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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



leave to say that I think it has not been probed 

 to the bottom ; I think the question has never 

 been argued down as deeply into the nature of 

 things as it might be. This is not a question 

 as to the admission of a certain number of citi- 

 izens to the elective franchise, as it is in Eng- 

 land. It is an entirely different question. This 

 District is inhabited by two races of people, 

 distinct races. How distinct ? So distinct as 

 to prevent any thing like social equality. Is 

 not that a fact ? If there were no facts before 

 the Committee on the District of Columbia to 

 show that there was a majority of the people 

 of this District opposed to this measure, I sup- 

 pose that committee will agree that it is a fact 

 that the distinction of races prevents social 

 equality. I think that cannot be denied. 



"Then a question arises immediately behind 

 that : if the difference between the two races 

 prevents social equality, is it not enough to 

 bar political equality? Honorable Senators 

 say: 'No; we will grant political equality.' 

 You may grant, if you please, a chance to try 

 it; but you cannot grant the equality. That 

 is a thing lying out of your reach ; lying within 

 the nature of the races themselves. Pass what 

 laws you please, you cannot make black men 

 white, nor white men black, because that is not 

 the subject-matter of your legislation. Then I 

 ask what is to be. the line which will divide 

 parties in this District when the bill of the 

 honorable Senator from Maine becomes a law ? 

 As among us of the same race, the line which 

 divides parties is one of principle. My honor- 

 able friend on the other side is a free trader ; 

 I am a tariff man. There is a line between us, 

 and which side we take depends upon argu- 

 ment and reason. It is from that fact that the 

 lines between parties depend upon argument 

 and reason, and are to be settled by them, and 

 them alone, that we have a free government. 



" I ask what will be the line when the negro 

 votes in the District? I am presuming now 

 that he is just as well qualified to vote as the 

 white man ; that he is just as good, just as wise, 

 just as intelligent as the white man ; and I ask 

 what is to be the line between parties when he 

 does vote? Is it to be the line of argument, 

 the line of reason, the line of principle, or is it 

 to be the line of tribal distinctions ? Will a man 

 belong to a white party because he believes the 

 white party has the best of the argument, that 

 the principles which the white party advocate 

 are the true principles upon which to govern 

 the District; or will he belong to the white 

 party simply because he is white ? and will he 

 belong to the negro party because the negro is 

 right or because he is black? 



" To a wise man, and to a man who is willing 

 to look a little beyond the excitement of he 

 moment and passion of the hour, is not this 

 inevitable ? Then, what is the consequence, 

 supposing it to be so, and no one can deny it? 

 Nobody can anticipate any thing else as the 

 result of the bill but that. Then what is the 

 consequence ? It is not a question of sharing 



in the government ; it is a question of which 

 race shall dominate. There are one hundred 

 thousand whites, and there are thirty thousand 

 negroes. Which will dominate? Given that 

 things remain as they are, the whites will pre- 

 dominate. Then what will the negro get by 

 the bill? Of what use is his vote to him? 

 When your party lines depend upon tribal 

 differences, of what use is the vote to the 

 weaker ? 



" There, Mr. President, we come back exactly 

 to that which every society does at the outs tart 

 by its fundamental law. In a case of that kind 

 the whites exclude the blacks from the right of 

 suffrage altogether, and it is right and prudent 

 and proper. I would not quarrel with a black 

 community that would exclude the whites from 

 voting, and why? All that the honorable Sena- 

 tor's bill does is to create this contest for every 

 election, to make it recur year after year, and to 

 exclude from the contest all considerations of 

 principle, of reason, of right, of wrong. His 

 bill is to invite in the District of Columbia a 

 contest of races at every election from this time 

 forward. That is the object of it, and that will 

 be the effect of it, and there can be none other. 

 Now, the District of Columbia, being a free com- 

 munity, just like a State, would, if it could, call 

 a convention to settle this matter settle it just 

 as the States have settled it: 'We are the 

 majority ; we are the ruling class of the com- 

 munity ; we have th-e power ; we can exercise 

 it year after year ; but we do not choose to 

 invite that contest ; we choose to form a con- 

 stitution and fix that matter at the outstart by 

 the exclusion of the weaker race from the right 

 of suffrage.' That is right and proper and 

 wise, and any thing else would be exceedingly 

 improper and exceedingly unwise. 



" Then, Mr. President, this being a question, 

 not of sharing the government, this being a 

 question of dominion, who will have the do- 

 minion ? You have one hundred thousand 

 whites and you have thirty thousand negroes, 

 and you have sixty thousand or one hundred 

 thousand negroes standing all around who have 

 no property, who have no ties to any particular 

 spot, who are not engaged in any business 

 which entangles them, perfectly free-footed to 

 come into the District within any period of 

 ten days and live here as well as they live 

 where they are. They may attain to the as- 

 cendancy in that way ; but they do not need to 

 come here in equal numbers with the whites to 

 attain to the ascendancy. Sixty thousand ne- 

 groes here in the city, if you suppose there are 

 ten wards, may govern the city without any 

 difficulty. There is no difficulty in withdraw- 

 ing that kind of population from one ward to 

 another so as to enable them to carry a major- 

 ity of the city government, although it is a mi- 

 nority of votes. The whites do not enjoy these 

 facilities for colonizing and pipe-laying. A 

 man who owns large and valuable property 

 in the city cannot pull up stakes and go and 

 live in another ward in order that he may have 



