New-York daily tribune., 1858-03-04
ins. toredfy hi. right under the contitution.

Nelther Of them interieres with or adds 70 tho
qualifications Of the voter; they only require. on the
part OF theperson Offering to vote, that be establish
by certain preliminary proceedings reasonsols
presumption that he ia voter.
/ II Is urged in the secend plsce, that 10 require
the voters TO be at the trouble OF getting themselves
registered is to impose upon them burdensome
task the NJ Qlec. of which might subject many to
lose their right to vote. utsurey, 10 what relates
to the election of our rulers and legislators, the
rights Of the public sre quite as much n be con-
sdered to say the least Of it, as the convenience OF
individuals. The right to vote is not merely per-
soDal privilege, il is public trust; and so long as
the Constitution limits the exercise of this trust TO
persons possessing a certain qualification nothing
can be reasonable just than to require those
WHO propose to act in this matter the trustees OF
the public to establish their qualification before
hand. As to those who take 80 little interest in
public affairs as to be unwilling to submit to the
very small trouble attendant upon getting them
selves registered the public would not be likely to
lose much while they themselves, BY their own
judgment would lose very little by their exclusion
from the polls 1t is an old observation that what
costs nan very little trouble he is apt to think OF
very little consequence. We have already gone to
great lengths in sacrificing every other considera
ton to the convenience Of voters, Introducing,
it were, into our elections, the principle of say
ing grace over the whole beef-barrel at once. In
stead of voting separately and on 8 separate day,
according TO the coed old-fashioned custom, for
- <o ka ola tba hua of
now all done in lump. On single election, dsy
the voter deposits in the baOtbOx ticket as long
as his arm often without bestoWing half the con-
sderation upon the whole batch Of names borne
upon il which he would have been apt to have
gwen to each single Office had he been called upon
to pass upon it by itself. If the adoption of the
registration system should have the effect of i'm
pressing upon our citizens stronger sense Of their
privileges and duties as voters the little trouble it
might put them to would be sbundantly paid for in
that result alone.
But it is further set up that however in the
large cities ard towns, where the evil of illegal
voting is principally felt the legal voters might be
perfectly willing to submit to the trouble of regis
tration, it would be hard that the voters in the
country, where the occasion for registry is less
pressing. should be required to shoulder the same
burden. Without stopping to discuss the relative
extent and danger of fraudulent voting, and even
admitting the utmost that can be urged as to the
curity afforded by the existing system to purity Of
elections in the country, there is still complete
and conclusive answer to those who feel, or affect
to feel, such an anxiety on behalf of the country
voters. II is not alone the legal voters of the City
of New York who suffer the consequences of cleo
tiOn frauds practced in this city. Those conse-
quences may extend even to much more severe
degree, TO the most remote rural districts. Frau
dulent votes cast in this city may, in determining
the choice Of Governor and other high State Of
icers nulfy actual majority Of ballots lawfully
cast throughout the State There is not q country
voter from Montank Point to the Canadian frontier
who may not any day find himself showed aside and
stripped of all the political influence which the
laws confer upon him BY some unqualified raga-
mnffD, brought up from the Five Points or i'm
ported from New Jersey, to play the part, for that
day only, of one of the sovereign people of New
York The truth is that this registration of voters
is far more for the benefit of the country than Of
the cties, since it is only by means of it that the
lawful country voters can save themselves from
being counterbaanced by fraudulent votes SNUG
eled into the bsllot-boxes by Inscriptions city pol
very class of men, it is to be noted,
who are the most violent opponents of this REFORM