Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the arguments made by the honorable gentlemen upon the other side; and out of 5 or 6 to whom I have attentively listened, only one has treated the minority on this side of the House with common courtesy or common respect. I am sorry that a grave and important question like this cannot be discussed by the representatives of the people of this country without indulging in vile vituperation of those who happen to disagree with the majority. Sir, I honor the distinguish? Gentfrom Massachusetts [Mr. BAXKS] or the manner in whichhe has always treated us on this side, and for the ability with which he has discussed the questions which have come before this House for consideration. Sir, I think it is belittling the character of this House for a gentleman of such high standing and of so much intellect as the honorable Gentfrom the Lancaster district of pennsylvania [Mr. STEVENS] to commence his argument by charging us here with being nothing but “catamountsfI such a method of treating these {great questions will not settle the present did cuties of the country, nor heal the bleedingwoundn of the Republic. such acourse of proceeding will not bring back our country to the enjoyment of the blessings of civil liberty and those great principles of constitutional freedom for which our revolutionary fathers fought. Sir, I had hoped that after the investigation we have had upon the different subjects which have agitated this Congress, the time had come when gentlemen upon both sides of the House would turn their hearts from bloody strife to a contemplation of the blessings of peace and union in this land. I do not mean, sir, as is now proposed by the measure under consideration, to have peace by disunion, but I mean to have peace by restoring and referring to the instrumentalities by which the Constitution and the Union were 1st established by our fathers; and I believe, if these instrumentalities, which were founded in.a spirit of compromise, charity, friendship, love, and affection, were employed in this House, the bonds which have been torn asunder by 4 years of bloody war will be again cemented together. I believe while I am here sustainin the opposition to this JtResolution, I am ortified by one who holds the reins of power in the Presidential chair, a patriot an statesman, a man whose whole ambition is to have back again that glorious Union, and the old flag with every star there emblazoned upon it the emblem ofvictory and of the unity of a lthe States, whether North or South. He wants all the States, as hereto fore, to be represented in reference to the legislation of the country. While the proposition which has been produced here is not so rabid as some of the propositions agreed to be submitted by this committee, yet I say that it is fraught with great danger and evil to the country, and the elementar foundations upon which the liberties of this Union have rested for 75 years are about to be thrown down and trampled in the dust; and that glorious flag which was car ried in triumph during the last war is about to be trampled under foot, and the time has arrived when AndrewJohnson and the Democratic party have determined to put that flag upon their shoulders and to lant it upon the dome of the State capitol of SCarolina, and to have it waving there as it is over the dome of the Capitol of the U.S., Representing a union of love and equal representation. Now, sir, I have examined these propositions with some minuteness, and I have come to the conclusion different to what some others have come, that the 1st section of this proramme of disunion is the most dangerous to iberty. It saps the foundation of the Government; it destroys the elementary principles of the States; it consolidates everything into one imperial despotism; it annihilates all the rights which lie at the foundation of the Union of the States, and which have characterized this Government and made it prosperous and great during the long period of its existence. This section of the jtResolution is no more nor less than an attempt to embody in the constitution of the U.S. that outrageous and miserable civil rights bill which passed both Houses of Congress and was vetoed by the POTUS upon the ground that it was a direct attempt to consolidate the power of the States and to take away from them the elementary principles which lie at their foundation. It is only an attempt toingrait upon the Constitution of U.S. one of the most dangerous, most wicked, most intolerant, and most odious propositions ever introduced into this House or attempted to beingrafted upon the fundamental law of the Federal Union. It provides that no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,rights we have an, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. What are privileges and immunities? Why, sir, all the der the laws of the country are embraced under the definition of privileges and immunities. The right to vote is a privilege. The right to marry is a privilege. The right to contract is a privilege. The right to be a juror is a privilege. The right to be a judge or POTUS is a privilege. I hold if that ever becomes a part of the fundamental law of the land it will prevent any State from refusing to allowan ting to anybody embraced under this term of privileges and immunities. If a negro is refused the right to be a uror, that Will take away from imhis privileges and immunities as a citizen of the U.S., and the Federal Government will step in and interfere, and the result will be a contest between the powers of the Federal Government and the powers of the States. It will resultin a revolution worse than that through which we have just passed. It will rock the earth like the throes of an earth quake until its tragedy will summon the inhabitants of the world to witness its dreadful shock. I believe it will be, if that contest comes between Federal and State powers, a time when nature will bleed with agony in every part. That, sir, will be an introduction to the time when despotism an tyranny will march forth undisturbed and unbroken, in silence and in darkness, in this land which was once the land of freedom, where the sound of freedom once awakened the souls of the sons and daughters of America, when from the mountain tops to the shore of the ocean they drank in the love of liberty. I assert that the 2nd section of this proposed amendment is unaralleled in ferocity. t sa 5 the foundation of the rights of the States, by tning away the representation to which they would be entitled under the present Constitution. When the Gentfrom Ohio BINGHAM] brought forward a proposition PrIorm. the ComReconstruction to amend the Constitution of the U.S., interferin with the elementary principles of taxation and representation, the principles for which our fathers fought when they rebelled against the tyranny of Kin George and the English parliament who undertook to tax the people of the" colonies without representation, the proposition was defeated in this House upon the ground that it would destroy a fundamental principle, that there should be taxation only according to representation. Ihis, sir, is precisely such a proposition as that. It declares that if the southern people refuse to allow the negroes to vote, then all that portion of the male colored population of 21 years of age and upward shall be excluded in the basis of representation shall not be counted in ascertaining how many Representatives the States are entitled to. The honorable Gentfrom Pennsylvania [his Srsvsxs has the frankness to state to the House what the object and purpose of the 2nd clause are. e “ says: The effect of this provision will be either to compel the States to grunt universal suffrageor so to shear them of their power as to keep them forever in a hopelessminority in the national Government, both legislative and executive." Yes, gentlemen, it is but the negro again appearing in the background. The only object of the constitutional amendment is to drive the people of the South, ay, and even the people I the North, wherever there is muc lo a negro population, to allow that population not qualified but universal suffrage, without regard to intellience or character, to allow them to come to the ballot box and cast their votes equally with the white men. Vhy do you not meet this question boldly and openly? Why do you undertake to de ceive the people by offering to them an amendment which you say is based upon a principle of justice, that only the voting population shall be represented, when you admitbypour leader in this House, the honorable gentleman [Ma Q Srsvmvs] who introduced into the committee this whole scheme of disunion and despotism, that the object of this amendment is to force the southern States to grant to the negro unre stricted suffrage? Sir, I want it distinctly understood that the American people believe that this Government was made for white men and white women. They do not believe, nor can you make them believe the edict of God Almighty is stamped against it that there is a social equality between the black race and the white. I have no fault to find with the colored race. I have not the slightest antipathy to them. I wish them well, and ifI were in a State where they exist in large numbers I would vote to give them every right enjoyed by the white people exceptthe right of a negro man to marry a white woman and the right to vote. But, sir, this proposition goes further than an that has ever been attempted to be carrie into effeet. Why, sir, even in RhdIsland today there is a property qualification in regard to the white man s voting as well as the negro and yet Representatives of the eastern, middle, western, and some of the border States come here and attempt in this indirect way to inflict upon the people of the South negro suffrage. God deliver this people from such a wicked, odious, estilent despotism! God save the people of the South from the degradation by which they would be obliged to go to the polls and vote side byside with the negrol