Mr. Williams, of Oregon, hesitated with regard to Mr. Sumner’s substitute, although he seemed to sympathize with the speech. “Sir, I listened with profound admiration to the speech which the Senator delivered in favor of the proposed substitute. It was worthy of the subject, worthy of the occasion, worthy of the author; and when those who heard it shall be forgotten, the echoes of its lofty and majestic periods will linger and repeat themselves among the corridors of History. I cordially indorse the prevailing sentiment of that speech. I believe that the founders of this Republic intended that all freemen should participate in the political and civil rights of the country. I think the distinction which they made was not between white men and black men: that distinction is of modern origin: but the distinction which they made was between freemen and slaves.” He took objection to the substitute. “Pass that law at this session, and it becomes an issue in the next political campaign; and those who sustain it and pass it here will be committed to its support, and those who oppose it will strive to elect men in favor of its repeal. A majority of this Congress may believe in the constitutionality and expediency of such legislation; but another Congress, if a majority should happen to sympathize with the honorable Senator from Kentucky, would abrogate the law, and so the political rights of millions of people would be as varying as the capricious fortunes of the political parties of the country.” In the intervening debate on the Reconstruction Resolution of the House of Representatives, Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, made an elaborate speech on the pending Amendment, in which he pictured the compromise involved in it.