Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-07-21

votes Of the anti slavery people Of New England,
who, on bis own responsibility, without any temp
'a,ion whatever, introduced into the District of
Columbia a Fugitive Slave law That is n fact
For the consideration Of anti.tlavcry men.
Then, there is another item which I want to
bring out in this connection. | am q colored man;
an an American citizen; and | think that / am
entitled to exercise the elective franchise. | am
about twenty.eighs years old, aud / would like to
vote very much. | think i am old enough to vote,
and that if | had a vote to give, l should know
enough to put it on the side Of freedom (applausel.
No party, it seems to me, is entitled to the sympa,
thy of anti slavery r1en, unless TINT party is will
ing TO extend to the black man all the rights Of n
citizen. l care nothing about that anti-slavery
which wants to make the Territories free, while it
is unwilling to extend to me, as q man, in the free
States, all the rights Of man lapplause). In the
state of Illinois, where | live-my adopted State
i have been laboring to make III place fit for a
decent man to live in. In that State, VIC havc o
code of black laws that would disgrace any Bar
baty State. or any uncivilikc co people in the lar'of
islands CT the sea. Men Of my complexion arc not
allowed to testify in a count Of justice, wbero a
white man is n party. If a white man happens to
owe mo anything. unless | can prove it By the
testimony OF a white mar, ! cannot collect the
debt. Now, two years ago, | went through the
State OF Illinois for the purpose of getting siguers
to a petition, asking the Legislature to repeal the
Testimony Law so rs to permit eol9red men to
testify against white men l wont to prominent
Republicans, and, among others, to Abraham Lin
coin and Lyman Trumbull, and neither of them
dared to sign that petition, to give me the right to
testify in n cont of iuetica1 fIIoa. I,..JN =, IL
State of Illinois, they tax The colored people for
every conceivable purpose. They tax the negro's
property to support schools for the education of
tho white mans children, but the colored people
are not permitted to enjoy any of the benefits re.
sulting from that taxation. We are com to
impose upon ourselves additional taxes, in order
to educate our children. The State lays its iron
hand upon the negro, holds him down, and puts
tue other hand INFO his pocket and steals his hard
earnings. to educate the children of white men;
and if we sent our children to school, Abraham
Lincoln would kick them out, in the name of Re
publicanism and anti slavery
have, then, something to say against the anti
slavery character of the Republican party. Not
only are the Republicans of Illinois on tSe side Of
slavery, aud against the rights Of the negro, but
even some Of the prominent Republicans Of Massa-
chusetts are not acceptable anti-slavery men in
that regard. In the Senate of the United States,
some of gour Senators from the New England
States take special pains to make concessions to
the Slave Power, by aging that they are not in
favor OF bringing ahout negro equality; just as
Abraham Lincoln did down in Ohio two years ago.
When he went there to stump that State, the col.
ored people were ~agitating the question of suffrage
IN that Cfoto ILL., nl,o Cyoy.
listed in Columbus, asserted, on the morning of
the day that Mr.. Lincoln made his speech, tina. he
was in favor ofnegro equality; and Mr.. Lincoln
Took pains at that time to deny the allegation, by
saying that he was not in favor of bringing about
the eqsality of the negro race; that be he did not
believe in making them voters, in placing them in
the jury box, or in ever tringing about the equal
~ OF the races. lie said :hat so long as they lived
here, there must lie an inferior and superior posi-
tion, and that he was, as much as anybody else,
in favor of assigning to white men the superior
position. There is a great deal of talk in this
country about the superiority of the white race.
We often hear, from this very platform, praise of
tho Saxon race. Now l want to put this question
10 those who deny tho equal manhood of the ne
gro' What peculiar trait of character do the white
men OF this country possess, as q mark Of superb
ority, either morally or mentally, that is not also
manifested by the black man, under similar cir.
cumstunces? CLEAR, hear.0 You may take
down the white and black part of the social and
political structure, stone by stone, and in ali the
relations OF life, where the exercise Of his moral
and intellectual functions is not restricted by posi-.
tive law or by the arbitrary restraints of society,
you will find the negro equal to the white man in
oil the elements of head and cart. OF course. nc
one pretends that all men are mentally equal, o,
morally equal, any more than we do that all meu
are of the same weight or equal in physical endow.
ments. Here. in this country, under the mos
favorable circumstances, we have idiots and fools
some in the lunatic asylum, and others in the high
places Of government, who essay to be statesmen,
who ought to be there Qaughter). You say to the
German, the Hungarian, the Iriehman, as soon as
he lands here, GO out on the highway Of the
worlds progress and compete with me, il you can,
in the race for empire and dominion You throw
no letters upon that eyer-restless sea Of energies
that chafes our shores, saying, Thus far shalt
thou go, but no further No, with all that mag,
nauimity which must be ever present. in the true
soul, you say to the foreigner, whose liberty has
been cloven down upon some disastrous European
battle field, whose fortune has been wrecked and
lost amid the storms Of adversely abroad, Come
here and better your condition, if you can p
remember, that, a few years ago, when o Hunga
rian refugee-HOt an American citizen-he hat
only declared bis intention to become one wa.
arrested in the harbor Of Smyrna, for an offence
against tho Austrian government, Capt. Graham,
Of the American war-ship St. Louis. demanded, in
the name of the Federal Government, bis instant
release. and, under the cover of her guns, the
shackles of Austrian bondage melted from his
limbs. and Martin KCsta walked the deck of that
vessel a free man, as proud Of his adopted coun-
try as We were of the gallant deed. That poor
Hungarian in the hour of his misfortune, could
look at the American flag. as it cleaned in the
anniichI Of fhe Anstrian sLu And na ha LnnLnd q.