CHAPTER IV.

SUFFRAGE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Duty of Congress to legislate for the District of Columbia

-- Suffrage Bill introduced into the House -- Speech by Mr.

Wilson -- Mr. Boyer -- Mr. Schofield -- Mr. Kelley -- Mr.

Rogers -- Mr. Farnsworth -- Mr. Davis -- Mr. Chanler -- Mr.

Bingham -- Mr. Grinnell -- Mr. Kasson -- Mr. Julian -- Mr.

Thomas -- Mr. Darling -- Mr. Hale's amendment -- Mr. Thayer

-- Mr. Van Horn -- Mr. Clarke -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr.

Boutwell.

Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the authority of

Congress to legislate for States loyal or disloyal, or for

Territories, there is entire unanimity as to the power and duty of

Congress to enact laws for the District of Columbia. Here there is no

countercurrent of "reserved rights" or "State sovereignty" opposed to

the authority of Congress.

Congress being responsible for the legislation of the District of

Columbia, we naturally look in that direction for an exhibition in

miniature of the policy of the national legislature on questions

relating to the interests of the nation at large. If slavery

flourished and the slave-market existed in the capital, it was because

a majority of the people of the United States were willing. So soon as

the nation became anti-slavery, the "peculiar institution" could no

longer exist in the District of Columbia, although it might still

survive in other localities.

The General Government having become completely disenthralled from the

dominion of slavery, and a wide-spread opinion prevailing at the North

that all loyal men should enjoy the right of suffrage, the members of

the Thirty-ninth Congress convened with a sense of duty impelling them

to begin the great work of political reform at the capital itself.

Hence Mr. Wade, as we have seen, on the first day of the session,

introduced "Senate bill Number One," designed, as its title declared,

"to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia." In

the House of Representatives, on the second day of the session, Mr.

Kelley introduced "a bill extending the right of suffrage in the

District of Columbia." This bill was referred to the Judiciary

Committee.

In the House of Representatives, on the 18th of December, Mr. Wilson,

chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, reported a bill extending

the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia. The bill provided

that from all laws and parts of laws prescribing the qualification of

electors for any office in the District of Columbia, the word "white"

should be stricken out; also, that from and after the passage of the

bill, no person should be disqualified from voting at any election

held in the District of Columbia on account of color; also, that all

acts of Congress, and all laws of the State of Maryland in force in

the District of Columbia, and all ordinances of the cities of

Washington and Georgetown inconsistent with the provisions of the

bill, should be repealed and annulled.

This bill was made the special order for Wednesday the 10th of

January.

Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, whose duty it was, as chairman of the Judiciary

Committee, to report the bill, opened the discussion by speaking as

follows in favor of the measure:

"Can we excuse ourselves in continuing a limitation on the right of

suffrage in the capital of the republic that has no justification in

reason, justice, or in the principles on which we profess to have

based our entire political system? Upon this question there seems to

have been but little difference of opinion among the men who laid the

foundation and built the superstructure of this Government. In those

days no limitation was placed upon the enjoyment of the defensive

rights of the citizen, including the right of suffrage, on account of

the color of the skin, except in the State of South Carolina. All of

the other States participating in the formation of the Government of

the United States had some limitation, based on sex, or age, or

property placed upon the right of suffrage; but none of them so far

forgot the spirit of our Constitution, the great words of the

Declaration of Independence, or the genius of our institutions, as to

inquire into the color of a citizen before allowing him the great

defensive right of the ballot. It is true, that as the republic moved

off in its grand course among the nations a change occurred in the

minds and practices of the people of a majority of the States. The

love of liberty, because of its own great self, and not because of its

application to men of a particular color, lost its sensitive character

and active vitality. The moral sense of the people became dormant

through the malign influence of that tolerated enemy to all social and

governmental virtue, human slavery. The public conscience slumbered,

its eyes closed with dollars and its ears stuffed with cotton. When

these things succeeded the active justice, abounding mercy, and love

of human rights of the earlier days, State after State fell into the

dark line of South Carolinian oppression, and adopted her

anti-republican limitation of the right of suffrage. A few States

stood firm and kept their faith, and to-day, when compared with the

bruised and peeled and oppression-cursed State of South Carolina,

stand forth as shining examples of the great rewards that are poured

upon the heads of the just. Massachusetts and South Carolina, the one

true, the other false to the faith and ideas of the early life of the

nation, should teach us how safe it is to do right, and how dangerous

it is to do wrong; how much safer it is to do justice than it is to

practice oppression.

"But, sir, not the States alone fell into this grievous error. The

General Government took its stand upon the side of injustice, and

apostatized from the true faith of the nation, by depriving a portion

of its citizens of the political right of self-defense, the use of the

ballot. What good has come to us from this apostasy? Take the history

of the municipal government of this city, and what is there in its

pages to make an American feel proud of the results of this departure

from the principles of true democracy? Is there a worse governed city

in all the republic? Where in all the country was there to be found

such evidences of thriftless dependence as in this city before the

cold breath of the North swept down here during the rebellion and

imparted a little of 'Yankee' vigor to its business and population?

Where within the bounds of professed fidelity to the Government was

true loyalty at a lower ebb, and sympathy with the rebellion at higher

flood; freedom more hated, and emancipation more roundly denounced;

white troops harder to raise, and black ones more heartily despised;

Union victories more coldly received, and reverses productive of less

despondency, than right among that portion of the voting population

and its adjuncts which control the local elections in this District?

With what complaisance the social elements of this capital fostered

the brood of traitors who rushed hence to the service of the rebellion

in 1861! Are these fruits of our errors pleasing?

"I would not be vindictive, I would be just. I do not want to

legislate against the white citizen for the purpose of advancing the

interests of the colored citizen. It is best to guard against all such

legislation. Let the laws which we pass here be of such pure

republican character, that no person can tell from the reading of them

what color is stamped upon the faces of the citizens of the United

States. Let us have no class legislation, no class privileges. Let our

laws be just and uniform in their operation. This is the smooth sea

upon which our ship of state may sail; all others are tempestuous and

uncertain.

"And now, Mr. Speaker, who are the persons upon whom this bill will

operate, if we shall place it upon the statute-book of the nation?

They are citizens of the United States and residents of the District

of Columbia. It is true that many of them have black faces, but that

is God's work, and he is wiser than we. Some of them have faces marked

by colors uncertain; that is not God's fault. Those who hate black men

most intensely can tell more than all others about this mixture of

colors. But, mixed or black, they are citizens of this republic, and

they have been, and are to-day, true and loyal to their Government;

and this is vastly more than many of their contemners can claim for

themselves. In this District a white skin was not the badge of loyalty

while a black skin was. No traitor breathed the air of this capital

wearing a black skin. Through all the gradations of traitors, from

Wirz to Jeff. Davis, criminal eyes beamed from white faces. Through

all phases of treason, from the bold stroke of Lee upon the

battle-field to the unnatural sympathy of those who lived within this

District, but hated the sight of their country's flag, runs the blood

which courses only under a white surface. While white men were fleeing

from this city to join their fortunes with the rebel cause, the

returning wave brought black faces in their stead. White enemies went

out, black friends came in. As true as truth itself were these poor

men to the cause of this imperiled nation. Wherever we have trusted

them, they have been true. Why will we not deal justly by them? Why

shall we not, in this District, where the first effective legislative

blow fell upon slavery, declare that these suffering, patient, devoted

friends of the republic shall have the power to protect their own

rights by their own ballots? Is it because they are ignorant? Sir, we

are estopped from that plea. It comes too late. We did not make this

inquiry in regard to the white voter. It is only when we see a man

with a dark skin that we think of ignorance. Let us not stand on this

now in relation to this District. The fact itself is rapidly passing

away, for there is no other part of the population of the District so

diligent in the acquisition of knowledge as the colored portion. In

spite of the difficulties placed in their pathway to knowledge by the

white residents, the colored people, adults and children, are pressing

steadily on.

"Taken as a class, they surely show themselves possessed of enough of

the leaven of thrift, education, morality, and religion to render it

safe for us to make the experiment of impartial suffrage here. Let us

make the trial. A failure can work no great harm, for to us belongs

the power to make any change which the future may show to be

necessary. How can we tell whether success or failure shall be the

fruit of a practical application of the principles upon which our

institutions rest, unless we put them to a fair test? Give every man a

fair chance to show how well he can discharge the duties of fully

recognized citizenship. This is the way to solve the problem, and in

no other way can it be determined. That success will attend the

experiment I do not doubt. Others believe the result will prove quite

the reverse. Who is right and who wrong can be ascertained only by

putting the two opinions to a practical test. The passage of this bill

will furnish this test, and to that end I ask for it the favorable

consideration of this house."

Mr. Boyer, of Pennsylvania, said: "The design of this bill is to

inaugurate here, upon this most conspicuous stage, the first act of

the new political drama which is intended to culminate in the complete

political equality of the races and the establishment of negro

suffrage throughout the States. Constitutional amendments with this

view have been already introduced at both ends of the Capitol. The

object of the leaders of this movement is no longer concealed; and if

there is any thing in their action to admire, it is the candor,

courage, and ability with which they press their cause. The agitation

is to go on until the question has been settled by the country, and it

may as well be met here upon the threshold. The monstrous proposition

is nothing less than the absorption into the body politic of the

nation of a colored population equal to one-sixth of all the

inhabitants of the country, as the census reports will show. Four

millions of the population so to be amalgamated have been just set

free from a servitude, the debasing influences of which have many a

time been vividly depicted in the anti-slavery speeches of the very

men who are the most prominent champions of this new political

gospel.

"The argument in favor of the American negro's right to vote must be

measured by his capacity to understand and his ability to use such

right for the promotion of the public good. And that is the very

matter in dispute. But the point does not turn simply upon the

inferiority of the negro race; for differences without inferiority may

unfit one race for political or social assimilation with another, and

render their fusion in the same government incompatible with the

general welfare. It is, as I conceive, upon these principles that we

must settle the question whether this is a white man's government.

"The negro has no history of civilization. From the earliest ages of

recorded time he has ever been a savage or a slave. He has populated

with teeming millions the vast extent of a continent, but in no

portion of it has he ever emerged from barbarism, and in no age or

country has he ever established any other stable government than a

despotism. But he is the most obedient and happy of slaves.

"Of all men, the negroes themselves are best contented with their

situation. They are not the prime movers in the agitations which

concern them. An examination of the tables of the last census will

demonstrate that they do not attach much importance to political

rights. It will be found that the free people of color are most

numerous in some of those States which accord them the fewest

political privileges; and in those States which have granted them the

right of suffrage they seem to see but few attractions. In Maryland

there were, in 1860, 83,942 free people of color; in Pennsylvania,

56,949; in Ohio, 36,673. In neither of those States were they voters.

In the State of New York, where they could not vote except under a

property qualification, which excluded the most of them, they numbered

49,005. But in Massachusetts, where they did then and do now vote,

there were but 9,602. And in all New England, (except Connecticut,

where they are not allowed to vote,) there were at the last census but

16,084. If the American negro, in his desire and capacity for

self-government, bore any resemblance to the Caucasian, he would

distinguish himself by emigration; and, spurning the soil which had

enslaved his race, he would seek equality and independence in a more

congenial clime. But the spirit of independence and hardy manhood

which brought the Puritans to the shores of a New England wilderness

he lacks. He will not even go to Massachusetts now, although, instead

of a stormy ocean, his barrier is only an imaginary State line, and

instead of a howling wilderness, he is invited to a land resounding

with the myriad voices of the industrial arts, and instead of painted

savages with uplifted tomahawks, he has reason to expect a crowd of

male and female philanthropists, with beaming faces and outstretched

hands, to welcome him and call him brother. There will he find

lecturers to prove his equality, and statesmen to claim him as an

associate ruler in the land. If he cares for these things, or is fit

for them, why does he linger outside upon the very borders of his

political Eden? Why does he not enter into it--avoiding Connecticut in

his route--and take possession? The fact is, that the fine political

theories set up in his behalf are not in accordance with the natural

instinct of the negro, which, in this particular, is truer than the

philosophy of his white advisers.

"They are but superficial thinkers who imagine that the organic

differences of races can be obliterated by the education of the

schools. The qualities of races are perpetuated by descent, and are

the result of historical influences reaching far back into the

generations of the past. An educated negro is a negro still. The

cunning of the chisel of a Canova could not make an enduring

Corinthian column out of a block of anthracite; not because of its

color, but on account of the structure of its substance. He might

indeed, with infinite pains, give it the form, but he could not impart

to it the strength and adhesion of particles required to enable it to

brave the elements, and the temple it was made to support would soon

crumble into ruin."

Mr. Schofield, of Pennsylvania, said: "The cheapest elevator and best

moralizer for an oppressed and degraded class is to inspire them with

self-respect, with the belief in the possibility of their elevation.

Bestow the elective franchise upon the colored population of this

District, and you awaken the hope and ambition of the whole race

throughout the country. Hitherto punishment has been the only

incentive to sobriety and industry furnished these people by American

law. They were kept too low to feel disgrace, and reward was

inconsistent with the theory of 'service owed.' Let us try now the

persuasive power of wages and protection. If colored suffrage is still

considered an experiment, this District is a good place in which to

try it. The same objections do not exist here that are urged on behalf

of some of the States. No constitutional question intervenes. Here, at

least, Congress is supreme. The law can be passed, and if it is found

to be bad, a majority can repeal it. The colored race is too small in

numbers here to endanger the supremacy of the white people, but large

and loyal enough to counteract to some extent disloyal proclivities.

"Both the precept and practice of our fathers refute the allegation

that this is exclusively a white man's government. If we can not now

consent to so slight a recognition, as proposed by this bill, of the

great underlying theory of our Government, as declared and practiced

by our fathers, we are thrown back upon that new and monstrous

doctrine, that the five millions of our colored population, and their

posterity forever, have no rights that a white man is bound to

respect.

"Who pronounces this crushing sentence? The political South. And what

is this South? The Southern master and his Northern minion. Have these

people wronged the South? Have they filled it with violence, outrage,

and murder? No, sir; they are remarkably gentle, patient, and

respectful. Have they despoiled its wealth or diminished its grandeur?

No, sir; their unpaid toil has made the material South. They removed

the forests, cleared the fields, built the dwellings, churches,

colleges, cities, highways, railroads, and canals. Why, then, does the

South hate and persecute these people? Because it has wronged them.

Injustice always hates its victim. They are forced to look to the

North for justice. And what is the North? Not the latitude of frosts;

not New England and the States that border on the lakes, the

Mississippi, and the Pacific. The geographical is lost in the

political meaning of the word. The North, in a political sense, means

justice, liberty, and union, and in the order in which I have named

them. Jefferson defined this 'North' when he wrote 'all men are

created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable

rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'

This North has no geographical boundaries. It embraces the friends of

freedom in every quarter of this great republic. Many of its bravest

champions hail from the geographical South. The North, that did not

fear the slave power in its prime, in the day of its political

strength and patronage, when it commanded alike the nation and the

mob, and for the same cruel purpose, will not be intimidated by its

expiring maledictions around this capital. The North must pass this

bill to vindicate its sincerity and its courage. The slave power has

already learned that the North is terrible in war, and forgiving and

gentle in peace; let its crushed and mangled victims learn from the

passage of this bill, that the justice of the North, unlimited by

lines of latitude, unlimited by color or race, slumbereth not."

Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, followed: "In preparing to begin the work

of reconstructing the grandest of human governments, shattered for a

time by treason, and in endeavoring to ascertain what we should do,

and how and when it should be done, I have consulted no popular

impulse. Groping my way through the murky political atmosphere that

has prevailed for more than thirty years, I have seated myself at the

feet of the fathers of our country, that I might, as far as my

suggestions would go, make them in accordance with the principles of

those who constructed our Government. I can make no suggestion for the

improvement of the primary principles or general structure of our

Government, and I would heal its wounds so carefully that it should

descend to posterity unstained and unmarred as it came, under the

guidance of Providence, from the hands of those who fashioned it.

[Illustration: Hon. William D. Kelley, representative from

Pennsylvania.]

"For whom do we ask this legislation? In 1860, according to the

census, there were fourteen thousand three hundred and sixteen colored

people in this District, and we ask this legislation for the male

adults of that number. Are they in rags and filth and degradation? The

tax-books of the District will tell you that they pay taxes on

$1,250,000 worth of real estate, held within the limits of this

District. On one block, on which they pay taxes on fifty odd thousand

dollars, there are but two colored freeholders who have not bought

themselves out of slavery. One of them has bought as many as eight

persons beside himself--a wife and seven children. Coming to freedom

in manhood, mortgaged for a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars as his

own price, he has earned and carried to the Southern robber thousands

of dollars, the price extorted for his wife and children, and is now a

freeholder in this District. They have twenty-one churches, which they

own, and which they maintain at an annual cost of over twenty thousand

dollars. Their communing members number over forty-three hundred. In

their twenty-two Sunday-schools they gather on each Sabbath over three

thousand American children of African descent. They maintain, sir, to

the infamous disgrace of the American Congress and people,

thirty-three day schools, eight of which are maintained exclusively by

contributions from colored citizens of the District; the remainder by

their contributions, eked out by contributions from the generous

people of the North; and every dollar of their million and a quarter

dollars of real estate and personal property is taxed for schools to

educate the children of the white people of the District, the fathers

of many of those children having been absent during the war fighting

for the Confederacy and against our constitutional flag. Who shall

reproach them with being poor and ignorant while Congress, which has

exclusive jurisdiction over the District, has, till last year, robbed

them day by day, and barred the door of the public school against

them? Such reproach does not lie in the white man's mouth; at any

rate, no member of the Democratic party ought to utter it."

The debate was continued on the day following. Mr. Rogers, of New

Jersey, having obtained the floor, addressed the House for two hours.

He said: "I hold that there never has been, in the legislation of the

United States, a bill which involved so momentous consequences as that

now under consideration, because nowhere in the history of this

country, from the time that the first reins of party strife were drawn

over the land, was any political party ever known to advocate the

doctrine now advocated by a portion of the party on the other side of

this House, except within the last year, and during the heat and

strife of battle in the land. The wisdom of ages for more than five

thousand years, and the most enlightened governments that ever existed

upon the face of the earth, have handed down to us that grand

principle that all governments of a civilized character have been and

were intended especially for the benefit of white men and white women,

and not for those who belong to the negro, Indian, or mulatto race.

"It is the high prerogative which the political system of this country

has given to the masses, rich and poor, to exercise the right of

suffrage and declare, according to the honest convictions of their

hearts, who shall be the officers to rule over them. There is no

privilege so high, there is no right so grand. It lies at the very

foundation of this Government; and when you introduce into the social

system of this country the right of the African race to compete at the

ballot-box with the intelligent white citizens of this country, you

are disturbing and embittering the whole social system; you rend the

bonds of a common political faith; you break up commercial intercourse

and the free interchanges of trade, and you degrade the people of this

country before the eyes of the envious monarchs of Europe, and fill

our history with a record of degradation and shame.

"Why, then, should we attempt at this time to inflict the system of

negro suffrage upon those who happen to be so unfortunate as to reside

in the District of Columbia? This city bears the name of George

Washington, the father of our country; and as it was founded by him,

so I wish to hand it down to those who shall come after us, preserving

that principle which declares that the sovereignty is in the white

people of the country, for whose benefit this Government was

established. I am not ready to believe that those men who have laid

down their lives in the battles of the late revolution, who came from

their homes like the torrents that sweep over their native hills and

mountains, those men who gathered round the sacred precincts of the

tomb of Washington to uphold and perpetuate our proud heritage of

liberty, intended to inflict upon the people of this District, or of

this land, the monstrous doctrine of political equality of the negro

race with the white at the ballot-box.

"No such dogma as this was ever announced by the Republican party in

their platforms. When that party met at Chicago, in 1860, they took

pains to enunciate the great principle of self-government which

underlies the institutions of this country, that each State has the

right to control its own domestic policy according to its own judgment

exclusively. I ask the gentlemen on the other side of the house to

allow the people of the District of Columbia to exercise the same

great right of self-government, to determine by their votes at the

ballot-box whether they desire to inaugurate a system of political

equality with the colored people of the District.

"Self-government was the great principle which impelled our fathers to

protest against the powers of King George. That was the principle

which led the brave army of George Washington across the ice of the

river Delaware. It was the principle which struck a successful blow

against despotism, and planted liberty upon this continent. It was the

principle that our fathers claimed the Parliament of England had no

right to invade, and drove the colonies into rebellion, because laws

were passed without their consent by a Parliament in which they were

unrepresented.

"I am here to-day to plead for the white people of this District, upon

the same grounds taken by our fathers to the English Parliament, in

favor of self-government and the right of the people of the District

to be heard upon this all-important question. Although we may have a

legal yet we have no moral right, according to the immutable

principles of justice, and according to the declaration of Holy Writ,

that we should do unto others as we would they should do unto us, to

inflict upon the people of this District this fiendish doctrine of

political equality with a race that God Almighty never intended should

stand upon an equal footing with the white man and woman in social or

civil life."

Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, replied: "He [Mr. Rogers] says this is a

white man's Government. 'A white man's Government!' Why, sir, did not

the Congress of the United States pass a law for enrolling into the

service of the United States the black man as well as the white man?

Did not we tax the black man as well as the white man? Does he not

contribute his money as well as his blood for the protection and

defense of the Government? O, yes; and now, when the black man comes

hobbling home upon his crutches and his wooden limbs, maimed for life,

bleeding, crushed, wounded, is he to be told by the people who called

him into the service of the Government, 'This is a white man's

Government; you have nothing to do with it?' Shame! I say, eternal

shame upon such a doctrine, and upon the men who advocate it!

"What should be the test as to the right to exercise the elective

franchise? I contend that the only question to be asked should be, 'Is

he a man?' The test should be that of manhood, not that of color, or

races, or class. Is he endowed with conscience and reason? Is he an

immortal being? If these questions are answered in the affirmative, he

has the same right to protection that we all enjoy.

"I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of making suffrage equal and universal. I

believe that greater wisdom is concentrated in the decisions of the

ballot-box when all citizens of a certain age vote than when only a

part vote. If you apply a test founded on education or intelligence,

where will you stop? One man will say that the voter should be able to

read the Constitution and to write his name; another, that he should

be acquainted with the history of the United States; another will

demand a still higher degree of education and intelligence, until you

will establish an aristocracy of wisdom, which is one of the worst

kinds of aristocracy. Sir, the men who formed this Government, who

believed in the rights of human nature, and designed the Government to

protect them, believed, I think, as I do, that when suffrage is made

universal, you concentrate in the ballot-box a larger amount of wisdom

than when you exclude a portion of the citizens from the right of

suffrage.

"I grant, sir, that many of the colored men whom I would enfranchise

are poor and ignorant, but we have made them so. We have oppressed

them by our laws. We have stolen them from their cradles and consigned

them to helpless slavery. The shackles are now knocked from their

limbs, and they emerge from the house of bondage and stand forth as

men. Let us now take the next grand step, a step which must commend

itself to our judgment and consciences. Let us clothe these men with

the rights of freemen, and give them the power to protect their

rights.

"Sir, as I have already remarked, we have passed through a fiery

ordeal. There are but few homes within our land that are not made

desolate by the loss of a son or a father. The widow and the orphan

meet us wherever we turn. The maimed and crippled soldiers of the

republic are every-where seen. Many fair fields have become

cemeteries, where molder the remains of the noble men who have laid

down their lives in defense of our Government. We thought that we had

attained the crisis of our troubles during the progress of the war.

But it has been said that the ground-swell of the ocean after the

storm is often more dangerous to the mariner than the tempest itself;

and I am inclined to think that this is true in reference to the

present posture of our national affairs. The storm has apparently

subsided; but, sir, if we fail to do our duty now as a nation--and

that duty is so simple that a child can understand it; no elaborate

argument need enforce it, as no sophistry can conceal it; it is simply

to give to one man the same rights that we give to another--if we fail

now in this our plain duty as a nation, then the ship of state is in

more peril from this ground-swell on which we are riding than it was

during the fierce tempest of war. I trust that this Congress will have

the firmness and wisdom to guide the old ship safely into the haven of

peace and security. This we can do by fixing our eyes upon the guiding

star of our fathers--the equal rights of all men."

The discussion was resumed on the following day, January 12, by Mr.

Davis, of New York: "Republican government can never rest safely, it

can never rest peacefully, upon any foundation save that of the

intelligence and virtue of its subjects. No government, republican in

form, was ever prosperous where its people were ignorant and debased.

And in this Government, where our fathers paid so much attention to

intelligence, to the cultivation of virtue, and to all considerations

which should surround and guard the foundations of the republic, I am

sure that we would do dishonor to their memory by conferring the

franchise upon men unfitted to receive it and unworthy to exercise it.

"I am perfectly aware that in many States we have given the elective

franchise to the white man who is debased and ignorant. I regret it,

because I think that intelligence ought always, either as to the black

or the white man, to be made a test of suffrage. And I glory in the

principles that have been established by Massachusetts, which

prescribes, not that a man should have money in his purse, but that he

should have in his head a cultivated brain, the ability to read the

Constitution of his country, and intelligence to understand his rights

as a citizen.

"I have never been one of those who believed that the black man had

'no rights that the white man was bound to respect.' I believe that

the black man in this country is entitled to citizenship, and, by

virtue of that citizenship, is entitled to protection, to the full

power of this Government, wherever he may be found on the face of

God's earth; that he has a right to demand that the shield of this

Government shall be held over him, and that its powers shall be

exerted on his behalf to the same extent as if he were the proudest

grandee of the land. But, sir, citizenship is one thing, and the right

of suffrage is another and a different thing; and in circumstances

such as exist around us, I am unwilling that general, universal,

unrestricted suffrage should be granted to the black men of this

District, as is proposed by the bill under consideration.

"This whole subject is within the power of Congress, and if we grant

restricted privilege to-day, we can extend the exercise of that

privilege to-morrow. Public sentiment on this, as on a great many

subjects, is a matter of slow growth and development. That is the

history of the world. Development upon all great subjects is slow. The

development of the globe itself has required countless ages before it

was prepared for the introduction of man upon it. And take the

progress of the human race through the historic age--kingdoms and

empires, systems of social polity, systems of religion, systems of

science, have been of no rapid growth, but long centuries intervened

between their origin and their overthrow.

"The Creator placed man on earth, not for the perfection of the

individual, but the race; and therefore he locked up the mysteries of

his power in the bosom of the earth and in the depths of the heavens,

rendering them invisible to mankind. He made man study those secrets,

those mysteries, in order that his genius might be cultivated, his

views enlarged, his intellect matured, so that he might gradually rise

in the scale of being, and finally attain the full perfection for

which his Creator designed him.

"Thus governments, political systems, and political rights have been

the subjects of study and improvement; changes adapted to the advance

of society are made; experiments are tried, based upon reason and upon

judgment, and those are safest which in their gradual introduction

avoid unnecessary violence and convulsion.

"I submit, sir, whether it be wise for us now so suddenly to alter so

entirely the political _status_ of so great a number of the citizens

of this District, in conferring upon them indiscriminately the right

of franchise."

Mr. Chanler, of New York, then addressed the House:

"If, sir, it should ever be your good fortune to visit romantic old

Spain, and to enter the fortress and palace of Alhambra, the fairest

monument of Moorish grandeur and skill, as this Capitol is the pride

of American architecture, you may see cut in stone a hand holding a

key, surmounting the horse-shoe arch of the main gateway. They are the

three types of strength, speed, and secresy, the boast of a now fallen

Saracen race, sons of that sea of sand, the desert, who carried the

glory of Islam to furthest Gades. In an evil hour of civil strife and

bitter hatred of faction, the Alhambra was betrayed to Spain, 'to feed

fat an ancient grudge' between political chiefs. The stronghold of the

race, with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare

works of art--the gardens of unrivaled splendor--all that was their

own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies of another.

"The legend of the Saracen exile tells the story of penitence and

shame; and to the last moment of his sad life he sighs in the sultry

desert for the fair home of his ancestors, the gorgeous Alhambra. We,

too, are descended from a race of conquerors, who crossed the ocean to

establish the glory of civil and religious liberty, and secure freedom

to themselves and their posterity. To-day we are assembled in the

Alhambra of America; here is our citadel; here our courts of highest

resort; around these halls cluster the proudest associations of the

American people; they seem almost sacred in their eyes. No hostile

foot of foreign foe or domestic traitor has trodden them in triumph.

Above it floats the flag, the emblem of our Union. That Union is the

emblem of the triumphs of the white race. That race rules by the

ballot. Shall we surrender the ballot, the emblem of our sovereignty;

the flag, the emblem of our Union; the Union, the emblem of our

national glory, that they may become the badges of our weakness and

the trophies of another race? Never, sir! never, never!

"Shall the white laborer bow his free, independent, and honored brow

to the level of the negro just set free from slavery, and, by yielding

the entrance to this great citadel of our nation, surrender the

mastery of his race over the Representatives of the people, the

Senate, and Supreme Court of this Union? Then, sir, the white

workingman's sovereignty would begin to cease to be.

"Then the most democratic majesty of American liberty would be humbled

in the little dust which was lately raised by a brief campaign of two

hundred thousand negro troops, and even they led by white officers,

while millions of white soldiers held the field in victory by their

own strength and valor. Deny it if ye dare! Sir, I know that this is a

white man's Government, and I believe the white workingman has the

manhood which shall preserve it to his latest posterity, pure and

strong, in 'justice tempered with mercy.'

"There may be a legend hereafter telling of the exile of

Representatives now on this floor, who, in the hour of party spite,

betrayed the dominion of their race here, and the stronghold of their

people's liberty, to a servile and foreign race."

Near the close of Mr. Chanler's remarks, his time having been extended

by courtesy of the House, a forensic passage at arms occurred between

that gentleman and Mr. Bingham, of Ohio. Mr. Chanler had said: "I deny

that any obligation rests against this Government to do any thing more

for the negro than has already been done. 'On what meats doth this

Cæsar feed that he has grown so great?' The white soldier did as much

work as he, fought as well, died as bravely, suffered in hospitals and

in the field as well as he. More than this, the white soldier fought

to liberate the slave, and did do it. The white soldier did more: he

fought to preserve institutions and rights endeared to him by every

hallowed association; to overthrow the rebellion of his brother

against their Commonwealth and glorious Union; to preserve the

sovereignty of the people against the conspiracy of a slave

aristocracy, if you will; to maintain the fabric of the Government

built by their fathers for them and their race in every country of

kindred men who, downtrodden and disenfranchised, look to this country

as a sure refuge. The white soldier fought as a volunteer, as a

responsible, free, and resolute citizen, knowing for what he fought,

and generously letting the slave share with him the honor, and

bestowing on him more than his share of the profits of the white man's

victory over his equal and the negro's master.

"We are willing that the negro should have every protection which the

law can throw around him, but there is a majesty which 'hedges in a

king.' That he ought not to have until he shows himself 'every inch a

king.'

"'Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.'

"'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have

greatness thrust upon them.'

"We are opposed to thrusting honor on the negro. He is to-day, as a

race, as dependent on the power and skill of the white race for

protection as when he was first brought from Africa. Not one act of

theirs has proved the capacity of the black race for self-government.

They have neither literature, arts, nor arms, as a race. They have

never, during all the changes of dynasties or revolution of States,

risen higher than to be the helpers of the contending parties. They

have had the same opportunity as the Indian to secure their

independence of the white race, but have never systematically even

attempted it on this continent, although they have been educated with

equal care, and in the same schools as the white man. Their race has

been subject to the white man, and has submitted to the yoke."

Mr. Bingham.--"I understood the gentleman to say, that the colored

race had failed to strike for their rights during the late rebellion.

I wish to remind the gentleman of the fact, which ought to bring a

blush to the cheek of every American citizen, that at the beginning of

this great struggle, a distinguished general, who, I have no doubt,

received the political support of the gentleman himself for the

Presidency, and who, then at the head of an American army within the

Commonwealth of Virginia, issued his proclamation, as general in

command of the army, notifying the insurgents in arms against the

Constitution that, if their slaves rose in revolt for their liberty,

he, Major-General McClellan, by the whole force of the army at his

command, would crush them with an iron hand. Yet the gentleman gets up

here to-day, after a record of that sort, to cast censure upon this

people because they did not strike for their liberties against the

combined armies of the republic and the armies of treason!"

Mr. Chanler.--"My honorable friend from Ohio may have made a good

point against General McClellan, but he has made none against me. I

admit that they have made successful insurrections, but my argument

was not to the effect that the negro race was not capable of the

bloodiest deeds. I avoided entering into that question. I asserted

that they had made successful insurrection; that they had held the

white race under their heel in Hayti and St. Domingo. I would only

say, with regard to this question of race, that I assert there is no

record of the black race having proved its capacity for

self-government as a race; that they have never struck a blow for

freedom, and maintained their freedom and independence as individuals

when free. I appeal to history, and to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr.

Bingham], and I speak as a student of history, and the representative

of a race whose proudest boast is that their capacity for

self-government is the only charter of their liberty. I assail no

race; I assail no man. I have taken the greatest pains to prove that

the inalienable rights of the black man are as sacred to me as those

inalienable rights I have received from my God. If the gentleman

misunderstood me, I hope he will accept this explanation. If I have

not met his question, I will now yield the floor to him to continue."

Mr. Bingham.--"And I continue thus far, that the gentleman's speech

certainly has relation to the rights of the black man within the

Republic of the United States. What he may say of their history

outside of the jurisdiction of this country, it is not very important

for me to take notice of. But inasmuch as the gentleman has seen fit,

in his response to what I said, to refer to the testimony of history,

I will bear witness now, by the authority of history, that this very

race of which he speaks is the only race now existing upon this planet

that ever hewed their way out of the prison-house of chattel slavery

to the sunlight of personal liberty by their own unaided arm. So much

for that part of the gentleman's argument as relates to history."

Mr. Chanler.--"Does the gentleman allude now to what has been done in

other lands than this? I ask the question because he says he does not

like me to go outside of the jurisdiction of this country, and I

therefore ask him not to go too far into Africa."

Mr. Bingham.--"I am not in Africa. I refer to what the gentleman

referred to himself. The insurrection in St. Domingo, I say, stands

without a parallel in the history of any race now living on this

earth, and I challenge the gentleman to refute that statement from

history."

Mr. Chanler.--"That is admitted."

Mr. Bingham.--"That is admitted. Then I want to know, with a fact like

that conceded, what sort of logic, what sort of force, what sort of

reason, what sort of justice is there in the remark of the gentleman

made here in a deliberative assembly touching the question of the

personal enfranchisement of the black race, when he says in the

statement here, right in the face of that fact, that they only are

entitled to their liberty who strike the blow for and maintain their

liberty? They did strike the blow in Hayti, and did maintain their

liberty there. They struck such a blow for liberty there as no other

race of men under like circumstances ever before struck, now

represented by any organized community upon this planet; and that the

gentleman conceded. And yet this sort of argument is to be adduced

here as reason why these people in the District of Columbia should not

receive the consideration of this House, and be protected in their

rights as men. If the gentleman's remark is not adduced for that

purpose, then it is altogether foreign to our inquiry. If the

gentleman can assign any other reason for the introduction of any such

argument as that, I should like to hear him."

Mr. Chanler.--"I merely wish to say, in reply to the gentleman, that I

have read history a little further back. I remember when the British

fleet and the British army held out a similar threat to the white race

of this country. The proclamation of General McClellan did keep down

the negroes; and this fact proves what I assert--that they are a race

to be kept under. No race capable of achieving its liberty by its own

efforts, would have listened for one moment to the paper threats of

all the generals in the world. The negroes listened to McClellan, and

they shrank behind the bush. They are bushmen in Africa. They are a

dependent race, unwilling--I assert it from the record of

history--unwilling to assert their independence at the risk of their

lives. By their own efforts they never have attained, and I firmly

believe they never will attain, their liberty."

Mr. Bingham replied: "I desire to say to the gentleman from New York,

when he talks of being a 'student of history,' that before the

tribunal of history the facts are not against me nor against the

colored race. I beg leave to say to the gentleman that these people

have borne themselves as bravely, as well, and, I may add, as wisely

during the great contest just closed, as any people to whom he can

point, situated in like circumstances, at any period of the world's

history. They were in chains when the rebellion broke out. They

constituted but one-sixth of the whole body of the people. By the

terms of the Constitution of the United States, if they lifted a hand

in the assertion of their right to freedom, they were liable that

moment to be crushed by the combined power of the Republic, called

out, in pursuance of the very letter of the Constitution, 'to suppress

insurrection.' Yet, notwithstanding the fact that their whole living

generation and the generations before them, running back two

centuries, had been enslaved and brutalized, reduced to the sad and

miserable condition of chattels, which, for want of a better name, we

call a 'slave'--an article of merchandise, a thing of trade, with no

acknowledged rights in the present, and denied even the hope of a

heritage in the great hereafter--yet, sir, the moment that the word

'Liberty' ran along your ranks, the moment that the word

'Emancipation' was emblazoned upon your banners, those men who, with

their ancestors, had been enslaved through five generations, rose as

one man to stand by this republic, the last hope of oppressed humanity

upon the earth, until they numbered one hundred and seventy-five

thousand arrayed in arms under your banners, doing firmly,

unshrinkingly, and defiantly their full share in securing the final

victory of our arms. I have said this much in defense of men who had

the manhood, in the hour of the nation's trial, to strike for the flag

and the unity of the republic in the tempest of the great conflict,

and to stand, where brave men only could stand, on the field of poised

battle, where the earthquake and the fire led the charge. Sir, I am

not mistaken; and the record of history to which I have referred does

not, as the gentleman affirms it does, make against me."

Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, in reply to Mr. Chanler, said: "He [Mr.

Chanler] proceeds to say that they are now, as a class, dependent as

when they were brought from their native wilds in Africa. Sir, I

believe if the gentleman were master of all languages, if he were to

attempt to put into a sentence the quintessence, the high-wines, and

sublimation of an untruth, he could not have more concentrated his

language into a libel.

"What is the fact, sir? It is perfectly notorious that these four

million slaves have not only taken care of themselves amid all the

ingenious impediments which tyrants could impose, but they have borne

upon their stalwart shoulders their masters, millions of people, for a

century. Why, sir, it seemed as impossible for a man to swim the

Atlantic with Mount Atlas upon his back, or make harmonious base to

the thunders of heaven. But these men have achieved the world's

wonder--coming out from the tortures of slavery, from the

prison-house, untainted with dishonor or crime, and out of the war

free, noble, brave, and more worthy of their friends, always true to

the flag.

"Mr. Speaker, it was in fable that a man pointed a lion to the picture

which represented the king of the forest prostrate, with a man's foot

on his neck, and asked what he thought of that. The reply was, 'Lions

have no painters.' For days the unblushing apostles of sham Democracy

have in this House drawn pictures of the ignorance and degradation of

the people of color in the District of Columbia. Had the subjects of

their wanton defamation had a Representative here, there would have

been a different coloring to the picture, and I would gladly leave

their defense to the Representatives of classes who have by hundreds

darkened these galleries with their sable countenances, waiting for

days to hear the decisive vote which announces that their freedom is

not a mockery.

"Who are they to whom this bill proposes to give suffrage? They are

twenty thousand people, owning twenty-one churches, maintaining

thirty-three day schools, and paying taxes on more than one and a

quarter million dollars' worth of real property. Thirty per cent. of

their number were slaves; but the census does not show that there is a

Democratic congressional district in the Union where a larger

proportion of its population are found attendant at the churches or in

the schools.

"They did not follow the example of their pale-faced neighbors, to the

number of thousands, crossing the line to join in the rebellion; but

three thousand and more of their number went into the Union army,

nearly one thousand of whom, as soldiers, fell by disease and battle

in the room of those who wept on Northern soil for rebel defeats, and

now decry the manhood and withhold just rights from our true national

defenders.

"In the South they were our friends. In the language of an official

dispatch of Secretary Seward to Minister Adams, 'Every-where the

American general receives his most useful and reliable information

from the negro, who hails his coming as the harbinger of freedom.' Not

one, but many, of our generals have proclaimed that the negro has

gained by the bayonet the ballot. Admiral Du Pont made mention of the

negro pilot Small, who brought out the steamer Planter, mounting a

rifled and siege gun, from Charleston, as a prize to us, under the

very guns of the enemy. He brought us the first trophy from Fort

Sumter, and information more valuable than the prize.

"The celebrated charge of the negro brigade at the conflict at Port

Hudson has passed into history. The position of the colored people in

the State of Iowa reflects lasting honor on their loyalty, and our

brave white soldiers would not have me withhold the facts. In the

State there were between nine hundred and a thousand people of their

class subject to military duty. Of that number more than seven hundred

entered the army. They put to blush the patriotism of the dominant

race in all Democratic districts. Seven-tenths of a class, without the

inducement of commissions as lieutenants, captains, colonels,

commissaries, or quartermasters, braving the hate and vengeance of

rebels, rushing into the deadly imminent breach in the darkest hour of

our struggle! Where is the parallel to this? They had no flag; it was

a mockery. There was no pledge of political franchise. Does history

cite us to a country where so large a per cent. of the population went

forth for the national defense? It was not under the Cæsars; and

Harold, in the defense of Britain, left behind him a larger per cent.

of the stalwart and the strong. They were more eager to maintain the

national honor than the zealots to rescue Jerusalem from the

profanation of infidels. Not Frank or Hun, nor Huguenot or Roundhead,

or mountaineer, Hungarian, or Pole, exceeded their sacrifices made

when tardily accepted. And this is the race now asking our favor.

"Mr. Speaker, it will be one of the most joyful occasions of my life

to give expression to my gratitude by voting a ballot to those who

owed us so little, yet have aided us so faithfully and well. My

conscience approves it as a humane act to the millions who for

centuries have groaned under a terrible realization that on the side

of the oppressor there is power.

"My purpose is not to leave that heritage of shame to my children,

that I forgot those whose blood fed our rivers and crimsoned the sea,

and left them outcasts in the 'land of the free,' preferring white

treason to sable loyalty. I rather vote death the penalty for the

chief traitor, all honor and reward for our soldiery, and a ballot,

safety, and justice for the poor."

On the 15th of January the discussion was continued by Mr. Kasson, of

Iowa, who said: "Much has been said in this debate about the gallantry

of the negro troops, and about the number of negro troops in the war.

Gentlemen have declared here so broadly that we were indebted to them

for our victories as to actually convey the impression that they won

nearly all the victories accomplished by the armies of the United

States, and that to them are we indebted for the salvation of our

country and our triumph over the rebellion.

"I do not agree with them in the extent of their praise, nor the

grounds upon which it has been placed. One gentleman, I think it was

the gentleman from Pennsylvania, speaks of our debt to the negroes,

because they have fought our battles for us. This is a falsification

of the condition of the negroes, and of the history of the country in

this particular. _Those negroes fought for their liberty_, which was

involved in the preservation of the Union of the States. They fought

with us to accomplish the maintenance of the integrity of the country,

which carried with it the liberty of their own race; and what would

have been said of the negroes if they had not, under such

circumstances, come forward and united with us? While I yield to the

negro troops the credit of having exhibited bravery and manhood when

put to the test, I do not yield to them the exclusive or chief credit

of having won the victory for the Government of my country in

preserving this Union. Let us not, under false assertions of fact,

send out to the country and the world from this floor the declaration

that the white race of this country are wanting in the gallantry, the

devotion, and the patriotism which ultimately secured for our armies

triumph, and for our nation perpetuity.

"Unless intelligence exists in this country, unless schools are

supported and education diffused throughout the country, our

institutions are not safe, and either anarchy or despotism will be the

result; and when you propose substantially to introduce at once

three-quarters of a million or a million of voters, the great mass of

whom are ignorant and unable to tell when the ballot they vote is

right side up, then I protest against such an alarming infusion of

ignorance into the ballot-box, into that sacred palladium, as we have

always called it, of the liberties of our country. Let us introduce

them by fit degrees. Let them come in as fast as they are fit, and

their numbers will not shock the character of our institutions.

"I turn for a single moment to call attention to the philanthropy of

the proposition. If you introduce all without regard to qualification,

without their being able to read or write, and thus to understand the

questions on which they are to decide, what would be the effect? You

will take away from them the strongest incentive to learn to read or

write. As a race, it is not accustomed to position and property; it

has no homesteads, it has no stake in the country; and unless they are

required to be intelligent, and qualified to understand something

about our institutions and our laws, and the questions which are

submitted to the people from time to time, you say then to them, 'No

matter whether or not you make progress in civilization or education,

you shall have all the rights of citizenship,' and in that way you

take away from them all special motive to education and improvement.

On the contrary, if the ability to read and write and understand the

ballot is made the qualification on the part of these people to

exercise the right of voting, the remaining portion will see that

color is not exclusion. They would all aspire to the qualification

itself as preliminary to the act. You can submit no motive to that

race so powerful for the purpose of developing in them the education

and intelligence required.

"I say, therefore, on whatever grounds you put it, whether you regard

the safety of our institutions or the light of philanthropy, you

should insist on qualifications substantially the same as those

required in the State of Massachusetts. And let me say that, taking

the State of Massachusetts as an example of the result of general

intelligence and qualified suffrage, and a careful guardianship of the

ballot-box, I know of no more illustrious example in this or any other

country of its importance.

"With a credit that surpasses that of the United States, with a

history that is surpassed by no State in the Union, with wealth that

is almost fabulous in proportion to its population, with a prosperity

almost unknown in the history of the world, that State stands before

us to-day in all her dignity, strength, wealth, intelligence, and

virtue. And if we, by adopting similar principles in other States, can

secure such results, we certainly have an inducement to consider well

how far this condition is to be attributed to her diffused education,

and to the provisions of her constitution."

At the close of Mr. Kasson's speech, a colloquy occurred between him

and his colleague, Mr. Price, eliciting the fact that the question of

negro suffrage in Iowa had been squarely before the people of that

State in the late fall election, and their vote had been in favor of

the measure by a majority of sixteen thousand.

Mr. Julian, of Indiana, having obtained the floor near the hour of

adjournment, made his argument on the following day, when the

consideration of the question was resumed. In answer to the objection

that negro voting would "lead to the amalgamation of the races or

social equality," he said: "On this subject there is nothing left to

conjecture, and no ground for alarm. Negro suffrage has been very

extensively tried in this country, and we are able to appeal to facts.

Negroes had the right to vote in all the Colonies save one, under the

Articles of Confederation. They voted, I believe, generally, on the

question of adopting the Constitution of the United States. They have

voted ever since in New York and the New England States, save

Connecticut, in which the practice was discontinued in 1818. They

voted in New Jersey till the year 1840; in Virginia and Maryland till

1833; in Pennsylvania till 1838; in Delaware till 1831; and in North

Carolina and Tennessee till 1836. I have never understood that in all

this experience of negro suffrage the amalgamation of the races was

the result. I think these evils are not at all complained of to this

day in New England and New York, where negro suffrage is still

practiced and recognized by law."

In answer to the argument that a "war of races" might ensue, Mr.

Julian said: "Sir, a war of races in this country can only be the

result of denying to the negro his rights, just as such wars have been

caused elsewhere; and the late troubles in Jamaica should teach us, if

any lesson can, the duty of dealing justly with our millions of

freedmen. Like causes must produce like results. English law made the

slaves of Jamaica free, but England failed to enact other laws making

their freedom a blessing. The old spirit of domination never died in

the slave-master, but was only maddened by emancipation. For thirty

years no measures were adopted tending to protect or educate the

freedmen. At length, and quite recently, the colonial authorities

passed a whipping act, then a law of eviction for people of color,

then a law imposing heavy impost duties, bearing most grievously upon

them, and finally a law providing for the importation of coolies, thus

taxing the freedmen for the very purpose of taking the bread out of

the mouths of their own children! I believe it turns out, after all,

that these outraged people even then did not rise up against the local

government; but the white ruffians of the island, goaded on by their

own unchecked rapacity, and availing themselves of the infernal

pretext of a black insurrection, perpetrated deeds of rapine and

vengeance that find no parallel anywhere, save in the acts of their

natural allies, the late slave-breeding rebels, against our flag. Sir,

is there no warning here against the policy of leaving our freedmen to

the tender mercies of their old masters? Are the white rebels of this

District any better than the Jamaica villains to whom I have referred?

The late report of General Schurz gives evidence of some important

facts which will doubtless apply here. The mass of the white people in

the South, he says, are totally destitute of any national feeling. The

same bigoted sectionalism that swayed them prior to the war is almost

universal. Nor have they any feeling of the enormity of treason as a

crime. To them it is not odious, as very naturally it would not be,

under the policy which foregoes the punishment of traitors, and gives

so many of them the chief places of power in the South. And their

hatred of the negro to-day is as intense and scathing and as universal

as before the war. I believe it to be even more so. The proposition to

educate him and elevate his condition is every-where met with contempt

and scorn. They acknowledge that slavery, as it once existed, is

overthrown; but the continued inferiority and subordination of the

colored race, under some form of vassalage or serfdom, is regarded by

them as certain. Sir, they have no thought of any thing else; and if

the ballot shall be withheld from the freedmen after the withdrawal of

military power, the most revolting forms of oppression and outrage

will be practiced, resulting, at last, in that very war of races which

is foolishly apprehended as the effect of giving the negro his

rights."

A serious question confronted Mr. Julian, namely: How could

Representatives from States which negroes by constitutional provision

are forbidden to enter, be expected, to vote for negro suffrage in

this District? He said: "In seeking to meet this difficulty, several

considerations must be borne in mind. In the first place, the demand

for negro suffrage in this District rests not alone upon the general

ground of right, of democratic equality, but upon peculiar reasons

superinduced by the late war, which make it an immediate practical

issue, involving not merely the welfare of the colored man, but the

safety of society itself. If civil government is to be revived at all

in the South, it is perfectly self-evident that the loyal men there

must vote; but the loyal men are the negroes and the disloyal are the

whites. To put back the governing power into the hands of the very men

who brought on the war, and exclude those who have proved themselves

the true friends of the country, would be utterly suicidal and

atrociously unjust. Negro suffrage in the districts lately in revolt

is thus a present political necessity, dictated by the selfishness of

the white loyalist as well as his sense of justice. But in our Western

States, in which the negro population is relatively small, and the

prevailing sentiment of their white people is loyal, no such emergency

exists. Society will not be endangered by the temporary postponement

of the right of negro suffrage till public opinion shall render it

practicable, and leaving the question of suffrage in the loyal States

to be decided by them on its merits. If Indiana had gone out of her

proper place in the Union, and her loyal population had been found too

weak to force her back into it without negro bullets and bayonets, and

if, after thus coercing her again into her constitutional orbit, her

loyalists had been found unable to hold her there without negro

ballots, the question of negro suffrage in Indiana would most

obviously have been very different from the comparatively abstract one

which it now is. It would, it is true, have involved the question of

justice to the negroes of Indiana, but the transcendently broader and

more vital question of national salvation also. Let me add further,

that should Congress pass this bill, and should the ballot be given to

the negroes in the sunny South generally, those in our Northern and

Western States, many of them at least, may return to their native land

and its kindlier skies, and thus quiet the nerves of conservative

gentlemen who dread too close a proximity to those whose skins, owing

to some providential oversight, were somehow or other not stamped with

the true orthodox luster.

"The ballot should be given to the negroes as a matter of justice to

them. It should likewise be done as a matter of _retributive_ justice

to the slaveholders and rebels. According to the best information I

can obtain, a very large majority of the white people of this District

have been rebels in heart during the war, and are rebels in heart

still. That contempt for the negro and scorn of free industry, which

constituted the mainspring of the rebellion, cropped out here during

the war in every form that was possible, under the immediate shadow of

the central Government. Meaner rebels than many in this District could

scarcely have been found in the whole land. They have not been

punished. The halter has been cheated out of their necks. I am very

sorry to say that under what seems to be a false mercy, a misapplied

humanity, the guiltiest rebels of the war have thus far been allowed

to escape justice. I have no desire to censure the authorities of the

Government for this fact. I hope they have some valid excuse for their

action. This question of punishment I know is a difficult one. The

work of punishment is so vast that it naturally palsies the will to

enter upon it. It never can be thoroughly done on this side of the

grave. And were it practicable to punish adequately all the most

active and guilty rebels, justice would still remain unsatisfied. Far

guiltier men than they are the rebel sympathizers of the loyal States,

who coolly stood by and encouraged their friends in the South in their

work of national rapine and murder, and while they were ever ready to

go joyfully into the service of the devil, were too cowardly to wear

his uniform and carry his weapons in open day. But Congress in this

District has the power to punish by ballot, and there will be a

beautiful, poetic justice in the exercise of this power. Sir, let it

be applied. The rebels here will recoil from it with horror. Some of

the worst of them, sooner than submit to black suffrage, will

doubtless leave the District, and thus render it an unspeakable

service. To be voted down and governed by Yankee and negro ballots

will seem to them an intolerable grievance, and this is among the

excellent reasons why I am in favor of it. If neither hanging nor

exile can be extemporized for the entertainment of our domestic

rebels, let us require them at least to make their bed on negro

ballots during the remainder of their unworthy lives. Of course they

will not relish it, but that will be their own peculiar concern. Their

darling institution must be charged with all the consequences of the

war. They sowed the wind, and, if required, must reap the whirlwind.

Retribution follows wrong-doing, and this law must work out its

results. Rebels and their sympathizers, I am sure, will fare as well

under negro suffrage as they deserve, and I desire to leave them, as

far as practicable, in the hands of their colored brethren. Nor shall

I stop to inquire very critically whether the negroes are _fit_ to

vote. As between themselves and white rebels, who deserve to be hung,

they are eminently fit. I would not have them more so. Will you, Mr.

Speaker, will even my conservative and Democratic friends, be

particularly nice or fastidious in the choice of a man to vote down a

_rebel_? Shall we insist upon a perfectly finished gentleman and

scholar to vote down the traitors and white trash of this District,

who have recently signalized themselves by mobbing unoffending

negroes? Sir, almost any body, it seems to me, will answer the

purpose. I do not pretend that the colored men here, should they get

the ballot, will not sometimes abuse it. They will undoubtedly make

mistakes. In some cases they may even vote on the side of their old

masters. But I feel pretty safe in saying that even white men,

perfectly free from all _suspicion_ of negro blood, have sometimes

voted on the wrong side. Sir, I appeal to gentlemen on this floor, and

especially to my Democratic friends, to say whether they can not call

to mind instances in which white men have voted wrong? Indeed, it

rather strikes me that white voting, ignorant, depraved, party-ridden,

_Democratic_ white voting, had a good deal to do in hatching into life

the rebellion itself, and that no results of negro voting are likely

to be much worse."

After an hour occupied by Mr. Randall and Mr. Kelley, both of

Pennsylvania, in a colloquial discussion of the history and present

position of their State upon the subject of negro suffrage, Mr.

Thomas, of Maryland, addressed the House. After setting forth the

injustice the passage of the bill would work toward the people of his

State, he said:

"If I believed that the matter of suffrage was the only mode to help

the negro in his elevation, and the only safeguard to his protection,

or guarantee to his rights, I would be willing to give it to him now,

subject to proper qualifications and restrictions. But I am honest in

my conviction that, uneducated and ignorant as he is, a slave from his

birth, and subject to the will and caprice of his master, with none of

the exalted ideas of what that privilege means, and with but a faint

conception of the true position he now occupies, the negro is not the

proper subject to have conferred upon him this right. I believe if it

is given to him, that in localities where his is the majority vote,

parties will spring up, each one bidding higher than the other for his

ballot, and that in the end the negro-voting element will be

controlled by a few evil and wicked politicians, and as something to

be bought and sold as freely as an article of merchandise. I am

satisfied of another fact, from my experience of the Southern negro,

that if they are ever allowed to vote, the shrewd politician of the

South, who has been formerly his master, will exert more influence

over his vote than all the exhortations from Beecher or Cheever.

"It is a notorious fact that the Southern planter maintained his

political influence over the poor white man of the South, because the

poor white man was dependent on him for his living and support. And

you will find, when it is too late, that the Southern planter will

maintain the same political influence over the poor, uneducated,

ignorant, and dependent African, even to a greater extent than he

formerly exercised over what used to be called the 'poor white trash.'

"Mr. Speaker, let us not, because we have the majority here to-day,

pass upon measures which, if we were evenly divided, we would hesitate

to pass. Let us not, because we are called radicals, strike at the

roots of society, and of the great social and political systems that

have existed for over a century, and attempt to do in a day, without

any preparation, what, to do well and safely, will require years of

patience on the part of the freedmen, and earnest, honest exertions to

elevate, improve, and educate on our part. Let us look at this

question as statesmen, not as partisans. Let us not suppose that the

parties of to-day will have a perpetual existence, and that because

the negro, freed and emancipated by us, would naturally vote on the

side of his deliverer to-day, that it is any guarantee, when new

parties are formed and a competition arises, that the whole or the

major part of his vote will be cast on the right side. White men and

black men are liable to the same infirmities.

"Let us rather, sir, rejoice at what has been already done for him,

and be content to watch his future. Let us help to elevate and improve

him, not only in education, but in morals. Let us see to it that he is

not only protected in all his rights of person and of property, but

let us insist that the amplest guarantees shall be given. Let us wait

until the great problem the African is now working out has been

finished, and we find that he thoroughly comprehends and will not

abuse what he has got, before we attempt to confer other privileges,

which, when once granted, can never be taken from him. Sir, let it not

be forgotten that 'revolutions never go backward;' and if you ever

confer this right on the negro, and find it will not work well, that

you have been too hasty, that you should have waited awhile longer,

you will find it is too late, and that, once having possessed it, they

will not part with it except with their lives."

On the 17th of January the debate was resumed by Mr. Darling, of New

York, who remarked:

"What public necessity exists for the passage of this bill at this

time? There are no benefits which the colored people of this District

could attain by the exercise of the right of suffrage that Congress

could not bestow. Our right and power to legislate for this District

are unquestioned, and instead of wasting days and weeks over a

question which is exciting bitter feeling among our own people, had we

not better give our attention to matters of great national interest

which so urgently demand speedy action on our part? Let us pass laws

for the education of the people of this District, and fit them

ultimately to receive the elective franchise; or, if any thing is

required to satisfy the intense desire, manifested by some gentlemen

of this House, to bestow the franchise on those not now possessed of

it, give it to every soldier who served in the Union Army and was

honorably discharged, whether old or young, rich or poor, native or

foreign-born, white or black, and show to the world that the American

people, recognizing the services and sufferings of their brave

defenders, give them, as a recognition, the highest and best gift of

American citizenship.

"If I know myself, I know that no unjust or unmanly prejudice warps my

judgment or controls my action on any matter of legislation affecting

the colored race on this continent. I believe in their equality of

rights before the law with the dominant race. I believe in their

rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And yet I

believe that, before we confer upon them the political right of

suffrage, as contemplated by the bill now under consideration, we

should seek to elevate their social condition, and lift them up from

the depths of degradation and ignorance in which many of them are left

by the receding waves of the sea of rebellion. There are many strong

objections to conferring upon the colored men of this District the

gift of unqualified suffrage without any qualification based on

intelligence. The large preponderance which they possess numerically

will inevitably lead to mischievous results. Neither would I entirely

disregard the views of the people of this District, many of whom I

know to be sound, loyal Union men.

"But I do not wish to see the Union party take any step in this

direction from which they may desire hereafter to recede. Let us first

rather seek to enlighten this people, and educate them to know the

value of the great gift of liberty which has been bestowed upon them;

teach them to know that to labor is for their best interests; teach

them to learn and lead virtuous and industrious lives, in order to

make themselves respected, and encourage them to act as becomes

freemen. Then they will vote intelligently, and not be subject to the

control of designing men, who would seek to use them for the

attainment of their own selfish ends.

"Now, Mr. Speaker, in conclusion I desire to say that, as no election

will take place in this District until next June, there can be no

reason for special haste in the passage of this bill, and that there

is a proposition before this House, which seems to be received with

very general favor, to create a commission for the government of this

city; and, in order to give an opportunity to mature a bill for that

purpose, and have it presented for the consideration of this House, I

move the postponement of the pending bill until the first Tuesday in

April next."

At a previous stage of the discussion of this measure, Mr. Hale had

proposed amendments to the bill. These amendments were now the subject

under discussion. They were in the following words:

"Amend the motion to recommit by adding to that motion an

instruction to the committee to amend the bill so as to

extend the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia to

all persons coming within either of the following classes,

irrespective of caste or color, but subject only to existing

provisions and qualifications other than those founded on

caste or color, to wit:

"1. Those who can read the Constitution of the United

States.

"2. Those who are assessed for and pay taxes on real or

personal property within the District.

"3. Those who have served in and been honorably discharged

from the military or naval service of the United States.

"And to restrict such right of suffrage to the classes above

named, and to include proper provisions excluding from the

right of suffrage those who have borne arms against the

United States during the late rebellion, or given aid and

comfort to said rebellion."

At the close of Mr. Darling's remarks, in which he had moved to

postpone the whole subject, Mr. Hale, of New York, having argued at

considerable length in favor of the several clauses of his proposed

amendment, remarked: "Of the details of my amendment I am by no means

tenacious. I do not expect to bring every member of the House, or even

every member on this side of the House, to concur in all my own views.

I desire simply to put my measures fairly before the House, and to

advocate them as I best can. I am ready and willing to yield my own

preferences in matters of detail to their better judgment. More than

that, I shall not follow the example that has been set by some on this

side of the House who oppose my amendment, and who claim to be the

peculiar friends of negro suffrage, by proclaiming that I will adhere

to the doctrine of qualified suffrage, and will join our political

enemies, the Democrats, in voting down every thing else. No, sir; for

one, and I say it with entire frankness, I prefer a restricted and

qualified suffrage substantially upon the basis that I have proposed.

If the voice of this House be otherwise--if the sentiment of this

Congress be that it is more desirable that universal suffrage should

be extended to all within this District, then, for one, I say most

decidedly I am for it rather than to leave the matter in its present

condition, or to disfranchise the black race in this District."

Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, spoke as follows: "The proposition

contained in this bill is a new proposition. It contemplates a change

which will be a landmark in the history of this country--a landmark

which, if it is set up, will be regarded by the present and future

generations of men who are to inhabit this continent with pride and

satisfaction, or deplored as one of the gravest errors in the history

of legislation. The bill, if it shall become a law, will be, like the

law to amend the Constitution by abolishing slavery, the deep

foot-print of an advancing civilization, or the conspicuous monument

of an unwise and pernicious experiment.

"Much has been said, on the part of those who oppose the bill, on the

subject of its injustice to the white inhabitants of the District of

Columbia. Indeed, the argument on that side of the question is, when

divested of all that is immaterial, meretricious, and extravagant,

reduced almost entirely to that single position. Abstract this from

the excited declamation to which you have listened, and what is left

is but the old revolting argument in favor of slavery, and a selfish

appeal to prejudice and ignorance. It is insisted that a majority of

the white voters of the District are opposed to the contemplated law,

that they have recently given a public expression of their opinion

against it, and that for that reason it would be unjust and oppressive

in Congress to pass this law. In my judgment, this is a question not

concerning alone the wishes and prejudices of the seven thousand

voters who dwell in this District, but involving, it may be, the

honor, the justice, the good faith, and the magnanimity of the great

nation which makes this little spot the central seat of its empire and

its power.

"If it concerns the honor of the United States that a certain class of

its people, in a portion of its territory subject to its exclusive

jurisdiction and control, shall, in consideration of the change which

has taken place in its condition, and of the fidelity which it has

exhibited in the midst of great and severe trials, be elevated

somewhat above the political degradation which has hitherto been its

lot, shall the United States be prevented from the accomplishment of

that great and generous purpose by the handful of voters who

temporarily encamp under the shadow of the Capitol? It may be that the

determination of a question of so much importance as this belongs

rather to the people of the United States, through their

Representatives in Congress assembled, than to the present qualified

voters of this District. Sir, the field of inquiry is much wider than

the District of Columbia, and the problem to be solved one in which

not they alone are interested. When Congress determined that the time

had come when slavery should be abolished in this District, and the

capital of the nation should no longer be disgraced by its presence,

did it pause in the great work of justice to which it laid its hand to

hear from the mayor of Washington, or to inquire whether the masters

would vote for it? It is not difficult to conjecture what the fate of

that great measure would have been had its adoption or rejection

depended upon the voters of this District.

"Shall we be told, sir, that if the Representatives of the people of

twenty-five States are of the opinion that the laws and institutions

which exist in the seat of Government of the United States ought to be

changed, that they are not to be changed because a majority of the

voters who reside here do not desire that change? Will any man say

that the voices of these seven thousand voters are to outweigh the

voices of all the constituencies of the United States in the capital

of their country? I dismiss this objection, therefore, as totally

destitute of reason or weight. It is based upon a fallacy so feeble

that it is dissipated by the bare touch of the Constitution to it.

"Whatever is the duty of the United States to do, that is for their

interest to do. The two great facts written in history by the iron

hand of the late war are, first, that the Union is indissoluble, and

second, that human slavery is here forever abolished. From these two

facts consequences corresponding in importance with the facts

themselves must result: from the former, a more vigorous and powerful

nationality; from the latter, the elevation and improvement of the

race liberated by the war from bondage, as well as a higher and more

advanced civilization in the region where the change has taken place.

It is impossible to say that the African race occupies to-day the same

position in American affairs and counts no more in weight than it did

before the rebellion. You can not strike the fetters from the limbs of

four million men and leave them such as you found them. As wide as is

the interval between a freeman and a slave, so wide is the difference

between the African race before the rebellion and after the rebellion.

You can not keep to its ancient level a race which has been released

from servitude any more than you can keep back the ocean with your

hand after you have thrown down the sea-wall which restrained its

impatient tides. Freedom is every-where in history the herald of

progress. It is written in the annals of all nations. It is a law of

the human race. Ignorance, idleness, brutality--these belong to

slavery; they are her natural offspring and allies, and the gentleman

from New York, [Mr. Chanler,] who consumed so much time in

demonstrating the comparative inferiority of the black race, answered

his own argument when he reminded us that the Constitution recognized

the negro only as a slave, and gave us the strongest reason why we

should now begin to recognize him as a freeman. Sir, I do not doubt

that the negro race is inferior to our own. That is not the question.

You do not advance an inch in the argument after you have proved that

premise of your case. You must show that they are not only inferior,

but that they are so ignorant and degraded that they can not be safely

intrusted with the smallest conceivable part of political power and

responsibility, and that this is the case not on the plantations of

Alabama and Mississippi, but here in the District of Columbia. Nay,

you must not only prove that this is the general character of this

population here, but that this condition is so universal and

unexceptional that you can not allow them to take this first step in

freedom, although it may be hedged about with qualifications and

conditions; for which of you who have opposed this measure on the

ground of race has proposed to give the benefit of it to such as may

be found worthy? Not one of you. And this shows that your objection is

founded really on a prejudice, although it assumes the dignity and

proportions of an argument. The real question, sir, is, can we afford

to be just--nay, if you please, generous--to a race whose shame has

been washed out in the consuming fires of war, and which now stands

erect and equal before the law with our own? Shall we give hope and

encouragement to that race beginning, as it does now for the first

time, its career of freedom, by erecting here in the capital of the

republic a banner inscribed with the sacred legend of the elder days,

'All men are born free and equal?' or shall we unfurl in its stead

that other banner, with a strange device, around which the dissolving

remnants of the Democratic party in this hall are called upon to

rally, inscribed with no great sentiment of justice or generosity, but

bearing upon its folds the miserable appeal of the demagogue, 'This is

a white man's Government?' When you inaugurate your newly-discovered

political principle, do not forget to invite the colored troops; beat

the assembly; call out the remnants of the one hundred and eighty

thousand men who marched with steady step through the flames and

carnage of war, and many of whom bear upon their bodies the honorable

scars received in that unparalleled struggle and in your defense, and

as you send your banner down the line, say to them, 'This is the

reward of a generous country for the wounds you have received and the

sufferings you have endured.'

"Shall we follow the great law to which I have referred--the law that

liberty is progress--and conform our policy to the spirit of that

great law? or shall we, governed by unreasonable and selfish

prejudices, initiate a policy which will make this race our hereditary

enemy, a mine beneath instead of a buttress to the edifice which you

are endeavoring to repair? Sir, I do not hesitate to say that, in my

opinion, it were better to follow where conscience and justice point,

leaving results to a higher Power, than to shrink from an issue which

it is the clear intention of Providence we shall face, or to be driven

from our true course by the chimeras which the excited imaginations of

political partisans have conjured up, or by the misty ghosts of

long-buried errors."

Mr. Van Horn, of New York, while willing to accept the bill as

originally presented, preferred it as modified by Mr. Hale's

amendments. In his speech he charged those who had opposed the bill as

laboring in the interest of slavery.

"They seem to have forgotten," he said, "in their advocacy of slavery,

that we have passed through a fierce war, begun by slavery, waged

against the Government by slavery, and solely in its interest to more

thoroughly establish itself upon the Western Continent, and crush out

the best interests of freedom and humanity; and that this war, guided

on our part by the omnipotent arm of the Invisible, made bare in our

behalf, has resulted in a most complete overthrow of this great wrong;

and by the almost omnipotent voice of the republic, as now expressed

in its fundamental law, it has no right to live, much less entitled to

the right of burial, and should have no mourners in the land or going

about the streets. Such speeches as those of the gentlemen from New

Jersey, [Mr. Rogers,] and from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Boyer,] and my

colleague and friend, [Mr. Chanler,] who represents, with myself, in

part, the Empire State, carry us back to the days and scenes before

the war, when slavery ruled supreme, not only throughout the land, by

and through its hold upon power, which the people in an evil hour had

given it, but here in these halls of legislation, where liberty and

its high and noble ends ought to have been secured by just and equal

laws, and the great and paramount object of our system of government

carried out and fully developed. They seem to forget that liberty and

good government have been on trial during these five years last past

of war and blood, and that they have succeeded in the mighty struggle.

They forget that Providence, in a thousand ways, during this fierce

conflict, has given us evidence of his favor, and led us out of the

land of bondage into a purer and higher state of freedom, where

slavery, as an institution among us, is no more. Why do they labor so

long and so ardently to resurrect again into life this foul and

loathsome thing? Why can not they forget their former love and

attachments in this direction, and no longer cling with such undying

grasp to this dead carcass, which, by its corruptions and rottenness,

has well nigh heretofore poisoned them to the death? Why not awake to

the new order of things, and accept the results which God has worked

out in our recent struggle, and not raise the weak arm of flesh to

render null and void what has thus been done, and thus attempt to turn

back the flow of life which is overspreading all, and penetrating

every part of the body politic with its noble purposes and exalted

hopes?"

Thursday, January 18, was the last day of the discussion of this

important measure in the House of Representatives. When the subject

was in order, Mr. Clarke, of Kansas, "as the only Representative upon

the floor of a State whose whole history had been a continual protest

against political injustice and wrong," after having advocated the

bill by arguments drawn from the history of the country and the record

of the negro race, remarked as follows: "This cry of poverty and

ignorance is not new. I remember that those who first followed the Son

of man, the Savior of the world, were not the learned rabbis, not the

enlightened scholar, not the rich man or the pious Pharisee. They were

the poor and needy, the peasant and the fisherman. I remember, also,

that the more learned the slaveholder, the greater the rebel. I

remember that no black skin covered so false a heart or misdirected

brain, that when the radiant banner of our nationality was near or

before him, he did not understand its meaning, and remained loyal to

its demands. The man capable of taking care of himself, of wife and

children, and, in addition to his unrequited toil, to hold up his

oppressor, must have intelligence enough, in the long run, to wield

the highest means of protection we can give.

"But, sir, it is for our benefit, as well as for the benefit of the

proscribed class, that I vote for and support impartial manhood

suffrage in this District. We can not afford, as a nation, to keep any

class ignorant or oppress the weak. We must establish here republican

government. That which wrongs one man, in the end recoils on the many.

Sir, if we accept, as the Republican party of the Union, our true

position and our duty, we shall nobly win. If we are false and

recreant, we shall miserably fail. Let us have faith in the people and

the grand logic of a mighty revolution, and dare to do right. Class

legislation will be the inevitable result of class power; and what

would follow, so far as the colored race are concerned, let the recent

tragedy of Jamaica answer.

[Illustration: Hon. Sidney Clarke.]

"The principles involved in the arguments put forth on the other side

of the House are not alone destructive to the rights of the

defenseless, intelligent, and patriotic colored men of this District,

but they militate with a double effect and stronger purpose against

the poor whites of the North and of the South, against the German, the

Irishman, and the poor and oppressed of every race, who come to our

shores to escape the oppression of despotic governments, and to seek

the protection of a Government the true theory of which reposes in

every citizen a portion of its sovereign power. Against this attempt

to deny or abridge in any way the rights of the weak, the poor, and

the defenseless, and to transfer the governing power of the nation to

the favored classes, to the rich and the powerful, and thus change the

very purpose and principles of our republican system, I protest in the

name of constitutional freedom, and in behalf of equal rights and

equal laws.

"I protest against this stealthy innovation upon popular rights, in

the name of the toiling millions of the land; and I warn the House and

the country of the untold mischief and disaster which must come to

distract and divide the republic in the future, if we follow the

pernicious and destructive doctrines founded upon either the

prejudices of class, caste, wealth, or power. I protest in the name of

a constituency whose early history was a sublime and persistent

struggle against the prejudices of pampered and arrogant ruffianism at

home, and the worse than ruffian spirit of the Administrations of

Pierce and Buchanan, and the Democratic traitors who at that time

constituted a majority of this House, and were engaged in preparing

the nation for its harvest of blood. We must go back to the spirit and

purposes of the founders of our Government. We must accept the grand

logic of the mighty revolution from which we are now emerging. We must

repudiate, now and forever, these assaults upon the masses of the

people and upon the fundamental principles of popular rights. I accept

in their full force and effect the principles of the Declaration of

Independence, and by constitutional amendment and law of Congress I

would stamp them with irrevocable power upon the political escutcheon

of the new and regenerated republic. I would avoid the mistakes of the

past, and I would spurn that cringing timidity by which, through all

history, liberty has been sacrificed and humanity betrayed.

"Sir, I hesitate not to say that if we do not gather up, in the

process of national reconstruction, the enduring safeguards of future

peace, we shall be false to our history and unmindful of the grand

responsibilities now devolving upon us. The establishment of impartial

suffrage in this District will be a fitting commencement of the work.

It will be hailed by the friends of freedom every-where as a return to

a policy of national justice too long delayed. In behalf of the State

I have the honor to represent, and upon whose soil this contest for a

larger liberty and a nobler nationality was first submitted to the

arbitrament of arms, I hail this measure with feelings of satisfaction

and pride. It is the legitimate result of the courage and fidelity of

the hardy pioneers of Kansas in 1856, who dared to face the

blandishment of power and the arrogance and brutality of slavery when

compromisers trembled, and Northern sycophants of an oligarchic

despotism, then, as now, scowled and fretted at the progress of free

principles."

Mr. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, after having adduced a variety of

arguments against the bill, finally said: "Sir, we hear a tremendous

outcry in this House in favor of popular government and about the

guarantee of the Constitution of the United States to the several

States that they shall have republican governments. How are the poor

people of this District to have a republican form of government if

gentlemen who have come to this city, perhaps for the first time in

their lives, undertake to control them as absolutely and arbitrarily

as Louis Napoleon controls France or Maximilian Mexico? Gentlemen ask,

What right have they to hold an election and express their sentiments?

What right have they to hold such an election? Surely they ought to

have the right to petition, for their rulers are generally arbitrary

enough.

"Mr. Speaker, it seems to me ridiculously inconsistent for gentlemen

upon this floor to prate so much about a republican form of

government, and rise here and offer resolution after resolution about

the Monroe doctrine and the downtrodden Mexicans, while they force

upon the people of this District a government not of their own choice,

because the voter in a popular government is a governor himself. But,

sir, this is only part of a grand plan. Gentlemen who dare not go

before their white constituents and urge that a negro shall have a

vote in their own States, come here and undertake to thrust negro

suffrage upon the people here. Gentlemen whose States have repudiated

the idea of giving the elective franchise to negroes, come here and

are willing to give the suffrage to negroes here, as if they intended

to make this little District of Columbia a sort of negro Eden; as if

they intended to say to the negroes of Virginia and Maryland and

Delaware, 'You have no right to vote in these States, but if you will

go to Washington you can vote there.' I imagine I can see them

swarming up from different sections of the country to this city and

inquiring where the polls are. Agents, men and women, such as there

are at work in this city, will no doubt be at work in these States,

telling them to pack their knapsacks and march to Washington, for on

such a day there is to be an election, and there they will have the

glorious privilege of the white man. Sir, all this doctrine is

destructive of the American system of government, which recognizes the

right of no man to participate in it unless he is a citizen, which

secures to the citizen his voice in the control and management of the

Government, and prevents those not citizens from standing in the way

of the exercise of his just rights.

"This Government does not belong to any race so that it can be

divested or disposed of. The present age have no right to terminate

it. It is ours to enjoy and administer, and to transmit to posterity

unimpaired as we received it from the fathers."

Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, then addressed the House: "When we

emancipated the black people, we not only relieved ourselves from the

institution of slavery, we not only conferred upon them freedom, but

we did more, we recognized their manhood, which, by the old

Constitution and the general policy and usage of the country, had

been, from the organization of the Government until the Emancipation

Proclamation, denied to all of the enslaved colored people. As a

consequence of the recognition of their manhood, certain results

follow in accordance with the principles of this Government, and they

who believe in this Government are, by necessity, forced to accept

those results as a consequence of the policy of emancipation which

they have inaugurated and for which they are responsible.

"But to say now, having given freedom to them, that they shall not

enjoy the essential rights and privileges of men, is to abandon the

principle of the proclamation of emancipation, and tacitly to admit

that the whole emancipation policy is erroneous.

"It has been suggested that it is premature to demand immediate action

upon the question of negro suffrage in the District of Columbia. I am

not personally responsible for the presence of the bill at the present

time, but I am responsible for the observation that there never has

been a day during a session of Congress since the Emancipation

Proclamation, ay, since the negroes of this District were emancipated,

when it was not the duty of the Government, which, by the

Constitution, is intrusted with exclusive jurisdiction in this

District, to confer upon the men of this District, without distinction

of race or color, the rights and privileges of men. And, therefore,

there can be nothing premature in this measure, and I can not see how

any one who supports the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a

recognition of the manhood of the whole colored people of this

country, can hesitate as to his duty; and while I make no suggestion

as to the duty of other men, I have a clear perception of my own. And,

first, we are bound to treat the colored people of this District, in

regard to the matter of voting, precisely as we treat white people.

And I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if the question here

to-day were whether any qualification should be imposed upon white

voters in this District, if they alone were concerned, this House

would not, ay, not ten men upon this floor would, consider whether any

qualifications should be imposed or not.

"Reading and writing, or reading, as a qualification, is demanded, and

an appeal is made to the example of Massachusetts. I wish gentlemen

who now appeal to Massachusetts would often appeal to her in other

matters where I can more conscientiously approve her policy. But it is

a different proposition in Massachusetts as a practical measure. When,

ten years ago, this qualification was imposed upon the people of

Massachusetts, it excluded no person who was then a voter. For two

centuries we have had in Massachusetts a system of public instruction

open to the children of the whole people without money and without

price. Therefore all the people there had had opportunities for

education. Now, why should the example of such a state be quoted to

justify refusing suffrage to men who have been denied the privilege of

education, and whom it has been a crime to teach? Is there no

difference?

"We are to answer for our treatment of the colored people of this

country, and it will prove in the end impracticable to secure to men

of color civil rights unless the persons who claim those rights are

fortified by the political right of voting. With the right of voting,

every thing that a man ought to have or enjoy of civil rights comes to

him. Without the right to vote, he is secure in nothing. I can not

consent, after all the guards and safeguards which may be prepared for

the defense of the colored men in the enjoyment of their rights--I can

not consent that they shall be deprived of the right to protect

themselves. One hundred and eighty-six thousand of them have been in

the army of the United States. They have stood in the place of our

sons and brothers and friends. They have fallen in defense of the

country. They have earned the right to share in the Government; and if

you deny them the elective franchise, I know not how they are to be

protected. Otherwise you furnish the protection which is given to the

lamb when he is commended to the wolf.

"There is an ancient history that a sparrow pursued by a hawk took

refuge in the chief assembly of Athens, in the bosom of a member of

that illustrious body, and that the senator in anger hurled it

violently from him. It fell to the ground dead, and such was the

horror and indignation of that ancient but not Christianized body--men

living in the light of nature, of reason--that they immediately

expelled the brutal Areopagite from his seat, and from the association

of humane legislators.

"What will be said of us, not by Christian, but by heathen nations

even, if, after accepting the blood and sacrifices of these men, we

hurl them from us and allow them to be the victims of those who have

tyrannized over them for centuries? I know of no crime that exceeds

this; I know of none that is its parallel; and if this country is true

to itself, it will rise in the majesty of its strength and maintain a

policy, here and every-where, by which the rights of the colored

people shall be secured through their own power--in peace, the ballot;

in war, the bayonet.

"It is a maxim of another language, which we may well apply to

ourselves, that where the voting register ends the military roster of

rebellion begins; and if you leave these four million people to the

care and custody of the men who have inaugurated and carried on this

rebellion, then you treasure up for untold years the elements of

social and civil war, which must not only desolate and paralyze the

South, but shake this Government to its very foundation."

Soon after the close of Mr. Boutwell's speech, Mr. Darling's motion to

postpone and Mr. Hale's motion to amend having been rejected, a vote

was taken on the bill as reported by the committee. The bill passed by

a vote of one hundred and sixteen in the affirmative--fifty-four

voting in the negative.

The friends of the measure having received evidence that it would not

meet with Executive approval, and not supposing that a vote of

two-thirds could be secured for its passage over the President's veto,

determined not to urge it immediately through the Senate.

There was great reluctance on the part of many Senators and members of

the House to come to an open rupture with the President. They desired

to defer the day of final and irreconcilable difference between

Congress and the Executive. If the subject of negro suffrage in the

District of Columbia was kept in abeyance for a time, it was hoped

that the President's approval might meanwhile be secured to certain

great measures for protecting the helpless and maintaining the civil

rights of citizens. To accomplish these important ends, the suffrage

bill was deferred many months. The will of the majority in Congress

relating to this subject did not become a law until after the opening

of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress.