National Republican., 1873-12-09
THB COLORED CONVENTION


A national convention Of colorcd men
viii meet in this city today, to urge upon
Congrcss the passage of Mr.. Summers civil
rights bill, or some measure Of similar
charac,er. The convention promises to be
largo, and will be composed for the most
part Of the leading colored men Of the
country. Delegates have been chosen in
the principal cities of the .Union-men, for
tho most part of character and rcputa tion,
who would do credit to any people. We
have no idca that the convention will be
able TO throw any, new. light upon the sub
ject for the di,cueion of which they will
como tosesss.'but IL vhe convention can
not do any, yv&y great good, h certainly can
not do any harm. The whole question has
lcen 80 oftcn and 30 fully discussed in Con.
gress, the platform and the press that
nothing more remains to lie said in refer
cncc 10 II.
The call for the convention. printed in
other columns sufficiently indicates the
feelings and ideas of those who are ex.
pected to- take part,in the meeting and OF
those who win be represented In It, The
documen, Is somewhat intempemte in ex-
preston, and might have been made good
dealmorc moderate in tone without impair.
ing the success Of the cause which the
Equal Rights League have so much at heart
There can he no doubt, however, that
there is very excellent ground for the
complaints which are made and that
in some way a change should be effected.
Whether II should be done by national
legislation. or whether the persecution
for u Is persecution, whether intended as
such or not-should lie allowed to die its
own natural death is one Of the points upon
which even the bcst friends Of the colorcd
people are divided in opinion. On the one
hind II is asserted that the rights demanded
are purely social, and should. bc regulated
By society in It's own way. On the other
II is elH,ended that they are Of such char
aSet IA the strong arm Of the Govern.
ncnt isisbuld interfere TO enforce them; in
other GoDls, that they are political The
preston = an intricate one. and If II Is to
l,e dochedby national legislation should be
tnciiAa haly after the gnvcst and mos, de-
libcntc consideration.
We have no defence whatever to make
oftle existing orlcr of things which Mr.
Sumner and the convention are so anxious
10 correct. No defence of Il can be made;
lait the G,ct Is that the whole question Is
gradually regulating ITSELF and the only
point involved in 1t now Is, il seems to us,
whether 1t is worth the while of the Gen.
eral Government to interfere in it. On
more than one occasion we have seen in.
stances Of an infraction Of the plaincst die.
tstcs OF humanity, when we wished that
that the civil rights bill rs Ii Is called, was
the law Of the land. ol'y few years ago
Mr.. Frederick \. Douglass while an official
ofthc Governments and holding commission
from the President of the United States, was
refused dinner upon a steamboat upon the
Pe.onasc waters, almost under the very
shadow OF the Capitol But on the other
hand. a colored man is In this city living at
one of our principal hotels, and Is not oh.
jeciel 70 by anybody we have heard of upon
account Of his birth. Scores Of white men
luvc been sent away from the same cstab.
lishmcnt for very obvious reasons. The
parallel Is not altogether good, but II has
some very material bearing upon the Sub,
ject The convention which meets here
today has our entire sympathy. We hope
that II will be able 10 point the way to u
moro enlightened public opinion. In no
place copld Il more appropriately meet
70 discuss the question of Equal Rights
IN All"