that
one of their chief objects is to rule this country. It was to ruin it
if they could not rule it. They have not been able to ruin it, and now
their great ambition will be to rule it. If a State abuses the
elective franchise, and takes it from those who are the only loyal
people there, the Constitution says to such a State, You shall lose
power in the halls of the nation, and you shall remain where you are,
a shriveled and dried-up nonentity instead of being the lords of
creation, as you have been, so far as America is concerned, for years
past.

"Now, sir, I say no more strong inducement could ever beheld out to
them; no more severe punishment could ever be inflicted upon them as
States. If they exclude the colored population, they will lose at
least thirty-five Representatives in this hall; if they adopt it, they
will have eighty-three votes."

Mr. Stevens urged several objections to the proposition of Mr.
Schenck. He said: "If I have been rightly informed as to the number,
there are from fifteen to twenty Representatives in the Northern
States founded upon those who are not citizens of the United States.
In New York I think there are three or four Representatives founded
upon the foreign population--three certainly. And so it is in
Wisconsin, Iowa, and other Northern States. There are fifteen or
twenty Northern Representatives that would be lost by that amendment
and given to the South whenever they grant the elective franchise to
the negro.

"Now, sir, while I have not any particular regard for any foreigner
who goes against me, yet I do not think it would be wise to put into
the Constitution or send to the people a proposition to amend the
Constitution which would take such Representatives from those States,
and which, therefore, they will never adopt.

"But I have another objection to the amendment of my friend from Ohio.
His proposition is to apportion representation according to the male
citizens of the States. Why has he put in the word 'male?' It was
never in the Constitution of the United States before. Why make a
crusade against women in the Constitution of the nation? [Laughter.]
Is my friend as much afraid of their rivalry as the gentlemen on the
other side of the House are afraid of the rivalry of the negro?
[Laughter.] I do not think we ought to disfigure the Constitution with
such a provision. I find that every unmarried man is opposed to the
proposition. Whether married men have particular re