The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-02-10
HIGHLY IMPORTANT.
The President on Negro Suffrage.

| uC 1 ItSluOut Oh Lso6AS
A company ofnegroes, claiming to rep
resent various States m the Union
called upon President johnson last
Wednesday for the purpose OF obtaining
from him an expression of his views in
relation to the extension TO their race OF
the right of voting. Fred Douglas, OF
New York, and negro named Downing,
of Massachusetts,, were the principal
speaker in the delegation. After they
had stated the object of their visit, and
presented their case, the President re-
sponded as follows:
In reply to some of your Inquiries
not to make aspeech about this matter,
for it is always best to talk plainly and
distinctly about such questions-l now
say that if have not given evidence in
my former career that am a friend to
humanity, and to that portion of it which
constitutes the colored population, | can
give no evidence hereafter. Everything
l have had, both as regards life and
property, has been periled in this cause,
and feel and think that l understand,
not to be egotistic, what should be the
true doctrine of this question, and what
course OF policy would result in the
amelioration, and ultimate elevation, not
only of the colored man, but of the
great mass of the. people of the United
States.
say that if have not given evidence
that am friend to humanity, and es-
petially friend of the colored people,
in my past conduct, there is nothing that
/ can do that would prove it All that
l possessed-life, liberty, property
question, when had every inducement
held out to take the other course, by
adopting which would have accom-
plished, perhaps, all that the most am
bilious might have desired If | know
myself and the feelings of my own heart,
they have been for the colored man. /
have owned slaves, and bought slaves,
but never sold one. / might say, how
ever, that practically, so far as my con-
nection with slaves has gone, have been
their slave, instead of their being mine.
Some have even followed me here, while
others are occupying and enjoying my
property, with my consent. For the col
ored race my means, my time, my all,
have been periled, and now, at this late
day, after giving evidence that is tangl'
BILE, that is practical, am free to say
that / do do not like to be arraigned by
some, who can get up handsomely round
ed periods, and deal in rhetoric and
talk about abstract ideas of liberty,
who never periled life, liberty or prop
erty. This kind of theoretical, hollow
friendship amounts to but very little.
While say that am friend to the col
ored race, l do not want to adopt a pol
icy that believe will end in a contest
between the two races, which, II persist
ed in, will result in the eXtermination OF
one or the other God forbid that |
should be engaged in such work.
Now, it is always best to talk practl-
cally and In common sense way. L
have said and | repeat here, that II col
ored men in the United States could
find no other Moses and any other Moses
that would be more able and efficient
than myself, l would be their Moses to
lead them from bondage to freedom; that
| would pass them trem a land where
they had lived in slavery to land, it it
were in our reach, of freedom. l would
be willing to pass them through Red
S ca to the Land of Promise-to the land
of liberty.
But l am not willing under either
"irc"ms+apIre to adopt a policy which l
believe will only result IN -.-~-iGoa of
his life and shedding of his blood. !
think know what | say. | feel what l
say, and feel we'll assured, that if the
policy urged by some be persisted in, it
will result in great injury TO the white
as we'll as the colored man. Ihele is a
great deal of talk about the sword in
one hand accomplishing an end. and the
ballot accomplishing another at the
ballot box. These things are all very
well, and sometimes have forcible ap-
plication We talk about justice; we
talk about right; We say that the white
man has been in the wrong III keeping
the black man i'll slavery as long as he
has. This is all true. Again, we talk
about the Declaration Ut independence,
and equality before the law. GOu IN
derstand all that, and know how appro-
pirate il is. But now, let Us look at each
other in the face, let lis 90 to the great
mass of colored men throughout the
slave States, let us take the condition in
which they are at the present tlme-and
it is bad enough we all know-and sup
pose by some magic touch, you could
say to every one, you shall vote to-mor-
row, how much would that ameliorate
their condition at this time Now let
us get closer up to the subject, and talk
about it. What relation has the cOlOred
man and the white man heretofore oC-
cupied in the South IOpposed slavery
Oh two grounds; first, it was great mo-
nopoly, enabling those who controlled
it to constitute an aristocracy, enabling
the few to derive great profits, and rule
the many with an IRON rod, as it were
and that is one great objection to it i'll
government, its being a monopoly,
was opposed to it; secondly, upon the
abstract principle In getting clear of a
monopoly, we were getelHg clear OF sla-
very at the same time. So you see there
were two ends accomplished In the ac-
complishment of the one.
Mr. Douglass-Mr. President, do You
| wish
The President am not quite through
vet Slavery has been abolished. A
! great national guarantee has been Civ
en-, 'one that cannot be revoked was
getting at the relation that existed be-
tween the white man and the colored
man. A very small proportion of the