Year: 1868

w nile gazing upon that name
the time when these
same men declared him a traitor to
every principle of honor, because he
preferred his country to his party,
and bitterly denounced him for his
efforts to rally the people of the
West for the defense of the Union.


remember all these when I am
declared degenerate son; and for
every quotation they give me from
his speeches l will give them a doz-
en-. When the Sentinel parades a
sentence concerning white mans
government, 1 will remind them of
his dying words. When the wife
bent over the scarce breathing form
of the expiring statesman, and ask
ed if he had no message to send to
his children, s,Tell them,'' said he,
in a voice rendered almost inaudible
by the near approach of death, ''to
obey and support the Constitution
and the laws of the land." This
solemn injunction I intend to obey.
When I see myself personally abused
by the conservative press on ac-
count of my political sentiments,
and called traitor to the State in
which was born, would recall to
their recollection the time when 1
was declared an alien enemy, About
the year 1862 bill was filed sum-
moning Thomas Settle (now asso-
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court
and R. A. Ellington to Greensboro
to show cause why they would not
surrender the property Of Robert NJ.
and Stephen A. Douglas, alien enc
mics of the Confederacy and when
I am denounced as a Yankee carpet
Dagger, I would remind them of
their efforts to drive me an exile
from my native State and render
me stranger to the soil that gave
me birth. AS, however, I have in
herited my fathers name and his
principles, it is natural that should
inherit their animosity. Neverthe-
less, it is strange that these men,
his bitterest enemies in life, should
now claim to be the truest exponents
of his principles; but not more
strange than that they should now
assert themselves the best friends
Of the Constitution of the United
States and the infallible interpre-
ters of its provisions after they
have sacrificed hundreds of lives
and thousands of millions of treas
ure to trample into the dust that sa-
cred instrument. .a.


Such is their consistency, and
such it is throughout all their po-
litical principles. If a white Re
publican addresses crowd of col
ored men, expressing his honest
sentiments, instrueting them in
their rights and duties and advising
them rs a friend, that action in
wolves social equality and is disre-
putable. High-born Conservatives


however, can mingle promiscuously
among colored men at barbecues


eat from the same sheep and drink
from the same bottle, and they de


serve the praise of their fellow citi-
zens. If a colored man, following
his honest convictions, votes for
the best interests of his race and as
all his higher instincts prompt him,
he is totally unfit to dig bare sub
sistence from the bosom of the com.
mon earth. If, on the other hand


that colored man proves a traitor to
his race-votes to consign himself
his wife, and his children to a con


dition worse than slavery, for they
all say that the condition of an ole
free negro was worse than that OF
a slave; he is respectable and his
swarthy hand is worthy Of grasp


ing the sweetest flowers plucked by
the snowy fingers of the Carolinas


fairest daughters. By re


ference to the columns of the
Standard you will learn that in the
town Of Chapel Hill, of classic fame
the ladies, to testify their admira
ton for the eloquence of a coloreG
Conservative orator, presented with
an eloquent boquet of flowers.
have no objection to this. The
flowers were their own and they give
them to whom they please; but ]
claim the same light as long as
observe the restraints Of public de


cency, of deciding upon the propri


ETY. of my own conduct. The time
has gone by when one man was
better than another because he hap


pened to be born in Independent


circumstances, and henceforth vir


tue and intelligence alone shall be
the criteria of merit. Nothing
more clearly shows the utter hope
lessness of the so called Conserva
tive cause and the political degra
ton to which the party has descend


ed than the means employed to Sc


cure success, since they are afrai6
to leave the result with the unbiased
votes of the citizens Of the State
and country. Any man who, re


fusing employment to all who will


not swear to vote the Democratic
ticket-and this is done openly all


over the entire State-attempts to
starve colored man into voting
against his deliberate convictions
and the best interest of his race, is
less worthy of the ballot than the
negro whom he influences





Consider, then, the difference be


tween the candidates-Seymour
former Governor of New York, anc
Grant, the conqueror of the rebel


lion. 1t is true that he may be the
more fluent speaker-that is, may
find more to talk about; but wher
General Grant has anything to say
he is pretty generally understood


since, for instance, as his ''immedi


ate unconditional surrender The
former 1 know by reputation, the lat


ter personally. Grant has not the
qualities requisite in a hero of ro


nance; but the very fact that his


mind is SO equally balanced that nc