New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-06-18

with your citizens; that there must be ont
law Tor all that in this case Justice is thu
only standard to be used, and YOU can nc
more divide justice than you can divide
Deity" On other hand, | am told that
must respect the prejudices of others. Now
sir, no one respects reasonable and intelli
gent prejudices more than |. l respect reli.
Slous preJudices, for example /; these l can
comprehend. But how can have respect
for the prejudices that prompt man to turn
up his nose at the males of certain race
whlie at the same time he has a-fondness fol
the females OF the same race to the extent oil
cohabltatlon? Out of four poor unfortunate
colored women who from poverty were forced
to go to the lying-in branch of the Freed.
mems Hospital here in the District last year
three gave birth to children whose fathers
were white men, and l venture to say that
if they were members Of this body, would
vote against the civil rights. Do you, can
you wonder at my want of respect for this
kind of prejudice? To make me feel uncom-
Portable appears to be the highest ambition
OF many white men. 1t is to them positive
| luxury, which they seek to indulge at every
opportunity.
l have never sought TO compel any one,
white or black, to associate with me, and
never shall nor do wish to be compelled
to associate with any one. If a man do not
wish to ride with me in the street car | shall
not object to his hiring private conveyance
if he do not wish to ride with me from here
to Baltimore, who shall complain if he char.
ter special train! For man to carry out
his prejudices III this way would be manly,
and would leave no cause for complaint, but
to crowd me out of the usual conveyance into
IN uncomfortable place with persons for
whose manners l have dislike, whose lam
ono 10 for 10 do. .Ioll
| unmanly and cannot be submitted to tamely
by one who has particle of self-respect
Sir, this whole thing grows out of a desire
to establish system of "caste," an anti
| republican principle, in our free country. In
Europe they have princes, dukes, lords, &C.,
in cOntradstinction to the middle classes
and peasants. Further East they have the
brahmans or priests, who rank above the
sudras or laborers. In those countries dis
tnctions are based upon blood and position
Every one there understands the custom and
no one complains. They, poor innocent
creatures, pity our condition, look down upon
us with kind of royal compassion, because
they think we have no tangible lines of dis
tinctiOn, and therefore speak of our society
as being vulgar. But let not our friends be-
yond the seas lay the hattering JUNCTION to
their souls that we are without distinctive
lines; that we have no nobility; for we are
blessed with both. Our distinction is color,
(Which would necessarily exclude the brah-
MANS and our lines are much broader than
anything they know Of Here a drunken
white man is not only equal to a drunken
negro, Gas would be the case anywhere ese,)
but superior to the most sober and orderly
one here an ignorant white man is not only
the equal of an unlettered negro, but is supe-
rior to the most cultivated; here our nobility
l,,1, Al.
throw up their hands in holy horror when a
male of the same class enters a restaurant
to get meal, and if he insist upon being
accommodated our scion of royalty will leave
and 60 to the arms of his cOlOred mistress
and there pour out his souls complaint, tell
her OF the impudence of the damned niger"
in coming to 4 table where a white man was
sitting.
What poor, simple -minded.,reatures these
Foreigners arc: Tney labor ufssier the DALAI
sion that they mOnopolize the knowledge of
the courtesies due from one gentleman to
another. How | rejoice to know that it is
deluson. Sir, I wish some of them could
nave been present to hear the representative
of the F.. +. VS. [Mr. Harris upon this
floor (and 1 am told that this is the highest
degree that society has yet reached in this
country address one of his peers, who dared
asked him a question, in this style: 81 am
talking to white men,
Suppose Mr.. Gladstone who knows no man
but by merit who in violation of our custom
entertained the cOored Jubilee Singers at
his home last Summer, or the Duke de Brog-
lie had been present and heard this eloquent
remark drop from the lips of this classical
and knightly member, would they not have
hung their heads in shame at their ignorance
of politeness, and would they not have re-
turned home, repaired to their libraries, and
betook themselves to the study of Chester
field on manners: With all these absurdi-
ties staring them in the face, who can wonder
that foreigners laugh at our ideas Of distinc-
ton.
Mr.. Speaker, though there is not a line IN
this bill the Democracy approve of, yet they
made the most noise about the school clause.
Dispatches are freely sent over the wires as
to what will be done with the common-schoOl
system in the several Southern States in the
event this bill becomes a law. l am not
surprised at this, but, OH the other hand, l
looked for it. Now what is the force of that
school clause? 1t simply provides that all
the children in every State where there is
school system supported in whole or in part
by general taxation shall have equal advan-
tages of school privileges. SO that if perfect
and ample accommodations are not made
convenient for all the children, then any
child has the right to go to any school where
they do exist. And that is all there is in
this school clause. l want some one to tell
me Of any measure that was intended to ben
eft the negro that they have approved of.
OF which one did they fail to predict evil?
They declared if the negroes were enanci-
pated that the country would be laid waste,
and that in the end he would starve, because
he could not take care Of himself. But this
was q mistake When the reconstruction
acts were passed aud the colored men in my
State were called upon to express through
the ballot whether Alabama should return
to the Union or not, white men threw up
their hands in holy horror and declared if the
negro voted that never again would they de-
post another ballot. But how does the
matter stand now? Some of those very men
are in the Republican ranks, and l have
known them to grow hOarse in shouting for
our platforms and candidates. They hurrah
for our principles with all the enthusiasm of
a newborn soul. and, sir, so Jealous have
they become that in looking at them am
amazed, and am often led to doubt my own
faith and feel ashamed for my lukewarmness
And those who have not Joined our party
are doing their utmost to have the negro vote
with them. have met them in the cabins
night and day where they were imploring
him for the sake of old times to come up and
vote with them.
submit, Mr.. Speaker, that political preju.
dces prompt the Democracy to oppose this
bill as much as anything else. In the
campaign Of 1868 Joe Williams, an un.
! cOuth and rather notorious colored man, was
employed as general democratic canvassel
in the South. lie was invited to Montgom
cry to enlighten us, and while there he
stopped at one OF the best hotels in the city