New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-06-14

preston Of an opinion, which may or may not
affect the material interests Of the voter, but
which he esteems as tfAe performance OF his
relative duties to his fellow -creatures-as some-
thing which he owes to the aggregate interests
of society. But, in the second place, vote is
the weapon which, so far as the infirmity Of
human device will permit, protects natural
equality from the obtrusion of artificial distinc.
tiOns, dimnishes tho undue influence Of acct.
dental position, and asserts the supremacy Of
individual will over dictation, cOmpulsion and
the selfshness Of the mass, it may be, or Of the
few. The right to vote implies the duty Of &C.
quiescence in the will of the majority; but,
when that right is ignored or speciously
withheld, the disfranchi.ed citizen, although for
reasons of prudence he may acquesce in public
measures privately determined on, is under no
moral obligation to do 50, and owes no
obedience to those laws TO the enactment OF
which he did not consent. In the days OF
Adams, Franklin, Henry and Jeferson--in
the golden days of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence-statement like these would have
have had, and in fact did have, lively interest,
abstract as they are; because the press Of pol
itics had not then diverted mems minds from
the consideration of fundamental axioms; nor
was Mr.. John Mitchell yet born to preach to
the nations the chromatic limitations Of natural
law We are not ourselves disposed to argue
the question of "Negro Suffrage" upon what
we should esteem the highest ground. We have
already discussed the matter from the point Of
simple, dry, practical expediency; but now we
ask the reader to consider the perilOus condition
in which the Freedman is placed, not, it must
be remembered, by any act OF his own, but
first, through the besOtted ambition Of his quOn.
dam owner, and in the next place by our act,
by the act of this nation, in changing his social
position. We have, it must BIZ remembered,
called tho Black to the performance Of new du.
ties; we have in word, liberated him from
CALLING and grinding bondage, not specially for
his sake, not because We ptied him rs weak.
down.troddcn and terribly abused, but because
the life of the nation hung upon course of simple
justice TO this long -sufering rsce-because it
was for our advantage, our peace. our safety and
our prosperity, to acknowledge the manhood of
the Black, who Involuntary has become the
greatest bencfactor Of this nation, since through
him we have been able to strike blow at
faction and to assert the supremacy OF the
Constitution. Now, admitting our obligations.
and We do not think that any one in his senses
will deny them, the question arises whether the
Black shall BIO abandoned naked to tho rage OF
those who will seduously seek for some objectof
vengeance, and whomay be mean enough tovent
upon the defenseless those stormy passions
which gnominious failure must have awakened. |
We have made this slave nOminally free. But
Of what value will this freedom be to him, if 1t |
bring no means Of preserving and of protecting
III If the old Shareholders are to retain in the
States the old supremacy, are
to dictate measures without any check, are
to domineer after the old fashion, this gift OF
freedom to the Black will DO only q cruel
mockery, leaving him still at the mercy of
his oppressors, who may hamper his movements,
hsrrass his life, check his progress, keep down
his wages, and make his last state worse than |
his first. We published lately case occurring
in Alabama, which We think very much to the !
point. Two OF our Freedmen" stopped work
10 look at soldiers passing. They were ordered
back to their work by tho oyerseer, and, their
obedience not being swift enough TO satisfy him, |
40 shot ono dead and seriously wounded the
other. That dead Freedman" had but small
aste of the liberty bestowed upon him by the
United States Of America before he received his
inal deed of emancipation and went to
DIN John Brown. Now, one object Of eman-
,ipation We take TO be the prevention of fog.
rag, picking padding, rash and ndiscrminate
hooting, extra Judicial hanging, burning
md tho other gentle expedicnts of the old
ace of petty Pharoahs. Bat no legislation,
However stringent and particular. can save |
my class from the fangs OF ingenious tor
il that class be left without the
means of defending itself, and in that hopelessly |
degraded position which the denial Of citizen.
hip which in this country is tantamount 10 the |
lenial of humanity, implies. No being thus left
1t the mercy Of his old oppressors il in the least
improved as to his condition by the bestowal Of
he pretty new name with which he has been
baptized withal. On the contrary, as he will be
more heartily hated, so will he be more heartily
oppressed Are the Blacks to be left IN this |
lideous limbo, vibrating between freedom aud
ayery, in an anomalous and hopeless position,
rec in name and seris in fact, mere tools which
lever scamps may use in trying experiments in
aw with M crent danger NJ irlries Will M such