Year: 1866

ca es in which the rights OF black men e
inv, we'd or concerned, Is one of the most repu'-


sive, not to say abhofrent, propositions that can
be pres. nted to the Southern planter, aud to
while men generally, who are acquainted with
the traits or points most marked and noted In
the African race. There is nothing that so


shocks the feelings and rouses ihe preudices


into more intense action among the masses OF
the Southern people than the suggestion that


their lie and property stodld be exposed 10 the


hazards to which the admission OF negro testl-


mon, as they think would necessarily subject


them. Much OF this adherence of the idea of


negro testimony believe to be the result OF pre-


judice. have observed the pecdliarltIes OF the


race with care, and have seen some freemen


among them, and some in a state OF servltude,


aud from Bno wledge of whose character would


credit their testimony in q court OF Justice as


readily as that Of white man OF no higher


grade of intelligence or capacity for close obser-


vation; but i is nevertheless true that the great


mass Of the African race appears to have


low estimate OF the value OF truth as an element


OF character as q means OF advancing their in
terests among their fellows equally as among
the whites. 1t is certain, think, that no suff-


cient allowance is made by those who object
most strongly to the policy of conceding this
privilege to the black man, for the degradation


OF his condition while il a state of slavery and
the absence, for the most part, of any stimulant
or indUCement to excite their ambition, to cult.
vate the virtue OF truth and regular habits, the
foundation of character. With the great mass
of them there has been no fair field for the cult-
walton OF truth and honesty. After all the re-
fection ! can give the subject, i believe that
the concession of this right to testify in all cases
where the BLACK an is concerned is necessary
to the security Of his own personal rights and


il is my opinion, if he were allowed to testify in
all cases, it would not be attended with the in
convenience or disadvantage tAat is generally
apprehended. The weight that is given to all


testimony by witnesses depends chiefly upon the
character OF the witness, and the penalties


against perjury, operating equally upon the
black man and the white, would soon produce Il


perceptible reformation.


RRTRosPEoTIvE-TH DOCTRINE OF EQUALITY.


l think II important at this per1lous luncture,


to point attention to the remarkable character


of the proceedings of the Republican Conven-


ton assembled at Chicago in 1S60-their plat


form and what they called the declaration of
theirprnciples and views. | think that we may


discover that there were some men engaged in


the handiwork OF that platform who had already
strongly conceived the idea of the permanent
ascendancy which their party might attain TO-, if
they could only succeed in aQpropriating to
themselves the exclusive property in the name


or title of champions of the equal rights of man,


without distinction OF color.


From the solemn and formal manner in which


they announced themselves, their convention,


and its purposes, to the public we may inier


that they looked upon themselves as commenc-


ing a new era in the history Of party triumphs,


and of their own parry in particular They do


not say, in terms, that they mean to put forth q


declaration only second in Importance to that


of l776; they do not, In their preamble, quite


assume the pomp OF style nor the imposing
arrangement of subjects of our Fathers, when
they preluded their declaration in the following
language :-"When, IN the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bonds which have con-


nected them with another" etc., etc, ga decent


respect to the opinions of mankind requires that


they should declare the causes which impel


them to the separation p but they pro-


simple dignity, to resolve {" That we, the


delegated representatives of the Republican


electors of the United States, in convention


assembled, in discharge OF the duty we owe
to our constituents and our country, unite in
the following declarations:-lst. That the his


tory of the nation during the last four years has
fully established the propriety ana necessity of


the organization and perpetuation OF the Repub-
lcan party, and the causes which called it into
existence are permanent in their nature, and


now, more than ever before, demand its
peaceful and constitutional triumph. I'd. That
the maintenance of the principle promulgated


in the Declaration of Independence, and en-


bodied in the Federal Constitution, That all


men are created equal; that they are endowed


by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are lite liberty, ana the pur


suit of happiness; that to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, derV-


ing their Just powers from the consent of the


goverped,' is essential to the preservation
OF our republican institutions" The Repub-
icans at Chicago, in 1860, seized upon the
above passages in the Declaration Of Inde
peudenCe in l776, and assumed 1t as con-
tanning an announcements, the ufSb ume, OF


certain practical truths of that day, the equality
Of hOnndn rights being the principal one OF them,
| and intended to be the basis or fundamental
| idea or principle OF the new government they
| meant 70 found, for the assertion and mainte-
nance of which the fathers of the Revolution
had exposed their lives and their fortunes to the
hazards Of war, and the declaration of this prin-
| ciple was justification of their conduct before
| the civilized world in throwing off their alle-
| glance to the mother country and bringing on
| war of which the wisest could not toresee the
| termination or consequences. 1t is admitted
| that this great principle was not carried out in
| the Revolution, nor adopted in the Constitution
| of l7S9 because, say the Republicans 1t was
| choked and smothered in the bud by the slave
| interest; but during the whole period of the
| Revolution there was no disavowal of the senti-
ment contained IN the Declaration Of Independ-
ence. Thus, by the testimony of these latter
| day reformers. the first men of the Revolution,
| / may say all the great men of that day,
with Washington and the Adamses at their
head stand convicted of a deliberate fraud, a
hypocritical falsehood in the declaration OF the
| nTinclple which they announced as the cause
| and justification of the quarrel OF the colonies
with Great Britain, appealing TO the God OF bat
tie for the Justice of their cause, and invoking


His blessing upon it: for, IN TACT the equality OF
| human rights by the law of nature was neither


the cause nor the violation of II the justification
| OF the quarrel with Great Britain. But 1t may


be, and probably it was the fact that the Fathers
| of the Revolution gave no such Interpretation 10
| the sentiment, or the doctrine OF the equal
| rights of man by the law OF nature, that their


wiser successors of this day have given to it; not
| supposing that it ever could become the dogma
| of school of politicians. Now, the truth Is that


the idea of the 'equal rights of man." the the 1ry
| of the equality of human rights by the law OF
nature-more like the creation of fancy, or the
| dream of the senumentalist, that the axiom, OF


aphorism philosophy, or practical statesman


of France, some two or three, cen


turies before Jeffersons time. / have