The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-18
COLORED CITIZENS PROTEST
MASS MEETING IN COOPER UNION,
 NEW YORK.
of the Colored Race in the South Warmly Denounced-Preside Fortune Protests Against the 'White Regents of God"-The Resolutions Adopted.

Adopted,
 New York, Nov 17.-A mass meeting of colored men and women to protest against the treatment of their race in some of the southern states was held tonight in Cooper Union. As a pre- cautionary measure the police were out in force as even in this city in the Hell's Kitchen district there has been considerable amount of an.i-negro sen- timent. This precaution, however, was not necessary as the gathering, al- though enthusiastic at times, was very peaceable one. The hall was crowded with colored people, with a sprrkling of whites. A number of prominent white citizens sent letters in lieu of appearing in person.
 T. Thomas Fortune took the presid- ing officers chair. In a lengthy address he told of the race troubles in the south. Among other things he said: We come here to protest against mobs, against the white ruffians who claim to be the vice-regents of God"
 Ebenezer Bassett, former minister to Hayti, declared that the purpose of the meeting was not to indulge in intem- perate language, but to protest against the outrages in North Carolina" The following resolutions were adopted with lengthy preamble:
 Resolved, That we. citizens of Create New York protest against the rioting and reyo- lution which have disgraced the states of North Carolina and South Carolina, and which has been contrary to the letter and spirit of our constitution.
 Resolved, That we feel that the governors of North and south Carolina are oensura- ble for their failure to suppress the said rioting and revolution within their states and for their failure to invoke the aid of the federal authority if they were unable or unwilling to cope with the condition of af- fairs.
 Resolved, That we deplore as un-American and provocative of endless friction and con tention the antagonism to race and color which alone appears to have caused the said rioting and revolution in North and South Carolina and that we insist upon 1t that the just rights of all citizens under the consti- tution shall be respected as the only safe guard against lawlessness and as the only guarantee of orderly government and that we appeal to the law abiding and Christian ptoplc oI lHe TepuDiC Lu uSSlSI III tue tEed- ton of public opinion which shall compel those In authority to enforce the law and to secure to each citizen adequate protection in his life and property.
 Resolved That as the states of South Car oina, Missouri and Louisiana have by leg islative enactment disfranchised more than half of their population, we demand that the basis of representation of these states in congress and electoral college be reduced. in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the num- Der of male citizens twenty-one years of age. as made and directed by section of article If of the federal constitution.
 Resolved. That we recommend such amahdment to the constitution as will en- able the president 10 use the federal author Zens of the United States from mob con spiracy whenever the governor of any state from collision fears to afford such protec- tion or call upon the federal government to afford
 Resolved That we implore the guidance of Almighty God in the shaping of our homo geneous citizenship to the end that it may make for righteousness, for human progress and for the invinciblfty of our beloved re- public against the clements of rioting from within and the assaults of the enemies with out.
 Among the other speakers were Law son N. Fuller, J. P. Peaker, president of the State Sumner league, New Ha- ven, Conm.; Rev. Dr. J. N. Scott of Henderson, N. C.; Rev. Benjamin W. Farris of Boston, and Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis.