St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-09-26
VOLUME 43---NUMBER 22OO.

Presidents call for troops to put down
the rebellion. There still remains, he
said, disposition in some localities to
deprive the negroes of the rights guar
anteed them by the constitution as it
now is. Deprecating this fact, the
President went on to say:
No one can Overstate the evils which
the country must suffer if lawless and
violent opposition to. the enjoyment of
constitutional rights is allowed to be
permanently successful. The lawless-
ness which to-day assails the rights of
the colored people will find other vic
tins tomorrow. This question belongs
to no race, to no party, and to no sec
ton. 1t is question in which the
whole country is deeply interested.
Patriotism, justice, humanity, and our
material interests, all plead on the right
side of this question. The cOlOred peO-
pie are the labOrers who produce the
cotton which, going abroad to the
markets of the world, gives us that fa-
vOrable balance of trade which is now
doing so much for the revival of busi
ness. The whole fabric of society rests
upon labor. ffree labOrers suffer from
oppression and injustice, they will
either become discOntented and turbu-
lent, destroyers of property, and not
producers of property, or they will
abandon the communities which de-
prive them of their alienable rights. In
either case, social order and the peace
full industries upon which prosperity
depends are imperilled and perhaps
sacrificed. 1t will not do to say that
this is an affair which belongs solely to
the distant states of the South. The
whole country must suffer if this ques
tion is not speedily settled, and settled
rightly. Where the two races are nu-
merous, prosperity can only exist by
the united and harmonious efforts of
both the white people and the colered
people. The only solid foundations for
peace and progress in such communities
are equal and exact justice to both
races. Consider the present situation.
| Whatever complaints may have been
heard during the progress of recOnstruc-
ton, candid men must admit that all
sections and all states are now equally
regarded and share alike the rights, the
privileges and the benefits of the com
mon government. All that is needed
for the permanent pacifcatiOn of the
country is the cordial cooperation of all
well-disposed citizens to secure the
faithful observance of the equal rights
amendments of the constitution.
Happily, in the very communities
where lawlessness has been most gen
eral and most successful, there are
editors of newspapers and other influ-
ential citizens who speak out and de-
nounce these crimes against free gov
| L. - ln1, II u,
opinion is forming where it is most
needed. No community can afford tC
allow any of its citizens to be oppressed
to lose their rights. To be indiffer,
ent on the subject is to disregard inter
est and duty. The Union citizens and
soldiers can do much to remove the
evils we are considering. Let it be
understood that no public man in any
party will be sustained unless he will
undertake to carry out in good faith the
pledges made in all our platforms in
regard to the rights of colored citizens
unless he will support laws providing
the means required to punish crimes
against them; and unless he will op-
pose the admission of any man to either
house of Congress whose seat has been
obtained by the violation of the 18th
amendment. The right of suffrage is
the right of self-protection. Its free
exercise is the vital air of republican
institutions.
To establish now the state rights
doctrine of the supremacy of the states
and an oligarchy of race is deliberately
to throw away an essential part of the
fruits of the Union victory. The set
Elements of the war in favor of equal
rights and the supremacy of the laws of
the nation are just and wise and neces-
sary. Let them not be surrendered.
Let them be faithfully accepted and
firmly enforced. Let them stand, and.
with the advancing tide of business
prosperity, we may confidently hope,
by the blessing of divine Providence,
that we shall soon enter upon an era
of harmony and progress such as has
been rarely enjoyed by any people.