er the elective franchise shall be denied or
abridged in any State on account of race or color or sex, all persons
of such race or color or sex shall be excluded from the basis of
representation.

Mr. STEVENS: Is the gentleman from N.Y. [Mr. Brooks] in favor of that
amendment?

Mr. BROOKS: I am if negroes are permitted to vote.

Mr. STEVENS: That does not answer my question. Is the gentleman in
favor of the amendment he has indicated?

Mr. BROOKS: I suggested that I would move it at a convenient time.

Mr. STEVENS: Is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment?

Mr. BROOKS: I am in favor of my own color in preference to any other
color, and I prefer the white women of my country to the negro.
[Applause on the floor and in the galleries promptly checked by the
Speaker]. The Speaker said he saw a number of persons clapping in the
galleries. He would endeavor, to the best of his ability, whether
supported by the House or not, to preserve order. Applause was just as
much out of order as manifestations of disapproval, and hisses not
more than clapping of hands. Instead of general applause on the floor,
gentlemen on the floor should set a good example.

[53] WOMEN POLITICIANS.--Mr. Lane, of Kansas, it is reported, has
presented to the Senate the petition of "one hundred and twenty-four
beautiful, intelligent, and accomplished ladies of Lawrence," praying
for a constitutional amendment that shall prohibit States from
disfranchising citizens on account of sex. That trick will not do. We
wager a big apple that the ladies referred to are not "beautiful" or
accomplished. Nine of every ten of them are undoubtedly _passe_. They
have hook-billed noses, crow's-feet under their sunken eyes, and a
mellow tinting of the hair. They are connoisseurs in the matter of
snuff. They discard hoops, waterfalls, and bandeaux. They hold hen
conventions, to discuss and decide, with vociferous expression, the
orthodoxy of the minister, the regularity of the doctor, and the
morals of the lawyer. They read the _Tribune_ with spectacles, and
have files of _The Liberator_ and Wendell Phillips' orations, bound in
sheepskin. Heaven forbid that we should think of any of the number as
a married woman, without a fervent aspiration of pity for the weaker
vessel who officiates as her spouse. As to rearing children, that is
not to be thought of in the connection. Show us a woman who wants to
mingle in the exciting and unpurified squabble of politics, an