Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-07-21

sing unknown and treacherous seas, and
must take soandings as We co. Nor should
4 we omit the pIecaution of a sharp look
for breakers ahead Ii seems to me that We
may expect such on the course We are pur-
suing
The present experiment appears to be, to
leave the work of reconstructing Govern
ment in the late Rebel South to the loyal
whites; or, more accurately stated, to the
whites who shall have purged themselves
| from the crime of treason actual or implied)
so far as an oath taken from whatever mo-
tive, can effect such purgation. VIII this
experiment, lfit proceed unimpeded, result
N the permanent exclusion of the negro
from suffrage?
Tn proof chat it win, it might suffice to re-
member that these men have grown up in
| the belief-have been indoctTinated from the
cradlein the conyiction-that the African is
degraded race. Add that the war has
| brought the blacks and whites Of the South
INTO antagonistic relations, exasperating
| against the former alike the rich planters
from whose masterslIip they fed, and the
poor whites, who always hated them, and
to whom emancipation (raising despised
ones to their level is personal ahront
But there is a motive for exclusion in this
| case stronger than anger, more powerful
than hatred the incentive of selfaeeran-
dizenent. They who are made the judges
are to be the gainers-un unfairly but vastly
| the gainers-by their own decision.
Observe the working of this thing. By
the Constitution the representative popula-
ton IS to consist of fall free persons and three
/ ffths of all other persons. If by next Win
ter, Slavery shall have disappeared. there
will be no 'tother person" IN the South.
Her actual population viii then coincide
with her representative population She
will have gained, as to Federal representa-
ton, 100000 persons. She viii be enti-
tied, not as now to 81 members but to 81;
and her votes for President will be in pro-
| portion; Congress, if it intends thatthe Con
sntutional rule shall prevail, viii have to
alter the apportlonment so as to correspond
to the new order of things
I Now, if the negrois admitted to vote, the
| Constitutional rule viii operate justly For
then each voter in the South will have pre-
cisely the same political influence as voter
IN the North The unjust three eth prin-
ciple viii have disappeared forever.
On the other hand, if color be deemed
cause OF exclusion, then all the political poe
er ,Chich IS aCtthheld from the entdncipated
STARE IS gained 5g tie SolttheF7a lrlltte.
For though, by law, we may deny suf
frage 10 the freedman, we cannot prevent
his being Teekoned among those free persons
who constitute the basis of representation
His presence whether disfranchised or not,
adds, in spite of all we can do, to the polit-
ieal influence Of the State, for it increases
the number of its votes for President and
the number of its representatives in Con-
gTess Now, somebody must gain by this
4 The gain is shared equally by every actual
number Of blacks and whites fseq1af and #,
in that State, blacks are excluded from vo-
ting. then every white voter viii go to the
polls armed with twice the political power
enjoyed by a white voter in any Northern
State But again, this is on the suppose
tion that every white adult in the State is
loyal, and therefore entitled to vote.
Are the half Of all Souther male adults
at This time, or win they be for years TO come
more than ip-loyal if even that? | think
you will not say that they are. 1t would
surely be an extrayagant calculation. 1t
more than half the whites in ex-insurree-
tionary States shall actually qualify them
srlves as voters; viii you not find yourself
compelled to administer the Government, in
the late secession portion of the Union
through the agency of its enemies 2 One
third would be a full estimate, in my judg-
ment, for the truly loyal.
But let us assume that ttoo-thirds of all
the white male adults of the South become
voters, and that they exclude from suffrage,
by law or by Constitutional provision, all
persons of-color, what-Aso..4-l be fle polite
al consequences under such state0f things?
If las we may roughly. e,timate), by de-
struction through war and by depletion Of
population through emigration to Mexico
to Europe and elsewhere, the number of
whites throughout the late Rebel States
shall have been reduced until blacks and
whites exist there in nearly equal numbers,
then, in the case above supposed, each yo
ter in these States, when he approached the
ballot box during Congressional or Presi-
Dental election, would do so lcletdt8g THREE
TIMES as much 6ttf,teace as Uoter IA
Northern Stdte This vast advantage once
gained by Southern whites. is it likely that
they will ever relinquish it2
Nor, if we disfranehise the negro, is there
any escape from such contamination, ex
cept by roofing out from the Constitution
the principle that the whole number Of free
persons shall be thebasis of representation.
But that principle lies at the base of all free
government We abandon republicanism
itself when we discard it.
Thus it appears that the present expert
ment in reconstruction, If suffered to run
its course, and if interpreted as | think we
have just cause to fear that it will be, tends
.stinevitably, it may be saidl to bring about
two results:
First. To cause the disfranchisement Of
the freedman Whether we effect this d.
/ reetly, as by provision of law or by dis
qualifying clause in proclamation, or
whether we do it BY leaving the decision to
his former masters and his old enemies,
matters nothing except In form and in
words; the result is brought about with
equal certitude in either way. Passion, pref
udice and selfinterest concur to produce
this result.
Sccoad II establishes mot the odious
thrce-iifth clause, not even merely a fire fifth
clause--bHt something much worse than Ell
theT. Ii permits the inyestiture of the
Southern white with a preponderanceof po-
litical power, ever enjoyed since the world
began.
/ do not believe me in this, Mr.. President
overlook or underrate the grave embar-
raasments that beset yotr path turn as you
Will / cali TO mind the oyerbearing infu-
| ence Of passion and prejudice, and | admit
! that when these prevail, IN exaggerated form
] throughout a large portion of any nation,
+ wise ruler recognizes the fact of their exist
enec and regulates his acts accordingly But
the sway of passion and prejudice, despotie
I for a season has but limited term of endu-
rance, and should be treated as an eyanes-
cent thing. 1t is too transient and unstable
to furnish basis for a comprehensive system
of policy. Tendefly it should be treated,
I rllt u0f falsely rppaafad ar vr,aoLlV ahpvnd