The Portland daily press., 1865-07-06

had gone too far to leave the question in doubt.
Nevertheless, the time had not arrived for the
war to cease. The eliminating act in this vast
drama had not been reached the authors Of
the rebellion, the shareholders themselves, had
not, up to this time, acknowledged the free
dom of the slave, or respected and treated the
negro as man and citizen-all this remained
to be done. But when by the request Of JEFF
ferson Davis, the advice of Gen. Lee, and the
authority of the rebel Congress, the negro was
made soldier, and when BY those who COM
menced the war in order to tighten his chains,
he was appointed to perform the highest Offices
and functions of freeman and citizen, the full
ness of times had come, Richmond fell, Lee
surrendered, and the vast, hideous rebellion,
signing through all its parts, gave sign of woe
that all was lost, 2 and the Republic, vital and
true from centre to circumference, gave shouts
of cheer that all was gained-for now and for
ever Liberty and Union were to be one and in
separablelA J9a1 a ess3 E'4 DIS
Shall this stern and impressive lesson be
disregarded in our adjustment of the status of
the colored man? Shall these plain and Incl
sive teachings of the past be lost to the nation
Shall this experience, so dearly bought, be to
it like the stern lights Of a ship, which hlumine
only the track it has passed? or shall it pour
upon our whole pathway the clear, broad, diff
fusiye rays Of wisdom, Justice and duty? :
The logic: This government was establish
ed for the ends of justice and liberty; the
equality of men before the law was its central
idea. In process of time, however, party
grew up in one section of the country who We
hemently denied the equal rights of men, and
maintained that the only wise and true gov
ernment was founded upon the corner stone
of slavery. And they made war upon the ma
ton because in not being so founded it was a
false nation,-impious, in that it did not ac-
knowledge the higher law of human bondage
and the divine right of one class or race of
men to hold another as beasts of burden.
7e 1t was simply because the flag on Sumter
did not symbolic Slavery that it was shot down
ON the 18th of April, 1851. If it had stood for
that sum of all villainies," it might have re-
manned untouched to this hour and indefin-
itely. A"'
Thus, the issue was distinctly presented, and
it could not be avoided. The difference was
fundamental; there was no room for comprem-
ise the land must be free or slave. To the arbit-
ranent of war the question was referred. The
decision was in favor of liberty; the Declara-
ton of Independence was sustained; the work
of the fathers was vindicated. In this contro-
versy the assistance of the black man was in
voked by both sides; it was given to one, ,-and
that aid, if not deceive, was valuable and effi-
cient. And by force of these facts, authenti-
eating the title of his manhood, the native
born negro became a citizen-his letters patent,
written in blood by the bayonet, are beyond
controversy or challenge, and can never be OBJ
liberated The nation that can deny the loyal
black who has rendered his life in its defence,
his equal rights of citizenship, needs emanci-
patton itself And if at the same time il accords
these rights to disloyal white uen who have
fought against the government, and whose
hearts are surging with malignity and treason,
it is guilty of terrible injustice and, sooner or
later, must pay the penalty of its inconsistent
cy and hypocracy. Such policy would not
only be ungenerous and unjust, and an out
rage upon civilization, but it would be an in
suit to the common Father, who has made of
one blood all the nations and tribes of mem
before whose justice no offence is SO dark, and
in the presence of whose mercy no crime is so
difficult to be forgiven, as the contempt O fany.
even the lowest, of the children of His hand !:
a fact which nations as well as individuals, may
wisely heed. l ra tsal8saoa III $50 aE
The inconsistency under a republican polity,
of excluding any men who were free from the
rights of citizenship, was so glar-ing that Vir-
ginia, in 1888, enacted :" That all frse persons,
born within the territory of this Common
wealth, shall be deemed citizens of this Com
monwealth." AT this time in nearly every
State, free men of color were citizens and cloth
ed with the elective franchise. And in North
Carolina, Tennessee, and perhaps other slave
holding States, down to period comparatively
recent, the right of suffrage was exercised by
the negro, if freeman and native-born Al
though the citizenship of the negro was gener-
ally denied through the dark age of slavery
domination, it is now as generally acknwledg-
ed. Congress- has declared Il, and an official
cognitiOn of it has been made by the Presi-
dent and every member of his Cabinet, and,
finally, the Supreme Court OF the United States
has affirmed it. 1t is familiarly known that the
rule of the State Department has been to grant
Passports to colored men as readily as to
white--and to both as citizens; that the late
Attorney General Bates vindicated the claim OF
the black man to be treated as citizen, and
that the Supreme Court of the United States
has without hesitation admitted a lawyer of
African descent to practice at the bar of that
tribunal Chief Justice Chase, in a letter to
President Lincoln, written two days before his
assassination, said: g suppose that since the
connected with your administration has ques-
toned the citizenship of free colored men, more
than that of free white men," III
And if the negro is, as these facts clearly
show he is, a citizen, he is undoubtedly enti-
tied to the privileges, rights and immunities of
a citizen, and none the less for the reason that
his ancestors were Africans, or that his skin is
dark. Among these, perhaps none is more
obvious and vital than the elective franchise.
To exclude an adult freeman, born upon the
soil, and unaccused of crime, from the ballot
on account of his complexion, is to violate the
fundamental principles of this Government
and to contravene the clear intent of the Con-
stitution. For, although there are citizens, as
women and children for example, who do not
exercise the right of suffrage, their exclusion
is based upon no anti-republi distinction, as
race, color, profession, religious faith and the
like. The Constitution, in declaring that the
United States shall guarantee to every State
in the Union a Republican form of govern
ment," affirms, and secures the practical OBJ
servance of, the doctrine of the Declaration oi
independence, that q Governments derive theiI
just powers from the consent # the governed
Can that be said to be republican form O
government which repudiates this normal prin-
principle of American republicanism, which
instead of leaving the right to govern with
the people, ordains that it shall be .exer
cised by part only of the people-by men ol
blue eyes, or yellow hair, or white skins, only
by clergymen, or lawyers, or merchants-by
men of Saxon descent, or Celtic, and no 9th,
ers !? Is that republican form of government
one resting upon the consent of the governed
in which all Jews, or Catholics, or Presbyteri
ans, all naturalized foreigners, or colored ma
tive-born citizens have no voice? Would il
not be clearly the government Of a caste, class
or race-in other words, an aristocracy, and
just that false and hateful thing which the
government has been fighting against these
four years? -
There are in the South 100000 of loya
colored people, as intelligent, as teachable, and
as well disposed, to say the least, as are 1000,
600, or perhaps an equal number of "pool
Whites" in the same section of country. The
adult males of the former class fought for the
government in its recent struggle; those of the
latter against it. Now upon what theory O
republicanism, or upon what consideration O.
Justice or common sense can the ballot be per
mitted to the la6ter and withheld from the for
mer? -.-,,a..t si ..,e.t., ....... ...s-..-r
To sum up the whole matter, submit thai
as the war has effected the universal and au
thoritative acknowledgment of the colored ma
tive as citizen, the logic of the war is, Trea
him in all respects as such.
The black man, during the entire period o
the war, has been loyal and faithful to the gov
ernment, and has rendered it valuable assist