The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1867-07-25
A COIOred Mans Speech.
WHAT A KENTUCKY NEGRO SAYS.

" 80 n @AA4-A a CNAAA N A1OAsO o6A "a
The Cincinnati Gazette has a full re-
port of a thoughtful and eloquent
speech delivered by a colored man
named Morris, at a freedmen's meet
ing held at Paddy's Run, Kentucky,
June q. Mr.. Morris said:
Here in our native State we
will admit that the cOlored people have
been comparatively free from the eff
fects of mob-law heretofore, under the
old regime, for this reason-slavery
existed, and the negro being a slave,
of course belonged to the rich white
man, and he said touch him if you
dare but lay the weight of your lit
tie finger upon him, you, greasy me-
tchanic, or you, tOiling laborers, and
we will drive you from the State, or send
you to the State Prison, or hang you,
or shoot you down as we would mad
! dog and the poor white man, debas-
ed as much by slavery as the colored
man, cringed the supple knee to the
dark image of the slave-Oligarchy.-
The poor man was as subservient a
tool to the rich white; came and went
at his beck and call with the same
avidity as a dog was ever ready to do
the dirty work of the oligarchy, and
was as eager for their smile as any ill-
treated cur for the kind word of his
master. This is the guard, the check
that has kept the mob at bay in the
slave States. But the thing is chang
ed nOW-We are free in name, if not in
fact the condition of affairs has, by a
whirl of fortunes wheel, made a great
change; we were at the bottom yester-
day, wallowing in the mire with
swine, scratching gravel with the
chickens barking at intruders with the
dog, stealing old massa's chickens like
the fox, robbing him of his bacon like
a slave; but to-day we are-stupen-
dous change!-American citizens, en-
titled to all the privileges and immu-
mites of the white man, our master OF
yesterday. Has the seed sOwn by
Chase, and Sumner, and Garrison,
and Douglass, and Wade, and glOri-
GUS old Thad. of Pennsylvania, and
IcOuntless other workers in the field of
humanity, borne no fruit? Yes, the
harvest has been an abundant one,
disappointing the fondest hopes of the
most expectant, for where they looked
for an ordinary return, the blessings
have been piled up beyond cOmputa-
ton.
Mr. Chairman, do you know that
believe that there are persons in this
vast concourse that will live to see col
ored men in Congress that the future
great statesmen of this country will be
drawn from amongst the colOred peo-
pie? Maybe some future President
may be in these woods, an unnoticed,
unrecognized negro boy, unknown to
fame, whose voice will hold the ma
tfons entranced with spell. Look at
the history of Frederick Douglass
born a slave, learning his alphabet in
the street, and getting his white mates
to teach him how to make letters on a
cellar door with a piece Of chalk. Look
upon the unknown slave-bOy then, and
Frederick Douglass to-day, the peer
the equal of the highest; standing up.
on the same platform with the great
est orators in the country.
There, also, is John M. LangstOn, O.
Oberlin, a lawyer of prominence
practising before the Supreme Court o.
the United States, and holding prom
inent Office under the government
He, too, was born a slave, but he, to
day is courted and fawned upon by
men in high positions, who a few
years ago, would have spurned hin
as an impudent, upstart "nigger."-
Don't the world mOve2
; In New Orleans, Captain Jim Levi
of the old Corps d'AfriQOte, holds po
sitiOn in the Custom House, and Pinck
ney Stewart also holds some Office, bu
what do not remember. Oscar Dunn
another cOlOred man; is after an Officr
that will pay between five Thousand
and nine thousand dollars per year
with strong prospects of receiving it
In Tennessee cOIOred men are run
hing for office in the State election
; and even the conservative party ar
taking up cOlored men and trying t.
put them in Office.
Kentucky, poor, old, slipshod Ken
! tucky Ny native Slate, tits true
but what a spectacle does she present
Stuck up with obsolete ideas that wer
exploded by the war, hanging arOunt
the neck of the Confederate harIo
still, she has neither the confidence Q
the South nor the respect of the North
= Her influence is as fiimsy as the sub
!, stance of which mOOnbeans are made
her statesmen are played out, and com
NIT suicide to get rid of the disgrac
that their State has brought upon them
Z See with what contempt old gar
l ruloUs Garrett Davis is treated in tn
+ halls of Congress ;ridiculed, read dowr
or the hall emptied, when he rises i
his place, to speak his piece.
!, In Kentucky we are denie
h almost the privilege of living. Th
It rebel rule has not been broken hert
e but the day is not distant when he
n power will be routed as completely g
y it was upon the ensanguined field
u kentucky has got to come to he
y senses. Men who marched thrOug
,, summers heat and winters cold fC
u the purpose of overthrOwing the GON
y ernment are not the proper persons
80 be placed as rulers for free people,
d Kentucky has got to mould her il
d stitutiOns to suit the republican methO
y set up in Washington, peaceably fish
,e will, by the strong arm of the militaI
t, power if she is wilfully stubborn. Tt
It steel-clad fist is wanted here to striI
y these traitOr-images down, and it wi
be done, too, yet, mark the prediction
When a bird can sing and won't, wh
Le it ought to be made to sing, and Kel
h lucky has got to sing a loyal tune,
l. the trial does rattle like dying gurg
ID in the throat of every whiteWashe
], rebel in the State.
le Many of our exchanges are indulj
l. ing in the harmless amusement