Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-03-29
VOL. 13---NO. ;.

are these recorded indications OF what is
yet to come, evidences of our triumphs or
evidences of the triumphs of another race?
Sirs, these are evidences Of our triumphs
Shall we surrender these, the insignia of
our race? Shall we surrender these, the
trophies we have won in war with mat
ter? Shall we baseIy bow our neck and
submissively yield these trophies to
weaker race Shall these be the badges
of our weakness, the trophies of a mixed
and mongrel race? Sirs, shall we surren-
der the ballot, the emblem of sovereignty,
that which makes US men? Shall this be
yielded to the hand Of another race ?
These are the questions that confront us.
SHALL WE BE FETTERED
l have briefly portrayed to YOU the evi-
dences of yo,H capacity for progress.
Nations differ as do men nations are as
diverse in intellect and in capacity for pro-
gress as are individuals in the different
qualities which they possess. Sir, in one
race you have capacity for progress in
another race you have no such capacity.
/ He have demonstrated our capacity for
progress. Have the black race demon
strated theirs Sirs, what Is their histo-
ry? Have they capacity for progress
/ They are inert, stol&l and lifeless, and the
proposition that you set up by these reso-
Iutions, when carried TO its legitimate CON
clusion, Is simply TIE CLAIMING OF 4
MAN WHO Is FULL OF VITALITY AND WHO
HAS DEMONSTRATED HIS CAPACITY FOR
PROGRESS To THE CORPSE-IIkE BODY OF
THAT MAN WHO HAS No CAPACITY FOR
z l.
this as | progress.
( THE NEGRO HAS No CAPACITY FOR PROGRESS.
/ There are races that have no history.
and known and recognized for thousands
Of years, the negro is still without a pro
gressive history. Mingling for centuries
with the Egyptian, the Carthagenian and
/ the Roman, they still remain the same,
and on no page Of written history, either
sacred or profane, Is it shown that they
I possessed ability in intellect or gained any
/ of the material advantages that belong to
a progressive race. Singular as Is this
omission of their favorable mention in his
tory, it may yet have been accidental, but
if in all time past they have demonstrated
I capacity for progress, so1lc evidence should
/ exist Of the fact; tradition, ruined cditices,
marks of power lost, energy displayed and
battles won should somewhere appear
( None such exist. No such evidence can
! be found
/ In all other portions Of the known
/ world save Central and Southern Africa
evidences of progress and developcment
appear In some, the ever etfacing hand
of time and the myriad Of causes that
IL
mortal, have swept away the elements of
refinement and Of civilization, and left but
ruins to tell the story Of their existence.
Asia. with her teeming millions, at every
turn demonstrates her capacity for pro-
gress China, India, Persia, the lands Of
the Russ. the Tartar and the Turk, bear
upon their soil the evidences Of present
civilization and Of past magniicence and
Babylon, Tadmor, Ninevah and Edom
rise up in sombre grandeur to testify 10
the capacity of the hand that fashioned
them.
Europe is now the centre Of refinement
and Of the arts, and her ruined temples,
decaycd arches and crumbling ruins speak
eloquentIv of the capacity and power of
the nations that once peoplcd her valleys
and dictated laws 10 the habitable globe
America. North and South. before the
advent OF the Anglo-Saxon, was peoplcd
by tribes of men in whom the capacity
for progress was clearly 4 fact. The i'm
press of their hands, the monuments Of
their existence are found in the Mississippi
pi Valley, in the sculptured ruins of Tx
mai and PaIeuque, in the elaborate ma
sonry and splendid structures Of Mexico,
and in the debris Of the palaces Of the
Incas.
Even Africa, north of the equator,
brings her tribute of evidence to the fact
[ assert. The stored pillars and imper-
ishable pyramids of Egypt, and the almost
buried remnants of ancient Carthage
stand out amid the sands OF the desert and
unite III the declaration that their builders
possessed all the clements of human wis
dom and progress, and in corroborating
the truths of sacred and Profane history
The tawny Moor, with proud port and
flashing eye, remembers the glorious rec
ord of his race, and even now in his burning
home the memories of Granada and of
the Alhambra are told in story and in
song.
(T0 De Coat'Haod)