The bee., 1883-04-21

SOr. or to a department as clerk, nc
matter what may be his ability or his
attainments. there is presumption
based upon his color or his previous
condition of incompetency, and if he
succeeds at all, he has to do so against
this most discouraging presumption.
1t is real calamity in this country
for any man, guilty or not guilty, to be
accused of crime, but it is an incom.
parably greater calamity, for any col
ored man to be so accused: Justice is
often painted with bandaged eyes. She
is described in forensic eloquence, as
utterly blind to wealth or poverty,
high or low, white or black, but a mask
of iron, however thick, could never
blind American justice, when black
man happens to be on trial. Here
even more than elsewhere, he will find
all preSumptions of law and evidence
against him. 1t is not so much the
business of his enemies to prove him
guilty, as it is the business of himself
to prove his innocence. The reason.
able doubt, which is usually inter,
posed to save the life and liberty of a
white man charged with crime, seldom
has any force or effect, when q cOlOred
man is accused of crime. Indeed
color is a far better protection to crime
than any thing else. In certain parts
of our country. when any white man
wishes to commit heinous offence, he
wisely resorts to burnt cork and black.
ems his face and goes forth under the
similitude of negro. When the deed
is done, little soap and water de.
stroys his identity, and he goes unco-
hipt of justice. Some negro is al
once suspected and brought before the
victim of wrong for identification, and
there is never much trouble here, fol
as in the eyes of many white people
all negroes look alike, and as the man
arrested and who sits in the dock in
irons is black, The is undoubtedly the
criminal.
A still greater misfortune 10 the ne.
gre, is tnat the press, that engine of
omnipotent power, usually tries him in
advance of the courts, and when once
his case is decided in the newspapers il
is easy for the jury to bring in its YER
dict of guilty as indicated.
In many parts of our common coun-
try, the action of courts and iuries is
entirely too slow for the impetuo5ity
of the peoples justice. When the
black man is accused, the mob takes
the law into its own hands, and whips
shoots, stabs, hangs or burns the &C.
cused, simply upon the allegation OIL
suspicion of crime.
Another feature of the situation is
that this mob violence is seldom re.
buked by the press and the pulpit, in
its immediate neighborhOod. Because
the public opinion which sustains and
makes possible such outrages, intimi-
dates both the press and pulpit.
Besides nobody expects that those
who participate in such mob violence
will ever be held answerable to the
law, and punished. Of course Judge:
arenot always unjust, nor juries al
ways partial in the case of this class,
but l affirm that l have here given you
no picture of the fancy, and l have
alleged no point incapable of proof,
and drawn no line darker or denser
than the terrible reality. The situa-
tion, my colored fellow citizens is dis
cOuraging, but with all its hardships
and horrors, l am neither desperate
nor despairing, as to the future.
One ground of hope is found in the
fact referred to in the beginning, and
that is the discussion concerning the
negro, still goes on.
The country in which we liveis hap
pier governed by ideas as well as by
laws and no black man need despair,
while there is an audible and earnest
assertion of justice and right on his
behalf. He may be riddled with bull
lets, or roasted over a slow fire by the
mob, but his cause cannot be shot or
burned or otherwise destroyed. Like
the impalpable ghost of the murdered
Hamlet it is immortal, all talk of its
beinga dead issue, is mistake. Itmay
for time be buried but it is not dead.
Tariffs. free trade. civil service. and
river and harbor bills, may for time
cover it, but it will rise again, and
again, and again, with increased life
and vigor. Every year adds to the
black mans numbers. Eveay year
aids to his wealth, and to his intelli-
gence.
There is power in numbers,
wealth and intelligence, which can
never be despised nor defied. All ef-
forts thus far to deminish the negroes
Importance as man, and as a mem
Der of the American body polite have
failed. If | do not misread the signs
of the times, he will play an inn
portant part in the politics Of the ma
tion during the next Presidential cam
paign, and will play it well.
When that cricis shall come, neither
of the great political parties will fail
to appreciate the influence of his voice
and his vote. 1t would not be strange or
surprising, if even the Democratic
party, should be seized with an appe-
tite of unusual intensity for
these colored votes. From present
indications tvo appreh end
that his vote will be employed in such
manner as to more fully open the gates
| of progress and secure for himself a
better position among his fellow coun-
trymen.
Without putting my head to the
ground can even now hear the anX-
ious inquiry as to when this discussion
of the negro will cease. When will he