The great debate was opened on December 18 by Mr. Stevens, who reasserted his views, declaring that Congress has the sole power to receive back the States, the Executive concurring.[74] The States as States made war. "The idea that the States could not and did not make war because the Constitution forbids it, and that this must be treated as a war of individuals, is a very injurious fallacy. Individuals cannot make war. They may commit murder, but that is not war. Communities, societies, states, make war." He earnestly pleaded for negro suffrage both on grounds of expediency and of right, closing his speech with the oft-quoted sentence: "Sir, this doctrine of a white man's government is as atrocious as the infamous sentiment that damned the late Chief Justice to everlasting fame, and I fear, to everlasting fire."[75] Mr. Beaman, on February 24, after dwelling upon the horrors of the late war, said: "Those were sad, dark days, whose tinge was deepened by the frowns and hostile intrigues of foreign nations. But sadder still, and darker and more gloomy, will be that day in which the rebel States shall assume the control of our national government; when without guards or security for future good conduct, without protection to the blacks and loyal whites who have freely shed their blood in our defense, the seceded districts shall be declared reconstructed and restored States, and again launched upon their career of oppression, tyranny and crime."[76] On March 10, Mr. Stevens made a speech upholding the right of the federal government to treat the conquered States in whatever manner was deemed advisable. "I trust yet to see our confiscation laws fully executed; and then the malefactors will learn that what Congress has seized as enemy's property and invested in the United States, cannot be divested and returned to the conquered belligerent by the mere voice of the Executive. I hope to see the property of the subdued enemy pay the damages done to loyal men, North and South, and help to support the helpless, armless, mutilated soldiers who have been made wretched by this unholy war. I do not believe the action of the President is worth a farthing in releasing the property conquered from the enemy, from the appropriation made of it by Congress."[76]