The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-06-11
Civil Rights EFiEE.

Esd ult, passed the much talked or Clyll
Rights Bill. With due Difference to the rev.
erned Siegnoirs composing that body weI
cannot but believe that they had better have
left that job undone. Observation has salts
fed us that the enforcing of Civil Rights up
on the negro by the penalties and terrors of
law is not by any manner Of means the best
way to secure him in the enjoyment Of those
rights or to secure that unity among the peo-
ple which alone can tell in the securing of
safety and peace to the country We would
not appear as an alarmist, but we cannot
shut our eyes to the fact that society is by
far better conservator of its own usages and
rules than any average Congressman evenI
though he claims membership of SO august a
body as the United States Senate itself.
And after all it will resolve itself ia the end
back again to what the usagcs of Society
decree, and the law will be but another added
to the many that now lie on our statute books
dishonored and ignored, disgrace to those
who gave it being. We have said that this
will be its ultimate end. We hope, however
that it has already found its end, and that
the wisdom Of the House of Representatives
will exhibit itself in letting this foul job of
the Senate severely alone. At best it is but
a bit of buncomb-a bid for popularity
which can hardly prove available for the end
desired
In respect for the rights of our colored
fe!lcw-citizen we yield in nothing to no man
Though never in the plrtizan sense OF the
term an aboltionist we have never been a.
yro-slaveryite, but have always mourned
the injuries he has suffered, and never when
opportunity offered failed to contribute of our
means and with our pen for the alienation of
his Gistresses La the view taken by this civil
rights bill, we can see nothing but rank IN
Justice to the class it is pretended to alleviate,
and the precursor of evils infinitely greater
than those it is pretended it will eradicate
1t treats what should be known and felt to
be the man as the mere infant, and compels
hun to walk in leading strings, when he
should be permitted to choose his manner of
loconotion as best suited him. 1t is unjust
TO the manhood of the colored man to place
him in this position, and it is equally unjust
to society at large that he should thus be
forced upon it. 1t would be infinitely better
if cur learned law givers would reflect that
society is prepared to extend the equal hand
TO the new conner just so soon as he is pre-
pared to be so saluted.
That the day will come when color and
caste will cease to stand as barriers on the
road to social progress we believe to be just
as certain as that the heavens and the earth
exist. but this thing will not be brought about
ly arbitrary acts of legislation. Whenever
thecolored manis fitted by habit for the promo
ton desired >then and not till then will the day
Of his exodus from his present condition begin.
That this Is veritabe truth can be seen in
the every day experience Of the country.
Take the case Of Fred. Douglas, and men of
his stamp as instances. In whatever part
of the country their steps may lead them,
they are received and treated with every pos
sibie measure Of respect. They are sought
after as most worthy citizens ola great nation,
they are received into the most refined circles,
and the honors heaped npon them are only
limited by the bounds which their own mate
modesty has erected around them. But that
the average colored man is not a Fred Doug
las is proven by the every day experience of
all who come in contact with the race, and
it Is just and proper that he be treated as he
Is until he ayalls himself Of the advantages
for bettering himself in this respect which
81, ,l,- IoFo bo 70
is that even the colored man himself has
asked for no law such as this one under con-
sideration and to force it upon him is but to
force temptation in his way which will re-
tard rather than promote his progression.
We have already experienced the baneful
effects of such legislation growing out of the
acts already passed in the same direction.
Take the election troubles in Philadelphia,
and the jostlings and chickering's all over the
country as examples, and we have examples
most glaring to show that such legislation is
calculated to promote anything but the good
intended The workings Of these acts devel
oped the fact that there were bold bad mel
among the negroes as well as among the
whites, and that instead of taking hold of then
advantages in spirit of joyous humility
they were determined to be content only viii
humility on the part of their white neighbors
and to force through blood and insult tha
which would have been much better anc
surely secured through concession and peace
Our own town experience is but farther evi
dence of the justice of this view. In ou
own midst we have colored citizens, male anC
female, who command the respect and warn
esteem of their white brethren, but how i
it with others-the large majority. We have
no desire to answer the question. 1t is tot
apparent to be gainsaid that they are no
making use of their privileges and opportuni
ties, and that all the acts of Congress tha
could be passed between now and the day o
judgment would avail to make them worth!
of social enualitv with their white bret tbren-