HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, March 2, 1863.A call of the House was ordered, and being taken, only two Republicans (Messrs. Griffith and Robinson) answered; the rest were Democrats, 48 in all.
The absentees without leave were ascertained to be as follows:
Messrs. Abdill, Anderson, Atkison, Baker, Byerle, Branham, Brogan, Budd, Cason, Chambers, Pavis, Forester, Gregg, Gregory, Hershey, Higgins, Hosteller, Hutchings, James, Johnson, Jones, Kendrick, Lake, Lamb, Leeds, Moorman, Morgan, Mustard, Newman, Noyes, O'Brien, of Hamilton, Perry, Pettibone, Roberts, Roe, Stone, Tarkington, Van Buskirk, and Woodruff--39.
On motion of Mr. BROWN, further proceedings under the call was suspended, and the House adjourned till 1 1/2 p. m.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
A call of the House being ordered and taken, 58 members answered to their names
Mr. LASSELLE offered the following:
WHEREAS, The following members of the House, to wit:
Messrs. Anderson, of St Joseph, Baker, of Noble, Branham, of Jefferson, Budd, of Farke, Byerle, of Kosciusko, Cason, of Boone and Hendricks, Chambers, of Watrick, Davis, of Elkhart and Lagrange, Forester, of Laporte, Gregg, of Hendricks, Gregory, of Warren, Hershey, of Tippecanoe, Higgins, of Laporte, Hostetter, of Boone, Hutchings, of Jennings, James, of Grant, Johnson, of Morgan, Jones, of Wayne, Kendrick of Marion, Lamb, of Switzerland and Ohio, Leeds, of Howard, Moorman, of Randolph, Morgan, of Henry, Mustard, of Tippecanoe, Newman, of Wayne, Noyes, of Steuben, O'Brien, of Hamilton, Perry, of Fayette and Union, Pettibone, of Lake, Roe, of Jefferson, Stone, of Wabash, Tarkington, of Marion, Van Buskirk, of Decatur, and Woodruff, of Wayne, did, on Wednesday, the 25th ultimo, leave this House in a body, and have not since returned to their seats, whereby, in violation of their constitutional obligations, they, have impeded the course of legislation and rendered this House and the General Assembly of the State unable to proceed further with the business of the State and the people; therefore,
Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms be directed by the Speaker to summon the said delinquent members to appear forthwith and resume their seats in this House as such, Representatives of the people of Indiana.
Mr. GRIFFITH offered an amendment indefinitely postponing the militia bill, the executive council bill and the bill reorganising the Board of Benevolent Institutions.
Mr. LASSELLE rose to a point of order. The resolution was not germain to the question. But the principal ground of his objection was that as a call of the House was just had and quorum not ascertained to be present, we could do nothing further than take measures to compel the attendance of absentees, and adjourn from day to day to that end.
Mr. WOLFE offered a resolution declaring that the fears of the minority that the majority purposed to trample on the rights of any officer under the Constitution, or of any portion of the people of the State, were groundless; and that secession was not peculiar to Southern citizens, but was a growth in the North, as exemplified by the action of the minority in this House.
page: 192[View Page 192]The SPEAKER pronounced the amendment and the resolution out of order. The House could do no business, acting under a call of the House, except action pertaining thereto, until the record shows a quorum.
Mr. HANNA hoped that the resolution of the gentleman from Cass [Mr. Lasselle] would not pass, inasmuch as the gentleman from Jefferson [Mr. Branham.] had said that he would not be brought back here unless he came to hang Democrats. He [Mr. Hanna] being a sound Democrat, did not wish just now to be hung.
Mr. NIBLACK said that he was opposed to compromising with traitors or secessionists, North or South, He was for fighting according to law first, and otherwise if it became necessary. He therefore moved that the Sergeant-at-Arms be sent at once after the delinquents.
Mr. LASSELLE defended his resolution. He though that first the Sergeant-at-arms should be requested to notify them, and then if they refuse to obey, their attendance might be compelled.
Mr. PRIEST opposed the resolution. These men who were seceding were making a record for themselves. Let us deal mildly but firmly with them. Let us meet her from day to day, and if the sixty-one days under the Constitution, expired without requesite legislation, theirs would be the responsipility. He feared if the Ser-geant-at-Arms was sent alter these recursants bloodshed would be precipitated.
Mr. KILGORE said he had been home, and his constituents justified the minority in their course. They had authorized him to say that, if every member would resign, the people would welcome the act. Many members upon this floor did not in their canvass take the position in regard to the war that they here have taken. If they had, they would have been defeated. The gentleman from Jackson (Mr. Brown) did not dare in his canvass to take the position he assumes here.
Mr. BROWN. When I was a candidate for the position I now occupy the Hon. John F. Carr was my competitor, and, to say the least about him, you must admit he is a politician of large experience. In the canvass I asked Mr. Carr whether he indorsed the Crittenden Compromise; or indorsed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; whether he indorsed the confiscation act; and, as soon as the President issued his emancipation proclamation, I took issue upon that and denounced it. I indorsed the Crittenden proposition and opposed the others, and directly said that I would not support the Administration in the prosecution of the war for the Abolition purpose for which the Administration was prosecuting it.
Mr. KILGORE. Your people must not be very patriotic or honest in purpose.
Mr. BROWN. Does the gentleman question the honesty or integrity of the people I represent?
Mr. KILGORE. I must question their intelligence.
Mr. BROWN. If the gentleman questions the intelligence of the noble people whom I have the honor to represent, and makes himself the exclusive judge as to their intelligence. I will make no objection. But if he calls in, question their honesty or integrity, I will hold him to the strictest, accountability for it.
Mr. PUETT. I will say to the gentleman from Delaware [Mr. Kilgore] that if Governor Morton will resign, and appeal again to the people, every one of the majority on this floor will do likewise. His Excellency will then quickly see how the matter stands between the people and himself and the people and ourselves.
Mr. KILGORE said that the Democrats wished Gov. Morton to resign, in order that they could send the country to the devil in the interim, as would be the result if some of their resolutions offered here, were carried out. Before Governor Morton could resign and go before the people on ten days notice, Indiana would be made the tail end of the Southern Confederacy. He looked upon the military board bill as designed to defeat the vigorous prosecution of the war. Considering the feeling of the Democratic party toward Gov. Morton, it was imprudent to put in their hands the power to cripple him. So long as the Democratic members persist in attempting to cripple the Government, he would justify bolting. Whenever you attempt to paralyze the arm of the Governor of Indiana, whenever you say to Abraham Lincoln that because of his infamous proclamation you would not support the war, you were doing all you could to defeat the crushing of this rebellion. Before we would be brought back here to support such resolutions we would wade in blood up to our knees.
VOICES. "Ah! ah! ah! Does your party own all the gunpowder?"
Mr. HANNA. Does not the Constitution authorize the arrest of the delinquents?
Mr. KILGORE. It does.
Mr. HANNA. Did you not swear to support that Constitution?
Mr. KILGORE. So did you, but your measure proposes to subvert that Constitution.
Mr. HANNA. I have sworn to support that Constitution and I will do it. I WILL DO IT.
Mr. KILGORE. It was upon the military bill that his party friends had bolted And to defeat that bill we would continue to bolt until we were brought in here and the doors bolted. You have not passed that bill, and you never shall.
Mr. HANNA denied that it took from the Governor his power as Commander-in Chief.
page: 193[View Page 193]Mr. KILGORE said it made him a technical commander in chief, but took a real power from him. It was evident to every man who had read Perkins' speech that everything that could be done to put down the Union party would be done by the tribunal presided over by that Judge. It was an outrage to talk about appealing to him. It was clearly constitutional to bolt. Several leading Democratic members had told him they did not endorse the bill, and would not vote for it. But they voted for its engrossment. He had reason to believe they would vote to pass it.
Mr. NIBLACK said threats were made that they should not pass the bill, and they determined to try the mettle of the minority.
Mr. KILGORE said they would never suffer the bill to pass. They had day after day in this House seen evidence of an attempt to thwart the prosecution of the war. We have been sitting here day after day listening to the propositions and measures of gentlemen until we had become convinced that their sole object was to assist the Southern Rebels to overthrow this Government. If he had been President of the United Slates he would not have issued the proclamation of emancipation, because the leaders of the Democratic party stood ready to go before the country and misrepresent it, and because the grand Army of the Union were doing their work without it. But since the proclamation had been issued he indorsed it. Yes, sir, yes, sir.
Mr. HANNA made a point of order. The President's proclamation was not legitimately under debate.
After a statement by The Speaker, Mr. Kilgore proceeded. He gave his reasons at length for supporting the proclamation.
Mr. PACKARD opposed the resolution. Any effort under it would be futile. The State of Indiana would never send up another Such a set of men to break a quorum and defeat necepury legislation. In reply to the gentleman from Delaware [Mr. Kilgore.] he said he had told his constituents that, whenever the President turned the war into an abolition raid, he would oppose it; and showed in a masterly manner the inconsistencies of the minority, who by unconstitutional and revolutionary means, would defeat the will of the majority. He defended at length the measures proposed by the majority, and objected to by the minority. The gentleman desired to know what Governor Morton had done that we should seek to throw guards around his power? One thing Governor Norton was doing was the placing of arms in the Lands of secret political societies, to overthrow the liberties of the people He has seen citizens of this State siezed and dragged out of it without lifting a finger in their behalf. A beautiful Executive is! He has used members of the army to overawe the people in fair elections; he has seen printing offices mobbed; he has seen private residences invaded; he has seen women insulted. He, the excellent Governor, had seen all this, and had not bestirred himself in respect of the rights and liberties of the citizen. He had, too, used the money appropriated by the Democrats of the last Legislature, and used it all for his own glory. It was for these things that the Democracy wished to bring this Governor down to his proper level. The people had pronounced against Governor Morton. He wished the plan of the gentleman from Putnam [Mr. Puett] could be carried out that the Governor would resign with the rest of us. The people would send us and a Democratic Governor back in less than two weeks by a majority of 100,000. The gentleman from Delaware county might just as well leave his seat at once if he supposed the measures he opposed could not b carried and other legislation be done. The minority of this House had sought bjr all means of intimidation to overawe tht majority. But we were not to be terrified. We were not to be bullied. They send up their resolutions here from the army. He knew how it was done. They were sent up by shoulder straps. We would demand from Governor Morton and his Abolition minions the full and free expression of our rights as representatives of the people. From the commencement of the session revolution had been inaugurated by the minority. They had finally left their seats. Let them go. They were off to Madison on a big drank, he understood. The Sergeant-at Arms could not find them if he was sent after them. We shall do nothing, if the gentleman from Delaware speaks by authority, for we will press these measures. We will press them--and if rightful legislation, is defeated we will go back to our people, and appealing to them, they will teach this Executive, and the minority on this floor doing now his bidding what their duties were.
Mr. BUSKIRK (Mr. Holcomb in the chair) argued in favor of the power to arrest absentees, but was opposed in. this juncture to the exercise of that power. If they come back, and a single one of the obnoxious measures is taken up, they will belt again and again. We should resort to no act which would perhaps end in civil war. He greatly feared that in a, very short time we should have nothing of a Government left except what we had in Indiana. Here we would keep a Government in its pristine strength. Whoever bolts is guilty of revolution; as guilty as the Rebels of South Carolina. If thest members had n right thus to withdraw, any State in the Union had a right to secede from the Union. If they asserted their right to leave the Legislature--they page: 194[View Page 194] Indorsing the right of the Rebels thereby--ought they not to favor an armistice? He denied the right of secession. He admitted the right of coercion, but denied its expediency. These gentlemen arrogated to themselves the right to decide whether a bill was constitutional or not. If the agents of the people have this right, the people themselves have the same right.
Mr. BROWN spoke, in favor of the resolution. He said that these men, in violation of their oath of office, of their duty to their contituents and themselves, have, without just cause, seceded from this body. We have the constitutional right and power to compel their attendance, and let us at least attempt to do so. It is a duty we owe to ourselves and our constituents. Gentleman say let us consult policy. Principle and not policy is what is right, and actuates the true man. He who consults policy without reference to principle will never arrive at very great prominence. The gentleman From Delaware has told us that any attempt to bring back the minority to this House would end in insurrection. He tells us that were he with the seceders, and an attempt was made to compel him to return to this Home and submit to the majority passing what he calls unconstitutional aid unjust measures, he would wade in blood to his knees before he would submit. Bold, heroic man! We have been told that we dare not attempt to compel their attendance. Shall se bow down and submit to their mighty boasts? Our constituents demand that we shall protect their rights and sustain our own characters. An Abolition meeting has been held here to overawe and terrify this body, and do we submit in silence? Sir, the present Administration by its acts shows that its policy is not endorsed by the people, and it now attempts by vile despotic and arbitrary measures to compel the people to an indorsement of it. In kingdoms were the people are raised in ignorance and taught to believe that their rulers are by divine inspiration endowed with power to rule them and pronounce laws for them, such a procedure might succeed, but not in this country. Here the people are sovereigns and not subjects. We are toll that insurrection and civil war will take place. I trust and believe not. I cannot think that the minority will so far forget themselves as to attempt to resist the rightful officer of this body in the exercise of his sworn and constitutional duties. But it civil war, anarchy and desolation are to come; if the spirit of mobocracy is to be invoked; if a military despotism is to be established instead of a free government and a Constitution guaranteeing liberty to the citizens, the sooner the people know it the better. Let the Isaac be made. But woe upon him who attempts to override the Constitution and the people. When such a system is about to be inaugurated the people of the country (not your towns and cities) will rise and spunk in thunder tones, and when they speak they will speak the law. A fearful and dreadful crisis is upon us. I trust peace and order may be maintained. It is the duty of all good citizens to enjoin upon their neighbors a strict observance of the Constituion and all the laws and to obey the Consitution and all laws themselves. But it is the slave and coward who bows down with passive submission to a party in power, when that party is endeavoring to take from him his constitutional rights, and place him in a state of subjection. Let the resolution he passed. Let the Sergeant-at-Arms apprehend these successionists, and bring them before the bar of this House and show them that we know our rights, and that their cowardly threats are of no avail.
Mr. WOLFE pursued the argument against the resolution He feared there was no remedy for our National or State evils.
Mr. PUETT opposed the resolution. The minority had done just as the Southern Senators. He avowed in his place in the presence of the citizens here and the few members who heard him, that no man could bolt without violating the oath he had taken, and contributing to tear down our Government. The minority might use every parliamentary rule to defeat, but if they bolted, they were just as much secessionists as any member of Jeff. Davis's Government. He should remain in and about the city until this Legislature expired by constitutional limit, ready to transact the people's business. Let us stay here, standing by the Constitution and the laws doing our duty.
Mr. BURTON. Mr. Speaker, I had intended to take no part in this debate, but as my course upon this floor has been reflected upon, and indirectly assailed in the discussion by the gentleman from Delaware, (Mr. Kilgore,) I feel that now is the proper time for me to vindicate that course. I will say in the first place, however, that I am opposed to adopting the resolution under discussion, with or without the proposed amendment in any shape or form. I am opposed to making any attempt whatever to compel or force those bolters or seceders to return to their duties upon this floor. I oppose it, sir, because I am now, and ever have been, opposed to the principle of coercion being exercised in a free Government like this. I am opposed to it as applied to States or to individuals representing a free people, because in either case it endangers civil liberty. Sir, when we undertook the preserve the Constitution and perpetuate the Union as our fathers made them, by the sword, we lost sight of the cardinal doctrines of our Government, and departed from the spirit of our free institutions. page: 195[View Page 195] So, likewise, the moment that we attempt to carry on the legislation of this General Assembly by forcing and holding any portion of the representatives of the free people of Indiana here, at the point of the bayonet, that moment we thwart the very object for which the Assembly was instituted, and depart from the fundamental principles which distinguish a free government from a monarchy. But, sir, aside from this election upon principle, we must remember that these are indeed critical times, when excitement runs high, and a decided step of this character, upon a question of doubtful policy, might possibly inaugurate a bloody revolution in Indiana; and I, for one, am opposed to inaugurating revolution. The majority upon this floor profess to love peace, and advocate it in preference to war; and I, as one of that number, will resist to the last, by my vote and my voice, any measure which might result in the unnecessary shedding of blood, unless it be a measure of legitimate legislation, absolutely demanded by the people.
If the Abolitionists who have seceded from this body desire to inaugurate a revolution, let them shoulder the weighty responsibility aid take the consequences.--If revolution is forced upon we are prepared to meet it. If fight we must, let it be on the defensive, nut on the aggressive. We have yet done nothing which, in the least, justifies the minority in bolting from this House. The gentleman from Delaware, who presumes to speak for the minority upon this door, took occasion while discussing this resolution, to justify his friends in bolting, on the ground that we were attempting to pass an unconstitutional law, and were introducing and voting for resolutions here of an infamous character, such as the people did not indorse In this connection he referred particularly to certain resolutions introduced by myself. I must be permitted to depart somewhat from the question before the House to notice that part of the gentleman's speech which referred directly to me. I will say to the gentleman from Delaware that he need give himself no trouble about the resolutions that I have introduced. It was not expected that they would please him or his friends. Not at all. It was expected, however, that they would grate harshly upon Abolition ears. Sir. I did introduce, as he says, a resolution here declaring the President's Abolition proclamation as infamous. Why did I do it? I did it because I believed it to be so. And why did I believe it? I believed it because Mr. Lincoln himself, a abort time previous to thy issuing of the proclamation, declared over his own signature that he believed ho had no Constitutional right to d dare the slaves of the South free, and if he had, be thought it inexpedient to do so then, for the reason that it would tend to destroy the Union feeling in the seceded States, and drive thousands to the rebellious standard who were then loyal; and besides, it might drive from the Union army the strength and support of the border States. He declared further, that the proclamation would not liberate a single slave; and, admitting that it would set all free, what, said he, would we do with them? There is no provision to colonize them, said he, and they would necessarily be a dead weight and a heavy expense upon our already overburdened Government.
That, sir, is the substance of his letter to the Chicago clergy, And a few days afterward he issued the proclamation, in spite of his conviction against its truth, its justice, its policy, and its constitutionality. Why, then, this great ado about charging the President with infamy, when, by his own admissions, he brands himself with disloyalty. Disloyalty is treason, and treason is infamous. Tell me, ye friends of the Administration, and lovers of war, bloodshed and revolution, where stands your immaculate President, according to his own showing? I sir, indorse the resolution, in spirit and in letter, and in doing so, I stand not alone. I can assure the gentleman from Delaware that the twenty two hundred Democratic voters whom I have the honor to represent upon this floor also indorse it.
Mr. KILGORE. I would inquire of the gentleman whether he went before his people, and advocated from the stump the doctrines of his resolutions, and whether he opposed the further prosecution of the war?
Mr. BURTON. I will answer the gentleman. I did, sir, go before my people and advocate the doctrines I now utter.--I did go before them, denouncing the Abolition policy of the President and opposing the prosecution of the war, as I believed then, as from the beginning this Union could never be restored by war, that "war was disunion, final, eternal separation." and the sooner it was stopped the better. I advocated then, as I do now, the calling of a national Convention, that the people might accomplish by peace and compromise what it was impossible to accomplish by war.
Mr. BURTON I will answer to your satisfaction, sir, before I get through. I was proceeding to say, when the gentleman interrupted me, that the people desire that this unnatural war should cease; that the issue was fairly made in the last canvass whether they were willing to support a war for the abolition of slavery. They decided in thunder tones, through the page: 196[View Page 196] ballot-box, that they were not. And, in order that my position may be understood. I will repeat here now what I have said to my constituents time and again--here in the face of this House, and of this people, I will say now, once for all--that I am in favor of an armistice and a Peace Convention, and opposed to giving another man or another dollar for the prosecution of this war for another day or another hour while the President adheres to his Abolition policy and disregards the Constitution of the country. Is that satisfactory to the gentleman ?
Mr. KILGORE. That is satisfactory.
Mr. BURTON. In this position I am satisfied that the people are with me, though I do not claim to reflect the sentiments of the 'majority upon this floor. Some think me a little ultra, but, while I reflect the sentiments of the people, I can't be far wrong. These are my individual opinions, asserted upon my own responsibility. If I am wrong, it is an error of the head, and not of the heart, for I know I love my country and study her interest. The masses of the people arc far ahead of us here, and I am satisfied that if a fair and honest expression of the people of Indiana could be had to-day, a majority would indorse the resolutions which I have had the honor of submitting to this body, embodying the sentiments that I have just uttered. [Voices-- "That's so."] Then, if the people are to rule in this country, and they demand a suspension of hostilities and a National Convention, with a hope of settling these difficulties without bloodshed, in God's name why not have it? Why not let the voice of the people be heard in this dark and trying hour? for "Vox Populi" is "Vox Dei." The people, and not Mr. Lincoln, furnish the means of carrying on this war, and why should not their wishes be consulted and their demands be respected? In the name of Constitutional liberty, and all that is dear to the American people, I ask, why shall they not be heard?
Legislation had better cease if it has come to pass that the will of the people cannot be expressed here, through resolutions or otherwise, without causing members to bolt from this body, and revolutionize. If the wheels of legislation are to be thus blocked, to test this thing, we had better all resign our seats here and go home to the people. I, for one, would have no fears in that event, but that I would be returned here with even an increased majority, and find the minority upon this floor smaller than it now is.-- But let them bolt--I will never vote to coerce them back. We are here from day to day, and will be till our constitutional term expires, ready to do our duty in legislating for the people, and if the minority here are willing to take the responsibility of defeating all legislation, let them do so, and sustain themselves and their revolutionary course before the people if they can. We have done nothing to cause this bolting, and, so far as I am concerned, will not yield one "jot or tittle" to them, and will offer no compromise to get them to return. If nothing more is enacted here, a just and an outraged people will hold them responsible, and not us.-- Should we force them to return at this late day of the session granting that it might be done, little or nothing could be accomplished, because, forsooth, our time here is not sufficient to override the Governor's veto, which we should certainly have to meet upon every bill that is obnoxious to these Republicans.
Then if nothing can be gained by resorting to force, as proposed, why should we attempt it ? The Constitution empowers us to compel the attendance of a quorum. I'll admit, though it does not make it obligatory upon us to exercise the power. It is a matter which rests within the sound discretion of his honorable body, and my judgment is, that when no good and much may result from the exercise of the power, we had better not resort to it. The people know we of the majority are here ready to transact business, and are only prevented by a factious bolting opposition, whose motto is "rule or ruin." And if human blood has yet to flow in our happy and prosperous State, which God forbid!-- the great God of nature, "who holds in the hollow of His hand" the destinies of our proud State and nation, will fix the responsibility of the damning sin upon the Abolition party, where it justly belongs. With this view of the case, I, sir, will sit here till the last day allotted, and oppose, with an approving conscience, the coercing of the Abolition seceders.
Mr. NIBLACK was for sending for the bolters by the Sergeant-at-Arms, with the proper writ to arrest them. We had just as well know now as not whether these gentlemen intended to precipitate: the State into revolution on an issue so trivial as this. He was, for the purpose of treating the threats of the minority with defiance, for the adoption of strenuous measures. The day of compromise had passed with him. If we do anything, let us do iv like men, coming square up to the work. These men knew that it was their duty to be in their seats. We had no proposition to make to them. This was a contest for power in this Legislature. They (the minority) were endeavoring to undo the work the people did at the ballot-box.-- We will send writs for these gentlemen, and arrest them by due process of law.
On motion by Mr. HOWK the resolution and pending amendments were laid on the table--yeas 35, nays 17.
No quorum voting, the House adjourned until 9 a.m. to-morrow.
