The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-09-29
DeveIopme.ts ssf Nesrs Suffrage In the
ssath. ~ A.


The workings q negro suffrage in the South
ern States are exceedingly Sunous, and II the
parties who have made the right Of the negro
to vote part of the law Of th>s iand nad not
self-interest at the bottom of it they wouid %
heartily ashamed of the ridiculous results
which have accrued. Tho latest opportunity
which the negroes had to cast 70 70 WE VI
the convention in Louisiana, where tn ey eAer-
clsed the franchise for the first time dun ing tue
past two days. The negroes do not app 'af 70
have come up to the polls, and fears were en-.
tertained by the radical leaders that suficas NJ
vote would not be cast to make the call for -
convention legal. The fact is that the poor
negroes cannot be made to understand the
purpose of their newly acquired privilege.
Their radical masters are put to their wits
end to get ii into the woolly heads Of their
colored allies that The franchise Is right to be
exercised and not material thing to be sold.
Many Of the negroes in some Of the late South
ern elections brought baskets to the polls to
carry home the elective franchise which
their instructors told them they were entitled
to. Some Of them brought bags which they
thought were capacious enough to hold the
precious franchise. Hundreds OF them, who
found that the inesimable elective franchise
had no substantial or marketable form,
absolutely refused either to register or
to vote without being paid for it, They
were cunning enough to know that they were
entitled to claim pay for the labor which
"massa" asked them to perform, and they
were not going to register or to cast vote
without an equivalent in cash. The registry
process was stumbling block in the radical
path. man must have q name to register,
and few of these poor fellows had palro-
nymic. Jim, and Tom, and Sambo, and Cui-
fee, and Pompey, and Caesar were there by the
thousand entirely too numerous to mennon;
but distinctive name not one in thousand
could boast Of 30 Smiths, Browns Joneses
and Robinsons were supplied ad libitun to get
over the difficulty. This was an easy matter
but when a rollicking niger came along to
the polls with his basket slung on his arm to
take home his "elective franchise" to Dinah,
here was q fix And just this ok occurred in
Louisiana. "No money, no VOTE" said Sambo.
"Where is the elective franchise you promised
us Z" said Pompey, fourishing his basket "Me
no vote till get that"
Not less ridiculous is the condition Of things
all over the South. The negroes in the mass
have no more idea of the privilege bestowed
upon them than go many cattle; yet radical
madness has made them masters in the South.
A few intelligent colored men in the principal
cities of the South are paraded by radical poll
ticians as examples OF negro intelligence, but
we see by present as by past experience that
they are not types Of the race to whom the
government of ten States Of the Union has
been handed over.
At an election in Charleston not long since
the Post Office boxes were found to be filed
with ballots deposited by the negroes who had
been supplied with them by radical agents,
but knew not how to dispose Of them better
than by dropping them into the Post Ofioe. To
such measure Of intelligence 1t is that the
affairs of the South are entrusted, and this the
people are asked to endorse as one of the most
efficient modes of reconstruction according to
the radical plan. We are disposed to think
that the intelligent American people do not
see 1t in that light