Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-07-27
CIVIL WAR PRoDUCED by THE EXTREME
MEN, NORTH AND SOUTH.

meaning ot the DECLARATION OF lndcpcn-
dcncc, " 50 there is also aclass of persons in
the north who as pcrsistently and as danger
ously misrcprcscnt its true spirit, and by
such misrepresentation they did their full
share to plunge our country into civil war
ARE ALL RACES OF MEN CREATED EQUAL I?
They say that all men are created equal,
and quote the Declaration of lndepen-
dencc' to sustain their assertion. Now, the
phrase, "all men are created equal, either
applies to the whole human family, or else
it was used in a limited and restricted sense,
meaning people of a common origin, as
the descendants of Europeans. If the
phrase he true in a general sense, then the
Root Digger" of the Rocky Mountains,
who has no ineligible language, but chat
ters like an ape, is the created equal Of the
Engishman, the German, the Irishman, the
Scotchman or the American. And if such
is true of the "Root Digger, it is equally
true of the llottcntots Of South Africa -
Docs any sane man believe that such is the
fact? If so, why is it that the Root Dig
gers" and the "Iottentots' have never
risen above the lowest grade of baxbarism
Does any one believe that the East Indian
is the created equal of the Britton? If SO,
how happens it that more than one hundred
million East Indians were crushed and con-
quercd by less than sixty thousand Brittons?
And the American Indian, is he the created
equal of the White Man? Ifso, why is it
that all attempts to civilizc him have proved
melancholy failures? And the negroes of
Dahomey and Congo, from whom the ne
groes Of the United States have descended,
are they, too, the equals of Americans p
The king of Dahomey has at this moment
his human sacrifices, and luxuratcs in his
bath of human blood. If the negro race
was equal to the European, or even to the
Asiatic race, would they not, at some one
period since the birth Of Ham, their first
progcnitor have emerged from the barbar-
ism which enshrouds them? After the
overthrow of the Roman Empire religion,
civilization and literature were obscured by
the centuries known as the dark ages but
the intellect of the white race at length broke
forth, dimly at first, but afterwards with an
cffulgencc which illumined the world. Not
so with the negro, for relatively as he was
thousands OF years ago, so heis now, and so
must he even remain, for such is the law of
his being. But it may be said that the ne
gro must be taught to read and write, and
thus be made Il good citizen. Education is
u good thing, but where there is native in.
good citizen? When the sturdy baron,
! forced king John to grant them the Grea
Charter, not one among them could write
his name-yet they laid the foundation OF
: English liberty. And where there is no,
= native intelligence, knowing how to read
and write are not sufficient qualifications fol
citizenship.
1 | am not actuated by any feeling of un.
kindness, and | trust by a higher motive
t than vulgar prcdjudice, when | oppose con.
c lerring the rights of citizenship upon the
V negro. To be u citizen, is not alone to hav,
+ the right to vote, but to become judge, juro
and legislator, for these are rights which be
long 10 citizenship. But it will be said thai
, if the negro IS not competent for these high
| duties, he will become so. There arc free
negroes now living in the United States,
, whose grand fathers were free before them,
but the grand-child ofto day like the grand
parent ol' Il past generation, is inferior to the
white man. Before the rebellion, there
were half II million free blacks, tell me, he
who can, the names Of dozen who have
become remarkable us mechanics, farmers,
poets, painters, or orators? An cmigrant
Ship, on the other hand, arrives from
Europe, perchance with persons on board
who can neither read nor write. Mark the
effect Of II single generation. The child is
, an American, it learns to read, to write, to
act like an American, and, in fact, is an
American Such was the case with Andrew
Jackson. His father was poor, ignorant
and destitute necessity drove him from the
, shores of Ireland, and his first born BOY af-
, ter reaching the United States, not only
became President but took rank among the
, first statesmen Of the age.
But it is said that the war has proved the
capacity of the negro for self fgovernment--
his right to become citizen. In what does
/ the proof consist? Is it in the fact that ne
gaocs, free or slave, could not be found of
sufficient Intelligence to make lieutenants,
r and that all commissioned officers of black
regiments are white men? Does that fact
, prove the equality of races-tho right OF
the negro to become citizen? Was his
5 capacity for selfgovernment proven by the
conspiracy at Charleston, to murder their
, white officers and all white citizens, out of
gratitude for being made free? Or is it to
, be found in the mutiny of the negro troops
at Memphis, Norfolk and Portsmouth p
But it is said that the negro has welded the
muskct, and is therefore entitled to the
ballot.
Now, assert that a victory has not been
{ attained, which would not have been achev-
ed had there not been Il negro in the service.
the negro, the rebellion would have perished
in 1862, and a quarter of million of lives,
, and more than two thousand million dollars
would have been saved.
; sELF-GoyERNMENT.
; The capacity of man for self government
has long been fruitful subjecc of discus
sion; and sclf-governmcnt is still regarded
as an experiment. In Great Britain, with
her thirty million inhabitants the entire
real estate is owned by thirty thousand per-
sons, who within themselves constitute the
government, and yet that government is re-
garded as, and perhaps is, the most liberal
= in Europe. Yet the great mass of that pop
: ulation have no more to do with legislation
, than have the cattle which browse on Eng
Nland' green meadows.
Free institutions cannot be more surely
! overthrown, than by the degradation Of the
1 ballot. Debase suffrage, and it will be either
: abolished altogether, or controlled, as in
Great Britain, by corruption.
, WHY DO NEGROES sHUN THEIR rROFESsED
FRIENDS.
Q 1t is fact suggestive of reflection, that
, those communities which have in their midst
the smallest number of negroes, are the most
= strenuous advocates of negro suffrage. -
, Thus, Massachusetts with her nine thous-
' and colored population, leads the van as the
! chamuion of black citiZenship But is il