[425] that a returned Chinaman is worth a dozen missionaries; but while he is here, —if he does not return,—he comes under our influences, he shares the good, of our churches, of our schools, and if you will let him he will grow up in the glory and the beauty of our citizenship. Senators say no; shut him out from citizenship; let him have nothing of this great privilege. Here I differ. I claim for him all that you accord to others,—nor more, nor less. There can be but one rule for all. Because the Almighty made him of a color slightly different from my friend the senator from Oregon, I know not why he should not be equal to that senator in rights,—I know not why he should not enter into the same citizenship.In the debate on the naturalization laws, as also in other debates during the session, Conkling was offensive to Sumner, being uniformly the aggressor.1 It aggravated him that Sumner ignored him and let his thrusts pass in silence. Finally, when interrupting as if he had been referred to, Sumner said, ‘I ask a thousand pardons of the senator from New York; he is the last person that I would refer to.’ Cokling was at a loss for a retort, and could only reply, ‘I am very much obliged to the senator.’2 The Cuban insurgents were still pressing for the recognition of their status as belligerents, and for partisans in Congress they had Carpenter in the Senate and Banks in the House. Sumner did not consider that they had established a government de facto so as to entitle them to recognition; but he drew and reported resolutions condemning the barbarities of the civil war on the island, expressing regret that slavery was still maintained upon it, and declaring sympathy with fellow-Americans in Cuba who were struggling for independence,3—which, however, did not come to a vote. Dr. Howe, who had a passion for revolutions and civil disturbances of all kinds, and had no respect for the restrictions of international law or comity, was
1 Jan. 14, 17, Feb. 10, 1870. Congressional Globe, pp. 459, 506, 1143-1146.
2 July 5. Congressional Globe, p. 52:36.
3 June 23 and 24; Congressional Globe, pp. 4753, 4754, 4806. The House had rejected Banks's resoluions acknowledging the Cuban insurgents as belligerents, and passed a single resolution of remonstrance against the barbarous manner in which the war was being conducted. Sumner spoke briefly on the subject at other times in the session (Dec. 15. 1869, Works, vol. XIII. pp. 195-203; Feb. 3, 1870, Globe, pp. 1003, 1007, 1008). His resolutions were approved by the press (New York Evening Post, June 24; New York Herald, June 24 and 25; Harper's Weekly, July 9). They were in accord with the President's message. June 13 (Globe, p. 4400). Interviews with the senator on the Cuban question are reported in the New York Herald, May 7, 1869; New York Times, Jan. 10, 1870; New York World, Dec. 11, 1869. The last-named journal contains (Feb. 10, 1870) the senator's views given at length. Ante, pp. 401-403.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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