New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-06-16
MANHOOD SUFFRAGE.

method of application, Ia the United
States we have experienced. through a
fearful rebellion, how false to the theory
of our government is the exclusion Of our
people from equal rights. Liberty" 1t
has been well said. lis an abstract prlnci-
| pie, jealous Of any encroachment.' In one
sense Christianity itself is an abstract prInr
ciple, or body Of principles; but who
would blot the sublime truths of Christian
| ity from the book of knowledge and guild
ance simply because they are abstract,
and have never yet been fully realized in
the daily life and conduct of the human
race, to whom they were given to save and
to elevate? The general principles OF the
declaration of independence are abstract
so abstract, that Calhoun. the author of the
southern theory of our constitution, ignored
their existence; and his followers never rec
ognize them except as "glittering gener-
alities." All the great truths that have
worked in and through society, and pene-
trated and even created avenues for their
own progress, have been like the subtle
mysterious, chemical leaven, which
elevates and makes palatable and digestible
the entire lump. The idea of manhood
suffrage we believe to be Christian idea,
an educational idea, an idea that ultimately
will lead the humblest of Gods creatures
to stop and hink-to ask the great ques-
ions ,nfh al I L ,,-I,.
|? And where am |? 1t throws him back
upon the dignity of his own personality,
and, however weak may be his reflective
and reasoning faculties, it sets them in mo-
ton and starts the law of their develop
ment Christian ideas are to the moral ma
ture of man what scientific ideas are to the
Intellectual. Jesus Christ is the fountain
of the first the material and spiritual uni
verse of God the fountain of the second
Science demonstrates that the human ma
ture OF man cannot be developed into per-
lection without the aid of both. Both the
moral and intellectual nature of man hun
ger tor their own peculiar food. The most
deprayed of Gods creatures loves some
thing and hungers for reciprocity of aifec-
ton. The most unenlightened of the hu.
man race are curious to know something
more than their fathers knew before them.
have made some little progress in knowl-
edge and in power. .4ntdgonism upon
superficial view seems to be the law of
growth, but upon a profound one
harmony is discovered to penetrate all
the vast progressive creation of God.
From harmony, from heavenly harmony.
THIS universal frame began;
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapsssn c'osing iu on man
Christianity has been compared to the
sun, and doctrines and creeds to the clouds |
which obscure and temper the exceeding
brightness of his rays. But who would |
strike out the sun from the solar system
because we cannot gaze for any length of
time upon his unveiled glories, and wor-
ship the clouds which receive all their
golden beauty from the fountain of phys
ical and material organism.
Radicalism is nothing but Christianity |
to organize itself in the govern
ments of the earth, and radical parties, and
actions, and platforms are nothing but
human devices to soften and temper and
make practical the great truths of Chris
ianity which underlie and give vitality to
hem all.
Christianity treats of that which is right |
and that which is leronJ ia human acts con-
,idered from a moral standpoint. Science
.reats of that which is true and that which
S false in human aspirations for knowledge
considered from an intellectual stand
,oint.
The questions now agitating the civilized
world are, therefore, purely moral ques-
ions-purely questions of progressive
purely questions of right and
rong. Right en- able writer in the
Washington Chronicle has said, " is the natu-
al antagonist of privilege, and no man can
njoy a privilege except at the expense of
mother mans right"
The government of the United States is
'ased upon the theory Of equal rights, and
y its democratic organization the people
ave been enabled to secure them in part.
ut all the while tolerating a des-
otto institution which was undermining the
overnment and had to be sustained by |
nomalous Legislation and perverted judi
ial decisions Ii was warping The very
of the structure which our
,refathers had proudly denominated the
emple Of liberty. We needed a terrible
'ar to open our eyes to the abyss into
vhich the republic was about to be
lunged. Equal laws and equal rights are
conditions of our future exist +,
nee. We cannot escape the necessity if |
q would. Every man who denies the I
rinciple puts weapon in the hands Of t
Vranny. He who claims privilege not I
to all his fellow citizens, justi- c
es every species Of despotism, and ena-
les tne next stronger man than himself to
sturn him to subsection. 1t is the eternal
onfiict of right against might in which we
truggle to-day. and II permits Of no dis
riminations upon artificial or natural ,
rounds. II a man may be excluded from 4
Is rights In the management Of society, q
hereof be Is a member, on account of the
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