In point of fact, the only substantial difference between the two Houses was on the place where the bureau should be. Each was for a bureau; but one was for it in the Treasury, and the other was for it in the Department of War; and there were strong arguments in favor of each. There were also strong feelings against each. Sometimes it was compendiously said that the freedmen could not be trusted to “the harpies of the Treasury”; and then again it was said, with equal point, that they could not be trusted to “the bloodhounds of the War.” These were exaggerations of opposite opinions; but they serve to disclose the irreconcilable discord on the subject.
If the freedmen could have been provided for without reference to the lands, the question would have been relieved from much of its embarrassment. But it was the conviction of the Committee, in which they were sustained by all most familiar with the matter, that the care of the freedmen and the care of the abandoned lands ought to be in the same hands, and that they could not be separated without exposing the freedmen to the mischiefs of two conflicting jurisdictions. But the War Office was not adapted to manage the lands, as many insisted that the Treasury was not adapted to manage the freedmen.
There was another consideration not without influence. It was felt that each of these great departments of the Government was already so severely burdened, so weighed down with manifold duties, that it was hardly in condition to assume a new trust, so grave and onerous as that proposed.
For such reasons, Sir, and yielding to such influences, the Committee, after careful and conscientious deliberation, determined to recommend a new department, not unlike that of Agriculture, which should not be subject either to the Treasury or to the War. It was felt that in doing this they were doing the best for the cause, and they were not insensible also to the consideration that in this way they might secure a higher order of talent and of character for the service. Men fitted for Treasury agents or fitted for War might not always be the best for the care of freedmen. The man for this humane service should be humane by nature, and should sympathize especially with the race so long neglected and outraged. They must be versed, if I may so express myself, in the humanities of the subject.
After quoting the testimony of experts in favor of an independent department, and of changing the actual system, he concluded.
Such is the system that now exists, under which the freedman is the mere accident of the Treasury. Sir, it is unworthy of the Republic at this great period of our history.
Already the President, by irrepealable proclamation, has declared all slaves free. An Amendment to the Constitution will, in the course of a few weeks, place their freedom under the sanction of Constitutional Law. But this is not enough. The debt of justice will not be paid, if we do not take them by the hand in their passage from the house of bondage to the house of freedom: and this is what is proposed by the present measure. The temporary care of the freedman is the complement of Emancipation; but the general welfare is involved in the performance of this duty. Without it Emancipation may for a while seem at fault, and the general welfare gravely suffer.
February 14th and 21st, the consideration of the report was continued,—Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Grimes, and Mr. Sprague, of Rhode Island, speaking against it. In reply to Mr. Grimes, who moved the postponement of its consideration, Mr. Sumner again vindicated the measure.
I hope there will be no postponement. A motion to postpone at the present time is a motion to kill, and such is the unquestionable object of the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Grimes]. He is against the bill now, just as he was at the beginning, and is acting according to his sense of duty, when he tries in every way to defeat it. But are Senators whose votes have thus far shown a determination to do something for the freedmen ready to follow his example?
The Senator says he wishes time. Well. But he wishes something more. He wishes to arrest this legislation now at its latest stage. He says that he desires opportunity for debate. But, Sir, has he not had this opportunity in largest measure and to excess? The Senate cannot forget how carefully and conscientiously this question has been considered: first, in a Committee of this body, who gave their best attention to it for weeks, during the last session of Congress; then for five days and two evenings in the Senate, during which the Senator signalized his opposition; then again in a Conference Committee, the present session, where the whole subject was most thoroughly studied in every possible light; and now in this debate, running over several days, which has already occupied the Senate since the report of that Committee. Surely, if the Senator is not satisfied with the labors of the Committees of this body, he cannot complain that opportunity of debate has been wanting. Sir, he has had the opportunity, and has exercised it.