Mr. J. L. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, before the vote is taken on the proposition now before the Honse, I desire to state the reasons that will influence mo in my action. Although the bill only goes to the extent of granting 51o right of the elective franchise to the people of color in the DistCol, in its o cctitis of interest to the whole people of my State, and, in the principle which it involves, of importance to the whole countr. While I den the right or the power of on gress to legis to on this subject, where that legislation is to affectthe qualification of elect ors of an of the States, I at the same time concede the power to pass laws for the good awarnment of this District; and hence, on is or any kindred subject, by the 8th section of the 1st article of the constitution of the U.S., power is given to Congress " To c xcrcise exclusive jurisdiction in allcaseswhat soever over such district (not exceeding ten milcs square)as may, hccssion of particular States and the acceptance o Congress, becomethe seat of the Government of the U.S. ” and the Legislature of Maryland, by the 2nd section of the act of December 19, 1701, declared and enacted That all that part of the territory called Columbia shall be, and the same is hereby. acknowledged to be forever codedand relin uished to the Congress and Government of the U.S. in full and absolute right and oxclusivo iurisdiction. As wcll of soil as of persons residing or to reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the 8th section of the 1st article of the constitution.” It is needless, therefore, for anyone, from the opinions I entertain, to deny the power that Congress possesses to pass this law. But, sir, I am here to deny either the expe diency, the wisdom, or the necessity of legislating on this subject at this time, or in relation to this or any other district or territory subject to or under the jurisdiction or control of the Government., Said Henry Clay in the Senate, in 1850, in addressing that body, on the bill to abolish the slave trade in the DistCol: "I have always held that under the lunriinge of the constitution, being an investmentin Congressof exclusive legislation over this District in all cases whatever, there existed full and complete power overth is whole subject. Butin reference to the abolition of slavery in the District, I have maintained. what I now continue to maintain. that while the institution reinains in Maryland now or while it existedin Maryland or Virginia before the retroccssion, it would be a irroas violation of good faith to exercisethispower, though it is fully and completelycovered by the languageof the constitution.”, Since that speech was made, slavery has not only been abolished by set of Congress in this District, but by the natural results of this great rebellion, an the adoption of the constitutional amendment, throughout the len and breadth of this land. I thank God to ay that such has been the result, and that from the Atlantic to the Pacific no slave treads the soil of our free country and yet, while rejoice at this, I cannot but believe that the eEorts now put forth by some in this House to force negro political equality in this District is not only, in the language of Henry Clay, ” a gross violation of good faith” toward the people of this District and of the State of Maryland, but is the beginningI of similar efforts to force the States of this uion to adopt negro political equality, without due consideration of all the important bearings of the subIject. had thought, sir, and so had the Uiiion people of my State, that with the total abolition of slavery all further legislation on that subject would cease, and that at least some respite would be given them to make good the losses of the war and to repair its devastation, before it was again placed in the political arena, to disturb, to agitate, and to diVide. We thought, with the majority here, that slaverywas an evil, nay, that it was a curse and a blight; and, although there were many among us who professed to believe in its “divinity, ” we made u our minds to rid the State of its presence and we did do it. We did it at a time and in a manner that, however little credit she may receive for it here, will reflect imperishable honor on her citizens when the acts of this war shall be written by the future impartial historian. Her motive was pure, patriotic: her action selfsacrificing and noble. She did it because it was right, and because she had resolved to tear up by the roots the cursed tree that had produced so much of misery and of woe. It was done in the midst of this great conflict, freely and voluntarily, not by force of Federal bayoncts, but by force of public opinion and intense love of country. This waroffering of the loyalists of Maryland cannot be properly estimated at this time, nor by vou of the North and West. You knew nothing of the effects of slavery on the minds of its victims, nor its influence over the political action of men, except from what you had heard and read from others. You were not born where the “institution” had an existence, and you cannot, therefore, properly estimate the degrading effect on the slave, and the tenacity and love with which 1,000s clung to it because of love of gain, and because they had grown up under it. But we who were born and reared in a slave State, and who received the curses and ana themas of rebel slave owners because we favored and succeeded in emancipating the negro, knowsomething of this “ old sin” of slavery, and are entitled to some consideration for what we have suffered, and some regard for what we have voluntarily and willingly aided in forever abolishing. Sir, the people of my State, at least that portion of them whom I have the honor to represent, and who have always been true to the Government, and who, in the darkest hours of rebellion, lifted up theiiheartsin earnest prayer to God in behalf of our country, and sent their sons to the battlefield to maintain and uphold the Union, are opposed to this measure. They see in it, as I do, the 1st effort to confer political (privileges on a class who, although emancipate from slavery, are not at this time competent, by reason of their ignorance, nor quali ed, by reason of their former status, to exercise the high and exalted privileges of an elector. It is an attempt to legislate the black man on the same political level with the whitean attempt which even if it succeeded would only show the disparity between the 2 races, and in the end redound to the permanent injury of the black. It is an attempt to grant universal suffrage and the right to hold office to the negro, not only here but everywhere, and thereby produce as a natural result that “ irrepressible conflict” which none butbad men would profit by, and which all good men must delore. I do not mean y what I have said that all black men are ignorant and uneducated or incapable of exercising the right of suffrage. What I mean to say is that as a class the are today not only ignorant, uneducated, and unfit to exercise. this richt, but they are not its safe de ositaries. I ine w many of this class whom would be willing to trust today to exercise this right, but the difficulty in making a law to favor them would be in opening wide a door to admit others whom I could not trust, and whom Lam satisfied are incapable of comprehending the new relationsthey would sustain. However much gentlemen may be disposed to sneer at the opinions of some, that this is a Government of the white man, I appeal to the history of my country to sustain me in the assertion that it was founded by the white race, has grown to power and greatness by and through them, and i republican Government is to live on this continent, it can only live by and through the support and efforts oft ie white man. I do not desire to intimate that this is a Government exclusively for the whites, nor that it is a Government where the black man is to be ostracized political on account of his color. I recognize the factt at all men are today free and equal; that they are entitled to eertain inalienable rights; that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that it is the cut end of Government to secure these rights, and that the negro, freed and emancipated, is entitled to the same protection, in these respects, that I, as a white man“, am entitled to receive. Sir, the right of suffrage is a precious right, to be exercised by all who are capable, qualified, and loyal to the Government, and to be extended to none who are incapable by reason of nonage, want of mind, or disloyalty. The right to vote is not a naturalborn right, but a gift or franchise conferred by the sovereign power on such of its citizens as are capable of exercising it. Until it is once given the denial of it is no refusal of the right. When you have once received it, then, and not till then, does it become a right, and the withholding or withdrawal of it, except for good cause, is subversive of one of the undamental principles of republican government. The sovereign power grants the right when it thinks it wouldnbe ben eficial to the State; it withholds it or takes it away when it thinks it would be detrimental or destructive to the State. The citizen receives it to be used in the mode preacribed by law until by some not of his own he forfeits it. Hence idiots, lunatics men convicted of crime, aliens, and in some States rebels, are notal lowed to vote; and various conditions and qualifications are added to show that it is a power not to be given to every citizen. Mr. Madison, who has been noted quite frequently during the debates out is bill, thus speaks in relation to suffrage: “The right of suffrage is a fundamental article in republican constitution s. the regulation of it is at. the sametime atask of peculiar delicacy. Allow the right exclusively to property and the rights of personsmaybe oppressed. The cudiil policy alone sufficiently proves it. Extend it equally to all, and the rights o property or the claimsof justice may be overruled by a maJority without property or interested in measuresof imnsticc. Of this abundant proofis afforded by other popular Governments: and it is not withoiit c xamplesin our own. particularly in the laws impairing the obligation of contracts.” Madmm Papers, vol. 5. p. 580. John Adams, the 2nd POTUS, and one of the fathers of the repu"blic, uses this language: Society can be governed only by general rules. Governmentcannot accommodate ltselfto everypar ticul arease as it happens. nor to the circumstancesof particular personsa t must establish general oom prehensive regulations for cases and persons. The only questionis which generalrule will accommodate mostcasesand mostpersons. "De icnd upon it, sir. it is dangerous to open so frui fu a source of controversy and altereation as wou d be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters. here Will beno end of it. New claims will arise; women Will demand a vote; lads from 12 to 21 w1ll think their rights not enough attended to: and every man who has nota fart hing will demand an casual voice with any other in all actsof State. It ten to confoundand destroy all(istinctions and prostrate all ranks to one common level.”Work: qfJalm Adana, vol. 9, p. am. I have said that it would be unwise, inexpe dientz and unnecessary to confer the right at this time on the people of color. It is unwise, because On are about to clothe men with the power of the ballot over 1/2 of whom have cen slaves all their lives, and who do not yet fully apprehend the citizenship conferred upon them. 1; is unwise, because it is universal, and yen have no data from which you can form any estimate of the effect it will have over the minds and actions of the uneducated and ig norant contraband, who, although familiarly known as “intelligentflis not of that kind desirable in ruling over the destinies of the ca ital of the nation. It is unwise, because it is an exrimeut, an introduction of a new ele ment in the political management of our nffairs, which promises to work well, but which might, and I ear will, turn out badly. It is unnecessary and inex edient, because a vast majority of the voters of the city of Washington and Georgetown have indicated their reference that the franchise should remain as it is. As property holders and tax ayers their voice should have some influence. f you at the right, it not only goes to the extent of a 0wing all the negroes now in the District to vote, butas many 1,000s more as would flock from all portions of Virginia and Maryland “to see how voting feels, ” and “to try on” polities for a ehan e. Some would doubtless offer themselves or office; and is it any wonder that the people of Washin on should be opposed to such a measure? s it reasonable to suppose that the tax ayers consider it safer to trust the enacting of air ordinances to a people hith erto oppressed and enslaved for centuries than to their own citizens? Have they discovered that 2 years of freedom has made the black man as competent to govern as themselves? Since when has the necessity arisen to require a new class of voters to do that today what from the time the right to regulate their muni cipal affairs was intrusted to them has been in the hands of those who at present exercise it? Have the white people of the District abused their trust? Havet ey shown themselves in competent to vote, that you want to make another and a later class to outvote and to govern them? Wool it not be better toallow no one to vote in the District than to resort to such a punishment? Since when has it occurred to this House that universal suffrage should be granted in this District? By reference to the proceedings of this House in the 1st session of the 38th Congress, it will be seen that it was supposed at that time that the white man was good enough to manage the affairs of this city, and that the colored man was not compe tent, or at least was not thought entitled, to vote, as both the Senate and the House refused it. (McPhersons History of the Rebellion, page 241.) Mr. Speaker, I am not here as the special advocate of the DistCol. from what has been said on this floor, one would suppose thatthiseity was the heaven of traitors. For such of her citizens as are or have been traitors I have as little respect and regard for as any gentleman in this House. I take it. that no man who left this District or his State to engage in armed rebellion against his country has any light to make laws for me unless that right be restored to him by the power a inst which he rebelled. But, sir, there are non-men in this District, I am proud to say, as true and devoted in their love of country as can be found anywhere. For such I have a fellowfeefing. They, like myself, have been born and raised in the South, and are opposed to these measures because the are satisfied it will do no good, and is ealeu ated to do much mischief. The passage of this bill would be most unjust to the people of my State. I did not suppose that may and would be consulted asto the passage of this law; but suredy if devoted love to this Union and the efforts. but forth by my native State in the cause of human freedom do serve anything, some consideration should at least be shown us before so important a step is irrevoeably taken. Maryland gave over 40,000 of her gallant sonsto aid you in crashing out this rebellion. Shoulder to shoulder they marched alongside of Massachusetts and Ohio, and left their blood and their bones on every battlefield to attest their devotion. Her treasure was poured out as freely as waterin aid of the finances of the Government, while her citizens, individually, contributed. largely of their substance to feed and nourish the hungry 1866. 26; and fatigued of our brave boys as they marched through our State to and from the Potomac and the Peninsula. They have the same love for the Union now that they had then, and they never will consent to part With it. The political [iower of the State is today in the hands of loyal men, and it will remain there unless in judicious and unwise measures like this divide us. The great body of the Union element of the State has already spoken out against these measures. Every State and county Union convention that has met since it was agitated has pronounced against it, and the only hope that the rebels of Iaryland have got for the future is to attempt to divide us from the great republican party of the country. We love that party because it has been true to the Union and opposed to human slavery; we love it because it clped to save our State, and because it did not believe “ the war to be a failure, ” nor become disheartened attemporary disaster or defeat. On last Wednesda the Union Governor of Maryland delivered is annual message. He is a man than whom no one more true to his country nor more devoted to the colored race ever lived. Hear what he speaks as the sentiment of the State: "The distinctive characteristics and admitted on tagonism of the 2 races cannot be lost sight of in the settlement of these grave issues. In discussing the claim of universal negro suffrage. We must understand. in the very outset. the effect of the measurein iItts full bearingupon the southernand border States matters not. in someof the States, whether the negro is investedWith the right to vote or not. The exorcise of suffrage causes no disturbance of existing relations. If wo admit his right to vote. we cannot justly exclude hiiu from our representative Halls. from the government of our States and cities and every other privilege known to our laws. The right to vote assumes the exercise of the power thus conferred for the exclusive benefit of his own race. The effect, then, of universal negro suffrage is the Virtual transitr of southern States and southern territory and it may be someof the border States. to the ultimato possession and control of the negro; it is the gubstitution of the African for the AngloSaxon race in“a large section of our national domain. Wit 1 the southern and middle States. Perhaps our own grv. ethsit ismispsouret. of negro suffrage is a so cut of the Massachusetts. with her nine or 10,000 negroes. in an aggregate population of 1. 201.000 souls: Maine. with ier in an aggregate of more than 600,000 Vermont, 700in on aggregate of more than MLOUO; NewHampshire, 500in an aggregate of more than 500.000 and other free States standing in the numerical relation. would hardly. cploaiinmt. Teovaepnpwroitahchouthrisowisnsu State. The colmoymaol nmsetannd of the South. admitted to be ever so limited in iiumber. stand in no relation which wou1d 3ustify even if the power enisted under the constitution, the forcible surrender of their country into the hands of the African race.”, The Lieutenant Governor, an original “uncompensated” emancipationist, and aman who, years ago, was persecuted because he entertained abolition sentiments, thus addresses the Senate of Maryland: “As citizens of this old State of Mn. land we have much tofeel proud of. much tothank (10dfor. Upon the very border. with hostile armies surging back and fort over our sail year after year. connectedby blood and social ti esnot those who lilted the iiiine f rveroblealtheo;n, our faith and loyalty have continued In and if, during a short reign of terror, the polar star of duty seemed to be bid on from view. it was butthe drifting of a cloud over its fair surface. leaving its radiance purer and elearerfor the momentary obscuratiop. he State claims at this hour or Will commandin the annals of the future. a prouder record. Not content to yield 11 her sonsa sacrifice upon the altar of the country, s o took in advance a step toward the extinction of that fatal causeof contention which culminated in the recent conflict of arms. The 1st note of freedom wont forth fromthese Halls. proclaiming that within the limM of this old Commonwealth, at least. human bondageshould no longer ciiist. Since then other States have wheeled intoline. until it has becomemorally cortpiathat, if in after Your! rebellion should ever run lift its hideous front upon American soil. it will nd no ral lying center upon the question of slavery. With the extinctionof this great evil and the brilliant vista of prosperity which that notopen beforeus are presented unfulfilled dutiesand o ligations to the emancipation hedwepedoaprelenwoitt, hoiyneorluorobk. olrfdweerws. owuhldic;h twheecparonmnoptt. consideration of which is damn mole of humanity. advancin ciyilisation and an enlightened public opinion. allude not hereto the question of suffrage. owever correct the ofirmstrvo theory it is evident that the time for legislation upon this subJeethas not arrived in this country yet, and certainly not in this State. The problem months left to work out its own solution. But indo am offliis are obligations to the colored goo lo0 acquit whichwc must ourselves at once, on whch are the [Odell sequencesof emancipation.” by ovary prin Sir, what are the evils we apprehend from the passage of this bill? They are simply the natural results that flow from a new condition of things inaugurated here, and thatwill inevitably have its effect on the colored people of my State. So soon as emancipation was enacted here, 1,000s of. slaves left the State and came into the District how many 1,000 I do not know. Whydidtheycome here? To getfree; forno other reason and mark me well, the same thing will follow the passage of this law. The poor fel lows have heard so much talk about voting, that so soon as they hear they can vote in the district we will find them coming by the thousand and what advantage will it be to them? Simply nothing but to vote and how in myown State? Yonwi lfind that thesharp, desi ning, ambitious negro, and there are a few 815], Will improve their opportunities bytelling them that the white men of Maryland are cheating them of their rights, and incite them to discontent, the result o which will be a bitterness of feeling, and in the end a struggle to obtain the right to vote. Suppose the right is given them, what then? Is there any danger; are they not all loyal; will they not all vote on the side of the Union I Mr. Speaker, I doubt it. I know many loyal negroes, and some who are not loyal. But the negroes as a general thing are the most quiet, nssive, lamblike beings on earth. They wil1 never forget a friend; seldom over their old masters. Although they are free, many of them will not leave their old homes. Those who have, find homes elsewhere, on the large farms or in the city, and work for wages as laborers. They, in time, will become as much attached to their new employer as they were to him who formerly owned them. All that is required is to treat them kindly, and I venture the assertion there may be exceptionable cases here and there, but as a general thing the former master or the new employer will, 9 cases out of ten, exert more influence in obtaining their vote than all other influences combined. The effect of this will be to give the rebels more influence than they now possess. Suppose I am wrong in this, and that party will control them, but that they will vote as a class and a race, just as we do. What will be the effect, then? According to the census of 1860, the aggregate white male poulation of the State was 256,859; free colored male, 89,746; slave male (free) 44, 313; making free colored 84,059 to 256,859 free white. You will find that the colored populntion is so unevenly and unequally distribute that in the city of Baltimore, With a white male population of 88,000, there were but 10,000 free male colored, while in Anne Aruudel, with a male white population of 6,258, there were free male colored 6, 238. The effect of this onequaldistribution will be that in some parts of the State the free colored voters will not only possess the balance of power, but will be powerful enough to outvoto the whites alto ether. The moment this takes place, I fear the negro will be the loser in the conflict for the mastery. Observe the relative numbers of the 2 classes as exhibited in the following table: Hale. white. Free male, colored. 2 044. Talbot county. 066. 302 Compare, sir, these statistics With the average white males and colored males in other States, and you will find why gentlemen from the North and West are not in uenced by the same motives and causes that influence me, and why I can disagree with them and not be classed with the enemies of the negro. In Maine the population is dividedthus: male, white, 316, 630; Eree rnale, colored, 659, distributed among 16 counties; and the highest number of male colored in any county is 212; and in this county (Cumberland) there are 86, 960 male whites. NewHampshire has a white male population of 159, 563. Shehas a free male colored population. of 253, divided up into ten counties; and the greatest number in an one county is 67. 1 That county (Merrimack) has 20, 306 white may es. Vermont has 158, 415 white males, and 371 free male colored. The greatest number of male colored in anyone county is 78, and that county (Rutland) has 18, 267 male whites. RhdIsland has 82, 302 white males, and 1, 881 free male colored, distributed among 5 counties; and the highest number of male colored in anyone county is in Providence, which has 898 to 51,000 male whites. Massachusetts has 502, 214 white males and 4, 469 free male colored, distributed among 14 counties; and the highest number of blacks in anyone county is in Suffolk, where the proportion is 91,055 white males to 1, 089 free colored males. NewYork has 1, 910, 354 male whites to 23,178 male colored Pennsylvania, 1,427,945 male whitesto 26, 313 male colored; Ohio, 1, 171, 720 male whites to 18, 442 male colored; and so you may continue throughout the whole catalogue, on you will find the same disproportion in favor of the whites in the North an West. But, sir, it is useless for me to say further on this subject. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I do not desire my action on this bill, or the votes I shall give on those of similar importance, to be miscon strued, either by this House or the conntr. Some may suppose that because I am notin g vor of negro suffrage, I am an enemy to the negro. Sir, I am not his enemy, but his friend, and shall continue to be his friend so long as he continues to meritmy friendship. Ienlisted in the cause of emancipation in my State at a time when, to be an emancipationist, was to be hated and despised by many of my best and warmest friends. I have stood true and steadfast with these parties, and intend to remain with them so long as they represent the true Union sentiment of my State. I shall vote for no measure or connect myselfwith any party that would either deprive the black man of what he already has or that would oppose the cor! ferrin upon him all the rights necessary and essential in securing to him life, liberty, the rsuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the fruits of his own labor. I am neither disposed to “take a step backward” nor to pull down what for 4 years I have been aiding, in my humble way, to build up. i. The negro is free. I will do all in my power to make his freedom a blessing to him and to us. As a free man, he is entitled to acquire and dispose of real and other property. to labor and receive the avails and proceeds of his labor, to have his life, liberty, and person protected by the same laws that protect me. I am in favor of the passage and enforcement of such laws as will carry out those obiccls. I will o further, and say that as he shall have the right to contract, so shall he not only have the right to enforce his contract, but to that end shall be received as a witness in a court of justice on the same terms, and subject to the same laws as are binding on us. It would be an outra e, a shame on the American people of today, i, after they had freed these poor unfortunate beings, and had placed them among those who have offered their freedom where they are compelled to work out their own redemption, and to earn their own livelihood, we were to refuse to throw around them such legal guards as will provo their only protection and secure to them the enforcement of the ir rights. I will go even further than this, and will vote “for all measures to elevate their condition, and to educate them separate and apart from the whites, so that they may not only properly apreciate the freedom theynow have, but become Etted to exercise the higher duties of freenien whenever the dominant race see proper to confer such privileges upon them lierenlter. In all this I conceive I act the part of the philanthropist, and no less the friend of in own than of o black race. In refusing at this time to give him the right to vote, I consider that I act none the less as his friend. I have no hatred, no prejudice to the negro. I am williu to confer upon him everything necessary and essen tial to his wellbeing and his future happiness and usefulness, but whenit comes to lacing him upon the same social and political evel as my own race, I must refuse to do it, because in doing iIt would be doing an injury to both races that the future at least will develop. If I believed that the matter of suffrage was the only mode to hcl the negro in his elevation, and the only so. cguard to his protection, or guarantee to his rights, I would be willingto give it to him now, subject to proor qualifications and restrictions. But I am honest in my conviction that, uneducated and ignorant as he is, a slave from his birth, and so ject to the will and caprice of his master, with none of the exalted ideas of what that privilege means, and with but a faint conception of the true position he now occupies, the negro is not the proe subject to have conferred upon him this right. I believe if it is given to him, that in localities where his is the majority vote, parties will s ring up, each one bidding higher tban the other orhis ballot, and that intend the negro voting element will be controlled by a few evil and Wicked politicians, and as something to be bought and sold as freely as an article of merchandise. I am satisfied of another fact from my experience of the southern negro, that if they are ever allowed to vote the s rewd politician of the South, who has been formerly his master will exert more influence over his vote than all the exhortations from Beecher or Cheever. It is a notorious fact that the southern planter maintained his political influence overt e poor white man of the South, because the poor white man was dependent on him for his living and support and you will find when it is too late, that the southern planter will maintain the some political influence over the our, uneducated, ignorant, and dependent African, even to a greater extent than he formerly exercised over what used to be called the “ poor white trash.” Mr. Speaker, let us not, because we have the majority here today, pass upon measures, which, if we were evenly divided, we would hesitate to pass. Let us not, because we are called radicals, strike at the roots of society, and of the great social and political systems that have existed for over a century, and attemptto do ina da withoutany preparation, what to do well and so ely will require years of patience on the part of the freedmen, and earnest, honest, exertions to elevate, improve, and educateon our part. Let us look at this question as statesmen, not as partisans. Let us not suppose that the parties of today will have a perpetual existence, and that because the negro, freed and emancipated by us, would naturally vote on the side of his deliverer today, that it is any guarantee, when new parties are formed and a competition arises, that the whole or the major art of his vote will be cast on the right side. Vhite men and black men are liable to the same infirmitics. Let as rather, sir, rejoice at what has been already done for him, and be content to watch his future. Let us help to elevate and improve him, not only in education, but in morals. Let us see to it that he is not only protected in all his rights of person and of property, but let us insist that the amplest guarantees shall be ven. Let us wait until the great problem the A rican is now working out has been finished, and we find that he thoroughly comprehends and will not abuse what he has got, before we attempt to confer other privileges, which, when once granted, can never be taken from him. Sir, et it not be forgotten that “revolutions never go backward;” and if you ever confer this right, on the negro, and find it will not work well, that you have been too hasty, that on should have waited awhile longer, you will pd it is too late, and that once having possessed it, they will not part with it except with their lives.