The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1866-03-15


tlon exists as to the whites is no answer.
IT Is bad to have a thousand ignorant
VOTERS; 1t is Worse to have two thous-
and. If the suffrage is already debased,
as some men say, it is an act Of folly to
debase it still further, even though it
! should be done by way of supposed
couterpoise to injurious forces. The
elective franchise is not natural right.
but political trust. If it were true that
every person who is subject to the laws
Is entitled to a part in making them,
then every sojourner among us, every
foreigner the moment he lands, is en-
titled to vote, for he is as much gov
erned by our laws as if he had always
lived upon our soil. To have voice in
the election of the nagistracy is to hold
trust, conferred by the laws and regu-
lated by them, according to circum-
stances, for the best government of the
whole body Of inhabitants. Because
the blacks have fought for the country,
that does not necessarily give them
right to govern it,, or to participate in
its government. If it We're otherwise,
every brave boy from sixteen to TWEEN
ty-one who fought in the Union ranks
and there were thousands upon thous-
ands of such--should have vote instead
OF waiting for years to participate in the
government to which he is subjected
The blacks fought for country, and
they have its they fought for their free
dom, and they have obtained it. For,
thanks be to God, the sun of this glo-
rious morning has not seen il single
slave through all the unbroken land,
from sea to sea. We would welcome
our emancipated brother to the rights of
manhood. We would take him by the
hand and bid him stand up and be Of
good cheer, for henceforth no man can
call himself his master. But when we
are asked to givea the men of his race,
at the moment of their emancipation,
the right to participate in the Govern
ment, we must answer, in the words of
one of their own number, more intel
ligent than many others, white or
black" The able-bodied only bear
arms, the able-minded only should vote"
To insist that the blacks will not be pro-
tected in their freedom and all their
rights if they have not the elective
franchise is to forget that by the second
clause OF the great amendment it is
provided that Congress shall have
power to enforce this articlel by appro-
pirate legislation" 1t is also to forget
that the men and women of the South
are of like sentiments undinstincts with
ourselves, and something certainly may
be expected from their regard to their
interests and from their sense of Justice.
1t is a curious feature of the Freedmen's
bill which the President has just vetoed
that ii took the blacks under the pro-
lection of the Federal Government, as
il they We're not able to take care of
themselves, while the same persons who
urged this the hardest are the most
elamorous to give this same dependent
population large share in the govern
ment of the country. The exclusion Of
representatives in both houses of Con-
gress from the States lately in rebellion
can only be justified ON the theory that
their States are not in the Union, or that
no proper elections have been held, or
that the persons elected cannot take the
oath prescribed by Congress as a test OF
loyalty. The first theory is opposed to
the opinion and practice of the whole
North during the war, and the last can
not apply because the oath has not been
rendered to any person claiming to be Il
representative. The second theory
should seem also not to be held, for
| there does not appear to have been any
investigation before the regular Com
mittee on Elections of the regularity
and fairness of the respective elections.
/ Some other reason is supposed to exist,
and that is a desire to make the eAclu-
sion a means OF compelling these States
to do something which they could not
otherwise be compelled to do. This is
an unjust proceeding, and an unsafe
precedent. Congress cannot rightfully
do indirectly what it cannot do directly.
We are bound, therefore, to express our
conviction that the exclusion as repre-
sentatives from the eleven States which
are now unrepresented in Congress of
i loyal men, who We're fairly elected and
can take thc oath, is Il manifest usurpa
ton. FeIlow-citiZens, the maintenance
Of The Constitution-which is but anoth-
or expression for the fidelity of the pub
lie servants to the trusts which they
have sworn to executes of more value
to the people OF this country than the
rise or fall of ANY party, or the success or
failure of any measure. In the present
unhappy differences between Congress
and the President, the latter, in ODE
dience 10 his SENSE Of constitutional duty,
declines Che vast patronage and power,
civil and military. which the former
+ Nurtl oiN9f. him We honor him for