The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-03

either by the provision of GOOD police, or lby !
the admission of the blacks to such shara in
the management of State affairs that they can
provide police for themselves. The former of
these courses is not strictly in accordance with
the spirit of our institutions; the latter is. But
II refuse to follow either, ackno owledge, ias
plainly as possible, the soundness of the seces-
sionist theory, that the claim of the State the
allegiance of ITS citizens Is paramount and that
the Union Is mere agent for the distribution
oil letters, the regulation of commerce, and the
transaction of business with foreign powers.
While acknowledging, however, that the
bestowal of the franchise on the blacks, igno
rant or degraded though many Of them be,
would provi le them with that security which
is the basis of all progress and civilization, we
| think the notion that II would of itself do much
more than this-that it would protect our Coy
ernment OF our credit against assaults in the
| forum at the hands of those whom we have
defeated on the feld-is delusion; and we are
satisfied that, If acted on in settling the ques-
| tion OF reconstruction, our childrens children
Will find abundant reason to mourn over 1t.
| Long advocacy OF the claims of the negro to
| the common rights of humanity, and long
| resistance to the base attempts which have been
made for centuries, and are still made, to place
| him not only lowest in the scale of humanity,
| but even below 1t altogether, have not unnatu-
| rally begoIten in the minds of many of his
| friends o tendency TO rate him even higher than
| the average OF other races, TO treat him as an
exception TO the rules by which other races are
| governed, and to affirm his ability to resist
influences under which white men have sue
| cumbed.
We see this now in some of the arguments put
| forward In defense of negro suffrage. The
| franchise is constantly spoken of as If, in the
| hands of the neg1o, it would possess an occult
| power of some kind, like a talisman, that
| would enable the most ignorant and benighted
black to do with it what no ignorant or be
| nighted white has ever succeeded IN doing. 1t
| is treated, in short, TO use wellknown simile,
as If, in the hands of the black, 1t would be
cross bow from which the weakest could send
| bolt as far as the strongest while it is
acknowledged In the same breath that in the
hands of a man of any other race it is an ordi-
nary bow, from which the fight of the arrow
is regulated by the strength of the arm which
has pulled the string.
Now, we maintain that the ballot will do for
| the negro what it does for the poor ignorant
1rishmaD, or German, or Englishman, but no
more. 1t Will secure hlm against hagrant class
legislation, or cruel or unusual punishments,
and against all oppression which is on Its face
| oppressive. 1t Will do more than this; 1T will
| cause politicians and public men--sherihs
policemen and the whole race of iunctionaries,
| actual and expectant-to treat HIM with clvility,
even with Difference. II will put a stop to out
RACES and assaults OF various kinds on negroes,
| and to all open expressions of contempt for
them or dislike OF them. They would have 1t
III their power to in6ct so much injury on their
| open enemies, in one way or another, that 1t
| would become the habit even OF good society,
to be careful about IeviIng them. And it would
have the effect of raising them in their own est-
| nation of giving them sense of their man
hood, OF their importance as members of civil
| not for some time possess this sense i'll a very
high degree, they would acquire it, and in
acquiring it make an immense step in advance
along the path OF civilization.
| But more than this the ballot will not do for
the negro. 1t will not make him good Judge
of the value or importance OF measures not
eSehfGR @ aresy sna on his h
to tell the difference between statesmen aud
demagogucs; between honest public men and
knavlsh public men, between his own real
friends and his real enemies; to distinguish Ia VS.
contrived by scoundreJs for his spollation,
under show of immediate benefit, and schemes
vantage, though entalling tenn porary Inconve-
nience; and it will give him no sense whatever
OF the importance OF the public credit or OF the
sacredness of national pledges. This sense is
one OF the last results Of political and moral
training.
Moreover, to maintain that the ballot alone
would do all these things for him, would be not
simply 10 fly in the face of all history, of all our
ewn experience of human nature, but OF the
very doctrine which has been preached from
the earliest period down to the year 1854 as the
very foundation of our political systematic
doctrine that democratic institutions must rest
on education. The doctrine of the all-sufficiency
of the ballot was invented last year, and until
we hear something better in its defense than
mere defamation, we must regard universal
suffrage and universal amnesty" as a mere quack
remedy, most OF the virtue of which, like some
of the popular "bittersn and pills, lies in the
sound of the name. "Universal sudragen has
been tried at the North, we think, with eminent
success; but it has nowhere produced the effects
which some people expect it 10 produce at the
South, unless when coupled with education.
The interest of the poor whites OF the slave
States has always been opposed to that of the
great planters, and there was not very cordial
feeling between them either, and yet that did
not prevent the Shareholders from dragging the
poor whites to the polls, year after year, to
vote for their own degradation, and from finally
dragging them into bloody war for the main.
tenance OF an institution in which they had no
sort of interest. We all acknowledged until
very recently, that in this instance, at least the
ballot of itself did not preserve men even of our
own race--the only race be it Iememb bered,
which has long succeeded ID maintaining popu.
lar institutions-trom being made the instrument
of their own oppression. Pennsylvania was
for many years the great Northern stronghold OF
pro.slavery Democracy. There was no State in
which an old pro-slavery politician was surer OF
a hearing and welcome. The ignorant whites
voted the proslavery ticket, year after year,
with blind constancy; and no change was effected
until the common school system-tor which
Thaddeus Stevens, who for this only, ii he had
done nothing else, ought to be loved and
honored, had labored toraquarter OF century,
Since then the redemption of the State has
steadily advanced. Whatever there is of excel
lence in the society or government of Massa-
chusetts is undoubtedly due TO theitact that she
has not relied on the ballot only to elevate her
citizens or purify her politics. In New York
city the foreign population all vote; and Fer
nsndo Wood and John Morrssey do not go
about cudgelling, robbing, or numbering the
| Irish, or burning their shanties down. On the
contrary, ,lthey treat them with great Difference;
are never weary of flattering them, giving them
office, and distributing money or jobs amongst
them; but they hnd no difficulty, nevertheless,
| la securing the support of the Irish, year after
| year, for the worst schemes and worst func-
tionaries that ever afflicted a civilized COM
munity, and for Unsuccessful conduct OF cor
rupt organizations from wnlch the irlsh sulier,
fhnW nj fhn niN