I repeat, therefore, did these contracts grow out of a period of peace, I should not now advocate them; but it is because they grow out of a period of war, that I ask for those who have suffered by them the same justice we accord to all…

It is my duty constantly to plead here for justice to those freedmen who have done so much and placed you under ceaseless obligations.

But there is still another class, for whom no one has yet spoken on this floor, who have contributed to our success not less than soldier or creditor,--I was almost ready to say, not less than the freedman: I mean the mechanics of the…

They, Sir, have helped you carry this war to its victorious close.

Without the mechanics, where would you have been? what would have been your equipments on the land? where would have been that marvellous navy on the sea?

It was the skilled labor of the country, rushing so promptly to the rescue, that gave you the power which carried you on from victory to victory.

Now, Sir, the practical question is, whether these mechanics, who have done so much to turn the tide of battle, shall be losers by the skill, the labor, and the time they devoted to your triumph.

I mention certain particulars in which this appeared; but I would bring home the controlling consideration that we were in a time of war, vast in proportions and most disturbing in its influence.

We were not in a period of peace, and you err, if you undertake to hold these contractors to all the austere responsibilities proper in a period of peace.

Who among those sitting here or at the other end of the avenue properly appreciated the character of the great contest coming on?

Be to these contractors as gentle in judgment and as considerate as you are to others in public life who have erred in calculations with regard to it.

It is an interest that is not local, as the bill is for the benefit of mechanics in all parts of the loyal States, from Maryland, in the South, to Massachusetts and Maine, in the North and East, and then stretching from New York, on the…

What labor more valuable? what service, while the war was proceeding, more important?

If these mechanics did not expose their persons in the peril of battle, they gave their skill to prepare others for victory.

In ancient times, the oracle said to the city in danger, “Look to your wooden walls.” The oracle in our country said, “Look to your ironclads and your double-enders”; and these mechanics came forward and by ingenious labor enabled you to…

And yet again I ask, Are you ready to see contractors, who have done this service, sacrificed?

You do not allow the soldier to be sacrificed, nor the national creditor who has taken your stock.

One of the most enterprising and faithful in the whole country is a constituent of my own, who, during the last year, has been hurried into bankruptcy from inability to meet liabilities growing out of the war, and at this moment he finds…

He told you that England, at the close of the Crimean War, when her mechanics had suffered precisely as yours, did not allow them to be sacrificed, but every pound, every shilling, of liability under their contracts was promptly met by…

Will you be less just to mechanics than England?

I hope that this republic will vie with any monarchy in gratitude to those who have served it.

I ask you to show a commensurate energy in doing justice to those who have contributed to your success.

But I do hope that the Senator will consider carefully whether it be not within the power of Congress, in some way or other, directly or indirectly, to apply an efficient remedy.

I trust that the Society, which has done so much for human rights, will persevere until these rights are established throughout the country on the impregnable foundation of the Declaration of Independence.

The Slave Oligarchy still lives, and insists upon ruling its former victims.