Year: 1869

late the suffrage which this amendment pro-


poses in a very large degree 10 take away
from the State of California. Why, gentle
| men, let this amendment pass and what n


mockery it will be to speak, will not
| say of the sovereign State of California for


it is almost an abuse of language 10 apply
| hat grand word sovereign = TO the pale,


mutilated figures, once so bright and Queenly.
| that we still call States of the American


Union, [applausel but with this amendment


what a mockery il will be 10 speak Of her aS


a free State What mockery 10 speak of
her As being republican.


| There was one significant circumstance
| connected with the passage of this amend
mcndment through both Houses Of Congress.


by that terrible two.thirds majority, against


which it was so hopeless to contend, and
| which has been so fatal 10 the Constitution,


TO the liberties and 10 the real grandeur of
the country. On two distinct occasions, but


at different times in each House, this amend
ment was so passed that it had what might


be called liberalizing element in it-some
| thing that went towards compensatng foi
the proposed outrage on the States. Ii had


a provision that il should not be in the power
| OF the United States, or of a State, 10 take
| away the suffrage on account of creed or
nativity. think our frend-my friend-the
friend of all of us. Senator Hendricks, here,
| who was in the Senate when all this occurred,


will correct me if am wrong. (Cheers-
| applause-three cheers for Senator Hend-
rickS. Gentlemen, you observe that il the
| amendment had passed in that shape il would


have set up barrier against an element of
| blgotry and prescription which from time to


time has lifted It's head i'll the country. For
that reason the clause as to nativity and
creed was extremely Objectionable TO the
controlling power in the dominant party in
each House of Congress, and it was struck
out. Why was it struck out? To keep the
door open for future movements of that evil
spirit of bigotry and prescription. What
gratifying reflection, that while the Congress
| of the United States has thought il well tn
amend the Constitution by depriving the
! States of the power TO withhold the right OF
suffrage from the most wretched negro from
the Potomac TO the Sabine, or from the most
! deprayed coolie of China or Hndoostan.
there is to be no protection for the country
man of Lafayette and Montgomery and Steu-
| ben for the countrymen of the many other
| illustrious men of Europe, whose services
| aided and whose fame illustrated the reyolu-
tionary struggle. These were not worthy of
protection. They are not the favored races.
The favored races are the men of color.
whether black or yellow, and whether OF
African descent or of Asiatic birth. 1t was
q generous and wise discrimination -- one
most becoming in the party of great moral
ideas, party of progress within or without
the Constitution-the party which has moth





TO JON it in its downward rush to that abyss
of ruiz to which 1t is hurrying the country.
1t Is very grave question, upon which you
have TO pass at this election, whether the
State of California shall reject or ratify this
Fifteenth Amendment. Fellow. citizens, do
not be deceived. The passage of the Fif-
teenth Amendment means, inevitably, sut-
frage to the negro in every State. 1t means,
also. suffrage to the Chinaman in this and
every other State. 1t means all this, and it
means nothing less. There is no doubt of il
in the case OF he negro, and there is as little
doubt of it in the case of the Chinaman. If
the Fifteenth Amendment does not mean
Chinese suffrage, why did the Radicals, i'll
both Houses OF Congress, reject the proviso
to the Amendment, declaring it should not
have that effect? Can anything be more
conclusive?


They talk of their opposition, of their
pledges against Chinese suffrage. The plat
form of their last State convention in Sacra-
mento contains a resolution on that subject.
1t is party of pledges-a party of pledges
never redeemed, which never were worth
the paper they are written on, and which
were made only to be broken. In the con
vention which nominated Gen. Grant at Chi
cogo, one of the resolutions was this: :" Re-
solved, that the guaranty by Congress of
equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South
was demandedby every consideration of pub
lie safety. gratitude and justice, and must
be maintained: while the question of suffrage
in all the loyal States properly belongs to the
people of those States Now, gentlemen,
that is a pledge against this 18th Amend,
ment. 1t was pledge given in the face of
one of the most significant popular demon
strations on political question ever known


our country. Ohio had just voted by an


mense, an overwhelming majority of forty
or hfty thousand against negro suffrage
within her borders. [Cheers State after
state had voted the same way. There was
one long array of States, democratic as well
as republican, all in line on that subject.
They did not dare to go to the country with
their candidate, popular though he may
have been, without an express and solemn
pledge against any interference with the
right of the people of the States which had
adhered to the government, to regulate the
suffrage for themselves. They gave that
pledge, and upon that pledge they carried
the election What was the result? The
ink was not dry in the halls of Congress on
the official record of the result of the pres-
Dental contest and the election of General
Grant, when this most faithless party of
many pledges, and all of them violated,
brought the 18th Amendment into Congress.
lApplause.l Surely, in the history of Punic
faith and broken pledges in politics there
never was another such party. Let not the
people OF the South complain that the
pledges made to them have not been kept.
What pledge made by this party to any pOr-
tion of the people, or to anyState or States
or the Union, has been observed ? ["No
one,'-applause.l


took the liberty to say in the first speech
which made in the last canvass, in tbs
city, that notwithstanding this Chicagor rCs-
o!utlon, had no doubt. if Grant should be
elected, that one of the first acts of Congress
would be. IN some way or other, to establish
negro suffrage in every State of the Union.
made that prediction. How true it was We
all see. will make another prediction now:
that II this Fifteenth Amendment shall pass,
very speedily afterwards, and so soon as the
political necessity shall arise, Chinese suf-
trage will follow. What does their State
convention at Sacramento say? 1t says this:


Resolved, That the negro question has
ceased to be an element in American poll
Tics, and that the ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution should be fol-
lowed BY an act of universal amnesty and
eniranchsement of the Southern people"


mat Is one of their resolutions You
see they assume that the amendment will
be ratified. 1t may be that not for the first
ume In history, our good friends on the
other side are counting their chickens
little before they are hatched. GCheers
and laughter


Then there is another resolution in which
they declare among other things:
ReSolved-That we are opposed to
Chinese suffrage in any form, and to any
change in the naturalization laws of the
United States.''


There is a pledge for you against
Chinese suffrage. just observe the sin
cerity of all this on the part of the radicals
at Sacramento. The are so much in favor
of the 18Th Amendment, that they assume
its ratification. That is proposition number
one. Then, they are so much opposed to
Chinese suffrage that they declare against
1t in their resolutions. Observe, that as
thematter stands to-day, the State of Cali
fornia has full control of the subject, and
her Constitution so long as it stands, fixes
hiat.