Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-08-30

COMPLEXION Ofthe vote and not the voter.
They are not excluded by any Chris
tain nation in the world but ours. In
Great Britain, France, Prussia, and
Italy elections occur more or less gem
eraI in character, and in none of them
are men excluded merely for the color
of their skin.
Our American system of elections Is
slowly revolutiOniziBg the world, and
vet no nation has adopted our exclusion
Of persons of African descent.
/ The truth is it is not based upon reason
or natural laws, but the offspring OF
the same intolerance and bigOtry that
excludes the Israelite from all partici-
patton in the government Of the Egyp-
tiaus. They are not willing to exclude
either ignorant or Intelligent rebels.
They welcome to their embrace men
/ whose hands are yet red with the blood
of our kindred.
1 tits only niger they would e7E-
clude- 1t is nothing to them that the
nigger has fought fOl our country, has
been wounded in our service, is intelli-
gent, sober, industriOu he is niggeF,
1 and therefore must have no voice in
public affairs.
4 I am far from admitting that there is
such a marked inferioEity among the
4 cofored people of Ohio as our Bsnaoerat-
4 ie friends assert There are worthless
/ characters among Them, but through
what q terrible process have they pas
sed for forty years. Rejected, depressed
/ excluded from most enJoYments Of life,
excluded from schools, and even from
churches devoted to the Almighty God ;
without political rights, at times with
out protection, either by law or public
Il opinion; by the same prejudice that di-
vides the Chinese and HindOOs into
caste: the same that makes an Asiatie
regard all Europeans as barbarians :
/ the same feeling Of pride and intoller-
ance which enables an arisbOcracy in
n Il Il nr-H-
classes from all voice IN the Govern
ment-
We owe it to our character as Ameri-
can citizens to free ourselves from such
preiudices, and to be just to those who
are born on our soil, share in our bur-
dens, and are only different from US in
that their ancestors came from a differ
ent part of Gods world than ours did.
What reasons do our Democratic
friends give for keeping up this ban of
! prejudice against the coiOred race
/ The real reason I imagine, is because
they have no hope of getting the dar-
! lzies to vote with them. But they tell
US the negroes are not intelligent
/ enough to vote. And yet they do not
/ propose to base voting upon intelligence.
They do not ask to exclude those who
] cannot read or write. They dc not ask to
exclude persons who cannot understand
our language, and yet with all these
| terribl disadvantages, it cannot be said
that they are so ignorant as to be un-
/ fit to share with all other men in the
right to govern themselves. Take of
the ban Of prejudice, give them an equal
chance, and then make the comparison.
They say that the negro was enslaved
in his own country that Africa has
never produced great statesmen, poets
or mechanics. Well, if that argument
| is good, it ought TO apply to families as
we'll as races. Would it be fair to eX-
clude a man from high Office because
his ancestors have lived for centuries of
civilized society, and not one Of them
has left a name Our own race has
been prOping its way upward so slowly
that we cannot set ourselves far above
other men, without the presumption for
which we sneer at the Chinese. All
races are descended from one stock, il
we can believe the Bible, except Mas
by's. All differences are the result OF
/ climate AID opportunities of civilization.
Even If our race is better than the ne
gro race, that is no reason why we
/ should deprive them of equal rights. ii
is only another reason why we should
give them an equal chance with us.
And, fellow-citizens, there are special
reasons why we should allow the color
ed people to vote ip Ohio, and why the
I-F4eDT Fllican rJaFtV. which has been the
buiwark of our country during its re-
cent history, should eheerfully extend
/ this right Their exclusion is the rem
and should fall with the rest of the in
fernaI system. But for slavery it would
never have existed. The word ''White'
was inserted in the Constitution of lS0z
because the trainers of that Constitution
being mostly from slave-holding States
were anxious to exclude from the State
: NEGROES who were debased by slavery
! Ohio was among the first to exclude ne
rrOes from the right of suffrage, and
this was soon followed by an Infamous
code of black laws. This code was re-
DeaIed bv general consent, and all thai
it left of it is what viii be stricken Oui
:. llv this amendment. As Ohio of all the
. new States took the lead in a wrong, il
should be the first to retract it.
We have borne our share in the strug
o1es and. sacrifices by which slavery has
~ been eXpurgated from our system. II
! this great and good work we have tram.
pied under foot the social habits an6
customs of millions of people. Let US
not rest until we have completed ou
work by restoring to the few cOlOred
people among us, their natural right tC
: participate in their own government
And we must not forget that during oul
wah the cOIOred people OF Ohio have
: fairly won their right to vote. Long
before public opinion justified the for
nation of negro troops in Ohio, they
formed companies in Ohio and joined
Massachusetts regiments. Before th'
war closed more than their ratable pro
portion of males entered the service anC
y behaved gallantly.
Now, when you are excluding from
I the privileges of manhood the sneak
: who fled to Canada to avoid serving
: their country, can we do better thar
. | to put in their stead men who, withOu
\ | hope of Office, without any of the hon
ors of military service, without ever
the recognition of the State of thef
birth, voluntarily assumed the hazard
= and danger of the strife? Can the bOd1
. of our people whose country has beei
{ Fsaved from deadly peril, whose proper
ty has been protected by the heroism o
, soldiers, white or black-can they q
with a good heart to the polls when
Is wounded black soldier looks wistfull,
but in vain to share the same higl
~ privilege of an American citiZen-cal
,. we refuse him the same means of pro
= tecting his wife, his family, his kindre
= that we cherish for ourselves as on
most precious legacy? No, fellOw-cii
I. izens, this question is settled. Whel
j we were drawn to the necessity Of EN-
N ploying negro soldiers, we were bOunt
= | 10 rive them votes. In the language :
- an American General, when they drO
- the musket you cannot withhold iron
-s them the ballot.
II Again, fellow-citizeus, a decent cor
n sistency demands it of US. We hav
-e through your Representatives in Cor
O. gress, for high national purposes, pre-
. i
D. one of the conditions of representation
Al Canyve refuse it at the North
.y After the gravest consideration, W
d saw no safe basis of reconstruction i
x the South except general suffrage. whit
v and black. 1 may speak Of our reason
Id hereafter, but we have the simple fax
IS that we, with the viii and power of
ut conqueror, eDgrafted upon the registr
ne of votes 700, 600 black men who had rC
ir Gently been slaves. We did it to secuT
US against future wars and rebellion.
a. Shall we now, when the question a
is fects our own registry, refuse to insel
IS, seven thousand men of the same colo
r men who were born among uS, wn
ly have always been free, who are fa
Of more intelligent than the new citizen
IN of the South, and very many of whol
Id have fought our battles with courag
X aud fidelity?
be can only say, my fellow citizens
ey thatif I thought the people of Ohio coul
b. be guilty of so grave an inconsistency
IS so grave an inj ustice, I would not rel
ay resent them with that faith and conf
Il Il.