36. CHAPTER XXXVI.
POLITICAL NOTES.
BARNUM BECOMES A REPUBLICAN — ILLUMINATING THE HOUSE OF A DEMOCRAT —
THE PEACE MEETING — ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE — WAR ON
THE RAILROADS — -SPEECH ON THE AMENDMENT.
While he had always taken an active interest in
politics, it was many years before Barnum consented
to run for any office. In 1852 he was strongly urged
to submit his name to the State Convention, as a
candidate for the office of Governor, and although
the Democratic party (to which he then belonged)
was in the ascendancy, and the nomination was
equivalent to election, he still refused.
In 1860 his political convictions were changed,
and he identified himself with the Republican party.
During the exciting campaign of that year, which
resulted in Lincoln's first election to the presidency,
it will be remembered that the "Wide-Awake''
associations, with their uniforms and torchlight
processions, were organized in every city, town and
village throughout the North.
One day Mr. Barnum arrived home from New
York and learned that the Bridgeport "Wide
Awakes?'' were to parade that evening and intended
to march out to Lindencroft. Ordering two boxes
of candles he prepared for an illumination of every
window in the house. Many of his neighbors, among
them several Democrats, came to Lindencroft that
evening to witness the parade, and to see the
illumination. His next door neighbor, Mr. T., was a
strong Democrat, and before he left home, he
ordered his servants to stay in the basement, and
not show a light, thus proving by the darkness of
his premises, the firmness of his Democratic principles.
Barnum urged his friend James D. Johnson, who
was not less a joker than a Democrat, to engage the
attention of Mr. and Mrs. T., and to keep their faces
turned toward Bridgeport and the approaching
procession, while he and Mr. George A. Wells, also a
Democrat, ran over and illuminated Mr. T.'s. house.
As the Wide-Awakes approached and saw that the
house of Mr. T. was in a blaze with light, they concluded
that he had changed his politics, and gave
three rousing cheers for him. Hearing his name, he
turned and saw his house lighted from basement to
attic, and uttering one single emphatic ejaculation,
he rushed for home. But he was not able to extinguish
the lights before the Wide-Awakes had gone
on their way rejoicing over his apparent conversion.
When the war broke out in 1861, Barnum was too
old for active service in the field, but he sent four
substitutes and contributed largely from his means
to the support of the Union.
After Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, "Peace Meetings''
began to be held in different parts of the North, and
especially in Connecticut. At these meetings it was
usual to display a white flag bearing the word
"Peace,'' above the national flag, and to listen to
speeches denunciatory of the war.
One of these meetings was held August 24, 1861,
at Stepney, ten miles north of Bridgeport, and Mr.
Barnum and Elias Howe, Jr., inventor of the sewing
machine needle, agreed to attend and hear for themselves
whether the speeches were loyal or not.
They communicated their intention to a number of
their friends, asking them to go also, and at least
twenty accepted the invitation. It was their plan to
listen quietly to the harangues, and if they found any
opposition to the government or anything calculated
to create disaffection in the community, or liable to
deter enlistments, — to report the matter to the
authorities at Washington and ask that measures be
taken to suppress the gatherings.
As the carriages of these gentlemen turned into
Main street they discovered two large omnibuses
filled with soldiers who were home on a furlough,
and who were going to Stepney. The lighter
carriages soon outran the omnibuses, and the party
arrived at Stepney in time to see the white flag run
up above the stars and stripes. They stood quietly
in the crowd, while the meeting was organized, and
a preacher — Mr. Charles Smith — was invited to open
the proceedings with prayer. "The Military and
Civil History of Connecticut, during the war of
1861-65,'' by W. A. Croffut and John M. Morris, thus
continues the account of the meeting:
"He (Smith) had not, however, progressed far in
his supplication, when he slightly opened his eyes,
and beheld, to his horror, the Bridgeport omnibuses
coming over the hill, garnished with Union banners,
and vocal with loyal cheers. This was the signal for
a panic; Bull Run, on a small scale was re-enacted.
The devout Smith, and the undelivered orators, it is
alleged, took refuge in a field of corn. The procession
drove straight to the pole unresisted, the hostile
crowd parting to let them pass; and a tall man —
John Platt — amid some mutterings, climbed the pole,
reached the halliards, and the mongrel banners were
on the ground. Some of the peace-men, rallying,
drew weapons on `the invaders,' and a musket and
a revolver were taken from them by soldiers at
the very instant of firing. Another of the defenders
fired a revolver, and was chased into the fields.
Still others, waxing belligerent, were disarmed, and
a number of loaded muskets found stored in an adjacent
shed were seized. The stars and stripes were
hoisted upon the pole, and wildly cheered. P. T.
Barnum was then taken on the shoulders of the boys
in blue, and put on the platform, where he made a
speech full of patriotism, spiced with the humor of the
occasion. Captain James E. Dunham also said a few
words to the point. * * * * `The Star Spangled
Banner' was then sung in chorus, and a series
of resolutions passed, declaring that `loyal men are
the rightful custodians of the peace of Connecticut.'
Elias Howe, Jr., chairman, made his speech, when
the crowd threatened to shoot the speakers. `If they
fire a gun, boys, burn the whole town, and I'll pay
for it!' After giving the citizens wholesome advice
concerning the substituted flag, and their duty to the
government, the procession returned to Bridgeport
with the white flag trailing in the mud behind an
omnibus. * * * * They were received at
Bridgeport by approving crowds, and were greeted
with continuous cheers as they passed along.''
In the Spring of 1865, Barnum accepted from the
Republican party a nomination to the Connecticut
Legislature, from the town of Fairfield, and he did
so mainly because he wished to vote for the then
proposed amendment to the Constitution, to abolish
slavery forever from the land.
He was elected, and on arriving at Hartford the
night before the session began, found the wire pullers
at work, laying their plans for the election of a
Speaker of the House.
Barnum, with his usual penetration and shrewdness,
saw that the railroad interests had combined
in support of one of the candidates, and seeing in
this, no promise of good to the community at large,
he at once consulted with a few friends in the Legislature,
and they resolved to defeat the railroad
"ring,'' if possible, in caucus. Their efforts were
successful and the railroad's candidate was not
elected.
Immediately after the caucus, Barnum sought the
successful nominee, Hon. E. K. Foster, of New
Haven, and begged him not to appoint as
chairman of the Railroad Committee the man who
had held the office for several successive years, and
who was, in fact, the great railroad factotum of the
State. The speaker complied with Barnum's request,
and he soon saw how important it was to check the
strong and growing monopoly; for, as he said, the
"outside pressure'' to secure the appointment of
the objectionable party was terrible.
Although Barnum had not foreseen such a thing
until he reached Hartford, he soon discovered that
a battle with the railroad commissioners would be
necessary, and his course was shaped accordingly.
A majority of the commissioners were mere tools
in the hands of the railroad companies, and one of
them was actually a hired clerk in the office of the
New York and New Haven Railroad Company. It
was also shown that the chairman of the commissioners
permitted most of the accidents which
occurred on that road to be taken charge of and
reported upon by their paid lobby agent.
This was so manifestly destructive to the interests
of all parties who might suffer from accidents on the
road, or have any controversy with the company,
that the farmers, and the anti-monopolist element
united to defeat the chairman of the railroad
commissioners, who was a candidate for re-election,
and to put their own candidate in his place.
Through Barnum's efforts a law was passed that
no person in the employ of any railroad in the
State, should serve as railroad commissioner.
But the great struggle, which lasted through the
entire session, was upon the subject of railroad
passenger commutations. Commodore Vanderbilt
had secured control of the Hudson River and
Harlem railroads, and had increased the price of
commuters' tickets, from two hundred to four
hundred per cent. Many men living on the line of
these roads, ten to fifty miles from New York, had
built fine residences in the country on the strength
of cheap transit to and from the city, and were now
compelled to submit to the extortion. Commodore
Vanderbilt was also a large shareholder in the New
York and New Haven road, and it seemed evident
that the same practice would be introduced there
Barnum therefore enlisted as many as he could in a
strong effort to strangle the outrage before it became
too strong to grapple with. Several lawyers in the
Assembly promised their aid, but before the final
struggle came, all but one, in the whole body, had
enlisted in favor of the railroads.
What influence had been at work with these
gentlemen was, of course, a matter of conjecture.
Certain it is that all the railroad interests in the
State were combined; and while they had plenty of
money with which to carry out their designs, the
chances were small indeed for those members of
the legislature who were struggling for simple
justice, and who had no pecuniary interests at stake.
Nevertheless, every inch of ground was fought
over, day after day, before the legislative railroad
committee; examinations and cross-examinations of
railroad commissioners and lobbyists were kept up.
Scarcely more than one man, Senator Ballard, of
Darien, lent his personal aid to Barnum in the
investigation, but together they left not a stone
unturned.
The man who was prevented from being appointed
chairman succeeded in becoming one of
the railroad commissioners, but so much light was
thrown on his connection with railroad reports, railroad
laws and lobbying, by the indefatigable Barnum, the,
the man took to his bed, some ten days before the
close of the session, and actually staid there "sick ''
until the legislature adjourned.
The amendment to the United States Constitution
abolishing slavery met with little opposition; but
the proposed amendment to the State Constitution,
giving the right of suffrage to the negro, was violently
opposed by the Democratic members. The report
from the minority of the committee to whom the
question was referred gave certain reasons for
rejecting the contemplated amendment, and in reply
to this minority report, Barnum spoke, May 26th,
1865, as follows: —
ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Mr. Speaker: I will not attempt to notice at any length the
declamation of the honorable gentleman from Milford, for
certainly I have heard nothing from his lips approaching to the
dignity of argument. I agree with the gentleman that the right
of suffrage is "dearly and sacredly cherished by the white
man''; and it is because this right is so dear and sacred, that I
wish to see it extended to every educated moral man within our
State, without regard to color. He tells us that one race is a
vessel to honor, and another to dishonor; and that he has seen
on ancient Egyptian monuments the negro represented as "a
hewer of wood and a drawer of water.'' This is doubtless true,
and the gentleman seems determined always to keep the negro
a
"vessel of dishonor,'' and a "hewer of wood.'' We, on the
other hand, propose to give him the opportunity of expanding
his faculties and elevating himself to true manhood. He says he
"hates and abhors, and despises demagogism.'' I am rejoiced
to hear it, and I trust we shall see tangible evidence of the truth
of what he professes in his abandonment of that slavery to party
which is the mere trick and trap of the demagogue.
When, a few days since, this honorable body voted unanimously
for the Amendment of the United States Constitution,
abolishing human slavery, I not only thanked God from my heart
of hearts, but I felt like going down on my knees to the gentlemen
of the opposition, for the wisdom they had exhibited in bowing
to the logic of events by dropping that dead weight of slavery
which had disrupted the Democratic party, with which I had
been so long connected. And on this occasion I wish again to
appeal to the wisdom and loyalty of my Democratic friends. I
say Democratic "friends,'' for I am and ever was, a thorough,
out and out Democrat. I supported General Jackson, and
voted for every Democratic president after him, up to and
including Pierce; for I really thought Pierce was a Democrat
until he proved the contrary, as I conceived, in the Kansas
question. My democracy goes for the greatest good to the
greatest number, for equal and exact justice to all men, and for
a submission to the will of the majority. It was the repudiation
by the Southern Democracy of this great democratic doctrine of
majority rule which opened the rebellion.
And now, Mr. Speaker, let me remind our Democratic friends
that the present question simply asks that a majority of the legal
voters, the white citizens of this State, may decide whether or not
colored men of good moral character, who are able to read,
and
who possess all the qualifications of white voters, shall be entitled
to the elective franchise. The opposition may have their own
ideas, or may be in doubt upon this subject; but surely no true
Democrat will dare to refuse permission to our fellow-citizens to
decide the question.
Negro slavery, and its legitimate outgrowths of ignorance,
tyranny and oppression, have caused this gigantic rebellion,
which has cost our country thousands of millions of treasure,
and hundreds of thousands of human lives in defending a principle.
And where was this poor, down-trodden colored race in
this rebellion? Did they seize the "opportunity'' when their
masters were engaged with a powerful foe, to break out in insurrection,
and massacre those tyrants who had so long held them in
the most cruel bondage? No, Mr. Speaker, they did not do this.
My "Democratic'' friends would have done it. I would have
done it. Irishmen, Chinamen, Portuguese, would have done it;
any white man would have done it; but the poor black man is
like a lamb in his nature compared with the white man. The
black man possesses a confiding disposition, thoroughly tinctured
with religious enthusiasm, and not characterized by a spirit of
revenge. No, the only barbarous massacres we heard of, during
the war, were those committed by their white masters on their
poor, defenceless white prisoners, and to the eternal disgrace of
southern white "Democratic'' rebels, be it said, these instances
of barbarism were numerous all through the war. When this
rebellion first broke out, the northern Democracy raised a hue-and-cry
against permitting the negroes to fight; but when such
a measure seemed necessary, in order to put down traitors, these
colored men took their muskets in hand and made their bodies a
wall of defence for the loyal citizens of the North. And now,
when our grateful white citizens ask from this assembly the privilege
of deciding by their votes whether these colored men, who
at least, were partially our saviours in the war, may or may not,
under proper restrictions, become participants in that great salvation,
I am amazed that men calling themselves Democrats dare
refuse to grant this democratic measure. We wish to educate
ignorant men, white or black. Ignorance is incompatible with
the genius of our free institutions. In the very nature of things
it jeopardizes their stability, and it is always unsafe to transgress
the laws of nature. We cannot safely shut ourselves up with
ignorance and brutality; we must educate and Christianize those
who are now by circumstances our social inferiors.
Years ago, I was afraid of foreign voters. I feared that when
Europe poured her teeming millions of working people upon
our shores, our extended laws of franchise would enable them to
swamp our free institutions, and reduce us to anarchy. But
much reflection has satisfied me that we have only to elevate
these millions and their descendants to the standard of American
citizenship, and we shall find sufficient of the leaven of liberty
in our system of government to absorb all foreign elements and
assimilate them to a truly democratic form of government.
Mr. Speaker: We cannot afford to carry passengers and have
them live under our government with no real vital interest in its
perpetuity. Every man must be a joint owner.
The only safe inhabitants of a free country are educated citizens
who vote.
Nor in a free government can we afford to employ journeymen;
they may be apprenticed until they learn to read, and study
our institutions; and then let them become joint proprietors
and feel a proportionate responsibility. The two learned and
distinguished authors of the minority report have been studying the
science of ethnology and have treated us with a dissertation on
the races. And what have they attempted to show? Why, that
a race which, simply on account of the color of the skin, has
long been buried in slavery at the South, and even at the North
has been tabooed and scarcely permitted to rise above the dignity
of whitewashers and boot-blacks, does not exhibit the same
polish and refinement that the white citizens do who have enjoyed
the advantages of civilization, education, Christian culture and
self-respect which can only be attained by those who share in
making the laws under which they live.
Do our Democratic friends assume that the negroes are not
human? I have heard professed Democrats claim even that;
but do the authors of this minority report insist that the negro
is a beast? Is his body not tenanted by an immortal spirit? If
this is the position of the gentlemen, then I confess a beast cannot
reason, and this minority committee are right in declaring
that "the negro can develop no inventive faculties or genius for
the arts.'' For although the elephant may be taught to plow,
or the dog to carry your market-basket by his teeth, you cannot
teach them to shave notes, to speculate in gold, or even to
vote; whereas, the experience of all political parties shows that
men may be taught to vote, even when they do not know what
the ticket means.
But if the colored man is indeed a man, then his manhood
with proper training can be developed. His soul may appear
dormant, his brain inactive, but there is a vitality there; and
Nature will assert herself if you will give her the opportunity.
Suppose an inhabitant of another planet should drop down
upon this portion of our globe at mid-winter. He would find
the earth covered with snow and ice, and congealed almost to
the consistency of granite. The trees are leafless, everything is
cold and barren; no green thing is to be seen; the inhabitants are
chilled, and stalk about shivering, from place to place; he would
exclaim, "Surely this is not life; this means annihilation. No
flesh and blood can long endure this; this frozen earth is bound
in the everlasting embraces of adamantine frost, and can never
develop vegetation for the sustenance of any living thing.''
He little dreams of the priceless myriads of germs which bountiful
Nature has safely garnered in the warm bosom of our mother
earth; he sees no evidence of that vitality which the beneficent
sun will develop to grace and beautify the world. But let
him remain till March or April, and as the snow begins to melt
away, he discovers the beautiful crocus struggling through the
half-frozen ground; the snow-drops appear in all their chaste
beauty; the buds of the swamp-maple shoot forth; the beautiful
magnolia opens her splendid blossoms; the sassafras adds its
evidence of life; the pearl-white blossoms of the dog-wood light
up every forest: and while our stranger is rubbing his eyes in
astonishment, the earth is covered with her emerald velvet carpet;
rich foliage and brilliant colored blossoms adorn the trees;
fragrant flowers are enwreathing every wayside; the swift-winged
birds float through the air and send forth joyous notes of gratitude
from every tree-top; the merry lambs skip joyfully around
their verdant pasture-grounds; and everywhere is our stranger
surrounded with life, beauty, joy and gladness.
So it is with the poor African. You may take a dozen specimens
of both sexes from the lowest type of man found in Africa;
their race has been buried for ages in ignorance and barbarism,
and you can scarcely perceive that they have any more of manhood
or womanhood than so many orang-outangs or gorillas.
You look at their low foreheads, their thick skulls and lips, their
woolly heads, their flat noses, their dull, lazy eyes, and you may
he tempted to adopt the language of this minority committee,
and exclaim: Surely these people have "no inventive faculties,
no genius for the arts, or for any of those occupations requiring
intellect and wisdom.'' But bring them out into the light of
civilization; let them and their children come into the genial
sunshine of Christianity; teach them industry, self-reliance, and
self-respect; let them learn what too few white Christians have
yet understood, that cleanliness is akin to godliness, and a part
of godliness; and the human soul will begin to develop itself.
Each generation, blessed with churches and common schools
will gradually exhibit the result of such culture; the low foreheads
will be raised and widened by an active and expanded
brain; the vacant eye of barbarism, ignorance and idleness will
light up with the fire of intelligence, education, ambition, activity
and Christian civilization; and you will find the immortal soul
asserting her dignity, by the development of a man who would
startle by his intelligence the honorable gentleman from
Wallingford, who has presumed to compare beings made in God's
image with "oxen and asses.'' That honorable gentleman, if
he is rightly reported in the papers (I did not have the happiness
to hear his speech), has mistaken the nature of the colored
man. The honorable gentleman reminds me of the young man
who went abroad, and when he returned, there was nothing in
America that could compare with what he had seen in foreign
lands. Niagara Falls was nowhere; the White Mountains were
"knocked higher than a kite'' by Mont Blanc; our rivers were
so large that they were vulgar, when contrasted with the beautiful
little streams and rivulets of Europe; our New York Central
Park was eclipsed by the Bois de Bologne and the Champs
Elysees of Paris, or Hyde or Regent Park of London, to say
nothing of the great Phœnix Park at Dublin.
"They have introduced a couple of Venetian gondolas on the
large pond in Central Park,'' remarked a friend.
"All very well,'' replied the verdant traveler, "but between
you and me, these birds can't stand our cold climate more than
one season.'' The gentleman from Wallingford evidently had
as little idea of the true nature of the African as the young swell
had of the pleasure-boats of Venice.
Mr. Johnson, of Wallingford: "The gentleman misapprehends
my remarks. The gentleman from Norwich had urged that the
negro should vote because they have fought in our battles. I
replied that oxen and asses can fight, and therefore should, on
the same grounds, be entitled to vote.''
Mr. Barnum: I accept the gentleman's explanation. Doubtless
General Grant will feel himself highly complimented when
he learns that it requires no greater capacity to handle the musket,
and meet armed battalions in the field, than "oxen and
asses'' possess.
Let the educated free negro feel that he is a man; let him be
trained in New England churches, schools and workshops; let
him support himself, pay his taxes, and cast his vote, like other
men, and he will put to everlasting shame the champions of
modern Democracy, by the overwhelming evidence he will give
in his own person of the great Scripture truth, that "God has
made of one blood all the nations of men.'' A human soul,
"that God has created and Christ died for,'' is not to be trifled
with. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab
or a Hottentot — it is still an immortal spirit; and, amid all
assumptions of caste, it will in due time vindicate the great fact
that, without regard to color or condition, all men are equally
children of the common Father.
A few years since, an English lord and his family were riding
in his carriage in Liverpool. It was an elegant equipage; the
servants were dressed in rich livery; the horses caparisoned in
the most costly style; and everything betokened that the establishment
belonged to a scion of England's proudest aristocracy.
The carriage stopped in front of a palatial residence. At this
moment a poor beggar woman rushed to the side of the carriage,
and gently seizing the lady by the hand, exclaimed, "For the
love of God give me something to save my poor sick children
from starvation. You are rich; I am your poor sister, for God
is our common Father.''
"Wretch!'' exclaimed the proud lady, casting the woman's
hand away; "don't call me sister; I have nothing in common
with such low brutes as you.'' And the great lady doubtless
thought she was formed of finer clay than this suffering mendicant;
but when a few days afterward she was brought to a sick bed by
the smallpox, contracted by touching the hand of that poor
wretch, she felt the evidence that they belonged to the same
great family, and were subject to the same pains and diseases.
The State of Connecticut, like New Jersey, is a border State
of New York. New York has a great commercial city, where
aldermen rob by the tens of thousands, and where principal is
studied much more than principle. I can readily understand
how the negro has come to be debased at the North as well as at
the South. The interests of the two sections in the product of
negro labor were nearly identical. The North wanted Southern
cotton and the South was ready in turn to buy from the North
whatever was needed in the way of Northern supplies and
manufactures. This community of commercial interests led to an
identity in political principles, especially in matters pertaining to
the negro race — the working race of the South — which produced
the cotton and consumed so much of what Northern merchants
and manufacturers sold for plantation use. The Southern planters
were good customers and were worth conciliating. So when
Connecticut proposed in 1818 to continue to admit colored men
to the franchise, the South protested against thus elevating the
negroes, and Connecticut succumbed. No other New England
State has ever so disgraced herself; and now Connecticut Democrats
are asked to permit the white citizens of this State to express
their opinion in regard to reinstating the colored man
where our Revolutionary sires placed him under the Constitution.
Now, gentlemen, "Democrats,'' as you call yourselves, you who
speak so flippantly of your "loyalty,'' your "love for the Union''
and your "love for the people''; you who are generally talking
right and voting wrong, we ask you to come forward and act
"democratically,'' by letting your masters, the people, speak.
The word "white'' in the Constitution cannot be strictly and
literally construed. The opposition express great love for white
blood. Will they let a mulatto vote half the time, a quadroon
three-fourths, and an octoroon seven-eighths of the time? If
not, why not? Will they enslave seven-eighths of a white man
because one-eighth is not Caucasian? Is this democratic? Shall
not the majority seven control the minority one? Out on such
"democracy.''
But a Democratic minority committee (of two) seem to have
done something besides study ethnology. They have also paid
great attention to fine arts, and are particularly anxious that all
voters shall have a "genius for the arts.'' I would like to ask
them if it has always been political practice to insist that every
voter in the great "unwashed'' and "unterrified'' of any party
should become a member of the Academy of Arts before he votes
the "regular'' ticket? I thought he was received into the full
fellowship of a political party if he could exhibit sufficient
"inventive faculties and genius for the arts,'' to enable him to paint
a black eye. Can a man whose "genius for the arts'' enables
him to strike from the shoulder scientifically, be admitted to full
fellowship in a political party? Is it evident that the political
artist has studied the old masters, if he exhibits his genius by
tapping an opponent's head with a shillelah? The oldest master
in this school of art was Cain; and so canes have been made
to play their part in politics, at the polls and even in the United
States Senate Chamber.
Is "genius for the arts and those occupations requiring intellect
and wisdom'' sufficiently exemplified in adroitly stuffing
ballot-boxes, forging soldiers' votes, and copying a directory, as
has been done, as the return list of votes? Is the "inventive
faculty'' of "voting early and often'' a passport to political
brotherhood? Is it satisfactory evidence of "artistic'' genius,
to head a mob? and a mob which is led and guided by political
passion, as numerous instances in our history prove, is the worst
of mobs. Is it evidence of "high art'' to lynch a man by hanging
him to the nearest tree or lamp-post? Is a "whisky scrimmage''
one of the lost arts restored? We all know how certain
"artists'' are prone to embellish elections and to enhance the
excitements of political campaigns by inciting riots, and the
frequency with which these disgraceful outbreaks have occurred of
late, especially in some of the populous cities, is cause for just
alarm. It is dangerous "art.''
Mr. Speaker: I repeat that I am a friend to the Irishman. I
have traveled through his native country and have seen how he is
oppressed. I have listened to the eloquent and patriotic appeals
of Daniel O'Connell, in Conciliation Hall, in Dublin, and I
have gladly contributed to his fund for ameliorating the condition
of his countrymen. I rejoice to see them rushing to this
land of liberty and independence; and it is because I am their
friend that I denounce the demagogues who attempt to blind
and mislead them to vote in the interests of any party against the
interests of humanity, and the principles of true democracy.
My neighbors will testify that at mid-winter I employ Irishmen
by the hundred to do work that is not absolutely necessary,
in order to help them support their families.
After hearing the minority report last week, I began to feel
that I might be disfranchised, for I have no great degree of
"genius for the arts;'' I felt, therefore, that I must get "posted''
on that subject as soon as possible. I at once sauntered into the
Senate Chamber to look at the paintings: there I saw portraits
of great men, and I saw two empty frames from which the pictures
had been removed. These missing paintings, I was told,
were portraits of two ex-Governors of the State, whose position
on political affairs was obnoxious to the dominant party in the
Legislature; and especially obnoxious were the supposed sentiments
of these governors on the war. Therefore, the Senate
voted to remove the pictures, and thus proved, as it would seem,
that there is an intimate connection between politics and art.
I have repeatedly traveled through every State in the South,
and I assert, what every intelligent officer and soldier who has
resided there will corroborate, that the slaves, as a body are
more intelligent than the poor whites. No man who has not
been there can conceive to what a low depth of ignorance the
poor snuff-taking, clay-eating whites of some portions of the South
have descended. I trust the day is not far distant when the
"common school'' shall throw its illuminating rays through this
Egyptian pall.
I have known slave mechanics to be sold for $3,000, and even
$5,000 each, and others could not be bought at all; and I have
seen intelligent slaves acting as stewards for their masters, traveling
every year to New Orleans, Nashville, and even to Cincinnati,
to dispose of their masters' crops. The tree colored
citizens of Opelousas, St. Martinsville, and all the Attakapas
country in Louisiana, are as respectable and intelligent as an
ordinary community of whites. They speak the French and
English languages, educate their children in music and "the
arts,'' and they pay their taxes on more than fifteen millions of
dollars.
Gentlemen of the opposition, I beseech you to remember that
our State and our country ask from us something more than
party tactics. It is absolutely necessary that the loyal blacks at
the South should vote, in order to save the loyal whites. Let
Connecticut, without regard to party, set them an example that
shall influence the action at the South, and prevent a new form
of slavery from arising there, which shall make all our expenditure
of blood and treasure fruitless.
But some persons have this color prejudice simply by the force
of education, and they say, "Well, a nigger is a nigger, and he
can't be anything else. I hate niggers, anyhow.'' Twenty
years ago I crossed the Atlantic, and among our passengers was
an Irish judge, who was coming out to Newfoundland as chief
justice. He was an exceedingly intelligent and polished gentleman,
and extremely witty. The passengers from the New England
States and those from the South got into a discussion on
the subject of slavery, which lasted three days. The Southerners
were finally worsted, and when their arguments were exhausted,
they fell back on the old story, by saying: "Oh! curse a
nigger, he ain't half human anyhow; he had no business to be a
nigger, etc.'' One of the gentlemen then turned to the Irish
judge, and asked his opinion of the merits of the controversy.
The judge replied:
"Gentlemen, I have listened with much edification to your
arguments pro and con during three days. I was quite inclined
to think the anti-slavery gentlemen had justice and right on their
side, but the last argument from the South has changed my
mind. I say a `nigger has no business to be a nigger,' and we
should kick him out of society and trample him under foot —
always provided, gentlemen, you prove he was born black at his
own particular request. If he had no word to say in the matter,
of course he is blameless for his color, and is entitled to the same
respect that other men are who properly behave themselves!''
Mr. Speaker: I am no politician; I came to this legislature
simply because I wish to have the honor of voting for the two
constitutional amendments — one for driving slavery entirely out
of our country; the other to allow men of education and good
moral character to vote, regardless of the color of their skins.
To give my voice for these two philanthropic, just and Christian
measures is all the glory I ask legislativewise. I care nothing
whatever for any sect or party under heaven, as such. I have
no axes to grind, no logs to roll, no favors to ask. All I desire
is to do what is right, and prevent what is wrong. I believe in
no "expediency'' that is not predicated of justice, for in all
things — politics, as well as everything else — I know that "honesty
is the best policy.'' A retributive Providence will unerringly
and speedily search out all wrong-doing; hence, right is always
the best in the long run. Certainly,, in the light of the great
American spirit of liberty and equal rights which is sweeping
over this country, and making the thrones of tyrants totter in
the Old World, no party can afford to carry slavery, either of
body or of mind. Knock off your manacles and let the man go
free. Take down the blinds from his intellect, and let in the light
of education and Christian culture. When this is done you have
developed a man. Give him the responsibility of a man and the
self-respect of a man, by granting him the right of suffrage,
Let universal education, and the universal franchise be the motto
of free America, and the toiling millions of Europe, who are
watching you with such intense interest, will hail us as their
saviours. Let us loyally sink "party'' on this question, and go
for "God and our Country.'' Let no man attach an eternal
stigma to his name by shutting his eyes to the great lesson of
the hour, and voting against permitting the people to express
their opinion on this important subject. Let us unanimously
grant this truly democratic boon. Then, when our laws of
franchise are settled on a just basis, let future parties divide where
they honestly differ on State or national questions which do nor
trench upon the claims of manhood or American citizenship.