Viewing page 1 of 16

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.

[[double line]]

"OPEN THY MOUTH FOR THE DUMB, IN THE CAUSE OF ALL SUCH AS ARE APPOINTED TO DESTRUCTION; OPEN THEY MOUTH, JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY, AND PLEAD THE CAUSE OF THE POOR AND NEEDY." - 1st Eccl. xxxi. 8,9.

[[double line]]

VOLUME III. NUMBER VII. }
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1860.
{ PRICE - ONE DOLLAR PER ANNUM.

[[double line]]

CONTENTS OF THE PRESENT NUMBER.
-
Equal Suffrage Defeated...369
Dr. Cheever in Glasgow...369
The Late Election...370
The Question of Amalgamation...371
Seventh Annual Clam Bake...372
White Folks Down in Hayti...373
Speech of Rev. Dr. Cheever at Glasgow...574
Annual Address at the Jerry Rescue Celebration by Rev. S. J. May...377
Speech of John Hossack at Chicago...380
Southern Thunder...381
Advertisements...384

[[double line]]

DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.

[[double line]]

EQUAL SUFFRAGE DEFEATED
-
The late election, so far as the State of New York is concerned, has features of discouragement, as well as the opposite. The disposition made of the question of Equal Suffrage was inconsistent with every profession and principle of the triumphant party, and must surprise the enemies of equal rights as much as it certainly disappoints the expectations of colored citizens, who supposed that this consitutional brand of inferiority (by which colored men must have two hundred and fifty dollars of real property before they can vote, while all others vote on their simple manhood) would be erased from the organic law, which it has so long disgraced, simultaneously with the triumph of the great Republican party. All parties had reason to believe this would be done, if the State were not carried for Fusion or the slavery party. It would have been done had faith in its principles equalled the declarations of the members of the Republican party. They professed to believe in the Declaration of American Independence, and inserted the fundamental principle of equality which it contains, into their platform of principles at Chicago, but deserted that principle at the first moment they were called upon to give it life and form in the fundamental law of the State. - Had the Republican party been as true to the sacred cause of liberty and equality, as the Democratic party always proves itself to slavery and oppression, the invidious and odious descrimination against our equal citizenship would have been blotted out, and the colored voters of the State would have had some reason for the enthusiasm with which they have shouted their praises of the Republican party. While the Democrats at the polls never failed to accompany their State and national tickets with one against the proposed amendment, Republicans - many of them - refused to touch a ticket in favor of the amendment, and this, too, while white men, native and foreign, were brought to the polls so drunk, that they needed support on both sides while depositing their votes, and whose only political principle seemed to be injustice to the negro. We know whereof we affirm, for we stood at the polls all day, doing our best for Equal Suffrage.

The moral effect of this defeat of justice and equality will be to fix more deeply in the public mind the popular contempt and scorn with which the rights and feelings of colored citizens are regarded, and invite their brutal manifestations wherever the colored man appears. For when men degrade and oppress the weak, every act of that character tends to strengthen the malignant motive which incites such action. The vote on the property qualification is in its nature a re-affirmation of the slavery-engendered contempt for the rights of black men, and is a fresh license to all who are mean enough (and their name is legion) to insult the man of color wherever they meet him. They are men who are brave enough to trip up a man on crutches, push a blind man off the side-walk, or flog a man when his hands are tied, but too base and cowardly to contend with one who has an equal chance of defense with themselves. The black man, excluded alike from the jury box and the ballot box, is at the mercy of his enemies. The blow is a heavy and damaging one. - Every intelligent colored man must feel it keenly. It was given without any rational cause. No decent man could assign a motive for his vote against us, without casting his eyes to the ground, or looking up with a blush of mingled shame and malignity. Not even the desire to stand well with the South could be pleaded. All knew that the election of LINCOLN would destroy all the conciliating power which this new injustice to the negro might exert in that quarter, so that even this base and contemptible motive could not be pleaded. No, it was an act of unmitigated pride and prejudice, intended to depress and degrade a class which, of all others in the State, need the ballot box as a means of self-elevation and popular regard. Had the colored people been a large and powerful body in the State, it might, with shome show of reason, been contended that they would become controlling if allowed to vote on equal terms with others; but any pretense of this kind would have stamped the objector as a fool. Every body knew that the scattered colored population of the State, voting wherever their interest or conscience might lead, would in no wise affect harmfully the policy of the State. We do not even wring from this vote the poor consolation that any body was afraid of our influence or power. The victory over us is simply one of blind ignorance and prejudice, hardly less destitute of manly intelligence than the kick of an ass. It was the vote of drunken Irishmen, and ignorant Dutchmen, controlled by sham Democrats, whose Democracy consists not in equal and exact justice to all, but in the right of brute power to trample upon the weak and defenceless. We saw the kind of men whom the deed was done in Rochester. They were the tools of the negro-hating Democracy of this city, many of whom would sell their votes for a glass of whiskey. It is impossible to feel degraded by injustice from such a quarter.

But what will the colored people and their friends do now that the day has gone against them? Will the question of Equal Suffrage be allowed to sleep? We trust not. Our opponents need hope for no such thing. Our cause is just, wise, and proper, and must not be dropped. We are defeated rather by the supineness of our friends, than by the strength and activity of our enemies. We were over-shadowed and smothered by the Presidential struggle - over laid by ABRAHAM LINCOLN and HANNIBAL HAMLIN. The black baby of Negro Suffrage was thought too ugly to exhibit on so grand an occasion. The negro was stowed away like some people put out of sight their deformed children when company comes. We were told by some of our Republican friends to keep still - make no noise - they would do the work. Now, the fox is out of the well, and the goat is in it. Cunning dogs, you are not done with us yet. We are going to follow you as the woman followed an unjust judge. You must and will eventually settle this question, and all others in respect to the colored people of this State, in harmony with the great principles at the basis of the American Government - the professed principles of the great Republican party of the State and nation.

[[line]]

DR. CHEEVER IN GLASGOW.
-
We need not commend to our readers the proceedings of this meeting, and the eloquent and powerful address of Dr. CHEEVER. They will be read by all with profound interest. - The names of the gentlemen who graced the platform by their presence are and among the most distinguished in Scotland. Sincerely are we glad to observe the decided and fearless tone in which Mr. BATCHELOR speaks of Dr. CHEEVER and his mission. Glasgow, tho' unsurpassed for the depth and earnestness of its anti-slavery sentiment, has been a little tardy in committing itself to the cause and course of Dr. CHEEVER. Now that she has seen and heard the man for herself, no community, we think, will surpass her in responding to the claims of this earnest and faithful apostle of liberty and humanity for the dumb millions trodden under the iron heel of slavery in this professed Christian country. - Whatever may be the criticisms by American journals on the character and course of Dr. CHEEVER, our trans-Atlantic friends and readers may depend upon it, for we know the men - Dr. CHEEVER'S faithfulness in exposing the iniquity of slavery, and his fearless denunciations of those in church and state who uphold the abomination, is his greatest offense. They hate him because he tells them the truth.

[[line]]

EMIGRATION TO HAYTI. - The first vessel sent by the Haytian Bureau of Emigration, will sail from Boston on the 22nd of December next, the anniversary of the departure of President Geffrard from Port-au-Prince, to begin the Revolution, which terminated in the establishment of the Republic of Hayti. A large number of passengers have been engaged.