Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-05-24
only to the public good, simply to accept or

The question Of the political and social
status OF the negro, 10 essentially and totally
distinct from the issue Of African servitude
and any man may have been or be yet radical.
ly anti'slavery, without being friend TO negro
suffrage and equality. Party spirit or pres
sure, indeed, has driven many into support of
the doctrine, contrary to both impulse and
conviction; but now the issue is changed.
Outside OF slavery, the negro, where admitted
to reside in State, ought to be the equal Of
every other man in all legal rights and rem
sdies, just as is the female or the minor.
But political rights and social usage are ques.
tions which each State and community or
individual, must be permitted alone to decide
And four millions of Africans are not to be-
come the wards and pupils Of the whole
American people, nor the Federal Government
a vast eleemosynsry institution made up of
guardians and trustees and professors and
school masters for the negro population
Whatever party now, with the pressure of an.
ti.slavery and war removed, undertakes the
task, will fall before the popular reaction
Not the people only, but large ma ority of
the army and of its bravest and ablest officers,
and foremost among them the gentleman
whom have already named with honor, are
determined 10 their hostility to the whole
doctrine of negro suffrage and equality, and
to it's natural and necessary but uncIean cor
ollary, miscegenation And it is not ques-
ton OF religion or philanthropy,as slavery was
assumed to be; but of pure politics. Women,
minors, and aliens are alike excluded from
political rights upon grounds of public policy;
and yet all are OF the human family-nay of
our own race, and more yet, are, many OF
them, our own mothers and sisters and wives
and brothers. A tar higher and impellng public
policy, enforced by the example Of Mexico
and other republics and countries of mixed
races not OF one common stock, and fifty fold
more essential now if four millions of African
slaves are to be set free at once an ong us,
forbds political equality to the negro, where
we deny it to our own flesh and blood and to
those of our own households. Said Mr.. JEFF
ierson torty-iour years ago, and after the
Missouri Question
Nothing is more certainly written ia the
book of fate, than that these people (negro
slaves) are to be free nor is it less certain
that the two races, equally free, cannot live
IN the same government. Nature, habit,
opinion have drawn indelble lines of dis
tinctinn between them"
And he advised gradual emancipation and
deportation, Herein lies both the difficulty
and the danger of dealing now with slavery
in the South.
Upon the question of the political rights of
the negro, we are beyond the taunt and re-
proach OF the anarchists of Europe. When
they shall have introduced universal white
suffrage, removed the disabilities imposed
upon millions of their own subjects, and abol-
lshed all titles ofnobility and other distinctions
OF rank 1t will be time enough for them TO
again interpose in the domestic affairs of the
American Republic.
On this question, too the Democratic party
has record which it cannot reject 1t has
proclaimed that though all men, of whatever
race, may be equal before the municipal law,
yet that the governments here were made
by white men TO be controlled by The white
race But be this as it may, the entire ques-
ton, whether slavery remain or be abolished,
belongs solely TO the people of each State to
decide for themselves--else the whole theory
OF our system of governments has been sur
rendered, and the system itself is perished
Another subject remains upon which the
Democratic party can yield not one jot or title
BY every principle of its being, by its very
name, by its whole record, it is nexorably
committed to hostility to all violation of free.
dom OF speech and of the press to arbitrary
arrests and military commissions for the trial
upon any charge, of citizens in States and
places where the judicial tribunals WITH TRIAL
BY JURY are unrestricted; to armed or cor
rupt interference with elections and to the
whole host OF other wrongs done to public
liberty and private right There can never
be peace, quiet, or-dearest, most needful to
the human heart, beyond even physical health
to the syetem-the sense of security, till all
these shall have been removed from us. But
upon this chiefest question of constitutional
liberty, the Democratic party no longer stands
alone A large majority of the masses ofthe
hepubhcan party, some among their most
influential presses, and many of the ablest
and bravest public men of that party, as the
votes and the powerful and manly speeches
in the Senate and House at the late session
attest, are wholly with us If the President
would, by one word, secure the largest public |
confidence, let him forthwith restore the |
habeas corpus and proclaim an end to all
these instruments OF tyranny and oppres
sion
AS to the Monroe doctrine" do not doubt
that its speedy enforcement would tend more
than any other cementing agency, to unite
the people of all sections, Without the vim
dication OF that doctrine, the mission of Man.
iiest Destiny will have been but halfaehieved,
and the blood aud treasure spent in our civil !
war largely expended in vain. Upon the
Monroe doctrine, England is estopped to
make any issue with US, and must remain at
peace.
l have said nothing upon questions Of FL /
nance-debt, taxation, tariffs, a disordered
currency and impending bankruptcy. These
are the inevitable penalties of war. But they
are mischiefs which have scarce yet been felt |
Sufficient, abundanlly sufficient unto the day /