Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-21


meet all the expenses of the General Assembly.
Is it quite consistent in us that do not permit
them to vote for members Of that General Assem-
blythe body which is to determine how their
money is to be spent2 For many years it has been
the steady policy of the Free States of this Union
to extend the right of suffrage. / remember the
time when. in the State of Connecticut that right
was much more restricted than at present. Ono
barrier after another, which had at first been
thought impassable, has been broken down. By
what law of necessity are we compelled to stop az
this i'm pedimcni-this line which separates mon
who have so l00ths Of white blood, from those
who have 50-l00ts and ! of another hundredth
am not an nbstractonist? am not one OF those
who would take such political axioms as have
IN mentoued, and run with them over the earth, las
tenng them to every man, woman and child that
might meet. But, sir, these maxims have at
least this force, that they afford strong presump-
ton in favor of extending the right OF suffrage 70
all classes of our citizens, restricted only by snch
natural and reasonable limits as all of us admit to
be proper Whenever it is proposed to extend the
privileges of citizen TO any race or class that
have not heretofore enjoyed them, those maXIms
throw the burden of proof upon those who oppose
such proposition. They Therefore throw the BUR
den of proof upon those who object to bestowlnG
the elective franchise upon the colored man. lie
should become q voter unless some sound and
sufficient reason can be given for DISTINGUISHING
him. 1t might be added in this place, that that
political party in our State which has been most
opposed to striking out the word "white' from the
Constitution has declaimed most loudly in favor
of these maxims of government, and has advoca-
ted their general application with the most earnest
ness.
3. NV third argument in favor of striking the
word "white" from the Constitution, is, that the
permanent prosperity of the State OF Ohio requires
it at our hands. Even the superficial reader OF his
tory must have observed, that all the nations OF
| III in difnrpnt have DurSued in great
er on less degree one the other Of two kinds oil
Ipolicy In accordance with one of these, all tho
power of the nation has been withdrawn from the
people and centred in the hands of few prlvileg-
ed orders. This has never been done at once
The beginnings of most States have been Demo
cratic The work of Capitalization would CON-
mence by depriving some particular. class or race
of their rishts-generally some class that were
neither numerous, wealthy, nor powerful, and
that on account Of some prejudice, were generally
odous. Such robbery would have several things
to recommend it to the stronger classes. 1t would
increase their own political power. 1t would be
safe--the disfranchised class being then too weak
for resistance and it would crafty that compa-
cent feeling of superiority which raises US so much
in our own estimation but which eScites only pity
and disgust in tho mind Of the Creator. The pol
| icy of dsfranchi ement, thus inaugurated, was
gradually extended. Those who employed 1T one
day became its victims the next. Glass after class
were disfrauchised, until, at length, the immuni-
ties of the State were monopozed by an order OF
persons too few to constitute an appreciable part
of the population. The consequences OF all this
wafe tt the yiaratfiies OF the people were eehf
pletel alieuated from the Government. They
felt neither reverence affection for it; for thad
not supplied them With single motive for either,
but rather many motives foi hate AID open hostili-
! ty. They became turbulent in peace and danger
our in war To the ruling authority they were
merely "outside barbarians" and they secretly re-
I;,;, nj tod oil ,horr
In such state of things perished the proudest ma
tions OF antiquity 1t is evident from reading Glib
bon, and it is argued at length by an able writer
in the Edinburgh Review, that the real cause of
the fall of the Empire Of the Caesars was not the
mere rruption OF the larbarans--a thing which
Rome had repeled again and again in her more
vigorous days--but it was that state OF society
which had turned al her proper defenders into
enemies. The only class of people interested IN
tho preservation of the state were n company OF
aristocra,s, too few and too little Injured to the
hardships of war to make efficient soldiers. AS
soon rs the banners of the Transalpine barbari-
ans appeared below the mountains the mass of
the people flocked around them by thousands, and
Joined exultingly in the march against their own
capital; and thus Rome, stripped and bleeding,
was left delenseess to her enemies. The Rome
of earlier days, strong in the Democratic equality
of her citizens, and the Rome of later years, when
the policy of DISTINGUISHING the people had already
considerably advanced, is strikingly set forth by
Macaulay:
"'IIoratius. quoth the Consul,
AS thou sayest, so let it be,
And straight against that great array
Forth went the dauntess three.
| For Romans in Rome's quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
| In the brave days of old,
Then none was for party;
| Then all were for the State;
Then the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man loved the great:
Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold:
The Romans were like brothers,
In the brave days of old,
Now Roman is to Roman
! More hateful than foe
And the Tribunes beard the high,
And the Fathers grind the low.
And we wax hot in faction,
In battle we wax cold;
Wherefore men fight not as they fought
In the brave days of DID,"
| The mutual dislike of the higher and lower or
| ders of the Roman Empire in its maturity is
abundanty illustrated in the literature Of the
time. Horace has set to music his hatred OF the
laborug classes, in one of the most liquid of all
ais measures. He says
"Odi profanum vulgus ct arceo,"
which might be freely translated, 81 hate the dir
ty rabble and kick them from my presence" A
modern Democrat would scarcely need stronger
language than this to express his natural preju-
dice" against colored man. As persisted Rome,
so perished Athens and Lacedaemon. In the lat
ter state the work OF political monopoly had gone
on until of population of million only about
twenty-five thousand had any share in the admin
istration of affairs. The people hated the recog
nized authority of the country and onged to throw
! off the yoke that CALLED them In time OF peace
they rebeled; in time of war they Joined the enc
II my. If an earthquake shook Lacedamon, they
regarded it as divine interposition in their behalf
I When the rocks of Mount Taygetus were toppled
down upon the city of Sparta, and their masters
were thrown into confusion, they sprang to arms
They heard in the roar of the ocean and 'the stir
of the angry elements" the voice of their anees'
j. IA m hroot thar oha no