er the double fire of the Democrats and the women, would
have been laughable, had not their proposed action been so
outrageously unjust and ungrateful. The tone of the Republican
press[53] was stale, flat, and unprofitable. But while their journals
were thus unsparing in their ridicule and criticism of the loyal women
who had proved themselves so patriotic and self-sacrificing, they
would grant them no space in their columns to reply.[54]

The second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress is memorable for an
able debate in the Senate on the enfranchisement of woman, on the
bill[55] "to regulate the franchise in the District of Columbia,"
which proposed extending the suffrage to the "males" of the colored
race. On Monday, December 10, 1866, Senator Cowan, of Pennsylvania,
moved to amend the amendment by striking out the word "male" before
the word person. This debate in the Senate lasted three entire days,
and during that time the comments of the press were as varied as they
were multitudinous. Even Horace Greeley,[56] who had ever been a true
friend to woman, in favor of all her rights, industrial, educational,
and political, said the time had not yet come for her enfranchisement.

From _The Congressional Globe_ of December 11th, 12th, 13th, 1866, we
give the debates on Mr. Cowan's amendment. In moving to drop the word
"male" from the District of Columbia Suffrage bill, he said:

Mr. PRESIDENT: It is very well known that I have always
heretofore been opposed to any change of the kind contemplated by
this bill; but while opposing that change I have uniformly
asserted that if it became inevitable, if the change was certain,
I should insist upon this change as an accompaniment. It is
agreed--for I suppose when my honorable friend from Rhode Island
[Mr. Anthony] and myself agree to it, it will be taken to be the
universal sentiment of the body--that the right of suffrage is
not a natural right, but a conventional right, and that it may be
limited by the community, the body-politic, in any manner they
see fit and consistent with their sense of propriety and safety.

The proposition now before the Senate is to confer on the colored
people of this District the right of franchise; that is, the
advocates of the bill say that that will be safe and prudent and
proper, and will contribute, of course, to the happiness of the
mass of the inhabitants of t