New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-21

win 1be weighed BY Providence, only our
imp4rfections possess. us to make mis-
takes sometimes. All men enjoy the sun
shine with the same freedom, and breathe
the cir, and feel the breath of spring just
as We do; and SO in society the same
uniformity of law. justice and
consideration are, or ought Ito
! be, distributed to the human
family with the same impartiality. Ep-
joynl tent is simply the result of capacity.
Pris bners and invalids are shut out from
the Aelds and from the bountiful glorles
of the glade and mountain top. yet they
inhale the air and see the light that breaks
in the east and closes upon them from the
west This is their misfortune. Ignorance
never tastes the ecstacy of knowledge,
and depravity is shut out from the house
hold of virtue and refinement. And yet
igno rance, knowledge, depravity and viz
tue IRE considered the same by the law in
all their absolute rights, such as life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So
ciety does not strip men of these essen
tails first, because it can not; and sec
ond y, if it could, it would be unjust.
Even in jail we enjoy certain life and
liberty, and pursue certain amount Of
happiness.
Aid herein is where the fundamental
error of the Democratic idea comes in.
The Democrat which is about as intelligent
as any Of its friends, can never comprehend
how Republicanisrn deals with mankind.
1t says day after day that we propose to
equAlize the negro with the white man.
We propose nothing of the kind. 1t is
impossible to equalize men. Some are
good and some are bad. Some are wise
and some are stupid. How can we equal
ize these different classes? What we do
propose is to forget that men are black,
and to accept man for what he is worth.
If be is sober, industrious, honest, intelli-
gent and capable. let him stand. as the
representative of these virtues whatever
may be his color If he is drunken, lazy,
dishonest, ignorant and incapabable, let
him stand aside as unworthy to associate
with his betters, whatever his color may
be. This is another definition of manhood
ftness. If negro makes good shoe
mu st We pass him by to have our feet shod
by a clumsy and drunken white man? If
black man can lift us over the ditch
must we fall into the mud because his
arr IS are of different color from ours?
If he will cast an honest vote shall his
suffrage be rejected in favor of white
man who will sell his ballot to thief for
drink of whisky?
Manhood fitness, in political sense,
has significance entirely distinct from
what it has in social sense As we can
not strip a man of his absolute natural
rights, SC we should never deprive him of
certain absolute political rights. All men
shb uld stand on the same platform in the
eye of the law in a republican govern
ment. But as to social position, that is
a province which society regulates for
its elf Every man chooses his own asso-
cis ties. Wise men congregate together,
pr ze fighters seek one another, thieves
hide in common den, and drunkards fall
in 10 the gutter Poverty shuns the palace,
and wealth goes around the howell. Elo-
qpence fingers on the lips of Frederick
Douglass, while solemn nonsense rolls
from the Democratic Finance Committee
And yet both Of these parties are men,
and if we were as blind as justice is said
to be, it is easy to say that Douglass would
get the largest room in the hotel, be-
caus the public would lean to the most
sensible company. The fitness of man
dpes not depend on his color, but on his
W prth.