The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-12-04
WHEELING W. vA WEDNESDAY MORNING. DECEMBER 4, 1867.

CT We OubuI W w oo, VI "HN a,
mon humanity would not require us ~
save them from themselves. But, Rndei
the circumstances, this is only specu-
lative point. 1t is not proposed merely
that they shall govern themselves, but
that they shall rule the white race
make and administer State laws, elect
Presidents and members of Congress,
and shape to greater or less extern
the future destiny of the whole country
Would such trust and power be sale
in such handsf
POLITICAL CAPACITY OF THE FREEDMEN
The peculiar qualities which shouiu
characterize any people who are ut -
decide upon the management OF puDhc
affairs for a great State have seldom
been combined. 1t is the glory of white
men to know that they have had these
qualities in sufficient measure 10
build upon this continent a great
political fabric, and to preserve
| its stability for more than ninety years
while in every other part of the world
all similar experiments have failed. But
if anything can be proved by known
facts-if all reasoning upon evidence Is
not abandoned,i it must be acknowledged
that in the progress of nations negroes
have shown less capacity for govern
ment than any other race of people. Nc
Independent government OF any form
has ever been successful in their hands.
On the contrary, wherever they have
been left to their own devices, they have
shown a constant tendency to relapse
into barbarism. In the Southern States
however, Congress has undertaken to
confer upon them the privilege OF the
ballot. Just released from slavery, 1t
NAV be doubted whether, as class,
they know more than their ancestors
how to organize and regulate civil
society. Indeed, it is admitted that
the blacks of the South are not only re-
gardless of the rights of property, but
so utterly ignorant of public affairs that
their voting can consist in nothing more
than carrying ballot to the place
where they are directed to deposit it..
need not remind you that the exercise
of the elective franchise is the
highest attribute of an American
citizen, and that, when guided
by virtue, intelligence, patriotism, and
proper appreciation of our free instltu-
tioXs, it constitutes the true basis of 6
democratic form of government, III
which the sovereign power is lodged in
the body of the people. A trust arti-
! ficially created, not for its own sake,
but solely as a means of promoting the
general welfare, its influence for good
must necessarily depend upon the ele-
waited character and true allegiance OF
the elector. 1t ought therefore to be
reposed in none except those who are
fitted morally and mentally to admins
ter it well; for if conferred upon per-
sons who do not justly estimate its value
and who are Indifferent as to its results,
it will only serve as means of placing
power in the hands of the unprincipled
and ambitious, and must eventuate III
the complete destruction of that liberty
of which it should be the most power
ful conservator. | have therefore here
tOfOre urged upon your attention the
great danger "to be appreheGded from
an untimeiy extension of the elective
franchise to any new class in our coun-
try, especially when the large majority
of that class, in welding the
power thus placed in their hands,
cannot be expected correctly to
comprehend the duties and RESPONSE
bilities which pertain to suffrage. Yes
terday, rs it were, four millions of per-
sons were held in condition of slavery
that had existed for generations; to-
day they are freemen, and are assumed
by law to be citizens. 1t cannot be pre-
sumed, from their previous condition OF
servitude, that, as class, they are as
well informed as to the nature of our
Government as the intelligent foreigner
who makes our land tho home of his
choice. In the case of the latter, neither
residence of five years, and the know
ledge of our institutions which it gives,
nor attachment to the principles of the
Constitution, are the only conditions
upon which he can be admitted to
citizenship. He must prove, in addi-
ton, a good moral character, and thus
give reasonable ground for the belief
that he will be faithful to the obliga-
tiOns which he assumes as citizen of
the Republic. Where peOple-the
source OF all political powcr-speak, by
their suffrages, through the instrument
tality of the ballot-boX, it must be care
fully guarded against the control of
those who are corrupt i'll principle and
enemies of free institutions, for it can
only become to our political and social
system safe conductor of healthy
popular sentiment when kept free
from demoralizing influences. Con-
trolled, through fraud and usurpa
ton, by the designing, anarchy and
despotism must inevitably follow. In
the hands of the patriotic and worthy,
our Government will be preserved upon
the principles of the Constitution in
herited from our fathers. 1t follows,
therefore, that in admitting to the bal
lot-boX new class of voters not quail
fed for the exercise of the elective fran
chise, we weaken our system of govern
ment, instead of adding to its strength
and durability" 81 yield to no one in
attachment to that rule of general suf-
frage which distinguishes our policy as
nation. But there is n limit, wisely
observed hitherto, which makes the
ballot q privilege and trust, and
which requires of somo classes time
suitable for probation and preparation.
To give it indiscriminately to new
class, wholly unprepared, by previous
habits and opportunities, to perform
the trust which it demands, is to de-
grade it, and finally to destroy it's pow
or; for it mdy be safely assumed that
no political truth is better established
than that such indiscriminate and all
embracing extension ofpopular suffrage
must end at last in its overthrow and
destruction"
FURTHER OBJECTIONS TO NEGRO ST.
PREMACY.
repeat the expression of my will
ingness to join in any plan within the
scope of our constitutional authority
which promises to better the condition
of the negroes in the South, 10y encour-
aging them in industry, eHlightening
their minds, improving their morals,
and giving protection to all their just
rights as freedmen. But the transfer OF
our political inheritance to them would,
in my opinion, be an abandonment Of q
duty which We owe alike to tue memory
of our fathers aud the rights OF our
children.
The plan OF putting the Southern
States wholly, and the General Govern
ment partially, into the hands of me-
groes, is proposed at time peculiarly
unpropitious. The foundations of So
ciety have been broken up by civil war.
Industry must be reorpaniZed instiee