RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNTY AND RIGHTS OF WAR:

TWO SOURCES OF POWER AGAINST THE REBELLION.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON HIS BILL FOR THE CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY AND THE LIBERATION OF SLAVES BELONGING TO REBELS, MAY 19, 1862.

Wherefore he deserves to be punished, not only as an enemy, but also as a traitor, both to you and to us. And indeed treason is as much worse than war as it is harder to guard against what is secret than what is open, - and as much more hateful, as with enemies men make treaties again, and put faith in them, but with one who is discovered to be a traitor nobody ever enters into covenant, or trusts him for the future. — XENOPHON, Hellenica, Book II. ch. 8, § 29.

EXCEPT the Tax Bill, no subject occupied so much attention during this session as what were known generally as "Confiscation Bills," all proposing, in different ways, the punishment of Rebels and the weakening of the Rebellion, by taking property and freeing slaves. In supporting these bills, Mr. Sumner did not disguise his special anxiety to assert the power of Congress over Slavery.

As early as January 15th, Mr. Trumbull reported from the Judiciary Committee a bill to confiscate the property and free the slaves of Rebels, which was considered from time to time and debated at length, many Senators speaking. Amendments were made, among which was one moved by Mr. Sumner, February 25th, requiring, that, whenever any person claimed another as slave, he should, before proceeding with his claim, prove loyalty.1 Then came motions for reference of the pending bill and all associate propositions to a Select Committee. That of Mr. Clark prevailed. In a speech which will be found in the Congressional Globe,2 sustaining the reference, Mr. Sumner said:

"Such are the embarrassments in which we are involved, such is the maze into which we have been led by these various motions, that a committee is needed to hold the clew. Never was there more occasion for such a committee than now, when we have all these multifarious propositions to be considered, revised, collated, and brought into a constitutional unit, or, if I may so say, changing the figure, passed through an alembic, to be fused into one bill on which we can all harmonize."

Mr. Clark reported from the Select Committee a bill "to suppress Insurrection and punish Treason and Rebellion," which, on the 16th of May, was taken up for consideration. Mr. Sumner was among those who thought the bill inadequate, and on the day it was taken up he introduced a substitute in ten sections, which was printed by order of the Senate. The title was, "For the Confiscation of Property and the Liberation of Slaves belonging to Rebels." The sections relating to Liberation were these.

"SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, if any person within any State or Territory of the United States shall, after the passage of this Act, wilfully

1 See, ante, Vol. VI. p. 379.
2 May 6, 1862, pp. 1957, 1958.

engage in armed rebellion against the Government of the United States, or shall wilfully aid or abet such rebellion, or adhere to those engaged in such rebellion, giving them aid or comfort, every such person shall thereby forfeit all claim to the service or labor of any persons commonly known as slaves; and all such slaves are hereby declared free, and forever discharged from such servitude, anything in the laws of the United States, or of any State, to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever thereafter any person claiming the labor or service of any such slave shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be a sufficient defence thereto that the claimant was engaged in the said rebellion, or aided or abetted the same, contrary to the provisions of this Act.

"SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That, whenever any person claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person shall seek to enforce such claim, he shall, in the first instance, and before any order shall be made for the surrender of the person whose service or labor is claimed, establish not only his claim to such service or labor, but also that such claimant has not in any way aided, assisted, or countenanced the existing Rebellion against the Government of the United States. And no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or deliver up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

May 19th, Mr. Sumner made the following speech, vindicating the powers of Congress.

A debate ensued, turning on the inadequacy of the pending bill, in which Mr. Sumner likened it to a glass of water with a bit of orangepeel, which, according to a character in one of Dickens's novels, by making believe very hard, would be a strong drink, and said: "At a moment when the life of the Republic is struck at, Senators would proceed by indictment in a criminal court." Mr. Wade said: "I do not know that we shall get anything; but if we only get this bill, we shall get next to nothing."

In the course of the debate, Mr. Davis departed from the main question to say that he understood the Senators from Massachusetts sympathized with the mob in Boston, and its resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act. He never knew that Mr. Wilson had appeared "to back the Marshal of the United States in the execution of that law." Then ensued a brief colloquy.

"MR. DAVIS. I never heard that he did, or that either of them did, perform or attempt to perform that high, patriotic duty.

"MR. SUMNER. I was in my seat here.

"MR. DAVIS. Did you not give your sympathy to those who resisted the

law?

"MR. SUMNER. My sympathy is always with every slave.

"MR. DAVIS. That is a frank acknowledgment. His sympathy is with every slave against the Constitution and the execution of the laws of his country! If that is not a sentiment of treason, I ask what is." 1

Meanwhile the House of Representatives were considering the same subject, and on the 26th May passed a bill "to confiscate the property of Rebels for the payment of the expenses of the present Rebellion, and for other purposes," which, on motion of Mr. Clark, was taken up in the Senate June 23d, when he moved to substitute the pending Senate bill. The debate on the general question was resumed. June 27th, Mr. Sumner made another speech, which will be found in its place, according to date, especially in reply to Mr. Browning, who had claimed the War Powers for the President rather than for Congress.

June 28th, the substitute moved by Mr. Clark was agreed to, Yeas 19, Nays 17, and the bill as amended was then passed, Yeas 28, Nays

13.

A

July 3d, the House non-concurred in the Senate amendment. Conference Committee reported in substance the Senate amendment, which was accepted in the Senate, Yeas 28, Nays 13, and in the House, Yeas 82, Nays 42. July 17th, the bill was signed by the President.

The sections of this bill, as it passed, relating to liberation, were these.

"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by Rebel forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed - captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.

"SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present Rebellion, nor in any way

1 Congressional Globe, 37th Cong. 2d Sess., May 20, 1862, p. 2223.

2 Post, p. 128.