The Portland daily press., 1868-11-28

NAsBY's LECTURE. "A very good sized, but
not a crowded, audience assembled in City
Hall last night to listen to Mr.. D. r. Locke
alias Petroleum V. Nasty. The speaker was
introduced to the audience by Nathan Webb
Esq, and Immediately entered upon his sub
ject which was "Cussed be Canaan" instead of
the Niger in American Politics." We can
give but very brief abstract owing partly to
the --ov~tseA -4@t~ e ..--.,--
to the very rapid utterance of Mr. Locke He
commenced by stating that we are all descend
ed from grandfathers, and that soma of these
grandtathers assembled a century ago and
enunciated doctrine they thought could not
be gainsaid, that 1--WE hold these truths to be
self-evdent that all men are created equal"
&c. Jefferson was the author of the senti-
ment and has always been hailed as the father
OF the party that believed in it, Had Jeffer-
son known what was to happen in this country
after his death, he would have written 1--WE
mold these supposed truths to be toIerdbly self
evident that, as a rule, all white men are Great
ed equal, endowed with certain rights, among
which are life, liberty and the pursuit of =,
niggers. This failure to omit the word white
was a sad mistake and is noticeable in Sir
OSNSs3
Thus, David aoould have said in Psalms: mark
the perfect white male aud behold the upright,
for the end of that'aohite male is peace" and
Christ would say: "Suffer little white children
to come urto me-.
He then spoke of the difference between ne
gro and niger The one (according to the die
tionary) is a man born in Africa, and the other
is an idea existing only in the Imagination Of
the white citizen of the United States He
then detailed the circumstances under which
Noah pronounced the curse on Canaan. and
here was the starting point that the negro was
an inferior being. The Almighty helped Moan
by changing the complexion of Ham, But in
spise Of the strength of Noah's curse he could
find no authority that Hams descendants were
the servants of anybody till very recent date.
Ihe conservatives of the South, however, de-
sired that the effect of the curse should con-
tinue. They have knocked the brains out of
the Canaanites who dared to oppose their wills
to those of their masters Our ancestors be-
lieved in the curse, didn't want to work and
were glad to have the negro work for them.
The first settlers of Virginia (Gen. Grant was
the last) never labored till they came to this
country, and didn't want to h. re. They pray
ed 'give US this day our daily bread" and a
ngger to feed it to us. The curse of Canaan
was never so well fulfilled as in the Southern
States, but just as it was in good working order
it was killed by Abraham Lincoln, who smote
slavery under the fifth rib with the procama-
tion Of emancipation. Then the Cauaanites
went into the war and fought against their
half brothers, Lee, Forrest and the like the
brothers having chivalrous blood coursing
through their veirs. Kentucky preserved
strict neutrality. He spoke of the various the
cries of the physiological origin of the negro.
and with effective sarcasm disposed of every
theory, except that he's man.
Mr.. Locke closed with grand and eloquent |
appeal for practical enforcement of the doc |
trlne OF the Declaration of Independence in |
our treatment of the negro. That the avenue
OF advancement should be open to every per- |
son according to his ability, and that sober |
and intelligent negro should be allowed to vote |
as quick as an ignorant drunken white man. |
he did not ask for the negroes superiority in |
anything, but equality in everything, and de- |
manded under our flag all men shall be men. |
We can then look the world in the face without |
p blush, and repeat those grand old words: |
I'VE hold these truths to be selfevident. that |
all men are created equal; that they are en- |
dowed by their Creator with certain rights |
that among these are life, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness"
This is very meagre sketch, but if any one |
is disappointed we can only say, that if they
had gone to hear the lecture, as they should |
have done, they would have listened to one of |
the sharpest, most caustic, but just lectures
ever given in this city.