Mr. SUMNER. Mr. President, I have already voted against the proposition to strike the word “male” out of the bill, and I shall now vote against the pending proposition to fix an educational test. In each case I am governed by the same consideration. In voting against striking the word “male.” out of the bill, I did not intend to express any opinion on the question which has at last found its way into the Senate Chamber, whether women shall be invested with the elective franchise. That question I leave untouched, contenting myself with saying, that it is obviously the great question of the future, which will be easily, settled, whenever, the women in any considerable proportion insist that it shall be settled. Aid' so in voting against an educational test I do not mean to say that under certain circumstances such test may not be proper. But I am against it on the present occasion. The bill under consideration is the enfranchisement of the colored race in the DistCol. It completes Emancipation by Enfranchisement. It entitles all to vote without distinction of color. The courts, and the rail cars of the District, even the galleries of Congress, have been opened to colored persons. It only remains that the ballot box be opened to them. such is my sense not only of the importance but of the necessity of this measure; so essential does it appear to me for the establishment of peace, security, and rec onciliation, that I am unwilling that it shall be clogged, burdened, or embarrassed by anything else. I wish to vote on this measure alone. Therefore, whatever may be the merits of other questions, I shall have no difficulty in putting them aside until this is settled. The bill for Impartial Suffrage in the DistCol concerns directly some 20,000 colored persons, whom it will lift to the adamantine platform of Equal Rights. If it were regarded simply in its bearings on the District it would be difficult to exaggerate its value; but when it is regarded as an example to the whole country under the sanction of Congress, its value is infinite. It is in the fatter character that it becomes a pillar of fire to illumine the footsteps of millions. What we do here will be done in the disorganized States. Therefore we must be careful that what we do here is If best for the disorganized States. the question could be confined in its influence to the District, I should have little objection to an educational test. I should be glad to witness the experiment and be governed by the result. But i. question cannot be limited to the District. Practically it takes the whole country into its sphere. We must, therefore, act for the whole country. This is the exigency of the present moment. Now, to my mind nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity of the suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized States. It will not be enough if you give it to those who read and write; you will not in this way ac the voting force which you need there for the protection of Unionists, whether white or i. You will not secure the new allies which are essential to the national cause. As you once needed the muskets of the colored persons, so now you need their votes; and you must act now with little reference to theory. You are bound by the necessity of the case. Therefore. when I am asked to open the suffrage to women, or when I am asked to establish an educational standard, I cannot on the present bill simply because the controlling necessity under which we act will not allow it. By a singular Providence we are now constrained to this measure of Enfranchisement for the sake of peace, security, and reconciliation, so that loyal persons, white or black, may be protected and that the Republic may live. Here in the DistCol we begin the real work of reconstruction by which the Union will be consolidated forever.