'GEORGETOWN, D.C., June 12, 1861.

'I hereby give my consent to let James Harod have the privilege of buying his wife and child for the sum of $1,100. James Harod is himself free.

'LOUIS MACKALL, Jun.'

"Now talk about robbery.

Every slave here has

been robbed and stolen, and every man who holds a slave is a man-thief; and here, in this nineteenth century, in the Federal city of this Christian Republic, lofty and eminent among the nations of the earth, challenging respect and imitation, is this man, Mackall, who proposes to let a free man have the privilege of buying his wife and child, which he had stolen from him, for eleven hundred dollars, this Mackall, a woman-thief, a child-thief! How much did he give for this woman? He took her for a debt. And here let me say, for fear that my time may expire, this woman-thief, Mackall, after giving a pledge that this man might buy his own wife and child, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, seized the woman and child, and a babe, six months old, born since, and sent them into a slave-pen in Baltimore; and yet here brazen men stand up and talk about robbing, because we give only three hundred dollars apiece, on an average, to deliver these poor oppressed beings from a condition of brutism. It is the sublimity of impudence."

Mr. Wickliffe said, "I have no hope of success; but I feel it to be my duty to move to strike out the words, 'without the exclusion of any witness on account of color,' where they occur. I presume it is intended to let a man's servant come in, and swear that he is a

Mr. Menzies (Union) of Kentucky moved to amend by striking out all after the enacting clause, and inserting as follows: "That the children of persons held to service for life in the District of Columbia, who may be born after the first day of May, 1862, shall be free; and, at the age of eighteen years, may assert their freedom against all persons. Any person who may be brought into said District after the first day of May, 1862, for the benefit of his or her owner or hirer, shall thereby become free. Any person who may deprive a person entitled to freedom, according to the first section of this act, of the power and means of asserting such freedom, shall be guilty of felony, and shall be punished, on conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, by confinement in the penitentiary not less than five nor more than twenty years." The amendment

was disagreed to.

The committee, on motion of Mr. Stevens, rose; and Mr. Dawes reported that the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union had instructed him to report the bill back to the House, without amendment. Mr. Stevens demanded the previous question; and it was ordered, yeas 92, nays 39. Mr. Holman demanded the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill. They were ordered; and the question was taken, — yeas 92, nays 38.

The bill thus passed the House, and was approved by the President on the sixteenth day of April, 1862. By the enactment of this bill, three thousand slaves were instantly made for ever free, slavery made impossible in the capital of the United States, and the black laws and ordinances concerning persons of color repealed

and abrogated.

The enfranchised bondmen, grateful

for this beneficent act of national legislation, assembled in their churches, and offered up the homage and gratitude of their hearts to God for the boon of personal freedom.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSITION TO AID STATES IN THE ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY.

THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE. MR. ROSCOE CONKLING'S RESOLUTION. MR. RICHARDSON'S SPEECH. - MR. BINGHAM'S SPEECH. MR. VOORHEES' SPEECH. - MR. MALLORY'S SPEECH. — MR. WICKLIFFE'S SPEECH. MR. DIVEN'S SPEECH. MR. THOMAS'S SPEECH.-MR. BIDDLE'S SPEECH. - MR. CRISFIELD'S SPEECH. MR. OLIN'S SPEECH.

MR. CRITTENDEN'S SPEECH. — MR. FISHER'S SPEECH. — MR. HICKMAN'S SPEECH. -PASSAGE OF THE BILL IN THE HOUSE. IN THE SENATE, THE RESOLUTION REPORTED WITHOUT AMENDMENT BY MR. TRUMBULL. — MR. SAULSBURY'S SPEECH. — MR. DAVIS'S AMENDMENT.-MR. SHERMAN'S SPEECH.-MR. DOOLITTLE'S SPEECH. — MR. WILLEY'S SPEECH. —— MR. BROWNING'S SPEECH. MR. M'DOUGALL'S SPEECH.-MR. POWELL'S SPEECH. MR. LATHAM'S SPEECH. MR. MORRILL'S SPEECH. MR. HENDERSON'S AMENDMENT. -- MR. SHERMAN'S SPEECH. PASSAGE OF

THE RESOLUTION.

ON

N the 6th of March, 1862, the President sent to Congress a special message, in which he said, "I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:

"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery; giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.

"If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end; but, if it does command such approval,