Daily Ohio Statesman

The Abolition Secession Doctrine and

War of Conquest and Extermination.

In the House on the report of the Judiciary

committee on the resolution introduced by Mr.

Lazear, of Kentucky, asking information as to

the power of Congress to confiscate the property

of rebels, Mr. Stevens made a speech in which

he avowed the doctrine that the Southern States

are no longer in the Union, and are to be treated

as conquered provinces. It was not said upon the spur of the occasion.

It is a deliberate opinion formed upon

a careful examination of the law of the United

States and the law of nations. Mr. Stevens

proceeded to give reasons for this matured

opinion of his. He said:

The establishment of our blockade admitted

the Southern States, the Confederates, to be a

belligerent power. Foreign nations have all

admitted them as a belligerent power. When

that came to be admitted by us and foreign

nations, it placed the rebellious States

precisely in the condition of an alien enemy,

with regard to duties and obligations.

Mr. Stevens closed his argument with this

broad and distinct declaration: I hold and

maintain that with regard to all those Southern

States in rebellion—I do not speak of Kentucky,

but of those States which have gone out

under an act of legislation or convention—the

Constitution has no binding influence, and no

application.

The following colloquy then ensued:

Mr. Dunlap—Are not those seceded States

still members of this Union, and under the

laws of the Government?

Mr. Stevens—In my opinion they are not.

Mr. Dunlap—Then I would ask the further

question, did the ordinance of secession take

them out of the Union?

Mr. Stevens—The ordinance of secession,

backed by the armed power which made them

a belligerent nation, did take them, so far as

present operations are concerned, from under

the laws of the nation.

Mr. Dunlap—Are they then members of the

Union?

Mr. Stevens—They are not, in my judgment.

Mr. Dunlap then inquired how Mr. Stevens,

Chairman of the committee of Ways and

Means, proposed to pass an appropriation to pay

officers to collect revenue in States which do

not belong to the Union. Mr. Stevens replied:

I propose to levy that tax and collect it as a

war measure. I would levy a tax wherever I

can upon these conquered provinces, just as all

nations levy them upon provinces and nations

they conquer. If my views and principles are

right, I would not only collect that tax, but I

would, as a necessary war measure, take every

particle of property, real and personal, life-

estate and reversion, of every disloyal man,

and sell it for the benefit of the nation carrying

on this war. We have such power, and we

are to treat them simply as provinces to be conquered,

and as a nation fighting in hostility

against us until we do conquer them.

Mr. Dunlap and other Border State members

continued to ply Mr. Stevens with questions,

bringing out fully his secession views, that the

seceded States are no longer in the Union and

under the Constitution, but are to be treated

and subjugated as a separate and hostile nation.

In the course of his remarks, Mr. Stevens said

he did not see how the President could view

these questions in any other way than as he

(Mr. Stevens) did, and added:

I say that you cannot justify nine out of ten

of the acts of the Government, or of our own

acts here, if you consider the Constitution a

valid and binding instrument with reference to

those in arms in the rebellious States.

These bold avowals of his opinions by Mr.

Stevens created some fluttering on the Republican

side of the House. A mild disavowal of

them as the views of the party was made by

Mr. Olin, of New York, and Mr. Colfax, of

Indiana. Mr. Stevens rejoined that for the

last fifteen years he had always been ahead of

the members of his party; but they had always

overtaken him and gone ahead. They would

again overtake him and go with him. They

would adopt the measures he (Stevens) advocated

at the outset of the war, as the arming

of the negroes, the slaves of the rebels. He

said:

They will find that they must treat these

States now outside of the Union as conquered

provinces and settle them with new men, and

drive the present rebels as exiles from the

country; for I tell you they have the pluck and

endurance for which I gave them credit a year

and a half ago in a speech which I made, but

which was not relished on this side of the

House, nor by the people of the free States. They

have such determination, energy and endurance

that nothing but actual extermination—or exile

or starvation—will ever induce them to surrender

to this Government.

Toward the close of the discussion, Mr. Stevens

said that if there was to be a Union

formed again, he would not have one part

wholly free, and the other part slave. "I would

not, if I could," said Mr. Stevens, "agree to

such a Union."