The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-02-21

only in accordance with their will and
appointment" The Constitution Of; the
United States, which we say shall DO the
supreme law Of the land, declares Tint
negroes are citizens; therefore Tie Haule
declared Mat the power Of eoYernmeni
and appointment Is 10 reside.ir negroes
as well as white men. The logical con.
clusion then Is that negroes arc TO have
the right Of suffrage.
The same reasons will apply 10 The
proposition to make suffrage depend upon
prepayment Of taxes, .s.gtFF
2IH.the protection Of a citizen In the en-.
joyment Of property was all that was re.
,glired, then this taxation might. do But
citizens have 'liie and liberty To protect
both more sacred than property, And
II he bears arms upon the roads, and per-
forms all those burdens that other citizens
perform, ought he not to have the power
oil appointing those who make, adjudicatC
and execute the laws affecting his life,
liberty and property This tho Repub-
lican party had amply Done. All men,
without distinction OF race or color, are
now equal before the law, and In making
thclaw; and while we have no fears Of
liberty leading 10 RIGHTEOUSNESS, VIC do
fear that unjust discrimination as to race
and wealth would make Us unworthy the
blessings VIC now enjoy.
The gentleman from Hampshire (Mr.
Armstrong; had asked where is the cyi.
dence Of that progress, spoken Of by the
friends Of these radical measures lie
had not been able u sec II, and thought
the progress had been downward. To
this ! would reply, that none arc so blind
as those who will not sec. Gentle.
men are looking in the wrong direction.
They are grovelling among the debris oil
the past, Let them look up. The nation
has risen 10 higher sphere. The car oil
progress, freighted with new ideas, new
policies, and new powers, Is moving on q
lofticr plain gradually moving to the &C.
compllshment Of more glorious destiny.
Downward, sirl What do gentlemen
mean, who go hanging their heads,
mourning for the pastp The Republican
party has been dragging West Virginia
downward Who can Justly say SO? Con.
trast her present condition with her con.
dition before the war. Who built those
more than $500 comfortable and credita-
bic schoolhouses scattered all over the
State? Who organized your system Of
free schools? UHder whose auspices
has the State Of West Virginia in the last
nine years increased more in wealth
manufactures and commerce, in intellec.
tual and moral iniluence-in short, in all
the elements OF public improvement and
power, than in any thirty or forty years
Of her former history. ~
Who did all thisG Downward-ycs,
sir, that is the difficulty; gentlemen are
digging downward, downward, after the
tossilized dogmas Of an obsolete political
period, with the hope Of galvanizing them
into some kind Of ghostly vitality. Vain
effort They have been buried so deep
that the power Of the resurrection will
never overtake them.
Conc Gone-"G limmering through tho dream
Of things that were"
On the theatre Of the country at large
the success Of the Republican party has
been equally, and even more marked and
respondent. Under Its influence the na.
ton has risen to height Of political
physical and moral power never before
attained-feared and revered all over the
earth in o degree never before enjoyed
On every sea, in every port, in every
cline, by every potentate, its starlit flag
is honored and respected. There are only
two known places where it does not re.
ceive fitting respect and recognition, and
they are over the hall where the delegates
of West Virginia are in convention assem-,
bled, and yonder, where the naked flag
staff upon your capitol has been appeal
ing all winter in vain to the Legislature
sitting beneathit.
But why all this hostility to the pool
negro, who provokes the anathemas Of SC
many of the majority in this body?-
Here, by no intrusion Of his own, but
brought here by ourselves; free now, moi
by his own act, but by that Of the no,
ton; poor, because, for 200 years, III
has labored for us. Supporting our fami
lies, and furnishing the means 10 educate
our children. Trusting faithfully to thu
family ofa master, absent in the Conied
crate army, fighting 10 preserve slavery
but showing at all times by his devotion
and readiness to help a Federal soldier
1e has given such an exhibition of devo
ton and intelligence as the world has
never known before. n.
We believe that God "has made of one
blood, all nations Of men 10 dwell upon
the face Of the earth" 4-raa ~
We believe to be true as set down in
the Declaration Of Independence, that "alI
men are created eQual."l Or as Governor
Mason (so much glorifled here) has said
that all men by nature arc equally free
and independent" 4fyI0 ieyI.
Who are we that we should disparagc
Gods image? or make distinctions Of
right among his children. When he
makes none HIMSELF Equal in his origin,
equal at the cross, equal at the bar Of
judgment, equally entitled to a. home In
heaven. Who are we that we should ar.
rogate 10 ourselves authority to deny our
brother his birthright, because heis black
and We are white. 7am 80
Away with such intolerance. In wal
we send him TO the battle front, in peace
we impose upon him all the burdens and
duties OF any other citizen. Then why
should he not vote. lu l4H'a
The gentleman from Hardy, (Mr. Mas.
linJ had referred to the glorious days Of
old Virginia, producing such men as
Washington and Jefferson, and Madison,
and no one admires those great men more
than /. But that illpstrious period was
like the Father Of his country, who died
childless-it had no successor. And the
great principles which they enunciated
being unheeded, Virginia, untrue to their
teachings, fell behind until she held a
position fourth or fifth among her sister
States. d la 1I51 if9G 1'lltrolLa55
The principles Of these great mon are
to-day the cardinal principles Of the Re-
publican party. We stand upon the
broad platform OF our fathers, wrought out
by them in the day when adversely and
trial had enlarged their hearts to both
God and man. On these great truths we