The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-16
THE FRIENDS OF THE NEGRO.

of democratic legislators to that race"
We were entirely unaware of having
made any statement of that nature, or
any argument 10 that effect, but IS we
have signally failed to get any kind Of
an argument from the Journal on any
subject that has arisen in the past
twenty years, we will accommodate it
by going back to the age in which it is
published and discussing this issue with
it, Will the Journal look over the state
and point to a man who was the friend
Of the negro when the rights of the
negro were in question? We know of but
one such man. and he was man who
was distinguished throughout the nation
for his fearless and able assaults on
slavery, and equally distinguished for his
advocacy of negro suffrage at a time
when Governor Morton was making
speeches against it, and the Journal OPP
posing it. That man is George w.
Julian. a democrat, a tariff reformer, an
oficeholder under Mr.. Cleveland during
bis first term.
The Journal refers to the action of the
Indiana legislature on the fifteenth
amendment. Has it forgotten who made
the acceptance of that amendment by
the state of Indiana possible? Has it
forgotten who ordered the doors Of the
senate chamber locked and counted
quorum for the passage of that measure?
If so, we will refresh its memory by re-
minding it that the hero of that occasion
was the Hon. Isaac Pussy Gray, demo-
cratic ex-governor of Indiana and pres
ent democratic minister to Mexico. Talk
about friends of the negroi Where will
the Journal find any republican in In
diana who ever did one-tenth as much
for that race as either of these demo-
Gratis? What were your prominent re-
publicans doing at that time? Take an
illustration: At the recent republican
state convention the center of attraction
was Col r. w. Thompson of Terre
Haute, a man who has presided over re-
publican state conventions for years and
who has had honor after honor heaped
upon him by the republican party. What
friends? In his great speech at Terre
Haute on Aug. IL, 1855, this republican
leader boasted how he had attacked Mar
tin VanBuren and denounced him as an
which 1 labored to fasten the charge of
abolitionism upon VanBuren" he had
been sent to congress by his republican
friends, and how in that campaign he
had issued a circular containing this
statement:
I am opposed to abolitionism. Raised
amid the institution of domestic slavery,
/ may have imbibed in early life preju-
dices upon this subject of which it is
difficult 10 rid me. However that may
be. l regard my opinions upon ii as in
accordance with the principles of the
constitution. 1 believe that congress has
no constitutional right to abolish slavery
in any state or in the District of Column
bia If they had the right to do so in
the district the spirit of the deed of ces-
sion from Maryland and Virginia forbids
it without the consent Of the slave-own-
ers.
These were the principles on which Mr..
Thompson appealed to the republican
voters Of Indiana, and these were the
principles on which the republicans of his
district elected him to congress. And
these principles were not peculiar to his
district They were the commonly &C
cepted doctrines of the republican party.
In proof of the fact we submit this
statement:
And now Mr.. Chairman. I wish TO say
a single word more. because ii seems
singular to me to hear myself mentioned
as an advocate of negro equality. L
cannot forget, if I would, that my grand
father was a Kentucky STAKEHOLDER.
cannot forget if | would. that my father
was a Kentucky STAKEHOLDER. / cannot
forget if / would, that perhaps a major
ity Of those who are allied TO me by
blood are now citizens of the state of
Kentucky It is not probable, sir, with
the prejudices of my early education,
that | would be likely to have too
great sympathy for negroes. In Indiana
we have adopted a constitutional prOvis
ion that no negro, whether he be bound
or free. shall be allowed to come with
in its limits. Why was this provision
adopted? Because ii was believed that
negro labor ought not to be suffered to
come into competition with white labor
in Indiana. What is the policy of the
republican party? 1t is TO exclude
slavery from the territories for that
identical reason; and in the canvass
which / made in the Sixth district of
Indiana / always took that position. 1
never advocated the doctrine that ne
groes ought to be put upon a political or
social equality with the white race. My
colleague knows very we'll that the re-
publicans in Indiana advocate no such
doctrine He knows that we put our
advocacy of the exclusion of negroes
upon the same ground on which 1t was
put in our state constitution-that negro
labor ought not to be allowed to come
into competition with white labor in the
territories.
This was the declaration of the Hon.
Albert G. Porter, made in the national
house of representatives on May 2. 1860.
We challenge the Journal to print this
and the extract from Mr. Thompson's
speech and explain the great love of the
republican party for the negro in the
light of them. At the very outbreak of
the war a republican leader boasts that
he is unwilling to let free negro come
upon free soil to earn living, and as
serts in the broadcast terms that this is
the doctrine of his party. The repub-
lican party never did anything for the
negro but from purely selfish purposes.