Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-10-09
RECONSTRUCTION AND NEGRO SUFFRAGE


GRAPHIC AND OTHER MATTER.
RECONSTRUCTION AND NEGRO SUFFRAGE
Gov Morton, of Indiana, in a late speech in
that State takes position against negro suffrage
in q line of powerful argument, based evident.
ly upon a thoughtful, comprehensive and
statesmanlike view of the whole subject
He points out that the Constitution of the
United States has referred the question OF
suffrage TO the several States, and that IL, As
has been proposed, we avoid the force of this
constitutional provision by declaring the
Southern States out of the Union, we involve
ourselves in an endless train evils, amongst
which is the impossibility of dealing with the
rebel Government as traitors, they being
placed in the attitude of rulers of a Govern :
ment de fdcto. While believing that in time all
men will have tine right to vote without dis
tinction of color or race, he holds that in the
case Of four millions OF slaves just freed from
bondage there should be a period of pro-
baton and preparation before they are
brought to the exercise of political power.
Ninety-nine out of ev cry hundred negroes in
the South live on the plantations, and we can
not judge of the condition Of the great mass by
those who live in the towns. Perhaps not one
in five hundred-say one in a thousand-can
read, and, perhaps, not one in five hundred is
worth five dollars in property of any kind.
They have no property, personal or real. They
have Just come from bondage, and all they
have is their own bodies. Their homes are on
the plantations of their late masters, and they
must depend for subsistence on the employment
they receive from them. Can we conceive that
a body of men, white or black, who have been
in this condition, and their ancestors before
them, are qualified to be Immediately lifted
political power not only to govern themselves
and their neighbors, but to take part in the
government OF the United States! Can they be
regarded as intelligent or independent voters
The mere statement of the fact furnishes the
answer to the question.
Mr.. Summers plan for dealing with the ques-
ton is summed up by Gov. Morton in this con /.
else proposition, which il must be admitted is
fairly stated, I. e.: That all persons who have
been concerned in this rebellion shall be exclu-
ded from the right of suffrage and from all po-
litical power for an indefinite time, and that
the negroes of the rebel States shall be enfran-
chised and have full and equal political powers
conferred upon them.
Gov. M. proceeds TO show conclusiyeIy that
the adoption of the Sumner policy of exclud-
ing from the right of suffrage every man who
has been concerned in the rebellion Will, ex-
cept, perhaps, in Tennessee and Louisiana ex-
elude twenty out of every twenty-one white
men in the Southern States. If all the negroes
are enfranehised in those States there will be
at least twenty negro votes to one white vote,
and in the work of reconstructing the States of
South Carolina, Alabama and Florida, even
larger proportion-perhaps thirty colored votes
to one white vote. The inevitable result would
be the election of colored State governments.
hp fin ri pr IL 10
and effectually, all emigration from the North
ern States, and from Europe, too. whenever that
event shall happen. Thus they will remain
permanently colored States in the South. The
white men who are now there would remove
from them; they would not remain under such
dominion. The end not unnaturally would he
a war of races
The solution offered by Gov NJ for these
difhculties may be summed up as follows
give these men just emerged from slavery a
period OF probation and preparation: give
mem time TO acquire a little property and get
q little education, time TO learn something
about the simplest forms of business. and pre.
pare themselves for the exercise OF political
power. At the end of ten, fifteen, or twenty
years let them come into the en- ,oyment of |
heir political rights. By that time these |
Southern States will have been so completely |
dlled up by emigration from the North and |
rom Europe that the negroes will be in a per-
nanent minority. Why! Because the negroes
have no emigration-noihing but the natural
Increase, while we have emigration from all |
he world, and natural increase besides. Thus.
BY postponing the thing only until such time
Is the negroes are qualified TO enjoy political
rights, the dangers indicated would have fair
y passed away.
The suggestion is also made TO so amend the
constitution as to proportion the political
'owers OF the State, not by population, but |
to the number of voters white or |
lack. The effect of thar will be TO drive these
Southern men by degrees TO enfranchise their
legroes for the purpose Of increasing their
'ower In Congress. These negroes will not
ave political rights conferred upon them. and |
he North will never consent that the white |
nen OF the South shall exercise double political |
'ower by reason of their disfranchi negroes
here must be equality of our political power.
heretofore, three-fif of the negro population
ave been represented in Congress That clause
vas put INTO the constitution because of the |
xistence of slavery. Now there is no reason.
POLITICAL or otherwise, why representation and
POLITICAL power should not be determined by
he number of legal and actual voters
The outspoken expression of opinion against
oreed negro suffrage, made recently by men of
UGH prominence and disting pushed patriotism
Is Gov. Morton, Of Indiana; Gen Cox, Repub-
lean candidate for Governor Of Ohio, and Sem
tor Doolittle, Of Wisconsin, taken in connec-
ion with the defeat Of negro suffrage in Colo
ado and Connecticut, shows with sufficient |
certainty that the people OF the country heartily
sustain the wise policy enunciated by Presi-
lent johnson in regard to reconstruction and
he question Of the status of the negro.
All the indications now are that the imprac-
icable theorists Of the Massachusetts school |
Will have much less influence in the coming
Congress than has been predicted, and that the
question Of negro suffrage and kindred ques
lons will be dealt with in practical, states
nanlike manner.
~ FROM Hudson Taylor. 33l Pennsylvania
avenue agent for this District for Scott & Co.'S
~ 4