The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-01
|IEpLlES TO THE REV. DR.. HILLS
ITLt\TA LiWIERS COMMENTS
on 4 RECENT SERMON.
p.cI,ration OF Independence Has Nothing
,oDo with Negro Suffrage, Says Hooper
>le>andcr-Facts which He Thinks
the Plymouth Pastor Overlooked.

TOR SrN Of May 10 has evoked some COM
r,.nt here as being at variance with the
change of sentiment in the North on the
n,aro question indicated by recent ex.
,,ossions Of opinion in Northern papers
Of influence, and by the utterances Of men
recognized as fair opponents of Northern
thought
Hooper Alexander OF this city is one
Of the leaders Of the Atlanta bar and
ssntlenlan whose opinions on all public
m,ss,ions command the highest respect
Asked TO express his views on DR.. Hillis's
recent sermon, he dictated the following
statement
lam asked to comment on the utterances
n DR.. Newell Dwight Hills at Plymouth
Church as reported in THE Sun of May IS.
I assume that DR.. Hills is a devout
conscientious, patriotic, Christian man.
30 were those who punished Calico for
heresy But conscientious purpose is not
a safeguard against error of judgment
end Dr. Hillis's errors are 30 manifest that
lie would see them himself If he were rather
more an investigator and rather less an
advocate. Take, for examples. this fair
specimen Of his style Of reasoning. He
saws.
II the negro /. to be disfra nchised. then
the Declaration OF Independence is wrong.
Why What has the Declaration got
TO do with it? Surely DR.. Hills would
rot seriously contend that anything in that
document related 10 the right Of the negro
10 vote or even to be free
Possibly the negro ought to be free.
Possibly he ought to vote, But the grant
ing or withdrawing Of either his freedom
or the ballot must rest logically and his
loricay on wholly different basis.
Doubtless there are those who can point
out reasons for giving the ballot to the
negro and Withholding il from the Indian
and the Chinaman. But l cannot under
stand how an educated man can predicate
an argument against the repeal Of the
Fifteenth Amendment on anything in the
Declaration.
When that instrument was promul-
gated. slavery was an established institu-
ton in America of the signers were
shareholders. Mr.. jefferson, who wrote
il, abhorred slavery, We; held slaves, and
leariy half a century later, when condi-
lions prohibiting slavery were proposed
10 the admission OF Missouri. he declared
that the news fell on his ear like the sound
OF a fire bell at night
SO far from the Declaration comforting
any rights upon the slaves. the men who
signed It never for one instant supposed
that anybody would ever understand any
thing in it to refer to the negroes at all.
Thirteen years later, when the Constitu-
ton was made practically by the same
men, Il not only guaradeed slavery, but
even stipulated for twenty years con-
tnuance of that far greater evil the slave
trade.
Eighty years after the Declaration the
Supreme Court decided that il the signers
had intended anything in the Declaration
, relate to the negro race, or be 80 under
stood. they would have exposed them
elves to the contempt and execration of
mankind AZ hypocrtes and falsifiers, for
ne reason that while declaring for free
dom and equality they vet held slaves
That court decided in 1850 that so far from
The. slaves taking anything under the Decia..
a person Of African deecent so as TO put
upon other States the duty OF recognizing
him under the Constitution as citizen.
Yet Or. Hills argues that to repeal tho
Fifteenth Amendment and relegate the
question Of the suffrage to the individual
y
century. would he TO revise tn. peclaration
and discredt Washington, jefferson, Web.
tter and Lincoln. !ont understand what
he means.
Washington and jefferson were slave
holders. Mr.. Webster never held any such
public life was protest against them
and therefore was he called lchahod. Mr.
Lincoln expressly dsclamed the present
view OF many OF those who call themselves
his disciples.
A calm view of the question ought to
relieve DR.. Hills OF his apprehensions
The simple fact is that there we're hstori-
cally two parties at issue over slavery III
this country and a great deal Of mislmder-
standing and uncharity.
The Southern people were no more
welded to slavery than the North, Tut they
felievec, il would be urwise and unsafe
10 free the slaves. The resultant contro-
rersy naturally drifted into side issues as
feeling grew more tense.
The Supreme Court decided that the
Southern view was correct; that the Con.
stitution guaranteed the institution OF
slavery. that the negroes we're not meant
hy any expressions In the propositions Of
International law formulated in tn Declare
ton and that negroes could not claim any
rights under that instrument or the Constit!.-
ton, but were relocated. North and South
under the Avs Of their respective states
Then the Abolition party DENOUNCED the
Constitution as league with hell and adj
canced the doctrines OF what they de-
nominated the higher law.
1T is no purpose OF mine to discuss here.
the merits Of that controversial 10 OF
the fact The point is this that hot blood
pressed hard upon the heels OF party Bit
'srness; war followed. and the victorious
party going far beyond their original de-
mands, not only prohibited slavery by the
Thirteenth Amendment, which itself went
further than the original demand OF the
party. but in large measure revolutionized
cur form of government by the first part
Of the Fourteenth Amendment, intrusting
to the custody OF the United States the
guaranteeing Of many original and never
disputed rights OF the citizen which afore-
time had been left 10 the States to safe
guard.
In the latter part of the Fourteenth
Amendment they sought indirectly TO
compel the States, which still remained
the custodians of the suffrage. TO bcstow
that franchise on the negroes. This faiiing,
the Fifteenth Amendment was passed. which
IN terms forbade the States to deny the
suffrage on any ground OF race or color.
! pas by the methods resorted TO to
secure the necessary ratifications. The
Southern people cherish no bitterness,
and. therefore, the things are not written
down that were done In the South under
The military government IT they were.
new point would be given 70 Nine. de
SaeFs cry Of anguish, and DR.. Hills would