Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-06-05
VOL. 80.
r H H CIVIL fEEt.EsTS BILL IN
CONtiKE ESS-Wfs III MEANS


We commend to the careful serious
attention of our readers the speecl
delivered last week by Mr.. Boutwell,
of Massachusetts, III the debate upor
the Civil Rights Bill in the United
States Senate. He sets forth the pur.
poses of the Radical party in passing
the Civil Rights Bill in such plain
terms that no man can misunderstood.
He takes the ground openly and spare
ly thai it is the purpose of his party to
force the children of the two races in
to social intercourse and as equals in
all respects, in order to destroy what
he terms ''a prejudice founded i'll no
real distinction except the distinction
of color" 1t is not Mr.. Boutwell, S
fault if the people of the South do not
know what is meant by the Civil Rights
Bill.
He said:
The Senator from Ohio Mr.. THUR
MAN yesterday in commenting upon
the political aspect of this bill was
pleased to say that Senators on this
side the Chamber it was likely would
support this bill because it secured
the suffrages to their party Of seven or
eight hundred thousand colored voters
in this country. Sir, he underesti-
mated vastly the political advantages,
not to the party, but TO the ideas
which that party has entertained for
the last fifteen or eighteen years, to
which it is pledged, on which the new
government has been constructed, and
which every party that claims power
in this country in the future and main
| tains that claim by any considerable
| lease Of power will be obliged to ac
cept Opening the public schools of
| this country to every class and cOndi-
| ton of people without distinction of
race or color, IS security. not for the
votes of seven or eight hundred thou
sand negroes now living in this cOlln-
try and entitled to the right of sui
frage, who are bound to the Republi-
can party by ties which they cannot
sunder, but it is security that through
the coming generations so long as the
history of this time shall remain and
the great deeds in which we have par
ticipatcd shall have influence on pub
lie affairs, the rising generation IN
each Of these generations will ad-
vance to manhood with the fixed pur-
pose of maintaining these principles.
Intelligence is the security for the
principles i'll which we believe, and ig-
nOrance Is the protection of the primer
pies and the policy we oppose. A sys-
tenn of public instruction supported by |
general taxation is security, first, for
the prevalence and continuance of |
those ideas of equality which lead |
I,-n tn
other human being ns an equal in all !
natural and political rights: and the |
only way by which those ideas can be
made universal is to bring together in
public schools, during the forming pc
ri, of life, the children of all classes,
and educate them together.
The public school is an epltome of
life, and in it children are taught SO
that they understand those relations
and conditions of life which, if not |
acquired in childhood and youth, are
not likely afterwards to be gained. To |
say, as is the construction placed upon
so much OF this bill as [ propose to |
strike out, that equal facilities shall be |
given in different schools, is to rob |
your system of public instruction of |
that quality by which our people, |
without regard TO race or color, shall
be assimilated in ideas, personal. polit |
ical, and public. so that when they az
rive at the period of manhood they !
shall act together upon public ques-
tions with ideas formed under the |
same influences and directed to the |!
same general results; and therefore, l |
say, if it were possible, as in the large |
cities it is possible, to establish sepa- |
rate schools for black children and for |
n h1pIiPSf a
gree incxpedient to either establish or !
tolerate s,sci, schools.
The theory OF iiuE2an equality can !
not be Taught III families, taxing into |
account the different conditions Of the /
different members and the families |
composing human society; but in the |
public school, where children of all |
classes and conditions are brought |
together. this doctrine Of human |
equality can be taught, and it is the |
chief means Of securing the perpetuity |
OF republican institutions. And mas |
much as we haze in this country four |
million colorcd people, I assume that |
it is a public duty that they ana the !
white people Of the country, with |
whom tlev are to be associated in po-
iitical ana public affairs, shall be
assimilated and made one - the fun /!
damentaI idea of human equality. |
Therefore, where it would be possible
to establish distinct schools, am
against it as Il matter of public policy.
But throughout the larger part OF
the South it is not possible to estab-
lish separate schools Cor black children
and for white children, that viii furn-
ish means of education suited to the
wants of either class; and therefore IN
all thatreeion of countryit is a necessi-
ty that the schools shall be mixed, in
order that they shall be Of sufficient size
TO make them useful in the highest de-
gree and it is also important that
they should be 1nixe2 schools in order
that, when the prejudice which now
pervades portiohs of our people shall
be rooted out by the power of general
taxation, they will be able to accumu-
late in every district those educational
forces by which the public schools
shall be made useful to the highest de-
gree for which there..is capacity in the
public will with the power Of general
taxation.
On the one side, then, is prni1ldicN
which is founded in no real distinction
except the distinction of color and on
the other is a public policy founded
with the institutions of our country
and essential to their perpctuity and
between prejudice on the one hand
and wise public policy on the other,
[ think the Etime has passed when we
o11oht for moment to hesitate as to
the course we should take. Therefore
I have in this amendment endeavored
to make that certain about which there
is some doubt, derived from the Ian
guage used by the committee in their
report.