olding "any office
under the Government of the United States."

Mr. Eldridge did not intend "to make an argument on the merits of the
joint resolution." His remarks were mostly in derogation of the
committee by whom the measure was recommended. "The committee," said
he, "report no facts whatever, and give us no conclusion. They simply
report amendments to the Constitution. Was that the purpose for which
the committee was organized? Was it to change the fundamental law of
the land under which we of the loyal States assembled here? Was that
the duty with which the committee was charged? Were they to inquire
and report an entire change of the fundamental law of the nation which
would destroy the States and create an empire? I say they were charged
with no such duty. The resolution can not fairly be construed as
giving to the committee any such power, any such jurisdiction. The
committee stands resisting the restoration of this Union, and I hope
that no further business will be referred to it. It has rendered
itself unworthy of the high duty with which it was charged."

Mr. Eldridge asserted: "The whole scheme is in the interest of party
alone, to preserve and perpetuate the party idea of this Republican
disunion party."

The debate thus entering "the domain of partisan controversy," Mr.
Boutwell, in a speech which followed, undertook to show how the
proposition before the House "traverses the policy of the Democratic
party with reference to the reconstruction of the Government." Mr.
Boutwell described the policy of the Democratic party, "which," said
he, "they laid down as early as 1856 in the platform made at
Cincinnati, wherein they declared substantially that it was the right
of a Territory to be admitted into this Union with such institutions
as it chose to establish, not even by implication admitting that the
representatives of the existing Government had any right to canvass
those institutions, or to consider the right of the Territory to be
recognized as a State.

"Now, sir, from that doctrine, which probably had its origin in the
resolutions of 1798, the whole of their policy to this day has
legitimately followed. First, we saw its results in the doctrine of
Mr. Buchanan, announced in 1860, that, while the Constitution did not
provide for or authorize the secession of a State from this Union,
there was no power in the existing Government to compel a State to
remain in the Union against its own judgment. Follow