There is no benefit within the bounds of imagination, so far at least as I can discern, which will not redound to the nation from Ten-Forties as much as from Ten-Twenties.

I simply propose, that, under the pretence of regulating the suffrage, States shall not exercise a prerogative hostile to Human Rights, without any authority under the National Constitution, and in defiance of its positive texts.

The greater latitude of payment leaves the nation master of the situation, to pay or not to pay, as is most for the national advantage.

Men ordinarily find in the Constitution what is in themselves; so that the Constitution in its meaning is little more than a reflection of their own inner nature.

To my mind the power is too clear for question.

As well question the obligation of Congress to guaranty a republican form of government, or the abolition of Slavery, or the prohibition upon States to interfere with the rights and privileges of citizenship, each of which is beyond…

Let this beneficent prohibition once find place in our statute-book, and it will be lasting as the National Constitution itself, to which it will be only a legitimate corollary.

In harmony with the Declaration of Independence, and in harmony with the National Constitution, it will become of equal significance, and no profane hand will touch its sacred text.

The rule of Equal Rights, once applied by Congress under the National Constitution, will be a permanent institution as long as the Republic endures; for it will be a vital part of that Republican Government to which the nation is pledged.

It is only with infinite reluctance that I consent to any such admission, which, in the endeavor to satisfy ungenerous scruples, weakens all those texts which are so important for Human Rights.

Meanwhile this great question, which cannot brook delay, which for the sake of peace and to complete Reconstruction should be settled at once, is handed over to prolonged controversy in the States.

The same thing may be accomplished by Act of Congress, without any delay, without any uncertainty, and without any provocation to local strife.

Once adopted, it will go into instant operation, without waiting for the uncertain concurrence of State Legislatures, and without provoking local strife so wearisome to the country.

Believing most sincerely that the Republican party, in its objects, is identical with country and with mankind, so that in sustaining it I sustain these comprehensive charities, I cannot willingly see this agency lose the opportunity of…

Wherever you most need them, there they are; and be assured they will all vote for those who stand by them in the assertion of Equal Rights.

Pardon me,--but, if you are not moved by considerations of justice under the Constitution, then I appeal to that humbler motive which is found in the desire for success.

I do not disguise the importance of this act; but I believe that in the interest of peace, which every one should have at heart, the treaty must be rejected.

A treaty, which, instead of removing an existing grievance, leaves it for heart-burning and rancor, cannot be considered a settlement of pending questions between two nations.

The massive grievance under which our country suffered for years is left untouched; the painful sense of wrong planted in the national heart is allowed to remain.

For all this there is not one word of regret, or even of recognition; nor is there any semblance of compensation.

It cannot be for the interest of either party that such a treaty should be ratified.

It cannot promote the interest of the United States, for we naturally seek justice as the foundation of a good understanding with Great Britain; nor can it promote the interest of Great Britain, which must also seek a real settlement of…

Surely I do not err, when I say that a wise statesmanship, whether on our side or on the other side, must apply itself to find the real root of evil, and then, with courage tempered by candor and moderation, see that it is extirpated.

To take such a convention as the model for a treaty which was to determine a national grievance of transcendent importance in the relations of two countries marked on the threshold an insensibility to the true nature of the difference to…

An inspection of the treaty shows how from beginning to end it is merely for the settlement of individual claims on both sides, putting the two batches on an equality, so that the sufferers by the misconduct of England may be…