Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1865-09-06

10 tuf huulafI W fftt i''is'''tNr '''tN n 80
we'll AS white. What Is the result? To
lay, upon the census OF 1860, uude. the
three-lilths rule, there are nineteen seats
IN the House Of Representative which
may be filled 10y men whose constituent
cy. if they were voters, would be negroes
of the South In 1870 there will be d
new census. and new apportionment Oi
political power The South will take pO
liIicql power IN the House of Representa-
tives according to its combined white and
cOlored population. have made an es
Innate, which IS probably not far from
what will prove to he true in 1870. There
will be about four and half million oi
cnlored people in the old slave States ;
there will be about nine million OF white
people in the old slave States; and there
will be about twenty two million Of peO-
pie in the free tates,-making thirty-tive
and a half million in all. Upon the con
stitutional basis, political power will be
appOrtioned, in 1870, in this wise: To
the four and half million of negroes in
the South, thirty representatives; to the
nine million white people in the South,
sixty representatives-ninety representa-
tives from the South To the twenty-five
dred and forly-four representatives in
Congress. Now, what is the inevitable
result of the doctrine that these eleven
rebellious States are States in the Union,
and have a right to be represented as
States? 1t is this: that the nine million
Of white people in the South are to do all
the voting in the fifteen old slave States
and when you consider that the war in the
South has proved pretty nearly war OF
determination of all the men between
twenty and forty-fve years of age, ana
that the proportion of women and chill
dren is vastly greater than the natural
proportion of women and children to
adult males i'll any community that has
not been ravaged by the fires of war, you
will understand that the number Of
voters among those nine million of people
will be but small proportion of the
whole. These white voters Of the South
are to elect ninety representative u
Congress. And who are these white men
Of the South? They are the men who
have been in arms against the republic
and against the soldiers of the republic
They are of a race which through two
centuries has been contaminated by the
vilest crime, the crime of slavery, unit
the whole public sentiment of the South
has become debauched. until ii has given
birth to conspiracies, for the preparation
of the crimes of arson, OF murder, of trea
son, of assassination, in all their hideOus
and unnamable forms; such crimes a.
could not have been committed, or even
contemplated, in any other country or by
any other people. 1t is out of the instI
tuition of slavery that there came the in
famous decree by which sixty thousand
of the soldiers of the republic were starry
ed in the prisons and pens of the South :
and will the people of this country, i
they have prejudice against tine negro
race such as human beings never felr
toward any of the animate creation, from
the foundation of the world until now
will the people of this country, if they
have such a prejudice even, exclude ths
negroes from the ballot-bOx, and allow II
to be controlled by these nine million, Or
the representatives of these nine million.
of white people in the South? Under ali
a majority, a confessed
majority, of the white people of the South
have shown themselves the enemies o.
this country the loyalists among them
the men who have stood by the old flag
have been few, like angel visits" On
the other hand, the black man, despised
drown-trodden, with no reason 10 cheer
or bless the flag of the republic, which to
him from the foundation of the govern
ment until the signal shot upon FOrI
Sumter, had been only the ensign Of Op-
preston, with no "reminiscences or tradi-
tions in its behalf, has proved true to the
country, has led and guided and cheered
the soldier. has enlisted in the armies of
the republic, has fought for the integrity
of the nation and the safety of freedom ;
and can it be-caH ii Be in the heart of
any man of the twenty million of inhab
itsnts in the North, with an ingratitude
save in the instance Of Ju-
das Iscariot, now to consign these people,
their race, and their posterity to the ten
der mercies of the men who instituted
Libby Prison and AndersOnville. who
sent to the islands of the ocean for the
pestilence with which they hoped to blast
the cities of the North, who instituted
arson as a plan, and finally closed then
career of systematic and organized crime
by the assassination of the President Of
the republic? Do you propose to allow
these people to send ninety representa-
tives into the Congress of the United
States, when according to numbers they
would be entitled to but sixty? Upon
the basis of thirty FIVE and halt million
of people, a constituency would consist OF
one hundred and fifty thousand inhabi
tants; and, the number of members OF
the House being limited by law to two
hundred and thirty four, the white voters
of the South would take sixty members
in their own right, and thirty more upon
the basis of the negro pOpulatiOn-giving
them ninety votes. They would then
lack but twenty-eight votes of majority
in the House of Representatives twenty
eight votes, which New York alone could
give, which two or three other States in
a moment of disaffection might give. And
what is the result. or at least the possible
danger? The government Of this cOun-
try is in the hands of rebels. Will not
the men interested in public securities
look 70 it that no such exigency arise
We have issued two and half thousand
million of public securities, the value Of
which depends entirely upon the good
faith of the people of this country If
you put the power into the hands OF these
rebels, one of two things is sure to hap
pen.-either that the rebel debt will DE
fOisted upon the national government or
the national debt will be repudiated.
And more than that; if these nine million
of people in the South are to elect ninety
they will elect one for
every one hundred thousand white per-
sons represented by the voting pOpula
tion while in the North it will take one
hundred and fifty thousand persons to
constitute the basis of representation !;
that is, two voters in the South will have
equal power in the government Of the
with three voters in the North.
| submit that the people of the North
unless they are infatuated, so that there
is no hope of their being able to compre-
hend the means necessary for their own
will reiect,-once, twice, thrice
reject,-every proposition
which recognizes those States as States OF
the American Union. One of two things
must happen,-either that the negro
shall be allowed to vote, or that, by an
to the Constitution, the rep
power shall be based upon
and if, as is contended by those
who oppose negro suffrage, these eleven
States are States in the Union, as it re-
quIres three fourths of the States to make