New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-09-24

indicated that nothing short of the cOmplet
political humiliation of your people woul
satisfy them, how would you regard the ma
of your race that would dare to advise you
people to trust the colored man: dare sa
at the very least you would look upon hin
with distrust and suspicion.
There are plenty Of good men in the SOutl
white and colOred, who understand the situa
ton, know the remedy, but are pOwerless t
act for the-rcason | have assigned. | a,
one of those who look upon the bright side
the Southern picture, and do not despair
4 better condition of things. | am strength
cned i'll my hopeiulness after looking owe
! the history of our prosperous and happ
State, and seeing how dark and gloomy wer
its prospects thirty-five years ago. Tn
same agencies that produced the marvelou
prosperity you are now enjoying must an
will be introduced into Louisiana, viz: Pro
lection for the lives and property of her citi
Zens, and wholesome regard for law am
order. Then the cmigrant will not flee from
her as he would the wrath to come, nor tn
capitalist refuse to invest.
l have dwelt too long, l fear, upon thi
subject, and must pass to the civil rights bill
Last winter, as l watched day by day til,
proceedings of the Senate, and no action OF
that bill was had, | became disheartcned, fO
/
passing it, our people would have adlitona
trouble; but when at last the Senate took il
up, and the Republican Senators, true to The
pledge made i'm the National Convention
sat it out" all night, and passed the bill,
felt as if the last lingering traces of slavery
had disappeared, and America was indeed
ali asy lum for the oppressed of every nation
and every cline. But when the bin reached
the House, and it was made manifest that il
could not be passed, | dreaded the effect il
it would have on the country. | knew il
would embolden the enemies of our people
all over the land, and worst of all be regarded
in the South as an abandonment by the Re-
publican party of the colored voter; and sub.
sequently events have proven that my fears
were well founded, for much of the disorder
prevailing all over the South is directly
chargeable to the fact. But it ia useless now
to discuss what ought to have been done, or
might have been done. 1t is enough for us
to know that the bill is still pending, and
that to the Republican party we must look
for the final passage of this needful measure
to complete the civil and political equality
before the law of American citizens. From
the noble utterances of that eminent states
mau, whose name is tower Of strength and
who Is always found on the side Of the poor
and oppressed-it is hardly necessary to say
/ allude to Senator Morton-you will see the
absurlty of the opposition to that bill In
a speech delivered at Terre Ilaute, he says :
"There is something very remarkable in the
operation Of this prejudice against color.
Persons who in their infancy were nursed by
negro women, in their childhood slept and
played with negro children, in youth and
manhoOd.were the daily companions Of ne
grOes in the workshop, upon the farm, in the
carriage and upon the journey, who employed
negroes as body servants, and in that way
were almost continually in their society,
dressed by them, shaved by them, nursed
hv them III sickness, and III various ways
nha!ing their breath hundred times day,
and having with tn I'm that physical intimacy
and contact which does not exist between
equals in society; yet when the same negro,
rs il freeman, presumes to stop at the same
hotel, or to ride in the same car with them,
or to send his children to the same school
with theirs, or to kueel in the same church,
they are ineXpressibly shocked. and declare
that social equality will degrade and destroy
society. They think to make few votes by
appealing to the pre.judices and fears of the
white people about mixed schools"
Hon. Daniel ID. Pratt, United States Sem
ator from Indiana, an honor to his State and
the country, speaks as follows on the same
subject:
':rhe school board of Wabash, of which
Hon. John L. Petit was a member, having
this statute before them, ordered the adnis-
sion of the colOred children into the schools
of Wabash. They were incorporated into
them. (Applause. And since that decision
was made, and the reason for it made known,
all agitation has ceased. And when this
bill, which has passed the Senate, shall have
passed the House of Representatives-as it
will as sure as the sun riscs-the last bulwark
of the Democracy will have passed away.
They have been trading on this capital long
enough. We have heard until we are sick
the Democratic apprehension of social equal
ity being brought about between the two
races. We had occasion to call upon this
humble race to come and help US during
the war, and they came by thOusands-tO
the number, believe, Of one hundred thou
sand-and were clothed with the national
uniform, and arms put in their hands. And
behold! the Democrats were terribly alarmed
lest there was going to be a condition of
social equality. Did it come? No, very far
from it. The Republican party then pro-
posed to abolish slavery, and then they were
sure it would come. 1t was the great arsu-
mcrt advanced by the Democratic party all
over tie country against the ratification of
the proposed Thirteenth amendment. But
the amendment was ratified by the people
three or four years since, and we have no
social equality. The proposition came to
advance them to the rights of citizens of the
United States. You heard the same cry that
we heard formerly about negro equality when
they should become citizens of the United
States. The two races kept just as distinct
as before. And then it was sure to come
when the proposition was submitted to the
people that the colorad people should be adj
mitted to the right of voting. But although
that proposition was ratified in 'GS or co, the
equality has not come yet. Indeed, since
the colorcd people have been invested with
the rights OF citizens, since they have the
right to marry and own their wives and chill
dren, we have seen q good deal loss social
equality down South than prevailed there be-
fore. [Applause.l They used, in old times,
To have practical illustrations of Democratic
notions Of Niger equality. Applause and
laughter repeat to you my friends, that
against this great measure of justice there is
nothing that can be opposed, except un.
reasoning and unreasonable pre- udice."
Senator Sherman, of Ohio, the peer of an,
man in America, in his great speech before
the Republican Convention of that State
utters these clarion notes on civil rights:
81 am assured by some of the best teach
in the State that practically no difficulty occurs
when white and black are in the same clas
and school, and that very often the coloret
children are, from their general good humor
E,yorites with the children. The difficult.
is not in the school or with the scholars, bu
with the parents in the blind. pnreasOnin!
spirit of caste, the debris Of slavery, and i
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