Jenckes, of Rhode Island, five minutes for reply. He said: "The
gentleman states, and properly, that every act or ordinance of
secession was a nullity. Undoubtedly it was. Upon that question of law
we do not disagree. But he seems to me to overlook entirely what was
the state of facts from the time of the passage of the ordinances of
secession until the time of the surrender of Lee's army. During that
period what were the relations which all that territory--I will not
use the term States, but all that territory--between the Potomac and
the Rio Grande sustained to the Government of the United States? Who
could see States there for any purpose for which legislation was
required by the Constitution of the United States?

"At the time of the passage of the ordinance of secession, States were
organized there, in existence, in action, known to the Constitution
and the constitutional authorities under it. But were they loyal? Did
they obey the Constitution of the United States? This is a question
that needs no answer other than that which is conveyed to every mind
by the recollection of the last four years of war, with their
expenditure of treasure and blood. Those States were not destroyed, in
the technical language of the law--they simply died out. As their
Governors passed out of office, as the terms of their legislatures
expired, who knew those facts? None but themselves. And yet, behind
this grand cordon of armies, stretching from here to the Rio Grande,
there were States in existence, organized as States, but States in
rebellion, occupying the territory belonging to the people of the
United States. They were not acting in concert with this Government,
but against it. That, Mr. Chairman, is a matter of fact. My eyes are
not dimmed or blinded by the parchment upon which constitutions or
laws are written. I, like the men who carried the bayonets and planted
the cannon, recognize the fact that was before us during all this
time. There was a state of rebellion. There were in that part of our
territory no States known to our Constitution or the laws that we
enact, or the officers whose duty it is to enforce those laws.

"I recognize, too, the next fact. Bear in mind, I am simply stating
now what I conceive to be the facts. The question as to what may be
the law can be reserved for discussion on another occasion. I
recognize fully the duties of the Executive. And it was the duty of
the President of the United States, as the