New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-07-02

1 am coinpelleu 10 aSh myself II PRESIDENT
Grant is disposed to stand by the recommen.
datiOns made in his last inaugural address
There is sometimes Period in the course
of events when fOrbearance ceases to be a
virtue, and believe that time has fully
arrived as regards the position taken by our
| immediate representatives in Congress
Were member of Congress- would SIM
ply say to the majority that my rights as an
American citizen are dearer to me than
finance, railroads, canals, levees, moieties,
reform, or any other measure and if you
wish to have my vote on these mntters, you
must give me that which belongs to me first,
and then l will consider your propositions.
Charles Sumner is the father of the civil
rights measure, and trust that our colOred
members will be like ha. in soaring above
any proposition to compromise. Never COM
promise principle! A,d lift is necessary
for the colored members to combine and stop
legislation in order to geg. our rights, let the
combination be made atF'nce-let it be per-
feet and complete and ifthere is not suffi-
Gent number to block the wheels, we will
send more from the South, We are in earn
est in this demand; we will not cease to
agitate, and we will not stultify ourselves by
accepting compromise.
The great hobby seems to be the school
clause! Well, what of that: Are not the
public schools of nearly Every Northern city
already opened to colored children: And
ought not the public schools of the South be
opened to them? Those in New Orleans
are already mixed. In some of them there
are as many colored as there are whites, not
separated in classes, but recile and sit by
the side of each other and the more refined
the white children are the less prejudice they
seem to have. Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida,
and Mississippi have colored men as State
Superintendent of Public Instruction, vet
the system is not married, and everything
goes on smoothly. presume they visit the
white schools in their respective States, Ct
know our Superintendent does,) and are
treated cOurteously. In fact no objection is
raised when the law is on the side of Justice.
Tennessee seems to be greatly alarmed at
the school clause. Well, if Tennessee does
not like it, let her make the most of it. Bet
ter that the whole State should be reduced
to ashes than that the rights of five million
Americans should be denied them.
l see that
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
has written letter to Senator Alcorn thank
ing him for his speech on the civil rights bill
Well, l hope Alcorn was in earnest, but l
am not one of those to trust him yet. His
whole course while Governor of our State,
his course during our late campaign, and the
course of his whole life are so greatly antag-
onistic to- the utterances Of his speech that
am forced to believe thas it was only made
as bid for cOlOred votes eighteen months
hence when he will be candidate for the
United States Senate. We Know Alcorn too
we'll in this section of Ewes garden!
In his special message TO the Legislature
in 1871, he says: I" hope to see the Uni
versity of Oxford placed, superior to all
classes Of party or Of race, a perpetual glory
Of the Nississippians Of my own blood" And
during the session of the said Legislature,
when they were about enacting laws looking
to the civil rights of the negro, he invited
all the colOred members of the Legislature
to meet the presidents of the different rail-
roads at the mansion to agree upon terms.
And his suggestion was that the same accom-
modations should be guaranteed to the col
orel people as were given to the whites, but
separate. The colOrcd members Indignantly
refused to accede to the proposition, and the
meeting proved to be a fraud on the part of
ferred to he also says, 1--WE may allow dis
tinctions of race to run their course in their
character of social sentiments, and thus per-
NIT an honorable rivalry in intellectual ac-
quirements to grow up among the two sets
of our population" This message was sent
in favor of the establishment of separate
institution for colored youths.
1t was useless for Alcorn to make his sar-
castle reply to Senator Boutwell, concerning
Dartmouth College. All of us know full
we'll that we need no civil rights bill for
Dartmouth. Scores of colored young men
have already graduated from that institution
Neither Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Cornell,
Oberlin, nor Ann Arbor, refuses to admit
colored students, but welcomes them. 1t is
the more insignificant institutions that refuse
to admit them.
My firm belief is that Senator Alcorn was
extreme in his utterances, thinking that such
a pOSifiOn WOul1 couca q raoct;o,, IL, tho
North, and thus kill the bill.
The Cotton Plant, a leading Republican
paper in this State, states, that, after Alcorn
had made his speech several of his Demo-
cratic friends here reprimanded him for it,
but he wrote back to them telling them that
he only made ii for buncombe! If Senator
Alcorn thinks his speech is large bait for
colored members Of the Legislature, he is
sadly mistaken. They will not bite "wuff a
centw CIvIs.
A Deserved OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Heartfelt
welcome Extended to Colonel q. Wiley
Wells.
HOLLY SPRINGS, June %, 1874.
To the Editor Of the Nt,o National Era:
The return, yesterday, of Colonel G. Wiley
Wells to his home in Holly Springs, Missis-
sippi, after having been reappointed to the
position of United States District Attorney
for the Northern District of Mississippi, was
an occasion of much outspoken Joy by his
many friends and political adherents.
During the evening large delegation OF
his colored friends assembled at his residence
with band Emusic, and many congratula'
lions. after serenadinU him most handsomely