Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-03-29

ted for another forum, and will be ap-
preached in the not far distant fu-
ture, but L shall confine my remarks to
the propriety of granting or Withholding
this right of suffrage to or from the people
to whom Congress proposes to give it.
The Senator from Bradford, (AIr. Lam
don, has furnished me with very appro-
pirate text, text that shall not fail to
use, and in dilating upon it, or in my dis
cussion Of the subject before US, whilst |
shall speak emphatically, whilst my ut
terances shall be my convictions, | trust |
shall be offensive to none.
ELEVATION AND PROGRESS OF HUMANITY
The Senator from Bradford aflirms that
Gods law is the elevation of humanity.
Granted. He asserts that the law of
progress is the law of the world Admit
ted. DO | understand his first PROPOSE
ton to be that he who is elevated is to re-
main stationary whilst he who is below IS
to be elevated to the higher standard. |
will not do him so great injustice His
first proposition is and of right ought to be
consistent with the second, and if it be,
we agree in practice as well as in senti-
ment. The elevation of humanity as well
as the law Of progress requires that each
should move onward and upward from
the standpoint he before occupied, so that
he who before was civilized may now be-
come enlightened, whilst he who before
was barbarous may now become civilized.
Let US now take the bearings Of these
propositions upon the practical question
before US.
OUR PROGRESS.
Has not the elevation of humanity upon
this continent, in the past seventy years,
been such as was never before witnessed
upon the earth Has not your progress
been unexampled in the history of the
world None will gainsay these propo-
sitions The story of your nation is the
romance Of progress the history of your
Republic, the holiday of mans elevation.
Look, if you please, at its triumphs,
See, if you will, its material progress
See forest felled the soil titled. See
your broad acres, stretching from the At
lantic to the Pacific See the lightning
of heaven made to do your bidding. See
every river and lake, and mountain, and
shore coursed by the chained elements
that have been brought from the earth,
from the air, from the water, to obey the
will of man, that have been harnessed by
man and are upturning the soil, ploughing
the water, travelling over the mountain,
saving labor, easing the curse Of God that
''man shall eat his bread in the sweat of
his brow'-all these you have before you
in your material progress. You have in
creased from three millions 10 thirty-fiye
millions Of people. Sir, the arts and sci
ences flourish here as they do in no other
land in all the world. Here, you see pop
ulation and expanse of land and, not least
of all, power-magnificent power, as dis
played in the last four yearS-the grasp of
mind, the vigor of intellect that could
bring into being armies such as we have
put into the field, that could provide for
sustaining and feeding armies such as
have thundered across our country and at
whose numbers and prowess the world
stood aghast.
Sirs, 20 with me TO the Capitol at
Washington There, from foundation to
turrct-stone, from the ground TO the statue
that crowns the dome, you see in every
stone and every corner, upon every door
way the recorded evidences Of somebody's
triumph, Of somebody's capacity for pro
gress, Of somebody's magnificent future.
The Senator from Berks quotes Judge
Hopkinson and Hail Columbia. He
might have added that the Star Spangled
Banner and Hail Columbia sing Of the
victories of the white man they tell us
in eloquent song of the triumph5 Of our
race, and will ever be their grand memen-
to; but Dixie, with It's purling cadences
and melting strains, floats to the ear the
impress of It's paternity, and Will descend
in all time as the Ethiopian strain that
marshaled the hosts of an unsuccessful re-
bellion. Sirs, remember-remember that
these things, '.trifies light as air." evince
what we are and what we are to be.
Conceded that the law Of the world is
the law Of progress; conceded that Gods
law is the elevation of humanity, our
progress is already uneXampled, our grade
of humanity largely elevated.
Sirs, these are the triumphs not of the
men with the elongated heel, fiat nose and
kinky hair, but these are the triumphs of
the men with acquiline nose, straight hair
and white cuticle. These are the tri-
umphs of the race to which you and be-
long and you are less than a man if you
do not glory in them and stop at the brink
of the preciplce over which they are about
to be sacrificed in an unknown future.
Are these evidences of triumph, are
these evidences of capacity for progress,