Maryland free press., 1866-06-21
TO THE INDEPENDENT VOTERS
OF DIS. NO3


affairs of our State and Nation fraught with
dircful and momentous interest to every
citizen. A Radical majority in Congress
are endeavoring to break up the Union of
these States which has cost so much
blood and treasure to preserve. What
powerful armed foe could not accomplish,
they are trying to effect by the more cow
ardy means of niischicvous unconstitution-
al legislation, and by forced amendments
to the Constitution, which, if ever adopted,
must lead to disruption, or to worse al
tentative, that of complete despotism of
one section of the Union over another.
by one of these amendments negro
equality is to be fastened upon the people
Of the Southern States. or else their repre-
sentation in Congress (rhcn once auhori-
zel) to be reduced to mere cipher, -
well as their status in the electoral college
which, if either alternative is accepted,
must forever give the arrogant Abolition
party of the North an overwhelming pre-
dominance in the Federal government
and thereby, one section forever made sub
servient to the other, and occupying an
irrelevant and dependent position, instead
Of free and independent sovereign States.
Of course as an amendment to the Con-
stitution it will not be confined to the States
lately in rebellion, but must include all the
States; but the States North having but a
meagre negro population, it will effect
them but little, il at all, which evidently
goes to show that it is intended as meas
ure Of discrimination against the late slave
holding States of the Union. In that To-
eality large portion of the population be-
longs to the negro race-and consequently
ifunivcrsal Suffrage be once granted-with
the aid of the E'eetln,en's bureau and Jay-
oncts. and the CicH Rights Blu at their
back-that race will be able to control the
elections, and thus prove, as they are in
tended to be, the plant tools of the Radi-
cals-thus presenting to the civilized world
the anomalous and humiliating aspect in
the South of negroes holding all the To-
cal offices and sending negroes to toCongress
to legislate upon matters in which the
whole people are interested-and always
to vote in the way that such men as Thad.
Stevens, Sumner & Co., shall dictate
This being the programme, it will be he
cessary for the white people of the South to
bow in abject submission to their colorcd
lordlings, who of course will administer af-
fairs according to the vindictive DEGREES
that shall constantly emanatc from the
fountain of all power as claimed already to
he invested in the above named leaders and
their party, or else they must resort to that
only other alternative left, that of forciblc
resistance, which must end in the total cx-
termination of one or other of the conflict
ing races.
Now the question is, men of Maryland,
which side will we espouse, that of the in
telligcnt white citizens or that of untutored
negroes. And, moreover, let it not be
forgotten that Maryland yill come in for
her full share of this delectable condition
of affairs, for she cannot escape-to the
contrary Notwithstanding, the assumption
of the Radicals that no such issue is pre-
sented i'll Mary land. Maryland has large
colored population which she must either
allow to vote at her elections. or swallow
the bitter pill Of losing two ffths of her rep
resentation in Congress and the electoral
College. If she accepts the alternative of
negro suffrage then in a great measure the
same state of things is forced upon the peo-
pie of this State, us is intended to be car
carried out in the reconstruction policy Of
the Radicals in Congress concerning our
sister states of the South.
Then we say men of Maryland, be not
deceived. If you honestly oppose negro
suffrage in our midst, it cannot be done by
resolving that you are opposed to negro
suffrage and at the same time approving Of
the Radical policy Of the Disunionsts in
Congress, which is committed to that one
all absorbing idea; and for the accomplish
ment aud carrying out Of which, six
months session Of Congress has already
been devoted; and that too, in the face ol
the repeated admonition Of the President
of the United States, who, by standing on
the side of the people and the Constitution,
has made himself the enemy of that party
in and out OF Congress. This action upon
the part of that party clearly shows where
they staId-and their determination either
to blot out of national existence the States
of the South, or to thrust upon them the
foul stigma of negro equality at all haz-
ards.
To prevent. If possible. then. the consul