Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-26

| ing that fools rush in where angels fear to
tread" II, therefore, you elect ignorant
men, you will have bad constitution.
| Give US, then, the good men Of the State
| / would rather trust him who took up arms
and went to the battlefield, and has come
/ home with his honorable scars, believing
in the justice Of his cause, than he who
| akulked from duty, and now claims TO be a
Union man. GCheers. Such one is un-
worthy the contempt Of even a negro. l
| wonld rather trust General Hampton
riding at the head of his column, and
| shouting to his men 20 follow. than any man
ghO has stayed at home and, when his
/ country was in danger, hunted for an IRON
clad or a rat hole. [Cheers] And so
would You. " that's so."l We don't be-
lieye in those people who, since the war,
! have lodged around the corners, declaring
they were Union men." mo, no. When
hear Southern man say he was a "Union
man." / know he is traitor. When |
hear Northern man say he was South
ern man during the war, I know be is a
traitor. But, when hear eolored man
say be was Union man, believe him
from the bottom Of my heart. Whenever
The telegraph announced a Southern vic
tory, the black man trembled, but when
ever the tidings came of Northern victory
We reioiced, because we felt We were that
much nearer freedom. To-day, thank God,
we enjoy the result of that freedom. We
stand before the world invested with a po-
litical quality with the white man. We
can vote.
Hon. Edward Arthur [sotto voice. You
are more than our equal, Nash, in one
sense, because we are disfranehised.
The Speaker Yes, sir, and we are not
going to let the halls of Congress remain
silent until you are permitted to vote. II
is the men of your class, and your ability,
who recognize our wants and whom we de-
sire to see reinyested with the power of
doing good. II is with the men of your
class with whom we want TO vote on the
great questions of the day, and by whom
We wish TO be counseled and directed
1t is not our desire TO be a discordant
element in the community, or TO unite the
poor against the rich. We want TO live
together in harmonY-to go TO work and
restore the lost credit of the State. As Gen
eral Hampton has said "our destinies de-
pend upon each other" The white man
has land, the black man has labor and
labor is worth nothing without capital. We
must help to create that capital by restor-
ing confidence, and we can only restore
confidence by electing proper men to Eli
our public Offices
There are said to be sixty thousand col
ored voters and forty thousand white voters
in South Carolina. Look what power you
have for good or for evil But, fellow
citizens, be sure You use that power with |
intelligence, and to the end that South |
Carolina. with which your interests are all |
identified, may enjoy the prosperity which
il gives. When citizens come forward aud |
meet us as gentlemen have done to-day. we |
have no right to doubt the future. look |
upon to-day as our fourth of July. And if |
we do our duty, we shall prove ourselves |
worthy of the great privilege with which |
We have been invested. Ii is true the ma /
jority Of colored men may not be able to
vote intelligently, but you will be educated. |
In the four weeks preceding the first elec-
tion in this district, you will be taughtmore
about voting than the people of Ireland or
England ever did know. There never was
a people who have gained so much as we /
have done. Bnt little while ago we were
slaves now we are freemen. 1t has been
declared that we shall have voice in pub
lie affairs. In these public affairs we must
unite with our white fellow citizens They
tell us that they have been DISTINGUISHED.
yet We tell the North that we will neverle
the halls of Congress be silent until we re-
move that disahility. Can we afford 10 |
L., roui the councils OF The State our first
men Can We spare judges from the
bench Can we put fools or strangers in
their position? No, fellow-citizens, no
Gloomy would be that day, indeed. We
want in charge Of our interests only our
best and ablest men. And then, with
strong pull, long pull and a pull alto
gether, up goes South Carolina. (Cheers.)
The Rev. ID. Pickett (coIored) stated that
he wanted it distinctly understood that he
was no ofhee-seeker. The good of his peo-
pie was his first consideration. He was
opposed to universal suffrage, for two rea-
sons-the want of education and property
qualification. The first was readily at
tainable, and the last, by industry and
economy, would surely come. Speaking
of elections, he said that the question should
not be whether a candidate was black or
gbifa hpt vvas he honest