History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth United States Congresses, 1861-65, by Henry Wilson, 1865.

CHAPTER XI.

COLORED SOLDIERS.

MR. WILSON'S BILL, — MR. GRIMES'S AMENDMENT, — REMARKS OF MR. SAULSBURY, — MR. CARLILE, — MR. KING'S AMENDMENT. MR. SHERMAN'S SPEECH, — MR. FESSENDEN SPEECH. — MR. RICE'S SPEECH. MR. WILSON'S SPEECH. MR. DAVIS'S AMENDMENT. — MR. COLLAMER'S SPEECH, — MR. TEN EYCK'S SPEECH. MR. KING'S SPEECH. — MR. HENDERSON'S AMENDMENT. — MR. SHERMAN'S AMENDMENT. — MR. BBOWNING'S AMENDMENT, MR. LANE'S SPEECH. — MR. HARLAN'S SPEECH. — MR. WILSON'S BILL, — REMARKS OF MR. SHERMAN, — MR. LANE, — SPEECH OF MR. HOWARD. — MR. SHERMAN'S AMENDMENT, MR. BROWNINGS AMENDMENT. — REMARKS OF MR. HENDERSON. — MR. WEIGHT, — MR. DOOLITTLE. — MR. POWELL. — PASSAGE OF THE BILL. — MR. STEVENS'S AMENDMENT. — REMARKS OF MR. CLAY. — MR. BOUTWELL. MR. DAVIS'S AMENDMENT, — MR. MALLORY'S SPEECH, MR. WEBSTER'S AMENDMENT. — MR. SCOFIELD'S SPEECH, — MR. WOOD'S SPEECH, — MR. WHALLEY'S AMENDMENT. — MR. STEVENS'S AMENDMENT ADOPTED. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. — REPORT ADOPTED.

IN the Senate, on the 8th of July, 1862, Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Massachusetts reported, from the Committee on Military Affairs, a bill to amend the act calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup press insurrection, and repel invasion, approved Feb. 28, 1795. On the 9th, on motion of Mr. Wilson, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill as in Committee of the Whole. Mr. Grimes (Rep.) of Iowa moved to amend it by adding three sections, providing that there shall be no exception from military duty on account of color ; that, when the militia shall be called into service, the President shall have full power and authority to organize them according to their race or color. Mr. Page 204 Saulsbury (Dem.) of Delaware denounced the attempt " made on every occasion to change the character of the war, and to elevate the miserable nigger, not only to political rights, but to pi\t him in your army, and to put him in your navy." Mr. Carlile (Dem.) of Virginia declared that " the negro constituted no part of the militia of his State. I do not," he asserted, " think it is an effort to elevate the negro to an equality with the white man ; but the effect of such legislation will be to degrade the white man to the level of the negro." Mr. King (Rep.) of New York moved to strike out the first two sections of Mr. Grimes’s amendment, and insert these two sections : —

" That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to receive into the service of the United States, for the purpose of constructing intrenchments, or performing camp service or any other labor, or any war service for which they may be found competent, persons of African descent ; and such persons shall be enrolled and organized under such regulations, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws, as the President may prescribe ; and they shall be fed, and paid such compensation for their services as they may agree to receive when enrolled. " That, when any man or boy of African descent shall render any such service as is provided for in the first section of this act, he, his mother, and his wife and children, shall for ever thereafter be free, any law, usage, or custom whatsoever, to the contrary notwithstanding."

Mr. King hoped that Mr. Grimes would accept the amendment. "I accept it," replied Mr. Grimes, "if it is in my power." Mr. Saulsbury pronounced this amendment "a wholesale scheme of emancipation." Mr. Sherman (Rep.) of Ohio said, "The question arises. Page 205 whether the people of the United States, struggling for national existence, should not employ these blacks for the maintenance of the Government. The policy here to fore pursued by the officers of the United States has been to repel this class of people from our lines, to refuse their services. They would have made the best spies ; and yet they have been driven from our lines." — "I tell the President," said Mr. Fessenden (Rep.) of Maine, " from my place here as a senator, and I tell the generals of our army, they must reverse their practices and their course of proceeding on this subject. ... I advise it here from my place, — treat your enemies as enemies, as the worst of enemies, and avail yourselves like men of every power which God has placed in your hands to accomplish your purpose within the rules of civilized warfare." Mr. Rice (war Dem.) of Minnesota declared that " not many days can pass before the people of the United States North must decide upon one of two questions : we have either to acknowledge the Southern Confederacy as a free and independent nation, and that speedily ; or we have as speedily to resolve to use all the means given us by the Almighty to prosecute this war to a successful termination. The necessity for action has arisen. To hesitate is worse than criminal." Mr. Wilson said, "The senator from Delaware, as he is accustomed to do, speaks boldly and decidedly against the proposition. He asks if American soldiers will fight if we organize colored men for military purposes. Did not American soldiers fight at Bunker Hill with negroes in the ranks, one of whom shot down Major Pitcairn as he mounted the works ? Did not American soldiers fight at Red Bank with a black regiment from your own State, sir? Page 206 (Mr. Anthony in the chair.) Did they not fight on the battle-field of Rhode Island with that black regiment, one of the best and bravest that ever trod the soil of this continent ? Did not American soldiers fight at Fort Griswold with black men? Did they not fight with black men in almost every battle-field of the Revolution ? Did not the men of Kentucky and Tennessee, standing on the lines of New Orleans, under the eye of Andrew Jackson, fight with colored battalions whom he had summoned to the field, and whom he thanked publicly for their gallantry in hurling back a British foe? It is all talk, and idle talk, to say that the volunteers who are fighting the battles of this country are governed by any such narrow prejudice or bigotry. These prejudices are the results of the teachings of demagogues and politicians, who have for years undertaken to delude and deceive the American people, and to demean and degrade them."

Mr. Grimes had expressed his views a few weeks before, and desired a vote separately on each of these sections. Mr. Davis declared that he was utterly op posed, and should ever be opposed, to placing arms in the hands of negroes, and putting them into the army. Mr. Rice wished " to know if Gen. Washington did not put arms into the hands of negroes, and if Gen. Jackson did not, and if the senator has ever condemned either of those patriots fordoing so." — "I deny," replied Mr. Davis, "that, in the Revolutionary War, there ever was any considerable organization of negroes. I deny, that, in the war of 1812, there was ever any organization of negro slaves. . , , In my own State, I have no doubt that there are from eighty to a hundred thousand slaves Page 207 that belong to disloyal men. You propose to place arms in the hands of the men and boys, or such of them as are able to handle arms, and to manumit the whole mass, men, women, and children, and leave them among us. Do you expect us to give our sanction and our approval to these things? No, no I We would regard their authors as our worst enemies ; and there is no foreign despotism that could come to our rescue, that we would not joyously embrace, before we would submit to any each condition of things as that. But, before we had invoked this foreign despotism, we would arm every man and boy that we have in the land, and we would meet you in a death-struggle, to overthrow together such an oppression and our oppressors." Mr. Rice remarked in reply to Mr. Davis, "The rebels hesitate at nothing. There are no means that God or the Devil has given them that they do not use. The honorable senator said that the negroes might be useful in loading and swabbing and firing cannon. If that be the case, may not come of them be useful in loading, swabbing, and firms the musket?"

The Senate, on the 10th of July, resumed the consideration of the bill. Mr. Collamer said, " I never could understand, and do not now understand, why the Government of the United States has not the right to the use of every man in it, black or white, for its defence ; and every horse, every particle of property, every dollar in money, of every man in it. As to the using of colored men, that is entirely a question of expediency, whether you need them, whether you can use them to advantage ; and that depends on so many contingencies, that I have always supposed the President, the generals, the men Page 208 who are managing the war, actually engineering it along if you please, would lay their hands upon and use all means and appliances to that end which they found necessary. If gentlemen think itis any better to put it into a law that the President may do that, if that will help the matter, I have no sort of objection." Mr. Wil son thought that "it was necessary." — "Then," said Mr. Collamer, "I have no objection. . . . The second section of the amendment provided, that when any man or boy of African descent, who, by the laws of any State, owes service or labor to any person, who, during the present Rebellion, has borne arms against the United States, or adhered to their enemies by"- giving them aid or comfort, shall render to the United States any such service as is provided in the preceding section, he, his mother, and his wife and children, shall for ever there after be free, any law or usage to the contrary not with-standing. I have a word to say about that. I am constrained to say, whether it is to the honor or dishonor of my country, that, in the land of slavery, no male slave has a child ; none Is known as father to a child ; no slave has a wife, marriage being repudiated in the slave system. This is the condition of things ; and, wonderful as it may be, we are told that that is a Christian institution I " Mr. Ten Eyck (Rep.) of New Jersey desired to strike out of the first section the words, " any military or naval," before "service." — "We may as well meet this question directly," said Mr. King, " and see whether we are prepared to use for the defence of our country the powers which God has given to it, — the men who are willing to be used to preserve it." — " My proposition is,” said Mr. Ten Eyck, "to strike out the Page 209 words, ' any military or naval,' before 'service.' " — " We have," said Mr. King, "in my judgment, nothing to fear from our enemies on account of the expression of our views on this point. ... I have done talking in such a manner as to avoid giving offence to our enemies in this matter. I think it was the captain of the watch here at the Capitol who came and consulted about getting permission to omit, during the session of the Senate, to hoist the flag on the top of the Capitol ; and, when he was asked what he wanted to wait that for, he said he feared it might be supposed that he deaired to save labor and trouble, but he really suggested it because it hurt these people about here to look at it, — to see the flag on the top of the Capitol. I had not done much ; but I wrote a letter very promptly to the Secretary of the Interior, stating the fact, and saying that I did not care whom he appointed, but I wanted that man removed. He was removed, and, within ten days, was -with the enemy at Manassas." The question on Mr. Davis's amendment to strike out the words, " or any military or naval service for which they may be found competent," was taken by yeas and nays, — yeas 11, nays 27. Mr. Henderson moved to amend the section by inserting the word "free," before " persons," in the sixth line, and also by adding after "descent," in the same line, the words, "and also such persons of African descent as may owe service or labor to persons engaged In the Rebellion." Mr. Henderson's amendment was lost, — yeas 13, nays 22. Mr. Saulsbury removed the indefinite postponement of the bill, — yeas 9, nays 27. Mr. Henderson moved to add at the end of the first section, "Provided that all loyal persons Page 210 entitled to the service or labor of persons employed under the provisions of this act shall be compensated for the loss of such service." Mr. Hale would like to amend that by inserting the words, "by the laws of the State in which they reside." Mr. Henderson accepted the amendment. Mr. Powell demanded the yeas and nays, — yeas 20, nays 17. The first section, as amended, was agreed to. The President stated the question to be on the second section of the amendment of the senator from Iowa, " That when any man or boy of African descent shall render any such service as is provided for in the first section of this act, he, his mother, and his wife and children, shall for ever thereafter be free, any law, usage, or custom whatsoever, to the contrary not with standing." Mr. Sherman moved to amend it by adding, "who, during the present Rebellion, has levied war or borne arms against the United States, or adhered to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort." Mr. Sherman said, " When we take the slave of a loyal man, and make him work for us, I do not for that reason wish to deprive the master entirely of what he regards as his property, or what is regarded by local law as his property." — " When we take a slave," replied Mr. King, " to serve the country in this emergency, my own opinion is, that he should be made free, whether he belongs to a rebel or not," The secretary read the amendment to the amendment, to insert after the word "descent," in the second line, the words, "who by the laws of any State shall owe service or labor to any person, who, during the present Rebellion, has levied war or borne arms against the United States, or adhered to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort." The Page 211 question, being taken by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas, 22, nays 16. So the amendment to the amendment was agreed to. Mr. Browning (Rep.) of Illinois said, "I wish to move another amendment to that section in the seventh line, by striking out the words, " his mother, and his wife and children." Mr. Lane (Rep.) of Kansas asked Mr. Browning, "What would freedom be worth to you, if your mother, your wife, and your children, were slaves ? " Mr. Browning replied, that " it would detract very greatly from the value of life with me, if it did not totally destroy it, to have ray another, my wife and children, in a state of hopeless bondage. I am no more the friend or advocate of slavery than the senator from Kansas, — not a bit more." On the llth of July, the yeas and nays were taken on Mr. Browning's amendment, — yeas 17, nays 21. Mr. Harlan of Iowa addressed the Senate in a very elaborate and exhaustive speech in favor of the bill. "If I read," he said, "the signs of the times correctly, this has become a necessity. We cannot, if we persist in our folly, th-wart the ultimate purposes of the Almighty. By his providential interposition, he has thrown open the door for the liberation of a nation of bondmen; he has removed the constitutional impediment ; he has caused their assistance to be necessary for the perpetuity of the Union and the integrity of the nation. If we accept of this high destiny, all the- nations of 'earth combined against us would be as flax in the flames ; but if we are not equal to the demands of the age, and obstinately refuse to follow the plain intimations of Providence, this great work will be handed over to other nations, or will be wrought out Page 212 by the rebels themselves, and our nation will become permanently divided." Mr. Harlan remarked, that Mr. Davis had predicted, when the bill for the abolition of slavery was pending, that the slaughters of St. Domingo would be re-enacted if the bill passed. ... If senators will open their eyes, and look at these people, they will discover that they are no longer savages, but, in a comparative point of view, highly civilized. They provide for their ovra wants ; they provide their own food and clothing and shelter, and for the education of their own children, for the support of their own churches and schools, and bury their own dead; and, during the seven years of my service at the capital of the nation, I have never seen a negro beggar, — not one. I have seen white beggars ; I have seen white boys and girls begging for a penny of each passer-by at the crossings ; I have seen stalwart men and women, of almost every nationality, begging in your streets and thoroughfares : but never yet have I seen a negro beggar in the streets of the capital of the nation." Mr. Davis followed in opposition to the bill ; and, on motion of Mr. Wilson, it was further postponed.

On the 12th of July, Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, reported a new bill to amend the "Act calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," approved Feb. 28, 1795, and the acts amendatory thereof, and for other purposes ; which was read twice by its title, and ordered to be printed. On the 14th of July, on motion of Mr. Wilson, the bill was taken up and considered as in Committee of the Whole. The bill proposed to authorize the President Page 213 to receive into the service of the United States, for the , purpose of constructing intrenchments, or performing camp service, or any other labor or any military or naval service for which they may be found competent, persons of African descent ; and such persons are to be enrolled and organized under such regulations, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws, as the President may prescribe, and are to be fed and clothed and paid such compensation for their services as they may agree to receive when enrolled. When any man or boy of African descent shall render any such service, he, his mother, and his wife and children, are for ever thereafter to be free, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. All persons who have been or shall be hereafter enrolled In the service of the United States under the act are to receive the pay and rations now allowed by law to soldiers, according to their respective grades ; except that persons of African de scent who shall be employed are to receive ten dollars per month, and one ration. "I think, by an inadvertence," said Mr. Sherman (" for the senator from Massachusetts would not have done it otherwise) , he has left out a very important clause in the thirteenth section, which was adopted by a deliberate vote of the Senate. I will therefore renew it. It is in section thirteen, line two, after the words 'African descent,' to insert the words, 'who by the laws of a State owes service or labor to any person, who, during the present Rebellion, has waged war against the United States, or has aided or assisted said Rebellion.'" Mr. Lane of Kansas said he must demand the yeas and nays on that amendment, Mr. Sherman wanted the Senate to understand, that by Page 214 a deliberate vote, and by a considerable majority, the Senate determined that it would not apply the emancipation clause of the bill to any but the slaves of rebels. " By the section as it now stands, if any slave is employed to wheel a barrow of earth in making an intrenchment, or cutting down a tree, if he was the slave of the most loyal man in this country, he would thereby be made free." — "I am perfectly willing," replied Mr. Lane of Kansas, "to provide in the bill for remunerating the loyal master ; but the idea in this amendment is to remand a man back to slavery, either to a loyal or a disloyal master, after he has, fought in defence of his country !"

On the 15th, the Senate resumed the consideration of the bill ; the pending question being Mr. Sherman's amendment to restrict the emancipation clause to the slaves of rebels. "Slave-masters," said Mr. Pomeroy, " have no loyalty to brag of. I do not propose to give them a bond in advance, and pledge the Government, that, if we use one of their slaves, we shall pay for him." Mr. Howard opposed Mr. Sherman's amendment. "I confess," he said, "that I am entirely opposed to the incorporation of the amendment of the senator from Ohio, in whatever form it may assume, into the bill. I cannot bear the idea ; and it seems to me, that, if I were a slaveholder, I could not bear the idea of employing or suffering my slaves to be employed in defending me and my rights as a loyal man, taking arms in their hands, and going with me into the face of the battle, and risking their lives to defend my life and my family and my rights under my government, and afterwards reducing those poor creatures to slavery. I should regard it as Page 215 a burning and eternal shame. I never could do it. I do not care how lowly, how humble, how degraded a negro may be, if he takes his musket, or any other implement of war, and risks his life to defend me, my countrymen, my family, my government, my property, my liberties, my rights, against any foe, foreign or domestic, it is my duty under God, it is my duty as a man, as a lover of justice, to see to it that he shall be free." — "I do not," said Mr. Harlan, "remember a single example since civilization commenced, when slaves have been mustered into the armed service of a country, and again attempted to be returned to slavery." The question being taken on Mr. Sherman's amendment, by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas 18, nays 17. Mr. Browning moved to strike out the words, "his another, and his wife and children." Mr. Harris supported the amendment ; believing it an impracticable thing, that could not be carried into effect, to free the wives and children of slaves used in the military service. The question was taken by yeas and nays, on Mr. Browning's amendment, — yeas 17, nays 20: so the amendment was rejected. Mr. Browning moved to amend the thirteenth section by adding to it, "that the another, wife, and children of such man or boy of African descent shall not be made free by the operation of this act, except where such another, wife, or children owe service or labor to some person, who, during the present Rebellion, has adhered to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort." Mr. Henderson earnestly supported the amendment, as just to loyal slaveholders. The question, being taken by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas 21, nays 16. Mr. Wright desired "to see every Page 216 thing on God’s earth taken by our generals that will assist in the prosecution of the war. A general in the army, who will not employ every negro that comes within his lines to work, to labor, should be turned out instantly." — "The Revolution," said Mr. Doolittle, "and the seven-years' war with Great Britain, was the first parturition of America. During that long period of throes and pains and agony and blood, she gave her first-born birth, — liberty, ay, liberty ; but it was liberty for the white man, and not liberty for the black. Now again, in God’s own time, and in a way that man knows not of, America is in the agonies of her second child birth, praying to be delivered. In some way no human being can foresee, this war, forced upon the country by the rankness and fanaticism of the South, will, as all hearts believe, never end until slavery is put in the process of final extinction ; until liberty for the black man, the second offspring of America, shall be born." — "I am as confident," said Mr. Powell, "as that I live and speak to the Senate of the United States to-day, that the policy of arming slaves, which has been adopted in one bill that has passed both Houses of Congress, and is proposed in the bill now under consideration, the moat disastrous measure for the integrity of this Union that has been or can be before this Congress." The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, and was read the third time. On its' passage, Mr. Saulsbury called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered; and, being taken, resulted — yeas 28, nays 9 — as follows :

— Yeas. — Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Chandler, Clark, Cowan, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howard, Page 217 Howe, King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Bice, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wright, — 28,

Nays. — Messrs. Bayard, Carlile, Davis, Kennedy, Powell, Saulsbury, Stark, Willey, and Wilson of Missouri, — 9,

So the bill was passed by the Senate.

In the House, on the 16th of July, the bill was taken up; and Mr. Stevens (Rep.) of Pennsylvania demanded the previous question on its passage, and it was ordered. Mr. Holman (Dem.) of Indiana moved to lay it on the table, Mr. Allen (Dem.) of Illinois demanded the yeas and nays, — yeas 30, nays 77. The bill was then passed, and received the approval of the President on the 17th of July, 1862.

On the 10th of February, 1864, in the House of Representatives, Mr. Stevens (Rep.) of Pennsylvania moved to amend the Enrolment Act by striking out the twenty-seventh section, and inserting, in substance, "that all able-bodied male persons of African descent between the ages of twenty and forty-five, whether citizens or not, shall be enrolled and made a part of the national forces ; and, when enrolled and drafted into the service, his master shall be entitled to receive three hundred dollars, and the drafted man shall be free." Mr. Boyd (Union) of Missouri suggested that Mr. Stevens modify his amendment, so as to pay only loyal masters ; and it was so modified. Mr. ©lay (Union) of Kentucky opposed the amendment. Mr. Boutwell (Rep.) of Massachusetts moved to strike out " three hundred dollars," and insert "twenty-five dollars." "I desire," said Mr. Boutwell, " to say, in reply to the gentleman from Kentucky, that we have reached that emergency when men in the Border Page 218 States should understand, at least so far as I am concerned, that slaves as inhabitants of the country are to be used as other men are used to put down this Rebel lion. No constitution or law of any State shall stand between me and what I believe to be my duty to my country." Mr. Morris (Rep.) of New York and Mr. Creswell (Union) of Maryland advocated Mr. Stevens's amendment. Mr. Staithers (Rep.) of Delaware said the people of that State had no scruples in relation to using colored soldiers. Mr. Davis (Rep.) of Mary land moved to strike out the proposed compensation to the masters of drafted slaves. The slaves " owe duty to the Government; and, if they do, we owe the masters nothing for taking them." Mr. Mallory (Dem.) of Kentucky said that " property is held in slaves. I do not mean that the person of the slave is property, and can be used as property ; that he can be killed, and eaten like a hog ; but that men own property in the labor and service of slaves in this country. The amendment of the gentleman from Maryland ignores this right, violates it in a plain, distinct, and palpable manner, and is contrary to the Constitution of the United States."

On the llth, the House resumed the consideration of the Enrolment Bill ; the pending question being Mr. Davis's amendment to Mr. Stevens's amendment. Mr. Stevens accepted the amendment. Mr. Davis then moved to amend by adding, that " the Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented in Congress, charged to award a just compensation to each loyal owner of any slave who may volunteer into the service, payable out of the commutation money." Mr. Anderson (Union) of Kentucky was Page 219 " in favor of taking the slaves of rebels in Kentucky, and of rebel sympathizers." Mr. Davis's amendment to the amendment was agreed to. Mr. Webster (Union) of Maryland moved to so amend Mr. Stevens’s amendment as "to put the drafted man on the same footing with the volunteer slave." — " We do not," said Mr. Kelley (Rep.) of Pennsylvania, "give the Northern father Compensation for his minor son who is drafted ; we do not give the Northern wife compensation for the husband whose labor was her support, if he be drafted ; we do not give the Northern orphan child compensation for having withdrawn the father whose labor was its support ; we do not give compensation to the poor wife and child of a poor man of Maryland or Kentucky when the draft designates her husband or its father : and I cannot see that the relation of this slave-owner to his slave is one whit more sacred than that of the father to his son, the wife to her husband, or the child to its parent." — "I deny," said Mr. Harris (Dem.) of Mary land, "that you have a right to enlist or enroll a slave." Mr. Kasson (Rep.) of Iowa would vote to give compensation in the case of slaves volunteering : he was against giving compensation in case of drafted slaves. Mr. Baldwin (Rep.) of Massachusetts moved to amend the amendment by striking out the words, "owner of any slave," and inserting, " the person to whom the colored volunteer may owe service ; " and the amendment to the amendment was adopted. Mr. Broomall (Rep.) of Pennsylvania moved that the section shall not apply to any district if the representative expressly ask that the slaves be exempt from draft, letting it fall the more heavily upon the white man. He was opposed to it ; but he Page 220 wanted a test-vote on this proposition. "I have never found," he declared, "the most snaky constituent of mine, who, when he was drafted, refused to let the blackest negro in the district go as a substitute for him." Mr. Broomall's amendment was rejected. Mr. Webster moved to amend, so that the bounty now paid to the drafted man shall be paid to the person to whom any drafted man may owe any service or labor, — ayes 67, nays 44. Mr. Clay was opposed to sending a recruiting officer into Kentucky : " It will create a civil war among us." Mr. Scofield (Rep.) of Pennsylvania said, "There were two conditions of slavery, — non-instruction to the slave ; non-discussion by the white man. These are acknowledged to be the two safeguards of slavery by the statutes of almost every slave State where ignorance is commanded to the slave, and silence to the white man. . . . Slavery is surrounded by a cordon of missionary schools for the black man. In those schools, the slaves of all ages are taught not only what can be learned from books and charts, but also that they are, .and of right ought to be, free, — made ap by the laws of God and the President's proclamation ; and that it is a duty they owe to God and the President to maintain that freedom. When God shall please again to bless the land with peace, shall the negro lay aside his military belt, and resume the master's collar ? If the country would allow it, the master would not. He would as soon introduce to his plantation a person charged with some fatal infection as his former slave, filled with antislavery ideas and military skill. He might court his industry, but not his demoralized will. But the other safeguard of slavery — the silence of the white man — is broken also. Page 221 Discussion has opened in all the Border States, and can never again be hushed."

Mr. Fernando Wood (Dem.) of New York desired " to call attention to the fact, that, while we are dis cussing a measure clearly and palpably in violation of the Constitution, the Confederate House df Representatives is discussing measures of peace, re-union, and conciliation." Mr. Cox proposed to send Mr. Wood to Richmond to negotiate a peace based upon the old Union. Mr. Harding moved to amend the proposed amendment by adding, " that the provisions of this section in regard to slaves shall not apply to the State of Kentucky." Mr. Higby (Rep.) of California thought "the Government might go into every district, and take men to 'fill up the Union armies, no matter what the color of their skin." Mr. King (Dem.) of Missouri moved to amend, so that no slave could be recruited or drafted in any State which has passed an ordinance of emancipation. Mr. Davis, in reply to Mr. Harris, said, " The gentleman spoke of robbery. Sir, the advocates of slavery should seek some other term of reproach. Its origin was in robbery ; and, if time and law have sanctioned it, they have not obliterated its historic origin."

Mr. Whalley (Union) of West Virginia moved to amend by adding, that the troops of African descent shall be organized into companies and regiments of their own color, and shall be commanded by white officers. Mr. Boutwell moved to strike out the words, "shall be commanded by white officers." He said, "It is an imputation on the white people of the country to say, that, in a fair contest, they are not able to maintain, Page 222 socially, intellectually, and morally, the ascendency. ... If, with the ascendency which twenty-five million white people have in a struggle with four million of an oppressed and degraded race, we are not able to maintain the ascendency, then, I say, surrender. I believe we are able to maintain that ascendency ; but whatever positions these people show themselves capable of holding, with honor to themselves and advantage to the country, never shall my vote restrain them from obtaining." Mr. Boutwell withdrew his amendment, and Mr. Whalley's amendment was rejected. Mr. Rollins (Union) of Missouri moved to amend so that slaves who have enlisted shall be placed on the same footing as those that shall hereafter enlist, — ayes 52, nays 51. Mr. Harrington moved to insert the word '' white " before the word " volunteers ; " and it was rejected. Mr. Stevens's amendment as amended was adopted. By its provisions, colored men, whether free or slave, were to be enrolled and considered part of the national forces. The masters of slaves were to receive the hundred-dollar bounty to each drafted man on freeing their slaves.

The Enrolment Bill was referred to a Conference Committee, consisting of Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, Mr. Nesmith of Oregon, and Mr. Grimes of Iowa, on the part of the Senate ; and Mr. Schenck of Ohio, Mr. Deming of Connecticut, and Mr. Kernan of New York, on the part of the House. In the Conference, Mr. Wilson stated that he never could assent to the amendment, unless the drafted slaves were made free on being mustered into the service of the United States. Mr. Grimes sustained that position.; and the Page 223 House committee assented to it. The House amendment was then modified so as to read, " That all able-bodied male colored persona between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, whether citizens or not, resident in the United States, shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act, and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the national forces ; and, when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United States, his shall have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free ; and the bounty of a hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United States. The Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented in Congress, charged to award, to each loyal person to whom a colored volunteer may owe service, a just compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars, for each such colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutation ; and every such colored volunteer, on being mustered into the ser vice, shall be free."

The report of the Conference Committee was agreed to ; and it was enacted that every slave, whether a drafted man or a volunteer, shall be free on being mustered into the service of the United States, not by the act of the master, but by the authority of the Federal Government.

Source: Wilson, Henry. History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-Seventh and Thirty-Eighth United States Congresses, 1861-1865, Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co., 1865.