The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-11-01

ded- they should sue for pardon, and sc
realize the enorlnity Of the crime the,
had committed ~ III
You could not have preached the sub
ject OF equal sufn,ge, at the North, sever
years ago, aud we must remember that
the changes at the South have been more
rapid, and they have been obliged to nc,
cept more unpalatable truth than the
North has !; we must give them time t.
digest part, for we cannot expect sucl
large affairs will be comprehended and d.
gested at once. We must give them time
TO understand their new position. Z l have
nothing to conceal in these matters, ami
have no desire or willingness to take in.
direct courses to obtain what we want. =
Our government is grand and lofty siruc-
ture; in searching Cor its foundation we
find it rests or the broad basis of popular
rights. The elective franchise is not a
natural right, but political right. !
am opposed to giving the states too much
power, and also to great consolidation
of power in the central government. II
interfered with the vote in the rebel
states, to dictate that the negro shall vote,
| might do the same thing for my owl,
purposes in Pennsylvania. Our only safe
ty, lies in allowing each state to. control
the right of voting by its own laws, and
we have the power to control the rebel
states if they 60 wrong. If they rebel,
we have the army, and can control them
by it, and, necessary, by legislation also.
If the general government controls the
right to vote in the states, it may estab-
lish such rules as will restrict the vote To
a small number Of persons, and thus Gre
ate IA central despoiism.
My position here is different from what
it would be if l was in Tennessee. There
l should try 10 introduce negro suffrage
gradually /; first those who had served in
the army; those who could read and
write, and perhaps property qualifca-
ton foi' Others, say $500 or $3.50. Ii
will not do TO let the negroes have univcr-
sal suffrage now it would breed wal
of races. There was time in the south
ern states when the slaves of large own
ers looked down upon non-slave owners
because they did not own slaves: the
larger the number Of slaves their mas
tiers owned, the prouder they were and
this has produced hostlihes between the
mass of the whites and the negroes. The
outrages are mostly from non-slavehold-
ing whites against the negro, and from
the negro upon the non-slaveholdng
whites. The negro will vote with the
late master whom he does not hate, rath-
er than with the non-slavehoding white
whom he does hate. Universal suffrage
would create another war, not against US,
but war otraces.
Another thing. This government is
the freeest and the best on earth, and feel
sure is destined to last but to secure
this, we must elevate and purify the bal
lot. l for many years contended at the
South that slavery was political weak
ness, but others said it was a political
strength; they thought we gained three
ffths representation by it; cortended
that we lost two-ffths. If we had no
slaves, we should have had twelve repres-
entatives more, according to The then ratio
of representation. Congress apportons
representation by states, moi districts, and
the state apporti'ns by districts. Many
years ago, l moved in the legislature that
the appointment of representatives to Con-
gre's, in Tennessee, should be qualified
voter. The apportionment is now fixed
until 1872; before that time we might
change the basis of representation from
population to qualified voters, North as
well as South, and in due course of time.
the states, without regard to color, might
extend the elective franchise to all who
possessed certain mental, moral, or such
other qualifications, as might be determin-
ed by an enlightened public judgment.
The Montpelier correspondent Of