The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-10-24

tor to the colored race, but denies that ne mas
changed his views, or has shown any DISPOSE
ton to @cave I'M on the question ofneSro sui-
frage. TIC show how awkwardly strong
minded man may appear when attempting to
defend an untenable position, We quote a sem
tence:
The result in Connecticut was a Democratic tri-
umph because, there, the proposition was to ADMIT
the negro absolutely and Internationally to Che right
of the elective franchise regardless Of any standard
of intelligence, whereas the Democrats say, Il adj
mitted even in New England, let there be qualifca-
ton Of intelligence, if not Of property. Connecticut
repudated the nncoad tonai suffrage Of the negro,
winch ultra Republicans are seeking to enforce upon
the South, and hence Connecticut swung clear
round on this proposition to the Democrane doc-
trine.
The suffrage proposed in Connecticut for
the negro was not unconditional. The proPo-
sition was to abolish the distinction based on
the mere accident of color, putting the same
restrictions upon the suffrage of the negro
that are upon the white man; no more, no less.
Thereiection of such proposition the AdUe,
tisey styles democratic Webster-the great
est of our English photographers, and a Con
necticut man by the way, defines Democrat
as follows:
DEMOCRAT, n. One who adheres to a government
by The people, fdvors the sion Of the riht of
suffrage TO ALL GLASSES OF MEN.
In the face Of such authoritative definition,
we shall not spend time to show what party
in Connecticut was true to democratic doc
trine,-that which voted to restrict the right
Of suffrage and to exclude class of men from
its exercise, or that which voted to expunge
from the fundamental law the only word which
makes an invidious distinction between the
classes of men of which the state is made up.
1t may be perfectly consistent with the highest
and the truest idea of Democracy to exclude
Individuals from the right of suffrage, for
cause, such as crime, inbeciIity, alienage, &C.,
perhaps for ignorance, inability to read and
write, or non-payment Of taxes, but the exclu-
sion of class or the creation of castes is in
violation Of the very first principles of the
Democratic faith as promulgated by all the
early fathers and apostles of American Democ-
racy.
The editor of the Ad5ertiser has the frank
ness to avow his opinions distinctly, and the
honesty to stand up to and defend them, as
the following extract demonstrates:
We have held, and still hold to the belief that God
made the negro, according to His wise purpose,
inferior, normally consutqtonaily and ulaterably,
to the white man. and his happiest condition is that
of ignorance and slavery under fixed government
of laws and protection.
We dispute no ones right to hold or believe
just what he. pleases on question of this
nature, but while thus disposed to tolerate the
widest latitude in opinions, we cannot avoid
the expression Of our surprise, that any man
who has received the benefits of education,
and of training in the midst of Che light OF
the 10Th century, converged to bright focus
as it confessedIy is in that favored spot called
New England, should seriously enunciate the
doctrine that, for any creature Of God, endow-
ed with intellectual powers, no matter how
feebly developed, @igssorGace Is bliss" The
negroes @happiest condition." says the Adeer-
tiser, "Is THAT OF IGNORANCE AND sLAv-
ERY."
The suggestion to our mind is simply mon
strous. We envy not the condition Of that
mind which can for moment endorse or APP
preciate such an idea. Any kind of democra-
cy that deems it for the good Of the world or a
portion of it, to foster ignorance, to close up
the avenues to the mind, and to keep any
class Of The human race in ignorance aud sla-
cry TO promote human happiness, SHOULD at
once have its name changed and be called
deaonocracy.
The editor of the Advertiser continues;
We believe just as the etor-in-chief Of the Press
formerly believed, when editor Of Democratic paper
in Bath, that It was in contraventonof the laws of
CnI IN tha MA of
tical rights and power with the white man, under
government whose only safe basis is popular intel
gence
Our contemporary is entirely mistaken in
what he here attributes to us,as belief former
ly expressed in the Bath paper. A similar al
legation was made by Brunswick editor, but
without the shadow OF a truth to base it on
We can readily believe that the editor Of the
Advertiser honestly penned the paragraph
above, and have no doubt he viii be just
enough to correct it. The paragraph out of
which the above misstatement was manufac-
tured, was copied into the Bath paper from
the New York Day Book, only for the pur-
pose of condemning it and showing what
monstrous doctrines were being palmed off in
the name of Democracy.
In closing the singular article under. notice,
the writer gets into the fog to such a degree
that we find itdifficuIt to decipher his exact
meaning. he betrays a singular state of OBJ
fuscation. Hear him:
When this inferior race in its exceptional iniyid-
uals rises up TO the standard Of inteIigeaea that
shall render it safe for him exercise the privilege Of
voting his natural infsriority the white man as an
organic being, may not perlse necessarily exclude
hi I'm frnuo fha DOlifical right of Voting 4
But If a majority of state consisted OF such in
teliigent black men, we would not, nor do we believe
the Democratic party would, admit that majority to
the right of suffrage, and thus subject the superior
white minority 10 the inferior act nDor;ty. As a
polite and unjust to the white minority, and not due
TO a black majority. And VET, it Is to this extreme
that the opponents of the Presidents policy and the
advocates OF unconditional negro suffrage, would
push their measures We are radically, now and for
ever, against il. y sra dtEssl Is
Here we have the admission that individu-
ais OF this race,-a race NORMALLY, constitu-
tionally and unalterabiy'' inseriorte the white
raee,--so much inferior that they are not in
cluded among those whom an apostle says
are ''made of one blood, $50 much inferior
that their "happiest condition is that Of ieno-
rance ssnd slavery, may "rise up to the
standard of intelligence that NAV entitle
them toyotel What this exact standard Is
we are not informed, but it is fair to infer
that our democratic contemporary would not
place it higher than he would fer white men,
and we know that his party will alloy the
most ignorant, the most brutal and the most
besotted scum thrown upon our sferes from
the old countries of Europe, to vote, with lit
tie regard to forInality or condition, provided
they will vote the party ticket. The ignorance
that votes at the "Fiye Points" in New York
cannot be matched among the negroes of the
South, scarcely on board the slave-ship itself.
Ii mere o'ainaal on two legs is entitled tovote
because ne exhibits as much intelligence as
the lowest order Of white voters, why should
not the dog, which often evipces more intelli-
gence and humanity than the ignorant. white
Hf.s 0lcAh a oil !