The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-09-26
NEGRO SUFFRAGE AT THE
NORTH. sb
The Reaction In Public Senti-
ment-A Powerful Protest from
a Republican Source.


-
or all the literary journals Of til
North, the Round Table is by far tn
ablest and most respectable. In tn
last issue ofthis influential paper, whicI
has hitherto yielded q consistent sup
port to the measures of the Republican
party, we find the following remarkabl
article on universal suffrage"
CAN WE EDUCATE THE NEGRO?
Education is the only legitimate ba
sis for the suffrage. 1t is the habit o
men who strain for notoliety by advo
eating extremes to abscurc by clouds
I of rhetoric the simple Fundamental
truths which ough, for the sake Of
good government, to be kept clearly in
view. Americans are said to he habit.
uallt dazzled by success and to des.
pisc history, but they cannot avert by
| ignoring the consequences that reason
and experience ensure as results Of q
given line OF policy. Nothing is more
certain than that the lower the average
Intelligence of its electors, the lower
will be the character of q representa-
tive assembly. The character of our
national Government has been sinking
for a quarter of n century in obedience
to this law. The Congressional stand
ards ofmorality, intellect and culture
have deprecated in about the anne rel
alive degree. Ignorant immigration,
the corruption of cities, the universal
and debasing pursuit of mere wealth
in the absence Of other attalnable OBJ
iccts of ambition-are among the eau
SEES of q ~degcneracy which intelligent
people %ca,not fail to see, and which, if
candid, they freely admit.
At this ju%ncture, when the weakness
and dangers which subtract from the
benefits of our system are already aug
mented to an alarming degree-a de-
gree which leads many Of Il wisest
thinkers to despair of the permanent
success of that system-itis deliberate
" proposed to take q step which, by
vastly increasing the collective ignor-
ance of constituencies, promises/to ag-
eravate in q similar ratio the evils thus
deplored. 1t is proposed to admit to
the franchise something like a million
ofcolored men, most of them enamel
mated slaves, and to leaven our already
deterioating national assembly with the
elements such q measure is calculated
to produce. That this can be done and
the national editice still hold together
for sometime longer, may be possible
enough, The discomfort that comes
of conscience degradation is, perhaps,
an essential precursor of revolution.
and q community which accepts with
complacency-or with cynical apathy
tile presence in Congress of thieves,
gamblers, and pugalists, may assent to
their association with new members
quite probably their superiors in NOR
atty If not in the color of their skins.
But the Indifference which might toll
crate such q condition ofthings would
he unlikely to last. Those who wish
to retain power seldom weigh or take
heed of the ultimate consequences to
others of the measures they adopt for
the purpose. The ignorance Of the
rrcat mass of American voters-even
if we claim for them superiority over
the commonality of other nations-on
subjects of cthnology andhistorical an
alogy-is almost as great as their ig-
a Of political economy; and the
exhaustion of a great war, the stress OF
fanaticism, the reluctance Of the domi-
nant party to forego aught which may
protract it's tenure, and a certain SYM
pathy for the much wrongcd black race
unite with this ignorance to gain the
popular assent to q measure whose pro-
bottoms and significance the popular
mind does not understand. But the
instincts are strong, and with the uned-
ucated they are apt to run INTO bitter
prejudice. The more we lower II
REPRESENTATIVE asscmbly--and the pro
cess seems n graduated inevitability--
the greater the risk that this prejudice,
now half smothcred, will burst forth
into angry flames. White men will
never consent, in the long run, to be
ruled by black men. and the conflict
once begun, where will it end, and
how? :
Among certain classes Of the COM
munity hatred Of the negro lisa univer-
sal passion--a passion. which at one
time under strong and misguided OK
citcmcnt led, in New York. to deplora-
bic excuses. Whether right or wrong,
this passion exists. 1t may be q
salutary instinct, it may be an unrea-
soning prejudice; but be this as it may,
the sentiment must be taken into
account by those who would rightly
calculate social forces or construct
political innovations. Suppose, now,
to the population Of New York should
be adced an equal number of negroes,
or, to perfect the intended analogy, a
great number in some wards, q lesser
in others, so that on the whole the two
races should be numerically balanced.
Suppose, further, the franchise to be
equally conferred upon all. The po-
litical result would then be what it is
proposed to bring about in some Of the
States of the Union. How long would
it last in one case, And how long is it
likely to last in the. other? Mr.. Lin
coin with his homcly sagocity per-
ceived all the difficulties of a reply. He
has left upon record distinct and ex-
plicit warnings ageNst the concession
of a suffrage to the black race. He
knew that the question must arise, that
its decision in the affirmative would be
strongly in the interest of the dominant
party, that such a decision could never
tremendously and peacefully be car
ricd into effect; and to escape the lih-
culties of the problem he even con-
templated Wholesale deportation. Are