Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-09-22

resolution Of the Democratic platform adop-
ted at Harrisburg:
tsThat the effort now making by certain
persons to use the power OF the General
Government with view to force negro suit
frage on the States against the will OF the
people and contrary to existing laws, is not
/ only high crime. against the constitution
but deliberate and wicked attempt to put
Il the States of this Union (all of them more
or less and some of them entirely under the
domination of negroes, 10 afrlcanIze large
norton of the country and degrade the white
race morally and socially as well as political
lly to the low level of the black We viii
not acknowledge the incapacity of our own
race to govern itself, nor surrender the des-
/ TIMES of the country into the hands of nc
groes, nor put ourselves under their guardi.
anshiP, nor give up to them the political
privileges which we inherited from cur faith
ers and we exhort our brethren in other
maintain it firmly.
Contrasted with the above we give the
following record Of Democratic Practice on
/ the nhgro question: <
Who said that all men are created equal?
Thomas Jefferson, the father of Democra-
4 cy
Who gave the negroes the right of suf
frage in New York? The Democratic Par
ty.
Who presided over the Convention which
gave this privilege to negroes? Martin Van
/ Buren, Democrat.
| Who afterwards elected Martin Van Bu-
rem to the Presidency. The Democratic
| Party
Il Who married negro woman, and by her
hrd of 70 oh rd
son, good Democrat,
| Who elected Richard M. johnson Vice
| President of the United States? The DEM
ocratic Party.
( If President Van Buren, had died, and
Richard NJ. johnson had become President.
who would have become the Democratic mis-
1 tress OF the White House? The same ne
gro woman.
Who made the negro citizen of the State
| of Mainel The Democratic Party.
i Who enacted similar law in Massachu-
setts? The Democratic Party.
\ Who permitted every colorod person
owning $3.50 in New York to become yo-
ter /? A General Assembly, purely Demo-
/ cratic
i Who repealed the laws of Ohio which re-
4 quired negroes to give bonds and security
before settling in that State2 The Demo
4 cratic rarity
! Who made mulattces legal voters in
Ohio? A Democratic Supreme Court, OF
which Reuben Wood was Chief Justice.
| What became of Reuben Wood? The
Democratic Party elected him Governor three
times and he is still leader of the Demo
cratic Party.
i Who helped to give free negroes the right
Il to vote in Tennessee, under her constitution
A of 1896? General Jackson
Was General jackson good Democrat?
He generally passed as such.
Who, with the above facts, and many 9th
ers, staring them in the face, are continual
] ly whining about negro suffrage" and ne
gro equality? The Democratic Party.
Such is the record of the party whose cry
is Rally for the White mans Government
in Pennsylvania. In New York the same
party breaches an entirely different doctrine.
The Daily Ners thus discusses the ques-
| ton.
''The conflict at arms is over, and now COM
menees the struggle for political ascendency,
with the weapons of political antagonism
| sanctioned by republleanism. If the South
ern people have pro6ted by their experience,
1t they have learned lesson of prudence
from their adversaries, they will, without
sacrificing principle, give little more heed
to the suggestions of expediency The
South must learn to use the weapons that
have been used against it; and the first ad-
vantage to be gained is the conversion of the
negro population into an element of polite
al power.
The manufacturers of New England, who
have not hesitated to realize peeuniary prof
1t from civil strife upon contracts for militia
hs.~s 4
employ their dependents as instruments of
political supremacy. Atevery election where
their interests were in question, they march
ed their employees in their factories in solid
phalaDx to the polls, never scrupling to make
the relation between capital and labor avail
able to control the exercise Of the elective
franchise among those who depended more
or less upon their yolition for daily bread for
themselves and families This agency of DO
lltical power has hitherto been withheld from
the Southern people by the peculiar nature
OF their industrial system; it is now within
their grasp. VIII they permit fatal pride,
a traditional prejudice, weak Difference to
caste, to stand in the way of their resump
ton of political equality, perhaps of polite
cal supremacy?
! We have no fear of that. The strength
and self-reliance, the indomitable will and
fertility intellectual and moral resources
OF the Southern character have been too well
demonstrated in their struggle for indepen-
dence 10 leave US now in doubt as 10 their
capacity for good management in the war
fare OF mind against mind that is to come
The question is, can the Southern whites
control the negro yote2 Its for themselves
to judge. The abolitionists of the North
will, undoubtedly, make every effort to edn-
cate the freedmen to Black Republican min
clples, and to that end their emissaries win
labor diligently, and with the system and
proverbial cunning of New England, polit-
lcal apostle. Are the native Southerners
equal to the task of confronting and defeat.
ing these influences? We do not pretend
to know better than themselves their resonr-
ces to maintain such a contest. Let them
consider the subject for themselves, IN view
OF the advantages they possess through
their familiarity with the character Of The
negro, and decide whether they can control
the political action Of the inferior race If
they cannot, let their opposition to negro
suffrage be firm and energetic But. if thew
nave faith in their power to direct the polit-
zeal organization of the blacks, their first step
should be to put vote In the hands of every
adult negro, trusting to their own sagacity
ana natural advantages to render that ballot
the servant of their wishes and of their in
interests. 1t is a simple question of policy,
ana as such we have suggested its consider.
atlon to the Southern people. For the sake
OF the supremacy of Democratic doctrines.