Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-02

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d, is Just possible that the General would nave
ordered the Justice to get out of the way,
but more probable that he would have
simply kept on without vouchsating the Ju-
dicial magnate word. ,s..F.
We have been engaged in a fierce, des-.
perate, protracted struggle for the very ex-
istence of the Republic, whereof the Con-
stitution is but an incident. (lknow there
were those nominally on our side who said
they fought for the Constitution; but never
heard Of their hurting any body Ia The
progress Of that struggle, it became neces-
Sary to call the blacks TO the rescue of the
imperiled nation. Had we made them no
promises whatever, our obligations result
| ing from our peril and their services in
averting Il would not have been essentially
lessened. Had we been worsted, they must
have shared our misfortune, and gone un-
| der the feet Of the triumphant Rebels.
/ Had we ended the struggle by treaty or
compact, they must have been governed by
the terms of the compact But we were
not worsted; we did not compromise or end
the war by treaty; we were entirely and alb
solutely triumphant; and hold il a moral
obligation thence resulting that we shall
guarantee their absolute, perfect freedom.
To prove unfaithful to this obligation is TO
bury ourselves in per6dy and enduring
shame. And this responsibility, springing
directly from the national rescue from ruin,
hold far before and abovethe letter of the
Constitution. q
The soundness and urgency of this view
would not have been so palpable had the
Rebels, after the utter collapse and disap-
pearance of their Confederacy, evinced
grain Of common sense. Had they so acted
that their friends might have Plausibly ar
gued that the blacks were 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 thereupon gone to
sleep. But the last shots of the war had
barely ceased TO echo when Southern Lee
gislatures, assembled by Mr. Johnsons Pro.
! visional Governors, began TO concoct and
enact..law bearing exclusively on the freed
men, which would have disgraced the worst
days of Egyptian or Algerine despotism.
For instance: no reasonable person ever OBJ
jected, while slavery existed, to laws placing
the blacks in slave States under police snr'
VIGILANCE, and forbidding them to keep
or bear arms; but. such acts became absurd
ly tyrannical from the momeIit wherein
slavery disappeared; and the wrenching of
their arms by Rebels from honorably dis
Echarged Union soldiers, under color of
State authority, solely because the Union
lists we're blacks, was a very cowardly mode
of renewing the war Of rebellion. So Of all
acts revived or re-enaeted which shut
blacks out of the witness-bOx incases where
only whites are parties, or inflicted on
them any kind of disability which was at
the same time an indignity. This kind Of
! legislation (see McPherson's Manual) was
common to all the Rebel States, though
that of Mississippi was probably the worst.
rejoice that South Carolina has had the
good sense to repeal her share Of it, and |
hail her action in this respect as greatly
conducive 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 tomorrow we
must place the essential rights Of every
| American citizen under the express guar
| dianship of the Federal Constitution That
will be the end of controversy; until then,
even unsuccessful attempts to abridge them
will prove grave and general calamity.
have said that 1 favor both universal
amnesty and impartial suffrage on their
respective merits, each without regard to
the other. hold that the North is bound
to insist on manhood suffrage-not in the
South only, but in every State and Terri
torv-because of the service required of
and rendered by the blacks in putting
down the rebellion-that it would be per-
fdy and baseness, in view Of all the facts
not to insist on this. / hold the South
bound to accord suffrage to the blacks, as
an important and useful, though humble
portion of her people, whom 1t is her in
terest as we'll as her duty to conciliate and
satisfy, even though the North did not de-
sire it, There is no conflict between the
interest 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 respec-
tive resentments and prejudiees. The
North wants to keep at least the leading
Rebels under ban indefinitely; the South
that is, a majority Of the dominant
caste at the South-wants TO keep the
negroes under foot-despised, powerless
and often abused by the white rufians
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 dead
lock to those whom / must consider the
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 re-
storation to power and public favor; even
though the North were able to force i'm
partial suffrage on the South, it would
prove of little value while resisted by a
strong majority of the dominant caste there.
| But let the North and South strike hands
on the basis of universal amnesty with i'm
partial suffrage, and the resulting peace
will be perfect, Acknowledgment enduring.
Each section will gain everything and lose
really nothing.
As to how the blacks will vote if enfran-
chised, have not inquired, and do not care
10 know. That they will not vote for the
re-establishment Of slavery, nor for their
own Acknowledgement, nor to exalt to power
those who burn their school-houses and
mob their csmp.meetings, 1 take to be self
| evident They NAV make some mistakes