Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1869-02-11
Lock Ahead.

! Tic late convention of cOlOred
men in Washington was one of inn
portahce and ability. 1t marks
new era. Organization is strength.
That race begins TO organize. We
predict q quick success to them.
1t is to be hoped that their public
discussions, and their private repre-
sensations will haze great influence
with Congress. They deserve to have.
At any rate we trust that this will be
! the first of Il series Of conventions,
and that cclored men will prepare to
take their fair share in moulding this
nations future Especially we crave
their earnest aid in forwarding the
Constitutional Amendment They
should give themselves no rest until
their rights rest on the same Consti-
tutional guaranty as those Of the
whites.
The prospect OF the speedy adop
ton Of such an amendment looks so
dark We feel that all the reaction
AIRY forces are rallying sgainst it
SILL, changes we never dreampt
Of seeing in our day, have come sud
denly upon us. Events may force
us ahead. Now or later we shall he
driven to such a measure by the mis-
conduc. of tie South. That resource.
that aid, we may be sure will not fail
us mal.y years.
What living vonder it Is that
men will never learn by the expert
ence Of others. TrumbuiA. Tess
enden, Conkling and others go on in
the same stupid steps as did .heir
predecessors; trying to shelter them
selves from the way of advancing
ideas behind tcchricalities and cut
and dried phrases. They are dig
eing for themselves the same sCrt of
graves as those which hold Critten-
den and Webster, Davis and Win
throp How long will men with eyes
in the backs of their heads attempt
to lead their generation: We are not
necessarily TO blame this as COR
ruption. Ia able men it might he so.
But with weak men it is often honest
blindness, the result Of ignorance Or
timidity.
One thing the past year shows us.
The Negro, like the Indian, will need
for some time to come, especial at
tention. Could the white race have
risen to the level OF real statesman
ship and inaugui uted condition of
alta is based on deep and absolute
principle, could it have ma'le our
path to run parable! with the laws Of
nature, and God, the nation might
soon have discarded all reference to
race But the fatal ana hateful phrase
WI ite mans government, still rules
half the Senate. two thirds of the ar
MY (including Sherman), and the
whole Of the supreme court; we must
,repare, therefore. for long van
dering in the desert. Hence, with
special satisfaction, we hail the plan
proposed at Washington, to SINK the
Department of the Interior into a
mere Bureau of Statistics. Then to
create Department of Home Affairs
and give to it the care Of the Negro
race, the Indian race, Immigration,
| etc.
/ If we had statesmen at Washing
ton, we should leap at once to our
goal, and ignore race, recognizing
the cardinal principle OF American
civiIization-MAN, not race or caste.
Bnt being still children, we can not
vet put away the things that are
childish. What the Bureau of Freed
men did not 10, and what Johnson
treason, Fessenden's petulance, and
Trumbull's fussiness, and Conkiings
ignorance leave to be done, must DC
slowly cared for, year after year
One ounce of practical knowledge as
to what their admitted principles
bound them to, would have saved
| our fathers and us all their and cur
indian troubles, and the thousa Id
million dollars we have spent IN muir
dering Indians since 1888. Three
statesmen in Washington since 1861,
patriotic enough not to quarrel, cod
have saved us half the war debt and
half the trouble ahead. But expert
ence keeps dear school; the nation
bleeds and sweats because lawyers
who can pick holes in an indictment
are fiattered into thinking themselves
statesmen.
Hence we hail with great satisfac-
ton the returning good sense which
makes the best of our situation
and plans to give us department
for home affairs. 1t is at least a
pledge that the nation means to try
! to do its duty to these races, until