Mr. DARLING. Mr. Spweaker I do not intend to occupy the time of the House on the bill nowunder consideration with any extended remarks, but a few practical ideas have suggested themselves to my mind which I thought would embrace the very 1st opportunity to lay before them for their consideration. Washington, lying within the DistCol, is the capital of the nation; it is the fount ain of the nations law, as it is the property of the people of the U.S. The representatives of the people in Congress assembled are in some degree supposed to reflect the varied political sentiments of their various constituents, as this magnificent pile and the other public buildings mark the liberality and taste of the people. Now, sir, it is well known that the sentiments of the people of this country on the proposed question of colored suffrage are as varied as the s ades of the people themselves. I would ask what public necessity exists for the passage of this bill at this time? There are no benefits which the colored people of this District could attain by the exercise of the right of suffrage that Congress could not bestow. Our right and power to legislate for this District are unquestioned, and instead of wasting days and weeks over a question which is exciting bitter feeling among our own people, had we not better give our attention to matters of great national interest which so urgently demand speedy action on our part? Let us pass laws for the education of the people of this District, and fit them ultimately to receive the elective franchise; or, if anything is required to satisfy the intense desire manifested by some gentlemen of this House to bestow the franchise on those not now possessed of it, give it to every soldier who served in the Union Army and was honorably discharged, whether old or young, rich or poor, native or foreignborn, white or black and show to the world that the american people, recognizin the services and sufferings of p their brave defen ers, give them as a recognition the highest and best gift of American citizenship. If I know myself, Iknow that no unjust or unmanly prejut ice warps my judgment or controls my action on any matter of legislation af fecting the colored race on this continent. I believe in their equality of rights before the law with the dominant race. believein their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi ness and yet I believe that before we confer upon them the political right of suffrage, as contemplated by the bill now under consideration, we should seek to elevate their social condition, and lift them up from the depths of degradation and ignorance in which man of them are left by the receding waves of the sea of rebellion. There are many strong objections to conferring upon the colored men of this district the gift of ungualified suffrage without any qualification base on intelligence. The large preponderance which they possess numerically will inevitabl lead to mischievous results. Neither would I entirely disregard the views of the people of this District, many of whom I know to be sound, 10:11 Union men. I am proud of my State, proud of her record in the war. Look at the number of men she has put in the fieldnearly half a million. I am roud of my cit of NewYork, where I have resided nearly half century. Democratic in polities though she may be, yet she was not wanting in patriotism. She has done her full share, ray, more than any other community, perhaps, in supplying not only men but means. ook at the vast treasure which she oured into the lap of the national Treasury. endid the nation ever a peal to her for national aid, and she refused tedemand, and turned the nation away empt handed? Where would the country have foun the means to carry on that gi antic struggle but for the moneyed men of NewYork? Where would we have been had they not supplied the sinews of war? Yet she has steadi refused to grantnnqualified suffrage to the black race, although their number is so small that it could not possibly have affected any election in the remotest degree. I am proud of the State of NewYork, and the city of NewYork, for the toleration shown in all the essentials of liberty. NewYork does not deny to the colored man his civil rights. With a population strongly tinctured with prejudice against this long ppressed people, she permits them to share the privileges of her public vehicles, notwithstanding her sister Republican city of Philadelphininsists upon refusing that privilege to the colored man, although at ti red in the clean and simple garb of its founder, William Penn. Sir, whenever the question of negro suffrage has been submitted to the people of my State, I have voted always and steadilyfor that amendm ent, unqualifiedly and unhesitatingllyl and yet, under the existing circumstances which surround this question in this District, I am not in favor of giving the colored man here the right of suffrage without imposing an educational qualification. The property qualification I consider odious, and lsregar it entirely. Butl do not wish to see the Union party take any ate in this direction from which they may desire ereafter to recede. Let us 1st rather seek to enlighten this people, and educate them to know the value of the great gift of liberty which has been bestowed upon them; teac them to know that to labor is for their best interests; teach them to learn and lead Virtuous and industrious lives, in order to make themselves respected, and encourage them to act as becomes freemeu. Then they will vote intelligently, and not be subject to the control 1866.” t "279 I of designing men, who would seek to use them for the attainment of their own selfish ends. My honored and learned friendfrom I0wa, [Mr. Kassos] who addressed this House with so much force and eloquence on Monday, has, in my judgment, substantially covered the points in the case, and expressed what I believe to be the mature judment of the majority of this House. Yet It iink he was mistaken upon one point, in regard to the position the colored soldiers occupied in the closing scenes of the rebellion. I know him too we 1 to believe that he would do the colored soldiers any injustice, or refuse to accord to them their full share of honor nor do I believe that he intended to be so understood. If I mistake not, it was the colored troops who 1st entered, or at least entered simultaneously with the white troops, the city of Richmond after its evacuation edas they were by an honored son of NewYork. And, sir, let us go back 5 long, weary years of the war, when our heroic Army, passing. through this city, penetrated into the home of slavery. As they passed on over the country, back came a swellini7 tide of dusty, weary, worn pilgrims, wendin their way to the capital of the nation, the It ecca of their hopes, their ark of safety, their refuge and abidingplace, where no slavedrivers lash could longer print inlet ters of blood upon the quivering flesh of their unrcsisting victim the record of his aim bru tality and of slaverys infamy and when the glad shout rang out over the land that here the representatives of the people had given liberty to this downtrodden and longsuffering people, and declared that here no man should longer. hold in homage his fellowman then on they came from the country wide an far, pressing in and on, eager to seek a home where they could breathe freedoms inspiring air, until now in numbers great they affect. the State. Now, Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I desire to say that as no election will take place in this District until next June, there can be no reason for special haste in the passage of this bill, and that there is a proposition before this House, which seems to be received with very general favor, to create a commission for the government of this city; and in order to give an opportunity to mature a bill for that purpose and have it presented for the consideration of this House, I move the postponement of the pending bill until the 1st Tuesday in April next. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to my colleague, [Mr. HAM2.]