said that his only objection to the amendment of the House
was, that it disfranchised ten or fifteen thousand leading rebels from
voting at the elections, yet he was willing to agree to the amendment.

Mr. Sumner congratulated Mr. Sherman on the advanced step he had
taken. "To-morrow," said Mr. Sumner, "I hope to welcome the Senator to
some other height."

Mr. Sherman was unwilling to admit that he had come to Mr. Sumner's
stand-point. He was willing to accept the bill, although it excluded a
few thousand rebels from voting, yet "I would rather have them all
vote," said he, "white and black, under the stringent restrictions of
this bill, and let the governments of the Southern States that are
about now to rise upon the permanent foundation of universal liberty
and universal equality, stand upon the consent of the governed, white
and black, former slaves and former masters."

Then followed an extended discussion of the question as to whether the
Senate should agree to the amendments proposed by the House. Mr.
Doolittle proposed and advocated an amendment providing that nothing
in the bill should be construed to disfranchise persons who have
received pardon and amnesty. This amendment was rejected--yeas, 8;
nays, 33.

The vote was then taken upon the final passage of the bill as amended
by the House; it passed the Senate--yeas, 35; nays, 7.

The Bill "to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States," having thus passed both houses of Congress on the 20th of
February, it was immediately submitted to the President for his
approval.

On the second of March the President returned the bill to the House,
in which it originated, with his objections, which were so grave that
he hoped a statement of them might "have some influence on the minds
of the patriotic and enlightened men with whom the decision must
ultimately rest."

The Veto Message was immediately read by the clerk of the House of
Representatives. The following extracts present the President's
principal objections to the measure:

"The bill places all the people of the ten States therein
named under the absolute domination of military rulers. * * *

"It is not denied that the States in question have each of
them an actual government, with all the powers, executive,
judicial, and legislative which properly belong to a free
State. They are organized like the other States of the
Union, and like them they make,