ary power, thus shocking
the sensibilities of my honorable friend from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks]
again. I do not know what good it does to merely provide by law that
the provisions of the Constitution shall be enforced, without saying
how, in what manner, by what machinery, in what way, to what extent,
or how it is to be accomplished. Why reenact the Constitution of the
United States and put it in a bill? What do you accomplish by it? How
is that a remedy? It is simply as if it read in this way: Whereas, it
is provided in the Constitution that the United States shall guarantee
to every State in the Union a republican form of government, therefore
we declare that there shall be a republican form of government and
nothing else."

Mr. Sumner had said, in his speech in opposition to the proposed
amendment, "Above all, do not copy the example of Pontius Pilate, who
surrendered the Savior of the world, in whom he found no fault at all,
to be scourged and crucified, while he set at large Barabbas, of whom
the Gospel says, in simple words, 'Now, Barabbas was a robber.'"

To this Mr. Fessenden responded: "Is it a 'mean compromise'--for so it
is denominated--that the Committee of Fifteen and the House of
Representatives, when they passed it, placed themselves in the
situation of Pontius Pilate, with the negro for the Savior of the
world and the people of the United States for Barabbas, as designated
by the honorable Senator. Why, sir, I expected to hear him in the next
breath go further than that, and say that with the Constitution of the
United States and the constitutions of the States the negro had been
crucified, and that now, by the amendment of the Constitution, the
stone had been rolled away from the door of the sepulcher, and he had
ascended to sit on the throne of the Almighty and judge the world! One
would have been, permit me to say with all respect, in as good taste
as the other."

In conclusion, Mr. Fessenden said: "I wish to say, in closing, that I
commend this joint resolution to the careful consideration of the
Senate. It is all that we could desire; it is all that our
constituents could wish. It does not accomplish, as it stands now,
all, perhaps, that it might accomplish; but it is an important step in
the right direction. It gives the sanction of Congress, in so many
words, to an important, leading, effective idea. It opens a way by
which the Southern mind--to speak of it as the Southern mind--may be
led to t