After reading the letter at length, Mr. Sumner proceeded:—
This instructive letter is full of wise warnings, to which we cannot be indifferent. It is testimony, but it is also argument.
The necessity of this measure appears not only from Georgia, but even from Pennsylvania. I have in my hands an article by Richard T. Greener, the principal of the Colored Institute at Philadelphia, where he vindicates the pending bill. I read a brief passage, and simply in reply to the Senator from Maine, on the necessity of Congressional action. Mr. Greener is no unworthy representative of his race. He knows well how to vindicate their rights. Here is what he says:—
“Not three weeks ago, the Committee which waited on the President from this city, in behalf of Mr. Sumner’s bill, were refused accommodations at the dépôt restaurant in Washington, and only succeeded in being entertained by insisting upon just treatment. It has scarcely been three months since the secretary of the American legation at Port-au-Prince, Rev. J. Theodore Holly, with his wife and three children, was refused a state-room on the steamer running between New Haven and New York city.”
Then he shows the necessity:—
“Should Minister Bassett himself, indorsed by the Union League, return home and arrive late at night, there are probably not two hotels, such as a gentleman of his station would wish to stop at, where he could be accommodated,—not a theatre or place of amusement which he could visit without insult or degrading restrictions,—not a church, except it be a Quaker or Catholic one, where he would not be shown into the gallery, or else be made to feel uncomfortable: so outrageous are the current American ideas of common hospitality and refinement; so vindictive is this persecution of a humble class of your fellow-citizens.”
Lastly he vindicates the pending measure, and asks for a two-thirds vote:—
“The Supplementary Bill ought to pass by a two-thirds vote. If it passes by a simple majority, we shall, of course, be satisfied, and understand the reason why. If Republican Senators, elected by colored votes, give their influence and votes against this measure, it might be well for them to remember that Negroes, along with instinct, have ‘terrible memories.’”
And now, Sir, after these brief illustrations, where our colored fellow-citizens have spoken for themselves, showing the necessity of legislation by the Nation, because only through the Nation can the remedy be applied, I come to the precise argument of the Senator. He asks for the power. Why, Sir, the National Constitution is bountiful of power; it is overrunning with power. Not in one place or two places or three places, but almost everywhere, from the Preamble to the last line of the latest Amendment; in the original text and in all our recent additions, again and again. Still further, in that great rule of interpretation conquered at Appomattox, which, far beyond the surrender of Lee, was of infinite value to this Republic. I say a new rule of interpretation for the National Constitution, according to which, in every clause and every line and every word, it is to be interpreted uniformly and thoroughly for human rights. Before the Rebellion the rule was precisely opposite. The Constitution was interpreted always, in every clause and line and word, for Human Slavery. Thank God, it is all changed now! There is another rule, and the National Constitution, from beginning to end, speaks always for the Rights of Man. That, Sir, is the new rule. That, Sir, is the great victory of the war; for in that are consummated all the victories of many bloody fields,—not one victory, or two, but the whole,—gleaming in those principles of Liberty and Equality which are now the pivot jewels of the Constitution.