posed of, by sale or otherwise, in order to get it away from the front of the Capitol.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, EDWARD CLARK, Architect. Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE, Acting Chairman Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives. Mr. PRICE. How much is this fence worth?

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. The fence is lying out here near this building, and is an unsightly thing.

Mr. PRICE. I did not ask where it was, but what it cost.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I have consulted with the architect of the Capitol, and he says, as his letter shows, that there is no earthly use for it.

Mr. PRICE. It can be sold, I suppose. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I have no interest in the matter whatever. If the gentleman objects, let it go.

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman from Iowa object?

Mr. PRICE. No, sir; I do not.

The joint resolution was read a first and second time, ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, moved to reconsider the vote by which the joint resolution was passed; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

RELIEF FROM DISABILITY.

Mr. PAINE, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. No. 1217) to relieve T. J. Mackey, of South Carolina, of disabilities; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Reconstruction.

REPRESENTATION OF SOUTHERN STATES.

Mr. BINGHAM. I report back from the Committee on Reconstruction the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. No. 1058) to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama to representation in Congress, with the recommendation that the amendments of the Senate be concurred in; and I cail the previous question.

The amendments were read, as follows: Page 1. line two of the preamble, strike out "and."

Page 1, line two, after the word " Alabama,"insert "and Florida."

Page 1, line eight, strike out the words "in form." Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

Whereas the people of North Carolina, South Carolina, Lousiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have, in pursuance of the provisons of an act entitled "An act for the more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, frained constitutions of State

government which are republican, and have adopted

such constitutions by large majorities of the votes cast at the electons held for the ratification or rejection of the same: Therefore,

Be it enacted, &c,. That each of the States of North Carolina. South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida shall be entitled and admitted to representation iu Congress as a State of the Union when the Legislature of such State shall have duly ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, upon the following fundamental conditions: that the constitutionsofneither of said States shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote in said State who are entitled to vote by the constitution thereof herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted, under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said States: Provided. That any alteration of said constitutions may be made with regard to the time and place of residence of voters; and the State of Georgia shall only be entitled and admitted to representation upon this further fundamental condition: that the first and third subdivisions of section seventeen of the fifth article of the constitution of said State, except the proviso to the first subdivision, shall be nail and void, and that the General Assembly of said State, by solemn public act, shall declare the assent of the State to the foregoing fundamental condition.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the day fixed for the first meeting of the Legislature of either of said States, by the constitution or ordinance thereof, shall have passed, or have so nearly arrived before the passage of this act, that there shall not be time for the Legislature to assemble at the period fixed, such Legislature shall convene at the end of twenty days from the time this act takes effect, unless the Governor-elect shall sooner convene the same.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted. That the first scction of this act shall take effect as to each State, except Georgia, when such State shall, by its Legisla ture, duly ratify article fourteen of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and as to the State of Georgia when it shall, in addition, give the assent of said State to the fundamental condition herein before imposed upon the same; and thereupon the officers of each State, duly elected and qualified under the constitution thereof, shall be inaugurated without delay; but no person prohibited from holding office under the United States, or under any State by section three of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, known as article fourteen, shall be deemed eligible to any office in either of said States, unless relieved from disability as provide in said amendment. And it is hereby made the duty of the President, within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification of said amendment by the Legislature of either of said States, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact. Amend the title by striking out the word "and." and inserting after the word "Alabama" the words and Florida."

Mr. FARNSWORTH. Before my colleague on the committee insists on the previous ques. tion, I desire him to give way to me to move an amendment and submit some remarks in support of it.

Mr. BINGHAM. I will yield to my colleague, but I hope he will not take much time with his remarks. How long a time will you want?

Mr. FARNSWORTH. Fifteen or twenty minutes.

Mr. BINGHAM. Very well; I yield fifteen minutes to my colleague.

Mr. SPALDING. Before the gentleman from Illinois proceeds I want to move an amendment. I wish to move to concur in the amendments of the Senate with an amendment striking out Alabama.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I have no right to yield for that purpose.

Mr. SPALDING. My colleague [Mr. BINGHAM] has promised to yield to me for this pur

pose.

The SPEAKER. He has now yielded to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I move to strike out all of this bill that relates to the admission of Representatives in Congress from Florida. And in support of my amendment I desire to say that I make it, as I think the House will believe from my past course in regard to reconstruction, because I am thoroughly convinced that Florida ought not to be readmitted to representation in Congress with its present constitution.

In the first place, the constitution of Florida was irregularly formed; I can but briefly go over the history of its formation. It seems that a majority of the delegates elected to the Florida convention assembled at the time appointed; they were sworn, organized the convention, elected its officers, and proceeded with the business of the convention for a week or so. In the meantime the minority of the convention, refusing to go into the convention, by constant efforts to withdraw members from the convention succeeded in getting enough to withdraw to leave the convention without a quorum.

The convention, however, assembled from day to day and proceeded, as far as it could without a quorum, in the details of a constitu tion, and finally adjourned for a week, in order that other members of the convention might come in and that they might submit what they had done to General Meade. Before the expiration of the week, and on Saturday night, I think it was, the minority, who had adjourned to some neighboring village, came in, in the night, broke into the hall, and took possession of it and held it. On the day when the convention was to reassemble they found this minority in possession of the hall, with bayonets at the door to keep them out.

This minority convention, finding that they had not a majority to proceed to business, proceeded first to expel four members of the convention, to vote them out and to vote in the minority candidates, who had no certificates of election, and who in some instances confessedly had but a most meager minority of the votes cast. Acting upon the principle that as they had voted out the men who were elected

somebody ought to represent those districts, they voted in the men who were not elected.

Then they proceeded with the work of making a constitution. After they had completed their labors, in order to get the delegates of the convention to sign it they passed an ordinance providing that no member should receive his pay as delegate to that convention unless he signed the constitution. Many of the members of the convention were very poor men, many of them were colored men, depending entirely upon the pay they should receive as delegates in order to defray their expenses. Of course, they walked up and signed the constitution for the purpose of obtaining money to defray their expenses and pay their debts. By this means they succeeded in getting a majority of the delegates elected to the convention to sign the constitution.

Now, what is the constitution of Florida? It erects a little oligarchy down there in Florida; nothing else in the world. It gives to the Governor-elect of that State the power to appoint nearly all the State officers. And, by the way, the man clected Governor of Florida is one of the Postmaster General's mail agents in Florida. And the man elected Lieutenant Governor is, I believe, from the pineries of Wisconsin, where the Barston frauds were got up; and I do not know but what he is another of the post office agents.

The Governor of Florida is authorized by this constitution to appoint all the other State officers, the attorney general, secretary of State, State treasurer, State auditor, superintendent of schools, and all such officers. These State officers are made a sort of staff to the Governor; they are his counsel, and are authorized by the constitution to advise him as to the constitutionality of any law, and as to the proper construction to be given to any provision of the State constitution. And the Governor, taking the advice of the creatures he himself appoints, may set aside any law passed by the Legislature of that State.

Not only that, the Governor of Florida is to appoint all the judges of the State-the supreme court judges and the circuit court judges. Not only that, but the salaries of these judges are fixed very high. They have more circuit judges in the little State of Florida than they had in the great State of Illinois when I first went there, with salaries of from three to four thousand dollars each, while in my State, at this time, judges get $1,000 salary with some petty fees. The supreme judges of Florida are to get $4,000 a year each, all being appointed by the Governor. More than that, the Governor appoints the sheriffs and justices of the peace for the whole State. Every sheriff and justice of the peace of the State of Florida is to hold his office at the beck and, nod of Governor Reed, the postal agent of the Postmaster General. Who these various officers are to be I do not know; we shall probably find out when we admit the State.

Mr. CULLOM. I desire to ask my colleague whether this constitution, with all the provisions to which he refers, was not submitted to the people and adopted by them?

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I was coming to that. I am aware that the argument will be made that this constitution, with all its provisions, was submitted to the people. So it was, and with all the Federal office-holders of that State in favor of it. They say it was adopted by the loyal votes of Florida. On the contrary, loyal men in Florida say that it was adopted by the rebel votes; for, mark you, this constitution provides that every man in Florida shall vote. Nobody is excluded from the right of suffrage under this constitution. Though a man be covered all over, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, with the sin of rebellion and the blood of our slaughtered soldiers, he can vote under this constitution.

There are many other things of which, if I had time, I would like to speak. I might refer to the apportionment of representatives. By this constitution representatives in the Legislature of Florida are apportioned in such a manner as to give to the sparsely-populated

portions of the State the control of the Legislature. The sparsely populated parts of the State are those where there are very few negroes, the parts inhabited by the white rebels, the men who, coming in from Georgia, Alabama, and other States, control the fortunes of their several counties. By this constitution every county in that State is entitled to a representative. There are in that State counties that have not thirty registered voters; yet, under this constitution, every one of those counties is entitled to a representative in the Legislature; while the populous counties are entitled to only one representative each, with an additional representative for every thousand inhabitants.

I say to this House that there never was such a constitution framed by any State of this Union as that which has been framed by this so-called State of Florida. In my opinion, it will be wise, very wise for this House to reject the State of Florida until she shall come here with cleaner hands than she now presents.

Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to say anything further upon this question.

Mr. PAINE. Will the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM] yield the floor to me? Mr. BINGHAM. How long a time does the gentleman desire?

Mr. PAINE. Ten minutes.
Mr. BINGHAM. Oh, yes.

Mr. PAINE. Mr. Speaker, it is not without great reluctance and real pain that I find myself compelled to oppose that portion of the report of the committee which favors the inclusion of Florida in this bill. I would be strongly in favor of concurring in the amend ments of the Senate with an amendment strik. ing out Florida. The government of that State is to a considerable extent in the hands, and I understand is destined to be in the hands, of citizens of my own State, of some of whom I am the warm personal friend, and hence it affords me deep regret to be compelled, in the interest of what I believe to be justice and fair play, to oppose the inclusion of Florida in this bill.'

As the bill passed this House it did not include that State. Florida has been ingrafted upon our bill by the Senate; and I rise now to oppose the Senate substitute so far as Florida is concerned, and to give to the House, as I am bound to, my reasons for opposing it. I can do no less than this, because it has been my duty as a member of the committee to scrutinize this constitution. I ought to explain to the House its character. After I have done that it will be for each member to decide himself whether he will or will not vote for concurrence.

Now, sir, in 1860 the census gave Florida a population of 140,425. Florida is inferior in wealth, and, I believe, in numbers, to the average congressional districts of the United States. I have no idea that there is in the State of Florida this day one half, if, indeed, there is one third, of the wealth or the ability to bear the burdens of taxation that is to be found in the average congressional districts of the United States. At the last election 24,319 votes were cast. The number of registered voters was 28,003. This differs but little from the vote cast in the several congressional districts of the United States. I have a copy of the constitution of Florida in my hand, and from the provisions of that instrument relating to the appointment and election of the officers of the State I will show to the House what officers are appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate, what officers are appointed without the advice or consent of the Senate, and what officers are elected by the people, with the terms of each and their salaries, so far as they are fixed by the constitution. Of all the officers of that State the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Legislature, and constables alone are elected by the people. The following officers are to be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate: one chief justice for life, with a salary of $4,500; two associate justices for life, at a salary of $4,000; seven circuit judges for eight years, with salaries to be fixed

Officers of Florida appointed by Governor alone. Term. Salary. 39 county treasurers............2 years.....By Legislature 39 county surveyors............2 years.....By Legislature 39 superintendents common schools.. ..2 years.....By Legislature 195 county commissioners...2 years.....By Legislature Justices of peace ad libitum (say 100)....................... ....Life.......By Legislature Elected by people. Terin.

1 Governor...

..4 years.....

Salary. ..$5,000

2,500

500

1 Lieutenant Governor.....4 years.......... 53 representatives (besides mileage)..

age)...

by the Legislature; thirty-nine county judges for four years, with salaries to be fixed by the Legislature; seven State attorneys for four years, with salaries to be fixed by the Legisla ture; thirty-nine sheriffs for four years, with salaries to be fixed by the Legislature; thirtynine circuit court clerks for four years, with salaries to be fixed by the Legislature; one secretary of State for four years, at a salary of $4,000; one attorney general for four years, with a salary of $3,000; one comptroller for four years, at a salary of $3,000; one treasurer for four years, at a salary of $3,000; one surveyor general for four years, at a salary of 24 Senators (besides mile$3,000; one superintendent of public instruction for four years, at a salary of $3,000; one adjutant general for four years, at a salary of $3,000; one commissioner of immigration for four years, at a salary of $3,000; two major generals, term and salary not fixed; four brig adier generals, term and salary not fixed; all militia officers in the State; thirty-nine county assessors for two years, salaries to be fixed by the Legislature; thirty-nine county collectors of taxes for two years, with salaries to be fixed by the Legislature. All these officers are to be appointed for that insignificant State, probably inferior in population, and certainly inferior in wealth, to the average congressional districts of the country, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and all the salaries which I have indicated are fixed by the constitution.

I come now to the list of officers to be appointed without the consent of the Senate. They are thirty-nine county treasurers for two years; thirty-nine county surveyors for two years; thirty-nine county superintendents for common schools, each for two years; one hun. dred and ninety-five county commissioners, each for two years; and as many justices of peace as the Governor may see fit to appoint, each holding his office for life, or at the pleasure of the Governor.

The Governor is chosen by the people for the term of four years, at a salary fixed by the constitution at $5,000. The Lieutenant Governor is chosen by the people for four years, with a salary fixed by the constitution at $2,500. Fifty-three representatives are chosen by the people, each for two years, at a salary of $500, fixed by the constitution, beside mileage. Twenty-four Senators are chosen by the people for four years, at $500 salary, fixed by the constitution, beside mileage; and constables are to be chosen by the people, one for every two hundred people. These are the officers to be elected by the people.

I am asked by a gentleman near me what are to be the total expenses of this government. I have a table showing in separate columns such of the salaries of these officers as are fixed by the Constitution. I have also estimated the salaries which are to be fixed by the Legislature. I have placed these latter at the lowest possible figures, and it appears that the aggregate annual salaries to be paid the officers of this little State will exceed seven hundred thousand dollars, a burden which almost every congressional district represented in this House is better able to bear than Florida. I send to the Clerk the following table: Officers of Florida appointed by Governor and confirmed by Senate.

..4 years.................. 1 constable (1 per 200 voters) (say 100).......... Not fixed.................. Now, Mr. Speaker, I cannot consent to fasten upon these people this constitution by approv ing it to-day in this House. When you come to look at the difficulties in the way of amending the constitution you find additional reasons for hesitating to accept it. I read the constitutional provisions on this subject:

"Any amendment or amendments to this constitu tion may be proposed in either branch of the Legislature; and if the same shall be agreed upon by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their respective journals, with the yeas and nays thereon, and referred to the Legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months next preceding the time of making such choice; and if, in the Legislature next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the.Legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people in such manner and at such time as the Legislature may prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the constitution.'

It is necessary that two thirds of two successive Legislatures should adopt an amendment to the constitution, and then that the people should ratify it by their own vote. When you consider, sir, that the Governor of the State has the entire patronage of the State, so far as the appointment of executive, administrative, and judicial officers, justices of the peace, and all county officers is concerned, you must see how utterly impossible it will be for the people to shake off the provisions of this constitution which we shall to day by our votes, if we concur in the amendments of the Senate,, fasten upon the people of the State of Florida. [Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. BUTLER. Will the gentleman from Ohio yield to me?

Mr. BINGHAM. I yield ten minutes. Mr. BUTLER. Mr. Speaker, I have only the interest in the State of Florida that any other gentleman in the House has; and I only desire a few moments to relieve the provisions of this bill from the argument to prejudice which my friend has put before the House; for after all it is an argument to prejudice.

In the first place, let us examine the method of amending provided for by the constitu tion of Florida, which he thinks is highly improper and detrimental to the interests of a republican form of government. It is exactly the provision contained in the constitution of the State of Massachusetts; it is exactly the provision of the constitution of the State of New Hampshire; and in Massachusetts we have five times amended our constitution when we have found it necessary. Besides, in New Hampshire it takes two thirds of the people, as my friend from New Hampshire suggests. The fact is that the good people of Florida have taken the old constitution of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and have ingrafted provisions suitable to their condition upon it, and made it their constitution; and the argument made here goes exactly to the constitutions made by our fathers in 1789, and so downward, under which we have lived and grown to man's estate, without being aware we were not living under a truly republican form of government,

Now, then, in regard to the formidable list of State officers here presented. There are

thirty-nine counties in Florida, therefore there must be thirty-nine county assessors. Which county will the gentleman leave without one? There are thirty-nine counties, and there must be thirty-nine county judges, thirty-nine sheriffs, thirty-nine county clerks, and thirty-nine collectors of county taxes.

Again, it is said the constitution of Florida is not republican because these officers are appointed by the Governor. Why, sir, up to 1855, every State officer in the States of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine was appointed by the Governor or by the Legislature, and we did not have the advice and consent of the Senate to a single appointment of the Governor. And yet we have an idea in Massachusetts that we were reasonably republican in our State Governments.

Let me say another thing. In 1855, under the Know-Nothing Legislature, we amended our constitution in this regard; we elected these officers, every one of them. Now, the proposition in Massachusetts is to come back to the appointment of these officers because it is found that local elections of prosecuting officers give local control to the administration of justice, and bring with them influences which are prejudicial to public interests.

Now, let me say a word upon this subject in another view. My friend has given you an argument drawn from the number of inhabitants of the State of Florida. What are you to do with her? To make a Territory of her? My friend from Illinois [Mr. WASHBURNE]

says yes.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. As the gentleman has stated what I said, let me add that, so far as I am concerned, I would remand Florida back to her territorial condition. I do not want her to come here with two Senators to offset the Senators from Illinois or Pennsylvania or New York, and particularly under this constitution. She would get into rebel hands under it.

Mr. BUTLER. I did not yield to you, my friend. Now, let me ask, in answer to that, has she not as many inhabitants as Colorado had, for the admission of which the gentleman voted?

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I beg your pardon; I voted against it.

Mr. BUTLER. Very well; I am glad the gentleman had so much good sense. Has she not as many as Nebraska had when she was admitted? [Cries of "Oh, no!"] She has, indeed, and more. Has she not as many as Nevada had? Has she not as many as Wis consin had when she was admitted? [Cries of "No, no!" Yes; but the people were dif ferent."] I am talking about heads now; not hearts. I am talking about numbers. If you are going to make this the rule, then send back these gentlemen from these other States, and remit those States to a territorial condition.

Now, then, it is said that Florida went into the rebellion. So she did. She could not do otherwise, situated as she was. I have nothing to ask for her on that account.

But true men, loyal men, good men have gone down there, and have regenerated that State. Twenty four thousand votes were cast, and that was a very large number out of a population of one hundred and sixty thousand. Twenty-eight thousand voters registered, and twenty-four thousand votes were cast, and of that number the Union men had eight thousand majority for this State government, although there was a division, under the lead of an Illinois man, both in the convention and at the election. Í say there was a division in the convention, under the lead of an Illinois man, and General Meade was sent for to heal the difficulty.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. Will the gentleman allow me a moment?

Mr. BUTLER. I have not time. Mr. FARNSWORTH. You can get your time extended.

Mr. BUTLER. If you will get my time extended, I will yield.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I ask the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM to extend the gen

tleman's time five minutes that I may put a question to him.

Mr. BINGHAM. I will do so.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. The gentleman says that under the lead of an Illinois man a division was attempted in the convention of Florida. Mr. BUTLER. Yes, sir.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I suppose he alludes to the first president of the convention, Mr. Richards. According to the report of the men who made this constitution, when the convention first assembled Mr. Richards was legally elected president of the convention. He was not the man who undertook to create a division. It was these other men who withdrew from the convention and subsequently came back at midnight on Sunday and be force broke open the hall and took possession of it. That was where the division first began after the convention had been duly organized.

Mr. BUTLER. Well, was not that the proper time to come back? The convention had adjourned till Monday, and it was necessary that they should come back on Monday morning.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. The men who adjourned the convention were not the men who came back. The men who took possession of the hall were the men who had stayed away.

Mr. BUTLER. I cannot yield further. I was about saying that they came back and took possession of the hall, from which they had been driven by force, and that thereupon General Meade was sent for, and he came down and reinstated these men. The gentleman himself says that the others were kept out by bayonets. Whose bayonets, I pray? The bayonets of the United States, under the orders of the commanding general who went down there. Mr. FARNSWORTH. Will the gentleman allow me?

Mr. BUTLER. I cannot be interrupted. Mr. FARNSWORTH. I wish to correct a misstatement.

Mr. BUTLER. You have told your side of the story.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I have the statements of both sides in my hand.

Mr. BUTLER. I understand precisely how it is. The gentleman has heard Mr. Richards's story, and comes here and retails it to the House. I have heard the other side, and I am going to put before the House such information as I can.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. Will the gentleman yield to me?

Mr. BUTLER. I cannot. Mr. FARNSWORTH. I got the gentleman's time extended five minutes, and I think he should yield me some of it.

Mr. CHANLER. I rise to a point of order. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM] extended the time of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BUTLER] on condition that he should yield to the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. FARNSWORTH.]

Mr. BINGHAM. Oh, no! I yielded five minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BUTLER] so that he might answer the question of the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. FARNSWORTH.]

Mr. BUTLER. And which I did answer as well as I could.

I now desire to go a little further into this matter. General Meade went down there and sustained the convention. After that the constitution was submitted to the people, and the people ratified it by a majority almost two to

one.

What was done next? The Legislature of that State got together and ratified the fourteenth constitutional amendment. On the 15th of this month that Legislature is to elect officers; and on the 16th United States Senators are to be elected.

Now, I want to deal with another argument of gentlemen here. Mr. Reed, the Governorelect, had been employed there; and thereupon the unfriendly liars who opposed him insisted all around that he was at work to endeavor to elect Postmaster General Randall a United States

Senator from that State. That story was set afloat, and I am sorry to say has found some believers. That will be settled on the 16th of this month. But they have no more intention of electing Alexander Randall, and he is no more eligible, than my friend from Illinois, [Mr. FARNSWORTH ;] not a bit; and there is no more danger of his being elected.

Now let me answer the statement of the gentleman from Illinois on my right, [Mr. WASHBURNE.] He said he would remit Florida back to its territorial condition. Very well, gentlemen, if you will put all these southern States back into a territorial condition I will go with you. But if you are going to rehabiliate any of these States after their rebellion then serve all alike.

When Texas was admitted into the Union she was admitted with two members of Congress and twelve thousand voters. And it is now proposed by some gentlemen to cut up that State into two, three, or four States.

But time presses, and I must speak briefly on these different points. In the first place, this State organization of Florida has the approval of General Meade. In the next place, it has the approval of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and of the Senate. In the third place, it has the approval of a majority of the Reconstruction Coinmittee of this House. Now, are these men all so deceived, and is all virtue-no, I will take that back-is all knowl edge of the subject confined to my friends from Illinois, [Mr. WASHBURNE and Mr. FARNSWORTH,] and my friend from Wisconsin, [Mr. PAINE?]

All these arguments, all these statements, all the provisions of this constitution have been submitted to the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and they have found the constitution republican and proper. This constitution has been submitted to the Senate, and they have found it republican and proper. It has been submitted to your own Committee on Reconstruction, and they have found it republican and proper, and have reported it to this House. Now, if you set the example of going back on the matter of reconstruction, I have no doubt there are a good many ready to follow that example. If I were to follow my own ideas altogether, unrestrained by party associations, upon this as a mere matter of policy, I should doubt very much the policy of rehabilitating any one of these southern States. But I hold it as a question of policy as to when these States should be admitted, and not a question of principle, and upon that I feel bound by my party ties. Therefore I shall vote for this bill. I shall hope to see Florida again represented in Congress. I consider that State more certain for the Union and more determined against rebellion than any other of these States, because into that State have gone a great number of northern emigrants to settle there, and she is more sure for the Union than any other southern State.

[Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. HULBURD. Will the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM] yield to me for a few minutes?

Mr. BINGHAM. I will yield to my colleague on the committee for ten minutes.

Mr. HULBURD. Mr. Speaker, when the matter of Florida originally came before the Committee on Reconstruction I concurred with my colleagues on that committee in opposing its admission. And when we originally reported this bill to the House the State of Florida was not embraced in it. There were objections made to the constitution which led me to vote against it.

Since that time the constitution ben objected to has been submitted to the people of Florida, and they, as has already been stated, by a vote of nearly two to one, have accepted that constitution, and ratified it so far as they could ratify it. They now ask that we should admit them into the Union under that constitution.

Now, my friend from Wisconsin [Mr. PAINE] objects to some of the provisions contained in that constitution, especially the provision con

ferring so sweeping an appointing power on the Governor. To that argument the gentle man from Massachusetts [Mr. BUTLER] has very well answered that the appointing power vested in the Governor under the constitution of Florida is no greater than that formerly exercised by the executive in the New England States and in the State of New York. The real reason for this vesting the appointing power in the Governor of Florida has not yet been stated. I propose briefly to state it, that members of the House may understand the reason for this apparent anomaly.

Among the thirty-nine counties of the State of Florida there are several in which rebel voters are now in the ascendency. If they are allowed to erect their county organizations by electing county officers it will be done by rebel hands, under rebel auspices, and for rebel purposes. Now, there has been vested in the hands of the Governor the power to make these appointments to insure loyal Union organizatons in all the counties. Is not that right, and therefore proper? I do not understand that Governor Reed, the Governor-elect, is charged by anybody with being in sympathy at all with disloyalty or rebellion. His nominations, therefore, will be in the interest of loyalty, of patriotism, of Unionism. It is urged that if these appointments are thus made and have four undisturbed years to run all the counties, including the now rebel counties, will become loyalized and Unionized, so that thereafter they will be true and loyal, part and parcel of a loyal State. Is not that desirable? Is it not worth an effort?

But it is asked-and this is one of the objections made by the gentleman from Wisconsin, (Mr. PAINE]-why not change after that time this provision with regard to the appointing power? Why, sir, provision is made in this very constitution for a revision and modification of any of its provisions, except those affecting the franchise rights, whenever the people of Florida dislike the lodgment of so much power in the hands of the gubernatorial officer. A majority vote of two successive Legislatures and a submission to, and approval by, the voters are all the preliminaries required.

But the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. PAINE] objects to the high salaries which are provided for. Why, sir, is it desirable that we here should take into consideration and fix the salaries of the Governor and other officers of the various States of this Union? Suppose we should be called on to say the salary of the Governor of Vermont, which is only $700, ought to be raised to $7,000. We might, with as much propriety, interfere in that matter, as to say that because the State of Florida has provided high salaries for her State officers we will keep her out of the Union till she reduces those salaries to suit our views. It is very well known that the southern States have always been in the habit of paying their officers higher salaries than those received by the same officials of our northern States. I understand that before the rebellion the salaries paid to the officers of all the southern States were high in comparison with those paid by the States of the North. Is that anything that concerns us? I cannot see the force of an objection founded upon this matter of salaries. So long as the suffrage rights of all the population, without regard to grade, condition, or color, have been cared for, have been properly secured, and the spirit of the reconstruction acts have been complied with, I cannot see how or why we should oppose the admission of Florida because we object to some details involving no general principles or rights, about salaries provided for in the constitution, or because we think the appointing power is too largely vested in the executive of the State, or because we, perchance, differ about the propriety of several of the subordinate local, county, and State officers holding office for the term of four years.

Mr. BROMWELL. 1 desire to ask the gentleman from New York (Mr. HULBURD] whether he thinks it entirely safe to trust so important a consideration as the loyal organization of a

State entirely in the hands of one man, so that if he should prove recreant, or, dying, should be succeeded by the Lieutenant Governor, there would be nothing to hinder the entire organization of the State from being committed to the hands of rebels.

Mr. HULBURD. Sir, the people of the State of Florida have not made the tremendous mistake that was made at Baltimore in 1864, by selecting for their second officer a thing who cannot be trusted in case the execu tive power should devolve upon that officer.

Mr. BROMWELL. But does not the whole thing depend upon one man's fidelity; and if he should die is the man who would succeed him as good as he is?

Mr. HULBURD. He is, I believe, an honest and true, capable loyal man. But, sir, this whole objection arises, as I understand, because a citizen of Illinois went down there and did not succeed in obtaining the majority which he expected. When he went before the people and asked that his particular views and representations should be carried out he succeeded in getting elected only six members of the Assembly. If that Illinois man had succeeded in getting the control of the organization of the State doubtless there would have been no objection here now to the admission of the State, for she cannot be kept out longer on any principle of consistency, I had almost said of decency.

BROMWELL. I wish to say, so far as

I am concerned, that it has nothing to do with this matter what the performances of Mr. Richards have been there, and I have never had any idea that his welfare had anything to do with this matter.

Mr. HULBURD. The constitution of Florida was approved by General Meade, and I say now approved by a majority of the Committee on Reconstruction of this House, who were formerly opposed to its adoption. Is there any good reason, founded on fundamental principle, why this House should not now approve of this bill as amended by the Senate?

Mr. FARNSWORTH. My friend will say when the Committee on Reconstruction approved of this constitution of Florida.

Mr. HULBURD. If it were right I could state what occurred in the committee-room. If my friend will allow me, I will do so.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I do.

Mr. HULBURD. I understood my friend from Illinois to say in the committee-room this morning that he regarded the constitution of Florida as the best constitution that any of the southern States had adopted.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. The gentleman is entirely mistaken. I never made any remark like that, and the gentleman is mistaken.

The SPEAKER. The ten minutes of the gentleman from New York have expired. Mr. BINGHAM. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. BAKER. I wish to say, Mr. Speaker, that as this legislation involves some large questions of law and policy, and as three or five minutes are too short a time in which to discuss them, I will content myself with asking leave to print some remarks on this and the Arkansas bill.

There was no objection; and it was ordered accordingly. [See Appendix.]

Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I do not desire to delay the House with an extended discussion of this bill. I desire to obtain the action of the House speedily on the bill; and having stated very briefly my own views touching the bill, and the reasons why it should pass the House, I will call for the previous question.

Mr. SPALDING. I desire to move to strike out Alabama as well as Florida.

Mr. BINGHAM. I yield for that amendment to be offered.

The SPEAKER. The question will be taken separately on them.

Mr. BINGHAM. On the subject of Alabama I suppose the House to be concluded. It has heretofore voted on the question of admitting Alabama to representation, and its constitution has not since changed, nor is the bill as to Alabama changed by any of the amendments of the Senate. Therefore it is not my purpose to make any further remark on that point.

Touching the objection, sir, that has been raised as to the admission of Florida, it seems to me gentlemen have spoken in haste. They cannot expect the House of Representatives, acting on the suggestions made here in opposition to the constitution of Florida, to condemn the continuous record of the Republic, without exception, for nearly the first forty years of its existence. I undertake to say, Mr. Speaker, of the constitution of the original thirteen States, the constitution of Florida, touching the appointment of judical and executive officers, is substantially a transcript. It will not do for the House of Representatives at this time of day to declare that the constitutions of the original States of the Union, for the first forty years of our national existence, were not republican, and not in conformity with the Constitution of the United States.

Allow me to state further, Mr. Speaker, that several of the new States, upon their admission into the Union under the Constitution, conformed their constitutions in this behalf to the very provisions of this constitution of Florida and of the original thirteen States. The constitution of my own State, Ohio, followed that

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I never said any. thing of the kind.

Mr. HULBURD. What, then, was the gentleman's remark, and to what did it apply?

Mr. FARNSWORTH. I may have made a remark in reference to Alabama.

Mr. HULBURD. I was under the impres sion the gentleman also made this remark in reference to the constitution of Florida.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. The gentleman will do me the justice to say that I said nothing of the kind in reference to the constitution of Florida.

Mr. HULBURD. I did so understand the gentleman; but of course I may have been mistaken.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. The Committee on Reconstruction have unanimously and repeatedly declared against this constitution of Florida.

Mr. HULBURD. Yes, they have; but not since the constitution was submitted and sanctioned by the people.

Mr. FARNSWORTH. Repeatedly; and they do now; but they say that we had better admit the State.

until within the last eighteen years when that constitution was amended, in 1850, all judicial officers in the State of Ohio were appointed in the same mode and manner as is prescribed in the constitution of Florida. I never heard, Mr. Speaker, the question raised that the constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1802, was not republican.

This is all I have occasion to say upon that point. Touching the other point suggested by the gentleman as to the sparseness of population, I pray gentlemen to hesitate long before they venture to decide that the people of Florida are not sufficiently numerous to constitute a State of this Union, when in point of fact that State is as populous to-day as it ever was at any time after the admission of that State into the Union of the States. There is as much population there to-day as ever there was. It will not do for men who represent the great body of the American people, after all the record that has been made upon this subject, to come and say that the people of Florida are not sufficiently numerous to constitute a State of the Union. Much less will it do for the majority of this House, after the record they made upon the question of the admission of Colorado into the Union as a State with only some six thousand voters, to come and say

in the face of that record-with twenty-four thousand votes cast in Florida under the operation and limitation of your own laws for the new constitution of that State-that there is not sufficient population in Florida to constitute a State.

Neither will it do, Mr. Speaker, for gentlemen who stand here representing the democratic ideas of America to come and condemn a constitution, in the presence of which the constitutions of half the States of the Union pale touching the question of democratic rights and privileges, and vote this constitution down on that ground. The constitution of Florida makes no discrimination between American citizens of full age being made persons resident in the State, but secures the equal right of suffrage to every one of them upon one year's residence. That accords exactly with my ideas of democracy, as I believe it accords exactly with the ideas of democracy entertained by four fifths of the whole body of the American people. The constitution, sir, is democratic by all the traditions of the Republic. It is republican by all the interpretations of the Constitution of the United States.

Having said this, I shall vote, if I shall vote alone, for the admission of Florida. And I vote for the admission of the five remaining States named in the bill upon the same ground that I would vote for the admission of Florida, to wit, that their constitutions are republican and their provisions for the exercise of the elective franchise democratic; and above all -and it is to this I call the attention of this House and of this country-because upon the admission of these six States, upon the express condition named in the bill, may depend the final ratification and incorporation into the Constitution of the Republic of the fourteenth article of amendment.

Oregon but the other day, under the operation of the apostate in the White House, elected a Legislature adverse to

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, I will not call the gentleman to order, but he ought to be. The SPEAKER. The gentleman calls the gentleman from Ohio to order.

Mr. BROOKS. No, sir, I do not, upon reflection.

Mr. BINGHAM. Perhaps I ought not to have said it.

The SPEAKER. The Chair did not hear what the words were.

Mr. BROOKS. Impeachment is over, and that sort of language is done.

Mr. BINGHAM. It is not quite over. Mr. BROOKS. Well, go on. Mr. BINGHAM. There is another tribunal before which we are to try impeachment.

A MEMBER. A post-mortem? [Laughter.] Mr. BINGHAM. Never mind the post-mortem. I mean the great body of the American people they are not dead nor the subjects of a post-mortem.

Mr. ROBINSON. Will the gentleman allow me to ask a question?

Mr. BINGHAM. Not now. Mr. ROBINSON. I thought not. Mr. BINGHAM. I was calling attention to the fact that

Mr. SHELLABARGER. Will my colleague allow me to ask a question and make a short

statement?

loyalty and safety of the government which is presented for our approval and for the guarantee of the United States. They relate to matters of detail which the people at all times have power to control, and it would be to my mind a strange and wrong position for the Congress to take, to exclude from representation a State on the ground that its constitution in these matters of detail, which do not go to the matter of loyalty, or of safety, or of propriety of being guarantied, may not be in accordance with the minds of some of us.

And permit me, in conclusion, to say this: that so far as my memory goes, in all the action of Congress the principle upon which we have acted-I mean the majority in Congress, who have the responsibility of rehabilitating these States and welcoming them back as speedily as possible, with the invocation of God's blessing and the blessing of all good men upon themI say the principle upon which we have acted has been not to control in details, not to take microscopic views of the constitution, &c., that they present, but simply to see that they are loyal and republican and safe. It was rebellion that dashed them from their orbits, and as soon as the rebellious spirit is purged from them, and they are made right in regard to loyalty, let us welcome them back. That has been from the first and will be to the last my own view of this subject.

Mr. BINGHAM. I am glad that my colleague has said what he has said, and espe cially that he has asked me the question whether Florida has complied with the requirements of the reconstruction acts in the matter of reorganization. I answer him emphatically and directly that she has, and I challenge contradiction from any quarter.

I agree with my colleague that we have no right to question a State about the local de tails of her constitution, which do not touch the general safety of the Republic and do not conflict with the requirements of the Constitu tion of the United States or any existing statute law. But, sir, I ask the House to consider the point upon which I was dwelling when my colleague interrupted me so opportunely and so properly, that it does concern the safety of this Republic whether the fourteenth article of amendments shall become part of the fundamental law of the nation. The condition-precedent incorporated in this bill, which now presses for decision before this House, is that not one of the six States named in it shall come to political power save upon the condition that its Legislature shall in due form ratify the fourteenth article of amendment. I stand here, Mr. Speaker, to proclaim that by that act of ratification, upon every theory, the fourteenth article becomes part of the Constitution of the United States, and becomes thereby, for all the great hereafter, a rock of safety to all the people of the Republic. It puts an end forever to this wild and guilty fantasy that there is a sovereignty residing in any State of the Union superior to the sovereignty of the Republic; it puts an end forever to the mad declaration of demagogues that it is competent for any State of this Union to enact an ordinance of secession or to levy taxes to the extent of a single farthing for the purpose of waging war against the supremacy of the Republic and the supremacy

of its laws.

Mr. Speaker, it does strike me that the decision of this very question upon which the House is about to pronounce may in some sort affect not merely the stability of a political party in this country, but may in some sort touch the stability and perpetuity of the Republic.

I am willing to take all the consequences, and therefore ask that the House will now second the previous question. After that has been done, if some gentlemen desire to be heard to any reasonable extent, I am perfectly willthey shall be heard in the hour to which I will be entitled.

ings in Florida being in accordance with the reconstruction acts of Congress?

Mr. BINGHAM. After the previous ques tion is seconded I will yield to the gentleman. The previous question was then seconded and the main question ordered.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. BINGHAM] has forty-eight minutes of his hour left, having occupied twelve minutes of his time before the previous question was called.

Mr. SPALDING. I understand that both Houses of Congress have agreed to the admission of Alabama, and therefore I will withdraw my motion to strike out of the Senate amendment all that relates to Alabama.

Mr. BINGHAM. I now yield for ten minutes to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. BROOKS,] my associate on the Committee of Reconstruction.

Mr. BROOKS. I am well aware that whatever may be said on this subject on this side of the House is said to unwilling ears. It is not, therefore, from any desire to address this House that I shall make the few remarks that I am about to make, but because it is a part of my duty, as a member of the Committee on Reconstruction, to oppose the passage of all such bills as this.

And first, let me refer to the remark of the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. SHELLABARGER,] on the other side of the Chamber, that it is not the business of Congress to look into and change constitutions, as suggested by the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. FARNSWORTH.] He says that as constitutions are framed by the people, it is the duty of the House to submit to the | judgment of the people who framed those constitutions. But what is the spectacle presented by this very bill? Georgia presents here a constitution with a provision relating to homesteads.

Mr. SHELLABARGER. Will the gentleman permit me to correct him in relation to a slight misapprehension he has made of what

I said?

Mr. BROOKS. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHELLABARGER. I did not say, and I do not think it will be found that I said, that it is not the duty of Congress to look into the constitutions presented by the States. I said that it was not proper for Congress to look into those details of the constitutions which are under the control of the people at all times, and which do not at all affect the loyalty of the people of the State.

Mr. BROOKS. I understand the gentleman. Yet in this very bill we have looked behind the constitution of Georgia and propose to strike out of that constitution all that relates to the homesteads which the people of Georgia have secured to themselves. With a microscopic view the Committee on Reconstruction, or a majority of them, have looked into the details of the constitution of Georgia, and propose to strike out of it certain provisions.

The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. SHELLABARGER] says all we have to do is to look to the loyalty of the people; in other words, to look to the politics of the people; for in the modern acceptation of the term, with the metamorphoIsis which the definition of the word has undergone since Webster, Worcester, and other lexicographers gave the definition, loyalty has now come to mean only an agreement with the views of the majority of this House; or, in other words, an indorsement of the radicalism of the country.