the doctrines of the
special message of the President of the United States of March 28,
1860;

"That the extent of power contemplated in the adoption of the
resolutions of inquiry of March 5, 1860, is necessary to the proper
discharge of the constitutional duties devolved upon Congress;

"That judicial determinations, the opinions of former Presidents
and uniform usage, sanction its exercise; and

"That to abandon it would leave the executive department of the
government without supervision or responsibility, and would be
likely to lead to a concentration of power in the hands of the
President, dangerous to the rights of a free people."

This resolution was regarded as a severe reproach to the President,
who was not content to let the matter rest there, but on the 25th
of June sent to the House of Representatives, a message restating
the position in his former message. He denounced the proceedings
of that committee as a violation of the letter and spirit of the
constitution. But for the lateness of the session the message
would have been the subject of severe animadversion. Late as it
was Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio, entered his protest and moved that
the message be referred to a select committee of five, with power
to report at the next session. This, after a brief debate, was
adopted.

During the entire session, while the current business was progressing
rapidly, the political questions involved in the pending presidential
canvass, the topics of Kansas and slavery, were frequently obtruded
into the debate. On the 23rd of April, William T. Avery, a Democratic
Member from Tennessee charged that "an overwhelming majority of
the Republican party in this House, headed by Mr. Sherman--in fact,
every member of that party present when the vote was taken, excepting
some fourteen or fifteen--indorsed the doctrine of the abolition
of slavery everywhere."

In the course of a reply to this charge I said:

"I think there is not a Member on this side of the House who is
not now willing to make the declaration broadly, openly, that he
is opposed to any interference whatever with the relations of master
and slave in the slave states. We do believe that Congress has
the power to prohibit slavery in the territories; and whenever the
occasion offers, whenever the proper time arrives, whenever the
question arises, we are in favor of exercising that power, if
necessary, to prevent the extension of slavery into free territory.