New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-11
RIGHTS OF THE COLORED RACE.

-, = orascbed powerful aud characteristic
" H., evening on the "Right Of the Colored
D. g. this Country to Citizenship and Protection
..-ron was specially in behalf Of the Institution
: w.shipgton. d. c. for the Education Of Colored
oaJs large audience present. The text
f,om Levacus xix. SO, "a, and Acts xvii. 20:
az .Oourn with thee in your land ye shall not
~, him but the stranger that dweeth wit you shall be unto
700 born among you, and thou shalt love him as tiny
For God hath made Of blood all nations Of for TO
dwell on ell the face Of the earth"
The general theme of the discourse was the claims
Of the cOored race this country, as forced upon ue
conscience by the recent reasoning ana decisohs oI
the Supreme Court against them, declaring that they
have rights which white men are Douhu 70 IesPeoe
A. these people, said DIR. Cheever, are 'nuS e1oon
municaed and Outcast, we ere conpene1 70 ON S-
selves the ouestOn what treatment GOD requires Oi
tbero M ~ bsnds What are our duties in respect
10 them. in the light Of the Word OF Goa w nat y
their present condition, and what oug"t W 70 e 'non
condition What does the Government zen Omo Nm I'm
What ought Christianity to secure i8r thein no"
NAV we elevate them and prepare fhem by the acqu-
son NJ knowledge and by habits OF virtue and indus
try, for social position oil useaileSs anu nap,ness
The preacher took the ground that precisely the same
obioations rest upon toward them a. toward the
whites. 1,;.o e.. 49,
ME has responsibility laid upon II by God to provide
foy them the means and motives of obedience. When
ever the government Is minister OF God for good 10
the citizens there is the motive as well as the authority
and power for obedience. Hence in the great pro-
phetic Missionary Psalm, He shall Judge the poor OF
'thy people he shall the children Of the needy,
I" and shall break in pieces the OPpressor." The chill
dren Of all classes but especially the lower, have
claims from God upon the government by their very
birth human beings and by the very claims OF gov
eminent them. An education is due TO them from
the government, such will enable them to under
stand their duties their responsibilities and their
rights. Neither color nor race constitute the claims
for such education, but humanity, and it is due as
fully TO the blacks to the whites and 10 one race as
freely and completely as to another.
The effect of the system OF SavfSy was traced on
fhe condition Of the free cOlOred race under such So
cial civil and political degradation aud exclusion as
tbey Ind 10 endure-excuded from most of the hon.
Orabe and honest eInpoyments OF me- ana dePrvea OF
all the ordinary incentives to the attainment Oh KNOW
EDGE. By the decision Of the Supreme Court lately
pronounced this treatment of them as mt Tor notmhS
but slaves is put forth the law Of the land in re-
gard to them How can they be saved from such
tyranny and ruin
nro,ection first In point of law and fact-the tesmo-
nv of Justices Curtis and Mclean being nc0ntestaDie
~ well AZ the argument Of Mr.. Downing. But, In the
second place surprising that as law and tact the
c6ored race had been considered as citizens nor
admitted as having any of the rights OF human beings
that would make difference as to our duty and their
Just claims in the sight of God Their rights Us human
beings are inalienabe, and the destruction OF these
rights by law is in violation Of natural JUSTICE OF the
ends Of good government, and of the commands OF
God; and il il our duty to repeal such lnqultous
statutes and 10 expose IN tie lsnt vi OOu WOiu tno
wickedness which has enacted Them
The nature and character of the Supreme Court as
court Of equity and justce-a court as Judge story
described it, for the relief Of the enfeebled and OPP
pressed to secure them against the iniqultes and
fraud and the oppression of hard bargain-the
Supreme Court as q court Of equity, may not take
advantage Of the necessities and msforunes OF any
class of people to trample them down, since IL was
established to defend Just such defenseess men and
women. Yet this Court openly on the very ground that
the African race he's been unjusty despoedfo all ages
condemns them to perpetuity OF such oppression, as
being ct for nothing else-ft only to be made slaves
and merchandise. There is not in thsdecsion even
the afectation Of any design Of equity but the whole
reasoning is vantonly unjust and cruel
The claim of the African race, them upon the Gov
eminent is for such an education as will enable them
10 be proper citizens under the Government-as VIII
cit them to understand their rights, their duties, ana
their responsibilities. And the children OF the race
have cnims upon the government just In proportion
10 their wretchedness and helplessness. There Is no
intiu,aton in the Constitution of the United States,
nor any construction that can be forced upon II,
whereby children can be rghtfully chattehsed, anu
converted into property. The article which Is some
times tortured into such meaning, Is restricted 10
perpons from whom labor or serrice IS due ana MOI
persons from whom their children are due Inc chl-
dren cannot under the divine law belong any other
than their parents and when they are oOn are
born under protection Of government, having all the
rights for the security OF which government ordained
Of God. To the children are duo from government all
those rights privileges opportunities; all that discl-
pine training and development for which God him.
self declares government to have been instituted
without respect to persons races, color or blood Inc
speaker dwelt at length on the lniqny oil cnat
telizng and imbrutng children, instead OF training
and educating them for freedom and happiness When
any government foredooms millions OF human beings
10 such condition. and renders he propagation, In
crease and perpetuity Of such misery an object OF Its
guardian care divests itself OF all the attributes
of good with which God has invested government as
blessing and it puts on itself the characteristics OF
living curse.
This process was considered in regard TO parents and
the famyits destruction of the parental relation, and
of the family institution; and the speaker drew VIVID
nicture of Slavery "a il violates the family, and
40 the Word of God which ordained the family.
The guilt and danger Of such perversion of justice
and snch inhuman treatment OF whole race, adopted
ms the policy of the nation cannot be measured. And
fhe influence of such unjust legislation IN destroying
the neoples yeneratiOn for law is not one Of its small
est eyits Unjust judges are worse than drunken
nilots and any government that employs them VIII
run and split upon the rock. Judges perverted into
the service of the slave ogarchy setting at defiance
by their reasoning all principles of humanity and JUS
flee and corupng aud destroying the conscience are
ike Dr. Kane's hungry Arctic dogs-devouring
their own harness. They destroy the claim OF
obedience the posi- ilty of reverence and the sense
of authority in the common mind. There Is then nothing
left to hold by. The Arctic navigator, when ne found
what his dog had been dong, cut of strips from his
own trowsers to supply the place of Che traces
but such process il suicidal And such Is the process
going on when our Judges undertake to perveft the
moral sense Of the people which Is the ony thng tha
God has appointed 10 bind them TO OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
science toward God. Ii that be destroyed no govern
ment be sustained but by bayonets and soldiery
And the people make mp that deficiency OF regious
authority in government by sacrifice OF their religious
independence, their allegiance 10 God, their moral
sense grounded in his Word, they sacrifice their own
life and lay themselves bare-without defense, and
without right ofprotestto all the cruetes of despot
ism.