The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-09-23
- -
THE CONVENTION.

To he Editor Of The Charleston DAILY NeecS:
According to the census of 1860 there will be
about 18 0aO majority of votes for freedmen above
the whites in the State Of South Carolina, and
about 14,000 majority for them in the State OF
Mississippi. lii every other Southern State the
whites will have majority, amounting in the ag-
gregate to 260, ,O00-whe the majority OF whites in
all the States together will he as eight to one, or
as 32,O00,000 are to 100000. Thus stands the
case and from these premises it may be useful to
draw few conclusions.
If the freedmen think it prudent to do 80, they
have it in their power to fill the Convention with
colored Delegates and the Legislature with colored
Representatives, and elect colored Representatives
and Senators in Congress, and, in fine, to take
into their hands all the political power in the
States OF South Carolina and Mississippi, but in
no other States than these.
I say ''if they think it prudent to do SO" be-
cause it may not be for their best interests to take
into their own hands what the unforeseen events
of the war have accidentally offered to them.
Congress has not given them the right to vote
because their advancement in civilization and in
teligence has called attention to their peculiar fit
ness for the enjoyment Of such a privilege but
because il can be used just at this time for very
important purpose. Politicians and statesmen,
alike, see o present advantage in availing them
selves of vote they can command in reconstruct
ing the Government upon Republican principles,
and so far they intend TO use it. If tho whites
had consented to do the work themselves, Con-
gross never would have called for any other assist
ance This they refused to do when they rejected
the HOWARD Amendment to the Constitution, and
it then became necessary 10 call upon the freed
man to effect what could not be done without his
assistance. In this way he has been allowed to
vote, without any other qualification than age
and residence. Yet, all thinking persons know,
that neither age nor residence can qualify an un-
educated person, to understand the principles OF
the government he is expected to sustain. Some
thing more is necessary, and can only be found
in virtue and intelligence. Hence it s great pub
lie calamity, when the interests OF civilization
and progress are thrown into the hands OF those,
who without any faith of their own, are mentally
incapable Of protecting them. 1t might be some
outward distinctions to an individual to be ap-
pointed the pilot or engineer OF the Gredf Eastern,
in voyage across the Atlantic, while crowded
with passengers to its utmost capacity-but 1t
would be little less than murder, if he accepted
such On appointment without the requisite qualiii-
cations and in consequence thereof the lives OF
those passengers werelost. The voters are the
engineers Of this great nation, crowded with hui
man lives and charged with the most important
interests of humanity. To protect them, at the
ballot box their interests must be understood,
and if they are not the fate Of the whole country
will be placed in the hands Of artful men, who will
control ignorance and want, by the thousand de-
vices that never fail to make successful appeals
to those who are both dependent and unwary.
The voter must think, or he is unfit to be OF
service to his country in the many intricate ques-
tions of public policy which are expected to be
determined by his judgment. The effort, there
fore, might rather be to restrict than enlarge the
privilege of voting and this without distinction o.
race or color In the early history Of the State of
South Carolina property qualification was en-
graftod upon the Constitution, in elections to
the Senate and House of Representatives,
and would have remained there much longer
but for the artful appeals of candidates to the
prejudices of the masses, who were easily
induced to demand that such reflection
upon the humber classes of tho people should no
longer continue in constitution made for Tree
men," But, with tho wise and virtuons, 1t has
ever been a source OF pain that some qualification
was not required Of every yoter-some degree OF
intelligence or some amount or property. The
statesmen now in Congress are fully alive to this
but they another OF far greater I'M
portancc just at this particular crisis in the ma
toms life, viz: the reconstruction of the Union
1t is the demand Of civilization and progress, and
evory instrument must be employed that can be
made useful.
No doubt considerations like these must have
had their inhuenc, in the unrestricted suffrage by
which the important events now in progress are
expected to bo accomplished. There are others OF
great potency, which all will recognize as hev
ing their foundation in the plainest justice and
right that must claim for all classes liable to be
affected by laws some agency in the enactment OF
them. The extent OF that agency is the great point
of fcontroyersy not, however, to oe determined now
but naturally entering into the discussion as to
what may be prudent for the freedman to do in
this his first exercise of the right to vote.
1t is prudent" for him to show that he knows
venton must be held, and the freedman is all i'm
portant in carrying out that measure. Will he act
iudicouslv OF will he place himself i'll position
requiring the most profound statesmanship, sim
ply for the ecldt attached to it, when he must know
that he is untitled by education to discharge the
important duties thereby devolved upon him
This is serious question, and is shortly to be de-
termined by the course the freedmen will pur-
sue in the election Of delegates to the Convention.
Their friends are looking on with anxiety to see If
they will rush into such positions, when they
can see all around them others Of their fellow
citizens, who have every qualification necessary
and are only wanting in that shade OF complexion
which belongs to tho majority OF voters. They
are concerned 10 know whether freedman would
prefer colored horse, that he knows is unable to
do the work required Of him, to horse that is
not colored but has every other qualification de-
sired. They have the power to choose for them
selves, and in the choice they may make will de-
monstrate to the world whether they can be de-
pended upon hereafter in other questions Of public
policy that are to be determined by the vote of the
citizens. IT. in their first use OF this privilege it
saal appear that they intend to consult their pre-
judices only, and forever turn their faces from
those of their fellow-citzens who have the misfor
tune to be OF different color, what other conclu
sion can be drawn, but that they can see no use in
qualifications for Office except in the color OF the
candidate Now, If this is to go forth to the
world as the principle upon which they intend to
act hereafter it may operate very fatally to their f
ture prospects. For the Union is family OF
States, and all of them are necessarily affected by
what moy transpre OF public character in either
OF the others The respectability of the entire
family depends very greatly, therefore, upon the
position which each member of it may occupy be
fore the world Massachusetts, State that is
most prominent in advocating the claims of the
freedmen to the equal protection "flaws, is inter
estcd in the evidences they may furnish that
those'laws may safely be entruste to their keep
ing, and they cannot be Indifferent to the choice
which the freedmen may make, OF the agents they
intend to employ in that particular duty. ffthey
will be satisfied that the blind shall steer the ship
OF state, the other States of the Union can gee
nothing but danger III all association with those
who are reckless or Indifferent both as to their
own and the national interests.
While it is but natural that the former slave
should srard his present rights with excessive
cauton and ii is proper that every allowance
should be made for any suspicious he may enter
tain of the fidelity Of those whose power he has so
long been the subject of, yet wherever it can be
shown that those suspicious ought not to have
any weight al all in the selection of the candidate,
it may reasonably be expected that they will no
longer be entertained. How stands the case at
present. Congress has in It's own control the ad-
mission of the Southern States. II has declared
that the Constitution Of each mlot guarantee the
political equality Of every sl>en II without dis dis
tnction Of race or color. 1t has also declared tat
whatever ma, he done iii the Conventions that are
fo meet shalt he submitted to tue people fer their