Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-03-29
SPEECH
SENATOR WIN. \. WALLACE.
OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.

OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
On LdRdon'S resolutions approving Tie action
oftsose members Of Congress from Penn
Sgtronia arho coted IN farOr Of he District
Of Columbia Negro SUFFRAGE Blu. and
instructing the Pennsylvania U. s. Sena-
tors to support the same IN tie U. g. Sen
ate.
Mr.. WALLACE said: Mr.. Speaker.
L approach this subject seriously, feeling
deeply the responsibilities that rest upon
me as Senator upon this floor, and that
seriousness of feeling is impressed upon
me by the earnestness with which this
measure is urged by Senators. | desire
to meet the responsibility which we are
asked to meet, calmly, dispassionately and
tearlessly, as did the Senator, (Mr. Low
ry,) who proceeded me.
SEEK THE RIGHT AND FOLLOW IT.
The Senator from Bradford, (Mr Lam
don,) takes the position that we should
seek the right, and fearIessly follow it. |
desire TO do so. l desire to use the feeble
intellect that God Almighty has given me,
in discerning the right and, when l dis
Germ it, Obeying the instincts of my nature
and of my blOod-obeying not these alone
but the experience that all history points
out to me-obeying the teaching of the
past, | desire to follow the path fearlessly
and faithfully. | do not desire, sir, to set
up my feeble judgment, my finite ideas,
as the will of Him who sits above and
rules the heavens and the earth. Far be
it from me, an erring human creature,
thus to elevate myself. But, sir, by the
teachings Of the past, by the experience OF
the present, by those things that are i'm
planted deep in the hearts and minds of
my race, desire to test this question and
to determine my line of duty. Sir, | seek
no new path but as practical, earnest,
honest citizen of this republic, desire to
be guided by all the lights that history
throws around me. | desire to be guided
by all the characteristics and circumstan-
ces that unite to make up our present glo-
rious record.
TIE PEOPLE TIE ARBITERS.
This question Of suffrage is one of the
most important that has ever been ap-
preached or ever can be approached by
the people Of this country. 1t is pecuIi-
arly a question to be decided by the peo-
pie themselves, and not by their represen-
tatives, and l desire to impress it upon
Senators, that whenever and wherever in
all the States of this country it has been
attempted to decide the question of the
right of suffrage, 1t has invariably been
referred by the Representative authorities
to the source of all power, the people.
You seek a new path, are about to initiate
the right Of exercising this great privilege
without the action of the people, and
against their known will.
IsIr A RIGHT
Now, sir, is the right of suffrage A
RIGHT in its more extensive and natural
sense? | affirm that it is not 1t has
ever been treated, on the contrary, as a
conventional right. Why, sir, the En-
glishman or the Frenchman, possessed of
all the education, the refinement and the
culture that he may have acquired IN the
highest schools Of his native country, when
he comes TO this continent, does not here
at once obtain at our hands the right TO
this priceless boon, this testimonial Of SOW
ereignty; but he is compelled to endure a
period of probation before he Is clothed
with that right. Sir, Massachusetts,
from which you get your ideas, to whose
statute books you look for eXamples-she
who is now governing this country through
the men whom you follow-she, too, re-
Quires fitness. Her constitution places
upon its pages the requirement of a capac-
ity to read and write, before this privilege
is granted. New York, too, requires a
qualification in the shape of property.
Now, these instances, it would appear to
me, are sufficient to satisfy any reasonable
mind that this is not Il Hat1l5'Gt right, as
understood in this country, but that it is
a conventional right. The men whose
teachings and leadings my friend from
Erie, (Mr. Lowry,) and the Senator from
Bradford, (Mr. Landon,) are following
the English Abolitionists-whof freed the
negroes of jamaica, then and there placed
a qualification upon the right OF suffrage
they required that before the freedman
should have the right to vote he should be
possessed in his own right, of five acres of
land SO that the teachings not only OF
Massachusetts and New \ ork, but of the
men who originated this idea that has cul-
minated and brought upon US untold mis-
cry, have admitted the fact that this is
conventional and not a natural right
This conventional right is then to be
given or withheld according to its proprl-
ETY. or the will Of a majority or ruling
power of the State | shall not discuss