Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1866-06-08

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without home to shelter me or mine, and you
should offer me the ballot, or a cabin and forty
acres of cotton land, would take the ballot,
conscious that, with the ballot in my hand,
rightly used, all else should be added unto me.
Sir, would like to know whether there is
one professedly loyal man in this nation who
would rather confer the ballot upon a traitor to
his country than upon loyol black man who
has fought to save the Republic. ! should like
to hear such a man speak out here or elsewhere.
Sir, however much brazen-faced impudence
there is in every public assembly, there is no
such a declaration.
Now, sir, let us look at this question for
moment from the standpoint of the black man.
And he who will not look at this question from
the standpoint of the black man is unfit TO sir
in judgment on this question. Let me ask
gentlemen on the other side with whome ]
always deal fairly, suppose your ancestors had
been in bondage for two hundred years, and
that this nation-this nation of hypocrites and
liars for more than eighty years-had ensIaved
and degraded you as no people were ever de-
graded before-making merchandise of your
entire race while protesting Christianity and a
love for liberty. l say, suppose this to have
been your condition when this war begun-a
war inaugurated on the part of your masters to
establish a government which should perpetu-
ate your bondage-and after becoming shtls-
fed that we could not conquer your masters
without your aid, we had invited you in the
hour of the nations agony to Join our army and
help put down the rebellion, promising you
your freedom, and that you had come two hun
dred thousand strong, and had stayed, If you
did not turn, the tide of battle, thereby giving
US the victory. | say suppose this to be the
and ftov ha rohallioy, had hnpn cr1ehqd
and your masters were put down by your aid,
we had coolly and unblushingly turned you
over to the control of local State governments
administered by your late masters. | ask, what
kind of Justice would you call that
Mr.. Speaker, | want my friend from Ohio, or
any one on that side of the House, to tell me, if
after having fought to save the nation under the
promise of freedom. and the protection of his
life and property, what would be his feelings
towards those who committed the great crime
of turning him over TO the control of his enc
mics and ours? What would you say Ofsucha
Government What would yousay of the hon
or of its rulers? Sir, / know not what other
men would say, but if l were black man /
would not submit would rather be the slave
of one man who had pecuniary interest i'll my
health and life than TO be the slave of a State
whose government was controlled by my late
masters 1t is a terrible thing to be the slave
of State whose government is administered in
the spirit of caste. Sir, if the members of this
House could witness what | have often seen,
free men made the slave of the State, they
would know how intolerable is such condi-
tion, and would not sleep soundly if by their
vote they permitted four million people, who
were our allies and friends in this late war, to
become the slaves of State whose government
was in the hands of rebels. +.
Mr. ASHLEY. These laws have been re-en-
acted in some of the so-called reconstructed
States, as my friend from California remarks
Sir, repeat, if this great injustice was done me
would not submit and l tell you that these
four million people, soon to increase to ten mil
lions, will not submit to such monstrous legis-
lation. If were black man would rather
go into rebellion and revolution than submit
to such an intolerable wrong | would take
my children and go daily with them to the al
tar and swear eternal hostility to those who
thus betrayed me- l would consecrate all the
powers of mind and strength which possessed
to brand those with infamy who had been so
false to my people and to put them in history
along with those whO in every generation, have
disgraced the world as the betrayers of man.
kind and enemies of the human race.
Sir, nothing can give such security to the
poor man as the ballot The prejudice of caste
is strong but the ballot will soon Danish its
baneful spirit If in the days of Know 9TH
ngism the Irishmsn had not bad the protection
which the ballot alone could give him, hisc
dition would have been intolerable. How much
more intolerable the condition of the black
man without the ballot when completely under
the dominion of his late slave-master?
When Richmond fell, when Lee surrendered
when the last rebel army surrendered, and the
bells all over the North were ringing out their
peals of Joy, who were the men that STOOD up
first in this Union and asked for mercy to fall
len foe? The men who had right TO speak,
Garrison, Phillips, Beecher, Greeley, Bryant
and Gerrit Smith-the men of heart, of intel
lect, and of soul. While they demanded JUS
tice for the black men and the loyal men of the
South, they plead also for mercy to fallen foe.
When | came here last spring to see the
President he was talking about making treason
odious and declaring that traitors should take
a back seat. was more anxious to secureJus-
tice 10 our friends and allies than to execute
vengeance on our enemies. All we asked then
and all we ask now is iustice-justice to our
friends and mercy TO a fallen foe. All we ask
now for white men and black men in the South
and in the North is justice; and tell you, that
by the blessing of God we intend TO have it
Be not deceived. You cannot always postpone
the demands of justice. As a nation we have
learned by sad experience that we cannot tram
pie upon it with impunity. Neither laws
nor customs nor despotism can silence its claim,
because it is principle implanted by the Cre-
ator in every human heart, and can never be
wholly eradcated by the selfishness or tyran-
ny of man. He who understands the simple
teaching of the golden rule comprehends the
application of fjusticealike by Governments and
men,
1t needs no learning or superior wisdom to
interpret it. The ignorant black, so recently
slave, and the most scholarly white alike un-
derstand it.. Justice demands liberty and
equality before the law for all. 1t speaks in
the heart of every man wherever born, with an
inspiration like unto that which spoke on the
day of Pentecost with tongues of fire. Woe TO
the statesman or prarty or nation which tram-
pies OH this principle /! Its complete recogni-
tion by our Government viii bring US national
grandeur and national glory, and secure unity,
peace, prosperity, power. Its rejection VIII
larnish the fair fame of our country, and bring
discord, dissension, adversely, war.
Let the cornerstone of each reconstructed
State be justice and the cap-stone vill be lib
erty. With liberty and JUSTICE as the funda-
mental law of our national and State Govern
ments there can be no war of races, no secession,
no rebellion. 1t is injustice and oppression
which brings dissension and war. The opposite
brings harmony and peace. He who votes in
Justice to-day will be held accountable by the
people now, and in the great tribunal of hu-
man history will be justly chargeable with all |
the oppression, wrongs, and wars which must
follow the enactment Of injustice into law The |
aw-maker who demands nothing for himself |
which he will not concede to the humblest cit
zen is the only true statesman. Make the |
of interests one by guaranteeing the |
equal rights of all men before the law, and the |
fidelity of every inhabitant of such common
wealth becomes necessity not only from in
.erest but from loYe of justice.
in American history. Let every man whose |
great privilege it is to record his name where |
/ will stand forever, so record it as to secure |
he triumph of justice, and his name and mem
NV shall have life coeaual with the Renuhlic