Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-09-27


the strongest motive to be industrious,
/ intelligent, viItuOus and patriotic.
/ Because it viii relieve law-abidina
l citizens from q prescription which ranks
i them on a par with criminals.
i Because the present discrimination
! against a class in the community is the
remnant Of q prejudice engendered by
4 the existence Of slavery, and which
ought TO die with the institution that
nourished IT,
Because 1t viii abridge the privileges
/ Of no patriotic citizen, while It viii in
crease the usefulness and devotion Of
many.
Because it viii strengthen the Union
sentiment and forces.
Because the rebels and Copperheads
don't want IL adopted.
oBJECTIoE TO ITS ADOPTION.
tsIt allows negroes to vote"
God has given them reason and speech
which marks them as men. They are
able to accumulate properly, pay taxes,
yield obedience to the laws and defend
the State, which is what Government
requires of the citizen. The only proper
disqualification for the privileges Of cit
izenship in Our government is crime.
Color is not a crime, and il is as reason
able that color should excuse n man
from his duties to the State, as it should
exclude him from its privileges. In
slavery the negro was forced to serve
MS master without wages We con-
denim that as unjust, The high pFivil-
eyes Of q citizen are the wages the State
pays for faithful performance of a citi-
zen's duties, and when a State with
holds any part of the wages it becomes
to that extent a tyrant. Let us purge
Ohio of this tyranny.
tfIL will establish social equality
This is the bug-beaT, intended to
frighted men OF weak minds, and has
no more substance than ghost. Every
white man knows that he is politically
he equal of his white neighbOrs; and
he knows, too, that the matter of social
equality is wholly regulated and deter
mined by other considerations. No
man whom he don't want there can,
because a voter, claim admission to his
home circle, and he, although a voter,
can establish himselfin no social circle,
when he is not wanted.
sit will promote miscegnatiOu."
This is another bug-bear. The realityis
that this evil has fiourished most where
the inequality of political condition
has been greatest. Every advance Of the
negro race in civilization strengthening
self-respect, and every acquisition of
influence, enabling it to Withstand the
alIurements of the white mans power,
more difficult, which is just what these
men who cry out "Miscegen genatiOn" to
frighten virtuOus people, don't want
should happen.
''The coIored men are ignorant, and
not fit to vote"
This is purely assumption, and it
might be successfully maintained that
the coIored men Of Ohio are as we'll in
formed as some other classes of citizens.
But the law does not prescribe any de-
gree of intelligence for white men, and
the men and tue party now insisting
IL A. - ~
gree of intelligence viii be the last TO
consent to the application of any such
test, by law, to other citizens, whether
native or natlralized. The negro will
not complain Of any standard of fitness
which shall be impartial in its applica-
ton to all men
eve shall be subjected to negro rule"
Shall we "Figures don't lie" Let
US look at the figures. There are 490,-
600 white voters in the State and not
over 1000 cOlOred men who will be
made voters if the Anendmeutis is adopt
ed. That is there viii be seventy votes
cast by white men for every one vote
cast by a cOlOred man. We shall never
see in this State an election in which
such a thing must happen before the
cOlOred men, as a class, carry any
measure against the white men,"
ssThe Amendment will disfranchise
white men,"
Not because they are white men. It
will disfranehise criminals. Rebels, de-
serters, and sneaks, who fed the coun-
/ try to escape serving it, whether white
| or black, are criminals by the laws OF
/ the United States. If a majority Of
them are white it's a pity. But that
circumstance ought not TO shield the
guilty from the operation Of an Impair
I tial law, which declares that any men
guilty of these crimes have forfeited
| their privileges of participating with
/ brave and sacrificing patriots in gov
Prning the country they failed to sup
| port, protect, and defend.
''But many true and brave soldiers
/ who left the army when the rebels sur
rendered, under a mistaken idea of The
! conditions of enlistment, have beer
/ Classed as deseTters and this amend
/ will disfrancbise them."
| Not at all. Congress, during the eX
ira session last July, passed the follow
/ ing law:
Be it enacted. &c, That no soldier ol
/ sailor shall be taken or held to be a de
/ serter from the army or navy, WhI
/ faithfully served, according to bis en-
/ listment, until the 18th day of April
] 1865, and who, without proper author
1 ity or leave first obtained, did quit BIZ
! command, or refuse to serve after sale
date. This act shal
/ be construed solely as a removal of any
4 disability such soldier or sailor may
! have incurred by the loss of his citizen
! ship in consequence Of his desert1on.
/ This law expressly provides that ev
! cry soldier who fought the good fgh
/ through to the end, shall enjry all tn
/ privileges Of citizenship, one OF which i
the right to vote.