Then, after adding that he had not expected to say a word, he repeated the consecration of his life, exclaiming,—
“I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.”[157]
Sir, that is enough.
Mr. Sumner’s amendment was rejected,—Yeas 14, Nays 30. At a later stage of the proceedings he renewed it, when it was again rejected,—Yeas 12, Nays 26.
At the same stages, an amendment in the following words, offered by Mr. Warner, of Alabama,—
“And be it further enacted, That the Naturalization Laws are hereby extended to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent,”—
prevailed, first by Yeas 21, Nays 20, and then by Yeas 20, Nays 17, and was adopted. A subsequent amendment, by Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, further extending these laws “to persons born in the Chinese Empire,” was defeated, by Yeas 9, Nays 31. The bill as amended was thereupon passed,—Yeas 33, Nays 8,—Mr. Sumner voting in the affirmative.