Historical Romance of the American Negro Part 23

[Ill.u.s.tration: _THE GRAVE OF NICK BIDDLE._]

Deeds are indestructible; ideas are imperishable, and mind is immortal.

"Children," says George Eliot, "may be strangled, deeds never; they have an indestructible life, both in mind and outside of our consciousness."

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that many of the ancients of the distant past should have predicated eternal life upon deeds and ideas.

Deeds which are formidable, and ideas which grow and expand, and gather strength, until they become the very life of the social, moral and religious structure of the nation. To my mind there can be no truer measurement of a man, or a race, or a nation, than the standard of ideas which formulate themselves into deeds. "Deeds and ideas," which, according to Disraeli, "render a man independent of his const.i.tuencies, independent of dissolution, independent even of the course of time."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _THEODORE ROOSEVELT._]

Measure from this standard Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States of America, is the most unique figure before the American people to-day. No President since the days of Lincoln, the emanc.i.p.ator, merits in a larger degree the unselfish praise and devotion, not only of his countrymen, but of the whole civilized world. In the strictest sense of the term, he is a man of destiny. Born, like all true leaders and reformers, at a particular time, for a particular purpose; endowed by nature with a const.i.tution which defies the encroachment of disease; with an intellect which craves the most rigid discipline; with a courage which knows no daring, and a conscience which repels the slightest innovation which might result to the detriment of his fellow-man, regardless of race, color or creed. It was for Abraham Lincoln to issue the proclamation of freedom, and thus save the nation from disintegration; it is for Theodore Roosevelt to preserve that proclamation, and preserve the amendments to the Const.i.tution, which is the very life of the freedom guaranteed to the emanc.i.p.ated. From the time of President Grant down to the present time, there has been a persistent attempt on the part of the South to paralyze the spirit and practice of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Const.i.tution, without which freed men would have no legal standing in the nation.

The amendments received a dangerous wound during the administration of President Hayes. From the effects of this wound it hardly ever recovered. When, by a strange Providence, Theodore Roosevelt was called suddenly to occupy the place of the martyred President McKinley, a most lovable and peaceful man, black men and their friends, all over the country, rejoiced in the hope of a better day, when right and justice would succeed policy and conciliation. In this we were not mistaken. Not that Theodore Roosevelt loves the black man any more than any of his predecessors, but that Theodore Roosevelt has convictions and the courage of his convictions, regardless of consequences. The appended correspondence, which explains itself, will render him immortal, and will keep his memory fresh in the recollection of his fellow-men, and when future historians chronicle his acts, they shall speak of him as "Theodore, the Great and the Good."

COLOR IS NO BAR TO OFFICE.

_President Roosevelt Defines His Att.i.tude-In a Letter to a South Carolinian, Who Includes in a Number of Objections to the Appointment of Dr. Crum as Collector of the Port of Charleston the Statement That He is a Negro, the President Declares That He Will Continue to Appoint Colored Men of Intelligence and Standing-Incentive to Good Citizenship._

Washington, November 27.-The President has sent the following communication to a prominent citizen of Charleston, S. C.:

"Personal.

"WHITE HOUSE,

"Washington, November 26th, 1902.

"My Dear Sir:-I am in receipt of your letter of November 10th, and one from Mr. --, under date of November 11th, in reference to the appointment of Dr. Crum as collector of the port of Charleston.

"In your letter you make certain specific charges against Dr. Crum, tending to show his unfitness in several respects for the office sought.

These charges are ent.i.tled to the utmost consideration from me, and I shall go over them carefully before taking any action. After making these charges, you add, as a further reason for opposition to him, that he is a colored man; and after reciting the misdeeds that followed carpet-bag rule and Negro domination in South Carolina, you say that 'we have sworn never again to submit to the rule of the African, and such an appointment as that of Dr. Crum to any such office forces us to protest unanimously against this insult to the white blood,' and you add that you understood me to say that I would never force a Negro on such a community as yours. Mr. -- puts the objection of color first, saying, 'First, he is a colored man, and that of itself ought to bar him from the office.'

"In view of these last statements, I think I ought to make clear to you why I am concerned and pained by your making them, and what my att.i.tude is as regards all such appointments. How anyone could have gained the idea that I had said I would not appoint reputable and upright colored men to office when objection was made to them solely on account of their color, I confess I am wholly unable to understand. At the time of my visit to Charleston last spring, I had made, and since that time I have made, a number of such appointments from several States in which there was considerable colored population. For example, I made one such appointment in Mississippi, and another in Alabama shortly before my visit to Charleston. I had at that time appointed two colored men as judicial magistrates in the District of Columbia. I have recently announced another such appointment for New Orleans, and have just made one from Pennsylvania. The great majority of my appointments in every State have been of white men. North and South alike it has been my sedulous endeavor to appoint only men of high character and good capacity, whether white or black. But it has been my consistent policy in every State where their numbers warranted it to recognize colored men of good repute and standing in making appointments to office. These appointments of colored men have in no State made more than a small proportion of the total number of appointments. I am unable to see how I can legitimately be asked to make an exception for South Carolina. In South Carolina, to the four most important positions in the State, I have appointed three men and continued in office a fourth, all of them white men-three originally Gold Democrats; two of them, as I am informed, the sons of Confederate soldiers. I have been informed by the citizens of Charleston whom I met that these four men represent a high grade of public service.

"I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to office. So far as I legitimately can I shall always endeavor to pay regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality, but I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope-the door of opportunity-is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an att.i.tude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong. If, as you hold, the great bulk of the colored people are not yet fit in point of character and influence to hold such positions, it seems to me that it is worth while putting a premium upon the effort among them to achieve the character and standing which will fit them.

"The question of 'Negro domination' does not enter into the matter at all. It might as well be a.s.serted that when I was Governor of New York, I sought to bring about Negro domination in that State because I appointed two colored men of good character and standing to responsible positions-one of them to a position paying a salary twice as large as that paid in the office now under consideration; one of them as a director of the Buffalo Exposition. The question raised by you and Mr.-- in the statements to which I refer is simply whether it is to be declared that under no circ.u.mstances shall any man of color, no matter how upright and honest, no matter how good a citizen, no matter how fair in his dealings with all his fellows, be permitted to hold any office under our government.

"I certainly cannot a.s.sume such an att.i.tude, and you must permit me to say that in my view it is an att.i.tude no man should a.s.sume, whether he looks at it from the standpoint of the true interest of the white man of the South or of the colored man of the South-not to speak of any other section of the Union. It seems to me that it is a good thing from every standpoint to let the colored man know that if he shows in marked degree the qualities of good citizenship-that the qualities which in a white man we feel are ent.i.tled to reward-then he will not be cut off from all hope of similar reward.

"Without any regard as to what my decision may be on the merits of this particular applicant for this particular place, I feel that I ought to let you know clearly my att.i.tude on the far broader question raised by you and Mr. --, an att.i.tude from which I have not varied during my term of office.

"Faithfully yours,

"THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

"Hon. --

"Charleston, S. C."

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have been maintained.]