The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-06-15

There are many well-meaning meT
in The Republican party who believer
negro suffrage, yet admit the force o
the constitutional objection to forcinl
it upon the States; bat who seam, new.
ertheless, i1clined to justify q BOLD
stretch Of authority to this end, because
they think that if it is not done in the
process of reconstruction, the negroes
will never have the right Of suffrage al
all II these men could Bee any reas
enable likelihood OF the elective fran
chise being bestowed on the blacks By
the action Of the states themselves
they would be quite reconeled 70 fore
60 any present agitation Of the subject
We propose to show them that negro
suffrage by state action is highly prob
able.
We educate our children in good
schools and train them for political
life until they are twenty-one, before
we allow them TO vote; we require in
telligent adult ~emigrapts, who come
to this country imbued with repubh-
can prepossessions, to reside i've years
before admitting them to political
rights The freed negroes have nither
the education we bestOw on our ma
tive-bOrn children, nor the general apt-
tude and intelligence of our emjgrant
population; and they need, even o
than the latter, the benefit OF q period
Of probation before admission to the
suffrage. Ifslaye y is 50 osd an inst.
tuition as we all believe it. il must have
exerted a degrading influence upon
its victims ItIemaius to be seen how
far this degradation Of character may
operate as a disqualification for useful
citizenship, when, without PREPARATION,
the chains are so suddenly struck of.
even if the Federal Government had
complete power owe the subject it
would be better that ii should enter up
on so great an experiment with caution,
that it should see how the negroes be-
haved as freemen, before making them
voters. Nj. Chase himself virtually
admitted, in his speech in the African
church at Charleston, that if the ne
groes should turn out to be lazy and
thriftless, they would deserve no poit-
ical privileges.
The way negro suffrage may ulti.
mstely come about is this. During
the agitation Of the question several of
the Republican Statesin the the North,
will admit negroes 70 the ballot box.
The impudent inconsistency Of trying
to force negeo suffrage upon the South
while rejecting it themselves is too glar-
ing; and they will feel compelled to re-
move it. If negroes set any valne on
the privilege, they are free 70 go where
thew please, and will remove to States
where they are most favored IT they
are desirable citizens, whose industry
contributes to the general wealth, this
is a GOOD way TO attract them. Our
Western States have, in this way, bid
against each other for emigrants, in
many cases making them voters before
they are naturalized.
Suppose Ohio to allow negro suffrage
aud Kentucky noa The Kentucky
blacks, finding a climate equally geni-
al, a soil equally fertile, wages perhaps
better, and full political equality, IN
Ohio. would cross the river and settle
in new homes. If the freeemen actu-
ally turn out to be thriftless vagabonds
and Migrants, this will be a good rid
dauce for kentucky and q bargain
for Ohio. But il, as we must all hope,
the freedmen makes frugal and indus
trious citizens, Kentucky, when she
finds herself drained of her laboring
population, will be compelled, in pro
lection of her interests to offer them
as great inducements to stay as Ohio
offers them to go. The agriculture of
Kentucky must fall into decay without
laborers to cultivate her soil; end in the
competition between the two sides of
the river she will be obliged to offer
equal advantages.
Negro suffrage in Kentucky would,
in like manner, compel the adoption
of negro suffrage in the adjoining
of Virginia and Tennessee. And,
in this manner, it the negroes prove TO
be valuable citizens, they will acquire
full political equality in al the States
where they are needed in large num-
bers as laborers Ifthey do not prove
to be valuable citizens, the northern ne
gro suffrage States can retract and put
a stop to the experiment, before the
influx of blacks puts their white citi>
Gems under the control Of q negro ma
joritys-Word