Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-02-19

his degraded state of slavery, if not pre-
vented by a sense of moral proprietyI
Will you lose this sense by elevating the
negro to freedom? Do you invite the
knave to your freside, to enter your So
cial circle, just because his skin is white ?
And if he desires to enter, can you not
expel him except by making him slave
/ would not pass law to compel two
white men to associate togetherin equal
ity, much less white man and a negro,
but if the parties choose to do so them
selves, what will you do about it? All
must obey the laws and preserve the
public peace, and only he who disobeys
aud disregards the rights of others must
have bis liberty abridged. This is the
American idea; are you afraid of it?
Come, no dodging, want to know who
exalts the negro, those who fear his com.
petition as a skillful laborer, and his
moral and physical advancement, or
those who do not? The law of fraternity
does not require you to take me to your
bosom as your social equal, but only that
you give me justice; will you deny this !?
Now, men of Henderson, in view of the
long hereafter, whose door the grave
shall open, let US ask and answer these
questions to ourselves and see how quick
the shallow sophistries of knaves vanish
in the light of free enquiry Let as be
men and not children frightened bySa
painted devil
Before the rebellion, negro slavery was
very profitable and hence very beautiful
even now it is still profitable and still
beautiful in this immediate latitude
but many persons-a majority, think
of those who love the government made
by Washington and his colaborers-
taking . broad view of national needs
in this day of trial, and making
due estimate of the profit and beauty
as well as the penalty, conlude that
the patriarchal institution =" does
not pay, and in the simplicity of their
hearts, think it no harm. to say so. As
it is an " institution one philosopher
thinks it should be called "destitutien"
the same power which recognizes it
may cease to do so, and it may be dis.
cussed and disposed of as any other in
stitution, all in democratic way, you
see
Following the lead of slavery propa-
gandists, who beheld nothing but profit
and beauty in this blessed institution
ordained of God''-I actually blush for
shame, to quote the words OF United
States Senator-we have been precipi-
tated in civil war, families divided and
the dividing line drawn with blood Is
it not time to stop Let US go back,
then, to first principles and take counsel
of the Fathers of our government 1t
il more safe and honorable to acknowl-
edge an error, and retrace our steps,
than to persist in wrong. What thought
the men to-day, seeking new idols and
speaking through Mr.. Stephens, Vice
President of the Southern Confederacy,
denounce the ideas of Jefferson and his
oopatriots as " fundamentally wrong"
has not time, with it's experiences and
tests, sealed their truth and wisdom, and
do we not drink of the murder and blood
shed, because we have drifted from these
eternal and Divine ideas?
As very private citizen, my line of
duty is marked out, while | stand ever
ready to receive more light, and leaving
others to be fully persuaded in their own
minds. We have scripture authority for
judging for ourselves what is right
1t has been hinted in some quarters
that the proposed convention IN. Louis
vile shall be dispersed. Policy, as we'll
as good sense, will forbid such course.
g The blood of the martyrs is the seed of
the church" and every despotic act of
the pro-slavery party promotes the prog
ress of snti-slavery sentiments, as every
ill-advised act of the abolitionsts i'm
pedes it.
1t is convention, not of Yankee abo
litionists, but of men from slave States,
meeting to consult for the good of their
States and the good of the Union, in the
interest of fpeace-permanent, perpetual.
They have not derived their opinions of
slavery and its workings from books of
fiction and flowers of rhetoric, but, all
from the Slave States and many from
the bloody fields and desolated homes of
the South, they have been behind the
scenes-in the. green room--and can
speak what they do know
Erecting free States, on the ruins of
rebellion slave States, may seem like a
farce to small politicians who cannot
comprehend the times in which they live,
but these may be disappointed, and if
We follow the lead OF such, the time may
soon come when Kentucky will remain
the only place where mart for the sale
of men, women and children can be found,
surrounded by free States, where only
the songs of free labor are shouted from
the fields, and only the Flag of Freedom
kisses the breeze of Heaven.
subjoin the address of the Executive
Committee and leave the matter with
you. SAN. W. LANGLEY.
February 18th, 1864.