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(Mmb American.
AUGUSTA, GA., DECEMBER 30, 1865.
MR. THOMAS P. BEARD
Will be general agent and editor of
the “Colored American,” during my ab
sence from the city. He is fully author
ized to transact all business connected
with the paper.
WHAT IS A MAN?
In our every-day intercourse with the
world, we often hear the expression,
'He is every inch of him, cl man.' On
hearing such an expression as this, the
mind very naturally asks, Why is that
parti alar person said to be ‘a man
more than the great mass of his fellows.
If you look/at him you may not see a
noble forehead, or ma jestic mein, or an
extraordinary developed physical frame,
but to the contrary, probably, a low fore
’head with carelessly arranged hair, any
thing but a majestic air about his person,
and more than probably, an ordinary
sized man. You naturally conclude from
your survey that these particular quali
ties do not make him a man more than
his fellows. You look in vain, for a dis
play of this world’s wealth, fof he may
be clothed in the habilaments of poverty.
You look for a handsome equipage, but
he may never have had his foot lifted
from the lap of mother earth beyond a
common wagon. In your perplexity you
again ask the question : ‘ Why is that
one said to be a 1 man ’ more than the
mass, seeing that personal appearance
nor wealth are necessary qualifications.
Your ear catches the sound of the ‘ still
small voice/ saying that he is a ‘ man ’
because he is honest, in all his dealings,
charitable to the needy, would rather
injure himself than injure others, and has
peace and good will towards all men;
in a word, he is a Christian. You are
no longer in the dark concerning the
qualifications necessary te make a man,
for you at once perceive that they are
moral in their nature, and not physical.
If is somewhat strange that the world at
large should so universally recognize the
man in any one displaying these last
mentioned qualifications, seeing that
physical as well as pecuniary merits enter
so largely into the balance by which
society weighs character. Nevertheless,
he who displays the merits of a Christian,
though he were as poor as the comfort
less man of Uzz, will receive from the
men of the world the commendation that
he is a man. They may not recognize
him in the whirl of business, nor in the
sordid circle of reckless fashion, but they
will have a respect and a defference for
him that one of their own fraternity never
could enjoy. It is very evident, there
fore,‘from this stand point of the matter,
that character makes the man, and not
color. And if character is the standard
of manhood, we cannot see any just rea*
»on for withholding the titles tomenhood
from any one on account of his physical
nature. It is not because a person is six
feet high that he is a ‘ man,’ nor because
he has .a big brow and thick
straight hitr, but because he has the
moral qualifications of a man. Why then
exclude a person from this position be
cause he has a black face. If he displays
the character, the moral character of a
man with a white face, who, in the judge
ment of his fellows, is deserving of the
title ‘man ’in its fullest sense, common
sense and justice, we surely think de
mands that he receive the same honor
able distinction. The ipse dad of the
world declares that physical qualification
has nothing to do in the formation of a
man, is it just then that this decree
should lose its force when another race is
concerned, and that race producing the
self same traits as produced by others,
but not of the same physical contour? We
think not, and every wis > man will think
with us. It is well understood by all,
that governments are the creations of
men, although in every ca*c they them
selves do not come up to the standard of
men. It is also well understood that
governments are not the creations .of
TQttS of men y for in that case, the five
J. T. Shuften.
races laid down by physiologists would
govern themselves independent of each
other; but history, both ancient and
modern, plai teaches lhat they have
governed each other as fate and force of
arms permitted. And if the student of
history will only reflect upon her develop
ments, he will there find, that just as a
man of another race displayed the neces
sary characteristics demanded bv those
who governed, he was elevated to the posi
tion which his character required. And
if that was the customs among nations
and races, who, in point of character are
immensely below the standard of true
manhood as we conceive of that standard
through the light of Christianity, what
ought to be the custom with us? Yet,
at the present day, we are infinitely less
generous than the semi-savage of a
thousand years ago, for we are determin
ed to govern by one race and totaly ig
nore the existence of graces in any other
outside of ourselves.
If it was proposed to place an African
in the jury-box, even allowing him to be
an infranchised voter, a howl of discon
tent would be raised from the shores of
New England auriferous plains of
California, although that African might
have a better sense of justice, and be
able to render a verdict more in accord
ance with her mandates than any one of
his white brother jurors. Yet these same
white judges, no matter from what State
they might come, would find no difficul
ty in siting down with a Chinese to decide
any question of legality, although he was
as ignorant as when he left his native
shores, with the exception of being able
to understand our language. Now, why
is this ? A Chinese no more belongs to
the Circassian race than the Negro, and
if there is any solid reason for excluding
the Negro because be is not of the same
race, there is equally as good a reason
for excluding the Chinese. If the gov
erning race bfcak the walls of their
oneness in favor of another, but one step
removed in the social scale, they are
chargeable with selfishness when they re
fuse the same privileges to a third, be
cause they may be two or three steps
removed, yet who develope traits of
character vastly beyond those privileged
recipients. Physiologists have divided
the human family into five clases. or
races, the highest of which is the Cir
cassian, and the lowest, the Negro. Be
tween those there are the Mongolian, the
Malay and Indian. Now, we are very
much mistaken if either of these three
go-between races would not find a hearty
welcome at the poles of this country,
and in the jury boxes of justice should
they present themselves for the necessary
qualifications, while the poor African
would be houted and kicked for his pre
sumptive temerity. We lay it before
the bar of human reason if this is not
spite and prejudice. We cannot but
look for such things from monarchial,
tyranical Europe, but when we see the
professions of this free and enlightened
country, and hear the boast that it is free
from the polutions of the old world, we
certainly do expect a better conception of
of things from it. Yet, what is its pat
ent practice ? The very reverse of its
profession ! Our citizens are shocked
beyond all conception when they are told
that the Emperor of Brazil has a negro
for a Prime Ministep, and that it is quite
common to see 'black judges administering
justice to the whites in that country
-Now, why .are they shocked ? Is there
anything appalling to the senses on ac
count of it being a fact? Do they think
that justice has not her habitation in
Brazil as well as in Columbia ? Our plain
unvarnished opinion of the matter is just
this, that they are shocked because of
prejudice ; that they are appalled be
cause of spite; and that they cannot con
ceive how a negro knows what justice is I
made of. They have been accustomed
from their infancy to use him as a tool
for their own aggrandizment to tread upon
him, if by that means they could rise
above him, and make him the willing
vassel to all their whims and fancies,
never dreaming that under different in
fluences he might become their equal in
character, if not their superior. V o are
proud to thiuk that Don Pedro, the cul
tivated Brazilian Emperor, should have
discovered the ,r cm of native worth in the
African, under his fostering
care it shouJ have made an indelible
mark in the history of races. The ideas
of the attainments and capabilities of
the African have been largely drawn from
the plantation slave, around whom was
built a wall of law that he should not do
thus and so. From him the ideas were
taken of the whole race, regardless of
what the race might do under different
influences and dhtside the restraint which
trammelled his action. In our opinion,
the fact that it was deemed necessary to
hedge him around by law in his mental
abilities, was a positive proof and a de
claration to the world -hat under these
forbidden influences, he might rise and
become a competitor with the race that
bound Idm. The reason we put shutters
on our windows and locks on our doors
is because of robbers, but if we were not
afraid of robbers we would not put our
selves to so much trouble and useless ex
pense. So with the African and the
Circassian. The fact that laws were
made to keep him from stealing know
ledge, and by that means advancing* him
self, is a proof that the Circassian was
afraid that he would steal knowledge,
and could advance himself through its
agency. Therefore, he made laws, or
fastened up the shutters and looked the
doors of that temple in order to keep him
just where he wanted him to be, namely,
on the outside. It is quite customary
to hear the remarks that ‘ the negro is
fit for nothing,’ that ‘ he cannot bo taught
anything,’ and that ‘he cannot advance
in the scale of humanity.’ If this is
really so, how very foolish for men to sit
'down in legislative halls and make laws
to prevent him from learning anything,
and advancing in the human scale, when
these men, in their own minds, are con
vinced that he cannot do what they are
determined he shall not get the chance to
do. It is very evident from this that they
utter with their lips what they do not
think with their hearts. But these laws
are dead, and we are glad of it. Fate
has torn down the shutters and broken
the locks of the temple of knowledge, and
the great problem of advancement has
commenced, and if, in its solution, it
should give ’ birth to men in the full
sense of the term; we hope and trust
that the boundary lines of color and race
shall be obliterated from the map of
common sense, and every man shall stand
on his own merits as a man, and the world
shall behold the consummation of Vie
poet’s highest hope, that
‘Man to man the world o’er
Shall brothers be, an’ a’ that.
A RUNNING COMMENTARY ON
A RENEGADE.
Ist. Once upon a time a woodman
found a snake almost frozen to death, and
being of a compassionate disposition he
carried the half dead reptile to his home,
and laid it down in front of a blazing
fire. He seated himself beside it and
watched with anxious eye the signs of
returning animation. He had not watch
ed and waited long, when his,snake-ship
began slowly to unfold bis feow limber
coils„ and with a spring like a flash of
lightening, he bit the poor woodman, who
had been the means of saving its life.
Moral— Ingratitude.
In our intercourse with the world we
sometimes strike up with just such a snake
as this, enrobed in the garments of the
human form devine,and we think our
city is particularly blessed (or cursed as
the case may be) with a very fine speci
men of this “genus homo.”
2d. On glancing over the columns of
a Broad street daily, our eye was attrac
ted to some very high toned language.
After announcing that military guards
were patroling the streets and disarming
all the colored people, the editor of that
“daily” says:\
Now there is no earthly use for our
colored population to carry weapons. A
majority ot those rambling around the
streets might, better by far be at home.
And if they would keep at home, they
would not be disturbed or molested.
We are somewhat of the opinion that
there is jtfSt as much reason and just as ]
good a reason for colored people to can- <
arms, as their is fcran “editor ot a daily j
newspaper to do so. V e have often <
heard it said that, that editoi s per.-on .
presents a very fine specimen oi a “walk- 1
ing ar sued. Now the reason he has to
bolster up his person with such aformida- i
ble array of “tooth picks ’ is. he is afraid :
of danger to his person, and that is just the ;
reason and the right of the colored man
to carry arms. He has found out that *
some man, especially “editors of daily
newspapers,” can blow hot and cold with ;
' the same breath, who speak fair to his
•face, but “stabs his reputation” behind
his back. Against such men he has been
forced to carry arms, for those who could
bemean themselves that far, would not
scruple to put their hands iu.'o pockets,
not their own. It is simply the develop
ment of the natural instinct of self preser
vation, that demands him to carry arms.
Will that Broad street editor take a note
of this.
3d. “But our Broad street editor tell
the colored man be has no right to be on
the street afternig btfall, and consequently
he would not be knocked down and moles
ted. Has no one the courage to tell that
editor that he has no right to be in this
city ? If there is not, we tell him now,
that the colored man has as much right
to walk on the street after dark as he has
to publish his abominable, filthy and
pestiferous, sheet, in this city. And a
great deal more so. This city would get.
along a great deal better without him
and his subsidized editorials than it could
without the colored man. The colored
man is of some use to the community,
but his “daily” does not ever afford a
good piece of wrapping paper.
4th. His two positions—Position Ist:
If you freedmen, conduct yourselves
properly, you will have no occasion to use
weapons.
Ah ! what brilliant language! what
sparkling power of diction! It is a strange
rule, however that will not work both
ways. Let us try his one. “If you, the
editor conduct, yourself properly, you
wdl have no occasion to use weapons."
By attending to this, your own position
i Mr. editor, you would not need to carry
that portable armory, which lends rotun
dity to your obese corporosity.
Position 2d. “If on the other hand
you do not intend to behave yourselves
you ought not to be allowed to have wea
pons.
• lhat is your way Mr. editor; be pleased
to read oz/'.s'. If on the other hand,
you do not intend to behave yourself,
you ought not to be allowed to have
weapons.
sth. But our Law Maker still further
says:
•
“Freedom does not consist in your
making disturbances; or in breaking laws;
or in carrying concealed weapons; or in
doing any thing that will not be tolerat
ed by society.”
We are of the opinion that an editor's
freedom does not consist .in “making dis—
turbaaces” among a community, by fos
tering ill will in one party to another
and all such editors had better shut shop,
than continue doing so, nor does his
freedmom allow him to “break the laws”
of society, by hypocritical editorials and
comments, when his past professions, are
opposite of his present practice, nor
is he allowed to “carry concealed wea
pons” to the exclusion of all others, nor
in doing nor saying anything that will
not be tolerated by society. Editor,
Not a bone.
Finale. If the “renegade editor” will
mind his own business and let other peo
ple’s alone which in no way concerns
him, the wheels of the world and especial
ly oi this city will move all the quicker,
being relieved of loads of garbage and
putrid “bunkum” which are the off
of his prolific brain.
says:
In the meantime we call upon our rea
ders and patrons generally, to withdraw
whatever support they may have given
him, when he appeared in the garments
of a “sheep” but who now throws his ,
disguise aside and stands in his natural '
dress of a “wolf,”
Not long ago he was using his utmost
endeavor to curry favor with the colored
people and not a few patronized him b\
subscriptions and advertisements. He
has now openly declared himself their
enemy. them put no money ttl
their enemies packets.
SLAVERY OFFICIALLY AT XV
END. N
sexvard’s official.
To all whom these presents may come
greeting: • ’
Know ye, that, whereas the Congress
of the United States on the Ist of Febru
ary last passed a resolution submitting to
the Legislatures of the several States a
proposition to amend the constitution of
the United States:
Resolved, By the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, two
thirds of both houses concurring, that the
following article he proposed to the
Legislatures of the sever.il States as an
amendment to the constitution of the
United States, which, when ratified by
three fourths of said Legislatures, shall
be valid to all intents and purposes as a
part of said constitution, namely.
Article 13—Section Neither slave
ry nor involuntary servitude except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall ex
ist within the Uniied States or any place
svbject to their jurisdiction.
Section 12.—Congress shall have pow
er to enforce the article by appropriate
legislation.
And whereas it appears from official
docurr.ents on file in this Department
that the amendment to the constitution
of the United States proposed as afore
said has been ratified by the Legislatures
of the States of Illinois, Rhode Island,
Michigan, Maryland, New York, West
Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri,
Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkan
sas, Connecticut, New Hampshire,South
Carolina, Alabama, North Caroliia and
Georgia, in all twenty-seven States
And whereas the whole nuioer of
States in the United States is thitysix.
And whereas the before spec'al; nam
ed States, whose Legislatures hav ratifi.
ed the said proposed amendment,musti
tnte three-fourths of the whole umber
of States in the United States;
Now, therefore, be it known, hat I,
Win. IT. Seward, Secretary of Sate of
the United Slates, by virtue in puauance
of the second section of the act f Con
gress, approved the 20th of April, 1818,
entitled “ An act to provide for th pub
lication of the laws of the United States,
and for other purposes,” do hereby lertify
that the amendment aforesaid has lecoine
valid to all intents and purposes asi part
of tiie constitution of the United Sates, i
In testimoney whereof I ha ve he:euiito
set my hand and caused the seal if the
Department of State to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington thi ; 18th
day of December, in the year of our
Lord, 1865, and of the iudepenlence
of the United States of America the
90th.
Wm. H. Seward, Secretary .of Staty.
A lady of culture, refinement, and
unusual powers of observation com
parison, became a widow. Reduced from
affluence to poverty, with a large family
of small children dependent on her man
ual labor for daily food, she made a varie
ty of experiments to ascertain what
article could be purchased for the least
money, and would at the same time ‘go
the furthest,’ by keeping her children
longest from crying for something to eat.
She soon discovered that when they ate
buckwheat cakes and molasses they were
quiet for a longer time than after eating
any other kind of food.
rairans’s
Gon w fit®.
TO THE FRIENDS OF EQUAL
JUSTICE IN GEORGIA.
You are invited to send Delegates to
a Convention to tie held in the city of
Augusta, on Wednesday, the 10th day
of January next.
Believing that the time has come when
we should consult together, and that iin*
portant questions demand our immediate
attention. We feel that it is important
that the friends from every part of the
State meet, and carefully consider the
present state of affairs.
We are living in an important era in
the history of the world. A large num*
her of our citizens were, but a few months
since, held in bondage; now, that they
are freemen thej'”" ar ® entitled to all the
rights of citizenship. How to secure
those rights is the important question.
We appeal to the nobler feelings of those
in authority asking them to deal justly
by all the citrons of the State. With
this spirit let us assemble and show to
the world that the friends of equal jus
tice, are, also, the fiends of law.
Counties that have large cities in them
are invited to send five delegates, and
those that have small towns are invited
to send three, by the request of
Mani Crrizejis, •