The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1879-07-10

children,-that is all, Some of us busted
ourselves to aid the yellow fever suffer
ers. Then we were praised. Others Of
US help the sufferers from the overflow
Then we were heralded as humanitarians
But now, when the negro cries for help,
we are threatened with incarceration in
Southern dungeons If we dare to respond
to his appeals"
On this occasion Wendell Phillips made
one of his most remarkable speeches. He
said
''Is the Mississippia public highway, or
have the Southern planters right to put
a fence across it? Are the negroes free ?
Was there ever a rebellion2 Did Lee
really drive Grant out of Virginia, and
was it Jefferson Davis who pardoned
Abraham Lincoln What is the mean
ing of that pile of granite on the Com
mon? Did the folks it commentaries
succeed in settling anything d? or do their
graves only mark the halfway house
between somewhere and nowhere2
"These are questions thoughtful men
ask themselves to day. The father, whose
son was starved at Andersonville, or lies
buried with the niggers, on some South
ern battlefield, sadly asks, did that death
gain anything2
What hypocrisy year by year to deco
what that precious blood bought In
constitutional governments, when fla
grant abuse exists, or great wrong is done
to masses of citizens, parliaments and
legislatures appoint committees to find
the facts. Has the great historic party,
which binds the emancipation statute on
its brow as its proudest plume, taken any
pains to see what is done or suffered in
this emergency ?"
Again:
Are the numbers of the fugitives in
sgniinant2 Why then do planters grow
pale and Boards of Trade protest and an
CRY men rush together in conventions ?
Only fifty or a hundred idle dissolute
negroes, such as we are glad to be rid of !
| Why then do boat Captains refuse to take
| their money and carry them off?
mo; we have been told thousand
times, and it is emphatically true, that it
takes an earthquake to tear the negro
from his home. What wretchedness
did he patiently endure in millions of
cases rather than leave his birthplace p
Don't babble of good treatment and bales
of cotton, and wide breadth of cultiva-
tion-the theory don't explain facts.
Why does the negro fly and what does
he brave such suffering and loss to es-
|
rifice their property and endure piteous
suffering, discomfort and disease to get
away from happiness. Get up, gentle
men, some other explanation; this is not
plausible-the poor lie cracks and goes to
pieces when stretched to cover the terri
Bile fact x
For ten years the negro has tried to
do his duty as citizen held faithfully
up his side of the yoke. walked to the
ballot-box between loaded revolvers, been
| plundered hunted and shot for his opin-
ions. AT last, deserted by his Northern
ally, disheartened, trampled in blood
mercilessly under foot, he seeks safety in
exile; asks of the Nation who, in her
need, summoned him to this post of dan
ger, only the poor boon of protection in
his escape, in his right to travel
Shame on the soldier who ever flung a
flower on the grave of dead comrade, if
he remains deaf to that appeal. Shame
on the survivors of that grand army
whose buried heroes never suffered defeat,
if these living men sit down hoodwinked
and outwitted. Veterans, these are the
men, camped houseless on the banks of
the Mississippi, who ask if you and your
comrades gained or settled anything
Shall juggling politicians cheat you out
of your victories ?"
In conclusion, Phillips said that the
survivors of the war, half million of
them, were ready to see that the old flag
still meant liberty for all. Now, it will
occur to any rejecting citizen that this is
serious business. 1t is sending an ex-
pedition to the South in the midst of the
busiest season, to aid in a movement of
negroes which has aroused the passions
of the dominant class in the Southern
States. 1t suggests the sending of the
unarmed Star of the West to Fort Sum
ter, to be fired upon by the young artil-
lery officer recently elected Bishop of
Michigan.