The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-09-05
The Voice ola Southern Man.

In the excellent Fourth OF. July ora
ton, Of Chicago, Henry Winter Davis.
says. = -, f,f' a
1 have seen aboutas much ofncgroes
as any Of you, have lived as near them,
and suppose j have as much prejudice
toward them as any of you; hut to talk
of this after we have had to call them
to our aid in putting down this REBEL
ion, is either drivclling folly or infinite
mcanness. [Applausc.1 If you did
not wish to have the negro hereafter
TO enjoy the rights of man, why did
You bury hfm on the battlefield Zap
plause.1 You, white men at Illinois,
why did you,pot have the quota of
your State Increased so that the negro
should not be needed? Apphnse, -
We, of Maryland, calried'cmancipation
by going to the poor white men in the
Southern portion Of The State, and
showing them that the negro could re-
ljeve them from military service. They
did not stop TO discuss his right to po-
litical privileges then. If he is their
and your equal on the battlefield in the
lserviccs of the country, he is and should
be at the ballot-box applause, and if
he is not your equal on the battlefield,
then YOU have cheated the United
States, to the injury of the national
cause, to save yourselves from service.
Renewed applause, .a.
There is nothing in President john
sons proclamation which assumes to
conclude the Judgment of the Congress
of the United States or the recognition
of State governments in the rebel States.
lie may have had more confidence in
the white people ofthe South than |
have; he may have desired to give them
a golden opportunity ofrefatihg every
SANDER and silencing every doubt re.
garding their loyalty, He might have
a hope that when they should be called
upon to vote on the Constitution under
his proclamation, to be ready to present
them to Congress in the form Of peti
tions, for they would be nothing else
that seeing the signs Of the times, and
what Justice and humanity require, OF
rather what the long headed people Of
the North will naturally suppose theil
safety requires, they many incorporate
universal suffrage as the basis of thcil
Constitutions. / shall rejoice with him
it. that result shall come about, but on
far from expecting it.
IT, No State government has ever heor
recognized which ostractized majori
Ity or any great mass of the people,
When slavery existed, slaves wer!
merged in the use of the master. Bu
a the, right of the State to ostracize, {
great mass Of free negroes has never
been recognized. They were hand
ful everywhere but in Maryland; ant
there they voted with the whites OF
the adoption of the Constitution of-th'
United States. If this precedent bt
set now, it is for the first time to b'
set. When negroes become free, they
become part of the people of the ma
ton; and to ostracize them is to sane
ton principle fatal to American free
government. r
In South Carolina there are twice a
many negroes as whites; in Mississippi
there are more negroes than whites; il
Alabama, in louisiana and in Gcorgi;
they are nearly equal. They are now
in sufficient numbers at tho South tc
control the result of any election
"They will vote with their masters
insidious gentlemen tell u.s., then,, o
least, let their masters be under th'
necessity of touching their hats t
them to get their votes. Laughtet
and applause. "They arc not intelli
gent enough to vote," another says
They know, fellow-citizens, q gray uni
4 form from blue one. Applause. i
They know a Yankee from their mas
ters. [Applause. They fought vel
under Yankee leadership; may be the.
} can vote s,s irtelligently under Yankee
leadership. CONTINUED applause. /
They are not spread in equal masses
oyer the Southern country; but they
} are oohgregated in particular district
that border the Atlantic, the Gulf ant
and the Mississippi, and arein immense
} maiorities'in fully one-third of the Con
: gressional districts of the South. They
can break the terrible auity of tn
!, Southern vote that plunged us into tn
J, rebellion. Men who are not capable D
understanding considerations like thes
, had better go and whine about negr'
;, votes.