for seniority to too great an extent. If this bill is passed, the era of inefficiency and favoritism, hitherto prevailing, will be at an end."

The New Bedford Mercury said : -

"Mr. Sumner's bill will cure the evils of which every sensible man now complains, and avert the terrible dangers which menace us. It contemplates a return to the practice of the better days of the republic, and making that practice the rule. 'Is he capable? Is he honest?' were the inquiries propounded by Jefferson, when a candidate for office was named."

The New York World devoted a leading article to the bill, which it criticized.

"We had supposed, that, in the opinion of Mr. Sumner, the disposition to be made of black men came nearest, in legislative importance, to the crushing out of the Rebels. Mr. Sumner's bill does not touch the evil in our clerical system. The difficulty is not in want of examination, classification, promotion, or pension, but springs, in the first place, out of the manner in which the President, through the heads of departments, exercises the appointing power, and, in the next place, out of the conduct of the clerks themselves, when in office. An examining board cannot change the general character of the men the President, directly or indirectly, sends before it."

These notices show the interest excited by this effort. In the various labors which occupied Mr. Sumner he was not able to give it the attention it required. Meanwhile the cause found an able advocate elsewhere.

The next step was by Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, who introduced into the House of Representatives, December 20, 1865, a bill "To regulate the Civil Service of the United States," which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Subsequently a special committee was appointed on the Civil Service of the United States, with Mr. Jenckes as Chairman, and June 13, 1866, he reported his bill to the House. Then again, at the next session, he reported another bill, "To regulate the Civil Service of the United States, and promote the efficiency thereof," which he sustained by a forcible and elaborate speech; but the bill was laid on the table, - Yeas 72, Nays 66. Other efforts followed at subsequent sessions, but without success.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, on motion of Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, March 3, 1871, the following section was attached to the General Appropriation Bill, then pending :

"That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations for the admission of persons into the

Civil Service of the United States as will best promote the efficiency thereof, and ascertain the fitness of each candidate, in respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and ability, for the branch of service into which he seeks to enter; and for this purpose the President is authorized to employ suitable persons to conduct said inquiries, to prescribe their duties, and to establish regulations for the conduct of persons who may receive appointments in the Civil Service." 1

Under this provision President Grant appointed the following Commissioners: George William Curtis, of New York; Alexander G. Cattell, of New Jersey; Joseph Medill, of Illinois; and Dawson A. Walker, E. B. Elliott, Joseph H. Black fan, and David C. Cox, of the District of Columbia: who, after careful consideration during the summer and autumn, submitted a report December 18, 1871, with a schedule of rules and regulations, all of which was promptly communicated to Congress by the President.

1 Acts, 1870-71, Ch. 114, Sec. 9: Statutes at Large, Vol. XVI. pp. 514, 515.

COLORED SUFFRAGE IN WASHINGTON.

REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON BILLS TO AMEND THE CITY CHARTER, MAY 12, 26, 27, 28, 1864.

FEBRUARY 13th, Mr. Harlan, of Iowa, asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a bill to amend section five of an Act entitled "An Act to continue, alter, and amend the charter of the city of Washington," approved May 17, 1848, and further to preserve the purity of elections and guard against the abuse of the elective franchise, by a registration of electors for the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia; which was read the first and second time, and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

March 8th, Mr. Dixon, from the Committee, reported the bill without amendment.

March 17th, the bill was taken up and amended in unimportant particulars.

May 6th, it was again taken up, when, after an amendment moved by Mr. Dixon, Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, moved to amend the bill in the first section by inserting the word "white" before the word "male," so as to confine the right of voting in Washington to white male citizens. Mr. Sumner said at once, "I hope not." Mr. Cowan then spoke in favor of his amendment.

May 12th, Mr. Cowan remarked that the bill "would have the effect, in some cases, of admitting negroes to the right of suffrage, which, I may say, is obnoxious to the vast bulk of the people of the Border States." Mr. Harlan would vote for Mr. Cowan's amendment, "first, because it is manifest to the Senate that the bill, without that provision in it, cannot now become a law." Mr. Willey, of West Virginia, spoke elaborately against colored suffrage, winding up with this interrogatory : "Shall we, without any petitions from the people of this District, without anything before the Senate to indicate that this bill, in any of its parts, is required by the people of this District, undertake to say, of our own volition, that we will impose upon them a provision which is odious to them, and will, in my estimation, be disastrous in its results,

not only here, but in its influence on popular opinion everywhere in this nation?"

Mr. Sumner followed.

MR. our

R. PRESIDENT,- Slavery dies hard.

It still

stands front to front with our embattled armies, holding them in check. It dies hard on the battle-field. It dies hard in the Senate Chamber. We have been compelled during this session to hear various defences of Slavery, sometimes in its most offensive forms. Slavehunting has been openly vindicated. And now, to-day, the exclusion of colored persons from the electoral franchise, simply on account of color, is openly vindicated, and the Senator from West Virginia, newly introduced into this Chamber from a State born of Freedom, rises here to uphold Slavery in one of its meanest products.

MR. WILLEY. Mr. President, I cannot pass that assertion without giving it an unequivocal, categorical denial. I have not vindicated Slavery in any of its aspects. I said to the Senator, what perhaps he did not hear before, that, when he has liberated by the sweat of his brow as many slaves as I have, he can get up and make such a remark in regard to

me.

MR. SUMNER. I said, Sir, that the Senator vindicated Slavery in one of its meanest products. I repeat what I said. The Senator has spoken, I do not know how long by the clock, to vindicate an odious prejudice bequeathed by Slavery, having its origin in Slavery, and in nothing else. Had Slavery never existed among us, there would have been no such prejudice as that of which the Senator makes himself the representative. Far better would it be for that Senator, who comes into this Chamber as the representative of a new-born free State, had he surrendered generously to the sentiment in which West

Virginia had its birth. But, instead, he comes forward and labors with unwonted earnestness to perpetuate at the national capital an odious feature derived from Slavery. The Senator says he has not vindicated Slavery. If he has not used the word, he has vindicated the thing, in one of its most odious features. He seeks to blast a whole race merely on account of color. Would he ever have proposed such injustice, but for the prejudices nursed by Slavery? Had not Slavery existed, would any such idea have found place in a Senator naturally so generous and humane? No, Sir, -he spoke with the voice of Slavery, which he cannot yet forget. He spoke under the unhappy and disturbing influences which Slavery has left in his mind.

Now, Sir, I am against Slavery, wherever it shows itself, whatever form it takes. I am against Slavery, when compelled to meet it directly; and I am against Slavery in all its products and its offspring. I am against Slavery, when encountering the beast outright, or only its tail. The prejudices of which the Senator makes himself the representative to-day, permit me to say, are nothing but the tail of Slavery. Unhappily, while we have succeeded in abolishing Slavery in this District, we have not yet abolished the tail; and the tail has representatives in the Senate Chamber, as the beast once had.

We have been reminded that we are engaged in a fearful conflict. The Senator has reminded us of it. Senators nearer to me have reminded us of it. This is too true; and now, as that conflict lowers, I invoke the spirit of our fathers. They went forth to battle with the Declaration of Independence on their lips, solemnly declaring that all men are born equal, entitled