ckass in order to vote, who does the voting,
the man or the jackass?" If reading and money-making were a sure
gauge of character, if intelligence and virtue were twin sisters,
these qualifications might do; but such is not the case. In our
late war black men were loyal, generous and heroic without the
alphabet or multiplication table, while men of wealth, educated
by the nation, graduates of West Point, were false to their
country and traitors to their flag. There was a time in England's
history, when the House of Lords even, could neither read nor
write. Before the art of printing, were all men fools? Were the
Apostles and martyrs worth $250? The early Christians, the
children of art, science and literature, have in all ages
struggled with poverty, while they blessed the world with their
inspirations. The Hero of Judea had not where to lay His head!!
As capital has ever ground labor to the dust, is it just and
generous to disfranchise the poor and ignorant because they are
so? If a man can not read, give him the ballot, it is
schoolmaster. If he does not own a dollar give him the ballot, it
is the key to wealth and power. Says Lamartine, "universal
suffrage is the first truth and only basis of every national
republic." "The ballot," says Senator Sumner, "is the columbiad
of our political life, and every citizen who has it is a
full-armed monitor."

But while such grand truths are uttered in the ears of the world,
by an infamous amendment of the Federal Constitution, the people
have sanctioned the disfranchisement of a majority of the loyal
citizens of the nation. With sorrow we learn that the Legislature
of New York has ratified this change of the Constitution.

Happily for the cause of freedom, the organization we represent
here to-day, "THE AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION," has
registered its protest in the archives of the State against this
desecration of the last will and testament of the Fathers. It was
a mistake for you to confirm to-day what Congress proposed a year
ago. Recent debates in the Senate show a hearty repentance for
their past action, and an entire revolution in their opinions on
this whole question. It was gratifying to find in the discussion
of the District Franchise Bill, how unanimously the Senate
favored the e