Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-07-27
NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE SOUTH.

letter from gentleman well known III thlS
city as an active and influential lifelong
Democrat Few men are less likely to be
influenced in favor Of negro suffrage by
preconceived opinions; but the change Of
sentiment produced in his mind by short
intercourse with Southern society is paral-
Ieled b other instances within our know-
edge.
1t is clear that the initiatory steps to Sc
cure the restoration. of the seeded States
to their old relations with the Union must
and will be made, under the auspices of
their provisional Governors, by the loyal
white men only-the negroes being debar-
red from the right of suffrage by the cons
ttutions and laws in existence prior to Sc
cession, which regulate the first legal move
ments towards reorganization. But IT
nevertheless remains with Congress to pass
Judgment upon the reception of members
from the seeded States, and if the senti-
mcnt described by our correspondent is not
essentially Modified; if it is clearly shown
that the rebels have learned neither wisdom,
patriotism, or the virtue Of submission by
! the teachings Of the war, and that their
only object in coming back into the Tn
ion" is to organize new insidious pOliti
cal warfare against the perpctuity of the
Republic, we apprehcnd it will be found as
difficult for disunOn Senator's and Repre-
Scntativcs to regain their seats III Con-
gress as it was easy for them to vacatc
those positions in 1860 6l The President
clearly had 10 right to insist upon negro
suffrage as a necessary preliminary to re-
organization. He has given to the people
of the South an opportunity to make amends
| for past errors and crimes by the eXhibi-
! tion of loyal spirit in future But if gen
enerosity and magnanimity are to be repaid
only by new evidences Of treachery and
treason, a remedy even for snch baseness
can be applied:
MOBILE, Ala, June u, 1865
81 have come down to this part of the
country with the intention of casting my
lot with it for the future, and feel impelled
! to send you a line to tell Of my lmpresSinns
| of the people. | have been for some six
weeks, in daily contact with Southern pco-
pie OF all political shades, and, though am
a poor talkcr, | am good listener, and not
a very bad hand at forming conclusions
from a great deal Of hearing. | came to
the Gulf States full of very fine theories
about the necessity of educating the negro
| before we could extend to him the privilege
of suffrage. He was ignorant; he was big
oted; he was prejudiced he could not be
trusted with the privileges Of a voter until
he had attained a certain standard of cdu
cation Well sir, | was never farther
away from the truth III my life |
have listened by the hour to the familiar,
! social. unrestraincd talk of Southern people:
| and have been sorry to conclude from all
| that have heard, that the damnable here
! Oft hn tot u-li1
with imagined evils threatened 20 the msti-
tuition of slavery, they based their acts of
secession and rebellion, is as deeply rooted
in their convictions as it ever was They
| have failed to establish the success of
their principles at the bayonets point and
the cannon's mouth, but those principles lie
as near to the hearts of the great mass Of
them as ever, and true loyalty to the Gov
crnmcnt, as constituting a principle with
the mass Of the people at the North, is en-
tirely foreign to the breasts of the masses
in the South The same hostility that was
openly displayed in arms exists secretly i'll
the breasts Of the Southern people, and is
ready at any time to exert itself, no longer
in overt acts, but III every possible pacific
way to thwart the unity and the progress
of the Republic On the other hand, the
negro has but one principle and one aifcc-
ton. His principle is that of devotion to
! the Union; his affection heart-whole for the
cause that has restored him to manhood
No doubts of the justice of the cause cross
| his mind. No clouds of casuists' rising OBJ
scure his vision. His instincts alone point
out TO him the path he is to tread as free
man. and point it out unerringly Who so
| safe to trust with tic ballot of freeman
as he! Can demagogues lead him estray
with arts and sophstries? | trow not
| He may not know 50 much Of book-lcarning
as his paler-skinned brother, but he is less
likely to be deceived III what pertains to
| the advancement of all members OF the
human family, himself included. And if
you could see, as | have seen, the colored
people of these Southern cities, sitting at
their door-steps, in the moonlight, on hot
evenings, teaching each other to spell and
to count, regardless Of the comments of
those who passed by, you would not be slow
in coming to the belief that even the sup
posed amount of education necessary to
enable them to vote entelligently will not
be long wanting. for one contrary to
all my previous expectations, am fully con-
vinced that the only safety for the South is
III the extension of free suffrage to the
people of all colors, and | mean to throw
myself into the advocacy of this cause with
all my energy. Far better is the instinct
that teaches loyalty to the Union than the
false education that makes States-rights
traitors Shall we trust the future of our
country to the instinct that inevitably leads
to the right, or to the educated sophistry
that inculcates what is false and ruinous
We are 10y no means ready for recon
struction under the domination of defeated
but uncOnvinced traitors We have had a
terrible war; let US not cast away its fruits
) Let us have military government in the
Southern States until ihe sentiment of true
loyalty begins to be felt; or, if we mus
have civil governments reconstructed, lie
those who have every cause to love the
Union not be put aside while its interests
are confded to the hands of those who have
been its open Philadelphia Press
AN English clergyman was lately depict
ing before Il deeply interested audience tin
alarming increase of intemperance, whel
2 he astonished his hearers by eXclaiming
IA young woman in my neighborhood dice
, very suddenly last Sabbath, while | wa