Mr. Jay.t The chairman of the select committee has given a fair and candid exposition of the reasons that induced them to make the report now under consideration ,and of the motives by which they were governed . He has clearly stated why they were desirous of extending the right of suffrage to some who did not at present enjoy it, but he has wholly omitted to explain why they deny it to others who actually possess it. The omission, however , has been supplied by one of his colleagues , who informed us that all who were not white ought to be excluded from political rights , because such persons were incapable of exercising them discreetly , and because they were peculiarly liable to be influenced and corrupted . These reasons , sir , I shall notice presently . When this convention was first assembled , it was generally understood that provisions would be made to extend the right of suffrage , and some were apprehensive that it might be extended to a degree which they could not approve . But , sir , itwas not expected that this right was in any instance to be restricted ,much less was it anticipated , or desired , that a single person was to be disenfranchised . Why , sir , are these men to beexcluded from rights which they possess incommon with their countrymen ? What crime have they committed for which they are to be punished ? Why are they ,who were born as free as ourselves ,natives of the same country ,and deriving from nature and our political institutions the same rights and privileges which we have , now to be deprived of all those rights , and doomed to remain for ever as aliens among us ? We are told , in reply , that other States have set us the example . It is true that other States treat this race of men with cruelty and injustice ,and that we have hitherto manifested towards them a disposition to be just and liberal . Yet even in Virginia and North Carolina , free people of color are permitted to vote ,and if I am correctly informed ,exercise that privilege . In Pennsylvania , they are much more numerous than they are here ,and there they are not disfranchised , * nor has any inconvenience been felt from extending to all men the rights which ought to be common to all . In Connecticut , it is true ,they have , for the last three years , adopted a new constitution ,which prevents people of color from acquiring the right of suffrage , in future ;yet even there they have preserved the right to all those who previously possessed it. But we are told by one of the select committee , that people of color are incapable of exercising the right of suffrage . I may have misunderstood that gentleman ;but I thought he meant to say , that they labored under a physical disability . It is true that some philosophers have held , that the intellect of a black man is naturally inferior to that of a white one ; but this idea has been so completely refuted , and is now so universally exploded , that I did not expect to have heard of it in an assembly so enlightened as this , nor do I now think it necessary to disprove it. That , in general , the people of color are inferior to the whites in knowledge and in industry , I shall not deny . You made them slaves , and nothing is more true than the ancient saying , “ The day you make a man a slave takes half his worth away.” Unaccustomed to provide for themselves , and habituated to regard labor as an evil , it is no wonder that ,when set free , they should be improvident and idle ,and that their children should be brought up without education , and without prudence or forethought . But will you punish the children for your own crimes ; for the injuries which you have inflicted upon their parents ? Besides , sir , this state of things is fast passing away . Schools have been opened for them , and it will , I am sure , give pleasure to this committee to know , that in these schools there is discovered a thirst for instruction , and a progress in learning , seldom to be seen in the other schools of the State . They have also churches of their own , and clergymen of their own color ,who conduct their public worship with perfect decency and order , and not without ability . ( d ) This State ,Mr. Chairman ,has taken high ground against slavery , and all its degrading consequences and accompaniments . There are gentlemen on this floor ,who , to their immortal honor , have defended the cause of this oppressed people in Congress , and I trust they will not now desert them . Adopt the amendment now proposed , and you . will hear a shout of triumph , and a hiss of scorn , from the southern part of the Union ,which , I confess ,will mortify me -I shall shrink at the sound , because I fear it will be deserved .But ithas been said that this measure isnecessary to preserve the purity ofyour elections . I do not deny that necessity has no law , and that self preservation - may justify inStates , aswell as in indivi duals , an infringement of the rights of others . But where isthe necessity in the present instance ? The whole num ber of colored people in the State ,whether free or inbondage ,amounts to less than a fortieth part of the whole population . When your numbers are totheirs asforty to one , do you still fear them ? To assert this ,would be topay them a compliment which , I am sure ,you donot think they deserve .But there are a greater number inthe city of New York . How many ? Sir , even inthat city , the whites are to the blacks as ten toone . And even of the tenth which is composed of the black population ,how few are there that are entitled to vote ? It has also been said that their numbers are rapidly increasing . The very reverse is the fact . During the last ten years , inwhich the white population has adyanced with astonishing rapidity ,the colored popu lation of the State has been stationary . This fact appears from the official returns of the last and the preceding census , and completely re futes the arguments which are founded upon this mis -statement . Will you then ,without necessity , and merely to gratify an unreasonable prejudice , stain the constitution you are about toform ,with aprovision equally odious and unjust , and indirect violation of the principles which you profess ,and upon which you intend to form it ? " I trust , I am sure , you will not .
