the field, and who knew nothing of the profession they had adopted. They, doubtless, are good and able men in the spheres which they before occupied; I have nothing to say against them in that particular; but I do say that they are unfit to command troops in the field. Sir, I know men to-day sweating under the epaulets of brigadiers and major generals, who could not pass a board of any intelligent Army officers in the world, if

Under these circumstances, and in view of the facts before us, a necessity exists for placing men in command who are competent. Under the present arrangement of appointing citizens to high military command, a man who never saw a day's service may be selected for the position of major | general. He, as a matter of course, ranks all the brigadier generals who are in the field under him, no matter how much experience these brigadier generals may have had in the late war with Mexico, or in the last war with Great Britain; no matter if they have served fifty years. They may be all Napoleons or Cæsars; they may have all the perfection it is possible to attain in military life; and yet some lawyer or other professional man may be selected as major general and placed over them to command them, and to lead them and the Army to destruction and disgrace.

Mr. WILSON, I shall vote most cheerfully for the proposition made by the Senator from Oregon. Ithink it a wise one, and I beg leave to say that it is in perfect harmony with the policy I have advocated since the commencement of this war. I thought, in the beginning, that it would be better to allow officers of the Army to accept commissions in volunteer regiments, and I so advised the Secretary of War and the Adjutant General. Efforts were made in many States to secure the services of officers of the regular Army, and I think that more than a hundred applications have

been made at the War Office for Army officers to serve as field officers in the volunteers; but the answer was, that owing to the resignations in the Army, and the proposed increase of the force, there were but few experienced officers left, for the number of men, and that the officers could not be spared. The argument, perhaps, is a good one at any rate, for those in the interest of our little Army; but the proposition of the Senator from Oregon does not apply to regimental field officers; it applies to major and brigadier generals, and therefore the number will be limited. I think the Army can spare the few men that may be taken under the proposition he has moved; and there are several officers in the Army of great distinction who would make excellent major and brigadier generals. I think, and have thought, that those men ought to be selected in preference to civilians, however eminent they may be in talent or character. I shall therefore vote for this amendment; and I think that if it be sustained, it will enable the President of the United States to appoint some major and brigadier generals from officers in the regular Army, reserving to them the places they now hold in the Army at the end of the contest, and that the country will be benefited by such a selection. I shall vote most cheerfully for the proposition.

Mr. SHERMAN. I simply desire to point out an inaccuracy, that probably the Senator from Oregon would like to correct. The amendment as it stands would exclude all the officers of the new regiments. Some of the finest officers of the regular Army are in the new regiments. The amendment, as how framed, would exclude all those officers.

Mr. FESSENDEN. The word is " not "shall."

may,"

Mr. SHERMAN. The same privilege ought to be extended to officers of the new regiments. Mr. FESSENDEN. They will become a part of the regular Army.

ment.

Mr. SHERMAN. But this does not extend to the future increase of the regular Army. Mr. FESSENDEN. Read it once more. The Acting Secretary again read the amendMr. SHERMAN. "Present regular Army." I move to strike out the word " present. Mr. NESMITH. I accept that amendment. The VICE PRESIDENT. The question, then, is on the amendment of the Senator from Oregon, as modified.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. CLARK. I move further to amend the bill in section five, line twenty-three, by inserting after the word "thereto the words "if he shall have served for a period of two years, or during the war, if sooner ended," so that the clause will read:

And when honorably discharged an allowance, at the same rate, from the place of his discharge to his place of enrollment; and in addition thereto, if he shall have served for a period of two years, or during the war, if sooner ended, the sum of $100.

I propose the amendment because I see that there is a little indistinctness in the bill in regard to the three-months men. I have fixed the period of two years, because I understand that some of the volunteers are for two years, so as not to exclude them. I would suggest that the bill may need some further amendment if it is designed to include those who shall be sick or honorably discharged before that time; but the provision, as it stands, would encourage the volunteers to enlist, without serving for two years, or during the war, for the purpose of getting the $100.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. POWELL. I move to amend the bill by striking out the eleventh section, and inserting the following in lieu of it:

That all laws, or parts of laws, granting or extending the franking privilege to any person or persons whomsoever, be, and the same are hereby, repealed: Provided, That the provision of this section shall not extend to persons to whom the franking privilege has been granted by name: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the exchange of newspapers and periodicals free of postage as now provided by law.

I desire the section as it stands to be stricken out, not that I wish to impose on the soldiers who may be serving in the Army the expense of postage. I am perfectly willing and ready to vote a section in the bill requiring the Postmaster General to furnish each regiment with postage stamps

or paid envelopes for that purpose. I desire to have the section stricken out for the reason that

I am confident that very great abuses and corrup tions will exist under this franking privilege, and I do not wish to see it extended. We can reach the object of the section as well by amending the bill so as to require postage stamps to be furnished to the regiments for the use of the soldiers. That, I think, would be right and proper. I desire the clause I have read inserted for the reason that, from a very elaborate investigation of the subject of the franking privilege two years ago, I came to the conclusion, and I think demonstrated clearly to the Senate, that its abolition would be a saving of at least $4,000,000 to the Treasury. At this time, when we are about to resort to extraordinary modes of raising revenue to support the expenses of the Government; when in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury we are asked to resort to almost every means of raising money known to the Constitution, I think it eminently proper that we should retrench wherever we can do so; and I do not think that there is a better time than this to commence this retrenchment by cutting off a privilege which, in my judgment, has led to incalculable abuses by members of Congress and officers of this Government. I hope the section may be stricken out, and the clause which I propose inserted; and then, if some other gentleman does not, I will myself move an amendment that postage stamps or paid envelopes shall be furnished by the Postmaster General to the various regiments for the purpose of paying their postage.

The amendment was rejected.

Mr. HOWE. I offer, as an amendment to the fifth section, to add these words:

And provided further, That all assistant surgeons to be commissioned under this act shall receive the salary of assistant surgeons in the regular Army of ten years' standing.

Mr. WILSON. I should like an explanation of that amendment before it is adopted.

Mr. HOWE. This bill provides now, as it stands, for the appointment of one surgeon and one assistant surgeon to each regiment. These officers are to be taken from the list of practitioners. If you get good ones, you must take them from the number of those who are now in good practice. They serve but a short time; they are then dismissed from the service, and they are out of business and have to set themselves up anew. Under the bill as it stands, if I comprehend it aright, they are to receive only the pay of assistant surgeons in the Army of less than five years' standing the lowest grade.

Mr. ANTHONY. How much is that?

Mr. HOWE. One hundred and twenty dollars a month, including everything; whereas the surgeons provided for here get $187 dollars a month, I think. This will bring the assistant surgeons up to somewhere in the neighborhood of the surgeons as they are to be paid under this bill.

The amendment was rejected-ayes 12, noes not counted.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I desire to offer an amendment, as an additional section:

And be it further enacted, That the Commanding General may detall any second lieutenant from the regular Ariny, who is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, to any such regiment, to act as aid to the colonel or commanding officer, for such time as he shall think proper, without any prejudice to his right of promotion.

It may be that the Commanding General has power now to detach an officer from the regular Army to aid the colonels of volunteer regiments in instruction in battalion drill; but I have some doubts on that subject, and I desire to give the Commanding General the authority expressly. I presume there is no objection to the amendment. Mr. LANE, of Kansas. It should be "adjutant" instead of "aid."

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I do not understand the amendment proposed by the Senator from Kan

cer to send to these regiments to aid the colonels in battalion drill.

Mr. NESMITH. I would suggest that that power is already vested in commanding generals. It was practiced in the Mexican war. All the volunteer generals had aids and adjutants. Most of them were appointed from the line of the Army, served with the volunteers during the war, and held their rank in the regular service; and when the volunteers were disbanded, went back to their position in the Army, and retained the same position that they would have been entitled to if they had remained in the line of the Army. The power of a commanding general extends to ordering officers to any particular service. There has never been any question of his power to assign a regular officer to duty with a volunteer corps. I think, therefore, the amendment is unnecessary.

Mr. WILSON. I hope the Senator from Wisconsin will withdraw his proposition. It will do no sort of good. The Commanding General has the power now, but he has not got the men, and will not have them except in some extraordinary cases; and then I have no doubt he will do it. Mr. DOOLITTLE. If it is conceded on all hands that the power now exists in the Commanding General, I will withdraw the amendment.

Mr. CLARK. There are three or four small verbal amendments that I think ought to be made in the bill to make it uniform. In the third line of the fifth section, the word "will" should be changed to "shall;" the same change should also be made in the second line of the eighth section, and in line three of section seven. I suppose these alterations will be made without objection.

The VICE PRESIDENT. These amendments will be made, if there be no objection. The Chair hears none.

Mr. GRIMES. I have no motion to make; but I desire to ask the chairman of the Committee on

Military Affairs, as he has stated that there is a great scarcity of officers, how it happens that he gives to each one of the brigadier and major generals an additional aid to what has been given heretofore?

Mr. WILSON. In answer to that, I will say that I have done so under the advice of some of the ablest military men in the service, who say that it is absolutely necessary, and especially in the volunteers, that a major general should have three aids instead of two, and a brigadier general two instead of one. They are confined to the line of the Army, or the volunteers. The object is to allow these general officers to get about them one, two, or three experienced men. In the line of the Army some of the general officers now have five or six of them. I think some brigadier generals now in the field find it necessary, instead of being confined to one, to have detailed for their service four or five such men. They can do it in the Army, but it is difficult in the volunteers. It adds nothing to the expense of the Army, but it tends to bring to the staff of the major or brigadier generals two or three experienced officers.

I propose to make a slight amendment to the bill. When these regiments were called out, it was provided that there should be paymasters; and in drawing up this bill, the original call was followed as near as possible. A new policy has been adopted. Paymasters are now appointed under the law passed during the Mexican war, providing that the Government may appoint a paymaster for two regiments. Therefore I move to strike out of the second section, in the tenth line, the words "one paymaster," in the clause fixing the number of officers. It is already provided for by law.

The amendment was agreed to.

The bill was reported to the Senate as amended. The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is on concurring in the amendments made as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. SAULSBURY. I desire to except one of

those amendments.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Will the Senator indicate the amendment to which he refers?

Mr. SAULSBURY. In section one, line five, after the word "numbers," to insert "not exceeding five hundred thousand." I move to strike out "five hundred thousand" and insert "two hundred thousand."

The VICE PRESIDENT. Will the Senate adopt all these amendments severally or in gross? ["All together."] The question then will be on

adopting all the amendments save the one indica- . ted by the Senator from Delaware.

The amendments were concurred in. The VICE PRESIDENT. The question now before the Senate is on concurring in the amendment inserting the words "not exceeding five hundred thousand men." The Senator from Delaware moves to strike out "five hundred thousand" and insert "two hundred thousand."

Mr. SAULSBURY. I do not propose to trespass on the time of the Senate by attempting to make a speech, but simply to state my views in a very few words. I have no doubt that my amendment will be rejected; I have no doubt that this bill will pass; but it is due to myself to state that from the first commencement of these difficulties, this Union has had no warmer friend than I am. I have from the beginning dissented from, and do now dissent from the doctrine of the right of a State to secede from the Union. I believe in all the great and glorious advantages which have been secured to us by the formation of the Union. As I remarked early in the last session of Congress, my State having been the first to adopt the Constitution and to enter the Union she would and will be the last to abandon it, so I repeat now, however trite it may be. We have not a handful of secessionists or disunionists in the State of Delaware. But, sir, we have a people, and as I believe a majority of our people are honestly in favor of a peaceful settlement of this question, and they do believe that if opportunity is allowed to the people of this country that there is love of country enough, that there is patriotism enough, that there is intelligence enough in the people of this country, both North and South, to settle this question without the bloody scenes which have been portrayed here to-day by the Senator from Oregon [Mr. BAKER] and others. Sir, if we are invited to enter upon such scenes, if there is to be a war of subjugation, if fire and sword are to sweep over this land, if there are to be hundreds and thousands and millions of fatherless children, and of widows, then I say that the sentiment of my State is against such a policy.

I may speak impassionedly, excitedly, but I feel deeply the importance of the vote which I am about to cast upon this occasion. I am in favor of defending this capital from the president of the southern confederacy, or anybody in the southern confederacy. I want no man to be my President who has ever raised his arm in hostility to my Government; and if it require double the amount of men to defend this capital, or to defend any portion of the Union which has not assumed to secede, then, sir, I would vote for that amount, both of men and of money. But, sir, as I am in favor of a peaceful adjustment of this question-although I have but little hope that at the present session of Congress there can be a peaceful adjustment-it is due to my own position, it is due to my State, it is due to the people of my State, to say that they are in favor of it; and at your last session of Congress, although the Legislature of my State was composed of Democrats, Republicans, and Bell and Everett men, they unanimously, with the exception of two, instructed me to vote for the compromise measures offered by the distinguished Senator then in his place from Kentucky. I did so vote. They have declared, in their public meetings since, that those compromise measures ought to have been adopted, and that they ought now to be adopted.

Mr. President, I do not profess to know as much in reference to the state of the country as many other gentleman; but I do say, that I as firmly believe as I believe that the sun shines in heaven, that if this Congress would adopt those propositions, maintain the integrity of the Union as it now exists, and turn the Richmond government, or the Montgomery government, over to its own people, in less than four years that old glorious flag which has been so eloquently alluded to here to-day would float in peace over every acre of American soil.

I am fearful that you cannot preserve this Union by the mode contemplated in this bill, and suggested in the message of the President of the United States. I will vote for any measure proposed by the present Executive of the United States that I would vote for if proposed by the gentleman for whom I voted at the last Presidential election. But, sir, our great object, I presume, is the preservation of the Union; it is not the gratification of feelings