The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-11-28
Especial Correspondence of the Cincinnati
Gazette.
The impartial Suffrage SWindle.

anxious as children lest the good
thing should suddenly burst. The
weakness of the scheme is fast be-
coming apparent Forthe Union par
ty to trust its fortunes to such a plan
would be as hazardous as to ascend in
balloon made of soap bubbles
Those proposing it here have been the
first to expose the swindle. With the
possibility that the Democratic party
would adopt the idea, they at once be-
came confident, and in their glee ac-
counting the thing already accom-
plished, they began to exult over the
final defeat of the Union party, and
the restoration of the South to power
A great deal has been said within a
week of the important step the Presl-
dent is about to take upon the subject
of amnasty and suffrage. The whole
land has been flooded with sensational
dispatches concerning it, and to read
them the public might readily sup
pose that the Executive mansion had
been turned into debating club,
where prominent Southerners, Demo-
Gratis and Republicans, were in contin-
ual session discussing the matter
Whereas, the country heard of the
matter before Mr.. johnson did. A
few schcming ones among the grand
army of the defeated, who have been
considering all possible means of re-
trieving their fortunes, and who con-
cluded that only desperate remedies
gave any hopes of cure, at last hit up
on this great swindle-this immense
political bubble, filed, it is true, with
the air of liberty, and shining with
brilliant hues, but as treacherous as
the craft Democracy has always built
for liberty. sa
+ 1t was concocted by Southerners
and Democrats, and they, with a few
johnson men, Twill the reader pardon
the nice distinction between the latter
classes2) undertook to force the mat
ter upon Mr.. johnson. This party
first started the stories with which the
country was RECALLED, and then, using
the fact of the subject exciting uni
Vereal attention as an argument with
the President, they succeeded in gain
ing his attention. TO give the story
strength at the North, it was given
out that prominent Republicans were
present, taking part in urging Mr..
johnson to take the step. No such
persons were here. The President, if
his own statement be worth anything.
has not even intimated that he would
propose such a compromise as this
would be. On the contrary, he has
almost daily, since the first talk re-
garding it, asserted that he intended
to make no change. However, men
from the South, men upon whose gar
ments the smell of the Philadelphia
scorching fingers yet. and men of the
Breckenridge school, are daily assault
ing the great rock of Presidential
stubborness, and it is possible they
may carry the fortress. Those who
have the best means of judging do
not believe he will yield. Still all
admit that the operations of Mr..
Johnson's mind are past finding out
that his assimilation approaches the
infinite, and that his acts can never
be explained by his words or profess
ed belief.
The Southern men engaged in this
plot are in ecstacies over it. They
say it will accomplish all their present
purposes by defeating the constitu-
tional amendment, and leaving all the
instigators oe the rebellion eligable to
Office, DISTINGUISHING the whole class
of whites, among which nearly all the
Union sentiment OF the South is
found, and while nominally conferr-
ing suffrage upon the blacks, really
shutting them out till after the class
which precipitated the war has been
firmly seated in power. They see the
real difference between the operations
OF the constitutional amendment,
which really Furnishes the guilty, and
a plan which only Furnishes a class
which the Southern aristocrats have
always desired to keep from power.
EFFECT OF THE AMENDMENT.
1t is impossible to arrive at the ex-
act number rendered Ineligible to
Office by the third section of the
amendment. until the limit of the
terms " executive and judicial Of
fees, as applied to States, is fixed.
Some contend that it is all-embracinp
and would shut out all who have taken
the oath of Office as prescribed bv
some of the States, in which the Off
GERS swears to support the Constitn-
ton of the United States and Of the
particular State. This, in some cases
would include justices of the peace
and a host of petty officers Of this
character. Then many who have
served in the State Legislature dur
ing the war, may never have taken an
oath to support the Constitution; and
the same may be true of many judic-
ial officers. 49,
A reference to the third section
will show the difficulties in arriving
at definite estimate Of the numbers
affected by it. 1t is as follows:
8 SEC & No nersnn shall be q Sen