Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-01-30
THE RACE QUESTION.
Address Of Hon. John J. Ingalls, In
the United States Senate.
A Free Ballot and Fair Count Before En-
PERTAINING Any Scheme of Emigration
For the CoIored Rsce-An APP
peal to the South.

|
yesterday the Senate took up the bill
introduced by Senator Butler to provide
for the emigration of persons of color
from the Southern States, and Senator
Ingalls, addressed the Senate. He said:
Mr.. President: The race to which we be-
| long is the most arrogant and the most ram
| pant, the most exclusive and indomitabie in
history. 1t is the conquering and uncon-
| querable race, through which man alone has
taken possession of the physical and the
moral world. To our race humanity is in
| debted for religion. for literature, for civil
lization 1t has genius for conquest, for
| politics, for jurisprudence and for admins
| tration.
The hume and the family are its contribu-
tions to society. IndiFidualism, fraternity,
| liberty and equality have been its contribu-
tiOns to the State. All other races have been
it's enemies and its victims This is not the
time, nor is it the occasion to consider
the profoundly interesting question of
the unity of races. 1t is sufficient
to say that, either by instinct OF de-
sign, the Caucasian race, at every step of
its progress from barbarism to enlighten-
ment, has refused to mingle its blood or
assimilate with the two other great human
families (the Mongolian and the African) and
has persistently rejected adulteration.
Under the shield of the American Govern
ment every faith has found its shelter every
creed a sanctuary and wrong redress. 1t
has resisted the rancor of party spirit, the
violence OF factions, the corruption of
foreign immigration, the collisions of civil
war and the menace of foreign and hostile
nations.
The speaker quoted from Mr.. John
Bright's speech during the civil war in
which Mr.. Bright said: Il see another
and brighter vision before my gaze.
1t may be vision, but cherish it. l
see one vast confederation stretching
from the frozen north to the glowing
south and from the wild pillows of the
Atlantic to the calmer waters of the Pa
cific main; and l see one people, one Ian
guage, one law and one faith; and all
over that wide continent the home of
freedom and refuge for the oppressed
of every race and every Cline"
Mr.. Ingalls, proceeded:
On the threshold of our second century we
are confronted with the most formidable and
portentOus problem ever submitted to a free
people for solution-complex, unprecedent-
ed involving social, moral and political con-
sideTations, a party supremacy and in the
estimation of many Though not in my OWN,
the existence of ourGovernment. Its solution
be solved by the present statesmen or those
of the future. 1t should be approached with
candOr, with solemnity, with patriotic pur-
pose, with fearless scrutiny. without subter-
fuge and without reserve. Let me state il in
the language of one of the most brilliant
the most impassioned and powerful of all
the orators of the South-now unfortunately
no more. When Henry w. Grady died, a
luminous meteor disappeared from the
Southern armament.
Mr.. Ingalls, thereupon sent to the
clerks desk and had read an extract
from Mr. Grady's grafton before the Bos-
ton Chamber of Commerce, and con-
tinued:
Let me state the arithmetical problem. In
lS6O there were in the United States 4440, 600
negroes-slaves and free; in 1870 there were
4,4S00O0; in 1880, 6,5s0, OO0-an increase which
| Il say in passing) can only be accounted for
on the principle of premeditated and inten-
tionRl fraud on the census. At the close of
this century probably there will not be less
than l5,OOO,GOO of the cOlOred race on this con-
tinent-blacks.
The problem is still further complicated
by the fact that they are gregarious. They
instinctively separate themselves into their
own community, with their own habits
their own methods of life. They worship
separately. They are taught separately
The line of cleavage between whites and
blacks is becoming constantly more
distinct and perceptible. There is
neither amalgamation nor absorp-
tion nor assimilation. Politically, they are
affiliated with the victors in the late civil
war; socially and by locality and residence
they are associated with the vanquished.
VIII the experiment that has failed else
where succeed here? Can the black race
exist as citizens of the United States on
terms of political equality with the Caucas-
ian race? And if not, why not?
Fred Douglass, the most illustrious living
representative of the negro race (greafer
think by his Caucasian reinforcement than
by his African bloody, once said to me that
he thought, as prejudice and social and po-
litical antagonism disappeared. the races
would blend, ooalesce and become homo
geneous. do not agree with him There
is n natural affinity between the races.
This solution OF the problem is impossible.
The relations between the sexes in the time
of slavery were compulsory. The hybrid vas
the product of relations between white
fathers and black mothers and never be-
tween black fathers and white mothers
And the inference from this result, ethno-
graphically, is the conclusion of that Ques-
ton. Such a solution, in my Judgment
would perpetuate the vices of both races and
the virtues Of neither. There is no blood
poison so fatal as the adulteration of race.
The colOred people are here. They are
natives. They are citizens. Men for man
they are Our political equals. They came
here invOluntarily, as prisoners of war,
captured In fight They are of ancient
lineage-geuuine f. F. VS.. [Laughter.l
After praising the colored people for
their fidelity TO the South during the
war, the speaker said:
1t seems Incredible that gratitude should
not defend and shield them from the indie
scribable wrongs and crimes of which they
have been for a quarter OF a century the
guiltless and unresisting victims. The same
impulse which made them loyal to their
masters throughout the war has made them
faithful to their deliverers since. Their al
legiance to the party of Lincoln and Grant
is persistent and answering. They have
voted with their friends.
Mr.. Ingalls, then spoke of the deter
mination of the South to eliminate the
negro as factor from its political and
social history and quoted evidence on
that point from Democratic newspapers
nd Democratic politicians. He sent to
the clerks desk and had read extracts
from the jackson (Miss.) Clarion, just
before the election, seventeen days ago,
in which the interrogation: ''Who
cares? The Bolton boys will be here
Monday; there will be fair election
was repeated dozen times,
the only difference being that the
name of the companies to be
there was changed. When the last in
terrogatory was read he said: They
were all there" amid much laughter.
He then read the statement of cores
pendent that the election at Jackson
was the most outrageous he he'd ever
seen and that the town had been taken 4
possession of by ''toughs with Win |
chester rifles ;, and held fhrnnrhnrt the |