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In the Matter of Orange a Freedman & others, against Dr William, R, Holt

Argument of Defendants Counsel

In presenting my views of this case to the court I deem it proper to state at the outset that I shall treat the case in precisely the same manner that I would if all the parties to it were white men. Since the extinction of Slavery the laws of North Carolina recognize no distinction between the white and colored races so far as their rights in courts of justice are concerned and in so far as the penalties for misdemeanor and crimes extend both races are identically alike, - both have the same remedy for wrongs to person and wrongs to property, - both are strictly alike amenable to the same criminal code.

It has become somewhat popular for the advocate of the negro to parade his wrongs and the great difficulty attendant upon his obtaining justice at the hands of the people who once ruled him while he was in a state of slavery. I can not approve of such a course;- it is unjust, unwise, and unpatriotic;- it injures the white it is true, but it injures the negro more, vastly more than it injures the white man. It is equivalent to admitting that the application of the negro has no intrinsic merit of its own to recommend it, and consequently the application is pressed upon the ground of oppression to the negro or prejudices against him which are so strong and overpowering that he can not obtain justice in the