The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-09-28

may think him mistaken, l cannot re-
| train from according to him the meed
of honesty and manliness. de starts
ont with the idea thatall men are eqit0t,
and that the negro sjust as much EMU
tied to his share in the government OF
the country as he is entitled to be paid
for his days labor after he asperform-
ed it. He believes the negro ought to
have a vote, just as he ought to have a
challenge to the jury who is to try him
for hislife. This is radical ground, and
/ say l respect it-I understand it; but
y0u will perceive these Constitutional
amendments don't cover that ground.
Indeed, they abandon it, and trade 1t
| off for consideration. They sell him to
the white men in this respect, provided
the latter will agree to yield up their
political power in proportion as it is
based on theirnegro population. How
this would benefit the negro no one can
explain; but anybody may see that II
would not incline the people of the
SouthernStates to treat him better than
they now do. May they not look upon
him as the cause seofthisnew humiliation,
and visit upon him that indignation
which his half hearted friends really
deserve? This is why true radicals OPP
pose it, andstigmatize it as an abandon
ment of the negro to his fate, in order
to deprive the Southern States Of few
members Of Congress.
Nor are the authors Of it anxious for
its success. With no love for the negro,
they offer this as a sop to the abolition
lists, and expect, by means oft, to keep
them quiet ill after the election. The
heads Of these men are cool enough be-
sides, to know that thereis not compen-
sation enough in it to justify them in
the risks they run in destroying the
freedom of the States, and in consOlida-
ting power over them in the Federal
Government. 1t is an invention that
may be made to plague the inventors,
and petard that might hoist its own
engineers. If tWenty-seven states can
deprive nine states of one-half their
members of Congress by amending the
Constitution, the same number ofStates
might deprive New England Of one
half h& Senators; and this is made pos
sible whenever the precedent is set,
that an amendmentcan be made which
is not only not in harmony with, but
directly contrary to the original instru-
ment itself. Ifyou can change the basis
of representation, pass bills ofa ttainder
and er post .fact0 laws, you can do any
thing. Such changes are not amend.
Daefts at all-they are really UjOldti01S
attempted under a cover ola power to
amend, and ifsuccessful, the instrument
becomes the sport of faction, loses all its
efficacy, and is not worth the paper up
on which it is written.
Think proceedings Ofthelate Con-
vention at Philadelphia, called, by way
of eminence, theLoyal Southern Union
Convention, ought to open the eyes of
the peopleas to the true nature Of theis-
sues involved in the next elections.
Surelyno such body has ever met the
| world before, or one which exposed its
nakedness more plainly than this. All
/ the bedlams Of the country seemed to
| be let loose in it. Ye Gods if the spir-
its of Washington, Franklin, Madison,
| Adams, Hamilton and Jefferson were
/ permitted to look in upon it, what they
must have thought. To have seen a
parcel Ofrefuse babbIers from the South,
ofno importance at any time, and less
now, pleading for justice TO the negro,
| for his right TO suffrage, in order to give
them a constituency, when it is notori-
GUS that nine out of every ten of these
fellows were, a few years ago, the most
violent Of slavery pr0pagandists. If
! they are representative men of the
South, where were they before the war?
What did they do to arrestits progress?
Whoever heard Of any Of them unit
the rebellion spewed them Outasthe eX-
ponents of It's rascality ?-They were
not trusted on It's side, and they came
over 10 ours, is their history and now
theyopenIy confess that the only chance
they have for fame or fortune, is in ne
gro suffrage. They do not pretend that
any white mencOnfde in them, but they
say the negroes will. Quere de hoe as the
lawyers say, question as TO this. | am
afraid that the man who loses the conf
dence of his white fellow-citizens would
soon lose that of the negroes. The latter
can tell a gentleman as quickly as any
body, and you could no more cheat him
With your BroWnlows and Hamiltons
than you could cheat the ladies of Par
is, or those OfLatrObc with them. Their
cry, however, was 'Negro suffrage"
from first to last; but their Northern al
lies were obdurate, and the despairing
wall Of these philanthropic statesmen
died away on their ears without reach
ing their hearts: They would make
that an issue.
! GIVING IT UP.-The Philadelphia
Eye1aiqq Isleqra0h. a Republican organ,