Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-11

creation Of fancy, or the dream Of the senti-
mentalist than the axiom, or aphorism
Of philosopher, or practical statesman-was
announced By one eli the Kings of France,
some two or three centuries before Jefierson's
time. / have not the authority before me,
but the SAYING that I" all men were born
equal," and have equal claims By the law Of
nature, though in the humblest condition Of
| life, upon the justice and sympathiss Of their
fellow-men, even in the highest rank Of pow
er and fortune-is found in an old ordinance
Of the King, addressed to the Princes and
Lords paramount, whose rights Of property
in their serfs he had no right to interfere with,
or, il he had, was powerless to enforce, APP
| pealing 10 them for some anlelioration of the
| hard condition Of the seris on their domain,
announcing at thesametime that ne hademan-
cipated ali that were on his own domain. Ii is
proper to say that the serfs Of France were
white men, and that the claimsof the negro TO
be considered equal in his rights TO those Of
the white race were not probably in the royal
mind, he not having heardof the horrors ofthe
middlepassage or theseveritiesof negroslave-
ry in the West Indies, there being no African
slavery then on the continent Of America
The sentiment, therefore, could not have
been intended to embrace the negro, and it
is highly probable that, if it had occupied a
place bis thoughts. siunsophisctiatedmind
would have led him to the conclusion that
the natural equality of rights even Of white
men, in the lowest condition Of life. and their
claims TO the justice, protection, and sympa-
thies of their fellOw-man, in the highest
classes Of society, or in the higher stages Of
civilization, neither qualified them to become
Legislators, rulers, or officers of government
of any grade, or to select Others Is their del
egates, without ether qualifications than
those with which nature had endowed them.
The conception, however, of the equal rights
of all men, by the law Of nature, was
beautiful one, and it struck the fancy of Mr..
Jefferson, whose mental organization, rich
and exuberaHt as it was in all the higher
faculties Of the mind, often exposed nm to
the decisions of visionary schemes and spec
ulative theories, and he made the most Of
this idea in the establishment Of the Declar-
alton of Independence.
But the thought which now rules our mo-
dern enthusiasts, the radical Republicans, is,
that without any previous training or expe-
rience in public affairs, or any cultivation
above what the corn or rice-6eld supplies,
the negroes in South Carolina aud Missis-
sippi, or wherever they may be found in the
majority, are fit and qualified by nature to
have the dominant power over any other
people, though possessing greater cultivs-
ton and experience in affairs and that they
should rule according to numbers, without
other qualifications.
But / cannot leave the Chicago Platform
without calling attention to the fourth decla-
ration of principles. VIII you tell me, INV
dear sir, WHY this number in the series has
not been oftener quoted and relied upon Us
m obstruction in the path Of the radical
who seek 10 deprive the States
Of the right TO regulate their own domestic
as the qualifications of the
electors of the members of their Legisla-
lures, admitting that they may be restored TO
heir constitutional rights at any future time,
Early or late Or am / mistaken rs to the
ise which has been made Of that part
# the Chicago declaration Of principles, a.
admit that | may he, not having seen the
numbers Of any leading journal
Il the North on either side Of the question
Il restoration? will say no more on this
ubject, than to quote the declaration in my
etter, and make this further remark, that
he author Of the Chicago declarations must
nave made a mistake. They contemplated
change of the Constitution by reducing the
States to the condition of municipal corpo-
rations, as the radical Republicans seem nov
resolved to do, in order to effect the further
and punishment of the South
I'm people. The following is the fourth res
hutton of the platform:
4. That the maintenance inviolate Of the
lights of the States, and especially the right
II each State 70 order and control its own
Domestic institutions according to its own
Judgment exclusively, is essential % thai
alance of power on which the perfection
nd endurance of our political fabric de
ends; and We denounce the lawless invasion
y an armed force of the soil Of any State or
'erritory, no matter under what pretext as
mong the greatest Of crimes.
viii reserve any further remarks for q
1bsequent article.
Respectfully, JoHS BELL.