The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1866-10-02
THE SOUTHERN STATES AND THE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

The precise question now before the Southern
States still excluded from Congress is whethe,
they shall accept the advantages offered them
with the immediate adoption Of the constitu
tional amendment now before the States for thei,
ratification, or remain "out in the cold, for al
indefinite length of time-one, two, fve ten OF
twenty years. waiting for something more &C.
ceptable as the price of their restoration.
| This is the question, aud we now feel it to be
our duty, in behalf of the South, the admins.
tration and the country at large, to urge upon
! the excluded States the saving policy and the
great advantages of an immediate adoption of
the conditions offered by Congress in this afore-
said amendment The great difficulty in this
matter lies in the alternative presented of the
admission of the blacks to the elective franchise
or their exclusion from the enumeration Of the
people of every State concerned in representa-
tiOn in CONGRESS- T.
The ten excluded States, in accepting the one
alternative Of universal suffrage will secure
sixty-one members 10 the House Of Represents.
tives, and that by adopting the other alternative
of limiting the suffrage to the white population
they will only get forty MEMBERS dead loss
of twenty-one. This, among the Southern poll
ticians, may seem hard condition either way !;
but as it is evident that the North will not con-
sent to a representation of the Southern blacks
in Congress without suffrage, the Southern
States must make their election upon this amend
ment, one way or the other. Nor can we under
stand why there should be any hesitation, under
the present state of things, in the choice Of the
alternative. There is prejudice of two hun
dred years growth in the South against the ad-
mission of the blacks among the Southern whites
to footing of political equality. This preju-
dice cannot be removed by Congressional legis-
lofi hv futio NJ
1t must be left to the changing influences of
time. Very we'll. Even so this amendment
proposes to leave it, Every State concerned
has the choice of admitting to or excluding from
the suffrage its black population and as this
prejudice against the blacks is the predominant
idea among the ruling Southern whites, their
only course is to accept the amendment with the
distinct understanding among themselves that
they will exclude the blacks from the ballot-box
toto for the present, submitting to the loss Of
their representation in Congress.
We recommend this course to the Southern
States with the adoption of the amendment
They will not in reality lose much in the House
in losing twenty Sers, considering the over
whelming Northern majority against them in
that body. BY eomingin with even forty men,
bers they will certainly put an end to the power
of the radicals to carry their measures by two
extreme issues the radicals will be left in a.
minority, with the union of the Northern demo.
Gratis and moderate republicans with the South
ern members. -.
On the other hand, in the Senate these South
ern States remain by this amendment untouched.
1t is in the Senate, too, that the South, in any
event, must henceforth look for its balance of
power in Congress; and in the Senate it can at
once gain this balance of power by the adoption
of this constitutional amendment.
By means of this constitutional amendment
we shall get the Southern representatives into
Congress face to face with the Radicals, and thus
we can defeat the faction which is so dangerous
to the country.-N. 7. Herald
We publish the above to let readers see the
argument used by the Herald, paper which. al
though it has deserted the Presidents policy still
processes to be friendly towards the South.