The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1868-01-23
T'Bnd. stevens VS.. Brooks.
A SHARP REToRT.

SHARP REIORr
The following is the answer Of Mr.
Stevens to the remarks of Mr.. Brooks
on the bill from the Reconstruction
Committee-remarks which the speak
er Of them has not allowed to be print.
ed in the Globe:
Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania. Mr.
Speaker, / have listened with very
great pleasure (as l always do) to the
golden mouthed gentleman from New
York (Mr. Brooks), in his attempt to
prove the Bible lie. That book says
that God created 'of one blood all the
nations OF the earth" The gentleman
from New York, however, contends
that there several different varieties, and
all nations were not created of one
blood The question thus at issue be-
tween the gentleman from New York
and the author of that sacred volume,
| shall not attempt to decide It is too
high for me. But, sir, the gentleman
has given us history Of the negro race
from, l believe, the time fthe Queen Of
Sheba. lam not quite sure whether
he included her in the race or not. But
going over the whole field from that
time to this, he has, I think, very we'll
described the shape of the negro's foot,
the crook of bis ankle, the countour Of
his face. And then the gentleman
went on to consider the intellect of the
negro.
Now, does the gentlemanby ali this
mean to say that the sons of Ethiopia--
Of whom the great poet of antiquity
speaks as the "blameless sons of Ethio-
pia, among whom the gods always re-
tired when they wished to spend an in.
nosent and quiet hour''-have not
immortal souls; that they are TO ba
classed among "the beasts that perish"
and that God, who is to Judge them,
will not damn him if he deserves 1T
[ Laughter l am sorry, if such has
come to be the condition Of that race in
this country. 1 had thought that the
members Of that race had shown in our
day some evidence of strength and
power To be sure, l look upon them
as barbaFians, for having with their own
right hands, in defence ofliberty, strick-
en- down thousands of the friends Of
the gentleman who has been
enhghtening us to-day. Laughter
This conduct on their part, did, ] con-
fess, shOw cruelty and a barbarism which
is perhaps hard to excuse but the
gentleman must reeollect that all are
not equally mild in their demeanor, and
that even the white man might have
done the same thing, had he been in .
similar condition. aa-rs1Fe1,
AS to intellect, there are various
degrees gift, In that regard the gen.
tleman from New York towers above
the rest Of us, though, fear, he some
times abuses his superiority by the de-
clamation which he travels out of his
road to inAict upon US, with regard to
the various nations of the earth. But
that in intellectual gifts the gentleman
stands above all Of us, no man who has
heard him to-day, or heretofore, can
deny; and do not, I assure you, sir,
speak this ironically [laughter1; for i
do not know when / have heard any
thing so eloquent as the discourse which
the learned gentleman has given US to.
day. But have one proposition to
make For the oratorical champion.
ship of America Lam willing to match
Fred. Douglas or Langston against the
gentleman of New York. will al
low the latter gentleman to select two
out of three judges. Let the topic bO
anything the gentleman pleases, except
the negTo's shin [laughter]i and if at
the end of the discussion he does not
"throw up the SPONGE" / will admit
that the negro is an inferior animal
not only inferior to the gentlemaH of
New York, butinferior to the rest Of
US. Laughter. .
| call the previous question.