The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861, 1860-03-10

that these $4,000 blacks whom they declare
injurious to us in every respect, would
rise so superior to the millions of whites
as to take the government out of their
hands, if admitted freely to the ballot box.
Do the gentlemen know that in this miser
BILE plea for despotism tbov pay tribute
to negro talents which til most enthusiast
tic Abolitionist has never awarded him
Is it because the negro is black that this
discrimination is made against him2 Not
this, for if he be worth $3.50 the discrimin-
alton ceases, and he votes with the rest of
us. Does this $3.50 so whiten out his face
that it is no longer dangerous nor disgrace
full to go to the ballot-box with him. Is
it because he is poor7 Not this, for hun
dreds of thousands as poor as he vote at
every election unquestioned; and, besides
this, where is the Democrat will not Sarear
he is the poor mans friend : Is y
If the negro is poor and destitute of the
means of protecting his natural rights
which wealth affords its possessors, then in
deed should he have the ballot-box as a
means of defense. His poverty, then, be-
comes his passport and especial claim to
the elective franchise, and in the name of
the poor, oppressed, downtrodden, abused,
unprotected man of color, DEMANDit The
rich, the powerful, have other means of
of protection; but the poor, the weak, are
poor and weak indeed if the ballot-box is
taken from them. Sir, it is the peculiar
glory of this age that it reaches down its
hands to the lowly of every condition and
lifts them up. Take out the benevolent
enterprises of the nineteenth century, and
you pluck out its chief glory. The most
beautiful characteristic of the Christian re-
ligion is its supreme love of the lowly.
Christ never appeared more divine than
when he went about blessing the poor,
comforting the mourner, healing the sick,
and raising the dead. Such deeds ennoble
man more than battles and conquests.
But the gentleman from Sar-
atoga is greatly afflicted at the idea of
cheapening suffrage So have despots of
all ages been afflicted. The gentleman
should be admonished that it is too late by
several centuries to shed tears over the
"cheapening of suffrage" Sir, it was to
cheaper suffrage that the gallant Pilgrims
moored their bark on proud New England's
shore. 1t was to cheaper suffrage that
our revolutionary heroes, among whom
were black men, who, though they now
"have no rights which white men are bound
to respect" then had rights their skiful
welding of the sword forced them to re-
spect, until their ends were attained, when,
fearing the black man would in later day
evince the same skill in using it for his
own rights, the edict went forth, "Never
let black man take up arms Il
But we now reach the climax of horrors,
before which my Saratoga friend stands
Supplied. And what is this h02Yidum mon
arunt before which the gentleman stands
Supplied, with hair erect, and with voice
clinging to his throat Why, eff we let
the negroes vote on equal terms with our
selves, 1t aoiH offend Our brethren at the
South, of whose feelings we should be ex-
tremely careful at these times of excite
ment" Is this the Republicanism of old
Saratoga, a name sacred in the memory of
brave deeds and brilliant victories over
despotism.
And now, once more, why should this
disgraceful property qualification longer
deface our Constitution To-day man is
poor; he has no money, and therefore can
not vote. But tomorrow he becomes the
fortunate possessor of donkey worth $3.50,
and 10 the black face leaves, and the
elective franchise comes rushing on him,
and the sensitive legal gentleman from Sar-
atoga shakes hands with the two-hundred-
and-ffty-dollar white-washed negro at the
polls But, alas for the stability of for
tune and the evanescense of human hopes,
the donkey dies; the black face returns,
and my learned friend turns cold shout
der to the unfortunate mourner, and reads
him solemn lecture on "the danger of
chea P suffrage" Well may repeat the
question of the sage old franklin, and ask
the learned legal gentleman, (Which was
the voter, the man or the donkey2n The
donkey alive,the vote may be given-black
turns white; but the donkey dead, white
turns black, and the vote is a red-hot shaft
of fanaticism, Has the gentleman ever
reflected on the enormous cheapness of the
elective franchise when its exercise is thus
m ado to t1rn On tho tr;A;ur Incident hof n