Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-07-08
Negro Equality.

TO another SUBJECT OF natlODal Importance III
these times. But a little while ago we were
busily at work defending the Constitution
against the attacks Of insidiOu5 enemies at the
North, while the government was defending il
against Southern rebellion. The old party whose
motto is, The Constitution is a league with
death and a covenant with hell" had succeeded
| in placing their cannon before the fortress OF
| our national rights and powers, and were carry
ing on their mines under its very foundations.
A Senator in his seat more than intimated that
be regarded any man traitor who talked about
the Constitution in these days. a New York
paper professed to Believe that the Constitution
/ was paper and nothing more A general in the
field told his soldiers that the people were up he
was at their head, and hipted boldly that the
/ Constitution was red tape-tO be torn of and
| thrown TO the winds.
| In the haste with which men thought many
were deceived by these bold assertions, and a
vague notion took possession of some good per-
sons, that there was something in the idea, that
| the republic was higher than the Constitution
tue nation higher than the Union. Crude IDEAS
| Ill defined, in fact only half formed, took pos
| session of the minds OF anxious and really
patriotic men, and for awhile the belief that we
might throw away the Constitution to save the
- something which men could not precisely
| explain; one called it the republic, another the
people, another the nation, and some even the
| Unon-this belief that we might cut our throats
to keep our limbs together, seemed to gain favor
in the minds Of some Of those who were at heart
devoted patriots. Slowly but steadily and surely
| the great American truth thst the Constitution
is the Union, the republic the nation, resumed
its power, and then began to be seen the fact
that those who had diligently sought to incul-
cate the false notion, had at heart a secret
! object, whose explanation was found IN their
old hatred Of the Constitution, and their old
creed that d" the only exodus Of the slave is over
the ruins Of the American Union
At this point the people stand now. AL eyes
are beginning to be opened to the terrible chasm
on the verge of which the united forces of South
ern and Northern disuniOnism have placed the
Constitution snl the Union. But there is an
| other discovery which the events Of the past
year are now making manifest, and recent dem
onstrstions bring prominently forward The
object of all this enmity to the Constitution has
been supposed to be the mere abolition Of sla-
very. We have been assured that, slavery once
abolished, all sectional questions are forever
gone, and we can form new Union on pTiuci-
pies Of similar institutions and similar moral
views The universal panacea fOI national troubles
has been declared to be the abolition Of slavery,
and the millennium of politics is prophesied in
the succeeding years. after using this cuTe-all
medicine.
But it begins to appear that to abolish slavery
amounts to nothing at al, if we continue to look
with pride and the notion Of superiority on the
negro. We are now told we shall have disuniOn
again if we don't accept the negro as an equal
in the republic. The panacea viii not after all
cure disuniOn, unless We add the plaster L
may sting and blister and bite little, but win
not last. They tell US that We shall get over
the prejudices, the notions the imaginstiOns, the
bad taste Of preference for white skins, and then
al will 60 smoothly in the E.ilk and mOlasses
united republic.
Again, as two weeks ago, we challenge de-
NAL that the radical party desire to have and
will attempt to make the nation adopt negro
equality, if they obtain the ascendency.
When two weeks since we stated this propOsi-
ton as now forming part OF the radical plan, we
said that although the assertion might be doubt
ed, the proof would be found in the fact that the
radical newspapers would not deny our state
ment, or would only pretend to deny it in doubt
full phrases. No one has YentuTed to deny it.
/ The Tribune frankly admits thatit desires a new
Union in which there shall be no distinction in
law founded upon color or Tsce." The Li6eratOr
proposes at once to place the Southern States in
the hands Of the negro population. The New
/ York Independent IN a long article, JesUiucally
calls us malignant for intimating that there IS
any such plan, but wholly lodges the question
and dares not deny, as we now very respectfully
gro equality with the white IN this country, so
cially and politically. The intention stands out,
broadly exhibited in all the radical papers, dOcU-
ments and speeches. The Tribune of yesterday
thus speaks of the black race as fully equal TO
the white race as 81 children Of the republic -
Is not the republic, in her great and immi-
nent peril, entitled to the services and best eIer
tOns of all her children If so, who has a right
TO treat four millions Of them as exempt from
] ,E
/ il her behslfi"
! In point of fact no man can be consistent as
| a radical AbolitiOnist without adopting the
/ equality of the races as part Of his theory and
! object The Boston old fashioned, died-in-the-
wool Abolitionist understands this, and avOws
I the doctrine The less frank and fearless New
| York Abolitionist, of the Independent sort, en-
/ deavors TO keep favor with the white race while
! offering a somewhat cool embrace to the black.
/ But there is hot q radical newspaper in the
| country that dare risk the loss of the Abolition
/ ist vote by taking firm and decided ground
against negro equality.
| If gentlemen desire to affiliate with the Alba
nv Union party, OF with the radical wing Of the
| Republicans in any manner they must be con-
tent to close their mouths on this subject, and
permit the work to 90 on in favor Of eradicsting
al distinction of race or color IN our institutions.
Can there be any doubt about the voice Of the
men of America against any party which adOpts
| this course On a subject OF such paramount i'm
portancel What to do with the negro IS now
| the question which these gentlemen insist on
forcing on Us and they propose to answer it by
saying: Abolish slavery instantly; admit the
negro as the equal of the white laboTer every
where give him vote give him social equal
| ity; wips out at once al distinctions in law
founded on race or color!
Illinois does not feel disposed to adopt this
new plan. New York is as decidedly against it
as Illinois. The white men of America are
against it. We are content to regard the negro
as sent among Us to be protected and defended
as an inferior, but not as a companion, not as
sharer in our institutions, not as "Child Of the
Republic ~. Y. Jour. Com.