Mr. COWAN. Mr. President, I do not know what I might say if this were really an intelligence qualification; but of the fact that the ability of a man merely to write his own name and read it is intelligence I am not in formed. One of my friends near me suggests that it is not even necessary that this writing which he is to read should be in the English language; it is not even necessary that it should be in any language other than that of the person who is supposed to be able to read. But, Mr. President, to be serious about this thing, what kind of a qualification is it for the exercise of the duties of an American citizen that he be able to read and write his own name? To write a man's name is simply a mechanical operation. It may be taught to anybody, even people of the most limited capacity, in 20 minutes; and to read it afterward certainly would not be very difficult. I have the high est respect for the sagacity, the intelligence, and the statesmanship of my honorable friendfrom Connecticut, [Mr. Dixox] but I really (why it is I am not prepared to say now) cannot see the force of this qualification which he proposes to attach to negro suffrage. I understand that in Massachusetts and, by the by, I may as well remark that Massachusetts is “ the hub of the universe, ” even so far as Maine is concerned, and that it is from Massachusetts that we are now to derive all our ideas, particularly upon the subject of Government and upon new reforms I understand that in Massachusetts a man is not only required to read, but he is required to read the Constitution of the U.S. Whether he is required to understand it or no, I am not prepared to say, I am not informed; but I suppose that even Massachusetts herself would not pretend that it was any kind of qualification for a man to read unless he understood, because that has been the difficulty in all ages from the earliest times. The thing was not only to read, but to understand. Now, if it be the case that in Massachusetts a man must read the Constitution and must understand it I mean not only understand the words in the Constitution but their significance in the connection in which they are found there then I agree that I will admit and I will go heart in hand for every man as a voter who can do that. The man who can read the Constitution of the U.S and who can understand it, understand its words, its meanings, its phrases, is qualified not only to be an American citizen but I should say he would be very well qualified for a seat upon this floor; because I think I have met Senators here who failed to recognize any difference between a bill of attainder and an attainder for treason. I think I have found here that Senators failed to recognize what was meant by an expostfacto law. I have seen here that Senators were defective in a great many respects so far as constitutional learning is concerned. But the idea of setting up this mere mechanical art of writing a man's name and being able to read it as a standard, to me is mockery. such an intelligence qualification as a general rule is a mockery. If you ask the radical side of this House today whether it is for want of intelligence that they complain of their opponents, they will tell you “No; those conservative fellows can read and write as well as anybody; some of them really are very learned men; some of them have grasped the whole range of the sciences; it is not because they cannot read and write; it is not because the avenues of knowledge are not open to them;” but what a party always complains of on the part of its opponents is that they are rascals; they intend to destroy the country, they intend to overturn its institutions, they intend to destroy liberty, and on the whole they are the very incarnation of concentrated diabolism It is not because people do not know that they are supposed to be incapable of performing their duties as American citizens I mean the mass of them it is because they are supposed to be perverse, they are supposed to be malignant, they are supposed to be so far impregnated with that general malice which makes them oppose that which is a good thing if it comes from their opponents, just as I was encountered the other day in starting a very good thing. It was opposed by a great many persons because it came from me. That illustrates exactly the position of the great parties of the country. “No good thing can come out of Nazareth” was the old cry. We have a man in my town who is particularly obnoxious to some people; and lo, do not take any newspapers; they do not read anything about politics; but on the morning of the election they come into town and inquire how he is going to vote, and they vote on the other side. You see how cheap that is, how easy it is, how much it saves,much of trouble and turmoil and difficulty and contention you get rid of by adopting some simple method of that kind when you come to deter mine whether you will support a particular project or not. There are other people that you know of perhaps, and I, too, who use the same economical method of preparing themselves for political duties, but in a different form, by taking for instance some exceedingly intelligent gentleman as my friendfrom Iowa; and coming into town in the morning and asking, “How is Mr. GRIMEs going to vote? Mr. GRIMEs is a sound man, I am going to vote just as he votes.” All these methods are resorted t;o but I believe that I have never yet encountered any difficulty upon the score of reading and writing, and particularly reading and writing a man's name, which, as it has been suggested, may be in a foreign language, may be in a language utterly unknown to anybody except the writer. If he chooses to say there is such a language as that in which he writes, how are you to determine it? I feel constrained to vote against the qualification proposed by the honorable Senfrom Connecticut. I do so moved by the considerations which I have stated. I do so more from a feeling of the utter insufficiency, the utter inadequacy of his qualification. if I had been consulted as to the proper safeguard to throw about this privilege which we are to grant to the cof citizens of this District, I would have desired another one, a very different one, and one for which I think there are more precedents even than for the one he has chosen to father and adopt; and that is that no person should be admitted to this privilege who had voluntarily given aid or encouagement to the recent rebellion. I think that would be proper, because I have learned whether from authentic sources or not I cannot say, not being sufficiently acquainted to deter mine that a great many colored people of this District really sympathized with the South in its late struggle for independence, and if they had any favors whatever to bestow would have given them in that direction, and that in many cases they really did. Whether they aided the discomfited confederate upon the same principle that they helped our prisoners and our unfortunate soldiers down South, I cannot say; but it is pretty clear that there are people of that class; and if the number is to be limited or qualified in any way I should think that much more proper than merely to set up this shadowy, unsubstantial, mechanical because it has but very little of intellect about it qualification of being able to read and write one's name. Therefore, Mr. president, with all deference to those who suppose they can fix some measure by which to gauge a man's patriotism, to gauge his virtue, to gauge his intelligence, f shall be obliged to vote against this proposition.