The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-12-20
Negro Suffrage and the Radicals

Negro Suffrage and the Radicals.
Some Of the Radical journals are be-
ginning to express doubts as to whether,
should the leaders of that party accom-
plish their scheme for negro suffrage in
the South, that the benefits of the meas
ure would inure to them. They are not
so certain that the negro, if allowed the
ballot, would cast it in tho interest OF the
Radicals, and hence they hesitate, and
entreat their leaders to canvass the mat
ter we'll before they take step which
may be the death -lsnell of their party.
Prominent among the. Radical organs
which now look with disfavor upon negro
suffrage, is the New York Nation, one of
the abIest in the interest of that party.
In leading article on Universal Suf-
frage and Universal Amnesty" in re-
cent issue, the Nation says:
"Now, if we absolve the Southern lead
ers from all thcir sins and arm the blacks
with the ballot, the frstresult will be that
the persecution of the freedmen will in
stantly cease. So far, 80 good. But at
the same time the Southern politicians
will go to work diligently to cultivate the
good will Of the negroes-to practice on
their prejudices, on their ignorance, on
their weaknesses of all kinds At this
game they will certainly beat all compet-
itors. They will be on the spot, at every
tavern, at every cross road, OH every
plantation, bringing to bear on popula-
tion bound to them by various sorts Of
ties all the arts of the most adroit and
accomplished canvHssers. They have the
leisure, the training and experience ne
cessary for the work, and will do it thor
oughly. Our orators will not go down
to contend with them. Probably their
lives would not be safe if they did. BY
way of counteracting their schemes, and
keeping alive the fidelity of the freedmen
to the Union and to liberty, we shall de-
liver lectures at lyceums in New England
and the Northwest, stirring harangues at
the Cooper Institute, New York, and
publish ardent editorials in the Iri6uue
and Independent, which half q million of
Northern whites will read, but never a
Southern black. Does any calm and can
did observer suppose that after five years
of this sort of regime we should not have
completely lost the new constituency we
are now calling into existence, that the ne
eroes would not be driven into the South
ern net just as completely as the ignorant
whites of the South and the ignorant
Irish of the North have been 2"
1t is question that scarcely admits of
doubt that, if the negro were clothed with
the right Of suffrage, he would exercise it
in behalf of those with whom his inter
ests were identified. The history of all
hired laboring classes will establish the
truth of this proposition. Let the New
England manufacturer speak what he
honestly believes of his white operatives
in regard to this matter, and scarcely one
will be found who will not confirm this
view of the case. If, then, white laborers
will vote in such manner as to please their
employers or promote their interests, is 1T
not natural that the negro, "native and to
the manor born," and being identified in
interest with the Southern people, would
vote as they vote2 1t is very probable
that a considerable number would not,
but tits almost certain that the great body
of them would. There is not the reno
LcSC pTOUdUIllIy IuaI q ouihIi0ho HuiHDS1
would vote with the Radicals to turn the
scale in their favor So far as the South
ern people are concerned, it is simply a
question of expediency whether the right
Of suffrage shall be conferred upon the
negro; whether this large body of uned-
ucated people shall be made the equals of
so many intelligent white mon at the bal
lot box; whether dangerous clement
would not be introduced into our local
politics by so wide an extension OF the
elective franchise, already too much ex-
tended.
AS soon as the Radicals become con-
vinced that the negro will vote with his
former master and present employer, they
will drop their negro suffrage hobby with
very little ceremony. They have no
sympathy with the negro unless they can
uso him to further theirpolitical schemes,
and the moro intelligent negroes in the
Southern States are daily becoming more
convinced of the truth Of this assertion.
Nashville Union and Dispatch.