Standing always in that beautiful Hall, the statue will be a perpetual, though silent orator.

The marble will speak; nor is it difficult to divine the lesson it must teach.

He lived for his country, and his whole country,--nothing less.

His life exhibits the beauty and the reward of patriotism.

How can his marble speak except for country in all its parts and at all points of the compass?

Our country’s cause recently triumphant in bloodiest war was Liberty and Equality, the declared heritage of all mankind.

The larger masses, with the larger scale of military operations, in the latter may eclipse the earlier; and it is impossible not to see that a war for Liberty and Equality, making the promises of the Declaration a reality, and giving to…

Just in proportion as ideas are involved is conflict elevated, especially if those ideas concern the Equal Rights of All.

Unfortunately the colored citizens of the South have nothing to thank the Senator from Massachusetts for, in having the right of suffrage conferred upon them.

In that committee this Reconstruction Bill was debated and matured sentence by sentence, word for word; and then and there, in that committee, I moved that we should require the suffrage of all persons, without distinction of color, in the…

My colleague, in his joy on the occasion, exclaimed, “This is the greatest vote that has been taken on this continent!” He felt, I felt, we all felt, that the question of the suffrage was then and there secured.

I left this Chamber at midnight, fatigued, not well, knowing that the great cause was assured, notwithstanding the opposition of the Senator from Illinois,--knowing that at last the right of the colored people to suffrage was recognized.

There should have been a system of public schools, greater protection to the freedmen, and more security against the Rebels, all of which I sought in vain to obtain in committee, and I found all effort in the Senate foreclosed by our…

God forbid that I should ever grudge to any of my associates in this great controversy any of the fame that belongs to them!

There is enough for all, provided we have been faithful.

You know me in this Chamber; you know how I have devoted myself from the beginning to this idea, how constantly I have maintained it and urged it from the earliest date.

Here was the first motion in this Chamber for equality of suffrage as a measure of Reconstruction.

It is a mere seven-months’ abortion, begotten by the bayonet in criminal conjunction with the spirit of Caste, and born before its time, rickety, unformed, unfinished, whose continued existence will be a burden, a reproach, and a wrong.

The Louisiana Bill, though pressed by the Senator from Illinois, was defeated; and the equal rights of the colored race were happily vindicated.

They belong to you; they are yours; and whoever undertakes to rob you of them is a usurper and impostor.

Never neglect your work; but, meanwhile, prepare yourselves for the privileges of citizens.

It is impartial suffrage that I claim, without distinction of color, so that there shall be one equal rule for all men.

Fifthly, There shall be no distinction among the inhabitants of this State founded on race, former condition, or color.

My colleague did not use too strong language, when he said that then and there, in that small room, in that caucus, was decided the greatest pending question on the North American Continent.

I think, therefore, that he is justified in stating that he was the first to propose it in this body; and why should the Senator deem it necessary to spend one hour of our valuable time now to prove this fact?