Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-14
zrANHooD sUFFBAeE OPEBArToB

We shall ever regard it as a high
privilege to have been present on the
floor of the House Of Representatives
at Washington On the 9th Of January
last. on the occasion of the passage by
that body. over the Presidents veto,
Of the bill establishing manhood suf-
frage in the District of Columbia.
What fitting celebration Of the ami
versary of a great victory won In graat
part by valor of negro troops was this
the first recognition by the nation Of
/ the equal rights of the African The
iubilant ebony faces in the galleries
were IN striking contrast to the scOwI-
ing rebels by their sides, and so entire
| ly unlike the ordinary uses of light and
shade in works OF art as to be entirely
unique Then the round on round of
applause which greeted the official an
nouneement by the Speaker of the re-
suit of the vote was typical IN some
small degree of the jubilee among the
people on the outside, far and near,
who were waiting anxi0usly the an
nouncement Of the vote.
An acquaintau e near by where we
sat ventured the prediction that no ne
gro would ever live to cast his ballot
under that law, and the streets of the
city would run blood before it could be
enforced, A chivalrous old gentle
man in the gallery, with a queue and
ruf1ed shirt, "all of the olden time, .
terror-stricken at the act just passed,
rolled his eyes, elevated his hands, and
exclaimed in most lugubriOUs tones
'Oh my God my country - Copper
heads sat 10 silent terror, as if awaiting
the crack of doom, which they dated
on the 18th of the following month,
when the municipal election in George
town would be held. Every where on
the streets, in the saloons and hotels,
in the Hobbies, despite the bitter cold
weather and the driving snow, the
opinion was freely expressed that the
peace of the city was destroyed, and
the new law was denounced as an IN
mitigated outrage, which would be re-
sisted to the death.
Well, all his happened FIVE months
ago. and in the meantime two elections
have been held under the law, yet no
blood has been shed-nO right has been
trampled upOn-no property has been
destroyed-the peace has not been dis
turbed, and the two cities are safer,
more pleasant, and better governed to-
day than at any previous period in
their history. Bear IN mind also that
the enfraDchisement of the blacks In
the District, unlike a similar act IN
Ohio, where they are numerically
weak, has changed at a single election
the entire political complexion of both
cities, and given the political power to
tn at party that has heretofore been a
small minority. The destruction threat
ened five months ago, was to follow
the mere voting of these black men
what would have been threatened in
view Of a sweeping victory through
these vo' IS the world will never know,
for it was not then even dreamed of.
We desire to cali the attention of the
voters Of Ohio to these elections and
ask them to profit by the lesson therein
so plainly taught. The first elections
IN which the freedmen vote are pecu- |
liarly interesting to our people at this |
time, and they have shown with great |
distinetuess two things-that the col !
ored man is intelligent enough to dis |
tiDguish his true friends, and possess |
esses the independence to vote accord /
ingly The fearful results that were /
to follow this enfranchIsement, on ac- |
count of their besOtted ignorance, is /
nowhere apparent, and the idea that /
they would be controlled by their old /
employers is most effectually exploded. |
On the whole, the result is a complete
Yindieation of the action Of Congress,
and is doing the work OF the friends of
equal rights in Ohio and elsewhere as
nothing else could do it.
Can our people see nothing in this
result to decide their action at the next
in this State ? One by one
every Copperhead argument falls to
the ground. A little while ago and it
was a war of races then the danger
to the public peace from the ignorance
of the blacks ks"-then the taunt that if
we did "enfranchise the black man the
Copperhead would buy his vote" and
so on for quantity but these are allan
initiated, and they have nothing left to
fight on but the putrid old cry Of mig
ger equality" and "misceEenatiou."
To these vapOrings-We cannot call
them arguments-We cannot do better
than quote Greeley's reply to a man
who acoosted him at Wizards thus
Give the niGgers votes, would you
Make them your equals, would you