Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-09-12
THE EQUAL RIGHTS CONVENTION.
AppnRss or uoN. J. A. j. cnEswEIt

Mr.. CRFswELt referred to the yariolis attempts
ut Reconstruction, by Congress, from the pass
age of the Louisiana b which President Ian
coin did not sign, down to the latest The re-
sult of ,Johuson's lnbors was found TO be, when
examined n fostering mass Of treason. Congress
assumed Its duty in the work, enacted universal
munhood suffrage, and placed Reconstruction on
its true basis. -, - |
there is Constitution that justified us i'll secur,
ing the fruits Of tint war; The speaker referred
with severity to the course of Johnson, whose
political history is one OF tortnous dupiiclty anu
fraud, ian attennated lie.' In preiacing an al
fusion TO the present situation NJ washington, nc
said he spoke with no reference to Presidential
aspirations. There was but one man whom he
would vote for, for President, and only one for
Vice President-and they are the men whom the
next National Republican Convention may SIC
fit TO put in nomination.
To the fidelity and patriotism of General
Grant he gave the warmest testimony, believing
that he would be found us true to the best inter-
ests Of the country in the future as he had proved
in the past. The speaker doubted the assertion
that the black man would vote rs his former mas
ter does, and cited the late elections in the Dis
triet OF Columbia and Tennessee, to prove that the
negro will vote according TO bis own political con-
victions. He said that in Maryland there were
Thirty thousand blacks, and in Delaware thirty
six hundred, and il the right Of suffrage was ex-
tended to them, those States would prove n iiil-
cally loyal us Massachusetts,. Mr.. Crcsswel then
reviewed the whole suffrage question al length
and closed amid great applause
Address OF JUDGE KELLEY.
Jup3E KELLEY hoped that some one of the
distinguished delegates just appointed to attend
the Border States Convention would bear to 1t n
message from him, viz: that he endorsed every
word OF the admirable resolutions reported by
his friend Harrington. He saw carly i'll the war
that il was the duty of the Government 70 rally
ali of its citizens around its flag and to allow all
/ to peril their lives III its defence. From the be-
ginning OF our great conflict he saw that our I'M
perillcd country needed the aid OF four millions
Of its most robust citizens, and felt the Almighty
would not allow victory to perch upon our ban
ners till we at last did justice to our American
citizens of African descent. And now we need
the political power of those four millions OF peo-
pie, as we needed their military power before.
Without their aid we cannot reconstruct q single
| loyal State of the South. Some time a State gov
| ernment must be organized there. We cannot
| send white men there, because they don't want to
70, and If they did they would hardly be wei
coined by their white brethren But III all those
| States there are brave and true men, who all
through the war perled their lives in gallantly
serving their country in their humble way. But
| it is said these black heroes are ignorant. How
many Of the white gentry q of the South are
4 the reyerse; The last census shows that in Vir-
.inia alone 10000 whites 2 don't know from n
bulls foot" So in all the other States of the ex-
| Confedcracy. Yet these ignoramuscs are TO be
clothed with all political privileges, rebs ms they
are, simply because they are white.
Judge Kelley logically reviewed the present
state OF Southern society, illustrating by the cx
petence of his late tour through the reconstruct
ed region the necessity OF impartial suffrage as
lle sole remedy for the political evils now atilet-
ing the Southern people. lie believed that, in tn,
logical course OF events, the colorcd man would
by the year 1869, vote in both Maryland and Del
aware lie referred to a speech made by him. a!
long since as February, 1866 advocating the con
stitutional right Of Congress 10 regulate suffrage
i'll all the States, and supported the positions thel
: assumed by him by ample legal arguments. II,
next took up and considered the relations Of thu
labor question TO that OF suffrage, showing thti
intimate connection and the importance to tn
Northern laborins man Of the adoption Of prin
: clples Of civil justice. By his wtll-known mix
ture OF wit, logic and sarcasm, the Judge carrie,
, conviction to many previously doubling mind
on this important branch Of the suffrage question
and was repeatedly greeted with loud applause
He concluded;
The hour Of triumph will come to the loya
men of the Border States long before it is ex
pected- The fine arts, the mechanical arts am
religion itself, are all on the side Of right n
poet ever sung the praises of slavery no painte
Inns on his canvass the grandeur Of tyranny
no sculptor pcrpctuates in marble the wrong
door or the opp!eSsor. God and nature are OF
. our side. We have determined that the bond
q man, his broken shacklcs yet clinging to him
:. shall vote, shall enter the jury box, and shall
Y haze all the rights Of citizen. The North ant
south have alike entered On anew and grande
II march Of progress, but our work is even create
than the redemption and regeneration Of GU
y own bright land. The eyes of all Europe ar
1t upon US, and the struggling millions Of the Ol
j. World begin to realize that what America is do
ing, England, France and Italy mug do. Let Ii
then cheer and gladden. the hearts OF the Of
pressed everywhere, and make our land in Iii
!. future, a in the past, the lode-star to which a
nj lovers Of liberty will be attracted.
= The Convention, at about O'Clock, adjomno
b. siae di,, and with music by the Mount Verne
ld Brass Band, which had discoursedits best airs II
II, The occasion, tho large audience left the hall