The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-12-16
THERACE PROBLEM IN PoLI3I~s

RACE PROBLEM IN Politics
Those who can look back to the first
Congress after the closing of the Civil
war, will remember with what inor
dinate haste the Republican. leaders
began to legislate for the polilic.,.
status of the negro. OF such para
mount importance was the African
race in the eyes of the Republican
party at that time, that upen the very
first day of the session, before either
House had yet received the annual
message of the President, the colored
brother was being rushed into full
fiedged citizenship by the partisans in
power. Bill upon bill and resolution
after resolution was introduced in his
behalf. Freedom must be Immediate
ly supplemented with franchise and
the q O p must, at the same time, be
fully protected against any loYe's
labor lost, and so Mr.. Stevens, in the
House, offered an amendment to the
Constitution apportioning representa-
tives according to the number OF
voters in each State. Impartial jus
tice, equality before the law and
Republican form of government"
We're the designated terms mostly used
with which to whitewash the political
ush-heap, from out of which the
negro presently emerged, fully clothed
in ready made garment of American
suffrage, ill fitting to be sure, but with
the positive assurance guaranteed to
him that, in future, all defects would
be remedied should he consent to a
bias insertion, after the fashion plate
of the Republican party. Thus the
negro, the least advanced among the
races of the earth, was brought for
ward to participate in and enjoy those
privileges possessed only by the Anglo
American, as the well earned herit-
age which had come down from a
struggle for advancement through
centuries of enlightening civilization.
We have no doubt but that there
were some who favored the bestowing
of civil rights and suffrage upon the
negro, from a desire that he should be
advanced in his mental and moral
nature and that he would come out
of his old environments sufficiently
prepared for the solution Of the world
problem of raising all races to the
same level of Christian morality. Tn,
fortunately this class of we'll wishers
have never had a potential voice III
the controlling power of the negro
race. The power to which he has
looked for guidance has been that
which was generated in the brains of
scheming politicians of the most parti-
san order, and who gave him his poll
teal status for the sole purpose of
perpetuating the power of the Repub-
lican party.
The sudden transformation of the
negro, IN enfranchising him with the
rights and privileges of the white
man, SIMPLY p.hSCo hllni lOl q IlIIlS, Ill
new condition of servitude and made
him the chattel of a party, which, with
out the aid of his vote would be a
hopeless minority in several of the
States, and especially so in Mary land
But now, the new political member
OF the body polite has been so fire.
quentiy pandered to, by prominent
politicians. has been so patted upon
the back and embraced, cheek bv
jowl, by sympathetic and sensitive
newspapers though hide bound and
hide tough on most other subjects
that he has been forcibly made con-
scious of his political strength and
seeks to demonstrate it by forging to
the front, not upon the ground of his
party principles, but by reason of his
color, as u member ofhis race. Under
the system of tutelage in vogue he is
looking forward, in the Southern
Safes. to the ultimate displac ament of
the white man from control, and to
anchor in his place, one of his own
dusky hue. The white population.
particularly in that section of the
country, should it willingly acquiesee
in the depravity of ignorance as dis
played in the numerical strength of
the negro at the polls, must in future
be content with relegated position
into the Storage of the new ship
of-State, while the colored commander
enjoys the emoluments of a quarter
deck commission.
That this is no fancy sketch of
future possibilities, it is only necessary
to look pack a couple of years and
see a negro candidate for Mayor of
Baltimore, and the determined pur-
pose at that time for race representa-
ton in the law making branch of our
State Government. If there is any
thing lacking to furnish conclusive
proof that the negro's power through
the ballot means the practical supre-
macy of the black over the white
American, the wholesale distribution
of offices to him in North Carolina
and his arrogant assumption of his
superiority engendered thereby ought
to be sufficiently convincing. Nor is
the thirst for political preferment by
the negro race the only bad legacy
bestowed by the selfish legislation OF
the Republican party. 1t has been
legislated into position of such ex-
aggerated Importance, when a large
majority have but lutte conception
OF the duties pertaining to good citizen
ship, that reckless disregard for any
thing which does not comport with
the idea of an absolute and universal
equality with white men and women,
brings at once into action the violent
and insolent demeanor which springs
from IA too speedy and unprepared for
admission within the portals of
American liberty. At this very time
the legislative branch of the national
government is engaged in charging
this same mantle of liberty, and will
endeavor to cast it upon the shoulders
of millions beyond the sea, when,
within the.confines of our own borders
it has become necessary, in several
States, to call halt and ponder upon
what all men know, but most men
forget, that there is no legal short
cut to Christian civilization" and