Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1857-09-08
EQUALITY.


The article in our last issue under the
above title, exercised the minds of the Lo-
cofoco tribe in Pomeroy, to an extent truly
alarming. The Telegraph was in great
demand, and such eagerness was exhibited
by one or two of the younger brethren to
read and inwardly digest the contents of
the paper, tina! we began to fear they might
be troubled with information on tile Jrain
When, however, we heard the miseIably
distorted Interpretation given to our Ian
guage, these fears vanished. They seem
determined not to understand our Ian
guage; and charge upon us all manner Of
ridiculous absurditieS, which we never
dreamed of advocating. We propose to
recapitulate, and notice few of the mon
strous charges brought against us;
What was our argument?
I. That God Almighty had created ALL
men with EQUAL NATURAL RIGHTS,
and IN that respect, all men, of every con-
dition and color, We're EQUAL. Or, in
the language Of that good old document
the Dcclaration of dcpendence-"We
hold these truths to be self.evident that
all men are created equal that they are
ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR
with certain INALlENABLE RIGHTS;
that among these, are life, liber,y, and the
pursuit of happiness" This was lhe doc
trine of our revolutionary fathers; and all
who denied this doctrine at that day were
called TORIES. AT this day, they call
themselves Democrats.
9. That in NO OTHER RESPECT is
there any equality in the human race, ex-
cept in equality of RIGHTS.
3. That every man has a rjgM to chooSe
his oacn company; that because we accord
to all men equal rights, it does NOT fol-
low that we are willing toassociate on terms
of social equality with all men. By no
manner Of means.
4. That those who deny the negro race
equality Of right associate most Intimately
with negroes, and are more nearly on a So
cial equality with them.
This was our argument. Now for the
charges.
/. That we are in favor Of negro suf-
Jroge- that negro suffrage is one Of the
issues in this campaign. Now, negro suf-
frage has nothing whatever to do with the
question under discussion, nor is it one of
the issues of the campaign. The Creator
never endowed any man, white or black,
with an "inalienable right" to rote. IIe
gave all men the right to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. lie made all
men free na0rnl agents, and holds each one
accountable for his own individual con-
duct. There is wide distinction to be
drawn between nqturol rights AMI political
prioileges. We may freely accord to all
their natural rights, and still withhold the
privilege of voting from great many, for
what may seem to us gool and sufficient
reasons. For instance: the meanest Tory in
the land would not dare to openly deny to
females any of their natural riyh s, yet a
great mary very good men agree in main
tanning that it would not be good policy to
allow females to vote. We all agree that
foreigners should be allowed all their nat
arOJ rights rs soon as they arrive in this
country; yet we do not permit them to VOC
until they have beon here several years,
Americans, born in this country, cannot
vote until they are twen'y-one years old
yet they exercise all their natural rights
long before they arrive at that age. But
again: the Constitution of Ohio regulates
the question of suffrage, and the only way