The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-09-16

I
North-yes, more in proportion ther
than now. There were as many In TIT
State of Ohio in proportion as there art
now. The same reasons prevailed OIL
the subject of negro suffrage then tina
prevail now. The same God reigned. II
the heavens in 1902 as reigns now. i
was the same Bible then as now, teach
ing the same lessons of wisdom ant
truth-the same justice, human and dl
vine-the same humanity-the same
every thing that it is to-day. Yet the
men who were brought up in the schoo
of George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson, and our fathers, the pa
triots, but not the loyal mel
of &c, inserted in that Constitu
tion the word "white." Why ? Be
cause they meant that there should bC
white mans State government il
Ohio. The meant that the negro shoulc
have no part or lot in the administra
ton of political affairs. That was the
significance of the word white" There
were negroes here, but the men of that
generation believed they were not fit tt
exercise the privileges and prerogatives
of white men; or whether fit or not
they said this Is 4 government and
country set apart for the domination OF
the white race. That constitution con.
tiuued until 1851. Now they tell you
that onr colored troops fought well
down South and that our colored friend
Frederick Douglass is Il great orator
and IA great statesman, and that John
VI. Langston and other colored persons
are lit to compete with the Washing
tons, the Adamses, the JellerSons of q
former day, and the Clays, Calhouns
and WebSters of "A more recent period.
These men who tell you this are not OF
the kind who framed the consti utlon
in 1S02. They believed that these per-
sons, whatever might have been their
intellectual capacity, ought not to in
termingle, and were incapable OF being
successfully intermingled with this
white population. The negroes are not
the men who helped to make Ohio what
it was from 1902 to lS5l. In 1851 another
constitution was adopted. Both Wings
aud Democrats were i'll that convention,
and both parties united in reinserting
the word "white" as qualification for
the right of suffrage and Otfice-holding
They were against negro Oequality-there
were none on either side IL favor of it.
The negroes did not hew down your
forests and make of them the beautiful
farms you see around you. You did
it Yourselves, or your fathers before
YOU. The negro didn't make your rail-
roads and cauals, it was old Paddy who
did that. Laughter The negro did
not clear YOUR fields. He did not bring
about that vast and accommodating civil
liZatiOn which has marked the career OF
Ohio, which, almost within my short
recollection, was bowling wilderness,
and is, to-day, the abode of three mil
lions of happy people. The word white
was i'm both constitutions; both parties
agreed in DISTINGUISHING the negre-to
keep him from participating i'll or exer-
cising the rights CO civil government.
am not in the habit of pandering TO
popular hates or prejudices on the ques-
tion of the negro. | say to You II be-
lieved the negro was capable OF asslmll-
ating with the white race there is moth
ing before God or among men which
would stand in the way as Il juStiiica-
tion for excluding him from political
rights and privileges. 1t is not because
of any of the peculiarities commonly at
tributed to the negro that would ex-
clude him. Neither do propose to dis
cuss whether the negro is the equal OF
the white race. Upon that my opinion
is fixed by study and retlection-tiXed
the ablest and wisest men VINO 'naHr~lnt
tne t.iao+igoted the subject-fxed, because
etLe present time the negro has
up "a no evidence of capacity for self
government. do not propose to dis
cuss that question. care not whether
he is our equal intellectually or not. 1t
matters little to me. He may be the
superior ofthe white race. He certainly
is to some members of it that know of.
When man tells me the negro is the
equal of the white race. never enter
into all argument with him, because l
presume he ought to know, taking him
self as the representative of the white
race and making his estimate according
ly. [Laughtcr.] l certainly think
more OF the negro than of such
white worshippers. but assume
that the negro is the superior of our
race, still if there isan impossibility OF
assimilation or amalganiation, it is a
sufficient barrier made by the Almighty
himself to prevent what is now being
attempted. Every nation is represented
in this Countrywide Dutch, tho Irish,
the Scotch, tie English, the Welsh, the
French, the Spaniards, the Austrians
and the Russians, every race in Europe
has contributed to the population here.
They have married and intermarried.
There is not 4 man among you who is
not intermXcd in, his descent. We have
all commingled totally and absolutely,
and are now Que people. If the negro
were capable of this intermiXture and
assimilation lie would have just a~ much
right as the German, the Frenchman,
the Englishman or the American, born
to those rights and privileges of citizen
ship which are enjoyed by whites.
/ base my opposition to negro equal
ity on this: that God has created bar
rier between the two races what God
has put, asunder man has not power to
bring together. Those marks | have in
dicated may be the semblance of that
which is within to denote that inca
pacity for combining that race and
mingling it into one with ours, and for
that reason there ought to be no at.
tempt to raise the negro to political or
civil equality. -.- ~. .r.- s
OPPOSING ARGUMESTs.S g.
Let us look n moment at the argu-
ments adduced on the other side. What
are they Judge Thurman has referred
to three of the most prominent. Cop
perhead," "Butternut," Traitor" or
what is about the same thing, Thurman,
Pendleton, yallandigham. Another ar
gument is contained in single word
now frequently heard. You know the
fondness of the Republicans for the
clap-trap logic of single word. They
have a wonderful liking for that sweet.
scented synonym of all infamy, the
word 'lOyalty.n On that word they
carried on q gigantic war; conscripted a
million of soldiers, filled the land with
widows and the fatherless, strewed
yonr streets and your highways with
wrecks of crippled men, hid away the
bones of half a million of your best and
dearest-some in the churchyard, and
some in the nnmeless graves of the far
away South. Under the guise of loyal
ty the Constitution is trampled under
foot. BY pretense of loyalty the Union
is permanently dissolved, rs far as the