Litchfield enquirer., 1867-05-16
The Reading Qualification.

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 The Republicans in our Legislature will undoubtedly propose an amendmentt to the Constitution, abolishing the color restric- ton of the elective franchise We wish they might include the abolition of the read ing qualification, and our reasons are these: l. It is wrong ill principle. The great advantage of manhood suffrage is that it af- fords protection to the poor man and to the ignorant man that no statutes can give, The rich and intelligent are never oppress- ed. but the very men who need the protec- ton of the ballot most, are the men whom educational and property qualifications de- prive of it. The true Liberal, "'s Repub- ican" belief. as. distinguished from the Tory" Democratic" doctrine is, that the government gains little by restricted suffrage, while the people lose much. If the ballot is privilege, mere reward of merit conferred on the well-to-do, intelli- gent citizen then it is not even now sufi- ciently restricted. lion the other hand it is like trial by jury, a right; then any re- striction is wrong. Ifany one doubts the inestimable value of the ballot to the citi- Zen, let him compare the present condition of the negro at the South with his condition before he was given the franchise.
 2. It has little, ifiany, practical effect. It necessitates little fraud and perjury, un- doubtedly, but are a hundred of the many citizens who cannot read and write hinder ed from voting by that clause of the Con- stitution, in the whole State2 As long as our peculiar mode of making electors, not practiced in most states prevails, scarcely any qualification, except perhaps that of color, can be enforced 4 man once an elector is always an elector, even though it can be proved he gained his admission by fraud The old property qualification, long before its repeal, became utterly ineAica- cious. If any qualification is ever to be made effective, the system of making elec- tors must be abandoned; and every man must, If challenged, be compelled to show his qualifications whenever he casts his vote.
 3. It Is inconsistent with the practice of the Republican party. If a reading quail tication is necessary anywhere, it would seem especially necessary at the South The fact that the blacks are generally loyal, and the whites disloyal may, indeed, justi- fy the running of risk there which it is not necessary to run here nevertheless il we favor universal suffrage where our party gains votes by it, and oppose it where oul party loses votes by it, how is our reputa- ton for sincerity likely to stand ? But is it even 6 wise, local policy, to continue a clause in our Constitution whose only effect is, not to exclude foreign born citizens, but to irritate them against the party whose principles they in reality favor?
 1. A constitutional amendment abolish ing both the reading and the color qnalif- cations could we think be adopted where as the latter, alone, could only be abolished by our obtaining two thirds of the Legisla- ture, |. C., carrying the State by about ten thousand majority. 4 proposition to abol- ish both qualifications would place the De- mocracy in very unpleasant dilemma; they would be obliged either to smother their hatred of the negro or offend their foreign vote
 5. The passage of the educational amend ment was an American" measure, and al- though it has been generally favored by R. pubicans, we see no reason why that should hinder its repeal. It is our especial boast that we are not above learning from events. The Democracy" our American Bourbons, after witnessing the greatest revolution of the century, pride themselves on having opposed it--on having learned nothing from it. Such is not Republican ism and in the matter of the suffrage, we think the wise and liberal policy pursued by Congress towards the South deserves to be initiated by the '' Party of Progress, ' in Connecticut
 Labor Reform.