Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-05-26
NEGRO STFFRAGE.
In the Senate on Thursday last

| In the Senate on Thursday last
Mr.. MORRILL,, from the committee of conference an
the dsagreeihg votes OF the two Houses the erecon nj
Territorial government for Montana made a renort
which recommends that the Senate recede from t amend
ment striking out the words "eyery free white inbabi.
ant regard voters and inserting all citizens az tina
United States and those who have declared their ntan
tons To become SUCH" &c
Mr.. M said the effect of the amendment will be TO a
thorize the temporary organization of the of
Montana by that class OF who were authorized IN
organize the Territory OF Idaho
Mr. SUMNER asked what class of persons they were
Mr. MORRILL said they citizens OF the United
States aud such other white inhabitants as declared their
intention to become such. lie understood it to mean
white citizens The difference between the two Houses
was that the House allowed all free white males Of TWEEN
y-one years to vote aud the Senate mpy restricted il
to citizens OF the United Sttes In order TO secure the
passage of the bill tho committee of the Houses agree
to this proposition After the Territory is organized
the whole question of suffrage will with the Terrific
rial authorities.
Mr. SUMNER said the whcls question before the Sem
ate was whether should adhere TO that which IL right
consent to that which wrong He hoped the Senate
would adhere to it's original position.
Mr. MORRILL, explained that this was practical
question. When the Houses found themselves at
oggerhead and when it becomes necessary for one party
the other to yield the party invading should be the one
How else could legislation go on1 The bill it will stand
will invade no mans rights, white coored
Mr.. HARLAN would vote agaiusS the report Of tba
committee simply because be did believe there was
necessity for any Territorial government in that por
on of Idaho, as the population enough TO ente
them to it, He was willing that the bill should fail and
the subject go to the next session -
Mr. WADE said that while he held as settled principle
that the black man. In republican government like ours
had the same naenabe right to vote as white man he
considered the original Senate amendment the mere shadow
of shade and miserable abstraction. He could not be-
deluded Dy the mere shadow of things. There were no
negroes IN the Territory, and there were never likely
to be any Whenever the question should be raised To
affect any mans rights white colored he should stand
where he always had stood
Mr.. HALE differed from the Senator from Ohio and
quoted from the ordinance of 1857 organizing the North
western Territory to show that fathers had wise fore
sight In providing not only for the present but for the
future OF the Territories though these Territories
were mere wildernesses at that time.
Mr. HOWARD said the whole Northwest was slave
territory at the time of the passage of the ordinance of
l757 and there hundreds OF slaves there hed nv
French Canadians and others.
Mr. HALE replied that regards the condition of
the Territory twas wilderness Oregon in l5IS when
Territorial Government organized, was a wilderness
and sat here week after week coateDdng for what
Senators would call an abstraction The All
stracton was in holding out against the demand of
Southern Senators that the prohibition slavery should
not extend beyond the line of 80 deg 30 min We sat
until August and refused their demand and Senators
that time bad stood where he stood we should have
had no compromise in 1850 aud rebellion ia 1861 The
policy were establishing for the new TERRITORY
would be its policy for all ages to He did
whether this bill failed The only persons on whom
disaster would fall would be those who were
IN obtaining Offices under the recent Terrral orpsnI1a
ton OF Idaho They divided the Territory for oee once,
aud # we allow it, another disappointed will divide
again for the sake Of Offices In ing what he did
he did not to the he should take on
the bill before the Senate reference To free suffrage in
the District Of Columbia.
Mr. MORRILL, reiterated that this bill would not DIS
franchise any account of his color as there WAS
not single colored in tha Territory and yst the
Senator from New Hampshire, while favorug TINS inn
practicable appears dodge the question where
IL is practicable in tho District Of Columbia.
MIR. HALE said the Senator was mistaken in that as
sumption Mr. Webster at that time the ground that
the written law Of God had decreed that slavery could not
go into the Territories and be did not wish TO reenact the
law OF God He (Mr HALE) thought ut that tune that
that very made the practicable Precisely
the Issues presented the cou0try them
aud he should act them according 10 the light God
gave him, as they respectively arose
Mr.. NESMITH hoped the Senate would not concur
with the Senator from New Hampshire aud allow the
bill to be lost He had particular interest the sub
ec So far as the negro concerned but he did take
interest in the white people there whom he sup
posed numbered sixty 10 seventy thousand mostly
engaged in mining pursuits The object OF the bill was to
give good government TO this people lie would also
g. tho advantage of the Government in enabling
effecusy to carry out ts laws and especially collect
its reveuue tax.
cipe involved in the Senate's position more mpor
ant than the passage of the bill IL proposed
clude the African from outrage and the argument
made here deiencs of but h reproduction Of the
old well known slavery the subject He
opposed tp the infringement OF human rights and
especially in the formation OF community for just
the twig is bent the tree is inclined" III bis wish
that the tree should shelter all mankind.
The report Of the committee Of conference agreed
to by the following vote
YEAS-Messrs Bnckaew, Garlic, Collamer, Cowan,
Davis Doolte Foot, Foster Harding Harris Henderson,
Hendricks Howard johnson, Lane of Indiana, Morrill,,
Nesmh, Powell, Ramsey, Saulsba y, Ten Eyck, Trumbu
Van winbIe Wade Wilkinson and Wiley-l6
kAYs-Messre Anthony, Cha der CLARK Dixon Crimes
Hale, harlan, Lane of Kansas, Morgan Pomeroy Sprsgue
Simmer, and Wilson'S.