Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-09-09

culored men % San kranctSc0 nave q
Hancock and English Club oftheiF Own,
and two weeks sgO-sooa after q was
starscd-the roll iaclnded - members.
Az recent meeting OF The Club, Capt
Beverly Dodson. colered man, gave
The boys little talk" Is be called il.
and that little talk contained 50 much
truth, vigorously and elegantly told, that
a aroused his listeners to the greatest
enthusiasm. In the course Of his re-
marks, Dodson said some things that
the coIored people ofthis county would
do well to read over and think about.
The ioIIowsng extracts from the speech
are reported exactly as they were de-
Iivefed >.
81 am aware that the Republican par
~ seems 10 ibiak that The eolored eiti=
zens Of The whole country arc in -dqly
and in gratitude bound to advocate. sup
nor. and vote for she candidates Of that
powerful organisation. Leading Re-
publican speakers, and the Republican
organs all insist and keep n before the
people that the colored voter who re-
fusss 70 support tn party la
didaies il an Migrate. Why the Re-
publieans should thus stigmalize the
colored. man. who. in his conscience
believes II his duty 10 vote for the DEM
ocratic candidates, cannot discern. To
be an migrate is to fepay some great IA
vor or obligation with ingratitude. Now,
what great favor has the Republican
party ever done the cofored race which
our race has not over and over again
abundantly repaid9
"How did il happen that the colored
race were in bondage Who imposed
bondage upon the race in this country
God did not. IL was the white man
who did. Who were the white men
who did this grievous injustice and ter
rible outrage TO our race in this eoun-
try. will tell you. as truthful histo-
nv tells me. You will find the anthem
tic statement in the works Of the great
New England historian, George Ban
croft. He tells US that for two hundred
years the early colonists Of New Eng
land captured and sold the Indians they
had driven arom the lands they had
seized for themselves into slavery m
foreign lands. And also were they the
first to institute negro slavery. 1t was
a Boston church-going merchant who
first took slaves from Africa to New
England, and il was Massachusetts,
ship which carried the poor African into
that colony TO sell them as slaves.
More than 200 years ago Boston ships
owned bv Boston merchants opened the
direct traffic in slaves from Africa.
And that was the beginning OF negro
slavery in America. Then. when the
war OF American Independence was
gained. and the thirteen States prePar-
ed to form the republic of the, United
States, the representatives OF Virginia
and some States in the convention that
made the constitution wanted to have
the African slave trade stopped, but the
representatives from New Hampshire
and-Massachusetts and Connecticut in
sisted that it should be kept open for
twenty years longer, until 1909. and
they carried the day. The New Eng
land States voted to continue the slave
trade because their ships and their rner-
chants had the monopoly of the traffic
all to themselves, andthe New England
people got rich by taking rum from New
England and trading 1t for the slaves
they sold to the people of the South.
II was by this infamous trade slavery
was established end kept up in the
South. And this is the true history OF
the slave trade in the United States, and
how African slavery existed in the
South.
"Let US see how these Republicans
of the North acted during The time they
had supreme power in their own States,
concerning the colored' race. Before
the war and while the war lasted they
had control Of their own States and oil
the Government. Did they give the
negro the ballot in all that timer No.
they did not. Did they elect colored
men 90 Office! No. IL was not until
alter the war that they gave the colored
people the privilege Of the ballot. They
first gave il to the freedmen OF the South
who were ignorant and not at all so
well qualified for il as the colored peo-
ple OF the North who could read and
write and were accustomed to freedom.
ID was not until 1869, FIVE years after
the war, that they ratified the fifteenth
amendment, which gave The elective
franchise TO the colored people in eve-
nv part Of the United States and allowed
as in the Northern States TO vote.
"Who have most profited by the
elective franchise to the colored people!
In the North we never hear OF color
ed man going 10 Congress, and very
few of them-not half dozen-haVe
been sent to the State Legislature. How
many Of our people are elected IN strong
communities 10 Offices OF
high trust, honor or cmolument-sher-
ids, county clerks, mayors, and alder
men, etc.s | need not tell you that
none of them have ever been elected
governors or acknowledgements
Still they nearly all have always voted
the Republican ticket, and they keep
on voting il, ss IL il was The only ticket
they could vote. II is about high time
we should begin to look about and do
for ourselves, and 10 show
these ungratefuI Republicans that We
are men, not machines for them TO run
as they direct.
"Tbe constitution Is the same for the
white man and celOred man. II Is the
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