Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-19
SENATOR STEWARDS PROPOSE.

The proposition Of Mr.. STEWART, Of Ne
vada, undertakes conclusive settlement Of
all our present troubles by making the uni
versatility of suffrage the condition of the
universally Of pardon. If the black man
can DO permitted to vote the faint Of treason
is forever to be removed from the white man.
1t has the merit at least of disposing of two
vexed questions at one and the same time
1t has beon intimated that this move, COM
ing as 1t does from Senator who has ranked
as n conservative, has the cogniEance of the
President. OF this we know nothing. We
have not felt the public pulse on the sub.
ject, nor do we in this article propose either
to sanction or condemn Mr.. STEWART
plan Of adjustment.
We simply wish to present the subject
carefully, without unfriendly comment or
criticism. That this proposition partakes Of
the nature Of q compromise will not be de-
MED. There are many who object to the
general extension of suffrage for sound State
reasons, such as the danger accruing from
an enormous increase of voters from a race
wholly unprepared for the responsibilities
and duties it would impose on them; and
grave objections exist to taking the DISPOSE
ton Of the momentous subject of franchise
from the control Of the States. If we are to
believe some of our intense Republican
friends the great danger of the country is in
the direction of amnesty. The President has
been fercely attacked for pardoning few
thousands of the less conspicuous partici.
pants of the rebellion, and Congress has been
making itself a reputation, either enviable
or otherwise, in its zeal in keeping whole
States, even with loyal representatives, out
of its halls because the infection of treason
was still upon them.
No political power for the late rebels has
been the shibboleth of the radical party.
treason but to almost erase tho fact of its
existence. Let the South give the negro a
ballot and we will give the traitor not only a
ballot but all his rights That looks to us
very much like a compromise, and, if our
memory is correct, compromises hnv'nt
stood in the highest estimation ofthe Amer.
lean people. We suppose that the great OBJ.
lection to the admission of the States en-.
gagged in the rebellion to their former politi
cal standing was that their votes in Congress
would in some way prove disastrous to the
country. Therefore we have heard much Of
tho subject Of guarantees, irreyersible guar
antees, as a condition precedent to the re.
eognition Of the unrepresented States The
sole guarantee of the future by this methOt
is TO be the vote of the enfranchised oOlOret
race. Mr.. SUMNER believes that to be SUN
cient security for all coming time. Withou
discussing the question whether any DANCE
would in reality result from the admission
from the lately rebel States of those mem
bers who could take the test oath, we give II
as our opinion that ballot in the hands Of
the black population, no matter how liber.
ally extended, would not change the pOliti
cal character Of q single Southern district
We do not expect to see, in consequence o.
the extension of suffrage, either tho election
of colored men themselves, or of men whC
are specially identified with them but un9el
this adjustment we should not DO surprised
TO 500 both JEFFERSON DAVIS and ROBERT
Z. Lee elected to the United States Senate
as soon as it became adopted
The plan of Senator STEWART does not
provide for universal suffrage, but for Its
quality. It does not take away franchise