of violence and fraud, than I have in all the Army and Navy that
the President can send there under the election bill which was
put through here by my honorable friend from New York (Mr.
Conkling).

Without enlarging on the subject, I shall vote for this
amendment, not because this Territory is located, as some Senator
has said, near Minnesota. I would vote for female suffrage in the
District of Columbia to-morrow; I would vote for it in the State
of Wisconsin; I would vote for it anywhere and everywhere if I
had an opportunity to do so.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine.--Mr. President, I shall vote against this
amendment, and for the reason that I do not consider the right
of suffrage a woman's right or a man's right. I do not understand
it to be a natural right at all. It is a political right; and I
do not understand, as applied to women, that it is a privilege at
all. It is akin to a service; and it is a very rough service. It
is in its nature akin to militia service. The man who exercises
the ballot must be prepared to defend it with the bayonet; and
therefore the propriety of its being confined in all ages to men.
That it is not a natural right is apparent to anybody who
reflects upon it; and it never was so considered in any country
in the world.

We talk about it here now as a natural right, and my honorable
friend who sits next me (Mr. Morton) has invoked the principles
of the Declaration of Independence and said that it stands with
those rights which are called inherent, such as life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. It is not so in any sense whatever,
and never was so regarded. If it were, do you not perceive that
it applies as well to infants as to adults? If it is natural to
all citizens, then it applies, as I have said, to infants as well
as to adults. I regard it as strictly a political right. It does
not inhere in man naturally, or in woman; and I do not propose,
myself, to impose it on women. It is a severe, rugged service,
which in my judgment ought not to be imposed on women.

My honorable friend from Wisconsin says there is no position in
life in which the society of woman would not be an improvement.
How is it on the deck of a battle-ship? How is it in military
affairs? Should she be placed in the militia to enf