Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-02-20

and should be respectfully heard and
needed. For these men truly and faith
fully represent four millions of QUE .fel.
low countrymen-four millions hitherto |
wronged and degraded, Gas the President
freely admits;) yet who in heart and |
soul areehuman and rational as we are
children of the same God, redeemed
by the same Saviour, and heirs of the
same Immortality. Why should they
not present their case to the President2
and why should he not intently hear and
heed them2
There is very much to be urged in fs-
vor of the Presidents position. There
is prejudice against the blacks on the
part of many whites. True, these
whether at the North or the South) are
neither the wisest nor the best of their
rsce-on the contrary, the baser and
viler the white, tbs intenser and bitterer
his negro-hate, real or simulated, as all
men do know. a Washington or Jeffer-
son, though born and bred a stakeholder,
lives in relations of familiarity, kind-
ness, and mutual regard with his blacks;
but "sand-hiller," "clay-eater," or
'craeker," must at every step proclaim
his scorn andsloathing of "niggers,p or
he might be mistaken for loW-caste or
outcast himself And, as these crea-
lures have not only votes but fists, their
prejudices are facts to be weighed-ugly,
hateful facts, if you will-but not there
fore to be disregarded.
If, then, the President had seen fit to
say, "Messrs. Downing. Douglas and Co.,
you must patiently bide your time; we
have abolished slavery-be content with
that for the present, and we will take an
other step forward just as soon as we
can meantime, your people must help
US by setting a conspicuous example of
industry, frugality, notwithstanding,
and virtue I'VE should have felt that
he had fully held his own with them, in
the judgment of dispassionate, inteIIi-
gent men. AS tits, we think they have
the best Of the argument. When he
tells them that he deprecates their full
enfranchisement fearing that it will lead
to fatal collisions between the races,
their answer is too obvious: Mr. john
son, zoe shall break no laws, because the
laws are made just to us; and wrong no
whites, because they have given us our
rights; and if yoa mean that whites will
abuse and assault as if we are enfran-
chised that is an argument against
white suffrage, not black" The '1iberty
to work, already accorded to the late
slaves, is paralyzed and crippled, if the
utmost patience, thrift, intelligence, and
virtue evinced by them can never elevate
| them to the common level Of manhood.
Let the blacks not despair Their en-
Reimbursement depends not on, the, favor
of Presidents, but on them selves The
meek shall inherit the earth" They
have but to stand forth examples Of pa
thence under Injustice, Of sobriety, in
dustry, and thrift, while they educate
their, children at the cost of some self
denial, and they will assuredIy be recog
nized by their and our country, not as
step children, but as rightful inheritors
ofall her blessings " 1t is the first step
that eosts;"@ and that has been conclu-
sively taken in the abolition of slavery.
There is no longer gigantic interest
which suppresses inquiry and sternly
forbids the dispensation of equal and
exact justice. Hencefortb, impartial
liberty and right are not only every mans
concern, 70 but they are demonstrably,
palpably 30. We injure ourselves, we
imperil onr future, by denying the right
of suffrage to the loyal eighth of our
entire population for no better reason
than their color. And this wrong we
cannot afford to persist in, and shall not.
Let, then, the champions of impartial
suffrage in faith and love 60 forward.