The colored Tennessean., 1865-08-12

of robbery, every one believes he is thief,
but he commits his depredations among
cotored men or ,ehits men, only in such
a way as black testimony could
be of sergieaI to secure just
punishment. Now then the law
acquits that man as an honest man, and
the whole community in which he resides be-
ieves him to be rogue. He mingles in So
ciety as Trustworthy citizers when every
body feels that he should be in the Peniten
tiary. Cannot every one see that such q
course lessons the security OF the rights ana
property OF the whites, which property IS, and
will be much in the custodianship OF the coli
Ored men Does II not lower the standard OF
morality, and DECREASE the regard for law and
order? Does itnoI make ungrateful return to
the I55, ,270 colored men who have, according
to the last official hport of Secretary Stanton,
been mustered nlas soldiers of the United
States army, to sas nothing of the sailors in
the navy, and lib thousands of Govern
ment employeesl Secretary Stanton says
that the coloreH troops formed one fifth
of the immense Hillary force of the United
States | ask, csaa loyal people deny the
brothers, fathers, r1others, sisters, wives and
daughters and sona of these men, and the
men themselves tIh nriv4lege of testifying to
ontraoes commirH upon them by traitors
and outla~raq T. they cannot. A t0y0t
people a0W not hey will tear themselves
from cid prejudices; they wil spurn the coua
sells of the haters df the Federal Government,
and rising to the lexaltation of right, they
still extend to the coIored man that which
their own interest dictates, humanity ap-
proves and God demands.
Thirtythree thousand one hundred and
thirty three colored men have fallen in this
struggle for Union. From the ground their
blood crieth, Whotestifed against the would
be assassin Of w, H. Seward Who put the
pursueTs on the track of Booth, the assassin {?
Who gave indications Of the road which JEFF
Davis took to escape Who informed Union
Generals Of the course, strategy, and plans of
rebel Generals. Let the testimony of the
Generals of the army suffice They say col
ored men did it,
We ask the loyal white men of Tennessee
to do what their fathers did when we ask
them to give us our vote. We ask nothing
more than what our ability and Importance
in the State demand Of that they may be the
judges, provided they judge us by the same
rules that white m9n are judged.
We are daily decreasing in knowledge,
wealth and influenza Our friends seem to
rise up as if by msgic-not because we are
the most worthy objects of love, but because
Justice is revered, aAd the United State, com
pretending her mission will not be pampered
by preiudices, but strike out unfettered and
untrammeled into that great path where the
eternal smiles and the world casts her long
ing eyes. Here an elaborate argument was
made in favor of negro suffrage, for which
the speaker gives credit to prominent leaders
in the Republican party.l
Some talk Of the colored man being sup
planted by the emgrant of Europe as
iaborer How absurd Will the emigrant
pick up the h0e and pow when the black man
DIR ps it, for few cents day, when he can
go to the great West and get a homestead
for mere nominal sum (nOt more than 1t
would cost him to gbme South), and there
enjoy a climate Ike that to which he has been
accustomed, besides his independence as a
man? No, neger, acrer
am full of faith to-day. Faith, not in Mr..
supporters and the like, but faith
in the President of the United States, faith
in Gov. Brownlow, faith in the loyal men of
Tennessee, faith in God-faith to believe that
he is with US
A report from the Committee on Business
was then received.
A resolution was then introduced that each
county report on their return, one name, as
4 committee, to act in conjunction with the
State Committee Other business of desultory
character was performed, and the Convention
adjourned till 10, A. NJ, on Thursday.