The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-07-08
UNIVERSAL BUFFRAGE.
Argument of Henry Winter Davis In
Favor of It.

by military power. mat Is 10 creaIe pro-
%consulE, 70 whom armies viii become de.
voted, in whom the spirit of ambitious
will grow and become strong and who, Like
Cesar, may msrch across the Rubicon, and
under the insidious prstsxt Of public good,
America may become as Rome was. Mil
itary governments over our vast territory
is inconsistent with the permanence and
integrity of the American nation. That
idea mnst be excluded. If you wish to at
tempt civil government, let il be organ
lied; but the great American principle is
| that not only of personal freedom but of
State government. We want no rebel
State government-we want still less q
military government, forrebel government
is better than q military government. We
do not want oligarchies of pretended Union
men, who have been so low and 50 far out
| of sight that nobody can define their rela-
tons 70 the rebellion, who have meanly
sympsthizsd with the power that was and
now are willing to be the instruments Of
the power that is. We want free govern
ment by the loyal masses. We will main
tain our rights and are powerful enough
to maintain the government 1t may
b ethere is no white population in the South
taken en- -ulaSse, that will conform to these
conditions. After you have eradicated from
the list every man tina. you can prove TO
be q seeessionist; after you have sifted out
all you can call in any sense Of the word
loyal men, you have men whosympathized
with the rebellion, paid their money TO the
rebellion, men TO be relied upon in say
emergency to stand BY the cause against
every secession friend st the North and
- - A. Go,Eh ara -a-a Tho az
c~essionists at the South are the heroes OF
the South. Robert Lee, tomorrow, could
carry every Southern electoral vote for Pres
~identofthe United States, and l am not sure
that he could not carry SOME Northern
States. Laughter The recognizing,
therefore, of q State, on the basis of the
white population, involves the instant
change of the basis Of power, the South
having actually acquired representatives by
the abolition of slavery, and coming back
to us more powerful than before. But there
is q mass of population there that is on
the side of the United States against all
white men ct the South, whether Union or
occasion, Tapplsuse, who TO day have her
power in the Declaration of indie
pendence who have won it IN the
battle field by the side of these
gentlemen bearing the uniform of
the nation. (ReferriDg to Msjor General
| Hurlburt Brigsdier General Webster, and
other military officers on the platform)
The have proven themselves to be men
and not beasts. EApplause. Will any
body on this subject venture TO moot the
sTTv,99ed and v6Triei 1eonHs in ill., ofbsS Stoios-
Of the vote of a handful of negroes scat
tered In the midst Of a white million Is
that ~thelwsyito state the question, or is it
wise in these gentlemen of the opposite
school habituslly to talk about "~justice
and humanity" as if justice and human
iy ever determined any question in
this world. 1t is not q question of
morals; it is a question of political dyna-
mics. It Hs question of salvation; not
Of morals. In South America there
are twice as many negroes as there are
whites. In Mississippi there are moro than
whites. In Alsbsms, in Louisiana, in
Georgia. they are very nearly equal. They
can control the result of any election.
tThey will vote with their masters" insid.
isus gentlemen tell us. Then at least let
their masters be under the necessity of
tpucuing their hats TO them to get their
votes. iThey are not intelligent enough to
Vote" They know, fellow citizens, a gray
uniform from a blue one. lApplsuse and
cries of HFhats so."1 They know a Yam
kee from their master. They fought under
Yankee lesdership-msy be they can vote
SIS i~ntelligently under Yankee leadership.
[ApPlause. They are not spread in their
mass over the southern country; they are
crowded in broad districts. They border
the shore Of the Atlantic and the Gulf of
Mexico, and the borders of the Missis-
sippi. Theyssrein immense majorities in
only one part of the congressional districts
Of the South. That one fact alone breaks
the terrible and overwhelming unity of the
Southern vote which plunged US into the
rebellion. Men who are not capable of
understanding considerations like these
had better go and whine about negro votes.
GApplause / have seen about as much of
negroes as any of you, having lived among
them for years. l suppose 1 have as much
of prejudice as anybody else. But for
anybody else 70 talk of prejudice, when we
had been allowed to take the negro from
the pillow and put q musket in his
hand, is terrible folly, infinite III
II you did not want him to have
on the battle field? You W fTH Pun my nm
Illinois, why did you not fill your quota 80
that the negro shouldn't have been need
ed2 (A~pplsuse.) 1t was proved to them
that the negro could relieve them from
military service. If he is their equal on
the field of battle, he is their equal at the
ballot box. And if he is not their equal
on the battle field, then they cheated the
United States and endangered themselves.
(Applause.) Steps have been taken TO re.
organize, that do not conclude this question
either way. l could desire that q step
further had been taken by the gentleman
whom we elected President. But there is
nothing in his proclsmatious which con-
cludes, or, if it had assumed to conclude,
covers all the United States on this great
Question. He may have had more con-
fdence in the white people Of the South
than l have. He mGy have desired 10 give
them 9 golden opportunity of refuting
every SANDER and sIencing every doubt.
He may have fondly hoped that,
when the white population should
be called upon 70 vote on the
constitution, they seeing their sins,
their delusion; seeing what humanity re-
qpires; seeing what the the long hated peo-
pie OF the North will naturally suppose
their safety requires that they will incor.
porste universal suffrage as the basis of
their constitution. 1 shall rejoice with him
If that result shall come about. l will now
believe, until I learn the contrary, that
that was his purpose, his will, his intention.
But l will not believe any declaration of
any person who says hat ne is opposed to
il, and / will decline to belisvo that he
knows that tho only authority that can rec
.ognize State government at the South is
Congress, which mrst admit every member
Of Congress, which must admit every Sem
ator, and l turn 10 that assembly with
some doubt, but with earnest hopes
and I feel that they should make
ready for any emergency, not to yield TO
any Establishments, not 70 yield to any &C.
heitstion, not to take any mans deciara-
ton IS TO the safety of entrusting the whole
mass of rebels at the South with the con-
troll of the Southern States. 1t must be
remembered that 8 revolutionary minority
can stop legislation that q minority OF
the Southern representatives would impose
conditions upon every bill that legisls-
ton may be made impossible and the
very wheels Of government stopped on an
effort to pay the interest on your public
debt, or to impose taxes for its
payment. Or you may be forced