The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-14
The Dynamics of the Suffrage Question.

decease that the question of suffrage for the
colored citizens Of the United States was not
merely question of philanthropy, but one
opolitical dynamics" as we'll Our Repubh-
can friends in Maryland have already found 1t
30. and to their cost. Had they, during the
period while they possessed political control OF
that State, been wise enough and bold enough
TO have enfranchised the colored citizens, they
might still have maintained undisputed pos
session of the State. They voluntarily fought
the battle with only part of their forces, and
hey lost their State in consequence.
The Republicans of Tennessee have been
wiser. Rising to more correct appreciation
of the tendencies of the times and the ext
gencies of the situation, they have summoned
their colored fellow-citizens into the political
field, and have reinforced themselves for their
contests with disloyalty and retrogression by
phalanx of faithful allies. We look upon Ten
nessee as safe to the Republican cause for
long time to come.
But there is a broader sense than that of
mere State control, in which the enfranohisef
ment of the colored citizens is likely to prove
an important element in political dynamics.
The present probabilities are that the late
Rebel States will be admitted to the Union in
season TO participate in the next Presidential
election. Throughout those States the colored
citizens have been enfranchised by act of Con-
gress. They are hereafter to participate in all
elections. Where they do not themselves con-
stitute numerical majority in the State, they
will at least hold the balance of power. The
probability is that, unless the Democratic party
can manage to secure pretty large portion of
the colored vote, it will find itself in minority
in each of those States. 1t would be strange
sight, we confess, to see South Carolina repre-
sented in Congress by thorough Republican
delegation, yet such result is by no means
impossible, and would be but typical of the
great revolution through which the country
has passed.
But Republican Congressional delegates from
the late Rebel States may play an important
part in political dynamcs. 1t is the opinion
of many shrewd politicians that in the next
Presidential election there will be no choice
by the people, and that the election will thus
be thrown into the House of Representatives
In such a case each State without reference to
population or extent, casts a single vote.
South Carolina will count for as much as Penn
sylvania. Here is where the "dynamics" come
in. Moreover, the House of Representatives
which would have this question to decide is the
present one-not the one to be elected in 1868.
In the Presidential election of next year,
the colored citizens OF the South will for
the first time, vote for Chief Magistrate of
the country. They will, doubtless, vote much
in accordance with the bias which they may
acquire in their first elections to be held this
fall. They will still be influenced more or
less by the desire of fortifying and assuring
themselves in their political position as cti-
zens. They will watch with jealousy the
position of parties with reference to their en-
franchisement. They will scan closely the
attitude of parties on this question in those
States where the colored citizen is deprived of
his vote. The disfranchisement of the colored
citizen in Pennsylvania is perpetual threat
of his disfranchisement in the late Rebel
States. The party which perpetrates
so unjust measure in Pennsylva-
mia cannot expect to receive the
support of that class of citizens anywhere in
the country. 1t is in this view of the subject
that the action of the late old-fogy Democratic
Convention of this State becomes of some i'm
portance dynamically considered. We know
of no better campaigning document for Repub-
hcans all over the South than the platform
adopted the other day by the Democrats at
Harrisburg. 1t is full of the bitterest hatred
against the colOred citizens of the United
States. It's spirit would wrest the ballot from
every such citizen from one end of the country
to the other. 1t is an open declaration of war
against the rights and liberties of four millions
of our fellow-oitizens, which they would be
foOlishly criminal did they not take notice Of
and resent. 1t is the pretense of the Demo
cratic party at the South that it is the
best friend the colored citizen has. To expose
the falsity of this assumption, the Republicans
have but to point to the Democratic platform
in Pennsylvania. That tells how much re-
gard the Democratic party has for the rights o.
the eOlored citizen.
The Democratic party has never in its past
history shown much regard for abstract ius.
tce. 1t has never been able to see the ethical
element in politics. But it has generally
shown pretty fair comprehension and resnac,
for the dynamics of politics It could undar
stand the power of votes, and has shown a GOOD
degree of shrewdness and zeal in getting them
It has respected force, if not principle. w,
would, therefore, suggestto its leaders whether
this warfare upon the few colored citizens il