The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-07-13

LAID on them SO heavily that they will never
fee disposed to indulge in the luxury of re-
tbellion against this government Sentimen-
tai tenderness for cut threats is practical
cruelty to peaceabIe citizens. It is a crime
TO spare convicted. bloodthirsty inurderers,
and let them loose upon society, to prey up
on the lives of honest men. 1t would be
cruelty to this Republic aud an outrage up
on those who have done and suffered so
much to save the government, if we should
let loose these leading traitors to fer
nent discords, and delay the paci6cation of
the country for thirty years 20 1-i4i 1920
F But the northern patriot and the southern
traitor have not been the only parties in
this war. There has been another. 1t was
the man whose heart was white though his
skin was black; who was loyal to govern
meut which had once declared that he had
no rights which the white traitor who own
ed him was bound TO respect; the man who
was always the fast and faithful friend of
the advancing national armies; the true
and trusty scout, the faithful guide /; the
benefactor of the tortured prisoner and the
ever reliable friend of the patriot, escaping
from the hell of the rebel prison; the man
'~ho when the fate Of this nation hung trein-
bling in the balance, and Abraham Lincoln
(Peace to his blessed memory called upon
the black man for help to save the great
Republic; who then seized his musket aud,
ON many a bloody field, indicated his
claim to rights which the white man Of
this country is bound to respect. ..-..
And what shall be done with him. He
shall be free Aye ! Thank God for that!
But is that all g? VIII it not be burning
shame if the only man, who. a1 in all the
South, was loyal shall be the only man from
whom is withheld the right to vote-if the
ballot is entrusted to those who welded the
sabre and the bayonet against our govern
ment, and is Withheld from those who alone
welded them in its defense If the expert
ence Of this war has not scorched the cob
webs out of our eyes at last, SO that zoe can
see further than skin deep into the rights
ofman, can we be so Infatuated as to believe
that COP will not frown upon an attempt to
subject these black patriots, without the
protection of elective franchise,to the power
of those men who have slain, and manned,
and starved and tortured the soldiers of free
dom and never abandoned their purpose to
destroy this government until thoroughly
defeated. Are you so anxious to reward trea-
son and punish loyalty Do you deem it so
easy a work to restore completely the civil
authority of the government in the south,
that you are ready to spurn the aid of your
country 8 friepds, and entrust everything to
your country foes Are you sure that
your burdened treasury can bear the cost OF
making good Abraham Lincolns pledge to
maintain the freedom of the blacks without
giving them tile ballot If it is withheld are
you confident that slavery will not be re-
established i'll the rebel states, and, with the
aid of its Northern allies, regain its old do
minion in the nation? Would you see the
Sfctors, in this unparalleled war, surrender
to the vanqpished all the fruits Of victory
Shall this war have been a mere grand, use.
less, aimless butchery ? Are you ready to
pronounce the sentence of exile from the
south, upon the only loyal race? Regret, if
you will that the crime of our ancestors ev-
er brought the negro to our shores pray, if
you will, that he may voluntarily seek a
separate place within or without the Repub-
lie, for the development of his race; but
never ask me directly, or indirectly, to favor
the compulsory exile from our country of
the men who have done so much to save it.
If the choice were forced on me to day be-
tween the exile from the south of whit @
traitors or black patriots, would start the
white scoundrels at double quick, and per-
NIT these dusky men to enter into and pos
sess tn e land.
But they will remain where they are, and
when the military arm is withdrawn the
loyalty of these poor men will be the very
0fF hole 1,ch
with the hottest fury. That race, which
suffered such cruelties before the war, such
hardships during its progress, seems des
tined to be the chief sufferer in the process
of reconstruction For them it will be at the
best but an unequal contest with the willy,
implacable traitor. Sad, sad will be their
fate if we throw the ballot against them.
On this question it is now to be apprehen-
ded that the true friends of the Republic
may disagree, but amongst the enemies of
the country there will be no disag reemcnt
They have already taken their position. We
knew beforehand what that position would
be. .. t.
1t is not to be denied that the extension
of the suffrage to the blacks will in its prac-
tical operations be attended with the most
embarrassing difficulties growing out of the
ignorance and debasement to which ages Of
relentless bondage have reduced them. But
no righteous work under the sun is free
from difficulties. Certainly there have been
thousands of white voters in the south and
not few in the north with very slender
mental or moral qualifications for the cleo
tive franchise; whose exercise of that fran
chise has not been without its difficulties in
the history of our national, State and mu-
uicipal governments. fit were even practi-
cable it would perhaps be polite to estab-
lish some qualification for voters of what
ever color. 1t should not be property quail
ification of course. That would be as alb
surd as it would be to make the cost of the
soldiers buttons the criterion of his merit
IL it were possible think it would be wise
and just to adopt qualification based upon
intelligence. Perhaps tile difficulty of fix
ing reasonable or precise boundary line
between the knowledge which should admit
to and the ignorance which shonld exclude
from the elective franchise, would render
this impracticable Besides. what a fearful
thing it would be to disfranchise all the
white men of this country who cannot read
or write, more than their own naIn,s! But
l. Tue WHlIe IcUch WIN; VIII al Ills oPPoi ~
mites to learn to read and write, has failed
to do so, is admitted to the right OF suffrage,
why should the loyal black man be excluded
from that right, because he has not learned
what he never had chance to learn?
Whatever evils accompany the exercise o.
the elective franchise, they can be cured by
earnest effort for the education and i'm
provement of the voters themselves, whether
black or white, if the people will take holt
of the work with half of the patriotism AMI
vigor which has marked their conduct o
this war But the question of extending
the suffrage, with or without qualification
to the black race, in the south, is quit
another question. That must be decides
now, and practically decided for THOUSAND
years If they are made electors, believ
that in single generation the most seriou
einbarrassments of ignorance and vice vii
have been luryn hI1uted and fhe vt.rv ballc