New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-02-06
SPEECH OF GEN. n. r. BUTLER,
AZ Public Meeting Held 10 Rejoice Over
che Ratification Of the Constitutional
Amendment Beston, Feb. 4, 1865.

Sf0rleS OF midsummer, our latnerS aSseulpltu W
congratulate each other upon declaration of hu-
map rights which has since been claimed to be a
charter to the white man only. Seventy seven years
ago, in mid winter, Massachusetts debated the ae-
scp:ance of the Constitution Of the United States
the solemn compact of assurance TO those rights
the most perfect form ofGovcrnment ever devised
lyman, but which left uncared for and unproyided
safeguards of freedom and equality Of right 70 all men,
irrespective OF COLOR Our fathers believed that the
slear interests Of tn rising Nation would protect IT
from the reeedIng weight Of Human Slavery. But
alas single Massachusetts, inventonthe coiton'gin
opposed the present interests Of the individual 10 the
future good Of tie State. and made the blfden
greater than that Of the Pilgrim Chrlstlan-
seem eternal From that one defect OF Constitutions
law las arisen the most gigantic national sn ioao"eu
By the most terrible national etrbution with which the
Divine win has fit 10 alct the children Oh men'
The nation brought 10 q sense of justice by its chas
tisement, We are net to congratulate ourselves
upon the first step taken in supplying this omission OF
the frame of Government of 81 Released from all con
sttutiona obligations protect Slavery acting upon
the frame of Government ITSELF OF Inc oy
people Of the country win have difficulty In erasing
from their fundamental law this the last blot upon their
civilization Amid the Joyous of this triumph OF
She right which animaes the hearts Of all good men,
even now and here it may not be unfit TO pause Tor
moment 10 consider the duties and obligations under
which we find ourselves this class of constituted and
declared by this change in our organic law.
Laying aside all prejudiees giving up all theories
putting away all predictions; should approach the
subject as one calling for prompt active, and efficient
Justice at least 10 make amends fcr former long con-
tinued wrongs. BY tie final passage Of the Amend
neat which we celebrate every negro slave is made
citizen Of the United States entitled of right 20 every
political and legal immunity and privilege which be-
longs that great franchise, He may well say am
IN American citizen" II be NAV proudly proclaim
With the apostle was freeborn. yet he can truly
e,aim as did the chief captain with q great sum
obtained this freedom" OF these rights or either OF
them no man. and no combination or confederation of
men. can with justice deprive the negro. AS ma
tson he is Of us, with us, and part of US;
equel In right under the law. To tho men
Of Massachusetts, in this so clear and self.evident
proposition there seems difficulty. St1ce 1889 the
colored man in Massachusetts, under the laws
thereof modified only by the laws Of the United States
las enjoyed the rights and privileges of every other cit
isen of Massachusetts The child goes TO the same
school. The man partakes OF the same empioyments
The same learned professions. medicine the bar the
pulpit open him. and more than all he carries to
che election of his rneIs and framing Of the laws, the
equal ballot which
Like the snow.Aeks the sod,
Executes the freemaus wall
As lightning executes the will Of God"
IN other sections of the country the mind warped and
twisted by the influence of the system of Slavery
whose funeral obseques now atteuding-does
not at once comprehend these truths, and admit the
force Of the ileEorable logic Of EQUAL RIGHTS Men
otherwise lust and good have been brought
- believe, that the neeggro can have nol
practical rights IS citizen fS claims to be c0nsid'
cred as an integral part Of the inhabitants OF the cou
try and is to be treated II he were an alen-nay
more as il he were beast, and dangerous oeast
hede either to be sent of the country or to be
Aerded and penned such in remote or unhealthy
corner thereof as not fit live the soil which gave
him birth and TO which he has every right. and is held
by every tie and attachment which binds man to that
orton of earth which he calls home and country 1t
has BEEN therefore, proposed to send him away-to
Nerd him in rice swamps cotton islands-where
Alone he may listen 10 the sad music OF the roar
sf the ocean surf, not relentless and I'M
seasing to him than the wrongs Of his felow'mani
there TO prevent any white man or white woman
IN the missionary labor of love TO visit him;
uneducated to put him beyond the pale OF education;
N allow his child never 10 know the benefit Of the
sommon school, Just released from worse than
Egyptian bondage 10 make him a COonst, without the
implements of colonization fostering care on the
part of the mother country. TO any such illogical and
unjust treatment Of the negro it need not be said that
the people Of Massachusetts will consent Our
material Interest," The Interests Of the country oppose a.
For two hundred and fifty years at least we have been
importing the labore because needed labor In this
country The necessity for labor here has caused 1t TO
be imported, even to be employed IN the wastefal
habits Of Slavery. Shall we now, that four millions
n stropg hands and willing hearts are made free
laborers, productive and profitable, take them
from the lands which they have titled
From the homes in which they have been rearedf FROM
their hearhstones as dear TO them as our rootree Is
70 US and send them away to some foreign land or smut
them up in some Of this where their labor II not
wholly unproductive and lost must be Improbable :
Our sense of Justice denies H. They have taken up arms
freely and willingly in our defense and We have given
them their freedom and rights as citizens. What just
freedom is it 20 them to be penned in to be
.hnt nm in a rice swamp and not be allowed to see the
faces of their white fellow citizens except It may be of
sodier sent as their guardi What true citizenship Is
70 be deprived Of their equal rights in the land their
arms have helped to save from the merry inr'
mace Of Rebellion. and to be put upon such
portions of it only as are not thought 10
he well habtable by their white feow.soldersf What
tar division 1t be OF the heritage scqured ID part
Nv their blood to give their white fellow soldier one
hundred and sixty Of land TO be located where he
ehooses-"the finest the eer shone upon to him
and his beirs forever while to the colored soldier
scared perhaps with honorable wounds bat forty acres
Of rice swamp to DO allotted eight hundred feet
'front.' Of marsh sluggish river and that possessory