black race in this District."

Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, spoke as follows: "The proposition
contained in this bill is a new proposition. It contemplates a change
which will be a landmark in the history of this country--a landmark
which, if it is set up, will be regarded by the present and future
generations of men who are to inhabit this continent with pride and
satisfaction, or deplored as one of the gravest errors in the history
of legislation. The bill, if it shall become a law, will be, like the
law to amend the Constitution by abolishing slavery, the deep
foot-print of an advancing civilization, or the conspicuous monument
of an unwise and pernicious experiment.

"Much has been said, on the part of those who oppose the bill, on the
subject of its injustice to the white inhabitants of the District of
Columbia. Indeed, the argument on that side of the question is, when
divested of all that is immaterial, meretricious, and extravagant,
reduced almost entirely to that single position. Abstract this from
the excited declamation to which you have listened, and what is left
is but the old revolting argument in favor of slavery, and a selfish
appeal to prejudice and ignorance. It is insisted that a majority of
the white voters of the District are opposed to the contemplated law,
that they have recently given a public expression of their opinion
against it, and that for that reason it would be unjust and oppressive
in Congress to pass this law. In my judgment, this is a question not
concerning alone the wishes and prejudices of the seven thousand
voters who dwell in this District, but involving, it may be, the
honor, the justice, the good faith, and the magnanimity of the great
nation which makes this little spot the central seat of its empire and
its power.

"If it concerns the honor of the United States that a certain class of
its people, in a portion of its territory subject to its exclusive
jurisdiction and control, shall, in consideration of the change which
has taken place in its condition, and of the fidelity which it has
exhibited in the midst of great and severe trials, be elevated
somewhat above the political degradation which has hitherto been its
lot, shall the United States be prevented from the accomplishment of
that great and generous purpose by the handful of voters who
temporarily encamp under the shadow of the Capitol? It may be that the
determination of a question of so much importance as this belo