Mr. BLAINE. I cannot yield for any such purpose. Thercjs one other objection to the resolution as reported, and that is a point to which I wish to call the attention of the chair man of the committee reporting it Mr. STEVENS] and the Gentfrom hew ork [Mr. Coxxmno] who defended it. The proposed amendment reads: ProviilcrI, That whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any Stateon account of race or color, all persons of such race or color therein shall be excluded from the basis of representation. Now, I contend that ordinary fair play and certainly we can afford fair play where it does not cost anything calls for this, namely, that if we exclude them from the basis of representation they should be excluded from the basis of taxation. Ever since this Government was founded taxation and representation haveal ways gone hand in hand. If we shall exclude the principle in this amendment, we will be accused of a narrow, illiberal, meanspirited, and moneygrasping policy. More than that, we do not gain anything by it. What kind oftaxation is distributed according to representation? direct taxation. Now, we do not have any direct taxation. There has been but 20 millions of direct taxation levied for the last 50 years. That tax was levied in 1861, and was not collected, but distributed among the States and held in the Treasury dept as an offset to the war claims of the States. So that, as a matter of fact, we are putting an offensive discrimination in this proposition and gaining nothing by it except oh o uy. We are asked to put in something that will enable the southern States to say, ” ou gouged us out of our fair protection in the basis of taxation when you had the power, and on gouged us so meanl in spirit that you gained nothing by it you ves. I maintain that we should follow the precedent of former years and if we exclude any portion of the population from representation, we should aripussu exclude them from taxation. That is fair play, and fair play is a jewel the world over. Let me say in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, that in oppositionto the suffrage basis isnot ound e on the fact that Maine would lose by it. No statistics that have yet been presented show any loss to Maine; and on several theories of calculation we should ain one member. My opposition, therefore, is not grounded on local self ishness, but upon the belief that the principle is a dau erous one, that it is an abandonment of one of the oldest and safest landmarks of the constitution, and that it is a most perilous leap in the dark. It introduces a new principle in our Government, whose evil tendency and results no man can measure today.