of the Constitution, which guards alike the rights of States and citizens, and tyrant murderer of national peace, without which there can be no true prosperity or happiness. Thus, as a soldier of Liberty, he began, and he kept his harness on to the last.

He was one of the most amiable of men, whose heart was abundant with goodness and gentleness, and whose countenance streamed with sunshine. But on this account he was only the more inexorable toward a wrong so cruel in all its influences. A child of the New Testament, he was no stranger to the early Hebrew spirit, and had little patience with those who, born among Northern schools and churches, strove to arrest or mitigate the doom of Slavery. The famous curse of Meroz, so solemnly denounced against neutrality, which had been echoed from ancient Judea by English Puritans in their great contest, found an echo in his heart: "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Of course, in this spirit he used plain words, and did not hesitate. But if he did not hesitate, it was because he saw clearly the path of duty. Amiability did not make him doubt. He was a positive man, of positive principles, who knew well how much was always lost by timid counsels, especially on great occasions. Because there were some about him who were skeptical and irresolute, he was not disheartened, but preserved to the last an example of fidelity which history will piously enshrine. His own illustrations were from the sacred writings, but a heathen poet has given a warning which is part of the lesson of his life:

1 Judges, v. 23.

"Old Priam's age, or Nestor's, may be out,

And thou, O Taurus, still go on in doubt.

Come, then, how long such wavering shall we see?

Thou mayst doubt on; but then thou 'lt nothing be." 1

Of all doubts, there are none more painful or indefensible than those by which human rights are put in jeopardy.

He was a Representative of Illinois, born in Maine when Maine was part of Massachusetts, which made him a connecting link between the East and the West. The welcome he found in the West, and his complete fellowship with that region, while his sympathies overflowed to his early home, attest better than arguments the ligatures binding together these different parts of our common Union; so that, hereafter, should any malignant spirit seek to sow strife between us, his name alone will be a standing protest against the alienation. Born in the East, he was honored in the West. Honored in the West, he never lost his love for the East. But the whole country, not excepting the South, had a home in his patriotic, hospitable, and capacious heart. He hated Slavery; but he loved his country in every part, with heart, soul, and mind.

He was of the Old Guard of Antislavery, and we bury him with the honors that belong to such a soldier. Flags are at half-mast, and funeral guns are sounding in our hearts. But from his new-made grave he speaks now to the whole vast Republic, animating all good citizens to labor as he labored and to live as he lived, that this land may be redeemed. Especially does he speak to the State that honored him in life, and to those associate States constituting the mighty Northwest, where he

1 Martial, Epigr., Lib. II. 64.

found the home of his mature years, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota,- exhorting them to take up bravely and without faltering the cause he made his own, that it may not lose by his death. But, alas! the vigilance of many will be needed to supply the place he filled.

Such a character must be mourned in Congress; but he will be mourned throughout the country, at all those virtuous firesides where fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters speak of those who have helped human happiness on earth. And there is another company, who cannot yet pronounce his name, but, as they hear how truly he was their friend, will rise to call him blessed. Already, unseen of men, in vast uncounted procession, the slaves of the Union help to swell his funeral.

COLORED SUFFRAGE IN THE TERRITORY OF

ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ.

SPEECHES IN THE SENATE, ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE BILL FOR A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT OF THAT TERRITORY, MARCH 31 AND MAY 19, 1864.

MARCH 30th, the Senate having under consideration a bill, that had already passed the House of Representatives, to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Montana, Mr. Wilkinson, of Minnesota, moved to amend the clause relating to persons entitled to vote and eligible to office, so that, instead of "every white male inhabitant," it should read "every free male citizen of the United States, and those who have declared their intention to become such." Mr. Reverdy Johnson at once declared that "the effect of the amendment was to admit to the elective franchise in the proposed Territory black men as well as white," and, after mentioning the number of Africans now in the United States, he proceeded to say that "it can hardly be seriously contended, that, of that four millions, such portion of them as have been in a state of slavery from infancy to the present time are intelligent enough, or likely to become intelligent enough, at once to exercise the right of suffrage"; and he anticipated another question, "just as likely to excite the public as the question of the existence of Slavery in itself."

66

March 31st, the amendment was adopted, Yeas 22, Nays 17. The debate continuing, Mr. Johnson said that the term "citizen" was not applicable to "black men," because the Supreme Court of the United States has decided, and that question was directly before the Court in the Dred Scott case, that a person of African descent is not a citizen of the United States." Mr. Wilkinson was willing it should stand according to his amendment, and let the decision of the Supreme Court be whatever it might. He wanted neither "white" nor "black" put into the bill. Mr. Sumner then remarked :

"I take it that each branch of the Government can interpret the Constitution for itself. I think that Congress is as good an authority in its interpretation as the Supreme Court, and I hope that in legislation it will proceed

absolutely without respect to a decision which has disgraced the country, and ought to be expelled from its jurisprudence."

Mr. Johnson vindicated the Dred Scott decision at length, and made an elaborate eulogy of Chief Justice Taney. In the course of his remarks, he said: "There are many men, the equals of the honorable Senator, to say the least, intellectually, who think that that decision was anything but an outrage. . . . . We have an interest, jurisprudence has an interest, justice has an interest, the nation has an interest, in maintaining the character of that tribunal against all unjust reproach. It is no light thing to pronounce a decision given by such a tribunal as that as a disgrace. . . . . I cannot, therefore, stand still and hear a tribunal like that assailed, as I think unnecessarily, by anybody, and particularly by the honorable member from Massachusetts." Mr. Sumner replied :·

MR.

R. PRESIDENT,- The multiplication table tells us that two and two make four. Now, if a tribunal honored like the Supreme Court should undertake to declare that two and two make five, and a Senator as distinguished as the Senator from Maryland should uphold the high tribunal in its decision, I am not satisfied that it would be presumptuous in me to call that decision in question. But the Dred Scott decision was as absurd and irrational as such a reversal of the multiplication table, besides shocking the moral sense of mankind. The Senator will pardon the little scruple with which I denounce it. I claim nothing for myself; I may be weak; but, according to the measure of my abilities as God has given them to me, I enter a standing protest against that atrocious judgment, which was false in law, and also false in the history with which it sought to maintain its false law.

The Senator seems to imply that I am not familiar with the case. Sir, I know it too well. I have read carefully the opinion of the Chief Justice, which the