Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-10-17
PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL pSNllNe
Illegal DisfranobIscment of Voters

Illegal Disfranobisement Of Voters.
We are glad TO learn that several oolored voters
Of Ohio whose ballots were refused by patty
judges at the late election, are resolved to test
their rights by an appeal to the legal tribunals
of our State The Democratic act nder
which Democratic judges of election dislran-
chised voters "of reputod African descent"
was passed at the last session as proscrip.
tive party measure aud nothing else. 1t intro
duces a test of qualification of electors never
contemplated by the old OF tho new oonstitu-
tons, and as unjust as it is unheard Of in the
free States. The decision of the Supreme
Court under the old Constitution on the sub
jeol Of eolored voters has never been reversed,
and s the just and tho only legal rule still 1t
has the sanction Of high Democratic authority,
as well as lorg public concurrence. The old con-
sttutiou limited the right of suffrage to white
persons The matter was fnaly carried be-
fore the Supreme Court, Of which Gov. Wood,
Judge Read and Judge Birchard, then Demo.
Gratis, were members The Court, Judges Wood
and Birchard concurring, decided that mulattoes
have the right to vote. They declared that
"the majority or preponderance ofblood, either
black or white, carries with it conclusive evi.
dence of the qualifications conferred &c.-
This was tho settled Interpretation of the old
constitution, and was discussed aud assented
to when the new constitution was formed
Judge Ranney took part in the debate, and op-
posed the proposition offered in the Constitu-
~ a.. - rt,1o ,f fho old
Constitution, interpreted by the Democratic Su-
preme Court, and leave the whole subject to
the Legislature. Judge Ranney is officially
reported in the Constitution Debates to have
saij
He could sec no reason why the elective
franchise should be placed so as to be varied to
suit the caprces and changes of opinion of the
General Assembly. He ioanted 10 leape The
right Of suffrage where the old constitution left
it.
1t was proposed here to leave everything to
the General Assembly. To this he was opposed.
He had seen no difficulty under tue present
constitution lie only desired
that the constitution should define The elec-
tive franchise, and hoped that the convention
was not about TO leave rights important to
be sought for in the acts OF the General Assem-
bly,.
The views of Judge Ranney prevailed in the
Convention, and the provisions of the old con-
stitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court,
were incorporated into the new constitution
The rule was satisfactory and followed in all
parts of the State, until about the time that
would-be-Gov. Payne failed of an election by
come 1900 votes. Then his organs took up the
wall of "negro voting" and that he had been
defeated, "cheated out Of an election by niger
votesl" The war thus commenced on class of
voters, many of them born in Ohio, who had
heretofore enjoyed the elective franchise under
both constitutions, eliminated in the passage
by the Democratic majority of an unconsttu-
tional act at the last session, designed to strike
down rights we'll established and long exer-
cised not because mulattoes in Ohio, as a body,
lack the qualifications of good citizenship and
fealty to the constitution and laws, but simply
because they do not, in the exercise of an in.
telligent Judgment Vote the Democratic ticket
This is the head and front of their offending;
and for this, the petty tyrants which the indig-
nant people of Ohio have just dethroned, would
visit all such voters with the pains and penal
ties of fines and imprisonnents. tbs certainly
but poor compliment to a cause and candid
ates, when injustice and oppression are made
use of to escape the judgment of any class of
citizens of the commonwealth, even if "of re.
puted African descent"
We understand that several suits will be
brought in this city against Trustees of cleo
ton for refusing ballots of colored voters on
the 18th, and we trust they will be prosecuted
efficiently. The rights Of the humblest oiti-
zen should be respected and protected by those
in authori y, and if wantonly trampled upon
for mere partizan purposes, the official wrong
doers have no claim to leniency when called
upon by the law to make reparation.
Colored citizens in other counties not only
"know their rights but dare maintain them,"
as will be seen by the following paragraphs
from the Toledo Blade:
We learn that siuce the late election, a suit
has been commenced in the Huron County Com.
mon Pleas against thi Trustees of Greenfield
township, by Stephen Robinson, for refusing
his vote at the late election, under the Black
Law of the last Legislature, on the ground that
he had "visible admixture of African blood"
Mr. RibiHson is an old and highly respected
citizen of Greenfield, and has voted there for
over twenty years. He has repeatedly been
elected to office and now holds two civil offices
in the township. None would suspect any
such "admixture' from his appearance Dam
ages claimed, $1,000 Kennan d Stewart
Plaintiffs Attorneys.
Another suit has been commenced in the
same Court, by colored citizen of Norwalk,
against the Trustees Of that township for the
same cause. Damages claimed, $500. Strong
d Kellogg, Pll' Attorney.