The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-08-10

have greatly tended, fear, to aggrayate this
unfortunate feeling of distrust. Moreover
the people of the North are almest the ex-
elusive holders of the bonds which represent
the vast debt which has grown out of the
prosecution of the mar, and they are appre-
hensive that if the exercise of the elective
franchise is limited to the white population of
the South, the whole voting power Of our sec
ton may Be hereafter welded in favor of re-
pudiating that debt. We shall never be able
to satisfy them that this debt will be safe
without the counterpoise of negro suffrage.
The feelings Of the whole bond holding class
are deeply excited on this subject, and moth.
ing can give them satisfaction but the formal
adoption of the constitutional amendment
propounded. Upon the whole, then, must
confess that 1 entirely agree with the enlight-
ened and conscientious editor OF the New
York Tribune in holding that the true policy,
for the South as we'll as for the North, is en-
braced in these words which are evidently
becoming stereotyped upon the whole liberal
mind of the country " Universal suffrage
and universal amnesty The exercise of q
noble magnauimity toward the unfortunate
South. such as julius Caesar, a Marcus
Aurelius, or William the Third of England
would not have been ashamed to own, is now
being advocated by many of the first intellects
of the North, and more sound and manly
reasoning, and touching and elevated rheto-
ric, are being expended in our behalf by our
new friends there, than any occasion has
called forth for many years past. Let us,
beseeeh you, meet this general and unexpect-
ed display in a kind and becoming manner.
Let us cast aside as unworthy of us and of the
great interests which it is our business to
serve, all silly and affected fastidiousness;
all f,1c do oil cob nd fish
toriness and embrace the present opportu-
nity of reinstating ourselves in the dearly
priced rights of American citizenship, and In
building up anew the sire myth and unity and
true honor of our beloved 4 merica.
Our friends and future allies in the North
are those who are now pleading in our behalf
for justice and for kindly and polite for
bearance as to the past If We fail not to be
equal to the demands of the present critical
exigencv, we shall in a few short years at
most find ourselves once more happy, and safe
and prosperous. For | am not among those
who at all doubt the complete success of the
new system of labor nov being introduced in
the South nor do | agree with those who APP
prehend any great injury of any kind as likely
to arise from the proposed extension of the
elective franchise TO both classes ofour South
ern population alike. doubt not at all that
with proper judgment, diligence and thrift,
Southern plantations viii be as prosperous un-
der the new system of agricultural labor as
they ever were under the old one; and ! am
decidedly of the opinion that there will be as
little of fraud and nntalrness in our elections
hereafter in the Southern States and upon
the whole as judicious aud beneficial I'm exer-
else of the right of suffrage. as there has ever
heretofore been. Demagoguisn and corrap-
ton will not be more likely to obtain a dan
gerous ascendancy among us than in former
days; and since it is 4. lLxei fact, that persons
of African descent are Hereafter to be free,
1t WILDE far bettertoie Ike friends, and neigh
bors and brethren of them, than 10 retain
them IN our midst as pariahs or helot.. Our
true interest is IN assimiating our whole Sou
thern population in political rights, in settle
ment. IN menGt culture. in a just and aiiec-
tionate neighborship, and in a true and loyal
brotherhood. At any rate, this experiment
is proposed to US under circumstances which
do not permit us safely TO decline its trial:
and we shallobe worse than lnadmen if we re-
leet the opportunity rendered to us of at
once escaping from the fearful domination of
military powor, and returning once more to
the venerated right OF trial byjury, the regular
administration of justice by civil tribunals.
and all the accustomed arrangements known
to state of republican freedom
remain your friend and fellow citizen.
III. :. FooTE