e House with a brief argument in favor of
the amendment. Referring to the death in the Senate of the amendment
previously proposed, Mr. Stevens said: "But it is dead, and unless
this (less efficient, I admit) shall pass, its death has postponed the
protection of the colored race perhaps for ages. I confess my
mortification at its defeat. I grieved especially because it almost
closed the door of hope for the amelioration of the condition of the
freedmen. But men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us
again try and see whether we can not devise some way to overcome the
united forces of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous
Copper-heads. It will not do for those who for thirty years have
fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of modern
catamounts."

Of the present proposition, Mr. Stevens said: "It is not all that the
committee desired. It falls far short of my wishes, but it fulfills my
hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained in the present state
of public opinion. Not only Congress, but the several States are to be
consulted. Upon a careful survey of the whole ground, we did not
believe that nineteen of the loyal States could be induced to ratify
any proposition more stringent than this."

Referring to the section prohibiting rebels from voting until 1870,
Mr. Stevens said: "My only objection to it is that it is too lenient.
Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on traitors. I
might not consent to the extreme severity denounced upon them by a
provisional governor of Tennessee--I mean the late lamented Andrew
Johnson of blessed memory--but I would have increased the severity of
this section."

Mr. Blaine called attention to the fact that most of the persons whom
the third section of the amendment was designed to disfranchise, had
their political rights restored to them by the Amnesty Proclamation,
or had been pardoned by the President.

Mr. Finck opposed the proposition in a speech of which the following
are extracts: "Stripped of all disguises, this measure is a mere
scheme to deny representation to eleven States; to prevent
indefinitely a complete restoration of the Union, and perpetuate the
power of a sectional and dangerous party.

"Sir, the whole scheme is revolutionary, and a most shallow pretext
for an excuse to exclude the vote of eleven States in the next
Presidential election. You can not exact conditions in this way from
any State in the Union; n