The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-12-20
THE clvIL BleHTs ana

From d. ChiesEo later Ocean.
The death-bed message OF Charles
Sumner to George +. HOar was, Take
care Of my civil-rights bill" IL was
not long before Il became q law. As
Moses never entered the land Of prom
ise, only saw Il from afar, 90 Mr.. Sum
ner caught only q Pisgah vision Of the
measure nearest his heart. But tbs
child Of his love, so long thought 10 be
secure, was suddenly attacked and
slain by an unexpected foe. In the
sunshine Of the late October election,
when the Democracy seemed to be IN
the ascendency, q snake In the form
Of a Supreme Court decision craWled
out and used its fangs with deadly
effect.
At first the country itself seemed
stung by the sting, and could not be-
lieve that q Republican court
could overthrow, eight years after its
passage, a measure designed to con-
serve equal rights. The people waited
patiently for the full text Of the deeis-
ion and Of the dissenting opinion oi
Justice Harlan. Then Il was seen
that the excuses given were fiiinsy In
the extreme. Had the court only
waited until after the November cleo
tion that snake might still have slept
IN tOrpOr.
It was with marked propriety that
the first voice raised against the decis-
ion was that Of Fredrick Douglass,
who spoke for two races, and was fol-
lowed by Colonel IngeTsOll In en afgu-
ment which shows the great lawyer
TO be as much at home IN = legal argu-
ment as before Jury or an audience.
The objections urged to the law were
answered by logical array Of erndi-
ton which could not have been sur
passed. Then came the Presiden t's
message, urging the passageo Of another
civil-rights bill, followed Immediately
By the introduction Of a bill 90 that
effect by Senator Edmunds, Of Yer
mont, eonfessedly the greatest lawyer
Ia Congress.
Thus the voice Of Charles Sumner,
addressed not 80 much 10 one man as
10 the entire country, calling upon
the American people 10 take care Of
the civii-rights bill, Il being heard
and Needed. The array In support Of
that bill Is significant In the breadth
Of the representation. It covers q
range ~ vide as the Republican party.
Harlan, Douglass, IngersOll. Arthur
ami Edmundsl It h morally certain
that when the Republican party con-
venee, as it will some six months
hence, I'm representative body, prom
inent plank Ia the platform adopted
will be In accordance with the fore
shadOwings Of those i've names.
The Overthrown act Of Congress
passed the Senate Feb. -, 1870. Mr..
Edmunds was then, aH now, It the
front In support Of equal rights. A
few Republicans voted against it, no
tably Matt Carpenter and Carl Sch1rz
the former on constitutional grounds,
foreshadoWlng the decision Of last
October. As for Mr.. Bchur1, be was
catering 10 Democratic support about
that time, and 50, Notwithstanding
his Wanted promise % take up the
fiag 80 long borne By Charles Sumner
aud bear it brnvely forward In the
great battle Of freedom. he voted with
the Bourbone.
In reply 20 the objections made 20
the bill Mr.. Edmusds made q mem
0rable speech. Tt was, he declared,
simply and solely "a proposition Of
common right inherent Ia everybody,
providing merely that every pfigi-
iese and every il1munlty Of an Amer
lcan citizen shhll be sacred and pro
lecled by the power o. the Nation.
That is all there q 60 is = and that Is
al there can be g his new bill.
The real thing said Mr.. Edn1auds
IN conclu1lon. e tksl there lies On
this Constitution, Just - ~ lIngna