Year: 1874

- = ~N 49, O' VI - &--N-- -


In letter to leading citizens {
Memphis upon State matters, Gov
Brown speaks as follows in regard t
the civil rights bill, and the duty Q
the conseryative-democratic party @
| the State:


THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.


The bill which is a misnomer, an,
should have been styled 'the socia
rights bill, is fraught with more vita
interests and alarming consequence
than, perhaps, any measure yet pre-
sented to the consideration of tn,
American Congress since the close o
the civil war. Its passage would, IL
my judgment, be a violation of tn,
constitution, mockery and delusioI
to the African, an outrage upon tn,
white man, and be followed in those
States where the negro race is numer.
GUS by the most blighting influence:
upon material prosperity and intellec.
tual development. The large majority
by which it passed the Senate the 23d
of May last is only another of the
many evidences of purpose by the
leaders of the dominant party to use
the colored man to maintain their con-
troll of the government in defiance oI
the constitution and in tlagrant viola
tion of the rights of the white man
If, by the provisions of the first and
second sections of the bill, it is intend
ed to give a new remedy both to whites
and blacks, when excluded from hotels,
railroad cars, theatres, public schools
etc., it is another attempt at .interfer-
ence with the municipal affairs of State
government, so fragrant as to impress
the mind of even the casual reader of
the constitution with serious alarm.
But if, as | think the purpose is to
give to the colored man practically an
exclusive right to recover penalty of
$500 when refused admission into
hotels, public eonveyances, places of
amusement, and into public schools,
ETC., it leaves the white man with only
his common law remedy, which is now
open to all And by the fourth sec
tion it is obviously the purpose of the
bill to create severe penalty against
an officer who fails or refuses to sum
mon a cOlOred man as a juror. The
whole bill is intended as a discrimina-
ton in favor of the colored against the
white man. 1t is an effort to place
the black man in the South upon a
higher platform than the white man.
1t is unjustto the colored man, because
it arrays against him prejudices which
had subsided. 1t is legislative ad-
mission that the colored race is intel
lectually the inferior of our race, aud
unable to cope with him in the march
of civilization. 1t is solemn declara-
tion by the assembled lcisdoDs of the
nation that the negro, with every con-
stitutional and legal provision in his
favor, guaranteeing to him equal po-
litical and civil rights with the white
man, is unable to take care of himself
1t is an effort to degrade the white
race by elevating the negro above him,
by affording him superior facilities to
enforce his remedies against imagined
SOclal wrongs. MS Dill,


AS TO TENNESSEE,


and many other States, is an invasion.
by Congressional action, of constitu-
tional guarantees. We have, for in
stance, provision in our State consti-
tuition prohibiting a mixture Of whites
and blacks in our public schools. This
bill proposes to strike down this part
of our organic law, and would destroy
our system of common schools. And
who would allow his child to sit on the
same bench, and recite in the same
classes, and grow up on terms of child
ish intimacy with the black child? No
man who loves his children, or retains
one vestige of his pride of race, will
submit to this degradation of his off
spring. To the poor white man it will
be peculiarly oppressive; for if the
consequences of this legislation are
the destruction of the common school
system of the State the children of the
poor man, who are now educated free,
must grow up in ignorance. We have
another provision, interdicting the
marriages of the races. Let this leg
islation obtain, and the next step will
be to annex penalties against the re-
fusal of a


WHITE WOMAN TO MARRY A NEGRO,
because of his race and color. Admit
the authority of Congress to pass this
bill, and there will be no limit to the
aggressions of that body upon society,
and its safeguards in the States. 1t
will take charge of and control all our
social and business relations.


In Tennessee they have guaranteed
in our organic law every practical and
civil right that it secured to our race.
Our Legislature is in full harmony
with these guarantees. The negro
child, equally with the white, is pro-
vided for in our common schools. The
white race notoriously pay all, or near
ly all, the taxes, and therefore the
negro, with commendable liberality
and generosity, is educated at the ex-
pense of the white race. In a word,
the negro in Tennessee has every pro-
lection by the law, and every educa-
tional privilege with our race. No
one desires to deprive him of any of
his legal rights now accorded to him
and when the charge is made that we
desire to deprive him either of his
freedom or his political and civil rights;
it is not only false by those who give it
circulation, but it is willful and de-
liberate falsehood, uttered by men who
are far below the level of the negro,
for the promotion of their own selfish
purposes. 1t will not do for us to
cherish the delusion that the crisis is
passed. This odious bill lies on the
speakers table of the House, to be
taken up in its order on the calendar


WHEN CONGRESS CONyENEs


in December. Its passage can be pre-
vented, in my judgment, only by an
unmistakable expression of indigna-
ton through the ballot-box. Let us
overwhelmingly defeat the civil rights
! ticket, both in our county and State
elections. Let every white man who
loves his race and retains his self-re-
spect rally to the white mans ticket
Let no petty dissensions or jealousles
or individual aspirations, divide rs in
this vital struggle. 1t is the duty Of
every man, in this perilous hour to
forget every other consideration, and
contribute by his vote and influence
to the success of the white man:
ticket. Triumphant success saves
Tennessee to the white man, and aids
the defeat of the wicked measure
Defeat will break down her prosperity
humble her pride, and give aid and
comfort to the mischievous fanatic:
] who seek our degradation and ruin.