ured, so that he might gradually rise
in the scale of being, and finally attain the full perfection for
which his Creator designed him.

"Thus governments, political systems, and political rights have been
the subjects of study and improvement; changes adapted to the advance
of society are made; experiments are tried, based upon reason and upon
judgment, and those are safest which in their gradual introduction
avoid unnecessary violence and convulsion.

"I submit, sir, whether it be wise for us now so suddenly to alter so
entirely the political _status_ of so great a number of the citizens
of this District, in conferring upon them indiscriminately the right
of franchise."

Mr. Chanler, of New York, then addressed the House:

"If, sir, it should ever be your good fortune to visit romantic old
Spain, and to enter the fortress and palace of Alhambra, the fairest
monument of Moorish grandeur and skill, as this Capitol is the pride
of American architecture, you may see cut in stone a hand holding a
key, surmounting the horse-shoe arch of the main gateway. They are the
three types of strength, speed, and secresy, the boast of a now fallen
Saracen race, sons of that sea of sand, the desert, who carried the
glory of Islam to furthest Gades. In an evil hour of civil strife and
bitter hatred of faction, the Alhambra was betrayed to Spain, 'to feed
fat an ancient grudge' between political chiefs. The stronghold of the
race, with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare
works of art--the gardens of unrivaled splendor--all that was their
own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies of another.

"The legend of the Saracen exile tells the story of penitence and
shame; and to the last moment of his sad life he sighs in the sultry
desert for the fair home of his ancestors, the gorgeous Alhambra. We,
too, are descended from a race of conquerors, who crossed the ocean to
establish the glory of civil and religious liberty, and secure freedom
to themselves and their posterity. To-day we are assembled in the
Alhambra of America; here is our citadel; here our courts of highest
resort; around these halls cluster the proudest associations of the
American people; they seem almost sacred in their eyes. No hostile
foot of foreign foe or domestic traitor has trodden them in triumph.
Above it floats the flag, the emblem of our Union. That Union is the
emblem of the triumphs of the white race. That race rules by th