Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-06-19
[From The Dayton Empire. June ISL
President .JOhnson's Quietus 10 the
Negro Suffrage Ammbug.

=
Negro Suffrage Ammbug.
We were informed some time since, by
the reliable telegraphic advices from WASH
ingtUn, that the President and Cabinet had
under consideration the question of extend
ing the right Of suffrage TO the emancipat-
ed negroes of the rebellious States. 1t will
be recollected that we took the position at
once, that the question was one over which
neither the President, nor his Cabinet, nor
any other authority of the Federal Govern
ment had any jurisdiction whatever-and
we are glad to observe from President
Johnson's Mississippi Proclamation that he
had forced the discordant elements about
him to finally aequiesce in the same view. Z,
In that Proclamation he distinctly an
nounces, that "tae State Contention tohen as
senbled, or the Legislature thereafter conUenou,
,uiH prescribe the udlifcdtiOn Of electors MD
the eligbilityof persons under the Consultations
and ldiUs Of the State; a po,cer the people Of
the seuera! States comprising the Federal Union
haze righttully exercised from Me origin Of the
Government TO the present time" iL
We can heartily and unhesitatingly ap-
plaud this action of President johnson. 1t
is the first distinct annOunc, ment, and pub
licyindcation of the great Democratic doc
trine of State Rights that has emanated'
from the Federal Government since the ac-
cession of the Republican party to power
in 1861. 1t encourages the hope that our
Government will be reconstructed upon the
principles upon which it was established,
instead of the heresy OF Federal consolida-
tion, which involves the idea OF controll-
ing State communities by the votes of peoT
pie outside. 's a4a L..ys OBJ
Local Self-Government Is the cardinal
principle upon which our political system
Is founded, and we cannot but regard it as
a Providental dispensation that man who
has from his earliest entrance upon politi-
cal lite, been indoctrinated with thewhole-
some ideas of the Democratic party upon
this subject, is at length called, in this i'm
portant crisis to apply them to the great
task of repairing the ravages OF the recent
revolution. -~-,,--.sA
MI. johnson may expect the most unre-
lenting hostility upon the part of those who
thought the Almighty had interposed the re-
mOyal of Mr.. Lincoln only to give them an
opportunity to put the negro in this
country upon social and political
equality with the white man. Those people
have had 10 idea of this great political con-
vulsion except as means to accomplish
this result. With them the war meant only
the abolition of slavery, and the subjuga-
tion of all other people to their own fanati-,
cism. With Mr.. johnson the war meant the
overthrow of armed resistance to the con-
stitutional authority of the Federal Gov
ernment.a They already talk (see Mr.. Con-
gresham Ashley's speech) Of crushing any
man or any party that stands in the way of
their favorite heresy of negro equality.
We will sec how they will fare in contest
with Andrew johnson. He has met these
men before, andunless we are greatly mis-
taken in his character "he won't scare worth
-" ".-- o. - sf-..
His course is a plain one. The rebellion
to the authority of the United States Gov
ernment Is overcome. He means to place
the people of Mississippi back in the same
position they occupied on the day anterior
to the passage of the ordinance of Seces--
sion, except in so far as that position has
been changed by the accomplished facts of
the last four years. They are again to con-
stitute State in the Federal Union and
under the Federal Constitution. As such
they are to have all the political rights to
which that position entities them. The
Yankees of New England are not to be al
lowed to dictate to them what shall be the
qualifications for electors or ofliceholders
in their State, and the only condition re-
quired is to be fidelity to the Constitution
and laws of the United States. ,---.,.-.
This is not the entertainment to which
the Abolitionists and Negro-Equallty men
expected to be invited-on the crushing out
of the great rebellion-but it is theenter-l
tainment that will be applauded by all men
who love constitutional liberty and who
hope To see its blessings perpetuated, and
the rayages of this cruel war speedily re-
paired.
Let it not be forgotten that there are
more than a half million of Democratic
voters in the North, and hundreds of thou
sands of Constitution and Union loving
voters in the South, who, will unite their
voices to approve and their efforts to sus
tain Andrew johnson in every honest and
patriotic measure to restore the Union as it
was, under the Constitution as it is. ID 'al