Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-26
Negro Suffrage

However wise or unwise the course of
Congress may have been in forcing univer-
sal suffrage upon the State Constitutions,
it is needless to argus The measure would
remain still the same, and the practical re-
suits to follow must claim the undivided at
tention of all. That this step is an unjust
and arbitrary one, many of the Radical Re-
publican papers have admitted, on the plea
Of the end justifying the means. That the
end will be such as to justify the means
used, considerable doubt exists. What
condition the newly acquired freedom and
political rights of the colored race may yet
entail, is more than this decade of years
will tell us. The result may be national
blessing, OF it may be a national CURSE
The experience of past ages has proven
that an equal and unrcstraincd Democracy
is often as injurious i'll its effects to the po-
itical prosperity of a nation, as is the con-
solidation of power in Il few.
The elective franchise is IL sacred priv
lege. Granted not for party purposes, nor
for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of political dema-
gogues, but as the true insignia of rank,
the badge of popular royalty, it was intend
ed as the free, deliberate expression of the
people upon all questions concerning their
own interest and the good of the country at
large. For this it was given us by the fra
mers of the Constitution. ASan expression of
the absolute will of the individual sove-
reigns of the country that vote should alone
be used. 1t is the prerogative of the mon
arch, and when that prerogativo has been
debased for party ends and personal pur-
poses, the monarch has fallen and the in
stitution Of the popular sovereignty is dis
graced. How seldom the elective fran
chise has been used in the same spirit in
which it was bestowed, the records of our
country present a sad history. Since the
days of the first term of Washington's ad-
ministration, when Jefferson and Hamil-
ton, the former by his TRADE against, and
the latter by his defence of the executive
i'll the matter of the French alliance first
drew to their sides, in almost equal divi-
sions the great masses of the country, a
civil strife has ragged throughout the land
every four years. The old theory that this
strife has been necessary, and that opposing
parties acting as checks upon each other,
arc always necessary to preserve the vital
ity of q popular government, there is much
reason to doubt. Could the opinions of
the people be guided by the dictates of
good reason and sound Judgment, and not
by the workings of partisan animosity,
some good might result from an organized
difference of opinion. But where princi-
pie is sacrificed for interest, and where the
masses vote for the man who represents
party and not a principle, the result can
hardly be expected as a benefit to the ma
ton at large. And where intelligent men
Of either party, working with more zeal than
discretion for the advancement of their own
opinions. induce others, ignorant, vicious
and depraved, to vote upon questions of
which they have no comprehension, and in
which they have no interest, and upon
which, oftentimes, they have no legal right
to deposit an opinion-can it be wondered
at that the character of our political insti-
tutlons has become debased, and that the
great and original constitutional instrument
itself has become furnished And further
more, can it seem strange that corruption
has crept into the Legislative halls of the
country, and that those who sit in high
places should consent to become the tools
of him who pays for his services the highest
price? That the present form of our gov
ernmenthas reached thisclimax, is witnessed
by the corruption now existing in the rep
resentatiye houses of New York and Mas
sachusetts. In chose States some of the
members have been openly accused of
bribery and corruption, and one of the