Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1865-10-13
CONNECTICUT AGAINST EQUAL
SIfEkAGk


has said that she does not accept the doctrine
Of equal rights, and that good citizens shall |
be prescribed solely on account Of color
We are disappointed and mortified at such
decision by New England state, state
where the republican party is dominant and
likely to be for some time to come. The
majority against the amendment is not large,
but it might have been the other way II the
republican leaders in the state had been hon
est and earnest for 1t. They have made
capital mistake both as to duty and policy,
as we think events will teach them
There are but few colored men in Connec-
ticut, and the decision of the state against
their right to the suffrage is not of go much
consequence locally as for its moral Effect
IL renders II impossible at present to make
suff,age doctrine of the republican party.
1t will be earnestly advocated by few, but
public opinion must be educated up to il be-
fore 1t can be made test question. We are
thus left without vital issue as against the
democracy. They are bold aud united against
equal suffrage the republicans are not for
1t, but are divided in opinion and counsels.-
And yet the doctrine is true, is Of vital i'm
portance, and must ultimately prevail. And
it will not be strange, when the current sets
that way, as 1t must in course Of time, if the
agile democracy shall be in position to re-
pudiate its record and lead off in the suffrage
reform.
If there had been any doubt before as to
what Congress might not do in the matter,
the decision OF Connecticut settles it. there
will be no attempt to force negro suffrage ON
the southern states by federal authority, or
to exclude representatives and senators from
ates that have not granted this right to their
freedmen. 1t would be too absurd to pretend
that their state governments are not repubi-
can, in the sense of the constitution, because
, colored citizens are excluded from the suf-
frage, when New England state has just
voted that negro suffrage is not republican
either IN that or the party sense, and five
slxths of the free states agree with her. Nor
would 1t be less preposterous to say to the
southern men that we cannot trust them to
do justice to the freed negroes unless they
can protect themselves by the ballst, while
we can trust ourselves to do justice to our
own colored citizens without that protection.
In fact the decision of Connecticut postpones
the whole question, as a national one, making
it necessary to argue the case for years to
come, for it is one Of the things that will be
agitAted till it is settled
Connecticut having given US pause on the
subject, the friends of equal suffrage may
well reconsider the matter and take fresh
start. The whole question mas been need
lessly muddled and complicated, sometimes
psversely. Those who make high professions
Of rsdicalsm and earDestness began 20 crusade
by persistent misrepresentation of the Presi-
dent; they ignored his true reasons for not
requiring 1t in the recognizing states, and
. a
self And even since 1t has been evident that
he personally favors negro suffrage, while
believing It the constitutional right Of each
state to decide for itself, they keep up the
! first false assumption, and seem determined
to fight it out on that line. They thus need
lessly and perversely put themselves in an
attitude Of hostility to the President, and
sbme OF them have been exceedingly bitter
and Inscriptions in their attacks upon him.
! 1t was matter of course that the democrats
should attempt to take advantage of this situ-
| alton of affairs, and volunteer to protect the
( administration against the party tina; elected
| 1t. Some of the republican papers of Con-
necticut have been fighting the President
| with one hand and the democracy with the
other. They should have advocated equal
and intelligent suffrage ia Connecticut on It's
! own neflts, anu not mixed IL up with the
wholly distinct question of the ight and duty
OF the President TO establish negro suffrage
in the South. They gave every moral advAn-
tsge to the enemies OF impartial suffrage by
their laundering, and thus they have lost the
battle. But the effort for equal suffrage must
not be abandoned. Let all who are for it
unite in demanding 1t as a natural and inalien-
able right everywhere, waving the question
/ If its enforcement in the South, which is now
/ practically impossible and continue to de-
| mand 1t and plead for il. One after another
/ OF the northern and western states will accept
it, nor will the regenerated South always
hold back. Indeed, if voting population shall
be MADE the basis of representation in Con-
! gress, as it should be, South Carolina may
| grant the suffrage to its colored population
sooner than Connecticut.
So says the Springfield Republican, and
with much truth and force. 1t is shameful
hat Republicans should be so cowardly as to
act for mere party policy against princi ple.-
! But some Of Them are SO, nor is Connecticut
to De charged with the chief responsibility -
Had New York come up to the mark manful
| ly, Connecticut would have been right now.
Though Connecticut has made more difficult
the duty of Congress, that body is no, alb
solved from it's duty.