CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



103 



in our midst, and intelligent, in>lti>- 

 trioiis, and virtuous, ought not to have a voice 

 in milking tlio laws by which lio is to bo gov- 

 iTM.'il, l>\ which his property is to be taxed, 

 ami l>y which liis life is to bo rendered happy 

 voted to misery. IB it not certain that 

 >. iin H- ruts, taking advantage of this nd- 

 misMmi, would press you again with their oh- 

 ms to the enfranchisement of the African ? 

 An 1 do you clearly see how, after this adrnis- 

 >ii>n, you could meet their objections? And 

 w ho ro are you to stop? Will you enter upon 

 a discussion of the property qualification, the 

 test of intelligence, and all the other anti- 

 Anu-rican standards by which the monarchists 

 seek to measure the right of participation in 

 government? While you stand upon our great 

 principle of self-government, you have a ready 

 answer against all objections. But, that prin- 

 ciple surrendered, wo arc at sea, and nothing 

 determined. 



Sir, this American maxim, that all freemen, 

 bound by the law, ought to have a voice in 

 making the law, is either a truth or a falsehood. 

 If it be a truth, the Chinaman is entitled to vote; 

 if it be a falsehood, then you must call witnesses 

 to prove that you are entitled to vote yourself." 



Mr. Thurman : " Is the Senator from Wis- 

 consin in favor of woman suffrage ? " 



Mr. Carpenter : " I do not see the bearing of 

 that question upon the subject before us ; but 

 I am happy to inform the Senator that I am in 

 favor of citizen suffrage without distinction of 

 sex, color, or birthplace." 



Mr. Thurman : " That is satisfactory. The 

 next question is, is the Senator in favor of 

 giving to the Indians of Alaska, who owe alle- 

 giance to our Government and obedience to 

 our laws, the right of suffrage ? " 



Mr. Carpenter : " That is leaving the subject 

 under consideration to deal with matters en- 

 tirely foreign to it ; but I can say to the Sena- 

 tor that if he should offer an amendment to 

 this bill that no man born in Alaska should 

 enjoy civil rights and political privileges, or 

 any kindred amendment, I should vote against 

 it. In other words, I am opposed to limiting 

 principles geographically; I am opposed to 

 saying that all men are created equal within 

 certain parallels of latitude, but that God in- 

 tended the people born north or south of those 

 lines to be the subjects of despotism. A man 

 is a man, no matter whore he was born, no 

 matter what may be the color of hia skin, and 

 is entitled to be treated like a man, and to 

 enjoy the rights, privileges, powers, and im- 

 munities of a man, under any government 

 which professes to be founded upon the prin- 

 ciple that all men are created equal." 



Mr. Thayer, of Nebraska, said : " Will the 

 Senator permit the naturalization laws to be 

 applied to the Indians, will he permit Indians 

 to avail themselves of the benefit of the nat- 

 uralization laws ? " 



Mr. Carpenter: "What Indians Indians 

 born in this country ? " 

 VOL. i. 13 A 



Mr. Thayor: "Yes." 



Mr. Carpenter : " I do not understand that 

 they need much naturalization." 



Mr. Thayer : " I did not mean in this coun- 

 try." 



Mr. Carpenter : " The other Indians we are 

 not discussing. I am not authorized to go be- 

 yond the Senator's question. Ho certainly 

 did not call for any opinion as to Indians out- 

 side of this country. 



Mr. President, this cross-examination is 

 extending my remarks beyond what I had 

 intended. I simply desire to state the con- 

 clusions of my own judgment and the reasons 

 why I shall support the amendment offered by 

 the Senator from Massachusetts. It seems to 

 me that we must support that amendment or 

 repudiate the principle upon which wo have 

 stood as a party ; the principle upon which we 

 have builded as a nation. Often during tho 

 war the darkness was so dense that the path 

 before us as a nation could not be seen. But 

 with the people, when sight failed, faith in- 

 spired them, and hand in hand and shoulder 

 to shoulder, and with faces imploringly uplifted 

 to Heaven, they walked hopefully and safely 

 through the gloom that enveloped them. So 

 let us do here. To admit the Chinaman to full 

 participation in the rights of citizenship may 

 well create some apprehension; but I would 

 sooner apply our principles to him than con- 

 fess them to be erroneous, and thus destroy tho 

 only foundation upon which free government 

 can rest." 



Mr. Fenton, of New York, said: "I move 

 to reconsider the vote by which the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 

 Sumner) was adopted." 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, said : " I trust, 

 upon principle, that tho vote which has been 

 given will not be reconsidered. 



"The Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schurz) 

 treated this subject very properly, as it seemed 

 to me, when he showed that there was no occa- 

 sion for the alarm which has been sounded 

 here. The number of Chinese in this country 

 is very small, and if the immigration were to 

 continue as it has dono for the last twenty years, 

 or were to be increased threefold, it would 

 take fifty years to get- a million Chinese into 

 this country, and by that time tho population 

 of the United States would be one hundred or 

 perhaps one hundred and fifty millions. There 

 is no danger at present that this country will 

 be overrun by pagans, and there is no necessity 

 that we should throw up our hands in holy 

 horror against the paganism of tho Chinese. I 

 think this is an imaginary danger. 



" On this subject of admitting Europeans,' 

 Asiatics, or anybody else to this country, in my 

 judgment the people of the United States have 

 a right to pursue such policy as they shall think 

 proper. It has hitherto been the policy of the 

 country to encourage immigration. It is but 

 a few centuries since the first settlements were 

 mado upon this continent by immigrants, either 



