The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-11-29

| Io "u'uoIity, anu III virtue OF that
Federal Constitution which Won hnvp
sworn to obey, command yoIl to turn
back!-it is just possible that the Gen.
"ral would have ordered the Justice to
get out OF the way, but more probable
that ho would have kept on without
NouChsating the judicial magistrate a
word.
We have been engaged in n fiercc dos.
! perRte, protracted struggle for the very
existence of the Republic, whereof the
| constitution Is but an incident. II
Know there were those nominallv on
our side who said they fought for the
constitution; but never heard of their
hurting nnybody.) In the progress OF
mat struggle, it became necessary to
call the blacks to the rescue of the i'm
periled Nation. Had we made them no
| promises whatever, our obligations rr-
sultinS from our peril and their services
in averting 1t, would not have been es-
senttnlly lessened. Had we been
| worsted, they must have shared our
misfortune, and gone under the feet OF
the triumphant rebels. Had we ended
the struggle by treaty or compact, they
must have been governed by the terms
| OF that compact. But we were not
worsted; We did not compromise nor
end the war by treaty; we were
entirely and absolutely triumphant:
and hold 1t moral obligation thence
resulting that we shall guarantee and
secure their absolute, perfect freedom.
To prove unfaithnll to this obligation is
to bury ourselves in periidy and endur-
ing Shame. And this responsibility,
sprinGing directly from the National
rescue from ruin, hold fur before and
above the letter of the Constitution.
The soundneSs and urgency of this
view would not have been so pRIpable
| had the rebels, after the utter collapse
and disappearance of their Confedern-
| cy, evinccd IL grain of common sense.
! Had they so acted that their friends
might have plausibly argued that the
blacks We're safe in their hands, we
| might have guessed, or trusted, or
! hoped, that the most vital rights of the
| freedmen would be respected and
shielded by State action; and there
| upon gone to sleep. But the last shots
of the war had barely ceased to echo
| when Southern legislatures, assembled
! by Mr.. JOhnson'S Provisional Gov
ernors, began to concoct and enact laws
! bearing exclusively on the Freedmen
! which would have disgraced the worst
days of Egyptian or Algerine despOt-
ISM. For instance, no reasonable per-
| son ever obj jeCted, while slavery existed,
to laws placing the blacks in slave
States under police surveillance, and
| torbidding them 10 keep or bear arms;
| but such acts become absurdlv tvran-
nlcal from the moment wherein slavery
| disappeared; and the wrenching of their
arms by rebels from honorablv dis
charged Union soldiers, under color of
State authority, solely. because the
/ UnioniSts were blacks, was n very
cowardly mode of renewing the war of
/ rebellion. So of all acts revived or re-
enacted which shut blacks out of the
| Witness box in cases where only whites
were parties, or inflicted on them any
kind of disability which was at the
same time an indignity. This kind OF
| legislation tsee McIherSOn'S Manual. J
| was common to all the rebel States
though that of Mississippi was probu-
bly, the worst. l rejoice that South
Carolina has had the good sense to re-
| peal her share OF 1t, and L hail her aC-
ton in this respect as greatly condu-
Give to an early restoration of the
Union. But it is proved unsafe to trust
to local authority and opinion, which
may be right to-day and wrong to-
morrow: we must place the essential
rights OF every American citizen under
the express guardianship of the FEEDER
al Constitution. That will be the end
of controversy; until then, even unSuc-
cesstul attempts to abridge them will
prove grave and general calamity.
l have said that l favor both Uni
versal Amnesty and Impartial Suffrage
| on their respective merits, each with
out regard to the other. hold that the
North is bound to insist on Manhood
| Sutfrage-not in the South only, but in
every State and Tcrritory-because of
the service required OF and rendered by
| the blacks in putting down the Rebel
lion-that it would be pertidy and base
ness, in view of all the facts, not to
insist on this. l hold the South bound
| to accord suffrage to the blacks, as an
| important and useful, though humble
| portion of her people, whom it is her
interest as we'll AS her duty to conciliate
and satisfy, even though the North did
not desire it. There is no conflict be-
| tween the interests and duties of the
North on one side and the South on the
| Other-what is best for each or either.
| is best for both-the only collision is
| between their respective resentments
and prejudiCes. The North wants to
keep at least the leading rebels under
/ pan indefinitely; the South-lhat is,
majority of the dominant caste at the
South-wantst to keep the negroes under
foot-despised, Powerless, and often
abused by the white rutIians, whose
crimes the better class disavow, but
neither prevent nor punish. The loyal
| North has demonstrated her ability to
| keep the rebels out OF Congress- the
rebel South has likewise proved her
power to prevent indefinitely the due
! ratification of the constitutional
Amendment. This deadlock affords
| to those whom must consider Le,more
| generous and far-seeing minds OF either
| section an opportunity which, once
| lost, may never return. Even though
the South were able to force her leaders
| into Congress, they could not hope for
| full restoration TO power and public
! favor; even though the North were not
able. to force impartial suffrage on the
South, it would prove of little value
while resisted by strong majority of
| the dominant caste there. But let
| North and South strike bands on the
basis OF Universal Amnesty with i'm
| partial suffrage, and the resulting pence
will be perfect, all-embracing and en-
during. Each section will gain every
thing and lose really nothing.
As to how the Blacks Will vote If en-
franchsed, have not inquired, and do
not care to know. That they will not
| vote for the establishment of Slav-
cry, nor for their own disfranchise-
ment, nor 10 exalt TO power those who
burn their school-houses and mob their
camp. meetings, I take to be seIE-evi-
dent. They may make some mistakes
! at first; but experience will tend stendi-
| ly to their diminution and correction.
do not concur with tho careful moth
er who insisted that her son must be
| kept out of the water until he should
have learned to swim. And feel con-
hdent that Blacks, like other men, will
vote first for their own rights, then TO
promote the welfare of their country.
II the South shall insist on her alb
straCt right to hold the Blacks as n sub
ject race, the North will doubtless in
sist on the indefinite disfranchisement
of all tho prominent Rebels, and mat
ters will thus go on as they have gone
for the last year, I must still cherish
my opinion that this is unwise; but /
shall stand with my own people, while
awaiting the calmer and wiser view
that am confident must ultimately
prevail. Tho disinterested will say,
| "Let tho RebelS remnin mnder tho hn n