Excerpt from Read and Preserve: Select Speeches of Hon. Geo; W. Julian, of Indiana, Delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, Since the Beginning of the Late Rebellion

Of that Committee, and as such reported an important amendment to the Homestead law, and his well known bill dedicating to homestead entry and settlement all the public lands Of the lately rebellious States, both Of which measures passed. He also reported from the same Committee, a bill which passed the House, providing homesteads for soldiers on the lands of rebels; a very popular measure, which would have solved many vexed questions which have troubled the country since. Early in the Thirty-seventh Congress he was appointed by Speaker grow, a member Of the joint Committee Of both Houses, on the Conduct Of the the War, to which very honorable and responsible position, he was re-appointed by Speaker colfax at the beginning of the Thiry-eighth Congress, serving faithfully on said Committee, nearly four years. He has dealt very thoroughly with the subject Of mineral lands, insisting upon the policy Of vesting the fee of these lands in the miners; which policy has finally prevailed. His report at the long session Of the last Congress, against granting bounties to soldiers in lands, showing the reasons for opposing such grants, first opened the way for the legislation which followed, and was the prime cause Of it, granting bounties in money. It should be added, that his well-timed bill on the subject Of Agricultural College scrip, which passed at the March session of the Fortieth Congress, arrested and prevented the wholesale issue Of such scrip by the President, to the States lately in rebellion.

In addition to the important measures introduced and advocated by him, already named, we might mention the bill repealing the fugitive slave law Of 1850, and of 1793; that abolish ing the coast-wise slave trade; the bill equalizing the bounties Of soldiers on the basis Of eight and on e-third dollars per month, in lieu of bounties in land; the bill establishing the right Of suffrage in the District Of Columbia, without regard to color or race; the bill establishing the same principle in all the Territories of the United States, being the first introduced in either House Of Congress on the subject; and the bill now pending, declaring the railroad and swamp lands Of the South, and the public lands of Texas, forfeited to the United States, and subject to homestead entry and settlement by the landless poor. It is scarcely necessary to add, that all the great measures growing out Of, or connected with the rebellion, have found in him an earnest supporter; and that he has not only zealously sustained the Government in all its grand measures Of radicalism, such as the confiscation of rebel property, the arming Of negroes as soldiers, and the destruction of slavery, but he has taken a decidedly advanced position on these questions. Applying his radicalism at the end of the war, he has been among the most pronounced and emphatic Of those who have demanded the punishment Of rebel leaders, and the complete enfranchisement Of the freedmen; whilst the late action Of Congress on the subject Of reconstruction, fully vindicates the position assumed by him and other radicals early in the war, as to the power Of Congress over the revolted districts.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com