Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-28

equal OF all other men.
Does it consist in the nature ofhis OBJ
I legations as q member of the communi-
| ty3 In respect to these you also re.
gard him as one having the attributes
Of manhood. You enforce against him
the rigid performance of his contracts
you exact from him his equal share OF
public burdens you hold him equally
amenable to the laws, and infiict upon
him the impartial penalties of their vi
olati0n you bind him by the ties OF
allegiance, and punish his infdelitY to
the State as treason; you treat him in
respect to all these things as one hav-
ing rational, intelligent, equal man
hood. It is not, then, in the nature OF
his obligations as q member Of the
community that YOU regard his inferi-
Ority as consisting.
But these rights are the rights ofman
these obligations are the incidents of
rational manhood. For the protection
and enforcement Of these, and these on
ly government is instituted. It has no
other purpose F.; these are the only sub
iects Of its powers. Does it not follow
then, as a logical sequence, that as the
African has, in equal degree with all
other men, the rights and obligations OF
rational manhood, for the protection
and enforcement of which government
is Instituted, he ought to have and eX-
ercise, in common with them, such
from his consent, as viii make them
permanently secure This necessarily
from the principle upon which popular
government is founded, and in which
our own liberties repOss for security,
unless he be 50 inferior in rational ca
pacity as co render him incapable of in
telligent consent.
Can such defect of capacity be justly
asserted of him ? If it can, then the
nar1u ration feF the wRrna and f7nn anToVr-
ization Of the African, cOnsigus him to
anarchy for if he be not capable of in
telIiRently exercising the ordinary func-
tions of citizenship In conjunction with
a superior race, much less is he if cast
upon his own resources and his civil
and political condition in a state Of
separation would, therefore, be one Of
indescribable misery, exposing him to
the cupidity of commercial adventures
and the misfOrtunes of his own inca-
pacity. Unless the theory Of separation
be the suggestion Of a barbarOus inhu-
manity, its advocates must be satisfied
of his capacity for self-gOvernment, and
the exercise Of political powers with
sufficient intelligence to guarantee the
protection and security Of his rights.
With them, therefore, no controversy
can he had-nO vindication of the ne
grO's capacity is necessary, for they
concede it.
efforts of genius and fntellectualitY of
which the Caucasian is capable, may
be possible. But the capacity of genius
is not the rule Of enfranChisement. If
suffrage were restricted to those pos
sessing extraordinary capabilities, not
only the African, but the great body of
the Caucasian race would be excluded.
A government conforming its practice
to snch a standard would constitute an
arist0cracy of intellect, highly UtOpian
in theory, yet no less despOtic and ty-
rannieal than an aristoeraey Of wealth
or birth. Our whole political system is
at war with a standard so practically
unattainable. 1t rests upon the funda-
mental and liberal idea that rational
manhood, however humble its end low
ment, however incapable of reaching
the higher attainments of statesman
ship, is the only practical standard Of
The masses of mankind,
although ungifted with those powers
which make men llustriOus, are never
theless competent to constitute an ul-
innate tribunal, a grand inquest of the
nation, by whose will, selections from
the gifted are commissioned to exercise
the more delicate and diff cult powers
of state, and at the bar of whose united
Judgment they are rightly required to
account for the manner in which they
the high trust. On this de-
pends the security of the weak against
The strong-Of the feeble against the
powerful. This is their bulWark, their
only shield, the palladium of their safe
ty.
s3EaaII- q mora stringent rule be applied
TO the AfElcan3 COncede That ne Is un-
equal in capacity to the more gifted Of
the Caucasian race; what then2 Does
it follow because he may not excel, he
cannot attain medi0crity That be-
cause he may not rival the efforts of ge-
II
tiOnaity of manhood That because
he may not reach the first rank in states
he cannot intelligentlY eX-
ercise the ordinary functions Of the cit
iZen? That because he may not be a
Cesar, he can be nothing? If this
were applied to our own race,
its electoral ranks would be fearfuiy
decimated. AstO it, however, the or
dinarY capacity of rational manhood
is the test and rule Of suffrage Can
impartial Justice demand less liberal
rule for the African2 He has the same
rights of life, liberty and property to
be protected: shall not the same Ordin-
ary powers of intellect entitle him to
exercise the means of protection7 he
is subject to the like obligations and
duties of citizenship in common with all
other races of men: shall not the like
capacity entitle him, in COM
mon with them, to share IN temperlng
ana GOuGrO1AlLlG GDBAE GAADLCGLAAE4Ab 4AG
is exposed to like acts of tyranny and
oppression: shall not the same ordinary
entitle him to the means of
his Oppressor? Let impartial
Justice answer.
That he possesses the nationality, the
candor of intelligence, and his own
under the most adverse /
bear witness. 1T is a
stubborn fact, abundantly sustained by
the educational statistics Ofthe country,
that whenever the heel of oppression
and the hand of prejudice have been
lifted from the negro, his progress in
rudimental knowledge has not been
less than that of his Caucasian superior.
In 1850, before the facilities Of partial
ly Just educational system were extend
ed to him in the Northwest, its proper
ton of ilIiterate blacks was not greater
than the whole Southern white popula-
tiOn. So keenly sensitive were South
srn statesmen to this fact, that in 1860
they prevailed on the authorities then
in power to omit the collection of edu-
statistics in the census of that
year
What his rank in the scale OF inteIli-
uence might have been if stimulated by
the price of manhood recognized, and
his sense Of the dignity aud duties of
conferred, is only cOniectur-
al. Hitherto he has been outlaWed,
buffeted, despised, without motives to
or incentives to excel, or Op-
portunities to grow. With the humilia-
sense of his kindred in chains, and
himself the object of scorn and con-
tempt, it is only remarkable that he is
not more barbarOus, more viciOus-an
in resentments,l a Saxon des-
pOiIer of oppressOrs. Tt is basely un-
generous, therefore, to fetter the limbs
a of race which has no country, no gov
ernment, no laws, no land of civil and
religious liberty Whereon to set its feet,
and ieer it for tagging behind us in the
race. 1t is measureless injustice to per-
petrate his ignorance by enforced disa-
biIities, and then perpetrate his disabil-
tiles because he is ignorant.
But let us be frank with ourselves
be candid with our convictions. In
stead of mental incapacity, inferiority
Of race, is not the real the sole cause of
our opposition to the enfranchisement
Of the negro grounded in prejudice Of
color ? Suppose he were Invested of his
sable complexion, and clothed in that
of the Caucasian; would his exclusion
be urged on the ground of incapability or
any other cause2 Frankness, candOr, will
answer, moi Then our whole opposition
resolves into prejudice of colOr-that
Incident Of hfa unfY1re VrVnu which uni-