Do you remember, Sir, a pointed remark made by Lafayette in the French Chamber, shortly after Louis Philippe was crowned King? Astonishment was expressed that the great defender of Liberty should espouse the cause of a Bourbon and help him to the throne. Lafayette, with remarkable condensation of phrase, replied, that he was in favor of Louis Philippe, not because, but notwithstanding he was a Bourbon,—“not because, but notwithstanding.” And in this famous saying of the great French-American you have terms strictly applicable to this case. General Ames, soldier, officer, military commander in Mississippi, became an inhabitant thereof, not because, but notwithstanding he was soldier, officer, and military commander.
A resolution of the Committee on the Judiciary, declaring General Ames “not eligible,” was on motion of Mr. Sumner amended by striking out the word “not,”—Yeas 40, Nays 12,—and thus amended was agreed to without a division.
RATIFICATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Speech at a Serenade before Mr. Sumner’s House in Washington, April 1, 1870.
The occasion was the promulgation by the Secretary of State of the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. A large number of citizens, after calling upon the President and Vice-President, by whom they were addressed, proceeded to the house of Mr. Sumner, who appeared with his friend, Mr. James Wormley, and spoke as follows:—
FELLOW-CITIZENS,—I congratulate you upon the great result that has been accomplished. For years my hope and object have been to see the great promise of the Declaration of Independence changed into performance,—to see that that Declaration became a reality. [Cheers.] This at last is nearly consummated. I do not say entirely consummated, for it is not.
It is my nature, fellow-citizens, to think more of what remains to be done than of what has been done,—to think more of our duties than of our triumphs; and only to-day I have heard from Philadelphia of a decision in a court of justice that a person of foreign birth could not be naturalized in this country because of color. This is in pursuance of one of those old statutes of the days of Slavery, before the word “white” was stricken from the laws. Repeatedly, from my seat in the Senate, I have made appeals for the expunging of that word from the laws. I have now a bill before the Judiciary Committee to strike this word from our naturalization laws. What the Committee will do remains to be seen. I need not say that I shall try to impress upon the Senate the importance of passing this bill. It remains also, that equal rights should be secured in all the public conveyances and on all the railroads in the United States, so that no one shall be excluded by reason of color.