The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-05-24

negro. Outside 0f reugiOn ne only ming We
vorship a The constitution Of the United States
According to the constitution tho question Of
negro Suffrage Is LETT 70 The. several States, and
there We are content 10 leave L. When the
negro shall have shown bis capacity 10 vote BY
his good conduct under the severe test Of sud-
den emancipation, We shall be In Avor OF
extending 10 him the privilege Of suffrage.
But, when It ls extended, Il must be extended
in Q constitutional manner. New York aAews
the negro 70 vote upon certain conditions, and
the right Of the States 10 impose these oondi-
tons, each for itself, has never been questioned
by any sound statesman. Indeed, the most
radical abolitionlsts have not yet ventured TO
question it. although they now exhibit every
disposition to begin the attack. While, there
fore, we have no objection to negro suffrage
whenever the masses Of the race show them
selves worthy Of it, we insist that the matter
shall be settled oonstitutionally. Our position
in regard 10 tho question Is one with which no
honest, intelligent man can differ, and We are
satisfied that it is the position Of President
johnson and his administration. The social
status Of the negro is, Of course, quite another
affair.
These things being 80, we cordially sympa-
thise with the popular indignation at the
degradation of the ermine worn BY Chief JUS
tice Chase during his eleotioneering tour among
the canebrakes of South Carolina. If Mr.. Chase
feels himself untitled for the office of Chief
Justice, if he knows himself TO be incompetent
to discharge its duties and meet its RESPONSE
bilities, he can tender his resignation, which
will be at once accepted. But while he
holds tho Office he Is morally bound not to
disgrace it. The Office Is sublime one,
and the illustrioSs predecessors Of Mr..
Chase appreciated its dignity and impor-
lance. We oan imagine Chief Justice
Marshall shuddcring with indignation in his
grave as he secs the Chief Justiceship trans
formed into temporary refuge for restless
politician who uscs lis high prerogatives to
prosecute his plans for securing Presidential
nomination, careless whether or not those plans
may involve the country ina sanguinary social
war. The circular letter sent to the West by
Mr. Chase reveals what his purposes ere, and
his stumping tour among the Southern negroes
develops the means by which be hopes TO sue
coed. He intends, if possible, TO be our next
President, and he expects TO accomplish this by
means Of the ultra radical and, perhaps, the free
negro vote. This vote no desires to gain
through the agitation Of the negro suffrage
question, as sort Of appendix to the abolition
question. We oppose this lameniable scheme,
not because we believe that it has the slightest
prospect ofsnccess, so far as Mr.. Chase is con-
cerned, but because of the degradation Of the
Chief Justiceship in bong thus dragged through
the mire Of politics, and because OF tho dread
full consequences which may follow such en-
agitation as the Chief Justice has commenced.
The relations between The whites Of the South
and the recently freed negroes are naturally
most delicate. 1t will require the ablest states
manship to reconcile both these classes 10 their
new conditions and to prevent collision be-
tween them. The negroes cannot be trans
formed from slaves to frecmen in a day, with
out great danger of tho most determined antag-
onism between them and their former masters.
We see that danger cropping out in the plot
which has just been discovered among the
negro troops in Memphis to assassinate the
parolsd rebel soldiers So intent were the
negroes upon this savage and foolish revenge
that they attempted to overpower the white
troops guarding them; serious conflict ensued,
and the riot was not quelled until about twenty
negroes were killed or wounded. The same
passion exists among all the freed neg roes Of the
South as among the negroes at Memphis. The
barbarity Of the native African Is by no means
extinct In the emancipaLed slave. To free
negro is not of itself sufficient TO educate him
TO enjoy his freedom Alright, and to employ and
improve it as he ought Between this true free
dom and his former state of slavery is period
of transition, which is also period Of danger
The vices of slavery remain; the virtues Of free
dom are not yet acquired. The negro be-
holds his late master delivered into his hand
He finds the great government which once
assisted in keeping him q slave now arrayed
against shareholders, because shareholders have
been rebels. The temptation for him to use
the lash, the knife and the bullet upon those
who were his oppressors Is quite obvious, and
his inclination ia to yield to the temptation. On
the other hand, the white race at the South re-
sents the negro's claim to equality as a pre-
sumption, and is al the more aggravated be-
cause of its own ruined fortunes, the disturb
ance of the old system Of labor, and the evident
preference given TO the blacks on account of
their real, assumed or Interested loyalty. Thus
both sides are ready for terrible conflict, and
only the incest craftsmanship can avert the
catastrophe.
At this crisis, and while the government is
considering how to solve this difficult aud
important problem, Chief Justice Chase visits
the South. He comes ostensbly 10 estab-
lish or reopen the United States courts, although
his presence for such on Objects entirely super
Huous and unnecessary. Really, and without
excavation, be comes as q frebrand TO pre-
cipitate conflict which II is his solemn duty