The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-06-16
NEGRO SUFFRAGE,

Tue hepnDHcaE parry Is yet TO DC AOuShtj liiS
issue being that Of negro suffrage. In accor-
dance with its traditions, in keeping with tie
record of its great leaders, and in consonance
with the teachings of experience. the Demo
Cratic party will oppose in every sense the a.
mission of the negro TO either soci@l er political
equality with the white man While wiling
that the negro shall enjoy the largest personal
liberty consistent with his capacity to realize
lis benefits, and ready to grant him the Pi.vl-
lege of earning his own way by whatever en-
ployment he may obtain, the Democratic party
cannot ignore the facG that he is, ~ the IN
changeahle antagonism Of race, and by his IN
feriority of intellect, debarred from that full
citizenship which would give Lin share II
the Government of the country.
+ The people of this country will never permit
the occupation of any Of the offices within their
gift by negroes, nor will they suffer tnose who
ore thus thrast from political consideration to
have a voice in the selection of their rulers.
Equality TO the negro is a grand theory, but
the practical operation of the equality system
is a failure. Those who are now working So
zaalously TO insult the reason and intelligence
of the people by lifting The negro to a level wish
the white race, CAFE as little for the welfare OF
the African as they have "a times gone by for
peace and amity between the North and South.
Their motive Is selfish one. founded in error,
and adhered to not from principle, but that to
the last they may SOW the seeds Of d'scord,
from which shall spring new disputes and new
fratrieidal conflict. out Of these disputes
and bitter conflicts the Republicans hope to
gain longer lease Of power, and gorge them
selves with plunder. Political supremacy IS
the real object of this endeayor to thrust neGFo
suffrage upon the nation. Without the negro
vote in the Southern Statas ana III two or three
Of the great Northern Commonwealth, the
Republican party cannot hope to win another
election. Without the negro vote they foresee
that their doom as a party is pronounced. In
this Commonwealth, the negro vote would give
the party in power the absolute and perpetual
control of its destinies And the white man
would soon have the satisfaction ofliving under
negro laws, Of beholding the administration OF
the laws in the hands of the grinning, thick
Tipped: splayfooted a2as he so long had spurned
as his inferior in all the attributes Of civiliza-
ton or manhood.
With the privileges Of the elective franchise,
Sambo ~ill scarcely be content. His dyed-in
hc-7rool special pleaders. few years ago, only
asked for freedom forthe down-trodaen slave"
by a continual and persistent agitation OF the
question, and Juggling the negro into the SOCIAL
circle, into every political issue that arose, into
Congress- ipto the pulpit, and everywhere Wher-
ever it was possible to intrude him. they sue
ceedad in fomen,iug q civil war and with the
blood Of thousands Of their brethren washed
out slavery from tie land, and laid waste tie
fairest portion of our country. This should
hare satisfied the party.
They only asked that the negro should BE-
free. In blood and carnage their prayer YES
granted There they should have reosed. IEo
end for which Garrison and Wendell Philips
had struggled; the ConsuG.lation so devoduy
wished for kv the di-nilla - i2Iset~~ I'LL
mlsGegenation and free love, was Gttaued and
their mission finished Finished Not at all.
Only begun. By sophistrv and speclous plead
ing, by all the rascalIy tricks and devices cf the
pot-housc politician, and al the stale platitudes
Of the boisterous Boanerges Of Brooklyn, The
Gathering Beecher, they worked their way into
power. and pow, by the same means, they nope
TO keep it.
Negro suffrage is their new hobby. Freedom
to the slave is only the halfway house-ia the
path of Republican glory. The miserable ig
norant slaves of the South, sunk deeper IN the
degradation of tht;r race by thcir .a:c!y &C
quired freedom, must vote. God forbid that
the world should ever witness the sad e92o:acle
of white men IN The Soutn orin the North pass
lively submitting to the domination Of beings
but little superior in physical or intellectual
status TO baboons. All created things are of
use. But because they have their use in their
allotted sphere of existence, it does not follow
that we should fake them out of it. Let the
negro fade out. let him take MS freedom in
his breeches pocket and ia company with lis
Abolition friends 90 to that land Inere, be-
meath the welcome shade Of the mango, he can
lazily sleep himself back into his normal con
dition of barbarism. AS freeman, in compe-
tition with the white race, he becomes an OBJ
iel. Of contempt, and his degradation is confir-
med Only as 4 bondman can he ever hope
to keep the respect of the white race, for as a
bondman he is forced 20 earn his way by labor.
The Republican party are trying their ut
most to force President Johnson to commit bim-
-.,f in this issue, and in doing it to drag him
into the slough and mire through which they
have been wading. We wonder if they re-
member Andrew Johnscn's record We won
der if in their zeal to force negro Suffrage upon
the peollc they remember That Andrew John
son, a lifelong Democrat Of the ultra States
Rights school, dare not ignore tha Democratic
faith in which he has been reared. Nor dare
be, as Southern man, forget that people to
whom, more than all, ne owes his advancement.
For the especial benefit of the Republicans
who may Be blessed with accommodating men,
ories, let us examine the record of their Presi-
dent. On the 2Ist OF May, 1865, he voted In
favor of certain resolutions, in the United States
Senate, declaring, 'the States free and indepen-
dent sovereignties." He voted in favor ofa
resolution declaring that interference with
slavery in the States is breach of faith He
voted in favor Of the resolution which declared
''that the Union rests on the equality of the
States" He voted in favor of the resolution
declaring that Congress has no power over
slaz in the terr;tnres " LIc untca -, Ea..,.