The substitute of Mr. Carpenter was rejected,—Yeas 17, Nays 34. A motion of Mr. Frelinghuysen to make the bill inapplicable to “churches” was carried,—Yeas 29, Nays 24. The next question was on a motion of Mr. Carpenter to strike out the clause relating to “juries.” This was earnestly debated by Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont. Before the vote was taken, Mr. Sumner remarked:—
There is a famous saying that comes to us from the last century, that the whole object of government in England—of King, Lords, and Commons—is to bring twelve men into a jury-box. Sir, that is the whole object of government, not only in England, but in every other country where law is administered through popular institutions; and especially is it the object of government here in the United States; and the clause in this bill which it is now proposed to strike out is simply to maintain that great principle of popular institutions.
This amendment was rejected,—Yeas 12, Nays 42. Other amendments were moved and rejected.
The question was then taken on Mr. Sumner’s bill as an amendment to the Amnesty Bill, and it was adopted by the casting vote of Vice-President Colfax,—the Senate being equally divided, Yeas 28, Nays 28, as follows:—
Yeas,—Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Brownlow, Cameron, Chandler, Clayton, Conkling, Cragin, Fenton, Ferry of Michigan, Frelinghuysen, Gilbert, Hamlin, Harlan, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Osborn, Patterson, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Rice, Sherman, Spencer, Sumner, West, Wilson, Windom, and Wright,—28.
Nays,—Messrs. Blair, Boreman, Carpenter, Cole, Corbett, Davis of West Virginia, Ferry of Connecticut, Goldthwaite, Hamilton of Texas, Hill, Hitchcock, Johnston, Kelly, Logan, Morrill of Maine, Norwood, Pool, Robertson, Saulsbury, Sawyer, Schurz, Scott, Stevenson, Stockton, Thurman, Tipton, Trumbull, and Vickers,—28.
Absent,—Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard, Buckingham, Caldwell, Casserly, Cooper, Davis of Kentucky, Edmunds, Flanagan, Hamilton of Maryland, Howe, Kellogg, Lewis, Nye, Pratt, Sprague, and Stewart,—17.
The announcement of the adoption of the amendment was received with great applause in the galleries.
The provisions relating to Amnesty were then taken up, and after some modification of them Mr. Sumner declared his purpose to vote for the Bill as amended,—that it was now elevated and consecrated, and that whoever voted against it must take the responsibility of opposing a great measure for the assurance of Equal Rights.