Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-07-24
WHAT a KENTUCKY NEGRO SAYS

A COlOred Mans Speech.
WHAT KENTUCKY NEGRO SAYS.
The Cincinnati Gazette has a full report
of a thoughtful and eloquent speech deliv-
cred by a colored man named Morris, at
! freedmen's meeting held at Paddy's Run,
Kentucky, June 9th. Mr.. Morris said
Here in our native state we
will admit that the colored people have
been comparatively free from the effects of
mob-law heretofore, under the old regime,
| for this reason--slavery existed, and the
negro being slave, of course belonged to
the rich white man, and he said touch him
if you dare; but lay the weight of your
little finger on him, you greasy mechanic
or you toiling laborers, and we will drive
you off the state, or send you to the State
Prison, or hang you, or shoot You down
we would a mad dog and the poor white
man, debased as much by slavery as the
colored man, eringed the supple knee to the
dark image OF the slave-oligarchy. The
poor man was as subservient 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
oligarchv. 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 changed now-we
are free in name, if not in fact the eondi-
tion of affairs has, by whirl of fortunes
wheel, made great change we were at
the bottom yesterday, wallowing in the
mire with swine scratching gravel with the
L l.. IL Il. /
stealing old massa's chickens like the fox,
robbing him of his bacon like a slave but to-
day we are-stupendous change ,-Ameri-
can citizens. entitled to all the privileges
and immunities of the white man, our mas
ter Of Yesterday. Has the seed sown by
Chase and Sumner, and Garrison. and
Douglas, and Wade, and glorious old Thad.
Of Pennsylvania, and countless other work
ers 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 computation.
Mr.. Chairman, do YOU know that | be-
lieve that there are persons in this vast
concourse that will live to see colored men
i'll Congress; that the future great states
men of this country will be drawn from
amongst the colored people? Maybe some
future President may be in these woods, an
unnotiscd, unrecognized negro boy, unknown
to fame. whose voice will hold the nation
entranced with spell. Look at the his
tory of Frederick Douglass-born slave.
| learning his alphabet in the street and get
ting his white mates to teach him how to
make letters on 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: stand
! ing upon the same platform with the great
est orators in the country.
There, also is John VI. Langston. of
Oberlin, Il lawyer of prominence, practic-
| ing before the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States, and holding a prominent Office
under the government. He, too, was born
slave, but he, to-day is courted and
fawned upon by men in high positions, who,
few years ago, would have spurned Kim
as an impudent, upstart. "nigger." Don't
the world move?
In New Orleans, Captain Jim. Lewis of
the old Corps d Afrigue. holds position
in the Custom House, and Pinckney Stewart
also holds some office, but what. | do not
remember. Oscar Dunn. another colored
man. is after another office that will pay
between five thousand and nine thousand
dollars per year. with strong prospects OF
receiving it.
In Tennessee colored men are running
| for office in the state election. and even the
conservative party are taking up colored
men and trying to put them in office.
Kentucky, poor, old, slip-shod Kentucky
Ny native state, It's true; but what a spec
tacle does she present Stuck up with OBJ
solete ideas that were exploded by the war,
hanging around the neckIof the Confederate
harlot still, she had neither the confidence
of the South nor the respect of the North.
Her influence is rs fimsy as the substance
of which moonbeams are made her states
men are played out, and commit suicide to
get rid OF the disgrace that their state has
brought upon them.
See with what contempt old garrulous
Garrett Davis is treated in the halls OF
Congress ridiculed, read down, or the hall
emptied, when he rises in his place to speak
his piece.
In Kentucky We are denied
almost the privilege of living. The rebe
rule has not been broken here, but the day
is not distant when her power will be rout
ed as completely as it was upon the ensan
guined field Kentucky has got to come
to her senses Men who marched through
Z, summers heat, and winters cold, for the
!, purpose of overthrowing the government
are not the proper persons to be placed as
, rulers for free people. Kentucky has
, got to mould her institutions to suit the re
. publican method set up in Washington
; peaceably if she will, by the strong arm o
military power if she is wilfully stubborn
The steel-clad fist is wanted here to strike
these traitor-images down, and it will b'
done, too, yet, mark the prediction. Whel
} bird can sing and won't, why it ought t.
be made to sing, and Kentucky has got t.
; sing loyal tune, even if the trial does rat
, tie like dying gurgle in the throat of ever.
whitewashed rebel in the state.
WHY Young Men do not Marry.