New-York tribune., 1875-02-02
DANGEROUS POLITICAL SUGGESTIONS

DANGEROUS POLITICAL SUGGESTIONS.
In common with all good citizens we desire
no abridgment of the rights of the colored
race; on the contrary TIE TRIBUNE has per-
sstently advocated the enlargement Of their
rights and protection in their exercise of
them. We havo been disposed to go to the
extreme of constitutional legislation for the
purpose of placing tie citizenship of the
cOlOred man on q basis so finn that
to deny him tho right of suffrage, or
to make any legal discrimination whatever
against him, will be as impossible in any State
of the Union as to remand him to Slavery.
No measure having the advancement of the
colorcd race, from the Emancipation prOcla-
nation of Abraham Lincoln down, has failed
to receive our unwavering support The war
for the emancipation, the enfranchlsement,
and the protection of the negro has been our
war. Il is with sorrow, therefore, that we see
eminent and representative cOlOred men put
ting forth such a document as that printed
yesterday over the signatures of Frederick
Douglass, John NJ LangstOn, and others.
Our objection is not to the purpose of the
resolutions that is natural and well enough.
Nor to the spirit nor language of the greater
part of them; both are what might be ex-
pected from strong partisans firm III the be-
lief that the political future of their race
depends upon the continued supremacy
of the party to which they owe their
birthright of citizenship. But what shall
be said of the criminal stupidity which
puts such words rs these on record
"There is still one other alternative to which
"we are exposed, one which is truly fearful
"to contemplate. Human nature is the same
"everywhere. There are many varieties OF
"man, but only one human nature, and it IS
possible that. stung to madness and despera-
"tion by continued and unceasng outrages,
"and seeing no means of escape, a spirit of
retaliation and revenge may be aroused
(which viii fill the South with scenes of ra-
"pine, blood and fire. To avoid this catas-
trophe, we earnestly appeal to Congress for
"the action already mentioned, and we invite
"the sympathy and support to this appeal of
call the lovers of liberty and order through
"out the country"
If this means anything it means that in the
event of the failure OF Congress to pass the
Civil Rights bill, the colored people in the
South would be justified in rising against the
whites whom they are unable to defeat at the
ballot-box and in avenging their wrongs by fire,
sword, and giving free reins to the worst
passions of man. 1t is at once threat OF
vengeance and an invitation to violence. AS
a threat it will be of course utterly Ineffective,
for no member of Congress who is opposed
to the Civil Rights bill would be thus
brought to it's support. AS an invitation to in
cendiarism, murder, and rapine, it is entirely
a. Of thot
fall upon ears too eager for such advice. and
influence minds too willing to carry it into
execution. The mass of the colored
people in the rural districts of the
South are ignorant Their devotion to party
is more binding upon their consciences than
their religion. All accounts agree that they fol-
low their political leaders blindly and to any
extent. TO such men the words we have
quoted will be lead in cabin, church, and
league hall, where the utterances of Douglass
and Langston, or Pinchback and Rapier are as
law and gospel. The argument is as plain as
language can make it: if the Civil Rights
bill is not passed, only three roads are
open to their race: hypOcntical nou-
trality between the existing parties, an alli-
ance with the Democrats, or the assertion of
their rights by the worst kind of revolution.
The first and second roads are condemned;
the third is dwelt upon with no word of
objection, and the address closes with an
appeal for legislation to avert this catastrophe.
If the gentlemen issuing this extraordinary
pronunciamientO desire a war of races, they
could not write anything better calculated to
bring it OH. They not only place themselves
on ground utterly untenable among reasoning
men, but give the opponents of the proposed
legislation the best argument they have yet
had against the enlargement of the privi-
leges of their race. They put q dan
gerous weapon in the hands of reck-
less and unthinking man, and pointing
him to an object of hopeless assault, give the
person to be assailed the best reason in the
world for justifying violence on his part by
the plea of self defense. 1t is an act of such
folly and wickedness that we yet hope to hear
that the better class Of cOlored men are repu-
dating it.