CONGRESS, U. S. 



243 



the right to ride in the cars which, at the ex- 

 pense of the company, have been provided for 

 their accommodation ; but the difficulty, I sup- 

 pose, has arisen because the negro declined to 

 ride in the cars that are provided for persons 

 of his color, and claimed the right to ride in 

 the cars that are provided for the white men 

 and women who travel on these railroads. 



Mr. Snmner replied : Mr. President, I am sure 

 that the Senator from Indiana is mistaken in re- 

 gard to the provision for colored persons. There 

 may be here and there, now and then, once in 

 a long interval of time, a car which colored 

 persons may enter ; but any person who trav- 

 erses the Avenue must see that those cars come 

 very rarely, and if any person takes the trouble 

 to acquaint himself with the actual condition 

 of things, he will know that there are great 

 abuses and hardships, particularly among wo- 

 men, growing out of that outrage. I use plain 

 language, sir, for it is an outrage ; it is a dis- 

 grace to this city ; it is a disgrace to this Gov- 

 ernment which sanctions it under its eyes. It 

 is a mere offshoot of the slavery which happily 

 we have banished from Washington. 



The resolution was agreed to by the follow- 

 ing vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, 

 Collamer, Conness, Cowan, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, 

 Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howard, Howe, 

 Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, 

 Sherman. Sprasue, fcumner, Ten Eyck,' Trumbuil, 

 Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson 30. 



NAYS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Harding, Hen- 

 dricks, Xesmith. Powell, Richardson, Riddle, Sauls- 

 bury, and Van Winkle 10. 



Mr. Willey, of West Virginia, from the com- 

 mittee to whom the resolution was referred, 

 reported on the 24th, that the act by which 

 the company was incorporated, made no dis- 

 tinction as to passengers over said road on 

 account of color ; and that in the opinion of the 

 committee, colored persons were entitled to all 

 the privileges of the road equally with others. 



On the 17th of March, the bill to incorporate 

 the Metropolitan Railroad Company of the 

 District of Columbia being considered in the 

 Senate, Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, offered 

 the following amendment to be added to the 

 14th section : 



Provided, That there shall be no regulation exclud- 

 ing any person from any car on account of color. 



Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I could wish, very sincerely wish, that 

 the difference between thece two races could 

 for a moment be forgotten, and the Senate 

 could be brought to devote itself more exclu- 

 sively to the actual business of the country 

 which involves issues touching at the very life 

 of the nation. I am not sure that I am accu- 

 rate, but I think that at least one-half of the 

 business of the session, as far as the Senate is 

 concerned, has been taken up by debating the 

 respective rights of these two classes. Xow, 

 whether a white man is to ride in a black car 

 if he think proper to ride tl ere I mean in a 



car with black passengers or whether a black 

 man is to ride in a car appropriated to white 

 passengers, is a matter that I do not think 

 touches any of the great issues which are now 

 before the country. I do not see that upon 

 any ground, even of military necessity, there is 

 any occasion for the continuance of a debate of 

 this description ; nor, with due deference to the 

 honorable member from Massachusetts, do I 

 see why it is necessary to provide more special 

 guarantees for the black man than are provided 

 for the white man. If the black man is im- 

 properly excluded from one of these cars, as 

 the committee who had the subject before them 

 on a former occasion held, he has the right to 

 go to the courts and seek his remedy there, and 

 the white man has no greater right. If that is 

 the object of the Senator from Massachusetts, 

 they are both in that respect upon an exact 

 equality; their rights (provided the. opinion 

 which I entertain be the correct opinion) are 

 the same, and the remedies which the law fur- 

 nishes for a violation of such rights, under 

 which they can obtain a redress for all the con- 

 sequences attending such a violation, are equally 

 open to them as they are open to the white 

 man. 



" Mr. President, there is one thing that can- 

 not be done. Gentlemen may talk as senti- 

 mentally as they think proper, and as they no 

 doubt feel; for when the mind runs upon a 

 particular topic and wishes to come to a par- 

 ticular conclusion upon it, it sees nothing that 

 stands in the way of that conclusion. If gen- 

 tlemen are anxious to bring about absolute 

 equality, not under the law alone, not for the 

 purpose of establishing equal rights under the 

 law, but that equality which seems now to be 

 sought after, social equality, political equalify, 

 they will find, I think, in the end that there 

 will be obstacles in the public judgment, that 

 they will be unable to resist, and before which 

 they will be unable perhaps to stand at some fu- 

 ture day. 



" The Senate are not to be told we all know 

 it that, whether wisely or unwisely, whether 

 humanely or otherwise, there is by white men 

 and by white women, as a general thing it is 

 not universal a preference, when the question 

 of social intercourse is concerned, for white 

 men and white women ; and I believe the same 

 may be said of the other class. God knows I 

 have no feeling against them, and never have 

 had ; certainly have none now. I am perfectly 

 willing to give them, and shall vote for every 

 measure that may be deemed necessary to ac- 

 complish that end, all the rights necessary to 

 enable them to be protected in life and prop- 

 erty. But when we come to the question of 

 political rights and social enjoyment, there are 

 other considerations that enter into such inqui- 

 ries. Xatnre has deeply fixed in the heart 

 what may be called a prejudice or not, as gen- 

 tlemen think proper. If it be a prejudice if 

 it be not irreligious so to say it is a prejudice 

 that comes from our Creator; a preference on 



