Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. President, I know nothing of the article to which I have referred, except that it was introduced and read yesterday by the chairman of the ComDistCol, and is before the Senate; and I am surprised to find the Senator's indig nation aroused by a mere allusion to it by me, when he listened yesterday to its reading without any question. I do not know, sir, who is the author of that article; I know that it appeared, or purports to have appeared, in a paper that, as I understand, professes to be published in Georgetown, while it is actually published in the city of Washington, for the purpose of avoiding a law of Congress passed at the last session and to secure from the hands of the President the executive patronage; and I understand that it is a paper that is opposed to suffrage in this District. ow, is it probable that a paper laboring to defeat suffrage in this District would publish an article suggested by the enemies of that paper, or the friends of suffrage, for the purpose of producing injury? I referred to that article because it was before the Senate. I was about to say, in reference to the descend ants of those proud, haughty, dignified fami lies, that I can see no reason why one portion of them should not enjoy the right of suffrage as well as the others simply because they are not quite as fair as their ine re fortunate connections. One, and the chief objection made to this bill is that negroes are not sufficiently intelligent to exercise the right of suffrage. I have to say that they possess intelligence enough to distinguish between their friends and their enemies. They have intelligence enough to distinguish between the friends and enemies of the country. Does it take any more intelligence to know where to stand in the political controversies of the day than it did “to know where to stand, on which side, during the late convulsion in this country? Sir, the people of the U.S. are divided into 2 great political parties. Suppose the negroes should be invested with the right of suffrage and should attach themselves to the Democratic party. I presume the honorable Senator would not claim that their ignorance in that way would What article do you do the country any particular harm, Suppose they should attach themselves to the Republican or Union party, then their votes in my judgment would only strengthen the loyal and patriotic sentinent of the country. They would undoubtedly belong to one or the other of these parties. Sir, I remember that when it was proposed to emancipate the slaves it was said that such a policy would pour a flood tide of ignorance and barbarism upon the country that would cause its ruin. When it was proposed to give negroes the right to be witnesses in a court of justice a similar objection was made. Men trusted these negroes in the ordinary transactions of life; trusted their word; trusted them with the charge of their property and affairs; but when a negro crossed the threshold of a court of justice to tell there what he had seen and heard then it was assumed that he had no more capacity or integrity than a dog!. When it was proposed to make him a soldier this same outcry was made, and so step by step the prejudices against this class of F. people have broken down, and it is legitimate reasoning to conclude that if suffrage is extended to these negroes no more evil will follow from that than from the other acts by which they have been advanced and improved in this country. Let us try this experiment. I believe that it will be found advantageous to all concerned. To pretend to have a Government founded upon the consent of the governed, to pretend to have a Constitution that recognizes the inalienable right of man to life, liberty, and property, and then to deny to millions of citizens in this country any part of that consent, any power to protect their life, liberty, and property, is an inconsistency upon which a republican Government can hardly stand. et us, sir, extend to these people these rights which they claim and which I think they ought to possess, and vindicate, as I have no doubt we shall, that the surest and safest and best foundation for republican institutions is equal and exact justice to all men.