Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-21

/ But the fact is patent TO all, that the
| negro is utterly untitled to exercise the
| highest functions Of the citizen. The
| government OF the country should not be
| permitted to pass from the hands Of the
I white man into the hands OF the negro.
! The enforcement OF the reconstruction
acts by military power under the guise
Of negro voters aud negro conventions,
cannot lawfully re establish civil govern
ment in South Carolina. 1t may for
| time hold US in subsection to a quasi civil
government, backed by military force,
but it can do no more. AS citizens of the
United States we should not consent TO
live under negro supremacy, nor should
We Gcquiesce in negro equality. Not for
ourselves only, but on behalf Of the
Anglo Saxon race and blood in this
country, do we protest against this sub
version Of the great social law, whereby
an ignorant and depraved race Is placed
in power and influence above the virtuOus,
the educated, and the refined. By these
acts Of Congress intelligence and virtue
are put under foot, while ignorance and
vice are lifted int power.
In South Carolina the negro ma
jOrity, under the reconstruction acts, is
much more than two to one. In most of
the other Southern States the negro ma
j0rities, il not so great, are almost as de-
cided. Ia those States where the white
vote is in the ascendant the election dis
triCts have been so arranged as to take
the political power from the white vote
and cast it in favor of the negro vote.
What, then, is the inevitable result 1t
invests the negro with absolute political
power in each OF the ten Southern States,
and at the same time invests him with
the balance Of power in the United
States. Nor is this all-the recOnstruc-
tiOu scheme closes the ballot-bOx against
the best informed and educated classes
in the community, and opens it to the
negro, of whom not more than one in a
hundred can read q word, and not more
than one in five hundred can write his
name; and nllltittfdes Of JUhOHl are so
profoundly ignorant as to be unable to
remember the name 5y IUbich they hare
been registered. Verify, this seems TO
be converting a popular Government, Of
which we have been justly proud,
into a popular farce and we should
be content to so consider it, if
Il did not involve the issue Of
life and death to the form
Of government established by our fathers
for the benefit of themselves and their
posterity. If the object Of the trainers Of
the reconstruction acts was to degrade
the Southern people, it is time for them
to consider whether the degradation may
not be brought to their own doors
whether the poisoned cup may not be
returned to their own lips. But 1t may
be asked, why DO not the Southern
people accept the situation and control
the negro element? This question is
much more easily asked than answered.
In the first place, it may he said that the
influence Of the cOrrIpt and intriguing
demagogue, who will appeal to the pas
sion snd prejudices, has always been
found to be more powerful with excited
and ignorant mobs than the wisest cCun-
sells OF the best friends Besides, the
foundation stone upon which Republican
government rests is that the elective
franchise Is TO be exercised by free, in
telligent, and unbiased judgment; and
whenever it is admitted that the fran
chise Is to be controlled, or, in other
words, 10 be made the subject of undue
influences and Of bribes, then, too, it
must be admitted that Republican gov
erument is at an end, and must, sooner
or later, give wav to such other govern
ment as may be forced upon depraved
and already corrupted people. But If It's
proposed IN advance TO place the enfrRn-
chised negro under control, why
confer the franchise at all ? Surely
the part Of wise government is 20
prevent the evil, and not open the
door to the mischief which others are
admOnished they must be prepared, by
trick or management to avert. But
why pass the subject further? 1t is
enough for US to know that this wild and
reckless experiment comes home to the
hearth-stOne Of every citizen, and in
wolves family and property, society,
liberty, and even life itself Nor is this
all. The courts of justice are dragged
into the mire from their high position;
our most intelligent white citizens are
excluded from the jury, while the ignO
rant negro is elevated To that responsible
position; the jury lists are made up from
the lists Of registered voters, which, as
we have said, are more than two to one
in favor Of the negro. Not only, be 1t
remembered, is the negro admitted TO the
Jury box, but the white man is excluded
therefrom. Think you that when the
great masters Of the common law Of
England pronounced their encomium
upon the trial by jury, that they con-
templated for q moment such an instru-
ment as Rn ignorant negro panel?
Think you, that when the trainers OF
the Constitution Of the United States in-
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vision that the trial by jury shonld |
always be held inviolste, that they in /
tended to engraft upon it such an enOr- |
nifty as negro juTymen, fresh from the /
cotton and rice fields Of the South2 /
Think YOU that when John Rutledge /
and his illustriOus cOmpeers signed that
instrument on the part of South Caro- /
lima, that they intended to forge a
chain which, in 3 period no longer /
than an ordinary lifetime, would drag /
their grandchildren, (who were then |
playing around their knees, and some of
whom are now living, for trial before a
jury Of their own slaves? Talk Of sddi- |
tiOnsl humiliation, talk Of cOnfiscatoD, /
complain OF clemencytO rebels after this
God forbid The Government OF the /
United States has enforced against the |
Southern people the most stupendOus /
acts Of confiscatiOn that has ever been I
enforced in the history of nations; their |
property in slaves has been contiscated !
to the amount of three thousand million |
Of dollars; other personal property in the |
shape of cotton, provisions, stock, plate !
and money, has been captured or de-
stroyed, to the value of one thousand /
millions Of dollars; and from these !
causes their land has deteriorated to the |
extent of one thousand millions Of dol !
lars, making in the aggregate the enor-
nous sum Of five thousand millions OF
dollars. These overwhelming pecuniary
losses fall exclusively upon the Southern
people. The political evils COM
planned of will, of course, fall chiefly
upon the people Of the South, but not ex-
elusively upon them. Fasten negro su-
premacy upon the South, and it must be
felt through all her relations with the
~ aenN s..n.Nf
or social. Should Northern man-snd
how often must such necessarily be the
case-be brought TO trial in the State or
Federal Courts at the South, his life or
liberty must be passed upon by ignorant
negro jurors. Should the most difficult
and complicated questions Of property
arise in Southern cOurts-and how often
must such be the case arising from in-
termarriage, inheritance, or trade-the
case Of the Northern man must be de-
cided by the same ignorant tribunal.
Nor is this yet all. The highest prerog-
ative Of government is the taxing power,
and the efforts of the wisest statesmen
have been expended to guard this great
power against abuse. No powerihss been
more jeslously watched than this. No
power has given rise to go much strife and
blOodshed in the history of the world.
The contest between the mother cOun-
trv and the colonies originated ia her
assumption OF the right 70 tax without
representation. By the reconstruction
acts Of Congress the taxing power is
placed In the hands Of those who own no
property, and is taken away from those
who hold the property and must pay the
taxes. The war that has always existed
between capital and labor is decided in
| favor Of the latter, and the wealth of the
country is prostrated at the feet Of those
/ who have nothing at stake but their
daily wages and their daily bread.
How will this power be exercised? I? Can
/ it be supposed for a moment that it will
be exercised in any other way than TO
/ Impose such burdens upon the tax
payers ss will amount in the end to prac-
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