The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-10-09
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RATEs oP sURsoRIPTIoN.
The True Interpretation OF nc I,nte

~ CONNECTICUT ElectiOn.
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The result of the election In ConnecI
ticut last Monday on the ,proposel
amendment TO the State Constitution
granting the right of suffrage Z to ne!
groes, Is a mater of more than local
interest, Il indirectly settles for the
present the question OF insisting upon
universal suffrage in the Southern
STATES, Tor the North cannot In honor
demand that the South assume oblIUnL
Llons which II refuses to recognize itself
u ~ ConinecttrutS with its few Thousand
ColoIe9 people, benfihg an Utmost un-
uPPrsOlnDle proportion & to the whole
number OF voters in the State, bids
them stand away fnon tho bali
u cannot claim that Georgia. 4. with. Il
large negro population, consisting
Inatnly o ofipoprit Ignorant, and uuinteio
lgent persons, must be Compelled 10
leti TINS class vote. Thus one Obstacle
to the President's plan Of recnnstrne-
ton Is rettoved, and one, TOD, tint
promised to be n very. serious one Nv
reason OF the pertinacity with which
many very conscientious men urgefI
the right of suffrage for the NEGROES.
1he y 9rth very Justly insists that the
eoioEeIl population shall have every
natural right that belongs to man rs
man, but the question of granting civil
Flghts is iett,t to each state to decide for
itself: This is the Interpretation Of tie
result OF the Connecticut election,
IN addition to the foregoing very SEN
sthle, and pertinent remarks from the
Round Table, we notice like utterances
rom two of the representative Union
men of the West. Senator DoolIttle, in
his letter to the republicans of Wiscon-
sin upon the suffrage question, defends
the President's omission to give the
ballot to the freedmen as in accordance
with the letter and spirit OF the eonstitu-
tion, and says further: 'S5s ~, :!
"That It Is almost inconceiyabIe that
any federal administration should III
Tempt to enforce universal negro snf-
mage In States where, for two hundred
years, the negroes have been degraded
pyi siaYeryi when, nt1tho snine time.
naarly two thirds of the free States deilJ;
Sclltrgge to persons of the snine race, who
nave been educated as freemen! among
treemen; with the thoughts, habits and
responsibilities Of freemen.n
Governor Morton, of Indiana, also 1,
Republican, made the same point sub
stantially In a recent address ,at Rich
mond, Indiana, as follows: q g
"As I said before, only one in five
hundred that can read-many of them.
until within the last few months, never
Oh the plantation, most of them mover
out or the county In which they 1.-Two and
were born. Can you conceive TINT n
body of men, white or black, who have
been In this condition, and fheirlanOes-
tors before them, are qualified to he i'm.
mediauy lifted from their present, state
into the full exercise of political power.
not only to govern Themselves and tlleif
netghbors, but to take part of the tEov-
.ernment in the United Statesf Can
they be regarded MS intelligent or indie
pendent voters? The mere stniemenf SF
the taet furnishes the answer to Tho
questions. To say that such men-and
1t IS no 1nult Of theirs, 1t Is simply their
misfortune, and the crime of this ma
tton--to say that such men; lust ener0-
ing from this slavery, are Qualified for
the exercise OF political power, is 10
make the strongest pro-sfavery arriI.
ment ever heard It is to pay the
hlgnest compliments to the Institution
OF slavery. What has been our practice
Tor many years We have invariably
described slavery as degrading, both 70
the body and the soul. We have de-
scr1Ded It as bringing human beings
down TO the level Of the beasts of t6e
field. We have described 1t as n crime.
deprtving the slaves Of intellectual and
moral culture, and of all the gifts which
God has made the most precious. m
We shall now turn round and say that
TINS institution has been d blessing to
the negro instead Of n curse; that 1t has
qualified him for the right Of suffrage
and the exercise OF political power, We
shall stultif ourselves and give the lie
to those declarations upon which we
have obtained political power.f