The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-22
COlOred Officials.

balance of power in the councils of the nation.
COlOred Officials.
From the ~ Y. Times.
II the moral nature of Office holders could be
painted on their outsides, no doubt many
of the high seats of dignity in the land would
grow black with the color of their occupants.
Most politicians, could they be brought to
confess their lfe's manGuvrings as frankly as
Rousseau did his littleness would lament
much sacrifice of principle and loss of self
respect in the struggles of the career which
has lifted them to place. There are few pa
rents who after such revelation would not
prefer for their sons some quiet and obscure
pursuit, rather than the cares and humilia-
tions of an offce-seeker's dependent existence.
Why then should the race that has Just been
raised to manhood be stimulated to risk all
manhood is worth in the scramble for the re-
wards of party, instead of being taught that
their happiness and responsibility depend on
acquiring habits of self-contrOl, and on the
practice of patient industry Why, except to
appease the morbid vanity of their great mis-
leader, and to give Phillips occasion for boast
ing that he did his worst to unfit them for
their real duties by firing their ignorance with
the hope of impossible distinctions
This arch -agtator, respecting nothing but
his own craving for notoriety, is doing the
people he pretends to befriend very serious
mischief. The blacks have been made citizens
before they are fit for the responsibilities of
electors. 1t is the very deviltry of dema-
gogism to flatter them with the chimera that
they are fit to take part in governing others.
All among them of the least intelligence can
see that the mass of the well-to-do white popu-
lation owe their prosperity to industrious
labor, and win any advancement by the aid of
education. These are the lessons which any
one who is really tn cir friend would seek to
impress on them. He who invites them to
plunge into the excitement of political strife,
and cheats their credulous helplessness with
the hope of its empty prizes, deserves, as this
Phillips has often before deserved, the curses
of the republic. That Warwick of the blacks
would make negro Vice President, because
we should thus show to the world that his
people stand in social equality with our own.
If, as it is said, this pitiless egotist would die
contented after seeing one of them in that
Office, the nation might afford to pay that
price to be rid of him, were it not that it
better understands the duties it owes that
race, and means to shun his example by con-
sulting both reason and conscience in dealing
! with them.
1t is a mistake to suppose there is any logi-
/ cal connection between the right to vote and
the right-if it be not an abuse of terms to
call it SOTO hold Office. AS the Federal law
now stands, any sane, unconvicted man OF
twenty-one may vote. We have chosen to
ignore intelligence as test of the electors fit
ness, and have thereby taken upon ourselves
a great risk and a grievous burden. But it is
absurd to conclude from this that we have
done away with intelligence as a ground OF
fitness to be elected Yet this is the logical
basis of the demand made. Put this or that
man on the ticket for the second Office in the
country, we are told, not because he is I'll
L. L,rA E,-k hoan T1a
he is black, or blackish and next because be
may be fit. Turn the color argument the Other
way. What would be said of nomination
made because the favored man is white, leav'
ing his qualities a secondary reason These
restless reformers would have us &C
back to the original meaning of the
word Candidate, only substituting theil
own barbarous coinage OF migrate" The
colored population has been put on an equality
with the white. AS to holding office, what
right has the white man ever had Just this
and no more: the right to the free exercise o
his toll and talents, if he have them, by which
he may build up character for honesty and
ability. and induce the community to coniid'
in him enough to reward him with the tenn
porary authority of Office, in the trust that th'
duties it imposes will be well discharged. ina
is all the black man has gained in this re
spect by emancipation. Let him set abou
the work with a will. Nothing else thai
the accomplishment of it can entitle hin
to present himself for the sufrages of his tel
d low -citizens-far less will they tolerate hi
Preposterous claim, founded on color. to
right which they have never habitat OF gov
erning them before he has proved his abilit
a 10 govern himself There are local offices, re
l. qulring low grade of capacity, which Tn
negro may very possibly soon fit himself fol
we see no objection to his aspiring to them
le though we believe he would be far better an
g. happier out OF politics. But to thrust forwar
=. AZ once one OF lower race, who cannot poss
:. a. ply have had opportunities for the requisit
u ualng IN Peblic affairs, and the knowlede
4. Of men, to fill high post which veTv few Il
~ deed, after a lifelong exhibition of oapacit
- and patriotic devotion, are deemed to deserV
81 is the very sublimity Of ofimpudenoe.
IS The leading men Of the cOlored race then