As soon as the vote was announced in the Senate, Mr. Sumner hastened to Mr. Seward at the State Department. It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and the Secretary was reposing on a sofa. On hearing the words, “The treaty is ratified unanimously,” he exclaimed, “Where —— were the Democrats?” His joy was great, and Lord Lyons, on learning the result, was not less happy. It is much in a diplomatic career to sign any treaty, but it was an event to have signed a treaty promising the final extinction of an infinite scandal and curse to humanity.
Subsequent action was prompt. The treaty was ratified by the Senate April 24th; ratifications were exchanged in London May 25th; the treaty was proclaimed by the President June 7th, 1862.
June 10th, a message of the President, transmitting a copy of the treaty, with correspondence between Mr. Seward and Lord Lyons in relation to it, was laid before the Senate, and on motion of Mr. Sumner referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and ordered to be printed.
June 13th, Mr. Sumner reported from the Committee a bill to carry the treaty into effect, providing for the appointment, with the advice and consent of the Senate, of a judge and also an arbitrator on the part of the United States to reside at New York, a judge and also an arbitrator to reside at Sierra Leone, and a judge and also an arbitrator to reside at the Cape of Good Hope,—all the judges to be paid $2,500 annually, the arbitrator at New York $1,000, and the arbitrators at Sierra Leone and the Cape of Good Hope $2,000 respectively.
Owing to the pressure of business incident to the latter days of a very crowded session, Mr. Sumner was not able to call it up immediately. June 26th, on his motion, it was considered and passed: Yeas, 34; Nays, only 4.
Among the nays was Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, who remarked:—
“I do not object to the suppression of the African slave-trade, but I do not believe that this Government has the constitutional right to establish any such court. I think the treaty ought not to have been adopted.”
July 7th the bill passed the House, and July 11th was approved by the President.
The importance of this treaty had not been exaggerated. The Journal des Débats, organ of French intelligence at Paris, in its enunciation, June 15, 1862, of the objects accomplished by the National Government, says: “There is a treaty with England, which, loyally executed, must soon render the slave-trade almost impossible.”
The slave-trade became almost impossible, so that practically it ceased to exist. The terror of the law, with these provisions for its enforcement, sufficed at last to deter the perpetrators of this inhuman crime, and the ocean, so often traversed by slave-ships, became like a peaceful metropolis with a well-ordered police.
This great result was without the capture of a single vessel. It was enough that at last we were in earnest. Judges and arbitrators found themselves without employment, when, in an appropriation bill, of March 3, 1869, Congress called on the President, with the consent of Great Britain, to terminate that part of the treaty requiring mixed courts and their annual outlay.[306] This was done by treaty between the two powers, signed at Washington, June 3, 1870; so that the mutual right of search for the suppression of the slave-trade alone remained.
Resolution and Remarks in the Senate, April 28, 1862.
April 18th, Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent, and adopted.
“Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be requested to furnish, for the use of the Senate, a list of all persons residing in the District of Columbia who appear in the returns of the last census as owners of slaves, indicating the number claimed to be owned by each person, with the classification of their ages according to the returns.”
April 28th, the Secretary of the Interior accompanied the return with the suggestion, that, as it exposed the private affairs of individuals, it was questionable “whether it would be proper to print it for circulation.” On hearing this communication read at the desk, Mr. Sumner moved its reference to the Committee on the District of Columbia, and remarked:—
MR. PRESIDENT,—In offering the resolution, I felt that I was doing good service to the Commissioners appointed to carry out our recent measure of Emancipation, and I felt also that I was helping to correct possible abuses in anticipation of its operation.
I have been sorry to hear of efforts during the last few weeks to run able-bodied slaves out of the District. Slavery is often called a patriarchal institution, and I am anxious to see how many of the patriarchs, in avoidance of the action of Congress, have transported slaves beyond the reach of its beneficent power. Such an outrage ought to be exposed. I confess that I find no good reason for delicacy towards persons so guilty. I am sure that freedom and truth will be gainers, when such conduct is laid bare. I cannot doubt that the object proposed is important.
These statistics should be brought before the Senate, if not before the country. They will be needed by the Commissioners, and I am sure they will do something to illustrate the character of Slavery.
The motion was agreed to.
Speech in the Senate, on a Resolution of Inquiry, May 1, 1862.
May 1st, on motion of Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, the Senate resumed the consideration of the following resolution, submitted by him on the 3d of April.
“Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia be directed to consider and report whether any further legislation is necessary to prevent persons employed in the military service of the United States from aiding in the return of or control over persons claimed as fugitive slaves, and to punish them therefor.”
MR. PRESIDENT,—Some time has elapsed since we listened to the persuasive speech of the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Grimes], but, unhappily, the subject is fresh still. The character, if not the efficiency, of our armies is concerned in the complete enforcement of the late legislation with regard to slaves. If this legislation be set at defiance, or evaded, I think that our military strength will be impaired, and I am sure that our good name must suffer.
I am grateful to the Senator from Iowa for the frankness with which he exposed and condemned the recent orders of several of our generals.
One of these officers, though last from California, was originally of Massachusetts. He served honorably in the Mexican War, and, I believe, is an excellent soldier. His present position as a general is due partly to my exertions. I pressed his appointment. But, had I for a moment imagined he could do what he has just perpetrated, he would never have had my support. When an officer falls bravely in defence of his country, honest pride mingles with the regret that we feel. But when an officer falls as General Hooker has now fallen, there is nothing but regret. He has fallen, although not dead. I say this with pain; but I cannot say less.
The order of General Hooker has been quoted by the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Grimes]. I ask leave to read part of a letter which I have received from his camp.
“I take the liberty of forwarding to you the enclosed order of General Hooker, with a report of its results, thinking that you will be interested to know how the late Act of Congress forbidding the rendition of slaves by army officers is violated, and hoping that some effort may be made to prevent such unjust and outrageous measures on the part of superior officers.
“Our moral and humane feelings have been violated by having been compelled to witness the attempts of slave-holders, known to be of Secession proclivities, coming into our camps and searching our private quarters for their slaves, under the cover of a protecting order from a general who exceeds his authority.”
This letter expresses feelings natural to a humane bosom. In contrast with General Hooker, I call attention to the course of General Doubleday, whose head-quarters are here in Washington. I read his order.
“Headquarters, Military Defences north of the Potomac,
Washington, April 6, 1862.
“Sir,—I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your letter of the 2d instant, that all negroes coming into the lines of any of the camps or forts under his command are to be treated as persons, and not as chattels.
“Under no circumstances has the commander of a fort or camp the power of surrendering persons claimed as fugitive slaves, as it cannot be done without determining their character.
“The additional article of war recently passed by Congress positively prohibits this.
“The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that they bring much valuable information which cannot be obtained from any other source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides. They also know, and frequently have exposed, the haunts of Secession spies and traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not, therefore, be excluded.
“The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be obtained from the commanding officer for that purpose.
“I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“E. P. Halsted, Assistant Adjutant-General.
“Lieutenant-Colonel John D. Shaul,
Commanding Seventy-Sixth Regiment New York Volunteers.”
General Doubleday acted bravely at Fort Sumter; but he did not render a truer service to his country on that occasion than he has now done in this order. If this example were followed everywhere in our camps, we should at least save ourselves from shame, if we did not secure victory.
Other generals at the West think they do their duty best, when they serve Slavery. There is General McCook, of whom we have the following sad report, on the authority of a paper at Nashville, recounting the visit of a slave-hunter to his camp.
“He visited the camp of General McCook, in Maury County, in quest of a fugitive, and that officer, instead of throwing obstacles in the way, afforded him every facility for the successful prosecution of his search. That General treated him in the most courteous and gentlemanly manner, as also did General Johnson, and Captain Blake, the brigade provost-marshal. Their conduct toward him was in all respects that of high-toned gentlemen desirous of discharging their duties promptly and honorably. It is impossible for the army to prevent slaves from following them; but whenever the fugitives come into the lines of General McCook, they are secured, and a record made of their names and the names of their owners. All the owner has to do is to apply either in person or through an agent, examine the record or look at the slaves, and, if he finds any that belong to him, take them away.”
Can we listen to such a statement and not feel indignant at the levity with which human freedom is treated?
Yet similar cases multiply. There is the provost-marshal of Louisville, who seems to be a disgrace to our army, if we may believe the following report.
Here Mr. Sumner quoted at length the description of his conduct: making colored people “his subjects of oppression and inhuman treatment”; “ordering his provost guards to flog all colored persons out after dark”; “now being revenged on the colored people for their faithfulness to the Union cause.”[307]
But, Sir, an incident has occurred under General Buell’s command which cannot be read without a blush. Here it is, as described in the letter of a soldier who was more than a witness, even a party to it. I find this letter in a newspaper, but it has been furnished to me in manuscript by the person to whom it is addressed.
“Camp Andy Johnson, near Nashville,
Tennessee, March 8, 1862.
“My dear Parents,— … A great outrage was perpetrated in our camp yesterday, as follows.
“A black boy, named Henry, has been at work for the Colonel for some days. His owner came after him while we were camped on the other side of the river, but the boys hooted him out of camp. The negro said he would sooner be killed on the spot than go back with his master, even if he knew he would not be punished. His master, he said, was a Secessionist, and had kept him (the boy) on some fortifications down the river at work for four mouths.
“Nothing more transpired concerning his return until yesterday. While the greater part of the regiment were out on picket, the boy’s owner came with two sentinels of the provost guard from the city, and, after chasing the poor frightened boy through the camp several times,—he drawing a knife once, and the sentinel knocking him down with his musket,—they captured and delivered him to his owner, who stood waiting outside the lines. The latter paid the catching sentries fifteen dollars each, and led Henry away with him unmolested, flourishing a pistol at his head as he went. They had no order—at least, showed none—for the boy from head-quarters, and the Lieutenant-Colonel of our regiment, who was in command, need not have delivered him up without such an order, yet allowed him to be caught, and the Major forbade our boys from giving him any assistance. One of the sentinels was from a Kentucky, and one from an Indiana regiment.…
“The former master of our boy will not get him without an order, and an imperative one, I believe; and if one is given for him,—his master having been a strong and active Secessionist, a quartermaster for the Southern army, in fact,—I have about concluded to follow it by immediate resignation, and this, whether the order be for him or any other negro. The order would make it an official act. What do you think my duty would be in the premises?”
Of General Buell I know nothing personally; but such an incident must fill us with distrust. He may possess military talent, he may be a thunderbolt of war; but it is clear that he wants that just comprehension of the times and that sympathy with humanity without which no officer can do his complete duty.
But General Buell may, perhaps, shelter himself behind the instructions of his superior officer; and this brings me to the famous Order No. 3 of Major-General Halleck. I have it in my hands, and quote these words:—
“We will prove to them that we come to restore, not to violate, the Constitution and the laws.… The orders heretofore issued from this department in regard to pillaging, marauding, and the destruction of private property, and stealing and the concealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave: such questions must be settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slaves will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the General commanding.”[308]
In this order, so strangely inconsistent, absurd, unconstitutional, and inhuman, the General perversely perseveres. In every aspect it is bad. It wants common sense, as well as common humanity. It is unworthy a man of honor and a soldier.
It is inconsistent with itself, inasmuch as the General proclaims that he “comes to restore, not to violate, the Constitution and the laws,” and then proceeds to a direct violation of them. In the same order he says: “It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave: such questions must be settled by the civil courts.” And then, in the face of this declaration, he proceeds to say that “no fugitive slaves will be admitted within our lines or camps.” But pray, Sir, how can such persons be excluded from lines or camps without deciding that they are fugitive slaves? This flat and discreditable inconsistency is in harmony with the whole order.
But worse than its inconsistency is its absurdity. This watchful, prudent General proposes to exclude all fugitive slaves from his camps. In other words, he shuts out all opportunities of information with regard to the enemy naturally afforded by this class of deserters. They may come charged with knowledge of movements and plans; but the General will not receive them, because they are slaves. They may be able to disclose the secret of a campaign; but the General will not have it, because they are slaves. If we have failed thus far in knowledge of the enemy’s designs, it is because this absurd policy has prevailed.
General Halleck may be instructed by General McDowell, whose opposite conduct shines in a despatch published in the papers.
“Catlettsville Station, Virginia,
Fifteen Miles south of Manassas Junction, April 13.
“Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:—
“An intelligent negro has just come in from Stafford County, and says his master returned this morning from Fredericksburg to his home, and told his wife, in this negro’s presence, that all the enemy’s troops had left Fredericksburg for Richmond and Yorktown, the last of them leaving on Saturday morning. This last has just been confirmed by another negro.
“Irvin McDowell, Major-General.”
Here are two negroes coming into camp with important information, both of whom General Halleck’s order would repel and drive back to bondage. And he may be instructed by the despatch of General Wool, just received, announcing our success at New Orleans, the news of which came by a “fugitive black.” The General adds: “The negro bringing the above reports that the Rebels have two iron-clad steamers nearly completed, and that it is believed that the Merrimac will be out to-morrow.” But all this information would be shut out by General Halleck. Can absurdity be more complete?
But worse than inconsistency or absurdity is its positive unconstitutionality. What right, under the Constitution, has this General to set himself up as judge in cases of human freedom? Where does he find his power? By whom has he been invested with this attribute? It is the boast of the National Constitution that all are “persons.” The National Constitution so regards everybody, and surrounds everybody with the safeguards of “persons,” even to the extent of declaring that “no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law.” And yet the army is gravely told to treat certain persons as slaves. Of course this cannot be without sitting in judgment most summarily on human freedom. How does the General know that they are slaves? On what evidence? Because they are black? Why may they not be free blacks? General Halleck would reverse the true presumption. He assumes Slavery, when he ought to assume Freedom. In the eye of the Constitution all are freemen until proved to be slaves, no matter of what color. The only question to be asked concerns loyalty. Are you loyal or rebel? If loyal, then welcome to the hospitality and protection of our camps. If rebel, then surrender to our arms. Be these the inquiries, with this rule, and the Union we seek to restore will not be indefinitely postponed.
But worse than its unconstitutionality is the inhumanity of this order, so shocking to the moral sense. This General, professing to fight the battle of the Constitution with the commission of the Republic, speaks of “the concealment of slaves” in the same class with “pillaging, marauding, and stealing.” I complain of this confusion of language, showing an insensibility to human rights. It is like those shameful advertisements which garnish Southern newspapers, where “the boy Tom” and “the girl Sally” are to be sold in the same lot with “horses, mules, cattle, and swine.” That such an order should be put forth in the name of our country may justly excite indignation.
On these various grounds I object to this order. In this criticism, which I make with sincere sorrow, I confine myself to the order. General Halleck is reputed an able officer, and I am sure he is an able lawyer. I do not intend to question his various capacity. But I do protest against his perverse violation of the Constitution to carry out a miserable and disgraceful proslavery policy; and I protest against his being allowed to degrade the character of our country. Sir, we are making history. Every victory adds something to that history; but such an order is worse for us than defeat. More than any defeat it will discredit us with posterity, and with the friends of liberal institutions in foreign lands. I have said that General Halleck is reputed an able officer; but, most perversely, he undoes with one hand what he does with the other. He undoes by his orders the good he does as a general. While professing to make war upon the Rebellion, he sustains its chief and most active power, and degrades his gallant army to be the constables of Slavery.
How often must I repeat that Slavery is the constant Rebel and universal enemy? It is traitor and belligerent together, and is always to be treated accordingly. Tenderness to Slavery now is practical disloyalty and practical alliance with the enemy.
Believe me, Sir, against the officers named to-day I have no personal unkindness. I should much prefer to speak in their praise; but I am in earnest. While I have the honor of a seat in the Senate, no success, no victory, shall be apology or shield for a general who insults human nature. From the midst of his triumphs I will drag him forward to receive the condemnation which such conduct deserves.
This movement ended in the Bill for Confiscation and Liberation, approved July 17th, which provided for the freedom of the slaves of Rebels. The enactments on this subject were embodied by the President in the first Proclamation of Emancipation, September 22, 1862.
Resolution in the Senate, May 8, 1862.
In a despatch announcing the capture of Williamsburg, May 6th, General McClellan inquired whether he was “authorized to follow the example of other generals and direct the names of battles to be placed on the colors of regiments.” This gave occasion to the following resolution, moved by Mr. Sumner.
RESOLVED, That, in the efforts now making for the restoration of the Union and the establishment of peace throughout the country, it is inexpedient that the names of victories obtained over our fellow-citizens should be placed on the regimental colors of the United States.
Mr. Hale objected to its consideration; so it was postponed.
May 13th, Mr. Wilson introduced a joint resolution to authorize the President to permit regiments of the volunteer forces to inscribe on their flags the names of battles in which such regiments have been engaged; but no further action was had upon it.
Mr. Sumner’s resolution excited comment at the time. The National Intelligencer remarked:—
“Now that public attention has for the first time been called to the subject, we presume there will be on the part of many an instinctive approval of the grounds on which Senator Sumner condemns the custom thus originated and practised by ‘other generals.’ … When the Union is restored and peace has been reëstablished, we take it that the regimental colors of the United States will preserve no trace either of Union victories or Union defeats. The name of ‘Springfield,’ in Missouri, would otherwise perpetually remind us of the unhappy fall of Lexington in that State.”
An excellent citizen of New York, Alfred Pell, wrote that “exactly what Congress should do with base Secession standards and flags was pointed out by Mrs. Brownrigg, who
Other testimony was from an undoubted authority, being none other than Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, in his autobiography. After quoting the famous resolution which Rufus King laid upon the table of the Senate, February 18, 1825, fifteen days before he finally left that body, which he calls “a benign resolution,” to the effect, that, as soon as the remnant of the national debt should be discharged, the net proceeds of the whole of the public lands should constitute a fund for Emancipation, the Lieutenant-General proceeds:—
“The resolution stands a national record. Here is statesmanship, farsightedness.… Here is magnanimity, considering the hostility of the South on account of Mr. King’s powerful resistance to the admission of Missouri into the Union with Slavery. Here is a Christian’s revenge, returning good for evil. All honor to a great deed and a great name!.…
“I place in juxtaposition with the foregoing a kindred sentiment that gleamed in the same body on a more recent occasion.
“It had been proposed, without due reflection, by one of our gallant commanders engaged in the suppression of the existing Rebellion, to place on the banners of his victorious troops the names of their battles. The proposition was rebuked by the subjoined resolution, submitted by the Hon. Mr. Sumner, May 8, 1862.”
Then quoting the resolution, the Lieutenant-General adds:—
“This was noble, and from the right quarter.”[309]
Resolution in the Senate, May 12, 1862.
RESOLVED, That the Select Committee on the confiscation of Rebel property be directed to consider the expediency of providing that our soldiers engaged in the suppression of the Rebellion may be entitled to bounty lands out of the real estate of the Rebels.
This was objected to by Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, but on the next day it was agreed to.
Resolution in the Senate, May 12, and Remarks, June 28, 1862.
RESOLVED, That the Select Committee on the confiscation of Rebel property be directed to consider the expediency of providing, that, in all judicial proceedings to confiscate the property and free the slaves of Rebels, there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color.
This was objected to by Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, but on the next day it was agreed to.
The Select Committee failing to adopt this provision in the bill reported by them, entitled “A bill to suppress insurrection, punish treason and rebellion, and for other purposes,” Mr. Sumner sought to engraft it on the bill by motion in the Senate.
June 28th, Mr. Sumner moved the following amendment:—
“And in all proceedings under this Act there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color.”
Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, Chairman of the Select Committee, said, that, “while they had no hostility to the general principle of the amendment, they thought it was better not to engraft it upon this bill.”
Mr. Sumner replied:—
This bill is to operate in the Slave States. But, with the rule of evidence prevailing there, I see insuperable difficulties in the way of conviction. If Congress choose to authorize criminal proceedings against Rebels, as is done by this bill, then in good faith they must see that the proceedings are not entirely nugatory, through failure of evidence, under the operation of an irrational rule of exclusion.
Mr. Clark said, that the Committee was influenced by the consideration, that under the bill slaves would become free on the conviction of their masters for treason; and the Committee “thought it would look a little like inducing the slave to come forward and swear against the master, … if we put such a provision in the bill; and we rejected it on that ground.”
Mr. Sumner replied:—
But the Senator will not forget that there are other slaves besides those of the master under trial, as well as colored persons who are not slaves. Whether slaves or not, even if freemen, the Senator knows well that there is one cruel rule of evidence everywhere in the Rebel States, which excludes the testimony of colored persons.
The amendment was rejected: Yeas 14, Nays 25.
This was the third move against exclusion of witnesses on account of color.[310]
Speech in the Senate, on his Death, May 15, 1862.
MR. PRESIDENT,—The last Representative of Massachusetts snatched away by death during the session of Congress was Robert Rantoul, Jr. Ripe in years and brilliant in powers, this distinguished person tardily entered these Halls, and he entered them not to stay, but simply to go. Congress was to him only the antechamber to another world. Since then ten years have passed, and we are now called to commemorate another Representative of Massachusetts snatched away by death during the session of Congress. Less ripe in years and less brilliant in powers, Mr. Bailey occupied less space in the eyes of the country; but he had a soul of perfect purity, a calm intelligence, and a character of his own which inspired respect and created attachment; and he, too, was here for so brief a term that he seems only to have passed through these Halls on his way, without, alas! the privilege of health as he passed.
Born in 1823, Mr. Bailey had not reached that stage of life, when, according to a foreign proverb, a man has given to the world his full measure;[311] and yet he had given such measure of himself as justified largely the confidence of his fellow-citizens. This was the more remarkable, as he commenced life without those advantages which assure early education and open the way to success. At two years of age he was an orphan, of humble parentage and scanty means. From school he followed the example of Franklin, and became a printer. There is no calling, not professional, which to an intelligent mind affords better opportunities of culture. The daily duties of the young printer are daily lessons. The printing-office is a school, and he is a scholar. As he sets types, he studies, and becomes familiar at least with language and the mystery of grammar, orthography, and punctuation, which, in early education, is much; and if he reads proofs, he becomes a critic. At the age of twenty-two our young printer changed to a student of law, and in 1848 was admitted to the bar.
In the very year of his admission to the bar the question of Slavery assumed unprecedented proportions, from the efforts made to push it into the Territories of the United States. Although he took no active part in the prevailing controversy, it must have produced its impression on his mind. It was to maintain prohibition of Slavery in the Territories, and to represent this principle, that he was chosen to Congress.[312] In a speech at the time he upheld this cause against the open opposition of its enemies and the more subtle enmity of those who disparaged the importance of the principle. Never had Representative a truer or nobler constituency. It was of Worcester, that large central county of Massachusetts, and broad girdle of the Commonwealth, which, since this great controversy began, has been always firm and solid for Freedom. To represent a people so intelligent, honest, and virtuous was in itself no small honor.
But with this honor came those warnings which teach the futility of all honor on earth. What is honor to one whom death has already marked for his own? As life draws to its close, the consciousness of duty done, especially in softening the lot of others, must be more grateful than anything which the world alone can supply. Even the spoiler, Death, cannot touch such a possession. And this consciousness rightly belonged to the invalid who was now a wanderer in quest of health. Compelled to fly the frosts of his Massachusetts home during the disturbed winter of 1860, when these civil commotions were beginning to gather, he journeyed nearer to the sun, and in the soft air of the Mexican Gulf found respite, if not repose. There he was overtaken by that blast of war, which, like
swept over the country. Escaping now from the menace of war in Florida, as he had already escaped from the menace of climate in Massachusetts, he traversed the valley of the Mississippi, and succeeded in reaching home. At the session of Congress called to sustain the Government he appeared to take his seat; but a hand was fastened upon him which could not be unloosed. Again he came to his duties here during the present session; for while the body was weak, his heart was strong. He often mourned his failing force, because it disabled him from speaking and acting at this crisis. He longed to be in the front rank. Yet he was not a cipher. He was a member of the Committee on Territories in the House of Representatives, and its Chairman[313] relates that this dying Representative was earnest to the last that his vote should be felt for Freedom. “Let me know when you wish my vote, and, though weak, I shall surely be with you,” said the faithful son of Massachusetts. This is something for his tombstone; and I should fail in just loyalty to the dead, if I did not mention it here.
As a member of this Committee, he put his name to a report which became at once a political event. In the uneventful life of an invalid, who was here for a few weeks only, it should not be passed over in silence. By a resolution adopted on the 23d of December, 1861,[314] the Committee on Territories was instructed “to inquire into the legality and expediency of establishing Territorial Governments within the limits of the disloyal States or districts.” After careful consideration of this momentous question, the Committee reported a bill to establish temporary provisional governments over the districts of country in rebellion against the United States.[315] This bill assumed two things, which, of course, cannot be called in question: first, that throughout the Rebel region the old loyal State Governments had ceased to exist, leaving no person in power there whom we could rightfully recognize; and, secondly, that the Constitution of the United States, notwithstanding all the efforts of Rebellion, was still the supreme law throughout this region, without a foot of earth or an inhabitant taken from its rightful jurisdiction. Assuming the absence of State Governments and the presence of the National Constitution, the bill undertook, through the exercise of Congressional jurisdiction, to supply a legitimate local government, with a governor, legislature, and court; but it expressly declared that “no act shall be passed, establishing, protecting, or recognizing the existence of Slavery; nor shall said temporary government, or any department thereof, sanction or declare the right of one man to property in another.” In a succeeding section it was made the duty of the authorities “to establish schools for the moral and intellectual culture of all the inhabitants, and to provide by law for the attendance of all children over seven and under fourteen years of age not less than three months in each year.” With a thrill of joyful assent Mr. Bailey united with the majority of the Committee in this bill. It was his last public act, almost his only public act in Congress, and certainly the most important of his public life. As a record of purpose and aspiration it will not be forgotten.
To such a measure he was instinctively moved by the strength of his convictions and his sense of the practical policy needed for the support of the Constitution. He had no indulgence for the Rebellion, and saw with clearness that it could be ended only by the removal of its single cause. His experience at the South added to his appreciation of the true character of Slavery, and increased his determination. He did not live to see this Rebellion subdued, but he has at least left his testimony behind. He has taught by what sign we are to conquer. He has shown the principle which must be enlisted. Better than an army is such a principle; for it is the breath of God.
Mr. Bailey was clear in understanding, as he was pure in heart. His life was simple, and his manners unaffected. His, too, were all the household virtues which make a heaven of home, and he was bound to this world by a loving wife and an only child. He was happy in being spared to reach his own fireside. Sensible that death was approaching, he was unwilling to continue here among strangers, and, though feeble and failing, he was conveyed to Fitchburg, where, after a brief period among kindred and friends, he closed his life. His public place here is vacant, and so also is his public place in Massachusetts. But there are other places also vacant: in his home, in his business, and in his daily life among his neighbors, in that beautiful town scooped out of the wooded hills, where he was carried back to die.
I offer resolutions identical with those offered by myself, and adopted by the Senate, on the death of Robert Rantoul.
Resolved, unanimously, That the Senate mourns the death of Hon. Goldsmith F. Bailey, late a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts, and tenders to his relatives a sincere sympathy in this afflicting bereavement.
Resolved, As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, that the Senate do now adjourn.
The resolutions were agreed to; and the Senate adjourned.
Resolution and Speech in the Senate, on the Enrolment of Bills, May 16, 1862.
December 23, 1861, Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution, and said that he would call it up for consideration some day thereafter.
“Resolved, That the Committee on Enrolled Bills shall consider the expediency of changing the Joint Rules of the two Houses of Congress, so as no longer to require that bills which have passed both Houses shall be enrolled on parchment; but that they shall be simply copied in a fair hand on linen paper, and be thus preserved in the Department of State, instead of being preserved in cumbersome rolls of parchment.”
May 16, 1862, the resolution was taken up for consideration.
MR. PRESIDENT,—There is a usage of Congress which must strike all coming here for the first time, whether as members or spectators. It is the usage, after bills have passed both Houses, of copying them on rolls of parchment, when they receive the signatures of the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, and the President of the United States. Under our rules this is called enrolling, although in England, where it originated, it was known, down to its recent abolition there, as engrossing.
I have said that it is calculated to arrest attention. This is because to most persons it is a novelty, although old in itself. On inquiry, I do not learn that it is continued in any of our States except Massachusetts. In the new States of the West it has never been known. The question which I now submit is, Whether it is wise for Congress to continue this embarrassing form, already discontinued, or never adopted, by the State Legislatures?
Among the Joint Rules of the two Houses is the following, entitled “Enrolled Bills.”