Year: 1867

around them are poor like themselves, so
long as they see their former owners in DOS
session of any thing which. perhaps, their
labor may have had the smallest part in pro-
curing, they think they caunot he equal, UNI
til they possess it toO-that they must he
equal in position, in office. ride in the same
coach, eat at the same table, drink from the
same glass, with white men, and that the
government is hound to confer these things
upon them, as a matter Of right and Justice


1t is not true that the colored people are
enemies to, the white people, whether rich or
poor; or that they covet the possessions or
property of Others. The poor whites of this
State have been made still more poor, and
involved in ruin by secession rule The col
ored people are also poor, and their interests
as citizens of common State are eidentifed
especially with the poor white men, Hence
it is they are voting together, and are intent
on such measures as win justly and rightful-
ly buildup the State and improve the con
dition of the common people. To effect this
result it is not necessary to injure Others, or
to. invade the vested rights of any, The
Sentinel has frequently charged that these
same coloretl people, with many whites, are
in favor of confiscation The Alabama
Convention has met, deliberated, and ad-
journed. Has there heen any coniscation-
| any injustice of any kind perpetrated by
that Conventiong No. The Republicans of
North Carolina have just obtained power by
an immense majority. Does the Sentinel
hear of any proposition to seize and confis-
cate the property of any portion of the peo-
ple2 No. 2ai 2'34aQ ~ Eo t2


The Sentinel assails the colored people in
the same article from which the above ex-
tract is made, because they evince natural
and laudable disposition to acquire pro-
perty. 1t says they think they can not be
the equals of the white man until they
possess property too and that they reason
thus /" Ii am the equal of the white man,
I ought of course to own houses and lands,
and horses and cattle, like the white man"
Well, do they not own such thingsl Did
not the colored people before the rebellion
own such thingsl 1t is not true that coiored
people reason" as the Sentinel says they do.
They insist upon tue right to own property
of all kinds, just like the white man, or the
| red man, or the tawny man, but they expect
to get this property honestly. That is all. =
Would the Sentinel deny them this right?-
The whole tenor of its article shows it
would, If it had the power. No two men
can be exactly alike in the amount of pro
perty they own, but they can be alike in the
right to own property. If a colored man
happens to own houses and lands, and
horses ani, CATTLE" does the Sentinel eovet
these things? Wouldit deprive him of them
If it would, then the Sentinel not only COM
mits the sin of fcovetousness, but it is the advo-
cate of confiscatlon without the shadow of
cause. ~


The .Sentiners talk about ''iposition'-
"officer-sl riding in the same coach'-'' eat


ing at the same table, &C., is intended to
infame and mislead. Every one takes po
| sition" in the world according t. his merits.
| The right to hold office follows the right to
vote and if majority of the people think
proper to vote on principle for a colored
man for Office who will dare question the
action of that majoritys We could prove,
if necessary, that the Editors of the Sentinel
have attempted to detach Mr.. James Fl. Har


ris from the Republican party, by premises
of high offices of various kinds and that
they have recently urged a colored man to
run for Congress in this District. We state
this to show their inconsistency on this sub


ject, and they can not truthfully deny what
we have said. So far as the .same coach"
is concerned, public coach is like public
road. The Chief Justice of the United
States, foreign Ministers, and members of
Congress ride in the same public coach in
Washington City with colored people, and
with ali kinds of people; and we have yet
to learn that the Sentinel and its followers are
ubetter than the distinguished persons refer
red to As to g eating at the same table,"
people have right to choose their own
company But it is not true that the color
ed people claim social equality with the
whites, or thatsocial equality exists among
people of the same race any where. There
is no more social or domestic intercourse
among the two races here than there is in
Canada OF the West India islands, where, the
subjects of England of all races and colors
enjoy the same political and civil rights
God has ordained that heiwhite and black
races shall not intermix by marriage, and
this law is seldom if ever violated. Il Social
and domestic equalityor intercourse has its
origin around the hearth-stone, and where
there are no intermarriages among the races
there can be no social equality. 1t does not
follow, because any man is free, and entitled
to all the civil and political rights that 9th
ers enjoy, that he is thereby made the equal
of any other man socially; and no portion
of our people understand this better, or OBJ
serve it with more propricty than our color
ed friends We are sustained in this view
by numerous public speeches on the subject
by James H. Harris and other leading coler-
ed men, who certainly have more right to
speak for their race than the Editors of the
2Sentinel. sla o n1iifaiaa5l35 q issisf sss4q


1t is high time this silly talk about social
equality had ceased, It can do no good,
but does harm by exciting ignorant and pre-
| iudiced persons against n race who have