The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-02-26


: the interests of slavery. With q por
ton of the race free and enjoying thu
{ political rights of citizenship, it wa
. foreseen that slavery itself was endan
7 gered. That tight was therefore cut OF
7 and the free negro reduced toa condition
, experimenting slavery, in the vain hop
: that his aspirations for liberty Nigh
8 thus be crushed and the institution rem
| dered perpetual and secure. This fac
{ alone should be a sufficient argument il
t favor of the removal of the negro from
, condition the farthest possible from
that he so lately occupied, that no pos
: sIbie future contingency could brins
) about his reinstatement. So long al
] he is denied the ballot in any portion o
the Republic, just-so long is he denied
the power to resist any political or so.
| cial revolution which might be inaugu
: rated for that purpose.
/, No class, no race, is truly free until il
: is clothed with political power suffi.
| cient to make it the peer of its kindred
class or race and enable it to resist the
contingencies of popular Gommotion
No nation can be truly republican which
|, denies to any portion of its citizens
tcqnaf laws and equal rights.
By perpetnating this discrimination
between whites and blacks, we should
remember that we are sustaining a dis
: of the Union and of popular govern
ment in the interest and for the perpet-
uatiOn of slavery.
1t is useless to say slavery is dead, and
that therefore we need feel no appre-
hensiOn from it in the future. The dis
qualification of the free negrOs of the
country before the war was one of the
strong adjuncts of slavery. without the
aid of which it could not have lived a
day. 1t is now the last prop upon which
its friends depend for its future re-es-
adjustment Remove that and all hope
for them is forever gone Slavery is
not dead, however, until its supports are
removed. 1t will never die until the me-
gro is placed in position of political
equality from which he can successfully
bid defiance to all future Vaccinations
for his enslavement. Until he is clothed
with the ballot he is without that pow
er. and is in constant danger from the
cupidity of men who have been and ex-
pect again to be his masters. Without
the ballot he is the slave of public pref
udice and public caprice-the football
of public scOrn. He is powerless to Sc
cure the redress of any grievance which
society may put upon him. There is
not a single argument in favor of his
liberation from physical servitude which
does not apply with equal force in IA
vor of his enfranchisement. In 40 9TH
er way can he be disenthralled from the
meshes of impotency and public con-
tempt in which he is now cast, and made
a respectable and useful citizen than by
his investiture with the rights of man
i hood, which will make him, as he was
designed by his Maker to be, our peer
| in the State.
There are many races of people in the
world quite as distinctive in their char
acteristies as the negro, and quite as dis
similar from each other. yet none OF
them are excluded from the ballot on
account of those dfssirnilarities. The
/ people of all other countries and races
may immigrate to our shores, and, af-
ter undergoing prescribed process OF
naturalization, become citizens, enjoy
ing all political rights in common with
i ourselves yet here Is a man born and
reared among us, necessarily educated
in all the qualifications of our political
system, fully approaching their worth
and value, and, if need be, ready to lay
down his life for their main
tenance, but he cannot vote, though es-
sentially one of us simply because his
Maker has given him hue of a darker
shade than we ourselves wear. What
Justice is there in this? Even the wild
Indian of the plains, whose hands are
red with the blood of murdered women
and children, may become citizen AID
cast vote which shall affect the public
veal equally with that of the most en-
i lightened and humane among us; YET
the negro, who is vastly his supesior III
intelligence, in humanity, in industry
and in all that pertains TO good citizen
ship, is deemed unwo rthy to have voice
in affairs of the State in which he was
born and reared and which concern him
as nearly as any of US. What democ IA.
cy is there in that? How long can we
expect to maintain democratic form o.
government if we determine that such
unju distinctions shall continue to ex-
list /? Even the man whose parricidal han6
has been raised for the destruction of the
government that has nurtured and pro
tected him. may fOrswear his crime anC
be received into full fellowship in thS
political fold, reinvested with all the Pc
litical privileges and prerogatives which
his tielson had forfeited; yet the maj
who barred his breast to the blows o
that same traitor for the preservation oc
government whose entire enginery haC
been used to rivet the chains of servitud'
upon him is told to stand back--tha
this is white mans government-tha
he is Of too dark a hue to be safely in
, trusted with the exercise OF. those right
for which he spilled so much ofhis bloot
, as precious to him as ours is to us.
? During the war we were all very glat
: to witness the alacrity with which tn
( negroes fiocked to our standard. HI
: was deemed good enough to stand shout
> der to shoulder with us on the blood,
> field, but now that the time of trial i
E past, too many are prone to forget tn
. lesson learned in the hour of danger
and to conclude that the negro, though
: good enough to die for liberty, is ia
= too inferior being to enjoy its full
: blessing now that it is permanently wol
h What encouragement do we give to hi
o patriotic impulses by such a course
f We cannot expect to enjoy perpetua
s immunity from war and with race Il
Q our midst numbering many millions
Q thrust back from the enjoyment o
: rights which it has fairly earned, ant
Y which every consideration of justic
q and even expediency prompts us to &C
Q cord, told that they are good enough t.
: fight but not good enough to vote
4 where NAV we look for that splendid re
: serve corps in an hour of trial like tn
q last?
s If we would strengthen the nation i
$ the arts of war or of peace, we mus
e foster and encourage every clemen
e within it that is calculated TO yiel
n strength. We must concede to the ne
gro race that which it has so signal
# earned by its services in the field. by II
e moderation in victory and its commend
a able ambition displayed in its efforts 70
4 / intellectual advancement. We mus
; confess its rights and CLAIMS upon us, 8
;. the dominant race, by reason ofits com
J. mon origin, common interests, and CON
= mon humanity.
IL 1t is objected that the passage of thi
e resolution would be an act of bad fat
II toward the States-that the issue {