The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-08-24
From the Stark County Democrat. t,.{
The Principle of Negro Equality Sis.
tanned .a

There are Republicans who complain that
injustice is done their organization in attribu-
ting to the principle of negro equality. Yet
what do we see? Republican States like Mass
achusetts and Maine comforting upon the ne
gro all the political and civil rights of the ma
tive born whites, giving them considerably
highe- privileges than is granted to foreign
born citizens. Their organs do not hesitate to
sustain. in the strongest terms. the j~usticeso of
enactmients. Take the following specimen
from the Boston Ahas and Bee of the 11th
inst, which is edited by Colonel Schouler,
formerly of the Cincinnati Gazette and the
Columbus co. JournaL That he is orthodox
in his political faith, and has a right to speak
for the Republicans, none who know him will
question. In his issue of the 11th, combat
ting the position that the negro can never he
equal to the white in this country, he says:
SIS it proved or even rendered probable that
the colored race, if emancIapated, could not
take care of themselves? We say it is not,
and to assert as the Times does is simply b =
ging the whole question. Is IL proceed or rem
dered probable that the AJricans can not TIRE
an this country ON an equality oeih 1h6es? We
say it is not, and that no man who asserts 1T
has ever yet demonstrated the truth OF his as
%sertion by any conclusive reasoning.
ait is not all pertinent to instance the con-
dition of the black man in q condition to per-
nit the testing the question Because Wiss
consin is mean and narrow minded enough to
refuse to allow a negro, however intelligent. to
vote, it by no means proves that the negro
does not deserve the privilege, nor, because
Wisconsin at the same time permits a raw
Irishman and an ignorant Dutchman to vote,
when he neither knows his own politics nor
that of his candidate, does it prove that Wis
consin is either Just or wise in making this ar
bitrary discrimination Let US be just and
sensible as well as critical and patriotic, Mr..
Doolittle. The only fair test of the capacity
and disposition of the black man to dwell. side
by side, on terms of equality with the white
is to take him where he does enjoy that quail
ty. Unfortunately there is no place where
this is the case to the full extent, for prejudice
does much, even in the most favored localities,
to Cypress the colored man.
"But suppose we take the free colored men
of Massachusetts, where they are respected
and treated rs citizens, and what is the result!
Why, we venture the assertion without fear of
successful contradiction, that you may take the
five thousand negroes as they come, and Il thou
sand Irishmen in the same way, and you will
find the negroes surpass the Irishmen of Bos-
ton in intelligence, morality and industry, and
good citizenship; they are more thrifty, more
orderly, and every way superior; it is the same
in the city of Philadelphia. as facts will abund-
dHtIN pIOFc. NOW Via ISH idNC VIC " say
with such a preliminary lesson, that the black
man could not prove not prove himself worthy
of freedom and citizenship"
Here we find the position decidedly and em-
phaticaily taken that the negro is better emit
tied to vote than s'raw Irishman or the igno-
rant Dutchman"-that they sarpass the latter
every way, as good and respectable citizens.
Massachusetts, Maine. and other Republican
States have incorporated this idea into their
statute books. If the Republicans OF Ohio
and the West were as supreme here as they
are in New England, they would pursue the
same policy. Their principles necessarily lead
to the carrying cut of the doctrine Of negro
equality-CFn. Eng.
And if the Republican leaders of Ohio "were
as supreme uere as they are in New England,
they would pursue the same policy" Cid
dings, Spalding, and other of the Republican
leaders of this State, have proclaimed their
preference for negroes over 70. eteners, whom
they have denounced as "~cattle." In this 10
cality, Republican leaders have boldly pro-
claimed their faith IA the words following:
ave believe the negro is human-ha has, a
soul-he has imellect-and in so far as the
rights of suffrage Or any other right of citizen
ship is concerned, He should be placed on an
equality with the rest of mankind" "