The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-22 00:00:00

Manhood Suffrage in Columbia.

Congress, by an overwhelming vote of both
branches, has declared universal manhood suffrage
in the district of Columbia. This will rank among
the most important events of an eventful age. It is
the inauguration of a policy in whichthere can beno
retrogression. The abolition of slavery in the dis-
trict was the first step toward universal emancipa-
tion. The concession of negro suffrage there
is the first step to its concession everywhere. Our
people will not long contest a measure that is sure to
be carried in the end. Knowing a certain result to
be inevitable, they are glad to dispense with inter-
mediate turmoil by accepting it on the spot. We
have no fear of what the Old World calla the shock
of sudden changes. Our institutions admit of such
changes, and our elasticity is equal to their strain.
The logical result of emancipation is Negro Suffrage.
We cannot call on men to fight for us, and pay
taxes and discharge all the onerous duties of citizen-
ship, without conceding to them therights of citizens.
Equality, civil and political, is an absolute require-
ment of Republicanism, and any Government that
does not concede it, denies the Radical principle on
which a true Republic must be founded, and with-
out which it can only exist in name. The action of
Congress in the concession it has made is Radical,
and important as indicating that the sentiment of
the nation is against any partial or half-way mea-
sures in respect of the suffrage. All attempts to
make the suffrage depend on qualifications, such as
ability to read and write, the possession of pro-
perty, &c., signally failed, as did the attempt to
mix up the question with another and very
different proposition—that of conferring the
suffrage on women. Congress saw clearly enough
that there was no reason why the alleged in-
ferior man, or one born black, should be sub-
jected to discriminating tests or required to
possess qualifications not demanded of the white
man, his alleged superior. The absurdity of the
proposition that the assumed superior man could be
ignorant and poor and yet vote, while the negro
must be educated and rich in order to do the same
thing, was too obvious to be overlooked, and Con-
gress did wisely In driving at once to a logical and
final conclusion. It is not necessary to discuss the
question at this day, whether the right to vote in a
system of government professing to be from the people
and for the people, is an inherent right in the indi-
vidual, or a privilege conferred by society, for
whence does society obtain its own privilege in this
respect, to say nothing of its right to concede or
abridge it in others ? It is enough for us to know
that the whole theory and spirit of our Government
require us to admit every man to a voice in its ad-
ministration. We have the right to limit this privi-
lege in the case of foreigners coming to this country
until it shall be shown conclusively that they intend
to become or have become bona
,fide citizens. Other-
wise we might find our institutions endangered and
our laws perverted by the subjects of a foreign
state, and in the interest of hostile Governments.
These broad principles would never have been
denied had it not been for slavery, and the opposi-
tion to negro suffrage is mainly a prejudice born of
that extinct system. It may survive for a while,
but, the trunk once cut down, the branches must
soon wither. We admit ignorant foreigners and
paupers, too, to the suffrage on very slight evi-
dences of their purpose to become citizens. The
foreigner comes here with inbred prejudices, often
extravagant ideas, and almost always with real or
fancied wrongs to revenge, and in most cases in full
devotion to a religion which requires an allegiance,
if need be, beyond that due to the State. He brings
here his old political grievances, and seeks to drag
us into quarrels which are not ours, and in which
we have no real interests. Now the negro is an
American. His religion is in harmony with that
of the country at large. His modes of thought and
his sympathies are ours. He does not care what
party rules in Dahoiney. He does not agitate
against the King of Abyssinia on our soil, or
seek to organise expeditions here to deprive
him of his provinces. The great Gre-gre man on
the Gold Coast may blow the direst excommunicatory
blast possible on his ecclesiastical ox-horn without
disturbing the equanimity of Sambo, and might
send out here in vain for a loan of cowries-to re-
plenish his exchequer and keep up his state. The
negro is national and patriotic. He has no feel-
ings, interests, or aspirations outside of the United
States. The flag he loves and will defend is neither
green nor yellow, but striped with bars and lit with
, stars. His vote, if given at all, will be cast in the
1 interests—as he may understand them—of his
country. To see that he is educated to understand
them, and that his unquestioned patriotism shall
be instructed and rightly directed, will be a task
for those who owe him some return for two centu-
ries of unrequited service, and who have debarred
him from maturing or enlarging his intelligence.
Let those who have made him what he now is, give
to their Frankenstein a soul I—Frank Leslie's Illus-
trated Newspaper.