he has been the last slaveholding State,
thank God, in America, and I am one of the last slaveholders in
America."

Mr. Trumbull continued: "Well, Mr. President, I do not see
particularly what the declaration of the Senator from Delaware has to
do with the question I am discussing. His State may have been the last
to become free, but I presume that the State of Delaware, old as she
is, being the first to adopt the Constitution, and noble as she is,
will submit to the Constitution of the United States, which declares
that there shall be no slavery within its jurisdiction." [Applause in
the galleries.]

"It is necessary, Mr. President, to extend the Freedmen's Bureau
beyond the rebel States in order to take in the State of Delaware,
[laughter,] the loyal State of Delaware, I am happy to say, which did
not engage in this wicked rebellion; and it is necessary to protect
the freedmen in that State as well as elsewhere; and that is the
reason for extending the Freedmen's Bureau beyond the limits of the
rebellious States.

"Now, the Senator from Indiana says it extends all over the United
States. Well, by its terms it does, though practically it can have
little if any operation outside of the late slaveholding States. If
freedmen should congregate in large numbers at Cairo, Illinois, or at
Evansville, Indiana, and become a charge upon the people of those
States, the Freedmen's Bureau would have a right to extend its
jurisdiction over them, provide for their wants, secure for them
employment, and place them in situations where they could provide for
themselves; and would the State of Illinois or the State of Indiana
object to that? The provisions of the bill which would interfere with
the laws of Indiana can have no operation there.

"Again, the Senator objects very much to the expense of this bureau.
Why, sir, as I have once or twice before said, it is a part of the
military establishment. I believe nearly all its officers at the
present time are military officers, and by the provisions of the
pending bill they are to receive no additional compensation when
performing duties in the Freedmen's Bureau. The bill declares that the
'bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be placed under a
commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be detailed from the
army, in which event each officer so assigned to duty shall serve
without increase of pay or allowances.'

"I shall necessarily, Mr. President, in following the Sena