LOYALTY AND REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT CONDITIONS OF ASSISTANCE TO THE REBEL STATES.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SURVEYS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LEVEES OF THE MISSISSIPPI, MARCH 29, 1867.

MARCH 29th, on motion of Mr. Sprague, of Rhode Island, the Senate proceeded to consider a joint resolution directing an examination and estimate to be made of the cost of reconstructing the levees of the Mississippi. Mr. Sumner remarked that he was not against making this exploration and inquiry, that he welcomed anything of the kind, but he was anxious that Congress should not commit itself to the expenditure involved. He therefore moved the following amendment:

"Provided, That it is understood in advance that no appropriations for the levees of the Mississippi River shall be made in any State until after the restoration of such State to the Union, with the elective franchise and free schools without distinction of race or color."

On this he remarked :·

I

:

AM unwilling that Congress should seem in any way to commit itself to so great an expenditure in one of these States, except with the distinct understanding that it shall not be until after the restoration of the State to the Union on those principles without which the State will not be loyal or republican. We are all seeking to found governments truly loyal and truly republican. Will any Rebel State be such until it has secured in its constitution the elective franchise to. all, and until it has opened free schools to all? The

proposition is a truism. A State which does not give the elective franchise to all, without distinction of color, is not republican in form, and cannot be sanctioned as such by the Congress of the United States. Now I am anxious, so far as I can, to take a bond in advance, and to hold out every temptation, every lure, every seduction to tread the right path, in other words, to tread the path of loyalty and of republicanism. Therefore I seize the present opportunity to let these States know in advance, that, if they expect the powerful intervention of Congress, they must qualify themselves to receive it by giving evidence that they are truly loyal and truly republican.

This is no common survey of a river or harbor. The Senator from Maine [Mr. MORRILL] has already pointed out the difference between the two cases. They are wide apart. It is an immense charity, a benefaction, from which private individuals are to gain largely. Thus far these levees have always been built, as I understand, — I am open to correction, — by the owners of the lands, and by the States.

MR. STEWART [of Nevada]. And principally by the swamp. lands donated by Congress.

MR. SUMNER. Now it is proposed, for the first time, that the National Government shall intervene with its powerful aid. Are you ready to embark in that great undertaking? I do not say that you should not, for I am one who has never hesitated, and I do not mean hereafter to hesitate, in an appropriation for the good of any part of the country, if I can see that it is constitutional; and on the question of constitutionality I do not mean to be nice. I mean always to be generous

in interpretation of the Constitution, and in appropriations for any such object; but I submit that Congress shall not in any respect pledge itself to this undertaking, involving such a lavish expenditure, except on the fundamental condition that the States where the money is to be invested shall be truly loyal and republican in form; and I insist that not one of those States can be such, except on the conditions stated in my amendment.

No vote was reached, and the joint resolution was never considered again.

THE CESSION OF RUSSIAN AMERICA TO

THE UNITED STATES.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON THE RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA, APRIL 9, 1867.

Thirteen governments founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind. -JOHN ADAMS, Preface to his Defence of the American Constitutions, dated Grosvenor Square, London, January 1, 1787: Works, Vol. IV. p. 293.

Barbarous and stupid Xerxes, how vain was all thy toil to cover the Hellespont with a floating bridge! Thus rather wise and prudent princes join Asia to Europe; they join and fasten nations together, not with boards or planks or surging brigandines, not with inanimate and insensible bonds, but by the ties of legitimate love, chaste nuptials, and the infallible gage of progeny. - PLUTARCH, Morals, ed. Goodwin, Vol. I. p. 482.