Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-02
A MANIFESTO FROM GREELET.


Of RecOustruett0n.
-
About 10 start for some weeks soiourn in
the West. whence / cannot readily and con-
stantIy confer with the general public,
wish 10 leave nv contribution TO the general
mass of suggestion and criticism touching
the true basis Of national restoration and
concord so plainly set forth that it cannot be
misquoted or Inexperienced.
That have long held the main founda.
tions of a genuine, enduring re-settlement
of our disturbed and uptnrned national
structure TO be universal amnesty and i'm
partial suffrage, must be tolerably well
known. Il only remains to be said that I
commend them notas reciprocal concessions
but as common benefits. | trust our great
differences are 10 be composed and ended
by no grudgiug, higgling COMPROMISING
peanut dickef. Il is essential to the
North that the South should be thoroughly
tranquilized and re-assured; 'it is essential
TO the South that her principal body Of
agricultural laborers-her peasant eultiva-
tors-should live and labor in eontentment
based on perfect trust that their rights of
persons and property-their earnings and
their homes-are as secure and inviolate as
those Of the proudest magnate in the land.
There is no Northern, no Southern interest
in the premises, but a common interest of
the whole American people.
/ am for universal amnesty-so far as
immunity from fear Of punishment or con-
fscation is concerned-eVen though inn
partial suffrage should for the present be
resisted and defeated. did think it desir-
able that Jefferson Davis should be ar
raigned and tried for treason; and it still
seems to me that this might propeft5 have
been done many months ago. But it was
not done then; and now believe it would
result in Ear more evil than good. 1t would
rekindle pi ssions that have nearly burned
on or been hushed to sleep; it would fear
fully convulse and agitate the South; it
would arrest the progress Of Reconciliation
and kindly feeling there; il would cost
large sum directly and a far larger indi-
rectly; and-unless the jury were scan
dalously packed-it would result in a nom
agreement or no verdict. / can imagine
no good end to be subserYed by such trial,
and-holding Davis neither better nor
worse than thousands of others--would
have him treated as they are
hope to see impartial suffrage estab-
lished by very general consent. Many
will favor it because they hold il eminently
wise and just; others because they are tired
of contention about negroes, and wish to
put an end to it. And the one simple, OBJ
vious mode of taking the negro out of poll
itics is Just to treat him as a man. He will
cease to be an object Of special interest or
championship from the hour that the law
disregards the immaterial circumstances
of his color and treats him only as hui
man being.
l trust the State viii generally accord to
blacks the common rights of manhood, ir
respective Of the nation and of each other !;
and trust they viii agree to place those
rights under the protection of the Federal
Constitution. This may not, in one sense,
be necessary; yet it is best to leave no loop
TO hang a doubt upon" Tie whole country
needs absolute peace and rest. ] am very
willing that each State should impose a
moderate poll-tax on every citizen, and allow
no one to vote who shall not have season.
ably paid this tax. / hold that lunatics,
idiots, criminals, Migrants and public pau
pers have no natural right to vote and
that they ought not to be enfranchised. IL
there be negrses-as | presume there are
who choose to prowl over the country, beg
cling and stealing, think these should not
be allowed TO vote. But every honest,
diligent, industrious, useful citizen, how
ever lowly, ought to be a voter; and that
State is weakened and imperiled which ex-
cludes any such from her electoral body.
l dislike the suggestion of an "intelli-
gence basis for suffrage. Let us not be
deluded by false analogies and vague abb
stractions. In a State where each child
grows up within sight of free school-houses
wherein he is more than welcome to be a
pupil, il is perfectly reasonable to prescribe
that those only who can read may vote
Where half the people have not only been
denied all public facilities for education,
but have grown up under laws which
made teaching them crime, the case is
very different Establish common schools
in the South, and you may fairly prescribe
that no one shall vote after 1876 who does
not know how to read. But do not put out
a mans eyes and then punish him for
blindness.
1t would be morally impossible 10 en-
force fairly and uniformaly an intelligent
test in the South. Just think of Mayor
Monroe, with his chief Of police and first
marshal, sitting as a board on the eve Of
an exciting election, to determine how
many and which of the blacks of New Or
leans htlS - iAtSlaA a. tuS1 hitVulu DC W
make them votersl Fancy the Copper
heads of Southern Maryland passing on the
literary pretensions of their late slaves,
from whom they feared defeat in an ex-
citing political contest! The bare attempt
to enforce such a test at the South will
manifestly infame and distract that entire
region. / trust it will be forbome.
/ commend impartial suffrage as re-
quired By the true interest Of all concerned;
vet | cannot admit that it is a matter in
which the North has no rightful concern.
The blacks are portion not merely of the
Southern but of the American people.
They played an important and benefcent
part in our great civil war. We cannot
ignore the obligations springing from our
necessity and their loyalty. | hold that
honor aud good faith absolutely constrain
those who triumphed in that struggle to
take care that their humble supporters and
hackers shall not be made to suffer for
taking the side Of the Union. To say now,
in view of the recent past, LET the South
ern negroes have such rights only as their
with late Rebel) fellow-citizens shall see
fit to accord them" would be ingratitude
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