The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1867-09-06


such an exclusion founded upon reason or
ijustioeY Should they, without any other
reason, be excluded from all political rights
the most sacred Of which s to vote They
have property TO be taxed, and are sub.
lject to our laws. Every burden imposed
by the State upon other men they must
bear. They are subject to military duty,
are punished for crimes and otieuses, and
are amenable to all your State, county and
municipal corporations.
They have families to support, and are
governed by the same affections, passions
aud necessities TO which you are subject.
They were born on our soil aud have no
other allegiance or country than our own.
They are educated at our schools, and can
testify in our courts They are few in
number and could not, if they would, COM
bine to jeopardize our institutions. They
were allowed to vote in all tho original
States except South Carolina, aud no evil
ever resulted from It,
1t is wcll.known historical fact that
some of the most eminent statesmen of the
South owed their election to free negro
votes.
In Ohio, all nearer white than black have
always been allowed to vote.
Under this unjust discrimination, trus.
been bothered to decide whether a voter
was nearer white or black, aud generally
decided ii according to the complexion Of
the vote and not the voter
They are not excluded by any Christian
nation in the world but ours, In Great
Britain, France, Prussia aud Italy, elec
tious occur more or less general in charac-
ter. and in none OF them are men excluded
merely for the color of their skin.
Our American system Of elections is
slowly revoluionizing the world, and yet
no nation has adopted our exclusion of
persons Of African descent.
The truth is, it is based upon narrow
prejudice of caste, not founded upon roa-
son or natural laws, but the offspring of
the same intolerance aud higotry that ex,
cuded the Israclie from all participation
in the government OF the Egyptians. They
are not willing to exclude either ignorant
or intelligent rebels. They welcome to
their embrace men whose hands are yet
red with the blood of our Kindred
II is only a ngger" they would exclude.
II is nothing to them that the ngger has
fought for our country, has been wounded
in our service, is intelligent, sober, indus.
trious he is a nigger, aud therefore must
have no voice in public aft ,irs.
am far from admitting that there is
such marked inferiority among the col.
ored people of Ohio as our Democratic
friends assert There are worthless c ar.
acters among them, hut through what
terrible process have they passed for forty
years. Rejected, depressed, excluded from
most eujoymcu's Of life, excluded from
schools, and even from churches devoted
to the worship Of Almighty God without
| n nnli ri IL
either by law on public opinion by the
same prejudice that, divides the Chinese
aud Hiudoos into caste tho same that
makes an Asialio regard all Europeans as
bal halians ; tie same feeling Of pride aud
intolerance which enables an aristocracy in
Great Britain TO exclude the labaring
Classes from all voice in the Government.
We owe il to our character as American
citizens to free ourselves from such pre-.
Judices, and TO be just to those who are
born on our soil, share in our burdens, aud
are only different from MS in that their an.
cestors came from a different part of Gods
world than ours did. arrt
What reason do our Democratic friends
give for keeping up this ban OF prejudice
against the colured race? Thereal reason,
imagine, is because they have no hope of
getting the darkies to vote with them. But
they tell us negroes are not intelligent
enough to vote And yet they do not
propose to base voting upon intelligence
They do not ask TO exclude those who can
not read or write They do not ask US to
exclude persons who cannot understand
onr language, aud yet with all these ter
rible disadvantages, it cannot be said that
they are 80 ignorant as to be unfit to share
with all other men in the right to gov
ern themselves. Take off the ban. of
prejudice, give them an equal chance, and
then make the comparison. ''
They say that the negro was enslaved
in his own country; that Africa has never
produced great statesmen, poets or me.
chanics. Well if that argument is good
it ought to apply to families as well as
races. Would it be fair to exclude man
from high Office because his ancestors
have lived for centuries in civilized society, |
and not one of them has left name? Our
own race has been cropping its way up.
ward so slowly that we cannot set our
selves far above other men, without the
same presumption for which we sneer at
tue Chinese. All races are descended |
from one stock, if we can believe the Bible |
except Nasby's. All differences are tho |
result OF climate and opportunities of civ.
iization.
Even if our race is better than the negro |
race, that is no reason why we should de-
prive them of equal rights. 1t is only an
other reason why we should give them
an equal chance with US.
And, fellow citizens, there are SPECIAL
reasons why we should allow the colOred
people to vote in Ohio, and why the Re.
publican party, which has been the bu-
waIk Of our country during its recent his
tory, should cheerully extend this right
Their exclusion is the remnant of the bar
barrie influence OF slavery, aud should fall
with the rest of the internal system. But
for slavery it would never have existed.
The word white" was inserted in the Con.
sitution Of 1902, because the trainers of
that Constitution, being mostly from slave
holding States, were anxious to exclude
from the State negroes who were debased
by slavery. Ohio was among The frst to
exclude negroes from the right of suffrage,
and this was soon followed by an Infamous
code OF black laws. This code was re-
pealed by general consent, and all that is
left of it 10 what will be stricken out by
his amendment As Ohio Of all the new
States took the lead in wrong, it should
be the first to retract it,
We have borne our share in the strug-
lies and sacrifices by which slavery has
been expurgated from our system In this
great aud good work VIC have trampled
lnder foot the social habits and customs of
MILLIONS of people. Let us not rest until
We have completed our work by restoring