The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-09

llI4 IL was CIeuIeu people.
For this important purpose it was ceded
to the United States by Maryland and
! Virginia, and it certainly meyer could
have been contemplated, as one of the
objects to be attained by placing it un-
der the exclusive Jurisdiction of Con-
gress, that 1t would afford to propagan-
distS, or political parties, n place for an
experimental test of their principles
and theories. While, indeed, the resi-
dents of the seat of government are not
citizens of any State, and are not,
therefore, allowed a voice in the cleo
toral college, or represented in the coun-
ellis of the nation, they are, nevertheless,
every guarantee of the Constitution, to
every benefit of the laws, and to every
right which pertains to citizens of our
common country. In all matters, then,
affecting their domestic affairs, the
spirit of our democratic form of gov
eminent demands that their wishes
should be consulted and respected, and
they taught TO feel, that, although not
permitted practically to participate in
national concerns, they are, neverthe-
less, under paternal Government, re-
gardful of their rights, mindful of their
wants, and solicitous for their prosperi-
ty- 1t was evidently contemplated that
decision, at least TO an extent that would
not be Incompatible with the object for
which Congress was granted exclusive
legislation over the seat of government.
When the Constitution was vet under
consideration, it was assumed, by Mr..
Madison, that its inhabitants would be
allowed "a municipal legislature, for
local purposes, derived from their own
sutfrages." When, for the first time,
Congress, in the year 1900, assembled at
Washington, President Adams, in his
speech at its opening, reminded the two
Houses that it was for them to consider
whether the local powers over the Dis
trict of Columbia, vested by the Con-
Stitutiou in the Congress of the United
States, should be Immediately exer-
cised, and he asked them to ''consider
| 1t as the capital of n great nation
advancing with unexampled rapidity
in arts, in commerce, in wealth. and in
population, and possessing within it,
self the resources which, if not thrown
away or lamentably misdirected, would
secure to it n long course of prosperity
and self government" Three years
had not elapsed when Congress was
called upon to determine the proprfety
of retroceding to Maryland and Vir-
ginia the jurisdiction of the territory
which they had respectively relinquish-
ed to the Government of the United
States. 1t was urged, on the one hand,
that exclusive jurisdiction was not
necessary or useful to the Government;
that il deprived the inhabitants of the
District OF their political rights; that
much of the time of Congress was
consumed in legislation pertaining to
it; that its government was expensive;
that Congress was not competent to
legislative for the District, because the
mem bers were strangers to its local
concerns; and that it was an example
of government without representa-
tion-an experiment dangerous TO the
lIhaFfias n tho SfufnS sI,
hand, it was held, among other reasons,
and successfully, that the Constitution,
the acts of ceSSion of Virginia and
Maryland, and the act of Congress ac-
cepting the grant, all contemplated the
exercise of exclusive legislation by
Congress, and that its usefulness, if not
Its necessity, was inferred from the in
convenience which was felt for want of
it by the Congress of the Confederation;
that the people themselves, who was
said had been deprived of their politi-
cal rights, had not complained and did
not desire retrocession that the evil
might be remedied by giving them a
representation in Congress when the
District should become sufficiently
populous, and in the meantime a local
legislature; that if the inhabitants had
not political rights, they had great poIit-
ical influence; that the trouble and eX-
pense of legislating for the District
"Oulu hOA NC blGsilI buI NOulu ulLlln-
lsh, and might in great measure be
avoided by local legislature; and
that Congress could not retrocede the
inhabitants without their consent
Continuing to live substantially under
the laws that existed at the time of the
cession, and such changes only having
been made as were suggested by them
selves, the people of the district have
not sought, by u local legislature, that
which has generally been willingly
conceded by the Congress of the nation.
AS general rule, sound policy re-
quires that the Legislature should WELD
TO the wishes of a people, when not in
consistent with the Constitution and
the laws. The measures suited to one
community might not be well adapted
to the condition of another; and the
persons best qualified to determine
such questions are those whose inter-
estS are TO be directly affected by any
proposed law. In. Massachusetts, for
instance, male persons are allowed to
vote without regard to color, provided
they possess 4 certain degree of intelli-
gence. In population in that State of
l,23l ,O66, there were, by the census of
1850, only 1902 persons of color; and of
the males over twenty years of age,
there were S30,OS6 white, 2,602 colored.
BY the same official enumeration there
were in the District of Colum bia so, 764
Ai1S9 W AIScAO DGASOlS Vi Lue COlOTeu
race Since then, however, the popu-
lation OF the District has largely in
creased, and it is estimated that at the
present time there are nearly a hun
dred thousand whites to thirty thou
sand negroes. The cause of the aug
mented numbers of the latter class
needs no explanation. Contiguous TO
Maryland and Virginia, the District, |
during the war, became place of
refuge for those who escaped from ser
vitude, and it is yet the abiding place
of considerable portion of those who
sought within its limits shelter from
bondage. Until then held in slavery,
and denied all opportunities for mental
culture, their first knowledge of the
Government was acquired when, by
comforting upon them freedom, il be-
came the benefactor of their race; the
test of their capability for Improvement
began, when, for the first time, the
career of free industry and the avenues
to intelligence were opened to them.
Possessing these advantages but a linn
tied time-the greater number perhaps
having entered the District of Column
bia during the later years of the war or
since its terminatiOn-we may well
pause to inquire whether, after so brief
a probation, they are as a class capable
of an intelligent exercise ofthe right of
suffrage, and qualified to discharge the
duties of official position. The people
who are daily witnesses of their mode
of living, and who have become famil-
lar with their habits of thought, have
expressed the conviction that they are
not yet competent to serve as electors,
and thus become eligible for office
in the local governments under which
they live. Clothed with the elective
franchise, their numbers, already large
ly in excess of the demand for labor,
would be soon increased by an influx