Mr. FARNSWORTH. It is useless, Mr. Speaker, to cite the acts of State Legislatures heretofore passed upon this subject. That is only being the question. suffrage has been witheld from the black man up to the present time. If that is any reason why it should longer be withheld from him, then that is a kind of logic which I do not appreciate. Therefore, these citations by gentlemen from the revisions of State constitutions and State laws caring on this subject have, it seems to me, no pertinence to the question. I was remarking, Mr. Speaker, that, in my opinion, this Government. would be criminally recreant to its high trust if it does not, while it has the power, profit by the lessons of the past the experience acquired in the last 4 years in the fiery ordeal of war. We shall be false to our duty if we do not obtain security for the future not only security against further secession and war, but security or the protection of the rights of menmen of all classes and conditions. Why, sir, I am in almost daily receipt of letters from the South, written by members of State Legislatures, by officers of the Army by merchants doing business there; and all these men bear the same testimonythat the people of the and of Union men has Become rather than m“ since the of the war; that no union man, whether white or black, would be able to live in those States one moment after the withdrawal of the troops that now protect them and preserve order. This is the universal testimony. Only a few days ago, as I am credibly in formed, General Grunt sent from this city an escort of cavalry and a train of wagons into Virginianot 50 miles, I believe, from this capitalto remove to the city of Washington a loyal family, consisting of a widow and her children, because they could not live in their home in safety. The husband of this woman, formerly a paymaster in the U.S. Army, was, since the close of the war, ruthlessly shot down be a returned rebel in the streets of Alexandria. his family, returning to their residence in Virginia, had their house set on fire in the night, it with the fiendish expectation and desi of burning to death its inmates. General (glint, in accordance with the petition of that widow, sent an escort of, as I have remarked, to insure the safe transit of herself and her children to the city of Washington. This is the condition of things almost under the Very shadow of this Capitol. The men from whom this poor woman and her children have been obliged to flee for their lives are the sort of men whom the Gentfrom NewJersey desires to clothe with all the rights of citizenship and sovereignty. These are the men whom he wouldal low to control the destinies of Virginia and other southern States late them so. We have oppressed them by onr 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 free men 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 new homes Within our land that are not made desolate by the loss of a son or a father. The widow and the or him meet us wherever we turn. ell 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 anotherif we fail now in this our lain duty as a nation, then the of state is in more peril from this ground l 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. ENROLLED BILLS.