SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON PRESENTING A PETITION OF THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL LEAGUE, PRAYING UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION BY ACT OF CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 9, 1864. MR. PRESIDENT,--I offer the petition now on the desk before me. It is too bulky for me to take up. I need not add that it is too bulky for any of our pages to carry. This petition marks a stage of public opinion in the history of Slavery, and also in the suppression of the Rebellion. As it is short, I will read it. “_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:-- “The undersigned, women of the United States above the age of eighteen years, earnestly pray that your honorable body will pass, at the earliest practicable day, an act emancipating all persons of African descent held to involuntary service or labor in the United States.” There is also a duplicate of the petition, signed by “men above the age of eighteen years.” It will be perceived that the petition is in rolls. Each roll represents a State. For instance, here is New York with a list of seventeen thousand seven hundred and six names, Illinois with fifteen thousand three hundred and eighty, and Massachusetts with eleven thousand six hundred and forty-one. But I will read the abstract with which I have been furnished. State. Men. Women. Total. New York 6,519 11,187 17,706 Illinois 6,382 8,998 15,380 Massachusetts 4,249 7,392 11,641 Pennsylvania 2,259 6,366 8,625 Ohio 3,676 4,654 8,330 Michigan 1,741 4,441 6,182 Iowa 2,025 4,014 6,039 Maine 1,225 4,362 5,587 Wisconsin 1,639 2,391 4,030 Indiana 1,075 2,591 3,666 New Hampshire 393 2,261 2,654 New Jersey 824 1,709 2,533 Rhode Island 827 1,451 2,278 Vermont 375 1,183 1,558 Connecticut 393 1,162 1,555 Minnesota 396 1,094 1,490 West Virginia 82 100 182 Maryland 115 50 165 Kansas 84 74 158 Delaware 67 70 137 Nebraska 13 20 33 Kentucky 21 .. 21 Louisiana .. 14 14 Citizens of the United States living in New Brunswick 19 17 36