, 1866-08-03
Is Race an Accident.

We heaFG great deal said BY radicals about
the injustice Of making "the accidental hue Of a
mans complexion bis AqualifeAtioh for the exsr-
else Of political power land some who chatter
on this subject pronounce II absurd TO do So
that Is, In plain English, 10 refuse suffrage to
the negro because Of the complexion Of his Skiu
This looFepess Of language is Indicative Of the
loosenSDS OK thought and Of ideas Of the people
who use it( in connection with giving to the
ignorant, braiu-dwarfed negro, equal yriVieges
with those which are the legitimate property OF
the Caucasian white man. We say looseness Of
language, because mere complexion has not eI.
cluded men, in the Southern States, from the
suffrage of privilege at all. Moreover, the hue
OF negroes.skin is in no way an accident, but
one Of the immutable, determinAte Operations OF
Nature, by no means the most marked Of the rad.
ieal differences that have set him apart, from
theoutset ofhuman history, as Of entirely a dif-
ferentand inferior order Of the human genus to
that Of the lndo- European, and his offspring.
Those who talk thus of the disfranehising effects
OF color, forget that il Is blood, not color, that
has settled this Question, II lhh, Southern States;
and persons as white rs Senators Simmer and
Wilson have, consequently, been excluded from
the jealousy guarded aud valued privileges Of
the white man, because It was known that negfo
blood mingled in their veins And tais blood
distinction ran through ell the laws, Just a. ,the
Deity has asserted it, in the minutest possible
ways, down to peculiar Characteristic discolor-
alton OF the finger nails; The black complexion
in the Divine economy is bit the exterior badge
Of an inferior, coarse human nature, physical
and intellectual, To the African, of the negro
type, was,Hsslgred-not accidentally, but as a
part of the All-wise order OF the creation-A
black skin, of coarse, thick texture, crisp, WOOL
" hair surmounting head and brain altogether
DISTINCT, in all its characteristics, from those Of
the white man. Differently formed bones and
muscles, arms and hnger-nais, legs and feet, ss
well as mental parts, were given also, TO the
negro from those that the AltHighty for Hisrin-
scrutable ends, bestowed upoR'the white man
in so rich a measpEe., And those who prate Of
the injustice Of hGmGn society to the negro, dojt
in sheer disregard Of common sense, if not com.
mon honesty Of purpose. Many are knaves who
do so, some are blind, Infatuated, oue-ideA en-
thQsiasts, the rest mass Of sef-suficient, shall
low pated, ignorant men and women, ever ready
TO concern themselves with the remote, rather
than their own immediate social and domestic
duties-not TO speak of abundant evils just uu-
der their nosesl But we fear there is no hope
for us, for relieffrom these people, from their
perpetual agitation and din about negro suffrage
We may as well resign ourselves to it as an ever
yelling source of disturbance in our Industrial
system, an ever present irritant, or apple of dis
cord, and clog and obstruction upon all efforts
10 rehabilitate the country.
Men whose leaders and sense-beArers Ia .the
dlscussep,o Questions of the highest political
significance, affecting the political life and order
of millions OF the white race, can speak of tho
accidental bearing of a mere black skin in con-
trolling the result, will never heed reason or
anything else, save the impulse Of their predju-
dices and the teachings of their knavish dema-
gogues. Slavery has been abolished, but that
has in no way diminished the agitation or 81
lenced the voice of one aboitionist. At present
the Southern people are helpless; they must en-
dure patiently possible ,recollecting that mag
proposes and God disposes. What His purpo-
ses are we know not, in any wide scopes bpt We
do know that he set impossible barriers be-
tween the negro and the white man-as dis
tinctly marked to-day as in the dawn of crea-
tiOu-that have made the former subordinate in
all human relations, and we will not be luFed, OF
forced to establish an unnatural equalitg Of the
two races among us. Upon this the Southern
people, the brayest soldiers in the world, are re-
solved. And yet, they are convinced they arc
the true friends Of the blacks; those, who, II
left alone would do most to give the negroes that
degree Of social and educational culture, and
that scope of civilization for which they are it-
ted by nature. They believe, sincerelyp on the
other hand, the professed friends of The negro
are comprising bis inevitable anujhilation as at
element of civilized society. Appeal.