The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-05-08

white man. This is one item for Mr..
Cass's consideration.
ain 1885, passport was granted by
Mr.. Forsyth, Secretary of State, to Rev.
Mr.. Williams, of New jersey. colored
man, in which the Department requests
'all whom itmay concern to permit safely
and freely to pass Rev. Peter Williams, a
citizen of the United States. and, in case of
need, to give him all lawful aid and pro-
teetion.' This is item number two for the
refreshment of Mr.. Cass's official memory
In 1849, Mr. William Wells Brown,
colored citizen of Massachusetts,, re-
ceived from the Minister at the Court of
st. James. Hon. Abbott Lawrence, through
the Secretary of Legation, John G. B. Da-
Wis, regular passport, such as is issued to
any applicant having right to claim it,
and this passport also certifes that Mr..
Brown is citizen of the United States.
This is item number three for Mr.. Cass.
1t may be objected that this was not
a case of issuing a passport from the State
Department this is true, but it must be
remembered that the Foreign Minister
derives all his power from our Govern
ment, acts wholly under the orders and
authority of the State Department, and is
its representative abroad /; no document
issued by him has any force, without it
derives it from the State Department, and
for his passports the United States Govern
ment is responsible. Besides this, we wish
to state here an important fact bearing
upon this subject. Since the incoming of
the Buchanan Administration Mr.. Dallas,
our Minister to London, has been notified
not to issue any more such passports to
colored citizens of the United States.
This proves conelusively that Mr.. Cass
well knew that such had been the prac-
tice, and hence his statement in his letter
to Senator Wilson is fatty contradicted by
his own previous action. Let Mr.. Cass
consider and explain this item also.
again, passport, precisely similar to
that given to MIR. Brown during Mr.. Law
rence's term of Office, was granted by Mr..
Dallas to Mr.. Putnam, of Salem, Massa-
chusetts, colored citizen. The precise
date of this document we cannot now state,
not having the passport before us, though
we can obtain it, but it was during the
Administration of Franklin Pierce. This
is item number five, to refresh the memory
of Lewis Cass.
"These, it would seem, are quite enough
to convict Mr.. Cass of falsehood, or of the
grossest ignorance but we have one more
instance, which we wish especially noted.
In 1854, passport was granted to John
Remond, colored citizen of Salem, Mass
achusetts, by William L. Marcy, Secreta-
~ of State under President franklin
Pierce; Mr.. Remond has this passport in
his possession"
These facts will initiate severely against
the position of Gen. Lane, and will spoil
all his arguments against negro suffrage
under the Leavenworth Constitution.
Universal suffrage as extended to males in
Kansas, it would seem, by reference to
these facts. 1t is women only, our wives,
mothers and sisters, who are DISTINGUISHED
by that Constitution while the most ig-
norant and debased of the race are placed
on an equality with the educated aud re-
fined. The true test for the qualification
,of voters, in our opinion, is INTELLI-
GENCE, without regard to sex OF color,
and such soiH be the test in the Constitution,
which is to be for Kansas. S|t/OS>p>.nO
The Quindaro ChindoUan, radical pa
per, edited by Rev. J. N. WALDEN, under
the head of "No Passports to Men of Col
or" copies the letter of Mr.. Cass without
a word of dissent, and follows it with the
following triumphant interrogatories -
"Who are citizens of the United
States p Will some croaker answer ?''
Webster says "a citizen of the United
States is person. native or naturalized,
who has the privilege of exercising the
elective franchise, or the qualifications
which enable him to vote for rulers, and
to purchase and hold real estate.'
In New York, and in several of the
New England States, negroes are citizens,
and are entitled to, and exercise the rights
of the elective franchise. They vote for
State and Federal officers, and have as
much voice in making the President of
the United States as has any other citizen.
Negroes can hold real estate in Kansas
as well as white man. Section I'd, Ar
ticle 4th, of the Constitution of the United
States says
"The citizens of each State shall be en-
titled to all the privileges and immunities
of citizens of the several States"
The Leavenworth Constitution provides
that "all male citizens of the United
States shall possess the rights of an elect
or" 1t follows that the negro is voter
here under that Constitution. No special
pleading, no subterfuge, no false interpre-
tation of demagogues for sinister purposes
can change these facts.
The discovery that negroes were not
citizens of the United States was made by
Chief Justice fancy but year or two ago.
Judges MCLEAN and CURTIS took issue
with that opinion /; and the Republican
party are unit in endorsing the views OF
the latter, and threaten to engraft such a
feature in their next national platform.
With the uniform practice of the gov
ernment until quite recently; with the
opinion of our ab'est statesmen, jurists and
photographers, endorsing the position that
negroes are citizens of the United States, -
we trust there viii be no further contro-
versy over that question /; and that the
opinion of those seroakers," the late la-
mented THOMAS q. BENTON among the
number, viii satisfy the CaindoaOan, with
out adding the opinion of any Others in
| the same direction.