The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-01
LETTER FROM A JEW.
A NOBLE AND JUST RERUKE TO A
NARROW.HHHNDED RAGOT.
Am Open Letter to Hon. w. o, Tuggle, ei
Lagrange, Ga.

Am Open Letter to HON. w. o. Tuggle, oi
Lagrange, Ga.
[ have taken time to authenticate report
which | heard for the first time on the even :
ing Of the last day of the convention.
At West Point In a public speech, during
your Congressional campaign, and In my alb
sence, you sought for me term OF re-
proach,' and from your well-filled vocabulary
you selected the epithet Of jew!
Had I served you to the extent OF my abil.
ity in your recent political aspirations, and
your overburdened heart had sought relief in
some exhibition of unmeasured gratitude
had you wealth Of gifts, and selected from
your abundance your richest Offering to lay
at my feet you could not have distinguished
me more gratefully nor honored me more
highly than by proclaiming me jew. I am
proud Of my lineage and my race. In your
severest Censure you cannot name an act o1
my life which dishOnors either or which
would mar the character Of Christian gen
tleman.
I feel Ii an honor 10 be- nneof O race whora
persecution cannot crjsh-Whom prejudice
has in vain endeavored to slbdue--Who, des.
pite the powers Of man and the antagonism
protected by the hand of deity, have burst the
temporal bonds with which prejudice would
have bound them, and after nearly nineteen
centuries of persecution, still survive as q
nation and assert their manhood and intelli-
gence, and give proof of "the divinity that
stirs within them' by having become great
factor in the government of mankind.
Would you honor me? Call me Jew Would
you place In unenviabIe prominence your un-
christian prejudices and narrow bigotry? Call
me Jew
Would you offer living example OF man
into whose educated mind liberation cannot
enter; on whose heart the spirit Of liberty
and the progress of American principles has
made no impression? You can find it Illus
trated in yourself.
Your narrow and benghted mind pander-
ing to the preiudlces of your auditory, has
attempted to taunt me by calling me q Jew
one OF that peculiar people at whose altars, &C
cOrdlng to the teachings of your theological
masters, God chose that His Son should wor-
ship!
Strike out the natonalityo Of Judea, and you
would seek in vain for Christ and His apostles
Strike out Of sacred history the teachings OF
the Jews and you would be as ignorant of
God and the souls immortal mission as you
are Of the duties and amenities Of social life
| am not angered, but while / thank you
for the opportunity which you have given me
to rebuke @ prejudice confined to a limited
number, distinguished for their bigotry and
sectarian feelings, Of which you are g fit ex-
emplar, pity you for having been cast in a
mould inpervious to the manly and liberal
sentiments which distinguish the nineteenth
century.
You are not created without q purpose; ma
ture exhibits her beauties by the contrast OF
light and shade. Humanity illustrates it's
brightest and noblest examples by placing it's
most perfect models in juxtaposition with the
meanest specimens Of mankind. So that you
have the consolation of knowing that your
mind has been thus deformed in the wisdom
of the Great Architect; that you might serve
as q shadow to bring forth in bold relief the
brighter tints of that beautiful picture of "re~
ligious toleration'' engrafted in the constitu-
tion OF the United States by the wisdom oi
our fathers. r. J. MOSES.
Columbus. Ga, August 49, 1873.