to fritter away. God knows, we need a united people to save the Union, trembling, even now, on the verge of dissolution; and therefore, if we cannot agree upon all questions of law, if we cannot agree upon all questions of policy, let us consent to differ as we best may, but with the firm resolve, that every thing of strength, of power, of purpose, of motive, of will, that is in us, shall combine, concentrate, converge, to save the national integrity, the national life.

It has been said by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and I will say a word on this, and relieve your patience, that there are those here who oppose the policy of the Administration. I suppose there is no man in this House who has more respect for the intellectual vigor and manliness of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] than I have; but I beg leave to call his attention to the fact, that he has not always been able to concur in the policy of this Administration. I beg leave to remind him of a difficulty which has occurred to all members of the House, that it has sometimes been very difficult for even a very careful and scrutinizing observer to know or find out what the policy of the Administration is; and we are obliged to grope our way darkly therefore, and determine for ourselves what will be for the peace and interest of the country, and follow that. If the Administration does not clearly indicate its policy, we may be excused for not being always found in its path; and, when indicated, we may not follow it, if fidelity to the Constitution or the highest interests of the country forbid.

ON THE BILL "TO RAISE ADDITIONAL SOLDIERS FOR THE SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT.”

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JAN. 31, 1863.

I HAVE no desire, Mr. Speaker, to launch my bark upon the sea of this illimitable debate. My object in obtaining the floor last evening, was to present, in addition to a few remarks upon the bill before the House, some considerations concerning the relations of New England, and more especially what has been called the Puritanism of New England, to the Union. But I could not fail to see that this subject would be too remote from that immediately before the House. I propose, therefore, to confine myself to a few, I fear somewhat desultory, suggestions upon the measure before us, and the policy which it involves.

It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that the discussion, thus far, has scarcely touched, much less carefully considered, the special subject-matter before us. This bill proposes, as I understand it, to raise a new and large army from the men of African descent in this country. The amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] to the original bill (the measure to be pressed) proposes to raise that army without limitation as to numbers; without limitation as to the States, loyal or rebel, from which they are to be taken; without

limitation as to the expense, because without limitation as to number; without limitation as to the places where, or purposes for which, the army is to be used; without limitation as to the discipline to which that army is to be subjected; each and all of these matters resting solely in the discretion of the President of the United States. I believe that I shall have the concurrence of every member of this House, and of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] among the rest, when I say, that this bill, in its new form, proposes to vest in the President of the United States a larger power and wider discretion than were ever reposed by Congress in the hands of one man, unless under our previous legislation on the same subject. I am not here, Mr. Speaker, to raise the question, whether we may not wisely repose a large discretion in the Executive at a time like this. It is among the necessities of our condition, that a large discretion should be reposed in the Executive; but it is the duty of Congress to see that no such extent of power is vested in the President, or any one else, that that power may be readily used, as all power is liable to be used, to defeat the ends for which it is given, to subvert instead of upholding the laws. And this question is not one of the individual character of the officer, but of principle and policy. In what condition of our affairs do we propose to raise this new army?

If I understood rightly the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, my friend from New York [Mr. Olin], we have now in the field, or rather we have upon the pay-rolls of the Government, a million of

white men of the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, or German races. This, no man can doubt, is a sufficient army for the for the purpose of suppressing this Rebellion, if this Rebellion can be subdued by physical power alone. I do not say how many of those men are engaged to-day in active service, in face of the enemy. There are, we are told, very large desertions from the army. There are vast numbers now on your pay-rolls, capable of service, who are doing no service. But that must be, to a considerable extent the fault of the administration of the army. It is the plain, obvious duty of the Government to see that these men, who are on your pay-rolls and capable of service, are rendering that service. With a million efficient men in the army and at work, and with our large and gallant navy, if it is practicable to conquer rebellion by arms, you have force adequate for the purpose; as large a force as we can hope to maintain and replenish without bankruptcy.

We must look, Mr. Speaker, to the financial aspect of this question, the question of ways and means. I do not think the financial condition of this country has been truly presented; or rather, I should say, fully presented for no gentleman, of course, could desire to present it otherwise than truly. If I understand the facts spread by the gentlemen of the Committee of Ways and Means before the country, in the speeches made on this floor, our national debt at the end of the next fiscal year will be at the least two thousand million dollars. By that debt is meant the liquidated debt of the country. I would call the attention of the House to the fact, that the unliquidated debt of this coun

try, the debt for damages for the taking of property and the destruction of property by the military power in the prosecution of the war, upon any equitable or reasonable rule which this Congress or any other Congress may adopt in its adjustment, may reach as high as five hundred millions more. This may be possibly too large an estimate; but gentlemen will see at once, that how large it may be, and whether it reaches this limit, must depend on the rule which Congress shall apply to the adjustment of those claims; how widely the door is thrown open. If we admit not only all legal claims, but all claims that are equitable, in the ordinary sense of that word, and if the estimate also include pensions, I think I do not state the case too strongly when I say it would reach five hundred millions.

Do not fail to observe one other fact of our financial condition; and that is, that when you get the national debt of this country, liquidated and unliquidated, you do not reach the whole marrow of the thing. Your state, county, city, town, and parish debts all over this country, taken together, will make an aggregate approaching at least to half of the liquidated national debt at the end of the present fiscal year; and when you combine these debts, the liquidated debt, the unliquidated debt, the liability for pensions, the State, county, city, and town debts, and consider also how much higher interest we are paying than that paid by any other people, the fact will stare you in the face, that this nation, at the end of the next fiscal year, will be more heavily laden with debt than any nation in Europe.

Now, I make no complaint of this, Mr. Speaker. I