on the 14th of May, when I left, all requesting a representation in Congress, and asking that I should be such representative. I claim that the expression is fully as extensive as is possible under the present condition of things in the second congressional district of North Carolina, and that the expression is unanimous in my favor. There was another candidate in opposition to myself at one election, but he did not, notwithstanding he was born and raised among the people along the coast, and has been and is now a member of the legislature, receive a single vote, because the people preferred my self. Secondly. I claim that the substance of an election is in this case. The period during which these demonstrations have been made evidence, as I said yesterday, that the voters would, with the same unanimity, have expressed themselves in my favor upon any day certain which might have been the legal day of election, authorized by statute or by the proclamation of the governor. I claim that the substance is in this thing; the bark, the husk, may be absent, but the kernel and essence of an election is in the case. Thirdly. No adverse utterance has been made by a single elector in the second congressional district of North Carolina. No person interested in the election has remonstrated against my claim to a seat. Cox, in his British Commonwealth, speaking of election petitions affecting the right of a man to a seat in the House of Commons of England, says that the only persons who can send in an election petition disputing the right of a member to a seat in the House of Commons are electors in the district, or a candidate, or persons who should have been candidates; that no person can object to the right of a person to a seat, unless he has some interest as an elector or a candidate. Fourthly. The people desire, and their vital interests demand, some kind of a representation. These people on the coast of North Carolina live ordinarily by commerce. They are not altogether wreckers and fishers; many of them are engaged in the coasting trade. They are generally honest, good, religious, and intelligent men. If they are poor men, and own but few slaves, that ought not to be an objection to them. Every one of them are natives of North Carolina, and have always been obedient, as they interpret it, to their duties as citizens of the State. They have been isolated from the main land, have had no connexion with the rebellion, but have remained steadfastly loyal; they have given every assistance they could to the troops of the government. Instead of harassing the government by organizing themselves into guerilla bands, they have assisted the government. Their commerce has been interrupted. Many of them own lighters and small schooners, by the use of which, in carrying cargoes and pursuing the coasting trade, they earned their livelihood. Now their ordinary avocations are at an end, and they have no means of support. The pilot business, which was one source of income to these people, has been interrupted; also the right to throw seines in many parts of the sound has been prohibited. They wish a report of these matters to be made to Congress by some per son who has lived with them, and who is practically familiar with the whole matter. They claim to be American citizens, and that they have never forfeited their rights by any disloyalty or assistance to the rebellion. They wish some person who has lived among them to represent them, and they consider me the most suitable man they have. That is the view they take; I do not say I take it. Again, these constituents of mine have suffered depredations both from federal and confederate troops. I came up here last February and presented to each house memorials in behalf of these men, asking compensation for depredations committed upon their property, but being a mere civilian, holding no office, being in no position which entitles me to appear for those people, except their request that I should appear for them as their attorney or commissioner, I cannot see those claims through and see them righted. They desire some representative to take their business in hand. It is important that they should, as it affects their vital interests. Fifthly. In reference to a new election, which some of my friends have suggested to me should be held, and which might be ordered, I contend that it would have no additional virtue as an election, inasmuch as these people have several times expressed their opinion in my favor unanimously. Question. What is the day of the regular congressional election? Answer. Yes, sir; and the next will not occur until a year from next August. Question. When do you claim that your first election took place? Answer. On the 16th of January in this case. Question. Then this January election was a spontaneous affair? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. There was no provisional government then? The people assembled together in their primary capacity under a full and general understanding among them. Question. Is there any provision for calling a special election in North Carolina? Answer. There is a provision in the Constitution of the United States. Question. Have you nothing, independent of that, in the laws of North Carolina providing for filling vacancies in Congress? Answer. No, sir; there is a provision in the Constitution that whenever a vacancy happens in the representation of any State the executive authority thereof shall order writs of election to fill such vacancy: but the rebel governor of North Carolina did no such thing. Question. You had no provisional government? Answer. None which was recognized by the federal government here. Question. Governor Stanly is now provisional governor, and would it not be competent for him, under the authority of that provision of the Constitution to which you have just referred, to order a new election? Answer. I do not know what the nature of his powers are. I suppose Governor Stanley would have the right to send me out of the State if I should go back there. Question. Would he not have power to order an election to fill all vacancies ? Answer. I should suppose so; but I have this objection to that: a brother of Professor Hedrick, an enemy of mine, has been appointed a federal officer at Beaufort. Other persons may be appointed to hold other offices in the district, and those persons, I presume, would work against me. That is one objection I have to a new election. Again: it would be dangerous and unsafe for the people to participate in another at this time. Question. Where are the originals of those papers which are printed in Mis. Doc. No. 53? Answer. They were presented to the House by Mr. Morrill, of Maine; by the House referred to this committee, and I presume they are at the printing office. Question. Have you any personal knowledge of the manner in which the names to those papers were obtained? Answer. By generally circulating the papers in the different neighborhoods and getting the persons to sign. Question. They so represent the matter to you? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. You have no personal knowledge of the matter beyond the fact that the petitions were brought to you? Answer. I have a personal knowledge from the fact that many persons whose names appear to the petition afterwards told me they had signed such a petition in my favor, and asked me when I was going to Washington with the petition. Question. Have you observed the fact that many names on these petitions are alike? Answer. It is a fact that on these islands there are many per sons of the same family name. It is so (addressing Mr. Dawes) in your State, at Cape Cod. Question. Do you know all these men? Answer. I know that every one of them are voters. Question. Do you know the Grays? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. How many of them are there in the precinct? Answer. There may have been twenty of them. Question. How many of them do you know? Answer. I think I know nearly all of them. personally and some of them quite intimately. I have lived with them for seven months. I know every man Question. Is that the length of time you have resided in North Carolina? Answer. No, sir. The democratic party of North Carolina in the spring of 1860-a party then in a majority of seventeen thousand— H. Rep. Com. 118-2 recognized me as a citizen of that State by electing me by acclamation a member of the National Democratic Convention. I did not attend the convention at Charleston for the reason that it commenced sometime in April, when I was about to get married; and I was married to a native of North Carolina on the first of May that year. That was a good reason in my mind why I should not attend that con vention. I did, however, attend the convention at Baltimore. That I think ought to make me out a citizen of North Carolina. I have lived among those constituents ever since the capture of that place by General Butler. I had previously been residing in the first district. Question. How long have you resided in the second district? Answer. Seven months. Question. Is your family there? Answer. My family is in the first district. It is not requisite in order to make me eligible from the second district that my family should be there. Question. Does not the law of the State require that? Answer. No, sir; it is entirely silent upon that subject, and it has been held by the Committee of Elections of the House of Represen tatives and ratified by the action of the House itself in many instances that no State has the power to affix any qualifications additional t those imposed by the Constitution of the United States itself, which requires that a representative shall be an inhabitant of the State from which he is elected and shall be 25 years of age. Question. So far as you know, has it been common in the State of North Corolina to elect persons to Congress who were not residents of the district they were elected to represent? Answer. It has been a very common thing within my knowledge to elect members to the North Carolina legislature who were not residents of the districts they represent. Question. How has it been in reference to the election of members of Congress? Answer. I do not know. Question. Can you refer to any instance in which it has been done either in North Carolina or any other State? Answer. I do not know of any other instance. Question. Is the first congressional district of North Carolira within the jurisdiction of our government now, or is it under the confederate rule? Answer. The island of Roanoke is the only portion of the first district which can be considered to be under the control of the national government. Question. How many inhabitants are there? Answer. About 1,500. I was there several weeks ago, and visited nearly all the people at their houses. I found them unanimously loyal to the government. They belong, however, to the first district, and not to the second. Question. In which district is Edenton? Answer. In the first district. Question. In which district is Newbern? Answer. In the second. In Newbern the secession sentiment is strong, even among those who remain there. The oath of neutrality only was administered to some few men who were suspected. Question. Has there been any Union meeting or demostration at Newbern? Answer. A demonstration was proposed to be made by the citizens, who invited me to address them. The Massachusetts 25th regiment were to attend the meeting with their band, and the carpenters were detailed to build a platform. General Burnside, however, suddenly prohibited the meeting, a proceeding for which I was not at all responsible. Question. On what ground did he prohibit the meeting? Answer. The grounds were recited in a letter, which was addressed to me, in which he apprised me of the fact, of which I was previously aware, that Newbern was under martial law, and that he could not allow officers or soldiers to organize political assemblages. That is the reason why no demonstration was made in Newbern. Question. Have you anything else you desire to offer to the committee? Answer. I wish to say, in reference to a new election, that if such a one was ordered it would expose the people there to a great deal of danger, unnecessarily, as we have already the substance of an election. If the people should be summoned together to vote again, it would simply be collecting them as so many sheep for the slaughter. The forces of General Burnside are not competent to protect the people of North Carolina, who have already declared themselves for the Union; and I think it is contrary to his policy to encourage any demonstration beyond those already made. I will state in this connexion that a gentleman who participated in one of the meetings which was held at Swift's Branch, fifteen miles from Newbern, was taken into the woods by the rebels, who cut his throat and hung him up by his heels for the crime of participating in such meeting. If this Congress should send me back there for a new election, and Governor Stanley was to order another election, it may easily be imagined that additional murders and outrages would be committed. Humanity would suggest that this should not be done. Question. Do you mean to be understood that there would be greater danger than there has been in previous elections? Answer. I claim that there would be additional danger. That country is debatable territory, so that a prudent man would hardly dare say his soul is his own. I contend, also, that my constituents are the best loyal men in the State of North Carolina, inasmuch as hitherto they have had no complicity with the rebellion. Furthermore, they are ready to do military duty for the government, and to pay their proportion of taxes to sustain the war. They claim the right of representation. They consider themselves as American citizens, and that they are entitled to be recognized as such. Under the circumstances of hardship in which they are involved, they need representation more than any constituency in the entire north. They |