Show me, “said he, in speaking on this measure,” any thing created or regulated by law, and I show you what must be opened equally to all without distinction of color. Notoriously, the hotel is a legal institution, originally established by the common law, subject to minute provisions and regulations; notoriously, public conveyances are, in the nature of common carriers, subject to a law of their own; notoriously, schools are public institutions, created and maintained by law; and now I simply insist that in the enjoyment of those institutions there shall be no exclusion on account of color.His maxim was, “Equality of rights is the first of rights;” and his whole life was but one glorious struggle to reduce the principle of the old Magna Chart, “Nulli negabimus, Nulli differemus justitiam,” into practical operation. His views in respect to the course of the administration in the San-Domingo affair may be seen in this letter:--
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to race or color, are entitled to equal privileges afforded by railroads, steamboats, hotels, places of amusement, institutions of learning, religion, and courts of law. The same bill substantially was introduced by him again Jan. 20, 1871.
B. B. Russell, 1874.
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