The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-07-27
For the Cincinnati Gazette.
Shall we Extend the Right OF Suffrage
to the NegrOl

| He has special claims for kindness
at our hands from tho wrongs which
he has suffered and the services which
he has rendered. Moore can truthfnlly
deny this. Slavery is not all that b,
has borne. When free there are DO
litical disabilities and deprivations un
der unjust and cruel laws, such as tn,
infamous black laws of Indiana, under
which he labors, and which should b,
Immediately blotted out. We urgent
ly advocate any principle or. any Law
that would free us from such disgrace
and the African from such inius
tice.
Tho subject for consideration then
is, how this redress of grievances may
best be consummated. Shall it be by
investing him at once with the electo
raj franchise, OF shall this be made
the pay of any services, however val
liable? Far from it. We are not in @
condition to grant it. nor is he to re-
ceive it. 1t would be calamitous to uf
and 10 him as we'll
To vote-what is it? Every voter
holds in his hand the power, good OF
i'll, which controls the country. 1t il
that which, legally and peacoably
makes the subject the ruler and the
ruler the subject Yet some assert
that our Constitution. demands of us
that the negro should vote, that suf.
frage sho'd be universal. They would
not hazard The assertion without they
had previously obliterated the distinc.
ton between natural and political
rights-a very important one it is
The natural are inalicnable, a part Of
mans God given Inheritance. They
cannot be withheld without trampling
upon and defacing his image. But
political rights are the gifts of existing
forms Of government. consequently
and necessarily as various.
The sentiment is untrue that every
one responsible to a government is on
t tied to vote for it's rulers. Children
have no such inviolable right to the
choice Of their teachers. 1t lies nat.
urally with thei9parents and guardi-
ans. Young men not Of ago, though
summoned to tho work of soldiers, and
brave and noble, do not therefore
vote. .t .....
In tho words of Prof Fisher Of Yale,
"All men are not equally entitled to
political rights. The negroes in our
Southern States have no just claim to
share in the government Of those States
until they arc qualified to rule with
wisdom. To vote is to rule. Slavery
can be abolished and yet the right OF
suffrage be withheld or granted as n
free reward Of intelligence and indus
try. Suffrage is sremoved from the cat
egory of natural, inalienable rights,
which it is q prime function of govern
mcnt to conserve. Natural rights are
raised above the contingencies of cir
cumstanccs." etc. In ignoring this
distinction, such distinguished authori-
ties are ignored as De Tocquevillo,
Burke and John Stuart Mill. ,a' =.
Tho question is resolved into prob
lem ofpoliticai economy. He that is not
qualified to rule is not qualified to
vote. Some have said that the ne
gro voter is nothing moro than tho
negro slave enfranchised, and
the slave the freeman, deprived of his
rights. What a gross interpretation
this of the right Do you hear the
proclamation, mothers, wives, sisters,
younger brothers, Eye arc slaves" and
why "ye are robbed of the inherent
right to vote" Let not the colored
population of the North dream that
they arc free. They have not yet be-
come "negro voters" who, wo are in
formed, "are nothing moro than the
negro slave enfranchised." TO such
absurdities does the perfectly candid
Interpretation of this view lead.
The negro in America has becn an
injured being, it is true, but how has
he been wronged2 The process has
boon that of lowering, enfeebling, i'm
bruting him. Shall we impose on tho
dobilitated invalid, whose veins the TO-
yer. has but just now quilted, the
weightiest responsibilities of life?-
This il proposed in the case of the ne
gro as II recompense and reward
Could these responsibilities be satisfac-
torily performed, or could tho patient
live beneath thcmP
How shall this race be most offcc-
lively benefited and elevated ? How
can their blood be washed from the
skirts ofthe nationp By seeking to
elaborate the elements of good in their
composition; by refining schooling and
Christianizing the whole, The ability
to read and write is but small part
of the radical transformation nocossa-
ry. Independence must spring up and
revive that crushed spirit. The negro
is yet child--an orphan child-help-
less, mistreated, broken hearted. His
mental organization is childish in the
cxtrome. His powers are undisciplned
and unframed, His untutored spirit
is as easily led, as is that OF a child,
{ Incompetoncy for extended, inde-
pondont effort, thus characterize him.
Religious investigation with him par,
takes of the childlike love of wonder
and superstition, Such traits arc do
lightful in him Of tender years, and
call into action the warmcst parental
instinct, but they lily fit for sterner
scenes When the child, by some mis-
chance, starts the engine and sets in
motion machinery which it has no ca
pacity for understanding or controll.
ing, the entire structure will bo speed
lily wreck. Give him the Bible, tho
teacher and the textbook, and await